This now sextet band first started off as a guitar/electro project by Mike Shirley-Donnelly but quickly grew to feature members with their own eclectic tastes and background in music. Curious Quail released its first EP The Glow in 2009, before all current members were officially in the band. Curious Quail’s latest album .:Instant Gratification:. (released summer 2012) features guest vocalist Erin Whitworth of San Francisco band Please Do Not Fight and other guest appearances made by CQ’s extended family: Nicole Garber, Jessica Shirley-Donnelly and Magdalena Trenkner.
“Thank you, Mike Shirley-Donnelly, for taking back clever titles from the emo and math bands. The San Jose singer/songwriter started Curious Quail as a channel for solo acoustic songs, but what it’s become is infinitely more bizarre—and fascinating. Now songs like “Secret Lives of Retail Monkeys” and “Yesterday I Watched the World End” are wrapped in electro beats that may spin off into unexpected, soaring directions at any time. His one-man project has become a six-man band, adding to the epic drama of a sound that juxtaposes starkly with the immediate intimacy of the lyrics.”
Playing at Old Wagon Saloon | 11pm
