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Office

 
Artist: Office

Group Members:

Jessica Gonyea, Erica Corniel, Alissa Noonan, Tom Smith, Scott Masson

Similar Artists:

Influenced By:

  • Formed: 2001, Chicago, IL
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "A Night at the Ritz," "The Ice Tea Boys and the Lemonade Girls"

Biography

Seemingly attempting to give themselves the most "search engine averse" name this side of The The, since every attempt to find out online information about the band spits out millions of hits about Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell, new wave revivalists Office formed in Chicago in 2001. Singer/songwriter Scott Masson began Office upon his return from a year in Great Britain spent working as a visual artist; Masson's art school influence, bearing echoes of brainy rockers like XTC, Talking Heads, and Game Theory, is a major influence on the band, and is also apparent in the consistently excellent graphic designs of their albums. Working off of the themes of the sculptures he created in London, which incorporated standard office supplies, Masson recorded a full album by himself, an experimental one-man-band effort he called Office. A second solo album, The Ice Tea Boys and the Lemonade Girls, followed in 2003.

After leaving his day job (as, naturally, an office manager), Masson retired to his Wisconsin hometown for a period of woodshedding before returning to Chicago with an album's worth of demos and plans for a full-band lineup of Office. After Masson connected with guitarist Tom Smith, bassist Alissa Noonan, and drummer Erica Corniel, Office recorded and self-released their first full-band album, Q&A, in 2005. Garnering strong reviews and live buzz, Office signed with former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha's Scratchie Records label in the summer of 2006; as the group began recording their first album for the label, Office added keyboardist and percussionist Jessica Gonyea to their lineup. A Night at the Ritz arrived in 2007. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Office (band)
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Office

Background information
Origin Chicago, Illinois
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Genres Rock, Pop music, Indie rock, psychedelic, song-oriented music
Years active 2000 – Present
Labels Quack!Media
Former label - Scratchie Records
New Line Records
Members
Scott Masson - singer, producer, songwriter
Erica Corniel - drums, vocals
Justin Petertil - piano, keys, vocals, and percussion
Jeremy Freer - guitar, vocals, and piano
Jeff Freer - bass, and vocals
Former members
Colin DeKuiper - bass
Tom Smith - guitar, vocals
Alissa Noonan - bass
Jessica Gonyea - synth, percussion, and vocals
Jamie Harper - bari sax, flute
John Martin - tenor sax, accordion
Brad Minor - bass
Toby Worscheck - drums, drum machine

Office is a Chicago-based pop band that formed in 2000. The band began as a public performance outlet for songwriter Scott Masson while attending Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Masson has maintained the band as a collaborative musical project since, with various friends and performers as collaborators.

Office has developed a cult following in the last few years, particularly in the Chicago indie-rock community, promoting a sound that has been described by Spin as "handclaps and sunny harmonies", which is ironically the opposite of what the band writes about.[citation needed] Their song "Wound Up" was downloaded over 322,000 times as the Single of the Week on the iTunes Music Store in May 2006, helping their 2005 album, Q&A, reach number 14 on the iTunes album charts, briefly beating Tom Petty and Neil Young in the Top 20. Q&A held a spot in the iTunes top 100, while the band was performing shows at South by Southwest music festival in 2006 and 2007, CMJ, Mobfest, Midwest Music Conference, a set at Lollapalooza, and many more high-profile showcases. In October 2006, the group signed with Scratchie Records, an independent label owned by James Iha, former guitarist of the Smashing Pumpkins.

The band's first record under the Scratchie label, A Night at the Ritz, was released on September 25, 2007. The album contains both previously unreleased and older material from the group's extensive catalogue, which has been remastered and remixed for commercial release.

In September 2007, Alissa Noonan parted ways with the band so she could pursue her personal life and career as a photography stylist. The band found Colin DeKuiper, a former member of Chicago instrumental-band, Russian Circles, as a permanent replacement on bass. The band let Jessica Gonyea (keyboards and vocals) go in April 2008, along with the band's manager, and Jessica now works full time as a DJ throughout Chicago and other cities in the US. Tom Smith and Colin DeKuiper left Office in December 2008, and are now in the outfit "Old Fake".

