Music
Press
A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, and so it is with Marianne Pillsbury's debut CD. Catchy, sing-out-loud choruses and bright alterna-pop production deftly wrap around barbed and potent lyrics of the single gal's life in the big city, with all its one-night stands, jerk boyfriends and friends who don't know how well they've got it.
Pillsbury calls to mind the best work of Liz Phair and Juliana Hatfield. Guitars chime and roar, vocals soar and choruses call out to be sung along with. Fans of Jill Sobule will rejoice that there's now another independent female out there with a sense of humor. - Performing Songwriter Magazine
Marianne Pillsbury's pop hooks stick to you like chewing gum and her '60s girl-group harmonies throw back to the malt shop...Her band, The Marianne Pillsburys, brings her songs to life with sweet but cheeky flair. 'Boo Hoo' is an 'It's My Party' style romp through AM radio's glory days, newly buffed and iPod-ready. - ROCKRGRL
On her debut album, The Wrong Marianne, Marianne Pillsbury is as frank as Liz Phair and as tuneful and upbeat as the Go-Go's, dissecting romantic disasters and then bouncing back with lighthearted choruses. She's as tough as she is irrepressible. - Jon Pareles, The New York Times
Missing "Sex and the City" already? Let Marianne Pillsbury fill the void. She takes the bouncy girl-group pop-rock of the Bangles and the Go-Go's and adds Liz Phair-ish lyrics about love and sex that would make Carrie and the gang grin. A Maine native now living in New York, Pillsbury has crafted the songs on The Wrong Marianne to deliver smart, sassy fun. And, yeah, they rock. - The Boston Herald
Marianne Pillsbury started writing songs while recovering from a bad advertising job, and she's used her commercial gifts to craft pop songs out of even the most banal subjects. The Wrong Marianne, her new self-released CD, has a sweet vibe reminiscent of the Blake Babies. - Time Out New York
...edgy pop perfection in the same vein as indie rock goddess Liz Phair. Pillsbury shares similarly ballsy and frank but cheeky accounts of relationships gone awry, never letting the angst that fuels her to run her right off the road. - San Francisco Examiner
Editor's Pick: Very strong debut from this singer/songwriter who delivers intelligent, war-of-the-sexes, early Liz Phair-ish lyrics over newer Liz Phair-ish pop rock. The juxtaposition of smart, serious lyrics over fun pop is a bitter pill dipped in honey. For instance, on first listen, "Sweet & Sour World" is a bouncy, almost disco-ish pop song, but the lyrics is a serious warning to fellow young women who might find themselves in a similar bad situation. "Supersize" and "Swallow A Fly" are jangly, fun tracks that hide sarcasm behind the typical I love you, I worship you lyrics. Other songs offer up diatribes against exes and bad experiences against the backdrop of either grungy rock beats or infectious melody. Sweet and sour, Marianne Pillsbury is food for thought. - ReadMag.com
"A map of the East Village reads like the lyrics to "The Wrong Marianne," a collection of relationship rants by local lonelyheart Marianne Pillsbury."
Read the full story... http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/167952p-146801c.html - The New York Daily News
Marianne Pillsbury's debut CD is pure rock and roll fun, if not an absolutely outrageous and clever treatment of otherwise trite and stale themes such as life, love, sex and sadness.
Pillsbury's songs present a delightful mix of mature aloofness and edgy adolescent anger. She comes off as a young woman who is coming to terms with her own shortcomings and who is well versed in the dangers and pitfalls of trying to find meaningful relationships in a less than perfect world. - Indie-Music.com
We'll get the Liz Phair comparison out of the way quickly, and toss in a Jill Sobule nod just to be safe. However, Marianne Pillsbury packs her own punch and is carving out a post-riot grrrl niche for herself that could be something worth watching. She's already garnered songwriting awards for two of the tracks on The Wrong Marianne; she has a knack for matching scathingly funny observations with a peppy, dirty garage rock that should have people thinking "if Juliana Hatfield had joined The Pixies..." - Splendid Ezine
Discography
The Hot EP 2005
The Wrong Marianne LP 2004
The Wrong Marianne EP 2001
Photos
Bio
In 2004, Marianne released her debut album, The Wrong Marianne, on her own indie label, Average White Girl Records. Produced by award-winning singer-songwriter Bonnie Hayes (“Have A Heart” for Bonnie Raitt, “Shelly’s Boyfriend” from the Valley Girl soundtrack), the album received enthusiastic reviews from The New York Times, Time Out New York, The San Francisco Examiner and The Boston Herald.
Performing Songwriter magazine named The Wrong Marianne a Top 12 DIY Pick. The song “Boo Hoo” from the album won Best Alt/Rock Song in The Great American Song Contest 2004 and was also selected for inclusion on ROCKRGRL Magazine's Discoveries 2005 compilation CD. "Supersize" received Honorable Mention in The John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
Marianne’s Brooklyn-based band, The Marianne Pillsburys, bring her songs to life with an edgy punk-pop vibe a la Blondie, The Blake Babies and Elastica.
Marianne and her band have played NYC venues like Mercury Lounge, Luna Lounge, Pianos, Arlene's Grocery, Sin-e and Southpaw, other major metropolises including Boston, DC, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, OR, and London, and festivals such as M.E.A.N.Y. Fest (Musicians & Emerging Artists in New York), International Pop Overthrow, the Millenium Music Conference, and the ROCKRGRL Music Conference.
In April 2005, the band released a 3-song promo CD called The Hot EP produced by Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller, Ben Lee). The EP captures even more of the raw-yet-sweet brattiness that seems to be Marianne Pillsbury's formula for success. It also pays tribute to her all-time-favorite artist with a cover of the Prince classic "When U Were Mine". The song "Fixer-Upper Lover" from The Hot EP received Honorable Mention in the Billboard Song Contest.
In 2006, Marianne started focusing more on the songwriter part of singer-songwriter, writing & recording songs for film & TV placement as well as for other artists. Over the summer, she was selected to participate in the BMI Professional Songwriters Workshop led by Billy Sideman.
In the summer of 2007, Marianne had the privilege of teaching a Songwriting Workshop at the Willie Mae Rock Camp For Girls in Brooklyn for girls ages 8 to 18.
Currently, Marianne is working on new material that she plans to unleash on the world in late 2007 or early 2008.
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