The Origin Of Einstein’s Sister, Emerging From The Duo Of Douglas And Tucker
Einstein’s Sister release their first record in almost two decades TODAY at Record Store Day at Moline’s CoOp Records! All week long we’ve been publishing stories on the band, their music, and their history in our Einstein’s Sister Spotlight. The following is the first story Sean Leary wrote about the band becoming a band, transforming from the duo of Douglas and Tucker into Einstein’s Sister. It was originally published Nov. 20, 1997 on Sean Leary’s blog, What The &&^^&*((^&^& Is Sean Leary Thinking?
Einstein’s Sister’s equation: Two plus three equals one . . . new band.
Bill and Kerry (Dennis Fretty Promo Shot)
Rock Island Brewing Co. (1997)
After earning a reputation as one of the best performing and songwriting duos in the area over the past decade, Bill Douglas and Kerry Tucker have decided to expand their operation. The result is Einstein’s Sister, a “revamped” group made up of the Douglas and Tucker nucleus and new members Steven Volk on guitar, Barry Vestal on bass and Marty Reyhons ex-Tripmaster Monkey on drums.
“Barry and Steve have been playing live with us since the last CD, and we knew Marty from his work with Tripmaster,” Mr. Douglas said. “And we thought when it came time to do this record, after much deliberation, we decided it would be a good idea to have a band identity since we had been confused as being a country band when we were known as Douglas and Tucker.
“Einstein’s Sister just seemed like a good name for the group, since that was the name of our first album, and I think enough people were familiar with it,” he said.
Einstein’s Sister 2020, from left, Kerry Tucker, Andy Brock, Marty Reyhons and Bill Douglas.
The additions have been good ones for the outfit. Its new album, “Oceanus,” due in stores Monday and available at the CD-release show Saturday benefits from the added sonic heft. The new material has a noticeably meatier sound, especially on sparkling, vibrant cuts like “Routine,” “Living in This World” and “Chameleon Girl.” However, while gaining in depth, it still retains the infectious melodies that distinguished Douglas and Tucker.
“When we were putting this together, we felt the band’s input was taking things in a new direction, or at least giving us the ability to do a few different things,” Mr. Douglas said. “One of the things that we do live is we get a little more aggressive . . . we’re able to bring more energy to the music than we were able to as an acoustic duo, and we wanted to capture that on tape.”
Serendipitously, the change in personnel has coincided with a change in professional status. Earlier this fall, the band signed a one-year deal with large indie label Oarfin Records out of Minneapolis. Among the bands on Oarfin are Quad-Cities faves Johnny Clueless. The move came after a few false starts last year with other, larger labels, most notably Hollywood Records, which flirted with the band but turned out to be more tease than please.
“I was aware of Oarfin through Johnny Clueless playing the market and seeing those guys, and we sent a tape to them and they liked what they heard from those couple of songs,” Mr. Douglas said. “They wanted to hear what we had ready to go, so we sent them a demo tape of more songs, and they really wanted to work with us.
“So we signed a contract with them in September, and the next weekend we were in Minneapolis working on the record,” Mr. Douglas said. “Our goal is to see what we can do with this record, what they can do with this record, and we’ll see where we go from there.”
