Spouse

Spouse is an experimental rock band from the northeastern United States, reminiscent of late 80s underground groups like The Replacements and the Pixies. Fronted by Jose Ignacio Ayerve, Spouse is a large project, similar to Broken Social Scene, with many members and contributors from various other bands including Pedro the Lion, the Silver Jews and the Pernice Brothers.

With the engineering and production help of Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Yo La Tengo), Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart/Lilys), Mark Alan Miller (J Mascis/Dar Williams) and Elisha Weisner (Kahoots), Spouse has captured stunning recordings of their music over the years.

1999's '1 Marvel To DC' and 'Focus' were hits on college radio, making enough of a stir to have the song Superman featured on National Public Radio's 'This American Life'.

2000's Nozomi was met with much critical acclaim and was widely broadcast through heavy internet radio play.

2003's Love Can't Save This Love broke into the College Music Journal's Top 200 through February and March 2003. The album included a video for the over-the-top electro-dance song Boots & Pants.

A single for the song Catch 22 was released in February 2004, including their much loved cover of 'Til Tuesday's Voices Carry.

The summer of 2004 saw the arrival of Spouse's third full length, Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye?, and Spouse's first tour outside of the northeast, with Chicago-based Millimeters Mercury. Over the next two years, college and internet radio play continued to spread Spouse's music around the country or world, with the songs Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye? and Army Song receiving much attention. MTV also took notice of Spouse and licensed the entire album of Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye? for their popular shows, 'Laguna Beach' and 'The Hills'. During this time Spouse began touring frequently, including doing a tour opening for their friends, the Pernice Brothers.

From the summer of 2005 to 2006, Spouse wrote and recorded a large body of work in a turn-of-the-century farmhouse, formally owned by Nina Simone's manager as a recording studio for her. The outcome was Spouse's fourth full-length album, Relocation Tactics, which was mixed by Adam Lasus and Mark Alan Miller and was released on April 10th, 2007. In support of Relocation Tactics, Spouse went on their longest national tour to date, spanning more than five weeks and hitting many of the lower forty-eight states, including a fun show opening for friends Dinosaur Jr. at the Cashbah in San Diego. In the fall of 2007, Spouse cut a video for the song Hangover Cure For Humanity with MetroSpace Media in Chicago, which has a fast growing viewership on youtube.

official website: www.spousemusic.com
myspace: www.myspace.com/spouse

* Spouse members...
(••• indicates a frequent live performer, •• regular live performer • occasional live performer)

José Ayerve ••• – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (v, g, b, k, d)
Liz Bustamante • – since 1998, co-writer: N, LCSTL (k, d, v)
John Cowden – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL (d, b, g, v)
Alisha Goldblatt – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, RT (d, b, g, v)
Naomi Hamby • – since 2000, co-writer: LCSTL, K/W?, RT (g, k, v)
Ken Maiuri •• – since 1998, co-writer: N, K/W?, RT (k, g, b, d, v)
Don McAulay •• – since 2004, co-writer: K/W?, RT (d)
Michael Merenda • – original member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (d, g, v)
JJ O’Connell ••• – since 2001, co-writer: K/W?, RT (d, v)
Kevin O’Rourke ••• – since 2004, performer: RT (b, g, v)
Daniel Pollard •• – original member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (b, g, k, d, v)
Mark Schwaber ••• – since 2003, co-writer: RT (g, b, d, v)

(key: d = drums, b = bass, g = guitar, k = keys, v = vocals; albums: N = Nozomi, LCSTL = Love Can’t Save This Love, K/W? = Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye?, RT = Relocation Tactics)

Producers / Engineers...
Adam Lasus – LCSTL, RT
Mark Alan Miller – N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT
Thom Monahan – N, LCSTL
John Truscinski – LCSTL
Elisha Wiesner – K/W?


Extended Family (past or occasional live or recording players/vocalists):
Bart D’Alauro, Nick Lamberto, Gabe McElwain, Erin McKeown, Ruth Ungar Merenda, John Nunan, Henning Ohlenbusch, Anne Pinkerton, Peyton Pinkerton, Philip Price, Flora Reed, Jeremy Smith, Robert Voyer, and many others...