Clem Snide at the Raccoon Motel -- November 9.
Wednesday, November 9, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
With Pitchfork lauding the group's 2020 Forever Just Beyond as an album that "feels both charmingly at ease and refreshingly ambitious," the alt-country/indie-rock outfit Clem Snide headlines a November 9 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with frontman Eef Barzelay touring in support of two 2021 releases: the extended-edition album Beyond Forever Just Beyond and the EP Smothered & Covered Vo. I, a collection of covers of Bob Dylan, Lauren Hill, Journey, Cat Stevens, and other music icons.
"Clem Snide" is a character in several novels by William S. Burroughs, including Naked Lunch, The Ticket That Exploded, and Exterminator! The band Clem Snide, however, was started by Israeli-born singer/songwriter and guitarist Barzelay, Jason Glasser, William J. Grabek Jr., and Eric Paull in Boston in 1991. A few years later, with the addition of bassist Jeff "SweetBread" Marshall, the band made its first record, You Were a Diamond, with producer Adam Lasus. After building a local following, they attracted the attention of Seymour Stein, who then signed them to the Sire label for whom they recorded Your Favorite Music in 1999. Two years later, Clem Snide released their third album The Ghost of Fashion on indie stalwart SpinArt Records, and the record received mainstream attention due to the song "Moment in the Sun"," which was used as the theme song for the second season of the NBC comedy series Ed.
Two more Clem Snide albums followed with 2003's Soft Spot and 2005's and End of Love, yet after beginning work on another record shortly thereafter, Clem Snide's musicians briefly disbanded. Barzelay went on to release two solo records in Bitter Honey and Lose Big, and in 2009, the band re-grouped to release their sixth record Hungry Bird on 429 Records, following it the next year with their seventh album The Meat of Life. The band's music was featured in the Showtime series Californication when "Faithfully" was played during an episode's end credits, and in February of 2013, Clem Snide released the track "The Woods" that was written for Professor Brian Cox's BBC science and nature show Wonders of Life. Meanwhile, The Ghost of Fashion's "No One's More Happy Than You" was featured in a season-seven episode of The Good Wife that aired in 2016, while Clem Snide's cover of "Beautiful" was used in the Netflix show Love, playing over the end credits of season two's fourth episode. Clem Snide and Barzelay have consequently amassed high-profile fans ranging from Bon Iver to Ben Folds over the course of three decades and more than a dozen studio albums, and critics have followed suit in their praise. NPR highlighted Barzelay as “the most underrated songwriter in the business today, with a sneakily firm grasp on poignancy and humor,” while Rolling Stone hailed his songwriting as “soulful and incisive,” and The New Yorker praised his music’s “soothing melodies and candid wit.”
Clem Snide enjoys a Davenport tour stop on November 9, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $15.30, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
