Spotlight: The Suicide Dolls

On Recording Noise Rock with the Right Producer

GENRE: Garage Pop
HOMETOWN: New London, CT
ARTISTIC APPROACH: To put a new spin on noise rock and No Wave.
thesuicidedolls.bandcamp.com

Since 1994, guitarist Brian Albano and bassist Michelle Montavon have been “kicking it,” and making a statement about the music they make. Along with drummer Matt Covey (since 2006) The Suicide Dolls – a power trio from New London, CT – has been making waves through their long time collaboration and mission to stake their claim.
 After several years of building a loyal fan base, and creating their own identity, they have a good understanding of the competitive edge between bands in their realm and even share a perspective that many others seem to miss. Albano explains, “We have a lot of good scenes within the region where we perform – places like New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts -there are a lot of other great bands that hail from our area. We could get together and become something; New England-based bands could [form] a unity between venues and other bands, and we could be a strong force.”

“We have typically done things backwards, emphasizing the live show, never really focusing on recording” 

Continuing forward on their mission, The Suicide Dolls have finally broken, what is to them, new ground. After the years of the much-enjoyed performance aspect of their act, they took to the studio and began working on their new full-length, Prayers in Parking Lots (recording at Q-Division in Somerville, MA), which was co-produced with Justin Pizzoferrato. The Suicide Dolls recognize and understand the benefits of working with a producer, “We needed an expert to help us. We have different styles; you can’t really label it. We’ve been classified as being anything from rock to punk to noise. We needed someone that could help us get all these different sounds and capture the mix of our influences, and working with Justin, and getting down to the real recording process, was beneficial to us,” Albano says.

Montavon adds, “It was a real labor or love; we have typically done things backwards, emphasizing the live show, never really focusing on the recording aspect. This was the first time we went to a studio and did some real recording. We worked on both older and newer songs.

Up to this point we only had some home recordings. Nothing was good enough to represent us and release; we finally were able to do it for real.”

The Suicide Dolls have learned much about the toils that life in a rock band can bring, but they are determined to keep doing it for as long as they love what they do – making music.