Meet Call Me Spinster Amelia Jacobs, Rachel Graber, Rosalie Graber: Band

We had the good fortune of connecting with Call Me Spinster Amelia Jacobs, Rachel Graber, Rosalie Graber and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Call Me Spinster, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
We are the daughters of rural, small-town midwesterners and were raised in a pretty old-school way in some regards. Our dad was born Amish and raised Mennonite, and as in many agrarian societies, the separation between “work” and “life” is a foreign and very modern concept. We grew up in the city but our family retained some of that agrarian ethos, spending most of our time together doing things – Saturday house cleaning, helping dad change the oil or futz with a broken furnace. Acceptable leisure activities were justified as group activities, and the more elaborate the better – making taffy or brewing beer, woodsy hikes and mushroom hunting, campfire sings. It’s not surprising that, despite years of protest, we landed on a common group activity as a means of spending time together peaceably. Being a band as adult siblings gave us a collaborative purpose that was somehow safer in our family trope of workleisure. So the short answer – work and life have been pretty fused from the beginning. We started the band in earnest when Amelia had a baby, sneaking in practices between naps or Rosie and Rachel’s classes, backstage pumping, building up the rolodex of substitute teachers for out of town shows. Amelia’s husband writes songs with us sometimes and has shot most of our band photos and video, Rachel’s boyfriend has started playing guitar in the band and Rosie’s husband is often coerced into wrapping cable, critiquing, and sharing music tips whenever he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time (ie home). Rachel and Rosie and their partners live in a sort of family compound-situation. Amelia lives just down the road but most of her mornings are in the compound´s practice space now that baby is in school, so Rachel´s boyfriend has to be careful when making breakfast in the buff. We’ve gone from all being full-time teachers to pursuing side hustles that are ideally less emotional and time-consuming. It’s a scary shift that makes taxes a nightmare but has finally allowed the freedom to write and practice and be available for band business. Our biggest work/life epiphany is that we are starting to intentionally welcome this modern concept of boundaries into our world (thanks, therapy!) As we dream about the day when touring can happen again, we imagine a very long bus stacked with a revolving cast of kids, partners, and road-nanny grandparents, but in the meantime are cultivating the practice of carving out personal time and space for self, relationships, etc. We are learning how to communicate those needs, a tricky task in any collaboration but especially amidst the layers of sibling habits and presumed telepathy. This is true of the creative process as well. We began writing and arranging songs in a very haphazard way, grabbing thankfully at whatever came when it happened to hit. But the longer we do this, we realize if you’re waiting for a song to strike you like lightning, you have to stand a long time in a storm with your golf club in the air. We’re learning to schedule time for writing and solo practice and to protect that time.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We have been told that our sound reminds people of a 60’s girl group, Irish folk music, doo-wop, early Bowie art pop, “holler” blood harmony. If you come to a show, you’ll hear a banjo, accordion, upright bass and washboard mashed up with the more standard fare of synthesizer, electric guitar, bass, drums… You’ll hear original music that spans four people’s life experiences with some familiar covers thrown in, from A-ha to TLC to Andrews Sisters to Drake and Eve 6. Our music is both the lens by which we choose to examine our sisterhood, ourselves and our world and the physical byproduct of that exploration. We decided to prioritize hanging out together by way making music at a time when we were in three very different life stages. We have realized that our playing and writing music doesn’t just bring us together, but a whole lovely community, and continues to develop our ability to relate to others.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Say we’re in Chattanooga, past a period of global pandemic when humans can once again rub up against each other, and have all of the money in the world… Monday – N. Shore urban hike. Start in Bluff View Art district – check out the sculpture garden and grab a loaf of bread from Bluff View bakery. Head across the walking bridge, ride the carousel in Coolidge and play in the animal fountains. Grab a beer and pretzel at Brewhouse, ice cream at Clumpies. Look for books and records at Winderbinder and some new threads from Collective Clothing. Check out the turtles in Renaissance Park and walk back downtown on Market St. Bridge and land at Easy Bistro for fancy dinner or Tai Chi Bubble Tea for poke bowl take-out. MLK Tuesday – Spend all day at the Chattanooga public library. Head to the fourth floor to make buttons, zines, print vinyl, play with the 3D printer, floor loom, CNC router, or virtual reality machine, or go talk to an archivist and get your nerd on on the second floor for some local history. You can order the cheapest latte in town from the front desk. Evening: Walk down MLK, schedule a ChattTaste food tour. Play some pinball and grab a beer (and a bowl of cereal) at Coin Op while getting your Killer Queen on. Grab some ramen and a nightcap at Bitter Alibi or BBQ from Chatt Smokehouse. Southside Wednesday – Coffee at Velo or lunch at Niedlovs. Hit up Main St. Farmer’s Market in the afternoon, and collect on your free beer at Chatt Brewing next door. Time it right and you can catch a CFC soccer game at the stadium or a show at the Signal that night. Main Street meats for dinner – get the burger, but branch out for at least one entree and take some baconage to go. East Lake Thursday – Grab coffee at the Spot and check out the bulletin board for any art shows later on in the week from the likes of Addie Chapin, Alecia Vera, Genesis, Kate Roebuck. Walk around East Lake Park, flip through the stacks at Yellow Racket Records. Check out the sculpture fields, and then head to a houseparty show in our backyard featuring Call Me Spinster, Summer Dregs, Floami Fly, Nick Lutsko, Swayvo, ISean, Slade Dynasty, Superbody and Strung Like a Horse, catered by Thai Esan. If the party is really lit, it will end up at Ziggy’s for karaoke or Alan Gold’s for the daily drag show. Friday – Meet up for a Chattanooga Whiskey Tour before dinner at Proof, our new local food and bev incubator. Go to a show at JJ´s, especially if you’ve never heard of the bands. Afterwards stumble over to The Office, Chattanooga’s smoky, motley hero of bars, in the first floor of the Days Inn and back of the all night-City Cafe Diner, with cakes as tall as a toddler and a menu the length of the phone book. Order cheap beer and a round of grilled cheese. If you’re lucky, catch the Midnight Puff Bus for a nice legal cross fade to send you spinning into the weekend. Weekend – Brunch at Kenny’s and then detox with some nature of your flavor – bouldering at the Soddy Escarpment, a leisurely downtown paddle around McClellan’s Island, a hike up to Sunset Rock on Lookout Mountain, kayaking on the Ocoee, camping in Cherokee National Forest.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to the schools that raised us – Jackson Magnet, Ramsey Jr. High and Central High School in St. Paul, MN – but also the project of public school in general. Learning to grow into yourself can be a lot easier in an environment where everyone is rolling with a different backpack of influences, expectations, language, identities, nerdery, resources, footwear…

Website: https://www.spinsterband.com/

Instagram: @callmespinster

Facebook: callmespinster

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv1TBKyZJIyHVWU14paWoGA

Other: https://strollingbonesrecords.com/store

Image Credits
Our Ampersand Photography, Album art: DH Jacobs)