I'm changing things up a bit with this one, but I fucking love this band so I hope that at least one god damn person will get into 'em as a result of this. Chinchilla was an all-girl group out of San Diego in the mid-90's and released a few EP's followed by their one and only full-length, "101 Italian Hits", in 1996. Their style was somewhat tied to a little bit of what was going on in that general vicinity at the time, but in my opinion their brand of twisted and eerie indie rock is entirely original and comparable to very few, if any. I don't know what it is, but I really like the way they use every instrument as an individual piece of the larger puzzle, and everything falls together perfectly in the end. But for whatever reason, in my experience: No one ever knew who the fuck this band was, no one liked 'em, and only one person that I've played them for in nine years has agreed with me that they absolutely kick ass. Maybe it's the fact that they were an all-girl band and ignorant fuckwads were less open to that at the time? Maybe it's the fact that they ended up on the Crisis Records division of Revelation Records at a time when it was considered "cool" for hardcore purists to despise the label for branching out? I don't fucking have a clue. But this record is amazing. Bottomline. I've been made fun of for liking this band on many occasions, but I wholeheartedly stand by my claims.
Sadly, I can offer little insight as to where the band came from or where they went. I know that some of the members had previously done time in Prader Willies and Drip Tank (if anyone knows anything about Prader Willies please shoot me an email, 'cause I can't find shit), and the former drummer's website is here, but that's all I've got. Let me know if you happen to know anything else, I'd appreciate it.
Anyway, here are a few of my favorite tracks from the full-length:
Chinchilla "Tall"
Chinchilla "Sqeeze Machine"
If you like it, buy that shit. As with most overlooked gems you can find it for dirt cheap because people are simply dense:
Comments
the lead singer 4 chinchilla was Siobhan Dixon. i did alot of theatre with her when this album dropped and the band split over a disagreement about representation vs. credibility. She was the former girlfriend of Phil Beaumont of Maquiladora. They threw kickass parties at their Market Street loft.
1.24.2007 | By Michael Hummel
Doing a random search on the internet let me to this posting - looks like it’s a couple of years old…
I was a huge fan of Chinchilla back in the day - still have the silver bumpersticker from their single for “Batman” attached to my guitar. I never missed a show, I usually saw them at the Casbah.
Nice to see I wasn’t the only fan….
8.1.2007 | By j eastman
also found this posting on (i think) the bass player’s website:
{September 23, 2006} an all female music project - starts here
i’ve decided to play music again. i was in a band 6 or 7 years ago and really enjoyed most of that experience! we were an all female, four-piece, heavy-sounding, 90s, indie band called chinchilla. chinchilla was: Morgan Doctor, Julie D., Sioban Dixon, and me. listen to a chinchilla song here:
we toured some here in the u.s. and put out a few albums. during our last tour, we decided to call it after the halloween show and go our separate ways. since then, i’ve wanted to get something going again…but just haven’t for this reason or that. a year ago, i thought about the band idea and went to craigslist. found a few musicians but nothing really clicked. gave up….until last month!
back to craigslist, I really want to play with all women. chinchilla was such an empowering, personally comfortable situation to both create music and travel. after meeting at a coffeeshop, a guitarist/vocalist and i have played 5 or 6 times and it is fun. i had found a keyboardist through an aquaintance and we started the hunt for a drummer.
i really didn’t have a sound in mind when starting this whole thing, but after the practices, i have realized that i want to be a bit more unique than not. the current line-up is pretty straight ahead, but even though it isn’t different, it is better than not playing at all!
3.24.2008 | By rizzah
random google led me to this page. waited 13 years to finaly listen to 101 italian hits, downloaded it off amazon a second ago. orderd it once and ended up getting a diffrent revelation cd. first heard decoder on the rev in flight program compilation. so happy to find this information on them. thanks people
5.15.2010 | By Yanni
this is one of those bands that only seems to work for a couple of people. i think this is one of the weirdest, eeriest math rock records i own. by the way, you can still buy the LP from revhq, and they’ll usually toss in the 7” with your order.
12.31.2011 | By dave
Chinchilla ranks as one of my all-time favorite bands. Their unique, pounding, circuitous style of play was way ahead of their time. Math rock, bordering on metal, with one of the best drummers ever to sit behind a kit. They released the self-titled EP Chinchilla in addition to 101 Italian Hits. The band consisted of Sioban Dixon (vocals), Julie Dick (guitar), Krista Bentley (bass), and Morgan Doctor (drums). They hailed from San Diego. Bentley previously played with Showertrick of Lawrence, KS., another of my favorite bands. Doctor went on to play with The Cliks of Toronto, CAN. and is a prolific studio and solo artist. I recently heard rumor of a reunion tour in the near future.
9.27.2012 | By Eavan
Chinchilla is indeed reuniting for some shows this April. Confirmed at this point:
4/19/2014: Seattle, at the Sunset Tavern
4/26/2014: San Diego, at the Casbah
You can keep track of further updates at https://www.facebook.com/chinchillaband
1.13.2014 | By Chinchilla