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Botswanas Biography

botswanas

Powered by the muscular guitar work of Price Harrison and the cool-but-emphatic high-attitude vocals of vocalist and frontwoman Eileen Ziontz, the Botswanas blend '60s garage punk, '70s power pop, and a little Stones-style swagger and Stooges-type sneer into one high-octane rock & roll mixture. The Botswanas were formed in New Haven, CN, by longtime friends Harrison and Ziontz; while they'd been knocking around the New Haven scene for some time and had been making noises about forming a band since the late '80s, it wasn't until 1994 that the two teamed up with bassist Danny Ly and started playing out. The band cut a debut 45 that year, "Little Witch" b/w "Primitive High," which Harrison released on his own Feralette Records label (who also handle the band's subsequent releases); before long, the group decided to leave Connecticut behind to try their luck in New York City, replacing their first drummer with Kami Candella along the way. After a year of hard gigging, the band released their first album, Cream Machine, which garnered strong reviews, and the band began developing a potent reputation among garage rock enthusiasts. Mockers and Rods followed in 1997, and the two albums were combined with single tracks for a Spanish compilation released in 1998, Por Favor. The band began to suffer from the sadly common "disappearing drummer" phenomenon, with Joe Rizzo taking over for Candella midway through the recording of Mockers and Rods, and Linda Brosseau stepping in after Rizzo turned in his notice. The Botswanas had to face a more serious problem in 1997 when Harrison, who was studying architecture in New Haven when the band formed, got a job in building design in Nashville. However, the Botswanas were committed enough to their music to work out a commuting schedule, and the members of the band moved back and forth between New York, Connecticut, and Tennessee as they played shows when time permitted and continued to work on their recordings. In 2001, the band finally completed their third proper album, Fade and You're Gone, with tracking done in New York and overdubs completed in Nashville; the album also marked the addition of yet another drummer, Jim Balga. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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