Former lead singer from the Grammy nominated band, Katrina and The Waves, was born in Topeka, Kansas, U.S.A, and grew up with the West Coast sound (Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Heart). Katrina’s father was a Colonel in the USAF who was stationed in California, New Mexico, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Alabama and so Katrina moved seven times while she lived in the U.S.A. and lived in Germany and Holland until, at the age of 16, Katrina arrived in England, where she met fellow American and future Wave, Vince de la Cruz.

As a singer, Katrina was inspired by Motown, Stax and American rock as well as girl groups such as The Shangri-Las and The Shirelles. In 1983 Katrina and Vince formed Katrina and The Waves with Englishmen Alex Cooper and Kimberley Rew.
Katrina and The Waves had their first big break in 1984 when The Bangles covered their song ‘Going Down To Liverpool’. This drew attention to the group and lead to an international deal with Capitol Records.

Katrina and The Waves appeared on Johnny Carson twice.

The band’s first album was produced by Scott Litt, who went on to produce REM and Nirvana – it was his idea to add the drum intro to ‘Walking on Sunshine’ which made it irresistible to radio DJs. The first Capitol album, ‘Katrina & The Waves’ released in 1985, was a substantial critical and commercial success and ‘Walking on Sunshine was a worldwide hit earning top ten spots around the globe. (No. 9 US, No.8 UK, No.3 Canada, No.4 Australia). Since then, the song has been broadcasted over 2,500,000 times in the U.S. and was the highest played track on radio in the Summer of 2008.

Led by drummer Brad Elvis (Screams, The Elvis Brothers, Big Hello, The Romantics) and vocalist/guitarist/saxophonist Chloe F. Orwell (Big Hello), Chicago’s The Handcuffs will be releasing their fourth studio album Burn The Rails. The 13-song album was tracked at Kingsize Sound Labs, Chicago with producer/engineer Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case, Billy Bragg, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, The Mekons). Burn The Rails is being released by Pravda Records in June on CD, download and via streaming platforms and later on 12″ vinyl.

For the the new album, The Handcuffs found inspiration from the heady, analog days of early 1970s rock & roll, weaving together elements of glam, indie, garage, art and blues rock. Inhabiting some of the same musical turf as T-Rex, Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, The Raconteurs, P.J. Harvey, Led Zeppelin, and Patti Smith – all filtered through a modern lens – they deliver bold, sexy songs with memorable melodies and unexpected twists.

Guest keyboardist Morgan Fisher (Mott The Hoople) demonstrates his synthesizer and piano prowess on a couple of tracks on the new LP. The relationship with Fisher, a musical hero of the band, began after singer Orwell’s rave review of Mott The Hoople’s 2018 reunion tour went viral on social media, attracting the attention of Fisher, who got in contact. From there a creative collaboration was sparked, in-spite of an ocean separating the now real-life friends.

Finishing the record during the peak of the pandemic and lockdown, gave several of the songs an  inadvertent anthem-for-the-times feel – with themes of love and loss, heartache and hope, and even the great ideological divide that was as omnipresent as the virus.

Elvis and Orwell formed The Handcuffs from the ashes of Big Hello, their first band together, which released three indie label records and toured from coast to coast. Elvis’ career also includes a few major label go-arounds, arena tours, and a backstory that will be documented in a new autobiography in the near future. The duo’s eagerness to explore new sonic territory and evolve into an entity that aligned more with their ever-expanding influences and broad range of musical tastes prompted a change. The Handcuffs began as primarily a studio project, in which Elvis and Orwell wrote and recorded an abundance of material. During the process, they realized that they missed the live band experience, and so The Handcuffs as recording artists and a dynamic live band was born. Completing the line-up are bassist Emily Togni, lead guitarist Jeffrey Kmieciak, and keyboardist Alison Hinderliter, all of whom originate from different parts of the country, but have made Chicago their home.

The Injured Parties played their debut gig in February 2005. Led by former Post Office songwriter-guitarist, Larry O. Dean, the IP’s came together after Dean’s previous band, the ambitious, avant-pop sextet, The Me Decade, imploded.

Looking to streamline the violin and viola-driven sound of TMD, Dean recruited bassist Jimmy De Lauriea (Bugga-ohng, Shiver, Amelia Glass) and drummer Mike Ebersohl (Hickory Ridge, Earthshine, Medicine Wheel, Axis, Vision, Four on the Floor, Payton and The Peers, The Veil, The Yellowhammers, Double Wide, Mistreated, Honey Don’t, Chuck Cox and the Johnson Principle, The Nashvillains, Kurt Crandall and True Story) from the vibrant Chicago music underground, creating a more classic ‘power trio’ line-up.

With rich three-part harmonies, chugging electric guitar, deft rhythms and Dean’s ‘songs and sardonica’ approach to composition, The Injured Parties’ music draws inspiration from the melody and verve of vintage Kinks, the squonk of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse, the blissful feedback of The Velvet Underground, the psychedelic twang of The Byrds, and the hard-edged pop of The Posies.

Commemorating their one year anniversary, The Injured Parties headed into the studio to record their debut album with engineer Jeff Hamand (Souled American, Tallulah, Diane Izzo), mixing in Nashville with producer Mark Nevers (Lambchop, The Clientele, Calexico, Bobby Bare Jr.). Fun with a Purpose was released in July 2009.

In 2013, the band contributed a track to Starry Eyed, a tribute album to UK powerpop band, The Records. They are currently recording their second full-length, to be released later this year. Stay tuned!”