Fairmount Girls

Wandering through The Fairmount Girls’ rehearsal space — dubbed “Sprout House” because of the alfalfa sprout growing landlord who occupies the building’s first floor — on the eve of the release of Forever, their first new album in seven years, there’s a palpable sense that a yard sale of pop cul ture’s last 40 years would look a lot like this warehouse area. Stacks of old vinyl. A revolving rack of clothing that could have been wardrobe stock from Laugh-In and Soul Train.


Velvet paintings interspersed with real art. Textbooks that look as though they might address the exploration of the moon in theoretical terms. Billy Baloney and Chairy dolls. Cans of Psssst, the ’60s hairspray shampoo.


Trying to take it all in is dizzying and fascinating. The impression that The Fairmount Girls don’t take much in life very seriously, least of all themselves, is tucked next to a supporting column in the middle of the space. There, atop a cardboard packing barrel, are the band’s accumulated Cincinnati Entertainment Awards and Cammy Awards, undust ed, unlighted, decidedly unmantled.


In other words, like everything else in the Fairmounts’ muse um of 20th century pop artifacts, they’re treasured with a sense of irreverent perspective.


That perspective is on full display during the band’s exterior photo shoot. When a trio of women and their young children pass by as band members are being framed beneath the ancient Barq’s sign painted on the building across the street, one of the women admires drummer/vocalist Dana Hamblen’s go-go boots and dress with a whoop and the observation, “Party like a Rock star!” The band cracks up and invites the group to be pho tographed with them. After some initial reticence, the women and children mingle and pose with one of the city’s most bat tered and beloved bands.


Photographer Kurt Strecker engages the Fairmounts in con versation as he directs them into various positions under the Barq’s tagline (“It’s good and wholesome!”), asking them the reason for the CityBeat story. Vocalist/keyboardist Melissa Fairmount says the band’s CD release party — Friday night at Northside Tavern with The Chauncers and The Sundresses — is imminent.


“Which album is this?” Strecker inquires. “Three,” says the generally ebullient Fairmount. And then, looking somewhat pensively at the ground for a moment, she adds, “It’s been a long time coming.”

Don’t call it a comeback

The long gap between releases could have been the reason for titling the band’s new album Forever, their first legitimate full-length CD since the release of Tender Trap in 2001. Or maybe it’s a statement of how long the Fairmounts think they can continue.

Considering it’s been seven years since their last album — not counting various EPs and their 2005 Christmas release, all of which were handed out at shows — and that the band has never actually stopped working, perhaps their tenacity and tal ent will power them indefinitely, like a Pop/Punk version of the Eveready bunny.

But it hasn’t been easy. Since the release of Tender Trap, founding members Jane McBrain and Marnie Greenholz departed, as did guitarist Chris Schadler and bassist Eva Destruction (and a veritable parade of early members). With only the original core of Fairmount and Hamblen, The Fairmount Girls assembled a quartet with Erin Proctor and Mark Zero and soldiered on, regularly playing shows in and out of town. By the following year, Proctor and Zero had also left and Jim Farmer had shuttered Deary Me, the Fairmounts’ label of record for Tender Trap and their 2000 debut, Eleven Minutes to Anywhere. Although the band had made some tentative steps

toward recording in 2004, they no longer had a label affiliation so there was little urgency to write and record.

“It didn’t take us long to write songs, it just kind of took us a while to get focused enough to record them,” Fairmount says as the band sits around the velvet-bumpered bar adorning the lounge area in their rehearsal space.

“And we’re also fairly persnickety. We’ve dropped a lot of songs. We did this record in four different sessions over the past four years. It did take a while.”
Related content
Wussy Shakes It AgainTHE GIRLS ARE BACK IN TOWNHoward Brothers Band (Profile)New Name for J. Dorsey Blues, New Lineup for Len's Lounge and Goodbye to the Blue NoteThe Emeralds (Profile)
Related to:fairmountreleasebeenbandthembandsalbumtender

It turned out that 2004 was a good year for the Fairmounts. Bassist Randy Cheek (formerly of The Ass Ponys) and his wife Beth (also of Lovely Crash) joined the Fairmount Girls family, with Randy switching to guitar to accommo date Beth’s formidable bass abilities.

Almost simultaneously, Tigerlilies gui tarist/vocalist Pat Hennessy, who had been talking with Hamblen and Fairmount for some time about playing together, dropped by for a jam and ulti mately decided to split his time between his own band and the Fairmounts.

