Sister Vanilla

"Sister Vanilla" was a nickname given to Linda Reid by her older brothers William Reid and Jim Reid -- better known to music fans as the leaders of the pioneering noise pop band the Jesus and Mary Chain. While Linda was still a schoolgirl when the Jesus and Mary Chain were enjoying their first burst of fame in the mid-'80s, she had matured into a gifted vocalist by the time the group recorded its final album, 1998's Munki. William and Jim invited Linda to sing the song "Mo Tucker" during the Munki sessions, and took her on tour when the band hit the road in support of the album. Less than a year later, the group acrimoniously split up, but Jim and William proposed recording an album as a vehicle for Linda. Sessions took place in piecemeal fashion over the next several years, partly on a home recording setup installed in Linda's flat and partly at JAMC's studio, The Drugstore, with the Reid siblings joined by Stephen Pastel of the Pastels and fellow former JAMC member Ben Lurie. (Given their quarreling, Jim and William usually recorded their contributions separately.) The fruits of their efforts, the album Little Pop Rock, was released in 2005 by the Japanese P-Vine label under the group name Sister Vanilla, and was embraced by critics and JAMC fans as a pop-wise, slightly sunnier variation on the band's signature sound. In the spring of 2007, the Glasgow-based Chemikal Underground label finally released Little Pop Rock in the United Kingdom as the Jesus and Mary Chain began a low-key reunion.