My favorite band The Handcuffs have released their fourth CD and I just got my copy that I bought in the mail and I’m happy to report that it’s a fantastic body of original music that you should definitely check out. You can buy the physical. CD (which I recommend) or you can stream the tunes online via a digital album.
The album is on Pravda Records and you can read about it and purchase it by clicking right here: The Handcuffs - Burn The Rails.
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Meet The Handcuffs
The Handcuffs are, from left: Alison Hinderliter - piano, organ and synthesizer; Emily Togni - bass and backing vocals; Brad Elvis - drums, drums, drums and backing vocals; Chloe F. Orwell - lead and backing vocals, saxophones, flute and rhythm guitar and Jeffrey Kmieciak - lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars and backing vocals.
When they’re all plugged in, these four masterful musicians make a spectacular and wondrous sound that will cause your eardrums to be pleasured like never before! They are a fantastic band in the studio and if you live in or near the Chicago area, follow their facecrack page for updates and go see them live when you can.
They put on an explosive and memorable rock ’n roll stage show and you don’t want to miss their live performances.
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Now for some Handcuffs memories through the years!
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Fortune Cookies With The Handcuffs in New York City (2009)
I’m not only a fan of The Handcuffs, I’m friends with them as well and I’ve had some wonderful adventures with them! A few of them have been documented on various blogs of mine.
This is a photo from when The Handcuffs played a gig in New York City back in 2009 when I was living there. Brad’s not in the photo because he took the picture!
After the show we went out for dinner, I proposed marriage to our Mexican waitress and then ended up with a giant box of fortune cookies that we handed out to people on Houston Street in the East Village.
People thought we were batshit crazy and if you can pull that off in New York City, you have achieved something very special! This was one of the most fun nights of my life!
You can read all about this fun and insane night by clicking here: Handcuffs and Fortune Cookies.
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Brad Elvis With The Romantics In Coney Island! (2012)
In addition to The Handcuffs, Brad also drums with The Romantics and in the summer of 2012, they played a show at one of my favorite places in New York, Coney Island.
I was still living in New York back then, so I took the subway to Coney Island, got to visit with Brad and meet the rest of The Romantics and enjoyed the show!
Click here for more photos from Coney Island, Brad and The Romantics Show.
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Please Handcuff Me - The Handcuffs Live in Chicago With Legs McNeil (2013)
A year after the Coney Island show, I had moved back to Peoria after a 19 year run in NYC and got a call from Brad and Chloe that The Handcuffs were opening up for a show in Chicago with Legs McNeil, the co-author (along with Gillian McCain) of the classic oral history of punk rock, Please Kill Me.
Legs was one of the first person’s I met when I moved to New York City back in 1993. I wrote a few articles for Nerve magazine, which he was the editor at the time. I saw him before the show and he was shocked to see me there since he assumed I still was living in New York City.
It was a fantastic show and you can read that post by clicking right here, right now!
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2022 - Burn The Rails By The Handcuffs
And now let’s jump to the present, the year is 2022 and The Handcuffs have just released their fourth collection of musical masterpieces, Burn The Rails!
All the songs are original tunes written by Brad Elvis and Chloe F. Orwell. The songs are the equivalent to an all you can eat buffet of musical styles ranging from power pop to grunge to glam to garage rock to a style that is mixed together and then uniquely owned by The Handcuffs.
Every song is an instant anthem and Brad and Chloe write songs that are brand new and unique but sound engagingly familiar at the same time.
The band has never sounded tighter with vibrant and crunchy guitar riffs from Jeffrey, wonderful keyboard action by Alison and the fantastic rhythm section with Emily on bass and Brad pounding the drums like a possessed drummer with 17 hands beating the skins alive!
And of course on top of it all are the wonderful and insanely unique vocal stylings of Chloe F. Orwell. The vocals are catchy, fun to listen to and loaded with plenty of attitude. She definitely has her own distinctive vocal style. Chloe’s vocals are like sweet and sour sauce for the eardrums and just like Chinese food, you’ll be craving more Handcuffs music 15 minutes after you listen to this CD!
The CD was produced and engineered by Mike Hagler who has worked with Billy Bragg, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Wilco and The Mekons among other well-known bands.
Morgan Fisher from Mott the Hoople is a guest keyboardist on this CD collection, which is very cool.
The new album is available as a digital album and as a compact disc. You can click here to read more about the band and the new album.
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I Cry For You
Here’s a little preview of one of the songs from the Burn The Rails CD that The Handcuffs made a video for.
Watch it and then go buy this fantastic album.
Go ahead, get cuffed, you know you want to!
The Handcuffs are based in Chicago, but with this new album of original music, they’re poised for world domination.
And when that happens, I’m hoping that they buy me a cheeseburger!
Hooray for The Handcuffs!
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Related Post: On The Road With Gumby.