Eisley

Eisley
Background information
Origin	Tyler, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Indie Rock Pop
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Reprise Records, Record Collection, Warner Bros. Records, Sire Records
Website	http://www.eisley.com/
Members
Chauntelle DuPree Sherri DuPree Weston DuPree Stacy DuPree Garron DuPree
Former members
Jonathan Wilson Taylor Muse Amy Whittacker

Eisley is a rock band from Tyler, Texas, consisting of four siblings (Chauntelle, Sherri, Stacy, and Weston DuPree) and their cousin (Garron DuPree), all of whom were born and live in Texas.

History

Formation

The band was formed in 1997 as Chauntelle and Sherri began working in their bedrooms on music together after being inspired by bands such as the Beatles, Jeremy Enigk,^[1] and Radiohead.^[2] Younger sister Stacy (who was then 8 years old) became frustrated over their insistence that she was too young to be a part of the band and wrote her own song without their help before she was inducted. Their brother Weston (who was then 10 years old) soon joined the band as the drummer.^[3][4]

Early years

Boyd and Kim Dupree, parents of the four DuPree siblings, ran a venue called Brewtones Coffee Galaxy by occupying the space of their church on days when it was not in use. Eisley, then known as the Towheads, began years of service as the house band, giving them their first exposure. At Brewtones, the band played with many other acts such as Ester Drang, Midlake, Waterdeep, and others. The band played numerous weekend shows at the venue until they became too busy with other opportunities.^[5]

The band has had an unstable bass lineup over the years. After friend Amy Whittaker left in 1998, Taylor Muse filled in as a non-member, contributing the band's first name, Moss Eisley, but soon left to continue working with his other bands, including Quiet Company. (Recently, he joined Eisley for a solo performance at Brewtones.^[6]) Good friend Jonathan Wilson stepped in to become their bassist in late 2001 but decided to step down in July 2005 during their tour with Hot Hot Heat. Jon remains a good friend of the band and lives in Eisley's hometown, Tyler, Texas. He was replaced as bassist by Garron DuPree, the DuPrees' then fifteen year old cousin in 2005.^[7]

The band's name changed several times in their early years. They began as The Towheads, before changing their name to Moss Eisley, after Mos Eisley, a town in the Star Wars films. When the band signed in 2003, there were worries of legal troubles with the name.^[2] After considering "Neverland" and "Sinclair", they eventually decided just to drop the "Moss" portion of their name and became simply "Eisley." The only known printed reference to the band's Neverland name (which they officially used for approximately two weeks) can be found in an issue of the Dallas, Tx monthly music magazine Harder Beat.

Signing

After burgeoning on the Dallas scene in 2001, playing hundreds of shows throughout Texas and garnering a fan base as an indie band, Eisley was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2003. The band won 'Best New Artist' from the Dallas Observer Music Awards in the same year.^[8] The band had some early radio success with the song "Telescope Eyes" from the Laughing City E.P.. It was ranked top 25th most played song on FM 102.1 ("The Edge") in Dallas, Texas in 2003. Eisley has recorded videos for "Marvelous Things", "I Wasn't Prepared", "Telescope Eyes" (the version from Room Noises), and "Memories", which can be viewed on the official website, but largely the band's strong, steady, organic growth comes from touring and an aggressive online marketing approach.

Performances

Played shows as an unsigned indie band for many years between 1998 and 2003 - mostly clubs in Texas.

Eisley's first legitimate tour was support for Coldplay's "Rush of Blood to the Head" tour in the US and at the V Festival in England.^[9] Over the years, Eisley has also toured with Brand New, Snow Patrol, New Found Glory, Hot Hot Heat, Switchfoot, Taking Back Sunday, The Fray, Bleach and Mute Math. The band has also toured several times as a headlining act. Their first headlining tour, "Winter West" was in early 2005 with The Elected and The Colour. This was followed by the "Summer Scenic" tour with Pilotdrift and Lovedrug in mid 2005. Their third major headlining tour, titled "Final Noise," was opened by Simon Dawes and Brighten in Spring 2006. Eisley also performed on a special acoustic tour with Wesley Jensen^[10] during the Summer of 2007. They spent a couple months in late 2007 opening for the band Mute Math around the country and then in the spring and early summer of 2008 they headlined their own cross continent tour in support of their latest release, Combinations, with openers including The Envy Corps (who had to leave mid-tour due to a European tour), Vedera and The Myriad.

