Credit: Found On Internet

Chicago may be best known for house, post-rock and blues, but Mass Shivers is part of something altogether different. Brett Sova (guitar/vocals), Sean Wilke (drums), and Andy Johnson (bass/vocals) are all twenty-somethings living on the West Side, but are part of a growing scene based around the Shape Shoppe studio and venue in the South Side. They mark their first ever UK release by chewing the cud with Music Towers.

Mass Shivers formed in somewhat auspicious circumstances as Sean recalls; “We started playing together when I got a bit surly at a party. I told Ben [recently departed member of Mass Shivers] and Brett that their old band’s drummer was no good.  Next thing I know, we were having weekly rehearsals.” Meanwhile, Andy and Brett went to school together in Columbus, Ohio but had been 2170 miles away from each other for years. “A few months ago I was out in San Francisco working on a research study,” says Andy, “ but I was ready to make a total departure from the academic world at the same time that Brett and Sean were looking for a new band member.” Neat timing.

From their early days in 2003, Mass Shivers’ aims were clear. “The initial concept for us was to create a sound that would induce a large group of people to writhe, undulate and shake en masse,” claims Brett. “Hence the name - Mass Shivers.” Although maybe not inducing a religious experience on a par with a Shakers’ gathering, things do seem to get pretty thrilling at their gigs. “It’s an intense experience, I’m told,” Brett says with understatement. “Very physical.”

They have just released 'Ecstatic Eyes Glow Glossy' on the consistently spot-on Pickled Egg Records (www.pickled-egg.co.uk). Although their first LP here, it is their second in the US, and in some respects quite a departure from their first. “Our first record was completed in two days,” says Brett.  “There were virtually no over-dubs, it pretty much captured us in bare-bones form as we were then. In many ways, it was an experiment to see if the songs we’d been rehearsing and playing out casually would translate to tape.