Camper Van Beethoven |
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Thu. January 06.2000 2:32 AM EST |
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Camper Van Beethoven To Reunite For TourEighties indie-rock band to join Cracker onstage. by Senior Writer Gil Kaufman |
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Camper Van Beethoven singer David Lowery (center, with Camper) went on to form Cracker. (Jay Blakesberg) |
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Ten years after their acrimonious split, '80s indie rockers Camper Van Beethoven will reunite for a West Coast tour and a 15-track odds and sods compilation, according to the group's bassist. "I think it's a good time for it," said Victor
"There's not a lot of bands that do what we did around and I think people are pretty excited about it," Krummenacher said. "I'm definitely excited about it." Camper Van Beethoven will tour with Cracker — the roots-rock band fronted by ex–Camper Van Beethoven singer David Lowery — starting Feb. 3 at Cappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace in Pioneertown, Calif., and wind up with two dates at Slim's in San Francisco, Feb. 10–11. The tour will also support a Cracker career retrospective, Garage D'Or, tentatively scheduled for a March 28 release, according to Jackson Haring, Camper's and Cracker's longtime manager. Krummenacher said the shows will be similar to recent all-star gigs organized by Cracker, dubbed the "Rolling Blunder Review." The Cracker shows, named as a pun on the famous Rolling Thunder Revue tour led by Bob Dylan in the mid-'70s, have featured such guests as Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz and blues-rocker Joan Osborne. The bassist said he and Camper violinist/guitarist Jonathan Segel will open the shows fronting a band featuring former Camper guitarist Greg Lisher, former Grant Lee Buffalo drummer Joey Peters and ex–King Missile bassist Chris Xefos. They'll play a mix of Krummenacher's and Segel's solo material, eventually making way for Cracker, who will be joined by Krummenacher on bass. "We'll bring Jonathan and Greg out eventually and it will be more like Cracker Van Beethoven," Krummenacher said. "It will be pretty nutty at points, but I think it will be a really fun show." The group has rehearsed nearly a dozen Camper Van Beethoven songs for the tour, he said. The idea for the tour was hatched when Krummenacher and Segel traveled to Lowery's Virginia home in December to work on the upcoming Camper Van Beethoven compilation, Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead, Long Live Camper Van Beethoven. The album of instrumentals, previously unreleased songs and demos is in keeping with Camper's notoriously oddball musical sensibility, the bassist said. "I'd describe it as a Camper Van Beethoven-meets-Beck post-rock production," he said. Among the songs expected on the album are a live medley of the Camper song "SP37597" and the Jewish folk song "Hava Negillah," interspersed with snippets of Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" and "Dazed and Confused." Fans can also expect a backward version of "Take the Skinheads Bowling" called "Wasting All Your Time" and a live cover of late rock experimentalist Frank Zappa's "Who Are the Brain Police?" The album will be released on Lowery's Pitch-A-Tent Records label. Krummenacher said he doesn't know if the shows will lead to more reunion gigs or new recordings, but he said he is excited to be playing with Lowery again. "A lot of people who got into us never got to see us," Krummenacher said. "We started in 1983 and we're like college-rock grandfathers now. It'll be good to bring it back into focus." Although the band's breakup was acrimonious, "they've all grown up since then," Haring said. "They're past that now, and we thought, 'Why not have them open for us and then we'll rehearse some Camper songs and put them in the middle of a Cracker set?' " Former Camper drummer Chris Pedersen, who now lives in Australia, will not be on the tour. Cracker's Garage D'Or will feature three new songs, "Be My Love," "Heaven Knows I'm Lonely Now" and "Eyes of Mary," Haring said. The initial pressing of Garage D'Or is tentatively scheduled to come with a bonus disc of live tracks, B-sides and soundtrack songs previously unavailable on Cracker releases, according to Haring. That disc may include "I Want out of the Circus," a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Going Nowhere" featuring Counting Crows singer Duritz, the unreleased instrumental "Surfbilly" and the previously unreleased "Hollywood Cemetery," as well as "Whole Lotta Trouble" from the "Empire Records" soundtrack and the band's cover of the Carpenters' "Rainy Days and Mondays," Haring said. He said the tentative track listing for the main disc is: "Low," "Euro-Trash Girl," "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)," "Cracker Soul," "I See the Light," "Get off This," "Sweet Potato," "Big Dipper," "Rocket Ship," "Sweet Thistle Pie," "The Good Life," "Seven Days" and "Around the World." Camper Van Beethoven formed in 1983, and released their first album, Telephone Free Landslide Victory, featuring "Take the Skinheads Bowling," in 1985. They disbanded after Key Lime Pie, on which they moved toward more serious lyrics and a rootsier, country-rock sound. Krummenacher and Lisher continued playing together in their art-rock side project, Monks of Doom, while Segel released a solo album. Three years later, Lowery formed Cracker with guitarist Johnny Hickman. Camper's irreverence was evident in the college-radio hit "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)," a track from the band's self-titled debut, which featured the chorus "What the world needs now is another folk singer/ Like I need a hole in the head." Cracker had its biggest hit to date with "Low" (RealAudio excerpt), from their second album, Kerosene Hat. Their most recent disc was Gentleman's Blues (1998). Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven tour dates: Feb. 3; Pioneertown, Calif.; Cappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace Feb. 4; San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Coach House Feb. 5; Phoenix, Ariz.; Alice Cooper's Town Feb. 6; Solano Beach, Calif.; Belly Up Tavern Feb. 8; Los Angeles, Calif.; House of Blues Feb. 9; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Catalyst Feb. 10–11; San Francisco, Calif.; Slim's (Staff Writer Brian Hiatt contributed to this report.) |
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