The
Handcuffs Rock Chicago With Dirty Glitter
The
Handcuffs Rock Chicago With Dirty Glitter
Continually
phoning and hanging up on someone who is looking for a lead singer to front
their Rock band is probably not the best strategy to employ when you are trying
to land the gig, but as odd as it may seem that was the tactic that Chloe F.
Orwell used about fifteen years ago when drummer and songwriter Brad Elvis ran
an ad in the Chicago Reader saying he was looking for a new singer for his band
Big Hello. It proved to be a poignant moment in time for both Orwell and Elvis,
as it would mark the beginning of a prolific musical duo that included the Big
Hello and their current band The Handcuffs.
“I was sort of young and
quasi inexperienced. I was trying to get into a different kind of music. I had
been in a couple of bands and it was great and fun, but I was looking for
something different and I was getting into more of being a singer and
songwriter. I was more playing than singing (at the time). They were certainly
bands that I was able to cut my teeth on. I was just this young punky kid
running around with guys in a band, just crazy and having fun. That is when I
started getting a lot more serious about playing music. I felt that calling that
one gets. I felt like I wanted to pursue something with more passion, more power
and more integrity. I was looking to become more involved in singing. I had just
written a bunch of songs and I did my own demo recordings, which turned out
great for my first time producing and writing something myself and (I also)
played a lot of the instruments. I went through a million different ads. I
called a million different people in town and I went to a million different
auditions. Nothing clicked, I didn’t like anything and they didn’t like me and
then somehow I circled this ad in the Reader. In fact we still have the ad. I
put stars all around it and I didn’t even know what he (Brad Elvis) meant by
some of the stuff he put in the ad, but I just answered it. I actually hung up
on him a couple of times, because I wanted to leave a voicemail message. I did
not want to talk to him in person, and that is sort of funny, because I am such
a loud mouth and not shy. I just said, ‘Hi I am answering your ad,’ and I didn’t
hang up this time,” says Chloe F. Orwell.
Elvis,
Brad, not Presley picks up the story from there, “We get along great and we hit
it off immediately. I was going to start a new version of Big Hello and was
still at the tail end of The Elvis Brothers. I was looking for someone. I just
wanted a singer, who could play some guitar and I could work on my songs and
maybe they would have some songs. I had an ad in the Chicago Reader, which is
something that people did back then. I had knuckleheads calling me and it didn’t
work out. One day Chloe called and she said ‘Hi, your ad didn’t specify female
or male,’ and I said, ‘it doesn’t matter, as long as you are good. We talked on
the phone for a really long time and everything that I was looking for she
identified with and vice versa. Her songs were great when I heard them and it
all worked out. Here we are many years later. We weren’t a couple for years and
years, we were just in bands together. Eventually, circumstances came about
where we became a couple and we were there for each other. It made sense and now
we are married.”
Orwell recalls, “The
influences that he named (in the ad) were Cheap Trick,
The White Album, (by The Beatles),
Blur and Sparks. The White Album is
my favorite Beatle’s album. The Beatles were a little before my time, but I have
older siblings who were crazy about The Beatles, so I would play
The White Album. I loved the record
and it is still my favorite record. I love every song and I love the sequencing
(of the songs) on that record. I love that a lot of the songs sound like a
collection of singles that were just put on this record. I love the variety and
the instrumentation. I thought it was so cool that one of his influences was
The White Album. I had no idea who
Sparks was and now I do of course, because it is one of Brad’s favorite bands
and something that he was very influenced by early. If you are from Chicago or
Illinois of course you know Cheap Trick, and Blur I was remotely familiar with.
We had the most amazing conversation about music and
The White Album for about an hour and
one-half. I sent him my little demo tape of these songs that I wrote and
produced and he loved it. He called me back and he said, ‘Why don’t you
audition,’ and then I found out he was an Elvis Brother. Their band (The Elvis
Brothers) was very loved and respected for the people of my generation and we
all wanted to emulate them and their success. They had incredible showmanship
and incredible musicianship,” says Chloe F. Orwell.
