Kevin Tihista
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
After contributing a few songs to the ill-fated third Veruca Salt LP Resolver, Tihista -- reportedly with some 300 unrecorded songs completed -- finally succumbed to pressure from his girlfriend to begin mounting a solo career, and began cutting tracks in the basement studio of neighbor Ellis Clark. With former TFA bandmate Kidd now serving as his manager, Tihistas demo was passed to Wyndham Wallace, founder of the British indie Easy Tiger, which earlier released material by fellow Chicago pop act the Webb Brothers to considerable notice; his debut solo single, Lose the Dress, appeared on Easy Tiger in October 2000, followed in June 2001 by a self-titled six-song EP on Rough Trade. Signing in the U.S. to the Atlantic subsidiary Division One, Tihista and backing band Red Terror issued Dont Breathe a Word -- a fantastic collection of heartbreaking, Beatlesque pop gems -- that September. When Atlantic closed Division One in late 2001, early the following year Tihista signed to Parasol to reissue Dont Breathe a Word, a short time later releasing the companion set Judo.
