The Carrots

With their matching outfits, girl group sensibilities, and puckish attitude, the Austin, Texas-based ensemble the Carrots nod to any number of like-minded indie pop groups, in particular the God Damn Doo Wop Band and the Vancouver, Canada-based project <a href="spotify:artist:5JvqwJXwYA4QwI8YCSm7Nu">Gigi</a>. The band came together in 2005 when founding Carrot, Veronica Ortuño, posted an ad on MySpace with the hope of recruiting members for a bubblegum pop-oriented group. By the end of the year, the newly formed band consisted of Ortuño's former bandmate Erin Budd, bassist Chris Lyons (who had previously released albums under the name Gene Defcon), Lyons' former bandmate Jason "Chef" Pittman, Jennifer Moore (who had collaborated in the past with <a href="spotify:artist:7b697TI9p2abLzSo3eJTKW">Voxtrot</a>), and Ortuño and Budd's former bandmate Stephanie Chan. Having built a strong following in the Austin area on the strength of their girl group covers, the Carrots snagged an appearance at SXSW the following spring. They posted a handful of original demo tracks on their MySpace profile before the year was out, including "Jimmy Don't Cry" and "Secret Since '99"; the demos piqued the interest of the Madrid, Spain-based label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elefant%22">Elefant</a>, which released the band's debut single, Doing Our Part, in the spring of 2008. Another single, Beverly, followed that summer. After a time spent not doing much, the band played some shows in 2011 before beginning work on a full-length album. The band reshuffled the lineup along the way (losing Moore, Budd, and Chan and adding guitarist Jason Pearson, vocalist/pianist Shelley McKann and vocalist Rose Russo). Their debut album, New Romance, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elefant%22">Elefant</a> in the spring of 2013. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi