“If you live in NYC long enough, you’ll probably make friends with an Iggy,” said Alan Chapell, leader of the band that bears his name, explaining the origin of this lushly orchestrated, Tex-Mex-inflected story-song. “He’s that guy who lives life moving from one party to the next, from one dive bar to the next, and from one woman to the next.
“The Iggy I knew moved through the East Village and Williamsburg like he was a video game character,” recalled Chapell, a veteran of the New York music scene. “So we set the video to an old school video game from the ’80s. But at the end of this game, Iggy finally gets his comeuppance.” Spoiler alert!
Produced by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), and engineered by Eric “ET” Thorngren (Talking Heads, Debbie Harry, Robert Palmer, etc.), Chapell’s debut LP, the deeply autobiographical The Redhead’s Allegations, was released March 4.
Harrison and Thorngren assembled a band of world-class musicians, including drummer Prairie Prince (The Tubes, The Cars, XTC), Tommy Mandell (Bryan Adams) on organ, Riley Osborne (Kenny Wayne Shephard), George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt) on guitar, and relative newcomer Sarah Gregory (The Gregory Brothers) singing harmonies. And Jerry Harrison couldn’t resist sitting in occasionally on Wurlitzer.
The result is “music for discerning adults,” drawing from such diverse influences as Bryan Ferry and Elvis Costello, Flaming Lips and Neutral Milk Hotel, augmented by cello, fiddle, organ and a full horn section. It’s brilliant stuff, and we’re very pleased to offer you Chapell’s video premiere!
