About Peabody

In The Beginning... (1990)

Peabody formed in 1990 when guitarist, Steven Dennis, received a phone message from someone responding to a flyer he had put out looking for people to form a band with. Karen, Chris, and Lou had just dissolved their band Habit's Hat because of the loss of the guitarist when Chris came upon Steven's ad at the University of New Orleans. The four got together and immediately began writing songs. With the combination of some music Steven had written months before and lyrics that Chris came up with at the first practice, Peabody had their first song..."Swim."

Peabody played their first show on August 4th, 1990, at the Warehouse Cafe in New Orleans, opening for local favorites Fresh Young Minds. The band spent the next few months performing and practicing, slowly building up a set of originals. On December 7th, 1990, Peabody played their first show as the headlining act at Jimmy's Music Club in New Orleans. Around this time, Peabody made its first demo in a small home studio called Zymondo.

Lost In Old Rivers (1991-1994)

It soon became evident that the band's following wanted a recording of the Peabody's music. In February of 1991 the band went into Southlake Studios to record four songs. These recordings were paired with a few songs from a live recording and packaged as Unsigned. The cassette- only release quickly sold all of its 500 copies. In October of that year, Peabody was once again in the studio, this time with veteran producer\arranger Mark Bingham, best known for his string arrangements on the R.E.M. album Out Of Time (recall the intro to "Shiny Happy People"). The sessions, done in Chris and Karen's living room, produced four songs, but the sought-after first full length CD never materialized. In 1992 the band continued to perform in the New Orleans area and to build a following. The world famous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival asked Peabody to play for the first time in '92. The band also netted a trip to New York City as a showcase performer at the CMJ New Music Seminar held in October.

After returning from New York, Peabody once again began the process of recording a debut CD. After checking out numerous recording studios and producers the band decided to record and produce the record themselves. They spent the next months of 1993 putting together piece by piece a recording studio. They dubbed it Our House Recording Studio and finally on May 20th, 1994, the debut CD was released. The band finally had a full length album under their belt, a twelve song collection that was two years in the making...

Heroine (1995-1996)

By 1995, the band had made another big decision. Peabody was now going to be a full-time job for its members. In their newly purchased van, Peabody hit the road on a constant tour schedule. The band felt that it was time to break out of New Orleans and start playing to people throughout the southeast. Almost all of 1995 was spent breaking into new markets, quite a change from the relative comfort of playing to 300+ crowds in New Orleans. By the end of 1995, the follow-up to Lost In Old Rivers was starting to take shape. All seemed on schedule until early in 1996 when the band underwent its first line-up change in over 5 years. Bassist Lou Carollo informed the band of his intentions to leave in order to pursue a career back home. The changes brought about by the full-time traveling schedule had finally taken their toll. The new album came to a screeching halt while the remaining three members went about the task of replacing Lou.

An old friend of the band, Jimmy Legnon, seemed to be the perfect choice as Peabody's new bass player. After a few crash practice sessions, Jimmy was out on the road with the band. On the days back in New Orleans, the band scrambled to get bass tracks recorded, new CD photos taken, and artwork arranged for the new album.

Peabody's second album, entitled Heroine, was released on August 2nd, 1996. The band continued to travel and write new material and to steadily build a following throughout the southern region. With over 6,500 copies of Lost In Old Rivers sold, and Heroine already going into its second pressing, the band seemed poised and ready for the next step.

The Long And Winding Road (1997-2000)

For the next year, Peabody would continue to travel in support of their two CDs. Playing regularly in many places, including Dallas, Atlanta, and the Gulf Coast, all seemed well for the band. While the band always found eager fans in new markets, mismanagement had finally started to take its toll on the band financially; bassist Jimmy Legnon was considering better job opportunities as an X-ray technician. Soon the tough decision was made and Peabody was once again in search of a bass player. After some months of searching for and auditioning bassists, the band came upon Thomas McDonald, a journeyman musician who had traveled extensively with acts such as Anders Osborne. Pretty soon after his acceptance of the spot, Peabody was back out on the road playing shows.

As new material began to accumulate, thoughts of a third CD became more frequent. The Egyptian Room of American Sector recording studio was eventually picked as the site for the creation of the next Peabody release. Taking a break from the travel schedule, the recording sessions were going well when work was forced to halt halfway through because the studio had to be relocated. While the band waited for the chance to complete the recordings, it became increasingly clear that the relocation was going to take a lot longer than planned. Peabody had to make a decision on what to do next...

The decision was to take some time off. Peabody had been around for some ten years, and we had all pretty much put our lives on hold while we recorded and toured. The next few years would be spent getting back to some of the things we had had to leave undone. Chris and Karen dabbled in the real estate market and expanded the child development business that they had been a part of. Steven went back to school and finished his undergraduate studies in Physics and eventually earned his Masters in Physics. Thomas continued to show up around the city, and world, playing with various bands.

While the band took a back seat to other things for a while, it never completely died. Peabody played occasional shows for special events, most notably, the annual Anne Rice Halloween party given by her fan club. And so now, in the new millennium, the band has enjoyed ten years of making original music and is ready to reemerge into the local New Orleans music scene. While they will probably never resume the touring schedule of years past, local fans can count on plenty more opportunities to see Peabody performing live once again. The unfinished third CD will almost definitely be completed, giving the Peabody faithful yet one more exciting project to look forward to.

The Time Has Come (2001-)

Sometime during 2001, in the midst of the longest Peabody hiatus to date, Steven talked with Chris about getting together on a weekly basis to play. This wasn't to do Peabody; it was just to get together and jam again. Steven contacted Peabody's original bassist, Lou Carollo, to see what he thought about getting together regularly to play some songs (mostly Rush). Everyone thought it was a great idea and soon Steven, Chris and Lou were all together in the same practice room, just playing for the sake of playing.

It didn't take long for the guys to get Karen to join in on their weekly jam sessions, and soon the original Peabody line-up was together again for the first time in six years. News of the former Egyptian Room recording equipment resurfacing in its new location encouraged thoughts of completing the band's unfinished third album. All of the original recordings from the Egyptian Room sessions were done with Thomas McDonald playing bass. Instead of picking up from those tracks, a decision was made to scrap the previous recordings and start from scratch. In July of 2002, Peabody was once again in the studio laying down tracks for the follow-up to Heroine.

Although everything sounded great and the band was anxious to get the CD completed, recording was sporadic; sometimes months would pass between sessions. Finally, on June 13th, 2003, the recording, mixing and mastering of These Things Take Time, as it was appropriatly dubbed, was complete. Artwork by longtime band roadie/assistant/photographer Ritchie Champage was finalized and the CD was finally ready.