Biography

The psychedelic pop sound of the '60s courses deeply through the blood of Nashville group the Paperhead. Formed in 2009 by three friends (guitarist/vocalist Ryan Jennings, drummer/vocalist Walker Mimms, and bassist/vocalist Peter Stringer-Hye), the band began playing shows around town, some of them in the form of psychedelic happenings replete with trippy light shows. The trio released their first album, Focus in on...the Looking Glass, in 2010 on cassette for Infinity Cat. With guidance from local guitar pop legend Jeffrey Novak of Cheap Time, the group recorded their next album and sent it off to Trouble in Mind. The label loved it and released the self-titled album in 2011. They also re-released the band's first album around the same time. The band went through some changes as the members went off to college, recording and playing shows in the summer only when on break. They also added another old friend, Matt McQueen, as a keyboardist in time for their 2012 single, "Pictures of Her Demise." After touring the U.S. a couple times, the band set about recording their third album in Stringer-Hye's garage. Released in late 2014, Africa Avenue was reliably psychedelic, but also added new elements (country, bossa nova, German art rock) to their sound. Their next album was a long time coming, and in the meantime Stringer-Hye released a 2015 solo EP, Sunday Girls, and played guitar in the alt-country band Promised Land Sound. The group (minus McQueen) reconvened in Stringer-Hye's garage studio and began work on Chew, adding some Latin and jazz influences to the mix and aiming for an album that sounded like someone slowly traveling from one side of the dial to the other on a '60s-era AM radio. The album was mixed by Cooper Crain at Minbal Studios in Chicago and released by Trouble in Mind in early 2017. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi