Pela was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

known for their intense live performances.

History

Pela's history goes back to the early ’90s when lead vocalist and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist William McCarthy met Christopher Herb. As best friends they worked at a mall together after dropping out of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, and then traveled around the world together playing music in various cities. Herb and McCarthy began a folk project called Igloo Gazelle in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2001. In early 2002, Herb had a chance meeting with Eric Sanderson on a subway platform at 7th avenue in

where Herb was

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

. Sanderson was invited to a practice session and joined the band shortly thereafter. In late 2002, Herb abruptly moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for four years. Sanderson & McCarthy soon broke up Igloo Gazelle and teamed with guitarist Nate Martinez. Martinez and Sanderson met as roommates in college (in upstate New York) and played in many bands together both during and after theirs schooling. Both schoolmates are classically trained musicians in multiple genres of music. After a succession of drummers, they found Tomislav Zovich who remained in the band for the duration. They released a physical EP in 2005 on

Brassland Brassland is an independent record label founded in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis, Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner. History In Brassland's early years, Bemis worked as a freelance journalist for ''LA Weekly'' and ''The New York Times''. The Dessners ...

label, owned by Brooklyn/Cincinnati band The National, and a download-only EP Exit Columbia Street, in 2006. In 2007 the group signed with

independent label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Great Society, who released their debut full-length, album, ''Anytown Graffiti'', in April 2007. The group has played with

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...

, The Decemberists, Norah Jones,

Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member J ...

, The National, Mission of Burma, Gaslight Anthem,

Gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

, Devendra Barnhart,Pela
at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

. Accessed January 17, 2008. British Sea Power, and Feist. Pela severed ties with Great Society in 2008. ''Anytown Graffiti'', recorded with Dan Long, was met with wide acclaim and landed itself on over 35 "Best Of" Lists for 2007 including

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

and the KEXP Listeners Poll. As well, in October 2008, Pela's ''Anytown Graffiti'' was voted No. 112 in KEXPs countdown of the Top 903 Albums Of All Time. On September 18, 2009, the band announced on their website and Facebook site that they have broken up citing difficulties with record labels and personal injuries. Guitarist Martinez now has a solo project named Thieving Irons. In 2010, singer/songwriter William McCarthy and bassist Eric Sanderson formed a band called

Augustines Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

. Due to a trademark conflict, they renamed the band to We Are Augustines and relaunched their website in December 2010. In 2013, they were able to reclaim their original name, Augustines.

Discography

*''All in Time'' EP (

, 2005) *''Exit Columbia Street'' EP (download-only, 2006) *''Anytown Graffiti'' ( Great Society, 2007)

Members

*Nate Martinez - guitar, keyboards, vocals *Billy McCarthy - vocals, guitar *Eric Sanderson - bass, keyboards, vocals, percussion *Tomislav Zovich - drums, vocals

Touring Members

*Josh Ricchio (2009–Break up) – keyboards, guitar, vocals, percussion

References

External links

MyspaceFacebookWilliam McCarthy's websiteEric Sanderson's websiteThieving Irons website
(Nate Martinez) {{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from Brooklyn