The Schramms

The Schramms are an indie-rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey.

They were founded by guitarist/songwriter Dave Schramm, an American musician best known for his stint as the lead guitarist for Yo La Tengo during the band's early years. He contributed to their debut recording "The River of Water" and the band's highly-acclaimed first LP, Ride the Tiger.

Following Ride the Tiger, Schramm amicably left Yo La Tengo to form the Schramms with a number of musicians he had previously been connected to - Ron Metz, who had played drums in Human Switchboard, and former Yo La Tengo members Mike Lewis (bass) and Terry Karydes, who initially played bass until her bass guitar was stolen, after which she moved to keyboards. The band also had guitarist Todd Novak and saxophonist Pete Linzell. They played their first gig billed as The Schramms kind of as a joke, but the name stuck. The Schramms released their debut album Walk to Delphi in 1989, and gained a following in Germany.

In 1990, Schramm briefly worked with Yo La Tengo again, this time contributing to their album Fakebook. Meanwhile, he continued writing songs with the Schramms, and after being signed to European label Normal Records, the band released its second album, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite in 1992.

Around this time, much of the original lineup had left the band, and a more-or-less new version of the Schramms released two albums in the mid-1990's: 1994's Little Apocalypse and 1996's Dizzy Spell. In 2000, the Schramms released their most recent record, 100 Questions, again with a different lineup than the previous album. Schramm has also released two solo albums: 1994's Folk und die Folgen (only released in Germany), and 1999's Hammer and Nails.

Each of the members of The Schramms has worked as session musician for other artists. Schramm, for example, has worked on three albums by singer/songwriter Kate Jacobs, and has done session guitar work for many artists, including The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Freedy Johnston, Richard Buckner, and Chris Stamey - whom he had worked with previously as a member of The dB's in the 1980s. He plays in in Syd Straw's band at her annual Valentine's Day 'Heartwreck' shows.

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