Biography
Founded and fronted by the emotive singer, songwriter, and guitarist Beth Cameron, the Nashville-based band Forget Cassettes creates emotionally charged, melody-driven alternative and indie rock. Although based in Nashville, the group shares no ties to country, Americana, or roots styles; instead, its sound draws from a range of influences that include PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana, and Hole. The music thrives on dynamic shifts, with Cameron capable of moving from introspective, brooding passages to raw, explosive catharsis within a single performance.
Forget Cassettes originated in May 2002 when Cameron teamed with drummer and keyboardist Doni Schroeder. Prior to that project, the pair had spent two years in the mostly female Nashville outfit Fair Verona, originally called Calypso and unrelated to the Dublin, Ireland trio of the same name that began as Femme Fatale and remained active into early 2007; Nashville’s Fair Verona disbanded in 2001, and one of Cameron’s former bandmates there, singer and guitarist Shawna Potter, later joined the Baltimore group Avec in 2003. As a duo, Cameron and Schroeder tracked the debut album Instruments of Action in 2002, which Theory 8 issued the following year.
Schroeder departed in late 2004 to tour with the Austin alternative act …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, prompting Cameron to step away from music temporarily. Concerns that the band might dissolve after a single release proved unfounded when, in 2005, Cameron assembled a new trio by enlisting drummer Aaron Ford, another former member of Nashville’s Fair Verona who had also played with the Sincerity Guild, and multi-instrumentalist Jay Leo Phillips, previously of Apollo Up! and adept on bass, drums, and guitar. The earlier male-female duo configuration had invited White Stripes comparisons that faded once the group expanded to three members.
Theory 8 released the second album, Salt, in 2006. Schroeder subsequently returned for select shows, occasionally expanding the lineup to a quartet, while Phillips and Ford’s other commitments sometimes restored the original Cameron-Schroeder pairing. Throughout every variation, Cameron has remained the sole consistent member and primary architect of the band’s sonic identity. In 2007, Forget Cassettes secured European distribution through London’s One Little Indian Records/Tangled Up Recordings.
Forget Cassettes originated in May 2002 when Cameron teamed with drummer and keyboardist Doni Schroeder. Prior to that project, the pair had spent two years in the mostly female Nashville outfit Fair Verona, originally called Calypso and unrelated to the Dublin, Ireland trio of the same name that began as Femme Fatale and remained active into early 2007; Nashville’s Fair Verona disbanded in 2001, and one of Cameron’s former bandmates there, singer and guitarist Shawna Potter, later joined the Baltimore group Avec in 2003. As a duo, Cameron and Schroeder tracked the debut album Instruments of Action in 2002, which Theory 8 issued the following year.
Schroeder departed in late 2004 to tour with the Austin alternative act …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, prompting Cameron to step away from music temporarily. Concerns that the band might dissolve after a single release proved unfounded when, in 2005, Cameron assembled a new trio by enlisting drummer Aaron Ford, another former member of Nashville’s Fair Verona who had also played with the Sincerity Guild, and multi-instrumentalist Jay Leo Phillips, previously of Apollo Up! and adept on bass, drums, and guitar. The earlier male-female duo configuration had invited White Stripes comparisons that faded once the group expanded to three members.
Theory 8 released the second album, Salt, in 2006. Schroeder subsequently returned for select shows, occasionally expanding the lineup to a quartet, while Phillips and Ford’s other commitments sometimes restored the original Cameron-Schroeder pairing. Throughout every variation, Cameron has remained the sole consistent member and primary architect of the band’s sonic identity. In 2007, Forget Cassettes secured European distribution through London’s One Little Indian Records/Tangled Up Recordings.
Albums
