Chandra: Blue Stage Session

Chandra Oppenheim was a child star like no other. As the daughter of famed conceptual artist Dennis Oppenheim, by age nine, Chandra was staying up late at her parents’ art-world parties, collaborating in her father’s projects, and performing her own plays at downtown hotspots such as The Kitchen and Franklin Furnace. This set the stage for Chandra’s course-altering collaboration with members of New York no- wave outfit, The Dance, who were looking to form yet another project and found their muse/fuse in 10-year-old Chandra. Their Transportation EP, originally released in 1980 by The Dance’s own label, ON/GoGo, balanced razor- wire guitars, liquid bass lines, and dub-style melodica. The Chandra band unveiled their first four songs: “Opposite”, “Concentration”, “Subways”, and “Kate.” At age 12, the post-punk pre-teen took the stage with her band for the first time at New York’s legendary Mudd Club. A whirlwind of press coverage ensued from glossy magazines like Vogue and Paris Match to the influential underground zine Non LP B Side and a Soho News cover story. A second EP was recorded and later shelved as Chandra walked away from the band at age 14 to focus on her education. The EP would not see the light of day for decades. Chandra’s Transportation EP saw a deluxe reissue that included the unreleased 2nd EP, as well as 2 demos from the same era, on Telephone Explosion Records out of Toronto in 2018. Chandra, now based in Maine, has also reactivated the Chandra Band with the help of a who’s who line-up of Toronto’s independent music scene. Third Man Records invited Chandra and her band to its Cass Corridor stage last winter. On February 1, 2019, magic was made and luckily for you it was captured. The songs presented to you on this Blue Stage Sessions 7”, Day Without Success b/w Explosions, are based on the demos and rehearsal tapes of Chandra Oppenheim, Eugenie Diserio and Steven Alexander recorded from 1981-1983. They have never been performed live until their new arrangements by the re-formed Chandra Band.