Masson asked Scratchie / New Line Records to drop them in spring of 2008, and Office is once again being managed and produced by Masson.

Masson moved the project to the Detroit-area in late 2008, and is currently recording a new full-length and performing around the mid-west, as well as recording and acting as drummer for The Juliets, a baroque pop ensemble fronted by Jeremy Freer. Erica Corniel and Justin Petertil are long-time members, and still work with Masson on Office-related projects in Chicago. Jeremy Freer, Erica Corniel, Justin Petertil contribute to live Office performances, as well as the recorded material. Office signed with Ann Arbor-based media conglomerate Quack!Media in January 2009, releasing "Mecca" on limited-edition vinyl and digital download. For several months, the album was available for free via the internet.

Office's song 'Dominoes' was included on the indie compilation Indiecater Volume IV in August 2009.

Past and present collaborators include: Alissa Noonan, Jessica Gonyea, Jamie Harper, John Martin, Brad Minor, Toby Worscheck, Jen Collier, Tom Smith, Colin DeKuiper, Jody Weinmann, Thea Nichols, Sarah Jean Stevens, Shawn Rios, Jackie Phillips, Kip Donlon, and more.

Contents

Discography

Albums

Office (2001)

  1. "Traffic Jams"
  2. "Cash/Money Killionaire"
  3. "Paint the City and Faces With Yellow"
  4. "Squeeze the Distance"
  5. "Bizmox"
  6. "Gas Mask"
  7. "Wireless"
  8. "The Program"
  9. "Toy Piano"
  10. "Cakeheads"
  11. "Message Machine"

The Ice Tea Boys and the Lemonade Girls (2002)

  1. "Loverdriver"
  2. "Plus/Minus Fairytale"
  3. "Weathermaker"
  4. "Superfoolfantastic"
  5. "Reaching For A Laser Beam"
  6. "Company Calls"
  7. "Bar Yellow"
  8. "And You're So..."
  9. "The Ice Tea Boys and the Lemonade Girls"
  10. "Until I Find You..."
  11. "Mosquito"

Glass Corvette [unreleased] (2004)

  1. "Introduction"
  2. "Q & A"
  3. "Glass Corvette"
  4. "The Remedy"
  5. "Poor Rich"
  6. "Into Your Network"
  7. "Wicker Park Party!"
  8. "Reality TV Show"
  9. "Busy With Other Things"
  10. "Until 6PM..."
  11. "Suburban Perfume"
  12. "Good Cops"
  13. "Twelve Months"
  14. "Pulmonary Lounge"

Q&A (2005)

  1. "Wound Up"
  2. "Oh My"
  3. "The Big Bang Jump!"
  4. "If You Don't Know By Now"
  5. "Busy With Other Things"
  6. "Q & A"
  7. "Until 6PM"
  8. "Not Her Style"
  9. "Ordinary Offices, Extraordinary Proposals"
  10. "Had a Visit"
  11. "Dominos"
  12. "Possibilities"

A Night at the Ritz (2007)

  1. "Oh My"
  2. "If You Don't Know by Now"
  3. "The Ritz"
  4. "Company Calls"
  5. "Wound Up"
  6. "The Big Bang Jump"
  7. "Plus Minus Fairytale"
  8. "Paralyzed Prince"
  9. "Had a Visit"
  10. "Q&A"
  11. "Dominoes"
  12. "Possibilities"
  13. "Suburban Perfume"
  14. "Walking the Cow" (iTunes only bonus track)

Mecca (2009)

  1. "Sticky Dew"
  2. "Nobody Knows You"
  3. "Ridiculous Plans"
  4. "Enter Me, Exit You"
  5. "Dr. Drako"
  6. "Sleepwalking"
  7. "Everything You've Witnessed"
  8. "Trainwreck DJs"
  9. "Double Penetrate the Market"
  10. "Aphrodisiac Missles"
  11. "The Silent Parade"

Notes and references

External links


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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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