Quilt (band)

Quilt
Quilt performing in Leipzig, Germany in September 2014
Background information
Origin	Boston
Genres	Psychedelic rock, indie-rock, dream pop, folk
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Mexican Summer
Associated acts	Woods
Website	www.quiltband.com
Members	Anna Fox Rochinski Shane Butler John Andrews Keven Lareau
Past members	Taylor McVay

Quilt are a four-piece psychedelic indie rock band from Boston consisting of Anna Fox Rochinski (vocals/guitars), Shane Butler (vocals/guitars), Keven Lareau (vocals/bass) and John Andrews (vocals/drums). They have released three albums, an EP, and a handful of singles through Mexican Summer. The band tours internationally. The band writes collaboratively and share vocal duties. They were born out of a local improv scene, and combine elements of folk-rock, psychedelia and dream pop.

Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Anna Fox Rochinski is the daughter of jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, author, and Berklee faculty member Steve Rochinski, and began to play guitar at the age of 13 with her father teaching "the basics right off the bat". She "started going to DIY shows when I was 15 or 16" years old and became part of The Whitehaus Family Record scene, which led to a chance meeting with Shane Butler at one of their Friday-night sessions. It was "where our band formed and where we had our first practices" towards the end of 2008. Both Rochinski and Butler attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the duo became a three-piece when Taylor McVay joined on drums in 2009. They began to play live gigs locally, mostly on the improv circuit. Rochinski thought of the name while 'looking around the room, and somehow Quilt appeared, and somehow Quilt stuck'. In August of the same year, they released a 7 track demo-tape with the help of Peter Nichols at Spooky Town.

The band made their first SXSW festival appearance in March 2010, followed by the first EP Agents of Play released on a local Bostonian label in May of the same year. A low-key release on vinyl, it contained five tracks that highlighted the improvisational style of the band. Both Butler and Rochinski graduated in June 2010 to fully concentrate on their music, while they began playing shows along the East Coast. McVay left the band in February 2011 and was replaced by John Andrews, a New Jersey native.

Upon finishing their studies, Butler and Rochinski began recording with Jesse Gallagher at his local Cambridge (MA) studio. Initially, McVay still participated in these sessions, but Andrews soon began to join in what was a collaborative recording process from the outset. With no budget to speak of, the band recorded when they had the opportunity to do so, which resulted in a number of scattered sessions over the course of a year. Gallagher as the engineer and producer, played an important role in the process and "pulled us from the murky depths of scratchy and reverby lo-fi recording up in the heights of snazzier sounds and proper vocal treatments", according to Rochinski. The first result of these sessions was the single 'Cowboys in the Void' b/w 'Penobska Oakwalk' that appeared on Burger Records in March 2011. The band finished mixing in early September and the record was picked up by the Mexican Summer label based in New York. They quickly began to ready the self-titled album Quilt for a November release. Having a record deal brought a gear shift in public attention for the trio, who found themselves booked on the CMJ convention in October as part of their label's showcase.