Shiner to re-release Making Love
I was just about to go home and start making love (to a cocktail), when this landed in my inbox:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: After nearly ten years, Shiner readies to re-release their hidden gem — Making Love — on Anondyne Records.
March 13, 2007
Anondyne Records
In the mid- and late nineties, Midwestern indie rock was at its peak, and Kansas City played a major part it its development. Born in 1992 out of the Kansas City, Missouri outskirts, Shiner originally comprised of Allen Epley (guitar/ vocals), Jeff Brown (drums) and Shawn Sherrill (bass), before Tim Down took over on the skins a year later. With this line up, the band found themselves sharing the stage with Season To Risk, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys and Jawbox among others before DeSoto Records released their debut EP "Brooks" b/w "Released" 7" in 1993.
Following Shiner's first album Splay, also put out by DeSoto, Paul Malinowski took over for bass duties after departing with Season To Risk in 1995. With HitIt Recordings releasing their second full-length, Lula Divinia two years later, Sub Pop took notice and followed with the single "Sleep it Off"/ "Half Empty" that same year. After a brief tour with HUM in 1998, yet another single "Semper Fi" b/w "Sailor's Fate" 7" came out a year after. A third full-length studio effort, Starless, was released in fall 2000. Two years later, The Egg marked a "coming home" of sorts, as it too was released on DeSoto.
Preceding Starless was an EP that did not receive major distribution, but has become known as a favorite amongst Shiner fans. Making Love features live tracks from the band's first two albums; "Fetch a Switch" and "He/She" from Splay and "Third Gear Scratch" and "Cake" from Lula Divinia. Having seen such a short run of copies, the record was so limited that it reached "rarities" status. Now being officially re-released on Anodyne Records, Making Love spotlights the spot on vocal performance of lead vocalist Allen Epley and bassist Paul Malinowski.
The real gem of Making Love is the final track. A cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love" gives the EP its name, and Shiner manages to work the song into a style that is what put them on the indie rock map. "Shiner slows the tempo, replaces the bluesy guitar riff in the verse with a slow, lonelier-sounding arpeggio and fattens up the chorus riff with ninths and a thicker distortion, making Bad Company sound more like the London Choir Boy Company by comparison. Josh Newton's keyboard part and Paul Malinowski's synth bass both add the element of psychedelia to the mix." (The Zone, Kansas City)
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