The Spinanes

MEMBERS:
Rebecca Gates – guitar, vocals
Scott Plouff – drums

WHERE FROM:
Portland, Oregon

WHERE NOW:
Gates resides in Rhode Island and is releasing records as Rebecca Gates, performing solo or with the rg consortium. She founded and edits The Relay Project audiomagazine. Plouf has been a member of Built to Spill since 1996.

DATE FORMED:
1991

HOW FORMED:
The two friends started playing together in 1991. Their first show was the Olympia, Wash. International Pop Underground.

HIGHLIGHT
Spinanes’ album, Manos was number one on the college charts. “We were touring before the album came out, as it was exploding all over. But we were just seeing the inside of the van playing shows and having a good time. Then we got home and the locals thrust us on TV and we were at number one. It was extremely funny. We had never even considered it.”—Rebecca Gates

Pitchfork on Manos in their Sub Pop 20 feature…
“The Pacific Northwest sprouts rock duos the way spring rains bring mushrooms. Perhaps it’s because the format foregrounds both independence and intimacy, two qualities prized in Cascadia. Following in the steps of Mecca Normal, the Spinanes (Rebecca Gates and Scott Plouf) joined Heavens to Betsy, Godheadsilo, Kicking Giant, the Softies and others in making the region the tandem capital of 90s indie rock. 1993’s Manos wasn’t a purist affair: featuring multitracked guitars and vocals, it could have been the work of a bigger group. Sonically, though, it was all about the jam econo. Gates’ spindly guitar lines, just on the cusp of overload, bristle like a field of thistles, honeyed and forbidding; Plouf’s drumming seems to explode out of a small, confined space. Here as on later albums, Gates’ voice— close harmonized in a virtual duet with herself—takes center stage, tying up bittersweet in shiny ribbons that simply beg to be undone…”

Puncture magazine on Strand…
“Strand is the achievement that vindicates the Spinanes as a band with a future. After being overlooked and underrated when they toured with Liz Phair a couple of years back, they get to have the last laugh. Phair followed her striking debut with an overproduced, disappointing follow-up, while the Spinanes found a route to endless, beguiling invention.”

Entertainment Weekly on Arches and Aisles…
Destined to be measured against the casual brilliance of her group’s debut, Rebecca Gates’ third LP routes her ace melodic sense through expansive arrangements that charm subtly but just as thoroughly. Whether folding Memphis R&B into slacker bedroom laments or post-rock abstractions into catchy pop, she nails the ennui of lovesick transitions and physical displacements with a marksman’s aim. And she might just possess the sexiest voice in rock."

builttospill.com
parcematone.com
therelayproject.com
myspace.com/thespinanes