Eisley also played a number of individual shows. They played a handful of shows at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas in March 2007. In August 2007, they performed at the Carling Weekend Festival, held in Reading and Leeds, England. Most recently, they performed at Brewtones on December 15, 2007.^[11]

They made their national television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien August 30, 2007, performing "Invasion."

Current Status

Eisley released the Fire Kite EP on October 13, 2009 in anticipation of their upcoming third LP, to be released in the first half of 2010.

The band is currently on tour with Say Anything as their main supporting act. They are performing three new songs on this tour, two of which appear on the Fire Kite EP.

Line-up

• Stacy DuPree - Keyboard, vocals, guitar,
• Chauntelle DuPree - Lead guitar, and on occasion, vocals.
• Garron DuPree - Bass
• Weston DuPree - Drums
• Sherri DuPree - rhythm guitar and vocals

Discography

Albums

• Room Noises (2005, Reprise Records) #189 US
• Combinations (2007, Reprise Records) #70 US

EPs

• Laughing City (2003, Record Collection)
• Marvelous Things (2003, Reprise Records)
• Telescope Eyes E.P. (2005, Reprise Records)
• Head Against The Sky E.P. (2005, Reprise Records)
• Final Noise E.P. (2006, Reprise Records)
• Like the Actors E.P. (December 18, 2007, Reprise Records)
• Fire Kite E.P. (October 13, 2009, Reprise Records)

Independent recordings

Eisley's early independent recordings have been confusing for new fans. The track listings are:

• EP1 – "Pretender", "Dream for Me", "Blackened Crown"
• EP2 version 1 – "Telescope Eyes", "Over the Mountains We Go", "Head Against the Sky"
• EP2 version 2 – Version 1 plus "Dream for Me" and "Blackened Crown"
• EP2 version 3 – Version 2 plus "Mister Pine" and "Laughing City"

Eisley simply added the best of each EP and carried them forward. None of these recordings was released officially but sold at hundreds of shows between 1999 and 2003. EP2 version 3 contains all of the songs from the previous versions, including EP1, except for "Pretender." All songs on the independent recordings are owned by Eisley and they have generously allowed their fans to offer them for download from various places on the web.

Other songs

Like most bands, Eisley has recorded many old songs and B-sides that have yet to make it onto any of their CDs. Many live recordings of these are available on fan websites. Some have been re-recorded and released on the iTunes Exclusive EPs. Still others are only available via fan websites and peer to peer sharing.

Some Eisley songs have had difficulty being released. A song titled "Sun Feet" was supposed to be released on Atticus: ...dragging the lake, Vol. 4, but the compilation album's release date has since passed with no sign of the CD; Boyd DuPree has said that the CD will no longer happen. A version of the song was released on August 14 on a limited edition EP sold at various indie record stores along with Combinations, but this version was not approved by the band and is not the version produced by Rob Schnapf or Mike Mogis. The "proper version" of Sunfeet was finally released on December 18, 2007 on the Like The Actors E.P..

In 2006, a group of songs, collectively known as "The Baby," were placed onto the internet by an unknown person who acquired them through illicit means. These songs were not finished, and were never intended to be released. The band has asked its fans not to share these songs.

Contributions

• Maybe This Christmas Too? (2003, Nettwerk) - "The Winter Song"
• Happy Christmas Vol. 4 (2005, Tooth & Nail) - "The Winter Song"

Backing Vocals

Stacy and Sherri sang back-up for Head Automatica debut album Decadence on the track "Dance Party Plus". They also sang back-up on the Fair track, "Unglued", from Fair's album The Best Worst-Case Scenario.

Stacy, Sherri, Chauntelle and, their younger sister Christie DuPree contributed backing vocals on several tracks of New Found Glory's album ,Coming Home, and tracked background vocals for Bright Eyes new record, Cassadaga (while recording their own). Sherri also contributed backing vocals for New Found Glory's cover of "It Ain't Me Babe" from their latest LP, From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II, while Stacy performed on another track. Stacy and Sherri did backing vocal's for The Maine's EP, ...And a Happy New Year, Ho, Ho Hopefully. Most recently, Sherri appeared on two tracks from Say Anything's self-titled album.

Samples

	Marvelous Things An excerpt of the 2005 Room Noises version of "Marvelous Things" by Eisley.
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References

External links

• Official website
• Official Eisley MySpace page
• Trolleywood.com - Fansite dedicated to host non-album/B-sides/live songs
• Brewtones website
• Synthesis.net interview
• Synthesis.net video interview on YouTube
• FR*A interview
• Blast Magazine Interview