Paleface

Paleface is an an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist discovered in the early 1990's at an NYC Anti-folk open mic by Danny Fields. He has 13 full length releases under his belt, including two major label releases. "His musical journey kicked into gear back in 1989 when he met and befriended quirky songwriter Daniel Johnston, who taught him a thing or two about forging his own path." [1] Paleface has been a major influence on artists such as Kimya Dawson of The Moldy Peaches and Beck. "In fact, Paleface's acoustic blues sound is all over Beck's early release One Foot In The Grave." [2] Paleface recently relocated to Concord, North Carolina and is currently on tour as an acoustic dynamic duo with drummer and vocalist Monica "Mo" Samalot in support of their latest record, "A Different Story", (2008), "A joy to listen to...A remarkable collection of neo-folk. The arrangements display a refreshing simplicity and economy of instrumentation and effects, never getting in the way of the poetry of the lyrics by this prolific songwriter." [3]

Timeline

*1989 Paleface meets Daniel Johnston. Daniel teaches him how to write songs and Paleface begins to make home tapes,which in the following years will evolve into sought after underground bootlegs.

*1990 Roomates and burgeoning songwriters, Paleface and Beck hang out in the Lower East Side, NYC. Danny Fields (The Stooges, The Ramones, MC5, The Doors, etc.) discovers him at Lach's Anti-hoot and signs on as his manager.

*1991 Polydor signs Paleface to a major label deal; he writes and records his first album, which includes some of his college radio hit "Burn and Rob" and "There's Something About A Truck" among others.

*1992 Paleface is excited for his first album tour, but is mismatched with tour mates The Judybats and then The Crash Test Dummies. Not long after, he tours with Billy Bragg and gains his own following laying the foundation for his grass roots fan base. He appears in Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine.

*1993 Paleface begins work on his second record, but A & R badgering keeps him awake at night and by the end of 93 he gets dropped because the record company doesn't understand the new songs.

*1994 He records "Generic America" produced by [http://www.kramershimmy.com/index.html Karmmer] for the indie label [http://www.kramershimmy.com/index.html Shimmy Disk]

With the touch of one finger, the producer erases the masters, consequently the record doesn't come out.

*1995 The New York Post does a feature article on Paleface in Lisa Robinson's column. Toward the end of 95 he signs to Sire Records.

Hanging out behind the bar at Coney Island High Paleface finds out he's been signed to Sire from Jesse Malin, (D-Generation), who had read it in the paper earlier that day.

*1996 Sire Records releases "Get Off" about the same time as Beck's "Odelay". Sire doesn't want to compete with the marketing and one month later Paleface is dropped.

*1997 A bit disillusioned with the music industry, He begins a spring tour with The Breeders and Lutefisk. Rightfully pissed off they all indulge in too much substance consumption. While touring near Vegas Paleface gets shakes, Lutefisk breaks up soon after, and The Breeders album gets shelved.

Paleface collapses, is rushed to the hospital with a failing liver and nearly dies.

*1998 Paleface alters his lifestyle and starts the process of restoring his health and well-being. Paleface also begins a very prolific writing period; he produces and records some of his best songs as lo-fi underground bootlegs.

*2000 Paleface meets and becomes friends with a new breed of artists which includes The Moldy Peaches, Langhorne Slim, and Regina Spektor at Lach's Antihoot in NYC and releases his famous underground classic "The Multibean Bootleg". Paleface also becomes a major influence and sorce of inspiration to many of them.

*2001 Jason Carmer (The Donnas, Run DMC,) and Arion Salazar (Third Eye Blind) invite Paleface out to San Francisco to make a new record, but the sessions are postponed after the events of September 11th. PF releases another of his home recordings "The Couch Tape" and sells out his bootlegs at shows.

*2002 Paleface forms a new band called "Paleface & Monkeybone" and they gig around New York. Monkeybone is a vehicle for Paleface to showcase the new songs he's writing faster than the band can learn them. During this period Paleface plays gigs with The Moldy Peaches and other New York emerging rock bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and is introduced to their audiences.

*2003 Along with his re-emerging solo career, PF experiments with the Americana sound and forms a new side project "Just About To Burn". They release a record, Produced by Paul Kostabi ("Ena") and the band tours London. The crowds love the new songs and the new sound.

