Mothers Room Milwaukee
By the time Mothers Room came together the Milwaukee band’s members had already played with Johnny & the Losers, Cherry Cake, 3 on Fire and Monkey Bar. By the time the band’s recordings would be released, 26 years would pass.
Extant during the mid-‘90s, the quartet burned bright before calling it a day due to “artistic differences.” With vocalist Chris Tishler—moving from bass to guitar—and drummer Jason Hendricksen (both had been in Johnny & the Losers) setting a foundation, they added guitarist Bob Theno, whose lead playing lent a key ingredient to a sound that tight-roped the increasingly blurry lines marking alternative rock and vintage FM radio. Swiss Army knife bassist Rusty Olson (he’d drummed in Monkey Bar) and Hendricksen formed a rhythm section that was empathetic and perfectly inconspicuous.
With a sound that could move from muscular rockers to ballads, the band was not afraid of memorable hooks. Tishler quietly sings in metaphors on “Fishing” before the tune breaks heavy, accelerating with an assertive chorused guitar. Had Atlantic Records set the hook it dangled in front of the band, Mothers Room might be a household word today.
The group recorded two sessions in Madison at Smart Studios. This is the controlled version of Mothers Room; live, they were a pressure cooker often on the verge of exploding. Three tracks recorded at Shank Hall hint at those situations. A rave-up take of The Kinks’ “I Need You” and Lucinda Williams’ “Passionate Kisses” offers a peek at Mothers Room’s kaleidoscope influences.
