{"id":494,"date":"2011-04-20T05:54:04","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T10:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=494"},"modified":"2011-04-20T05:54:04","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T10:54:04","slug":"camper-van-beethoven-and-cracker-bring-classic-albums-to-santa-cruz-with-banjos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/20\/camper-van-beethoven-and-cracker-bring-classic-albums-to-santa-cruz-with-banjos\/","title":{"rendered":"Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker Bring Classic Albums to \u201cSanta Cruz with Banjos\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celebrated yet decidedly underground, Camper Van Beethoven<\/strong> released five albums in the latter half of the 1980s. Quite unlike the prevailing styles of that era, Camper developed a wry, intelligent m\u00e9lange of musical styles that drew from places both familiar and wholly unexpected. The group\u2019s commercial height was 1988\u2019s Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart<\/em> (the title is a nod to Patti Hearst<\/strong>), but that album only reached the lower rungs of Billboard<\/em>\u2019s 200 chart. \u00a0Their finest effort was 1989\u2019s Key Lime Pie<\/em>; it included (as per the group\u2019s standard approach) one left-field cover, in this case a reading of Status Quo<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cPictures of Matchstick Men.\u201d Camper was always \u2013 and deservedly so — a critics’ darling; they were a cult favorite with a rabid if smallish fan base. Notwithstanding some regroupings (more on which forthwith) the band folded at the end of the 80s.<\/p>\n

Bandleader\/guitarist David Lowery<\/strong> then applied his musical vision to a slightly more commercial enterprise called Cracker<\/strong>. Musically more straightforward but lyrically every bit the equal of Camper, Cracker would enjoy more chart success. The group\u2019s second album Kerosene Hat<\/em> remains their most well-known release, though all of the group\u2019s albums are held in high regard by most critics. Several songs of note appeared on Kerosene Hat<\/em>: \u201cLow\u201d and \u201cGet Off This\u201d were charting singles, and the unlisted track \u201cEurotrash Girl\u201d was a favorite of (what was then called) modern rock radio. Cracker never exactly broke up, but the spaces between album releases often extended to a few years.<\/p>\n

Both groups have resurfaced — with personnel overlaps \u2013 in the 21st<\/sup> century, and in 2011 a tandem tour was announced. Following a popular modern-day tradition of performing entire albums start to finish (see also: Brian Wilson, Arthur Lee<\/a>, Todd Rundgren<\/a>, Cheap Trick, The Church<\/a><\/strong>, etc.). Camper Van Beethoven is performing Key Lime Pie<\/em>, and Cracker is bringing the complete Kerosene Hat<\/em> to the stage. Clearly the bands have a good amount of faith in the strength of each of these albums to mount such a production. \u201cIf it were 1988 or 1989 now,\u201d Lowery observes, \u201cpeople would be most familiar with \u2018Low.\u2019 But there\u2019s a whole history with these bands now \u2013 and it\u2019s been so many years since we had those hits \u2013 that most people who\u2019ll come to the show are familiar with the whole albums. People who follow us are,\u201d he chuckles, \u201cway past the notion of hits.\u201d Lowery says that \u201cwith these bands, it\u2019s all about the album cuts. Not only did Kerosene Hat<\/em> have hit singles, it sold over a million copies. And it continues to sell; it\u2019s what the music business calls a catalog item.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Cracker performs Kerosene Hat<\/em> live, the arrangements hew pretty closely to the studio versions. \u201cCracker, especially with that album, largely recorded live in the studio, Lowery explains. \u201cSo the way we recorded the songs is the way we\u2019d play them live.\u201d And that studio approach was largely free from the sort of sonic gimmicks and production tricks that might have made it date poorly. Lowery cedes some of the credit for the album\u2019s timeless sound to Donald Smith<\/strong>, the studio engineer who recorded the sessions. Lowery says that Smith (who passed away in 2010) \u201chad a very organic engineering style\u201d that he brought to his work with Cracker and other clients including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<\/strong><\/a>. Add to that the fact that Cracker has \u201cnever tried to be on the cusp of what\u2019s trendy or popular,\u201d Lowery says. \u201cWe\u2019re aware of the past, but not slavishly devoted to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the motivation for the current album-onstage tours is a desire to \u201cshake it up for the bands,\u201d Lowery says. \u201cBetween the two bands, we\u2019ve been around for twenty-seven years. And this is a year in which there\u2019s not a Camper Van Beethoven or Cracker album out. So we though we\u2019d do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I first heard Camper Van Beethoven — especially early records like 1986\u2019s II & III<\/em> \u2013 their approach reminded me of the late 60s experimental, groundbreaking Kaleidoscope<\/strong>, an overlooked group that included David Lindley<\/strong> and Chris Darrow<\/strong><\/a>. Lowery admits they were \u201cabsolutely\u201d an influence. \u201cThey were from the same area in [Santa Cruz] California where Camper became popular,\u201d he notes. \u201cWhen Camper did our first album [1985\u2019s Telephone Free Landslide Victory<\/em>], I don\u2019t think we were clearly aware of Kaleidoscope.\u201d He says that it was SST Records\u2019 promotions manager Ray Farrell<\/strong> who first pointed out the similarities. Both groups successful brought together disparate musical styles, drawing previously undiscovered connections between them. And both managed to do it in a way that is, in Lowery\u2019s estimation, \u201cnot dilettantish.\u201d He characterizes the approach as \u201cdrawing out subtexts and subcurrents that have always existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond this tour, Lowery hopes that there will be new studio albums from Camper Van Beethoven and\/or Cracker in the near future. \u201cIt\u2019s been a while since the bands have put their noses to the grindstone,\u201d he muses. Lowery mentions his latest solo album The Palace Guard<\/em>; that record is receiving very positive critical notices as well. \u201cIt got a five-star rating in the international version of Rolling Stone<\/em>,\u201d he laughs, \u201cbut not in the U.S. edition!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lowery admits to a \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with Asheville NC, one of the stops on the current tour. Cracker headlined the city\u2019s popular Bele Chere Festival in 2009, and mere weeks ago Lowery did an acoustic in-store at Asheville\u2019s Harvest Records. Lowery recalls the first time Cracker visited Asheville; on that visit bandmate Johnny Hickman<\/strong> remarked to him, \u201cOh, I get this place: Asheville is like Santa Cruz with banjos!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do in-stores in lots of places, but you don\u2019t usually have people flowing out the door, onto the streets,\u201d Lowery enthuses. \u201cAsheville\u2019s a perfect storm of roots, Americana and indie-rock stuff. And that\u2019s Camper\/Cracker, right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker will appear at Asheville NC\u2019s popular concert venue The Orange Peel on Thursday, May 12 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Celebrated yet decidedly underground, Camper Van Beethoven released five albums in the latter half of the 1980s. Quite unlike the prevailing styles of that era, Camper developed a wry, intelligent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}