Damsel

Since the early 00s, avant-jazz legend Nels Cline (Wilco, Thurston Moore, The Geraldine Fibbers) and omnipresent beat freak Zach Hill (Hella, The Ladies, Death Grips) had been waiting for an opportunity to spend a few hours making noise. When Cline joined Wilco full-time and Hill started The Ladies with Pinback’s Rob Crow, the dream seemed increasingly unlikely. And by the time Hill’s full-time gig as half of Hella saw him touring arenas with modern rock staples like System of a Down and The Mars Volta, the dream seemed dead. But through a bit of careful planning and a whole lot of serendipity, Wilco had a day off in Chicago the same day that Hill was in town. It was the night of the 2004 presidential election, and nobody in the room was happy. Tensions flared, confusion set in, and brains started to freeze. Cline and Hill decided that the following day would be their day of release: half collaboration, half exorcism. Matt Zivich (live sound engineer for Wilco) and Jonathan Hischke (touring bassist for Hella) were brought in to mingle in the madness that would become known as Damsel.