Hennessy’s introduct - Citybeat 2008

Sassy garagey girl rock/pretty pop. Trashy but also clean, well recorded but still a warm lo-fi garage tone. All girl vocs w/ harmonies, heavy guits, simple (nice) drums, requisite analog synth, even a trumpet and strings here and there, but overall guit/bass/drums feel. Rondelles, Breeders, Heavenly, Cakelike, all in a blender. All tracks excellent, clean. Something about girl drummers...

1) upbeat surfy beat, noisy dissonant guits, minor theme
2) upbeat 4/4 melodic vocs w/ epic breaks and nice beat you can dance to
3) bigger sound, slower w/ cleaner wah’ed bass and guits
4) lush and pretty pop, almost introspective sensitive feel, lots of fuzziness but tempered by melody, pretty vocs
5) mid-up 4/4 rock
6) mid almost slow feel w/ pretty Breeders feeling voc harmonies, strings
7) pretty lilting pop, 4/4 rock, noisy guits countered by super poppy vocs + harmonies and cute synth
8) upbeat pop gets heavy w/ guits, voc harmonies
9) acoustic guit + vocs, pretty ballad
10) straight-up driving power pop indie rock
11) slow to build, melodic and dense w/ guits, vocs, noise, etc., ends after 3 min, then 20 sec of silence then “hidden” track of comical lo-fi acoustic guit + guy vocs, like a demo or a scratch track - Zookeeper Online

The songs discuss suffocating in relationships, male misapprehension of female strength and most interestingly, the loss of identity that can result from a relationship's end. The band's sound will reel you in, but it's the substance behind the lyrics that'll keep you coming back. -- bm
- Slendid :

The bass is deep and ominous, the vocals are biting and heartfelt, the guitar loud and crunchy in parts and soft and introspective in others. This track should be played everywhere, it could propel these girls to certain stardom. You can't help but smiling, listening to Fairmount Girls, and you'll bob your head and sing along and tap your fingers without even realizing you're doing it. Ohio's Fairmount Girls is band that really knows how to play the punk-infused rock-n-roll. Sounding at times like a more melodious Sleater-Kinney, Fairmount Girls rip through 11 songs of catchy yet powerful rock tunes on this, their sophomore release, pounding out bolts of almost-punk and tossing in more melodic poppy numbers with equal ease. - Delusions of Adequacy Reviews

The band, though, during its sensational nine year run, has seen almost constant change, all the while winning thousands of fans, here and in surrounding cities. They have done so by mixing increasingly impressive music with an infectious flair for having fun.

- Locals Only

I love what we're doing musically. If we can travel to other cities and get people to hear us and like us, it's worth it." It's time for the Girls to go on. They play a tight set to a packed room. They are by far the most interesting
act of the evening. Their theme-dressing (this time it's "Japanese tourist") catches the crowd's eye. Flashbulbs start popping everywhere.
It occurs to me exactly why the Girls keep doing this, year after year. The magic that happens on the stage when they play together, the people they get to meet, the places they get to go -- it's worth being cold, tired, broke and hungry. - Cincinnati CityBeat : 02/04/2004

It may be the return of flawless, female led vocal harmonies! This Cincinnati group has hooks, melodies and some choice tunes that'll nab ya if you're a sucker for girl bands. the Fairmount Girls will sing their way into your heart as the music envelops you, leaving an estranged smirk on your face as you willingly gasp for more.
The band's sound will reel you in, but it's the substance behind the lyrics that'll keep you coming back. -- bm - Splendid E-zine:

Imagine tight harmonies blended into tight pop, with a dusting of distortion in the guitars.
See, it's not the style that makes this sound so good. these "girls" play pop as well as I've heard in a while (with some ace production), but it is the undercurrent that marks this disc as a winner.

They make this sound easy. That's the trick. And maybe it is for the Fairmount Girls, but I doubt it. This is highly-crafted, well-performed pop. Almost impossible to set down. Just gorgeous. - A&A Archives

fairmount girls cram the stage for 45 minutes of great drones, over a straight up post-punk pulse with swirling organ, power chords and stewardess outfits to boot. Man! That's entertainment! I was fixed to the stage and I can't even figure out the dynamic behind it all. Maybe it's 'girl power' or some such nonsense but, whatever it is you gotta see it. It's powerful, sublime music made by indie-devotees.

- ORVMAC