Shinola
Out of the ashes of Ophelia's Backporch Revolution came Shinola (1995-6) who sprinkled the Chapel Hill scene with out-of-tune moaners to love lost, cigarettes, and alcohol all under the guise of a faux punk/country insurgency. With three songwriters in the band, distorted fiddle (and sometimes banjo), they played 18 shows and had nearly 30 songs in their brief 1 and a half-year career but due to their infinite penury only released one 7" (Vodka b/w Who's a Fuck-up?) on their own label, Backporch Revolution. A cassette compilation was released in late '96 but less than 20 copies exist.
Vodka
by Shinola
I will tell you that "Vodka" is one of those twisted little songs which will cling to the lining of yr brainpan for, oh, hours after you've heard it. It's one of those abrasive-on-the-surface numbers that reveals its wicked cling-powers only after you've let your defenses down. As in, I haven't actually played the single for myself in, oh, two months, but I found myself singing the chorus of "Vodka" to myself day before yesterday. And loving every minute of it. And inasmuch as twisted, wry self-loathing is a long-sacred topic of popmuzik, it fits right in with yr canon, whatever that canon may be. -- Ross Grady
All Night