THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “American indie-rock trio Quiz Show — a supergroup featuring members of Shudder To Think, Guided By Voices and The Dambuilders — have just dropped their self-titled powerhouse of a debut.
This electrifying collection of 12 wiry, scrappy tracks was recorded by Shudder To Think’s Chris Matthews and Jesse Krakow, together with GBV and Dambuilders drummer Kevin March. Krakow took over bass duties from original member Frank Gibbons, while more recently, Joe Billy has replaced March. The Quiz Show LP brings together singles the band recorded with award-winning producer Ray Ketchem (Guided By Voices, Luna, Versus, Elk City, Gramercy Arms) between 2017 and 2020 at his Magic Door Recording Studio in Montclair, N.J. Ketchem remastered the tracks for this release.
Interesting fact: through this process, Matthews discovered that he enjoys singing as much as playing guitar. “This is our first album! Quiz Show has been making music since 2017 and put out most of the songs on this release as singles between 2017 and 2020. We are releasing them now after remixing and remastering all of the songs to freshen them up and so they can document the origin story of Quiz Show in a single package,” says Matthews.
With Ketchem on board, Quiz Show released a string of singles — songs of protest, friendship and frustration — to a growing number of listeners. Tapping the energy of punk rock with its loud guitars and driving rhythms, the vocals strive to capture the emotional fervour of punky garage-rock. Pushing boundaries with rhythm, arrangements, chord structures and vocals that expand from straightahead power to music, they weave together different influences, including classic rock, prog and alternative, to create complex and beautiful in unexpected ways.
“Quiz Show songs come together when ideas voiced through the guitars are set to rhythms constructed on the bass and drums,” the band say. “Lyrics come after the melodies, which themselves often emerge while Chris is driving around. These songs were created in the in-between spaces of complicated lives. We cherish this work and the feelings it describes.”
