Chandra (band)

Eugenie Diserio and Steven Alexander were former members of the band Model Citizens^[1] and contemporaries of Chandra Oppenheim's father, conceptual artist Dennis Oppenheim. After seeing the 11-year-old Oppenheim perform, Diserio and Alexander decided to build a music group around her.^[1] In 1979, they began rehearsing in a rented room at the Music Building in Hell’s Kitchen, with Fred Maher joining as drummer.^[1] The band debuted at the Mudd Club in New York City.^[1]

Chandra released their first and only EP, Transportation, in 1980.^[2] A second incarnation of the band, the Chandra Dimension, was launched in 1981, and included three additional musicians between 12 and 19 years old.^[1] The band performed on the children's television series Captain Kangaroo.^[3] However, the Chandra Dimension dissolved in 1982 before a second EP could be released.^[1][3] “I had to make a decision, school or music, and I chose school,” said Oppenheim in 2018.^[1]

Chandra received renewed interest in 2016, after their track "Subways" was sampled by the Avalanches in their song of the same name.^[1][2] Oppenheim had not previously heard about the Avalanches until they approached her regarding the sample but subsequently became a fan.^[4] That same year, she performed live with the Avalanches in New York City.^[1] In 2018, the label Telephone Explosion released a compilation album, Transportation EPs, which combined the 1980 EP with the unreleased second EP and two four-track demos.^[2]