The Perfect Children are the romp and stomp;the fresh wound of broken love;laughing in spite of pain.They are a girl with something to say and a boy to help deliver the message,cathartic but engaging.Their energy is infectious,the notes ring out and the space between is an emotional exhalation-personal but vague.They live at the intersection of Holly Golightly,Dex Romweber,Nina Simone,Al Green and Otis Redding. They play from the gut,heart,and soul and are rough,raw, and real.They will guilt trip you into getting outta your seats,their dirty showcase further punctuated by 2 backing vocalists who aid in lifting the stage off the floor and blowing the doors off the joint.To quote Little Richard,they will curl up under your big toe.
The band's sonic stew of gospel, garage, blues, rock and even punk has created a buzz that's leaving jaws open, rumps shakin' and feet stompin'. With singer/songwriter Kristen Kreft (Pearlene/J. Dorsey Blues Revival) at the helm, the dynamic duo of Beth Harris(The Hiders/Pearlene) and Nicole Potter Borngrebe on backing vox, and the rhythm section inertia of Adam Shelton(RX2/Kallip) on drums and bass player Christopher Owens(Blacklight Barbarian) the vocal velocity of this frenetic force will etch an impression that will last. They are something to behold.
Hollering tales of murder, betrayal, debauchery, and long, dark Saturday nights of the soul. Stripped raw, bruised, and cracking a bloody, split-lip grin, The Shambles deliver a loud, belligerent style of demonic hill-stomp blues that almost . . . but not quite . . . betrays an air of subtle sophistication lingering just around the edges. “Rough garage rock & dirty basement blues that kicks you right in the gut bucket.” Whatever you call it, The Whiskey Shambles sure enough get asses shakin and heads rockin — and that ain’t no half-steppin! This is the hard part, nephew. Whooooo well well.
The Tale
One day and many moons ago, Brother James rolled up to Nathan on the street: “Hey, man, I was thinking we should do a heavy garage blues band. And drink. You wanna make with the deep pipes, the guitar, and the face?” Nathan shot back: “Sho ‘nuff.” Several years later they were still drinking, listening to, and talking about music, but hadn’t actually played a note together. Finally they sobered up enough to put together some originals. Nathan then woke up his old pal Aaron and said: “You wanna get drunk and pound on stuff?” Aaron explained that he was already drunk, so they handed him some sticks, and thus The Whiskey Shambles were born.
While recording their first studio album, they were drawn to Miss LaTanya’s angelic voice, and after just one session the boys begged LaTanya to join the group. Bringing both her sassy stage presence and classical training to the mix, she simultaneously saved them from mutually assured destruction and raised the collective sobriety level of the group, slightly. And thus The Shambles were complete.
More recently, Aaron has been feeling the ravages of time and self-abuse, and after several shoulder surgeries, is on the road to recovery. In the meantime we fell in with a hip skins man, Tim, who we’ve decided to Shanghai and keep around after Aaron’s back on the kit. In addition to occasionally filling in on drums, Tim will be playing a myriad of roles, from organist, to percussionist, to vocalist… that’s a lot of -ists, but we think he can handle it.
The Now
The Whiskey Shambles are currently working their way through the dive bars and juke joints of the Midwest and Rustbelt, with occasional trips to more exotic locales, like Nashville or Buffalo, New Orleans or Asheville, Atlanta or NYC. They won the 2014 Northeast Ohio Blues Challenge, and represented Northeast Ohio at the 2015 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. The band headlined two showcases at the 2015 Millennium Music Conference near Philadelphia, and were invited to showcase at the 2015 Singer-Songwriter of Cape May conference in southern New Jersey, and the 2015 NXNE conference in Toronto.
In addition to winning the 2016 & 2015 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Blues Act (for which they were also nominated in 2014), they were also nominated for Best Live Act in 2016, as well as CityBeat magazine’s Best of Cincinnati (Best Original Band) in 2016, 2015, & 2014, and several of their song releases have earned critical acclaim.
In 2012 The Whiskey Shambles released the EP, “Live at Mad Frog.” September 2014 saw the release of a second live EP, “Stumbling Toward Beale Street.” Their first LP “Loose Change for a Broken Man” was released in November, shortly thereafter was named #23 on WNKU’s Top 89 Albums of 2014, and is getting regular airplay on college and AAA radio stations. The Shambles are already working on their second full-length album, with plans to release it in spring of 2016.
Trained as a jazz drummer and choral vocalist, Chris met Sasha, a self taught punk rocker and singer-songwriter in the spring of 2010 when they were both cast in a Bangor Maine production of the rock ‘n roll musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. They have been working together ever since to find where disparate influences come together to create melody forward, hard hitting, genre bending rock ‘n roll. When Particles Collide has built a reputation as a must see band one show at a time touring all over the US and Canada during school vacations when Sasha, a former high school chemistry teacher, could take time off from work. They are currently a full time, independent touring outfit living out of their 2014 Dodge Promaster. Under their own record label, Unstoppable Rock Records they have released seven sets of recordings including two full length vinyl records (Photoelectric 2014-sold out, and Ecotone 2016-currently in the album’s second pressing).