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Camper Van Beethoven

At the time of their 1985 debut, Camper Van Beethoven's merging of punk, folk, ska, and world musics was truly a revelation. Self-described as "surrealist absurdist folk," the band formed in Santa Cruz, CA, after singer/songwriter David Lowery of Redlands, CA, with his dry humor and valley-boy voice (sometimes confused for a faux English accent), and boyhood friends Chris Molla and Chris Pedersen disbanded Box o' Laffs. Victor Krummenacher was added on bass and soon they were joined by Greg Lisher (guitar) and Jonathan Segel (violins, keyboards, mandolin). It was Segel's violin that would prove to be the band's hallmark at a time when alternative rock had yet to be invented, and indie rock was still shy of roots music or traditional elements. The 1985 re-release of their debut, Telephone Free Landslide Victory, made the Top Ten in the 1986 Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll, as did their second album, II & III, and Camper Van Beethoven, both released in 1986. On II & III, they went for a purer indie rock sound with touches of country, as evidenced in their "Sad Lovers Waltz" and their cover of Sonic Youth's "I Love Her All the Time." The band deftly switched modes from punk to ska to rock on alternate takes, but by this time Molla had left the fold. The third album, confusingly titled Camper Van Beethoven, continued the thread, but outstanding tracks like "Joe Stalin's Cadillac" were in the more straight-ahead indie rock vein. However, the band would consistently blow people's minds by tossing around things like a reverent version of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive." For its Virgin Records debut, coinciding with the label's U.S. re-launch in 1988, the band took a more serious tack on Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, and the group that had once been confined to low budgets and small studio facilities stretched out perhaps a little too aggressively. For Key Lime Pie, Camper Van Beethoven's final release in 1989, the band took it as far as it could go. Morgan Fichter had replaced Segel by this time. Krummenacher, Pedersen, and Lisher continued to play together in what began as a side project in 1985, Monks of Doom, which turned into a full-time job for them, with four albums and an EP to their credit. Though no longer working as the Monks, the trio, along with Segel and Camper touring guitarist David Immergluck, continue to play together in various formations. Jonathan Segel released three albums as Hieronymous Firebrain from 1990-1994 and two with Jack & Jill for the Magnetic label, followed by a a couple rock cds under his own name and several electronic music cds under his own name and as a duo with Dina Emerson called Chaos Butterfly. Krummenacher has released several solo records, (Out in the Heat, St. John's Mercy, Bittersweet, Sans Soleil and Nocturne), also for Magnetic, worked with members of Tarnation in Lava, and continues to work with Bruce Kaphan on various projects. Immergluck and Fichter continue to tour and play sessions with bands of considerable renown (Counting Crows and Natalie Merchant respectively, among others); Lowery took some time off before forming Cracker, but didn't commingle with his former bandmates until reuniting with Krummenacher and Segel in late 1999 to assemble the bizarre rarities collection Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead: Long Live Camper Van Beethoven. In 2002, Camper Van Beethoven reunited for a nationwide tour on what seemed like a whim, occasioned by a closet-cleaning belated issue of a song-by-song cover of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, an album they'd recorded as a joke back in 1987. The tour must have gone really well, because unexpectedly, the full band -- the original lineup of David Lowery on vocals and guitar, violinist Jonathan Segel, guitarist Greg Lisher, bassist Victor Krummenacher, and drummer Chris Pedersen, with alumni Chris Molla and Monks of Doom cohort David Immergl..ck pitching in -- trooped into the studio to record an all new album that, surprisingly enough, stands with the group's finest work. A loosely connected semi-rock opera telling the story of a Texas teenager who joins the military after a 9/11-like event, becomes disillusioned, and joins an anti-government militia, this is the most explicitly political record of Camper Van Beethoven's career, resurrecting and amplifying the themes that colored the band's last two albums, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie. While some of Lowery's trademark surrealist jokes and hilarious one-liners factor into these songs, there's an undeniable darkness to the album, both lyrically (the story seems to end with the ex-soldier becoming a suicide bomber) and musically. The band's usual forays into faux-ethnic instrumentals, country, and psychedelia are less lighthearted than before, but their tour-sharpened chops are intact, making this the tightest, best-sounding album of their career. In particular, the sardonically folky "Militia Song," the deep-psych swirl of "I Hate This Part of Texas," and "Come Out," which is built upon Steve Reich's 1966 tape-loop piece of the same title, show the group's effortless eclecticism, and the bitter "Might Makes Right" and the Twin Peaks-quoting "That Gum You Like Is Back in Style" are as good as any songs Camper Van Beethoven did in the '80s. Like their fellow college rock stars Mission of Burma and Antietam did earlier in 2004, Camper Van Beethoven have pulled off the difficult trick of not only reuniting, but picking up exactly where they had left off.

Latest bulletin 03.22.09

Cracker Duo Shows, with members of Camper Van Beethoven as Support

CVB members Jonathan Segel and Victor Krummenacher will be opening some shows for the Cracker acoustic duo in Northern California.

April 1st Moe's Alley Santa Cruz CA Cracker and Victor Krummenacher.

April 2nd Palm's Playhouse Davis CA Cracker and Jonathan Segel

April 4th The Hopmonk Sebastapol CA, Cracker and Jonathan Segel.

