The Reputation
Elizabeth Elmore SINGER/SONGWRITER/GUITAR
Sean Hulet - GUITAR & VOCALS
Joel Root - BASS
Steve Van Horn- DRUMMER
"There is no nostalgia in Elmore's voice for getting completely
ruined. For sleeping with the wrong people. For sleeping with the
same wrong people again. For getting drunk every night. For picking
up scars that heal on the surface but never stop itching. But there's
no older-but-wiser knowledge, either. You can't put your arms around
a memory, as I heard Ronnie Spector sing so passionately on the radio
the other day. Elmore's new songs seems to say You can't put your
arms around a memory, but a memory can put its arms around you."
- Greil Marcus, Interview Magazine, May 2002
Elizabeth Elmore has been a force in indie rock since her shimmering
pop/rock band Sarge garnered national press in 1998, being named "Hot
Band" in Rolling Stone's Hot issue, profiled in SPIN, AP, Interview,
Playboy and elsewhere. The band's power pop music was loved by punk
fans and rock critics alike. Since the break up of Sarge in 1999,
Elizabeth has continued to pursue her voice, both in forming a new
band called The Reputation, and finishing her law degree at
Northwestern.
The Reputation released their self-titled debut in 2002 on Initial
Records. The album was an absolute musical statement; it was what The
Breeders were working towards, what Belly promised to someday
deliver. Gorgeous vocals, searing lyrics, rushingly frantic rock
guitars, with keyboards, french horns and lots of cigarettes. The
Reputation's first album made it onto the 2002 Pazz and Jop, was
noted #2 in the LA Times, was on the "Dean's List" by Robert
Christgau and on many other top ten lists.
"Duplicity and rejection, loyalty and self-reliance - it's pretty
much the same mud fellow Midwesterners wallowed in, but Elmore bakes
it with resolve, guitars firing, keyboards fluttering, drums
struggling mightily to keep up. One stride ahead of the pop/punk
rattle, Elmore's flat-like-an-angel vocals belie some of her songs'
feral content: "You've learned to play the victim perfectly/If
everything's my fault you're not to blame/ for all your simpering
diatribes on how I've caused you so much pain." - Kevin Bronson, Los
Angeles Times, 3.5 stars out of 4 stars
Now The Reputation is poised to break out with one of the most
original sounds and tightest albums of the year. Like most great
bands, they don't have many perfect peers; fusing the genres of indie and
punk rock has produced The Reputation's own brand of indie/emo/punk
rock that is breathtakingly original, sad but not solipsistic and
forceful without being bombastic. Lookout! Records is very proud to
release The Reputation's second album, "to force a fate."Recorded in
Chicago with Mike Hagler (Billy Bragg, Wilco, Neko Case, The Handsome
Family, L'Altra, the Mekons, The New Pornographers, Ok Go, Jenny
Toomey, the Waco Brothers) the production on "to force a fate." is
nothing short of stunning. The album is also the bands most
collaborative effort to date, featuring songwriting by both Elmore
and the band members, as well as Q and Not U's John Davis. The record
will be out on April 20, 2004.