When Orwell revealed to a
musician “friend” that she was auditioning for one of the Elvis Brothers she was
told to forget it, because she was out of her league, not exactly the kind of
encouragement one would be looking for at a time like that. “I will admit that
my first audition with him (Brad) went horribly wrong and it was ridiculous,
embarrassing and bad, but he saw something in me and he said, ‘Why don’t we try
it again, because I think second auditions are always better than first
auditions anyway,’ and we did and I was in.”
Big Hello went through
several incarnations, with the first version including Darren Cooper who now has
the band Three Hour Tour, while the second look for the Big Hello had Gary Green
from Gentle Giant, playing guitar. Eventually, Chloe F. Orwell appeared on the
scene. In total Big Hello released three albums.
“It just got to the point
where we (Chloe and Brad) were pretty well doing all of the work and writing all
of the songs and band members were coming and going towards the end. We just
said, let’s start something where there is just Chloe and I and we will have a
band and it won’t turn into this crazy everybody trying to write songs and all
the democratic weirdness. We did that and it worked out great. We have a band
(The Handcuffs) that we have had for quite a while now. We love them and we all
get along great. Hopefully, it will keep running its course for a long time,”
says Brad Elvis.
Rounding out The Handcuffs is bassist Emily Togni, guitarist Ellis Clark and
Alison Hinderliter on keyboards. Brad Elvis has also been the drummer for The
Romantics (“Talking In Your Sleep”) for the past eight years.
The Handcuffs have
released three albums, the first being
Model For A Revolution that unleashed the killer song “Can’t Get The Girl
(Without The Good Stuff Baby),” and the song “Peggy Moffitt,” a tribute to the
iconic 1960s model who was a favorite of fashion designer Rudi Gernreich and she
was the wife of equally celebrated American photographer William Claxton.
The album cover is essentially a photo of Peggy Moffitt and the song that
bears her name, chronicles how she was “an
inspiration, not an imitation,” and how she rose to fame. Moffitt and
Claxton had become friends with Orwell and Elvis prior to Claxton’s passing.
Musicians who appeared on Model For A
Revolution, included, Graham Elvis (bass) of The Elvis Brothers, guitarist
Frank Canino, of course Brad Elvis on drums and Chloe F. Orwell singing, playing
the saxophone, keyboards and piano. The second album
Electroluv with songs like “Baby
Boombox,” the title song “Electroluv,” evidences Chloe F. Orwell and Brad Elvis’
fondness for Glam Rockers and throughout the three albums by The Handcuffs, the
imagination, quirkiness and sound of artists such as David Bowie, Sparks, The
Sweet and Suzi Quatro. That brings us to
the current album for The Handcuffs,
Waiting for the Robot.
“There is a common thread
(between the three albums) and Brad is the primary songwriter and I do write
songs, but he is one hundred million times more prolific than me, which is great
for me, because it takes a lot of pressure off of me.
I love him and I really respect him. I am also championing Brad Elvis,
because he is nearing his 4,000 professional career show (which he has since
performed) and I feel he needs to receive more recognition. He is a very under
the radar guy who is beloved and respected by big time drummers and musicians
and I feel like he needs more recognition. He is also an incredible songwriter.
He is an incredible drummer and an incredible songwriter. There is always a
twist and a turn and a bit of an edge to our songs that may not even be evident
with the first listen. They’re quirky. They are so accessible even though there
are some twists and turns and some phonetic oddities. I do believe there has
been an evolution (in our music). I think a lot of it was what we were listening
to at the time; Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music, Ting Tings, Goldfrapp and even some
(Bob) Dylan. I can’t say that we wanted to sound like any of these bands. They
just served as inspiration and it was just good, good music to groove to,” says
Orwell.
Songs like “Dirty
Glitter,” (Waiting for the Robot),
with thundering guitar riffs, heavy drumbeats and dripping in Rock sensuality
showcase Chloe F. Orwell’s outstanding vocals and her ability to energize the
listener. If one strips away the instrumentals and listens to Orwell’s vocals on
songs such as, “Miss You On Tuesday,” it is evident you are not just hearing
another gritty Rock singer, screaming into the microphone, but possesses quality
vocals and it is her ability to own the lyrics that combine with Brad Elvis’
musical genius that makes The Handcuffs’ sound so special. On the current album
the tempo slows for “Baby I Love You,” when Brad Elvis and Chloe F. Orwell
combine for a duet that basically is, as the title suggests.