Photos posted by Camper Van Beethoven

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Bulletins

Mar 22, 01:59 PM

Cracker Duo Shows, with members of Camper Van Beethoven as Support

CVB members Jonathan Segel and Victor Krummenacher will be opening some shows for the Cracker acoustic duo in Northern California.
April 1st Moe's Alley Santa Cruz CA Cracker and Victor Krummenacher.
April 2nd Palm's Playhouse Davis CA Cracker and Jonathan Segel
April 4th The Hopmonk Sebastapol CA, Cracker and Jonathan Segel.
Jan 06, 02:52 AM

Camper Van Beethoven will be playing live in VA, PA and NY this week!

The Camper Van Beethoven family cordially requests that you come on out and see some LIVE MUSIC to start 2009 off right! CVB is playing a brief east coast tour, with support from Victor's new group, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, for the Friday show in NYC. Tickets are still available, please click on the DETAILS links for more information.
Details Camper Van Beethoven
Wed, Jan 7, 2009
Philadelphia, Pa
The World Cafe Live

Details Camper Van Beethoven
Thu, Jan 8, 2009
Falls Church, Va
State Theatre

Details Camper Van Beethoven
Fri, Jan 9, 2009
New York City
The Bowery Ballroom

Details McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Fri, Jan 9, 2009
New York City
The Bowery Ballroom

Details Camper Van Beethoven
Sat, Jan 10, 2009
New York City
The Bowery Ballroom

Details Jonathan Segel
Sun, Jan 11, 2009
New York City
Pianos

Details Victor Krummenacher
Sun, Jan 11, 2009
New York City
Pianos

Details Jonathan Segel
Wed, Jan 14, 2009
New York City
Le Poisson Rouge

CVB and Cracker tour dates are always here->
http://www.crackersoul.com/tourdates/
May 09 2008, 09:14 PM

built to Spill to play 4th annual cracker camper van beethoven campout

Hey everybody.

the cat is out of the bag. built to spill will be our friday night guest this year!

the 4th annual cracker camper van beethoven campout is a celebration of all things related to cracker and camper van beethoven. 3 days sept 11-13th.

sept 11 cracker acoustic duo headlines.

sept 12th camper van beethoven, built to spill co-headline

sept 13 cracker headlines.

check in later for more details.

tix, camping and motel follow the link.

http://www.crackersoul.com/campout/tickets.shtml
Mar 03 2008, 05:18 PM

Camper Van Beethoven 25th anniversary party. June 28th. Filmore SF.

Camper Van Beethoven is pleased to announce their 25th anniversary show at
The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on June 28th!

A limited number of tickets have been held for Camper Van Beethoven fans and
will be available through a special presale that begins this Saturday, March
1, 2008* *at 12 PM Pacific Time.

Click here to buy tickets: http://campervanbeethoven.ducatking.com

Tickets will be available for a limited time (two weeks), after this, you'll
have to buy tickets through Live Nation sometime in April
Feb 19 2008, 07:30 PM

Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker Update

Quite a few people have been wondering what is up with the bands this year. After two years of 100+ shows a year I guess it is a little odd to see just a couple of upcoming shows on our websites.

Well i suppose the answer is obvious. we needed to go home and rest, resume our lives and work on new music.

CRACKER

Cracker is currently doing songwriting for a new album. we don't have a release date but if we put something out in the fall that would suit us.

To tide our fans over we plan on releasing a couple of limited edition website only CDs. The first is a live CD. "Live in Berlin". Recorded December 2006. This should be available in about a month.

The second CD available sometime this summer is still a little vague. It's gonna be the first in a series tentatively titled "How, Hi are you". Yes the Daniel Johnston reference is intentional. This will be a collection of unfinished demos, aborted commercial jingles, and other miscellany woven together into some kind of mashup ala "camper van beethoven is dead long live camper van beethoven". more on this when it becomes a real project

We of course will be playing the occasional show this spring and summer. check in later for details.

And of course we will be hosting the 4th Annual Cracker Camper Van Beethoven Campout in Pioneertown California Sept 11th, 12th and 13th.

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

Our 25th anniversary as a band will be in June of this year. To celebrate we are planning an anniversary bash (venue and date will be announced shortly).

AND we will be releasing a 2 CD set. A greatest hits disc and our first 4 track demos in their entirety. warts and all i might add.

Hopefully this all happens about the same time.

oh and CVB is not playing in Italy, those dates you might see listed are Victor Krummenacher OF Camper Van Beethoven. but please go out and see these shows. you won't be dissapointed.

DAVID LOWERY SOLO

I've been working on a solo record off and on for the last year. I am hoping that i actually get around to finishing it in the next few months. oh yeah and each song is supposed to have a video to it. You can see/listen to a couple of the songs here.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9D04C0C023E2ED79

ciao

david
Jan 09 2008, 05:35 PM

4th annual cracker camper van beethoven campout

hey everybody.
i know it's early but i started a "campaign" on the www.thepoint.com for the campout our annual festival. without going into a lot of detail, we would like 150 of our fans to "commit" in advance to attending the festival by july 1st. this helps us in planning for the budget and logistics of our festiva. in return we hope to encourage you to create your own related "campaigns" on the website to help design and personalize the festival. this way we hope the festival becomes a truly fan oriented experience.

please visit
https://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/cracker-camper-van-beethoven-campout

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