*2004 "Free Your Mellow" is recorded and released as a new Paleface solo record

*2005 Paleface is invited by The Avett Brothers to their mountain recording hideaway to join in the making of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Thieves_Gone:_The_Robbinsville_Sessions Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions] 31 songs are recorded including 5 songs written by Paleface from which "Dancin Daze" is chosen for the final release. Later that year "Multi-bean Vol.2" is compiled and released.

*2006 "I Just Wanna Play Guitar" is recorded with old friends Momotaro, Julian Summerhill, and Paul Kostabi. It is Released in Germany on the trash/punk rock label Wanker Records.

*2007 Paleface (and darling drummer Monica "Mo" Samalot) hit the road and tour all over the US. They are both featured on The Avett Brothers record Emotionalism

*2008 Paleface releases "A Different Story" and continues National Tour with Monica "Mo" Samalot. They also perform at festivals such as Floyd Fest, [http://pickathon.com/ Pickathon] , [http://www.shakorihills.org/ Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival] and [http://www.bristolrhythm.com/ Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion]

*Paleface's next recorld will be released early in 2009 on [http://www.ramseurrecords.net Ramseur Records] "(The Avett Brothers, the Everybodyfields, Bombadil, Samanta Crain and The Midnight Shivers, and others)"

Current Lineup

*Paleface "PF": guitar, harmonica and vocals
*Monica "Mo" Samalot: drums and vocals

Discography

*Self Titled, Polidor, 1991
*Raw War, (Limited Edition Self Release), 1993
*Raw, Shimmy Disk, 1994
*Gett Off, Sire Records, 1996
*Multibean Bootleg Vol.1, 2000
*Couch Tape, Self Released, 2001
*Se La Voo, Self Released 2002
*Bottlefed, Art Monkey Records, 2003
*Just About To Burn, Art Monkey Records, 2004
*Free Your Mellow, Self Released, 2004
*Multibean Bootleg Vol.2, Self Released, 2005
*I Just Wanna Play Guitar, Wanker Records (Germany), 2006
*A Different Story, Self Released, 2008

References

*1. The Scene, Cleveland Free Times [http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/53/a-checkered-past]
*2. Star News [http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20071206/NEWS/712060308]
*3. TimeOut, Salisbury Times [http://archive.salisburypost.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/sls/archive/2008/January/24/TimeOut/99374.xml&start=0&numPer=20&keyword=paleface&sectionSearch=&begindate=1%2F1%2F1983&enddate=3%2F31%2F2008&authorSearch=&IncludeStories=1&pubsection=&page=&IncludePages=1&Include

Press Links

* [http://www.blurt-online.com/news/view/828 BLURT]
* [http://archive.salisburypost.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/sls/archive/2008/January/24/TimeOut/99374.xml&start=0&numPer=20&keyword=paleface&sectionSearch=&begindate=1%2F1%2F1983&enddate=3%2F31%2F2008&authorSearch=&IncludeStories=1&pubsection=&page=&IncludePages=1&Include

*Dayton Daily News [http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/oh/story/entertainment/music/2008/04/24/ddn042508gopaleface.html]
* [http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20080314/ENT/858511095 The Daily Times]
* [http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/53/a-checkered-past The Scene, Cleveland Times]
* [http://www.athensnews.com/entertainment/2008/may/01/comeback-sorts-paleface-heads-athens/ Athens News]
* [http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/19/mblu44886/ The Post And The Courier]
* [http://www.performermag.com/sep.recordedreviews.0802.php Performer Magazine, record review]
* [http://www.performermag.com/sep.livereviews.0802.php Performer Magazine, show review]
* [http://www.the-idiot.com/page.php?211 The Village Idiot, record review]
* [http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/3204/40/ The Appalachian, Q&A]
* [http://purplygrotto.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=158 Purply Grotto, Q&A]
* [http://media.www.easttennessean.com/media/storage/paper203/news/2008/01/28/TheScene/Not-Your.Daddys.Folk.Music-3172244.shtml East Tennessean]

Web Links

* [http://www.PalefaceOnline.com www.PalefaceOnline.com]
* [http://www.myspace.com/justabouttoburn Paleface's Official Myspace Page]
* [http://www.RamseurRecords.net Ramseur Records]

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Paleface also refers to:
* White people, a usually insulting term used by some Native Americans
* "The Paleface (1922 film)", a 1922 film starring Buster Keaton
* "The Paleface (1948 film)", a 1948 film starring Bob Hope