Reid Paley (born in

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 ...

, New York) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been performing and recording both solo and with his trio since the mid-1990s.

Early career

In the 1980s, Paley was singer, front man, and writer for

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

blues-band-from-hell The Five, which he founded in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. In the first year of the band's existence The Five released limited pressings of a vinyl single " Napalm Beach b/w Excite Me" and an EP ''

Act of Contrition An Act of Contrition is a Christian prayer genre that expresses sorrow for sins. It may be used in a liturgical service or be used privately, especially in connection with an examination of conscience. Special formulae for acts of contrition are ...

''. The band later moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and spent several years headlining clubs and playing to enthusiastic crowds before breaking up in the late 1980s. A

vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

entitled '' The Five'' was released posthumously.

Solo work / Reid Paley Trio

Returning to Brooklyn in the early 1990s, Paley continued writing and began performing solo in rock clubs on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

, singing his songs and playing a 1955

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsc ...

archtop guitar An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players. Typically, an archtop guitar has: * Six strings * An ar ...

plugged into a 1965

Fender Super Reverb The Fender Super Reverb is a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was originally introduced in 1963 and was discontinued in 1982. The Super Reverb was a Fender Super amplifier with built-in reverb and "vibrato" (actually tremolo). The original ...

amplifier. After a series of self-released tapes available only at shows,

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

released his solo debut, the vinyl single " Time For You" b/w " The Best Of All". Paley's first solo album '' Lucky's Tune'' was produced by Frank Black (formerly and again

Black Francis Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Fo ...

), and released by GoodNoise in 1999. This was followed in 2000 by the album '' Revival'', featuring Paley accompanied by Robert Lee Oliver on the three-string bass and James Murray on the

trap kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

, and produced by

Eric Drew Feldman Eric Drew Feldman (born April 16, 1955) is an American musician. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Paley ...

, who along with Jim Duffy also guests on the album. The album was released by

eMusic eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...

, and is the first recorded appearance of the Reid Paley Trio. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Paley played across the US and Western Europe, including numerous tours as support for Frank Black. Paley and Black have also collaborated on the writing of a number of songs, some of which appear on the Frank Black albums ''

Honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

'' ("Another Velvet Nightmare"), ''

Fast Man Raider Man ''Fast Man Raider Man'' is the eleventh studio album and a double-album by Frank Black released in 2006. Track listing All tracks are written by Frank Black, except where noted. Disc one Disc two Personnel Credits adapted from the album's ...

'' ("I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)", "Golden Shore", "Dog Sleep", "Down To You"), and '' Christmass'' ("Don't Get Me Wrong"). A Frank Black & the Catholics recording of Paley's "Take What You Want" appears on their limited edition single "Everything Is New." Paley toured the UK in 2004 and 2006, and plays the occasional festival, including the Vienna Festwochen/Into The City in Vienna, Austria (with Eric Drew Feldman sitting in on keys), and the Blues Rules Festival in Crissier, Switzerland in May 2010 (with Jerome O'Brien sitting in on

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

). In 2007 the album '' Approximate Hellhound vs The Monkey Demon'' was released by Metaphor Rhythms. It was produced by Paley and, like all his previous releases, was recorded on analog tape. On this album he was accompanied by Eric Eble on

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and James Murray on the

. As of 2012, this remains the current lineup of the Reid Paley Trio. Reid Paley lives in

, New York.

Paley & Francis

In the fall of 2010 in Nashville, Reid Paley and Black Francis/Frank Black recorded an album of new songwriting collaborations, appearing under the moniker Paley & Francis. The Paley & Francis album (also titled '' Paley & Francis'') was produced by

Jon Tiven Jon Tiven (born January 3, 1955) is an American composer, guitarist, record producer, and music journalist. He has produced albums by Wilson Pickett, Frank Black and Don Covay as well as a series of tribute albums paying tribute to the songwriti ...

, and features Reid Paley and Black Francis on guitars and vocals, accompanied by

Spooner Oldham Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy ...

on piano and

David Hood David Hood (born September 21, 1943) is an American bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone. He is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Early life and education Hood was born in Sheffield, Alabama and attende ...

on bass. The album was released in October 2011 on

Sonic Unyon Sonic Unyon Recording Company is an independent record label based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Their former retail store was located on Wilson Street near James Street North. The label has put out releases by bands including Tristan Psioni ...

in North America, and on

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman ...

in the UK and Europe. Paley & Francis debuted live in early September 2011 with club performances in Albany NY, Buffalo NY, and Hamilton Ontario (unannounced), and as one of the headliners of Hamilton Ontario's

Supercrawl Supercrawl is an annual art and indie music festival held each September in downtown Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, whi ...

Festival. The band for these performances consisted of Reid Paley & Black Francis on guitars and vocals, Eric Eble (of the Reid Paley Trio) on bass, and Dave Varriale on drums. The Paley & Francis album is slated for release as a vinyl LP in 2022 by

Demon Music Group Demon Music Group (DMG) is a record company owned by BBC Studios that is mainly concerned with back-catalogue rights and re-issuing recordings as compilations on physical media (CDs and vinyl) via supermarkets and specialist stores. History DM ...

Discography

Reid Paley * '' Time For You'' / '' The Best Of All'',

vinyl single, 1997 (Produced by James Murray) * '' Lucky's Tune'', LP, 1999 (Produced by

Frank Black Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Fo ...

a.k.a.

, released by GoodNoise) * '' Revival'', LP, 2000 (Produced by

, released by

) * '' Revival'', LP, 2001 (Produced by

, released by German label XXS with 4 songs from ''Lucky's Tune'' as bonus tracks) * '' Approximate Hellhound'', LP, 2007 (Produced by Reid Paley, released by Metaphor Rhythms) Paley & Francis * '' Paley & Francis'', LP, 2011 – Collaboration with

(Produced by

, released by

in the North America, and

in the UK & Europe)

References

External links

reidpaley.comPaley & Francis Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paley, Reid American rock musicians American rock songwriters American rock singers Musicians from Brooklyn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singers from New York City Sonic Unyon artists American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from New York (state)