de Schmog

1991–1997

indie rock art rock

Houston's avatars of boy-girl weirdo pop for the young inner loop scenesters. de Schmog came close to having a residency at Rudyard's in the early '90s and developed a loyal following among the Montrose artsy crowd, anchored by the vocal interplay of Diane Koistinen and Kilian Sweeney.

Their first release, de Schmog, anyone? (1991), was recorded in the de Schmog house with Sprawl's Nick Cooper engineering via a snake of recording cables strung across the road by way of tree branches. They followed with The New Johnny Bravo 7-inch (1992) and the full-length CD Ed, named after their friend Ed Goleman who provided lyrics to the popular live song "John Hinkley." de Schmog Fairytale, a forty-minute rock opera of sex, marriage, loneliness, sexual confusion, and adultery, was recorded live at Rudyard's. Their final recording, Kiddie Wonderland, was done at Scott Ayers' home studio.

de Schmog played the CMJ Marathon in New York, the New Music Festival, and twice at SXSW, and successfully distributed singles to radio stations with strong responses — but as Kilian later noted, they couldn't travel to capitalize on it. Key members left town and the band went on indefinite hiatus at the beginning of 1998. Kilian Sweeney subsequently formed The Drapes.