Birdhouse Comps

Chirp 1, Chirp 2
CD-R

Compiled  by  booker/promoter (and occasional KV contributor) Brian Formo in mid-2007, these two compilations were created to serve as a sort of calling card and introduction to the local and touring bands that had performed at Fourth and Gill’s Birdhouse art/performance space. With 23 tracks across the two discs, Chirp 1 features bands from the more punk/noise side of things, and 2 highlights electro-pop and indie rock bands. The CDs were briefly for sale as fundraising artifacts to support the self-sustaining venue, and Sarah Shebaro executed the wrap-around artwork for the paper cases.

Joining local powerhouses Woman, Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight and Brain Lesion on 1 are such acts as Vancouver post-post-punk partiers Shearing Pinx and Brooklyn’s hardcore-prog practitioners The Drayton Sawyer Gang. Over on 2, Knoxville’s one-man electronic band Bad Animal and indie rock band du jour Royal Bangs rub elbows with acts such as Asheville electro-goof favorites EAR PWR and Atlanta’s favorite girl group, The Coathangers.

For those of you who cry foul for our inclusion of out of town-heavy comps as representative of the local music scene, we offer the Chirp CDs as a tribute to the venues that not only keep the Knoxville scene alive, but go a long way in shaping and guiding it. Staying up all night swapping stories with broke-ass touring bands that sleep on floors (or occasionally share a bed) and get taken to Tomato Head and Java the next day is a tradition that informs local musics, and forms connections allowing it to be exported. These two CDs offer a snapshot of a brief period of time in Knoxville music history (some of these bands are already kaput), centered on a small but knowing and passionate group of artists, musicians, promoters and fans who made things happen when they looked around this town and saw something lacking.