Photo by Chris Strong

 

OFFICE is a Chicago-based pop band that formed in 2000. Begun as a "folktronic" project by Scott Masson (on drum machine, piano, and acoustic guitar), the band expanded to include Tom Smith, Alissa Noonan, Erica Corniel, and Jessica Gonyea.

They have achieved cult-status in the last few years, particularly in the Chicago indie rock community, promoting a sound that has been described by Spin as "handclaps and sunny harmonies", which is ironically the opposite of what the band writes about.  Their song "Wound Up" was downloaded over 322,000 times as the Single of the Week on the iTunes Music Store in May 2006, helping their 2005 album, Q&A, reach number 14 on the iTunes album charts, briefly beating out Tom Petty and Neil Young in the Top 20. Q&A held a spot in the iTunes top 100, while the band was performing shows at South by Southwest music festival in 2006 and 2007, CMJ, Mobfest, Midwest Music Conference, a set at Lollapalooza, and many more high-profile showcases. In October of 2006, the group signed with New Liine Records and Scratchie Records, an independent label owned by James Iha, former guitarist of the Smashing Pumpkins.

The band's first release under the label, A Night at the Ritz, was released on September 25, 2007. The album contains both previously unreleased and older material from the group's extensive catalogue, which has been remastered and remixed for commercial release. OFFICE has already completed their next album "Mecca", which will be released in January of 2009, and considers this album to be the follow-up to 2005's Q&A.

In September 2007, Alissa Noonan parted ways with the band so she could pursue her personal life and career as a photography stylist. The band found Colin DeKuiper, a former member of Chicago instrumental-band, Russian Circles, as a permanent replacement on bass. The band let Jessica Gonyea (keyboards and vocals) go in April 2008, along with the band's manager, and Jessica now works full time as a DJ throughout Chicago and other cities in the US. The band asked Scratchie / New Line Records to drop them in spring of 2008, and OFFICE is now self-managed, and self-produced.

Past and present collaborators include: Alissa Noonan, Jessica Gonyea, Jamie Harper, John Martin, Brad Minor, Toby Worscheck, Jen Collier, Jody Weinmann, Thea Nichols, Justin Petertil, Sarah Jean Stevens, Shawn Rios, and Jeremy Freer.