Sheer Agony, Dirty Blondes

Sheer Agony started in the winter of 2010 as a recording project between the guitar-playing half of Play Guitar, Jackson MacIntosh and Christian Simmons. The two had been working on building an analog recording studio for the better part of a year, and after acquiring a 1" tape machine from a guy in rural Quebec and the spring reverb unit from the studio The Sonics recorded in, they started recording some of MacIntosh's songs, which tend towards eccentric guitar pop in the vein of the Soft Boys, the dB's, Sell Out-era Who, Todd Rundgren, and the Homosexuals.

As shows started getting booked, the two recruited Silver Dapple bassist, electroacoustics student and erstwhile jazzman Markus Lake for the live incarnation of the group. Sheer Agony released a 7" single on Fixture Records in early 2012.