[IMAGE of Trampoline Records Logo]

Featured Artist: NADINE

[Strange Seasons CD COVER] [Adam Reichmann]
[Band Shot of Nadine] [Steve Rauner]

NADINE began in St. Louis in 1997, when the band was commissioned by German label Glitterhouse to record Back to My Senses. Two years later, the band self-recorded their second release, Downtown, Saturday, with the help of Wilco's then-drummer Ken Coomer. MOJO featured Downtown, Saturday as it's americana "album of the month," prompting the first of many european tours for NADINE. After the band and their third, more pop-driven release, Lit Up From The Inside, were deemed "immaculate" by UNCUT, NADINE spent the next two years supporting such acts as The Posies, Chuck Prophet, Clem Snide, Slobberbone, Richard Thompson, Freedy Johnston, and Ryan Adams.

With the release of Strange Seasons, the band (now a five-piece) has touring plans with Gingersol, Chris Lee, Chris Mills, and The Bottle Rockets. The first single from the record, "different kind of heartache," will be featured on the latest compilation from Trampoline Records, Greatest Hits, Volume 2, which is due to be released this fall.

The band: Adam Reichmann (vocals, guitar), Steve Rauner (keyboards, multi-instrumentalist), Jimmy Griffin (guitar), Brian Zielie (drums), and Anne Tkach (bass)

To learn more about NADINE, check out the links, and look below for our exclusive interview with frontman Adam Reichmann.

Q&A with Adam from Nadine

Who is Nadine? How did you choose your name?
Ahh...Nadine. That's sort of a mystery to us as well. We wanted to have a proper name so that it would grow with us. I guess you don't choose the name you're born with.

How would you describe Strange Seasons?
Strange Seasons is a thoughtful rock record. It's the culmination of all our songwriting to date. Big arrangements, less words.

How is Strange Seasons different from your earlier work?
This is definitely more of a 'band' record. We knew the songs going into the experience, whereas previously, the songs arose from the recording experiments. This time, we recorded on a lot of vintage analog gear, which affected the sound palette as well as the process. Without taking away from our earlier stuff, I think it's the most developed, mature record. I wanted to make a Plastic Ono Band record. Not sure what we got instead.

Does the whole band collaborate on writing the lyrics and music, or is there one person who takes the lead on the songwriting for Nadine?
As the 'lead singer' (read 'failed short storywriter') the lyrics have been my domain. I'd like to think that they shape the songwriting and music, but it depends what you listen for in music. Steve and I write a lot of the main musical parts together... He's a wonderful arranger. Then, it's thrown into the band arena, and we have our way with it.

Strange Seasons has the distinction of being the first artist release on Trampoline Records. How did you become affiliated with Trampoline and how did you decide to release the newest CD on Tramp rather than on Undertow, which had been your "home" for a few years?
We sent out a bunch of packages and Trampoline was the coolest, most down-to-earth response we got. Great guys. Simple, artist friendly situation. No contest.

We'd been working with our own label, Undertow for years, so we knew what running a label was all about, and we just wanted to focus on making music. Undertow is continuing to do great stuff -- our former manager Bob runs the show from Chicago.

Can you tell me more about Undertow?
I became part of the Undertow collective in 1997 -- which was really just a practice space and some recording gear at that point. There were 5 or 6 of us, all with our own bands. We began a record label to put out our own music and did pretty well for a little indie. Everyone chipped in. Nobody really 'owned' the label because it was considered just another shared resource.

Undertow has sort of metamorphesized into a larger, bigger butterfly. The label operation has moved up to Chicago, and Nadine has become increasingly busy -- so it became impossible to be actively involved in both...

What excites you most about being a Tramp artist?
There are some great people associated with the Tramp family. We just got off some dates with Gingersol, and they were just terrific. I'm a huge admirer of Peter Himmelman -- what a career. MiniBar. Jukebox Junkies. Solid songwriting all around and everyone seems to value the music. It doesn't all sound the same, but there's something there that we have in common.

You mention your admiration for Peter Himmelman. Since this IS himmelfans.org, I was wondering if you could elaborate on that. When did you first discover Peter's music? Do you have a favorite Peter Himmelman CD or favorite Himmelman song?
My favorite Peter Himmelman CD is probably Synesthesia -- I had a college roommate who was from Minneapolis; and he turned me onto that record. We listened to it all the time...not a good year for me academically speaking... The record's got this great, honest mood to it, and it just rocks. Favorite Himmelman song: A Million Sides To Everything... (Editor's Note: Synesthesia DOES totally ROCK, and I also love A Million Sides!)

You also mention Gingersol, one of the original Tramp artists featured on Trampoline Records Greatest Hits, Vol. 1. My understanding is that your connection with G'sol was not thru Trampoline. How did you hook up with them?
This is an excellent question. I think that the first time we hooked up was at SxSW this last year -- probably one of the best things to come out of that trip besides the beer and bbq. I did a last minute acoustic thing, but I didn't have my acoustic guitar. I went to borrow one from them, and we just got to talking. We checked out each other’s shows and swapped CDs. Our bands have definitely been living in parallel universes.

What do you mean by parallel universes?
We've just been through a whole bunch of the same band experiences... Steve Tagliere and I could talk for hours about songwriting, music business stuff, touring at our level, line-up changes, evolution of recording... a lot of the same ups and downs -- a lot of the same challenges.

My understanding is that "different kind of heartache" is going to be your first single. What made you choose that song to be the first one?
This is actually what our high-powered lawyer suggested. Ha...hm. It's funny, when we've played the records for our peers, everyone says 'that's the single.' So, why not? It's one of the pop-ier songs, and it has a full, bittersweet narrative.

Which artists greatly influence your music?
I can't speak for the others in the band, but my big three are Dylan, Neil Young, and John Lennon. They are practically religious figures for me. Other than that, I am all over the map...a lot of old soul, some 80s hard rock thru Camper Van Beethoven. A lot of contemporary stuff really gets me: Joseph Arthur, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, Beck.

If you could go on tour with any band of your choice, who would be your top 3 choices to tour with?
Lucinda Williams, Flaming Lips, Beck.

Thanks, Adam, for taking the time to do this interview!
Right on.

To learn more about NADINE, check out the links below:

To learn more about Trampoline Records and the other artists represented on Volumes 1 & 2, check out http://trampolinerecords.com