(l-r) Irwin Menken, bass; Jody Stephens, drums; Pete Matthews, engineer; and Jay Deegan, guitar.
Memphis, TN (February 6, 2014)—The band End of Love has reformed and is recording at Ardent Studios in Memphis following a chance meeting between band founder Irwin Menken and Jody Stephens, founding drummer of Big Star and Ardent’s studio manager.
The first meeting took place while Menken was on a 2012 international tour with the Lee Ranaldo Band. “I’ve been a Big Star fan for a long time,” explained Menken, “and when I met Jody while on the road with Lee last year, I knew that if I got the chance, I would love to work with him.”
End of Love was initially formed by Jay Deegan, Irwin Menken and Jennifer Groves in the early 2000s. The original material developed by the group was played in New York City clubs between 2002 and 2005 and the band gained a significant following among local club goers. In 2005, the band members went their separate ways to work on other projects.
In 2007, Menken met Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth after their sons became friends at school, subsequently working on demos with Ranaldo and contributing bass and backing vocals to the Lee Ranaldo Band on tour throughout Europe. Upon returning home, Menken reassembled the End of Love team and with new material began to plan for an album, calling on Stephens to play drums. Also joining the project are Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and John Stirratt, Wilco’s bassist, who contributes both as a player and as producer. Plans call for Ranaldo to guest on the album.
The album has been recorded in both New York and Memphis with sessions taking place at Room 17 in Brooklyn and mixed by Ted Young, who has mixed both of Ranaldo’s most recent solo albums. The Memphis sessions were engineered by Pete Matthews at Ardent Studios with Stephens on drums.
Ardent Studios
www.ardentstudios.com
