"This business can turn people really bitter."

Last month I wrote a brief feature about The Wrens for The Guardian, but it's nice to see them profiled at much greater length in the New Jersey Star Ledger, particularly as Charles Bissell, their lead singer, is probably the most likeable person I've ever interviewed. I'm posting this because, even if you haven't heard any of their excellent albums, the profile works by itself as the kind of sad little short story that Lorrie Moore might write. The Wrens' tale of twenty years of thwarted dreams is so much closer to what rock music should really be about than the standard hype/groupies/overdose pantomime.