"For
me “Dirty Glitter,” is like T. Rex meets Blondie. I try to channel Debbie Harry
a little bit, who is one of my idols. For me that is what I feel that song is
like. We wanted to start the record off with something we felt was really
powerful and that (said) we mean business. “Dirty Glitter,” just the title is
very Glam sounding. For us it was a really good introduction to what you can
expect for the record. You also notice that there are some twists and turns that
you don’t really expect. We wanted to ride out of the gate (with) powerful rock
and roll songs or Glam Rock songs that will really engage people. Most people
who do take a listen to it, they love that first song and it does make them want
to listen to the rest of the record,” says Orwell.
Orwell talks about the
dynamic between her and Brad Elvis, “We challenge each other to discover other
kinds of music, try new things and to experiment with different sounds. For me
there is just some musical click that we had, just this chemistry musically and
I don’t think that I found my voice until that.
It didn’t click until I met him and I don’t know if it is one of those
kismet things, us being in the right place at the right time or if he just has
this really incredible sense of music that helped me to develop mine.”
Brad Elvis feels it is
important that his partner in life and music also receive her day in the sun as
a songwriter, “Chloe writes songs too and some of my favorite songs on the
records are always Chloe songs. I like the way that she writes. When she writes
a song it is always great. When I write a song I am always conscious and I
always hear her voice in my head singing it and I always try to write it that
way. In fact, if you listen to a lot of the lyrics, “You
can’t get the girl without the good stuff baby,” songs that are all kind of
girl related and then written by the drummer. “Kiss This Goodbye,” is another
one and a lot of songs are like that where I hear Chloe singing them. That’s a
conscious effort.”
Brad Elvis has new music
running through his veins continually it would seem. Even when I was a young
kid, before I played drums or anything, I always had these songs or bits and
melodies and I would have lyrics written down. I would be on vacation with my
grandparents or whatever and I had these things and when I would write these
poems or lyrics or whatever , I could hear a melody along with that and how it
was supposed to go. It has always been there, and as time went on I did become a
songwriter and started writing songs and more songs. Now I hear riffs and
melodies and sometimes if they are ghosts in my head and they bug me enough, I
will put it down and that happens pretty much daily. I am constantly writing. I
don’t know why (he laughs). I just write a lot.”
When asked if he considers
The Handcuffs’ songs to be quirky Brad Elvis replies, “Yes and no. I have always
had a dry, kind of sarcastic sense of humor in some ways. I have always liked a
twist on words and I liked Sparks, their first five or six albums. All of their
(records) have good stuff on it, but those first five or six. Morrissey was
super influenced by Sparks. That is all Sparks kind of stuff, but they called
Morrissey a genius (his voice rises to punctuate the word genius.) We have that
quirk, but at the same time there is a play on words. On our newest record
Waiting for the Robot there is a song
called “Scary Side Of Me,” which if you dig in there, it is probably darker than
you think that it is. It sounds quirky on the outside. I have a lot of stuff
like that.”
“Brad thought of the name
The Handcuffs. We were just thinking of names and we were brainstorming. We
weren’t living together at the time and he called me at my apartment and he
said, hey I thought of this really cool name, The Handcuffs, because it is the
two of us and we are kind of handcuffed together. We had also both been through
a lot. He went through a really difficult, heart wrenching divorce and although
we eventually got married, the divorce didn’t have anything to do with our
relationship. We didn’t become a couple until long after he was divorced.
I had cancer a couple of times and we went through that together. We felt
like we were these two people who were handcuffed together through thick and
thin. As Brad always says, it is a great Rock and Roll name,” says Chloe F.
Orwell.
The Handcuffs is a good
Rock and Roll name. They are also a really good band.
Please visit the website for The Handcuffs Return to Our Front Page
This interview is protected by copyright © and may not be reproduced in print or on the internet or through any other means without the written permission of Riveting Riffs Magazine, All Rights Reserved