Album Notes

The Quahaugs (Kwah HOGS ) are the musical creation of songwriter and guitarist Kaika Kale. Musically, Kaika defines The Quahaug sound as a “sonic melding of The Gin Blossoms and London's own political raconteur Billy Bragg, with just a little Matthew Sweet circa 1990 thrown in for good measure.” Translated into layman terms, this means plenty of jangly guitars, perceptive lyrics, and melodic riffs that can get frantic at times.

The Quahaugs debut album, Venus mercenaria, started taking shape in 2005 shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Kaika Kale explains the motivation behind the CD this way, “my in-laws live in New Orleans and my nephew is a student at Tulane University. I was deeply affected by what this storm did to New Orleans. I revisited the city seven months after Katrina ravaged the area and I couldn’t believe how bad things still were in what I like to think as my adoptive home town.”

Kaika felt compelled to chronicle the destruction he saw in song. Weeds Amongst Flowers was the resulting musical creation. This song and a desire to do something for the city he loved, drove Kaika to head into the studio. The end result is a 10 song offering called Venus mercenaria. Kaika plans to donate a percentage of the net proceeds from the sale of this CD to the Music Rising Foundation.

Symbolically, the CD was released on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina - August 29, 2006.