The Woods
New York City, 1984–87
From the band's Facebook page:
The Woods was a postpunk pop/rock band in NYC in the 1980s (ca. 1984–87). The founding members were Brian Bendlin (drums, guitar, vocals), Peggy Bitzer (bass, guitar, drums), Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer (guitar, vocals, cello), and Linda Smith (guitar, vocals); at other times the band also included Susan Brewster (guitar, vocals) and Antonio Tatum (bass).
The band played a number of shows at a variety of NYC area venues, including CBGB's, the Pyramid, and Maxwell's, and played live (with interviews) on WFMU (East Orange, NJ) and WYBC (Yale University radio, New Haven, CT).
In 1985 The Woods released a single on Mark Dumais' Justine Records, which enjoyed a fair amount of airplay on indie radio stations and jukeboxes in the NYC area. They were perhaps best known for their intricate harmonies and the fact that the instrumentation included cello, both of which were unusual in the indie music scene at that time. At the time The Woods parted ways they were recording an album; it was never released.
Linda Smith went on to record a series of solo cassette albums and CDs that received great critical acclaim; both she and Peggy Bitzer performed for a time in the Baltimore band Girls Ranch.
Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer and Brian Bendlin also released a series of solo and duo cassette albums under the moniker Trouble Picnic and/or recorded at Trouble Picnic Home Studio. Later, with Lloyd Miller, they formed the band Two Houses (2). Additionally, Steven and Brian composed music for a number of productions of tiny mythic theatre company.
After Two Houses, Steven had a band called TV Goodbyes for a short time, then spent 10 years as half of the neo-country vaudeville duo, Y'all. Y'all released several CDs, published a book, and appeared on MTV and Comedy Central. Steven made a documentary about the final years of Y'all, Life in a Box, which premiered in the San Francisco Int'l Film Festival in 2005.
Steven and Tim Maner have continued to collaborate to this day; their rock musical "Lizzie," based on the story of Lizzie Borden (which began as a tiny mythic production in 1990), has been staged in a number of venues around the world to much critical acclaim.