Maudlin is the longstanding creative project of husband and wife duo David and Priscilla Priebe. The couple came together while playing in a high school band. Taking its name, they settled in Minneapolis. The band signed with a Canadian indie label and briefly toured internationally under their support. Upon returning home in 2005 and independently releasing “The Penitent Never Regret,” their first US commercial release which fared well in the CMJ Charts.
In 2008, the band released their sophomore album, Maudlin and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which solidified their reputation for writing edgy and upbeat songs about the melancholy human experience and things that “go bump” in the night. Praised by both DJs (Barb Abney’s pick for most underrated album of the year) and promoters alike from all over the states, the band began playing nationally and soon gained further notoriety for their wild, yet charming, live shows.
Continuing to play out heavily, the band made regular appearances at major festivals such as CMJ’s Music Marathon in, NYC, Summerfest, SXSW, Red Gorilla, The UMS, MWMF, The Minnesota State Fair, Minneapolis’s Zombie Pub Crawl (the largest in the world), First Avenue’s Mainroom, as well as countless other festivals, colleges, clubs, radio and TVs shows and one, very bizarre and comical performance at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Fans have come to expect quirky and memorable live shows and signature events, such as their Illuminati puppet series and “Maudlin presents: The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever,” a program that annually delivers exactly what it claims.
In 2012 the band announced that Priscilla was pregnant, and they cut back on live performances, mainly appearing at key festivals and local venues. Presently the band has begun playing out with a new lineup, adding drummer Whelan Keenan, and is preparing for their first label release in a decade.
