The Little Bicycles

About The Little Bicycles

The Little Bicycles. What can I say about us? We are quirky and fun people, and we like to play music. I met Nadia Kean (pronounced all wrong, like Lemonade-ia Candy Cane) through roller derby a few years ago. After getting to know each other, or maybe as part of getting to know each other, we started playing music together. Nadia plays guitar and sings. I'm Andrea and I play bass and sing backup. About a year later, we tricked our fill in drummer, Bryan Nelson, into becoming our perma-drummer (and my husband). That was when we really shaped up the sound of the band. Recently our good friend and neighbor, Jeff Swanson of "Gorch Fock" and "The F and The C", started playing baritone guitar and keyboard with us. Could it be that the bicycle trio is becoming a 4-piece? I think so! I'm looking forward to the potential instrument swapping that might start happening. Now between the 4 of us we have 2 drummers, 2.5 bass players, 3 guitars, 1.5 keyboard players, 1 violinist, 4 bicycles, 2.5 roller skaters, 1.5 skate boarders, .75 bmx'ers, and 4 singers.

Broken Hearts and Tired Legs was recorded onto 1" tape in our old art warehouse (may it rest in peace), Biking Fish. Then we went to the Typewriter Museum and Sanctuary to finish off the details. It was a lot of fun, and I like the raw sound - I'm sick of that super-mega-produced pitch corrected sound that seems to be the standard these days. I have fantasies of recording onto 2" at Levon Helm's studio sometime in the near future...

This is our beginning. And this is what we sound like.

Some stuff other people say about us:

"Austin, Texas has always been a greenhouse where juicy indie fruit grows. The Little Bicycles are the latest tasty offering from Austin's rich soil... they're still living in the city, they're unafraid and honest, and they bear their souls in lyrics that strike a chord in everyone. It's the definition of universal appeal. "

- Heather Schofner for Verbicide Magazine | read the entire review

"Austin's The Little Bicycles' roots are in roller derby, a sport bassist Andrea Hendel describes as 'wild, athletic, competitive, sexy and entertaining.' The summary works equally well for the band, though. Their sound is like a parallel universe rendering of early The Clash, as aggressive as it is playful."

- Matthew Wright for Verbicide Magazine | read the entire article

"The Little Bicycles sound just as much like ‘60s girl groups as they sound like rockers from the ‘90s. The combination is pleasant: there is a consistent sound to all the tracks. A jangly guitar and doubled vocals tell us the tales of misspent youth and family dynamics that leave something to be desired. The drummer, the only dude in the group, dutifully keeps the tempo bright and peppy."

- Larissa Parson for Maelstrom/Wacken | read the entire review

"The Little Bicycles debut album, Broken Hearts and Tired Legs, is full of energetic catchy melodies paired with Nadia Kean's bittersweet reflective stories of young heartache, broken homes and innocence lost. Once you mix in Bryan's dynamic danceable beat and Andrea's melodic, flowing bass lines, every song gets stuck in your head..."

- Mookychick.com | read the entire review

"Female pop-punk (actually I think the drummer is a guy) with equal parts sweetness and fire."

- 88.1FM WMBR Breakfast of Champions | read the entire review

From: "J&T H."
Subject: comp
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:53:33 -0400

Hey, Bryan:

I had a chance to give the new ACGR comp a few listens. Your label is obviously on the move. Attack Formation is really something. I know you want to challenge your people to move in new directions, but AF's versatility is just ridiculous. They can really turn on a dime.

If I had to pick a favorite cut on the disc, I would have to say that I
really responded to Little Bicycles. I think you might have mentioned that you played drums on that song so I don't want this to sound like a stroke. That vocal line has to one of the freshest sounds I have heard in a while. My wife was questioning whether it would be as compelling if stretched out over a full length, but I say, "Who cares?" : )

Great work.

jim

"There's something familiar about the Little Bicycles. It's almost as if the early Nineties were cryogenically frozen and then thawed specifically for a Texas summer."

Audra Schroeder for The Austin Chronicle | read the entire review