shalloboi

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shalloboi started as a solo project for tyler ritter. when it began is anyone's guess- it could be as early as 1995 when he was 16- but a good starting point for the aesthetic that got the ball rolling was at a show in 2001 in kansas city when tyler was the first to rise from the ashes of the hardcore band he was in called the short bus kids. in 2002 shalloboi moved to portland, or. while in portland tyler managed to make a few contributions to the tight-knit experimental scene in portland by playing guitar in the moe!kestra, which was conducted by moe staieno of sleepytime gorilla museum and was the original singer for elecrtomagnet which was a band formed by ashkelon sain formerly of trance to the sun. in 2004 tyler released the first shalloboi album 'blue-eyed' and recorded the bulk of the next two releases. in 2005 stefanie goodwin joined after contributing some vocal harmonies and taking up bass duties live. later that year shalloboi moved from portland and went on a very brief but fruitful summer tour, recorded cello parts in st. paul, mn with billy speer and began the ground-work for the 'down to sleep' album (which will be finished soon) before settling down again in chicago (where they are currently). in november they released the 'invisible against the sun' ep. monetary hardship ensued. a credit card was maxed out. tyler had to work at starbucks. frightening. despite such difficulties and after dropping some key recording equipment down a flight of concrete stairs on the way home from the airport (putting a damper on the mixing of the album 'petals' which had been in the works since the fall of 2002) 'petals' was finally released in october of 2006, just too late to be peddled at a round of shows in new york. the 'learning how to crawl' ep came together by accident before the release of 'petals' and the finishing touches were added over the next six months including a vocal contribution from tony presley aka real live tigers. the ep was released in fall of 2007. shalloboi are currently wrapping up their fifth record 'down to sleep.'