Sift (3)

Sift started out in Boston in the early 1990s as Speeny Bowl Wagon. Curt Meinhold, Kimon Greenland and Ron Gittens wrote the initial songs that would be recorded at Powerhouse Studio by Stuart Covington. Jesse Vena played drums for those sessions. The sound was a collection of their influences with hints of The Cure, Jesus Lizard, The Smiths, Pavement, and many others. Todd Berozsky took over drums and became the fourth in 1993 and three more cassette demos were produced with that lineup between 1993 and 1995. Kimon Greenland left the band in 1995 and Justin Burmeister joined. The “Alone” demo was produced which included fan favorites Song for Judy and Star. The sound had evolved to feature elements of 70’s Prog, 80’s Metal & Darkwave, 90’s Alternative, and even Post Rock. In 1996 Ron and Justin left the band, and were replaced by Deep Chinappa and Rob Papagno. New material was produced, and the name changes from Speeny Bowl Wagon to Sift. The music during this phase took on a more technical and heavier personality. Deep was able to introduce aspects of Middle Eastern structures and melodies to some of his vocal work. During the recording of the album Yellow, Rob left the band. Justin was asked to help complete the recordings. During that time, the title track was actually written and recorded by Curt and Justin. Yellow was released in 1997 and the band began to play regularly around New England, as well as branching out into NY and as far south as North Carolina. In 1999 Deep was replaced by Godjivah, who brought new layers of influence to the band. She was a powerful singer, who’d come up singing in the church, and brought an amazing amount of power and emotion to the vocals. The live album “If There Was A God” was released in 2000. As Sift began to find traction, and perform more regularly, Sue Mikes took over vocal duties from Godjivah in 2001. Rains for Tyler was a full album of new material that was released in 2002. The song “Helicopters” found its way onto local radio, and was covered live by the local goth band Amber Spyglass. Rebecca Tognacci then replaced Sue in 2003. New material was produced and the album “The Desperate Hope” was recorded and released in 2005. The band continued to perform and grow their fan base, but external stressors started to present challenges, and by 2006, none of the band members lived within 100 miles of each other. Justin Burmeister and Curt Meinhold reconnected in North Carolina in 2012. They started jamming together on older Sift material, and eventually began writing new material. They released Sift’s fourth full-length CD, We Fear Wolves, in October 2017. It was the first time that they’d fully embraced programmed drums and percussion and made heavy use of sampling. Justin Burmeister passed away from cancer in November of 2020. He and Curt had been working on a new album at the time. Curt decided that this final batch of tracks would signify the completion of the Sift project.