Described by "New City" as "Chicago's own neo-vaudeville Barnstormers!", The Claudettes fuse Chicago piano blues with the full-throttle energy of rockabilly and punk and the sultriness of '60s soul. Featuring Johnny Iguana, who mashes the piano, alongside singer Berit Ulseth, bassist/singer Zach Verdoorn, and drummer Matt Torre, the bandjust recorded their forthcoming album with producer Mark Neill (Black Keys, Paladins, Old 97's). As part of select East Coast tour dates, The Claudettes will be performing this Friday, 11/10 at DROM (85 Avenue A) along with Big Lazy and Brian Carpenter & the Confessions. http://www.dromnyc.com/
Johnny, who toured for years with his cult-favorite rock band oh my god, is also a member of the Grammy-nominated groups
Chicago Blues--A Living History, and the Muddy Waters 100 Band. He has toured/recorded with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, among many others.
You can check out
The Claudettes performing on The White Wall Sessions here:
"Don't Stay with Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NELZHKivVnQ
"Give It All Up for Good"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdDa3C0-AWQ
After two mostly instrumental albums on Yellow Dog Records, 2013's debut album, "Infernal Piano Plot...HATCHED!", and 2015's "No Hotel", Johnny re-formed
The Claudettes with Berit, Matt and Zach in early 2016. "Downbeat's" Frank Hadley raved about "Infernal Piano Plot...HATCHED!" and wrote, "Hits listeners upside the head with a mash-up of Otis Spann blues, Albert Ammons boogie-woogie, Ray Charles soul and 'Fess' Longhair New
Orleans R&B. Catch them in a chaotic ballroom!" Greg Kot from the "Chicago Tribune" reviewed "No Hotel", and called it "A revelatory blend of jazz and blues, stirred with punk brio. There are also dashes of classical and world music, and enough stops, starts and hairpin turns to suggest the giddiness of Raymond Scott's cartoon music..." Earlier this year, the band released an EP, "Pull Closer To Me: Live in the Piano Room".
Band website with the band's back story, videos, tour dates and more:
http://theclaudettes.com/
The band's first three releases on Yellow Dog Records:
http://yellowdogrecords.com/theclaudettes
Facebook: The Claudettes
Twitter: @theclaudettes
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