Formed in 2010 by Chicago-based pianist and songwriter Johnny Iguana, The Claudettes have been steadily evolving across a string of albums since. Their sixth full-length Garage Glamour is the first with lead vocalist Rachel Williams, who joined the outfit in 2023. With this new edition, the band has further sharpened their blend of blues and soul with punkish intensity and contemporary flair. The album’s out now on vinyl, compact disc, and digital through Pravda Records.
The Claudettes have a direct line to the blues, as Johnny Iguana has played with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and Johnny Winter, along with recording a solo album, Chicago Spectacular!, for noted Windy City blues and jazz label Delmark Records in 2020. Johnny Iguana is also a name many might recognize through his work as co-composer of the score to the TV series The Bear, with fellow Chicagoan Jeffrey “JQ” Qaiyum.
Bassist Zach Verdoorn and drummer Michael Caskey complete the current lineup of The Claudettes along with the belter’s pipes and punk stylishness of Williams, whose visage, captured in the midst of a throaty wail, adorns Garage Glamour’s front cover. The photo is mildly reminiscent of Gary Panter’s artwork for the late ’70s Los Angeles punk band Screamers.
The Claudettes aren’t as anarchic as that comparison might suggest. There is a songwriting acumen and a deft musicality that make a strong case for the band’s potential for widespread appeal. In earlier, less restrictive eras, the precise dual-vocal emotionalism of opener “(You Are My) Whole World” would’ve been a prime candidate for frequent radio play on stations catering to adults.
That is, The Claudettes benefit from a palpable maturity in execution. With its air of darkness built on lived experience, “Winter Came While You Were Gone” is a song about going through some shit made for people who have gone through some shit. What seals the deal is Williams’ popstar sense of control; there’s nothing overwrought in her delivery, and the band meets her with playing that wields studio panache and club gig verve.
Williams has been compared to Annie Lennox, and that’s fair, but “That Could Be Arranged” has an Alt-pop ’90s vibe that imagines Garbage if they’d cut a single produced by Money Mark. Very noirish (another reference point for The Claudettes’ current sound), and “Touch You Back” carries a bit of that aura into an up-tempo neo-soul groover that benefits from additional guitar from Ella Feingold.
Garage Glamour’s mid-way point brings a sweet cover of “Whirlpool” by Wanda Jackson that scratches the classique itch, while “Mr. Pecker’s Apoplexy” branches out into stranger terrain, sounding like a bunch of late ’80s goth-poppers cutting a single on Halloween night in a studio possessed by the spirit of Joe Meek.
“No Matter How Much” is a highlight, rhythmically hard-hitting with loads of keyboard flair and Williams dishing it out. “The Aftermath” follows with more of that noir moodiness and production techniques that steer the band clear of throwback territory. Indeed, the rousing shout-sung “Don’t Give It Up to the Thieves” is quite timely if stylistically connected to the rebelliousness of earlier eras, and then there’s an abrupt jump into the grand pop sweep of “There Is No Other Side” for the close.
With Garage Glamour, The Claudettes intermingle the opposing poles represented in the album’s title with songwriting savvy, natural band chemistry, and a series of knockout lead vocal turns. There are plenty of reference points, but it’s impossible to mistake them for any other band.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
