By DAN ARMONAITIS
While living in Savannah, Ga. for 13 years, Anna Chandler would often drive up U.S. Highway 17 to Charleston. Along the way, she’d pass through the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Basin, a beautiful estuary better known as the ACE Basin.
“That drive is my favorite to do alone — to think — especially at night,” Chandler said.
A Greenville native who recently returned to the Upstate and now resides in Spartanburg, Chandler fronts an indie rock outfit called Nancy Druid. The band, which was formed in Savannah, recently released a split 7-inch single with another Savannah-based group Jezebel Heart.
Nancy Druid’s contribution to the single: a song called “Ace Basin.”
“A lot of the Nancy Druid sound is fusing bedroom pop with a dash of new wave and ’90s indie/emo,” Chandler said. “It’s an intimate sound that’s also danceable and a little nostalgic. I grew up obsessed with Cyndi Lauper, and early Merge Records stuff was very influential to me when I really got into music as a teenager, so those inspirations come through in the texture and rhythms of ‘Ace Basin.’
“Lyric-wise, it’s about finding your sense of self again after experiencing a loss.”
Since her bandmates still live in Savannah, Chandler plans to play locally on her own while also doing some regional gigs with the full band. The next Nancy Druid solo gig will be on Friday, March 6 at The Eighth State Brewing Company in Greenville, opening for the Spartanburg-based Satori Tree.
The flip side to the Nancy Druid/Jezebel Heart split single, which is available on all digitial platforms and at nancydruid.bandcamp.com, is a song by Jezebel Heart called “Gone.”
“My best friend, occasional roommate and longtime musical collaborator, Britt Scott, fronts Jezebel Heart,” Chandler said. “Like Nancy Druid, the band was born out of her solo songwriting and desire for a fuller sound. I’m glad to have seen firsthand the evolution of her song and watch her band come into its current iteration, which is a real force.
“We’ve played in bands in the past together, but the split 7-inch allows for a different, new kind of collaboration for us.”
As a songwriter, Chandler draws inspiration from such seminal artists as David Berman, Jenny Lewis and Chan Marshall aka Cat Power, but while approaching Nancy Druid, she said she thought a lot about New Order, Jets to Brazil, Hole and Phil Elverum’s The Microphones releases.
“I’ve dabbled in music since I was a kid and I’ve always been an obsessive listener,” Chandler said. “Any allowance I ever got went right to Horizon Records (in Greenville). In high school, I started taking electric guitar more seriously, teaching myself through internet tabs. I started playing bass and singing in bands in high school — playing folk and heavier rock.”
While studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Chandler became interested in experimental folk music and formed a band after purchasing an accordion at a thrift sale.
“That band, General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers, became the first band I actively wrote for, collaborating with my bandmate Devin Smith,” Chandler said.
General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers recorded and toured throughout the region, including playing at The Radio Room’s former location on North Pleasantburg Drive in Greenville.
“I went on to play in other bands — a folky trio, Lovely Locks, and then the garage-punk band COEDS,” Chandler said. “While in COEDS, I was writing material that didn’t quite fit the style; those songs piled up, and I reached out to some friends to help me flesh out the sound as a full band, Nancy Druid.”
Chandler moved to Spartanburg last summer and, in addition to her music pursuits, serves as communications specialist for The Johnson Collection, a highly-acclaimed art gallery in the Hub City.
“It’s thrilling to have returned home to such a vibrant scene with so many enthusiastic and talented folks playing, booking and covering local music,” Chandler said. “I’m looking forward to meeting more people and discovering more.”
Wish we were closer so we could see u perform!!!!