The Curtains

In 2000 Chris Cohen, Trevor Shimizu, and Jamie Peterson launched the Curtains, pulling players from Deerhoof, Natural Dreamers, Open City, and St. Joseph and the Abandoned Food. The original lineup cut the band’s 2001 debut, Fast Talks, issued on vinyl in a run of just 500 copies. After Peterson and Shimizu exited, Greg Saunier and Andrew Maxwell stepped in; together they cut a split 7" with Ghost to Falco, placed a track on a Toyo compilation, and kept the group’s self-released lathe-cut 7" series alive. Fall 2003 brought the second album, Flybys, alongside a tour and another split 7" with Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Vehicles of Travel followed in 2004, steering the group’s previously loose outbursts toward tighter, more conventional song structures—an approach Cohen pursued further on the fourth Curtains album, Calamity. Having departed Deerhoof to focus on the project, he handled nearly every aspect of writing, production, and recording alone before recruiting guitarist/vocalist Nedelle Torrisi and John Ringhofer of Half-Handed Cloud to expand the arrangements. Asthmatic Kitty became the band’s new label and issued Calamity in fall 2006.