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Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven is an alternative rock band that was founded in 1983 in Redlands, California, though the band soon moved to Santa Cruz, California. Camper Van Beethoven mixed elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, country, and acid rock into an eclectic, catchy and sometimes mysterious ensemble, years before the so-called alternative rock moniker came to mainstream attention. CVB had roots in the earlier projects Sitting Duck and Estonian Gauchos, proto-CVB projects from which some of the earliest CVB songs originated. David Lowery and Chris Molla also did time in Eric Curkendall's project Box O'Laffs. The group's trademark violin-coated melodies and their ironic take on American culture put them one step away from being a novelty act in the eyes of many critics. But as the band would move from irreverently playful to experimental with their intricate, psychedelic pop meanderings they carved out their own niche in the music world. CVB consciously played with building a mystique about the band, using articles, liner notes and press interviews to weave a bizarre mythology about the band, to the point where it is still often difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. After signing to Virgin Records in 1988 and releasing two eclectic yet slightly more accessible LPs, they disbanded in 1990; singer David Lowery went on to found the band Cracker (with guitarist Johnny Hickman, a former member of Estonian Gauchos), while the other members - guitarists Greg Lisher and David Immerglück, bassist Victor Krummenacher and drummer Chris Pedersen - devoted themselves full-time to the Monks of Doom, which had begun several years earlier as a non-Lowery side project. Violinist Jonathan Segel went on to play with Granfaloon Bus, Dieselhed, Hieronymus Firebrain, Jack & Jill and more. Segel and Krummenacher also continue to release solo recordings. More recently Segel has been involved in experimental music, including collaborations with Fred Frith and Joelle Leandre. Krummenacher and Segel collectively run their own record label, Magnetic. Chris Pedersen moved to Australia and currently plays drums for the dub band Daktari. In 2000, ex-members regrouped to compile the experimental rarity set Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven. In 2002, they released Tusk. Allegedly recorded in 1987, it had all the same tracks as the Fleetwood Mac album of the same name, and a parody of the original album's cover art. A series of reunion tour dates followed with many of the band's former members.
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Camper Van Beethoven's 'Our Beloved Revolutionary...' & 'Key Lime Pie' Reissued on 25th Anniversary

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When indie superstars Camper Van Beethoven signed with Virgin Records in the late ’80s, it seemed inconceivable. How could that irreverent act, a band with great wit and wide-ranging instrumentation, move to a major label without “selling out” and sacrificing all that made them great? As it turned out, the first three tracks on Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart were a pop song, an instrumental and an adaptation of a dirge about death. Heck, the release even had a love song ...
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'Sandinista! Project' CD Taps Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Amy Rigby, Wreckless Eric, Willie Nile

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THE SANDINISTA! PROJECT PAYS TRIBUTE TO ONE OF ROCK'S MOST COMPLEX AND AMBITIOUS ALBUMS
2-CD set honoring the epic Clash release to be issued May 1 on 00:02:59 Records
Features The Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jon Langford & Sally Timms, Amy Rigby, Katrina Leskanich (Waves), Wreckless Eric, Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Stew, Sex Clark Five, Sid Griffin & Coal Porters and many more; profits to benefit two Clash-backed charities.
BOSTON, MA -- Sandinista!, recorded by The Clash in 1980, was ...
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