Brenda Sauter Of The Feelies, & Wild Carnation

Zig At The Gig podcast

Delmore Recording Society is excited to announce the upcoming release of Wild Carnation’s
Tricycle as a Record Store Day 2023 exclusive on April 22. Tricycle is the long out-of-print
debut album from this New Jersey-based trio comprising Brenda Sauter (The Feelies) on vocals
and bass, guitarist Rich Barnes and Chris O'Donovan (Grey District) on drums and vocals. This
will be a limited 500 copy pressing on 12” Carnation White vinyl LP: Tricycle’s first release on
vinyl. It’ll come with a download code for the remastered album, demos, and a blistering live set
recorded in Hamburg, Germany January 27, 1997. The live recording features unreleased
originals and a selection of covers including Patti Smith ("Dancing Barefoot"), Ian Tyson ("Four
Strong Winds"), and The Grass Roots ("Wait A Million Years”). Tricycle will be released as a
download and via streaming platforms on April 28, including the original album, all the live
material, demos, etc.
Way back in the 1990s, a young Delmore stumbled into now-defunct NYC nightclub Wetlands
(during the sadly also now defunct, NYU Independent Music Festival), just as Wild Carnation
were about to begin their set. Having lived in NYC / Brooklyn / Hoboken the previous decade,
where countless mesmerizing gigs by The Feelies, Yung Wu, Trypes and Speed The Plough, all
with Brenda Sauter on bass, had been experienced, it was the chance to see her fronting her
new group that drew Delmore in.
A few songs into their set, it was apparent however that this trio was more than a Feelies
offshoot project, despite melodic similarities, and Brenda's cool vocals / presence. Wild
Carnation played raw, loud and fast (and occasionally out of control), with Rich Barnes’
distorted, jangly guitar lines perfectly colliding with Brenda's propelling bass notes, while Chris
O'Donovan kept it together, pounding the living hell out of his drums. It was a garagey, indie
rock mess, more reminiscent of Hib-Tone / Chronic Town era REM, and emergent New Zealand
bands like The Bats and The Clean, than The Feelies.
Delmore was smitten, and determined to sign them, despite the fact that the Delmore label did
not yet exist. In 1993, Wild Carnation's debut 7", "Dodger Blue" b/w "The Lights Are On (But No
One's Home)", taken from raw home demos recorded the previous year, became the second
Delmore release. A full-length album was then commissioned, and an evolving Wild Carnation
holed up at Mix-O-Lydian recording studios with engineer Don Sternecker (The Feelies, Speed
The Plough, Wake Ooloo) to record their debut full length, Tricycle, released in 1994. On
Tricycle, the pastoral quality of their most beautiful ballads was captured to perfection, while
retaining enough of the rawness of the live experience. Waves of critical acclaim followed, from
now defunct publications (CMJ Jackpot! Raygun, Trouser Press) followed, including this one by
Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover (Still going strong!), written for All Music Guide:
"While the hook line for this new local trio would have to be that bassist/leader Brenda Sauter
used to be a member of the later-'80s incarnation of the famous Feelies (and its notable
offshoot, The Trypes), even if you didn't worship at the altar of that group (and especially if you
did!), Wild Carnation is a revelation. While the persistent, pumping beat and hard-played jangle
guitars of most of the tracks here emanate from her previous band and from their forerunners,
the Velvets (especially), Television, and the Byrds - Sauter's beguiling voice is perfect for the
ultra-appealing pop hooks the group writes as well as the thoughtful lyrics she composes.
Trading the occasional Feelies drone for sugar-sweet melodies (yes!) and utilizing the pretty ring
of the guitars to maximum effect, songs such as Wings are the perfect pop confectionery, too
honeyed and delightful to miss capturing your bending heart and too consistently insistent and
edgy to be wimpy, kind of like Reckoning-era R.E.M. It's all so well captured with pristine
production, with balls to match the heart, too! And though the 12 tracks are largely cut from a
similar mode, all seem special just the same on their own. A truly shining, first-rate effort, along
with Lotion's and Nyack's early EPs and the last Flower LP, the best release to come out of a
New York group this decade, and exceptionally crafted at that! Do not miss."

Brenda's Info

http://www.wildcarnation.com/home.html

http://www.thefeeliesweb.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063570834484