Booking/Press Contact:
foxtailsbrigade@gmail.com
Label:
Antenna Farm Records
Paul Koehler – paul{at}antennafarmrecords{dot}com
licensing, A&R, press inquiries, US sales
PHOTOS (click for hi-res):
Please give credit to the photographers.
The Hollywood Hills-born daughter of a horror filmmaker and sister of a cult stand-up comedian, Laura Weinbach grew up in a household that embraced eccentricity. Her next-door neighbors were circus contortionists with emus and fang-toothed monkeys as pets and her childhood activities included snail hunting and spying on celebrity neighbors like Slash, Ice-T and Larry from Perfect Strangers.
While her mother, an accomplished classical pianist, taught the children piano, her father had a more unique approach to musical education:
“When I’d get in trouble as a kid, my father would punish me with cassette tapes,” Laura recalls. “He would make me mixes of all his favorite jazz singers like Billie Holiday and Astrid Gilberto and tell me that if I could learn the songs and sing them back just like the recordings then I could go out and play with my friends.
Laura’s eccentric upbringing is present everywhere in Foxtails Brigade, from the quirky, lyrical imagery (hungry flies, headless rattlesnakes) to the hand-drawn artwork (dinosaurs, mermaids, sail boats) and videos.
After studying music and literature in college, Laura spent a couple of eye-opening years as a substitute teacher in the LA and Oakland public school districts, collecting a stockpile of inspiration which would eventually end up as songs lyrics. She soon formed Foxtails Brigade and in 2009 traded in her crayons and chalk board to do music full time, playing everywhere from street corners to rock clubs with a rotating cast of musicians including violinist/multi-instrumentalist Anton Patzner (Bright Eyes, Judgement Day).
Since the recent release of their second L.P. Time Is Passed (DIY), Foxtails Brigade have been busy making videos and touring the West Coast. More videos, tours and a third LP are all in the not-too-distant future.
SF Chronicle Cover
- “Arresting music marked by unaffected whimsy, dreamy imagery and insinuating melodies.” - SF Chronicle
- “ a gorgeous storybook approach to orchestral indie pop. a gorgeous storybook approach to orchestral indie pop.” -Indie Shuffle
- “’10 Jazz Favorites in 2011 and Then Some’– Whether performing pop tunes, French chanson or dream-ridden originals, they create arresting music marked by unaffected whimsy, surreal imagery and insinuating melodies.” –KQED
- “as soon as Laura Weinbach starts to play, everyone within earshot immediately revises their previous opinions of her, from tiny cutie to big roaring genius.” – SF Weekly
- “Laura Weinbach of Foxtails Brigade has a voice like the sirens of Homer’s Odyssey. It draws you in with its sheer beauty and takes you places where you teeter on the edge of bliss and terror. Foxtails Brigade’s debut album, The Bread And The Bait, is chock full of dreamy chamber-pop with a sharp edge. ” – Best New Bands
- “[Laura Weinbach's] charm is not nearly as impenetrable as her cosmic poetry or, for that matter, the band’s baroque-like music. Stay tuned for more from this very special group. – Kata Rokkar
- “We all know the dream world that Foxtails Brigade strolls through; that intimacy is what makes this one so memorable.” –Music Emissions
- “[Weinbach] looks like a character plucked from a Lewis Carroll tale, and yet beneath that surface, she’s fierce. The tracks on [Foxtails Brigade's] new album sound a bit like old Victorian song cycles. But they’re refreshing.” – East Bay Express
- By turns moody, pastoral and even occasionally frightening, The Bread And The Bait takes the simplicity of its construction and makes the most of it. -Spectrum Culture
- “Weinbach decorates The Bread and the Bait with ditties at once fanciful and childlike, but it’s her propensity for sudden tantrums of discordance that prevents her songs from sounding precious. It may be an acquired taste, but then again, isn’t that true for the better things in life? - Exclaim
- “music that doesn’t sound like very much else out there these days. A fascinating album…. “- Popmatters
- “sweet and powerful…” – SF Weekly
- “a simply stunning album.” – Jersey Beat
- “offers something new and exciting to the listener privileged enough to hear it. ” – Chart
- “Weinbach has a killer voice!” -Woman’s Radio
- “I’d initially thought that Halifax, thanks to Black Flag-coverin’, banjo totin’ crusts, was the benchmark for excellent busking. Untrue. Here, we randomly wander into San Francisco’s Foxtails Brigade performing “Pan-Asian Delight.” Them Halifax punks ain’t got shit on this.” – Fast Forward
Full press archive available upon request