Dressy Bessy

w/ Casper & the Cookies

Thursday, October 9 @ 40 Watt Club

originally published October 8, 2008

Dressy Bessy has had a long relationship with Athens, but it's been several years since the Colorado band has played here in town. Its early albums were released on the local Kindercore label, and the band palled around with the Elephant 6 crew for a while. Guitarist John Hill also plays in Colorado's The Apples in Stereo, and the band's rounded out by vocalist/songwriter Tammy Ealom, drummer Craig Gilbert and bassist Rob Greene. The band released a new album three weeks ago called HOLLERandSTOMP - it's packed with ebullient pop hooks, '60s-looking vocal melodies and sunny sounds the band's known for, but it's also more rhythmic and percussive, pared-down and at times reminiscent of early-'80s guitar pop.

Ealom says that she approached the writing of HOLLERandSTOMP differently than in the past, working primarily with drums and building songs around the rhythm tracks. "I've always had a clear way to how drums should sound, and it's kind of hard to tell drummers that; they can be touchy," she says. "So, I got that out of my system! Now I think I could make a pretty good drummer if I wanted to."

Recorded in Norman, OK, rather than in New York, HOLLERandSTOMP was cheaper, easier and more enjoyable to produce than past albums. "There was no release date pending, so there was no pressure. There was no idea, like, 'We've got to have an album.'" So, I just built the drum beats, stylized the sounds. Everything sounded so good that we thought, 'Hey, maybe this could be an album!'"

Most of the current tour, which extends for more than a month, will feature tracks off the new album, and Ealom is excited about translating the tunes to a live setting. "It's coming off really well. Actually, the songs sound better live than they do on the album," she says.

Chris Hassiotis