Name: Corporal
Members: Michael Shannon (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Ray Rizzo (drums, vocals, harmonica), Rob Beitzel (guitar, vocals)
From: Brooklyn
Genre: Indie Rock, Folk-core
MUSIC
PRESS PHOTO (credit: Jessica Devlin)
BIOGRAPHY
Corporal formed in 2007 when Michael Shannon moved to Brooklyn and he and drummer Ray Rizzo started playing shows at Goodbye Blue Monday and other local bars. They had previously played music in 2002 while acting in a play about a band that self-destructed. That play was Adam Rapp’s “Finer Noble Gases” which also featured Rob Beitzel who, also in Brooklyn, joined the new band on guitar at their early shows and during recording. Mike chose the name Corporal for the band and used his cell phone to take the photos that are on the front and back of the album. He also wrote the songs on the record.
Corporal’s eponymous 11-song album was recorded, mixed, and mastered in 10 days spread out over 18 months. With Ray acting as producer, recording began at Monsterland in Bushwick, Brooklyn with Kevin Meeker engineering, moving to Wayne Dorell’s Pigeon Club studio in Hoboken, and finished with mixing sessions at Saltlands Studios with engineer/producer Jim Smith at the desk. Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” served as inspiration for the process and intended outcome, with all but 2 tracks recorded live with live vocal takes, and sparse overdubbing done afterwards. In 2012 Jim Smith remixed the acoustic version of “Obama” to be included on a self-released 7″ that also included the spasmodic version of the same song and “Effortless”. Corporal’s song “Sick” is used in the Noah Buschel film “Sparrow’s Dance”.
Corporal performs with a rotating group of players on bass and other instruments, including David Wnorowski for the band’s upcoming show in New Orleans at One Eyed Jacks on February 7th while Michael Shannon is in town filming for the forthcoming Liza Johnson-directed film Elvis & Nixon. The band’s next show is at Bowery Electric in Manhattan on March 14th.
THE TEMP AGENCY publicity 