Mistle Thrush was a female-fronted 1990s alternative rock band based in Boston, Massachusetts. They've been described by the Boston Herald as The Cure-meets-Fairport Convention. Steve Morse of The Boston Globe wrote that Valerie Forgione, the band's singer, has "some of the most versatile pipes since the dream-pop heyday of Kate Bush" and that the "band remains a local treasure". During the band's heyday, their songs frequently charted in CMJ's Top 200. According to the band's website, they're on hiatus but their last album was released in February 2002. In January 2011, they reunited to play their first concert since 2003. Forgione's current project is called Van Elk.
History
Formed in 1993 by guitarists Scott Patalano and Brad Rigney, bassist Ruben Layman, drummer Todd Demma and Forgione, Mistle Thrush took their name from a bird that eats the poisonous-to-most berries of the mistletoe plant. Generally identified as goth—although the term, as The Phoenixs Brett Milano later put it, "never quite suited them"—quickly found a home at Washington, D.C.'s Bedazzled Records, who released the band's debut 7" in 1994. Later that same year, they released a 5-song CD entitled Agus Amàrach. In May 1995 they advanced as far as the semi-finals of the 17th annual WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble; by the time they put out their full-length debut, Rigney had been replaced by former teenage Boston hardcore semi-star Matthew Kattman. Two years later, they released Super Refraction on the "fake" indie label, Egg Records. The album landed them on the Boston Heralds "Local Best of 1997" list, with music critic Tristram Lozaw declaring it to be "ilky smart pop with sublime sonics". The album was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Indie LabelAlbum of the Year, with Forgione also being nominated for Outstanding Local Female Vocalist. Signing a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell Music, they ultimately used most of the advance money buying out the remainder of their 5-album contract with Egg, with whom they'd become increasingly disillusioned. During this time-period, band members involved themselves with other creative outlets since the band's recording career was effectively on hold. Forgione received positive reviews for her turn as Mary Magdalene in the Boston Rock Opera's 2000 production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Jim Sullivan noted in the Boston Globe that Forgione "shines during her featured numbers" and that she "belt out... songs in a manner far from her work with... Mistle Thrush." All of the legal wrangling involved in extracting themselves from their contract took its toll on the band and Kattman and Layman both left the band. Matthew Klain was recruited to take over on bass, and the band decided they could make do with just one guitarist. In early 2002 the band released what would be their final album, Drunk with You on new Los Angeles indie label, Ecstatic. The album was recognized by the Boston Music Awards with a nominations for Local Album of the Year, and Local Song of the Year.
