Camper Van Beethoven to Release 'La Costa Perdida' - First Studio Album in Nine Years / Show at Stage 48 on Jan. 19th with Cracker

(Photo: Jason Thrasher)

Camper Van Beethoven – the beloved, genre-mashing musical unit and one of the bands that created the indie rock genre – has confirmed its first album in nine years with La Costa Perdida (January 22 / 429 Records). The release will mark CVB's first album recorded as a unit with the band cutting songs organically with all in attendance and produced entirely by the band's members. La Costa Perdida vividly depicts untamed characters and bizarre experiences on northern California's coastline, where the band began its musical adventures.

On the making of La Costa Perdida, Victor Krummenacher says, "The coolest part was that everything flowed from the fact that these distinctive musicians and personalities sat in the living room. Four people are writing it. The songs have great energy, but we're more relaxed and stately and a lot more confident."

Camper Van Beethoven is: Victor Krummenacher (bass, baritone guitar), Greg Lisher (guitars), David Lowery (guitars and vocals), Chris Pedersen (drums), Jonathan Segel (violin, guitar, mandolin, organ, backing vocals) and new addition Michael Urbano (drums and percussion). [Joining the band for their winter tour dates is longtime CVB and Cracker drummer Frank Funaro.]



Also led by Camper Van Beethoven's frontman David Lowery, Cracker will be joining CVB's run of winter dates. Cracker has been described as a lot of things over the years: alt-rock, Americana, insurgent-country, and have even had the terms punk and classic-rock thrown at them. But more than anything Cracker are survivors. Cofounders Lowery and Johnny Hickman have been at it for 20 years now - amassing nine studio albums (their most recent, 2009's critically acclaimed Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey), multiple gold records, thousands of live performances, hit songs ("Low," "Euro-Trash Girl" and "Get Off This" to name just a few) that are still in current radio rotation around the globe, and a worldwide fan base - that despite the major sea-changes within the music industry - continues to grow each year. Along with longtime drummer Frank Funaro (since 1998's Gentleman's Blues) and bassist Sal Maida (since 2006's Greenland), this uniquely American band has no intentions of slowing down.

Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker Winter Tour Dates
Jan. 18 - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA
Jan. 19 - Stage 48 - New York, NY (Doors are at 6:30PM and tickets are $20)
Jan. 20 - Middle East Downstairs - Cambridge, MA
Jan. 23 - Sky City - Augusta, GA (CVB only)
Jan. 24 - 40-Watt Club - Athens, GA (CVB only)
Jan. 25 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC (CVB only)
Jan. 26 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA (CVB only)
Jan. 27 - Mountain Stage - Charleston, WV (CVB only with Calexico and Bonnie "Prince" Billy)
Feb. 23 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR (CVB only)

Links:
Camper Van Beethoven
Cracker

Camper Van Beethoven Will be Debuting New Material @ Highline Ballroom on Sat., Jan. 14th

DOWNLOAD: Camper Van Beethoven - Live at The Independent, San Francisco, CA 12-28-11

Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven's annual year-end California trek is underway and the last night of this run of shows is Dec. 29th in Petaluma. After which, Cracker heads further north to Portland on December 30th for a special one-off with bluegrass jam band Leftover Salmon, where the two bands will perform their highly-lauded 2003 album O Cracker, Where Art Thou? together in its entirety.

The following night, Cracker & CVB will be in Chicago for a celebratory New Year's Eve bash at Chicago's House Of Blues. Camper Van Beethoven will open, followed by Cracker ringing in the new year, and then Big Head Todd & The Monsters playing into the wee hours.

Then Camper Van Beethoven will start off the year with their own headlining shows in Milwaukee, Madison and Iowa City, before hooking up with Cracker again for shows in St. Louis and Minneapolis. The two bands will then head east for their annual winter run through the Northeast. As David Lowery (frontman for both bands) told the Boston Herald earlier this year,"We always do it in January when it’s really cold and not many bands go up to the Northeast. It started from the fact that it was the only time that was slow for the Camper Van Beethoven guys who have real careers. Then we accidentally figured out nobody else is touring, so it’s seen as this mid-winter cabin-fever kind of party."

Both Cracker and CVB will be running through their career-spanning canons of hits and fan favorites, while, perhaps even more exciting, Camper Van Beethoven will be performing a handful of new songs slated for their new studio album - their first in over seven years!

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN & CRACKER'S WINTER 2011-12 TOUR
Thu., Dec. 29 - Mystic Theatre, Petaluma, CA [CRACKER / CVB]
Fri., Dec. 30 - The Roseland Theater, Portland, OR [CRACKER & LEFTOVER SALMON perform O Cracker Where Art Thou?album]
Sat., Dec. 31 - House Of Blues, Chicago, IL
[CVB 8pm / CRACKER 10pm / Big Head Todd & The Monsters 12:30am]
Tue., Jan. 3 - Shank Hall. Milwaukee, WI [CVB ONLY]
Wed., Jan. 4 - High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI [CVB ONLY]
Thu., Jan. 5 - The Mill, Iowa City, IA [CVB ONLY]
Fri., Jan. 6 - The Pageant, St Louis, MO [CRACKER / CVB]
Sat., Jan. 7 - TBA, Minneapolis, MN [CRACKER / CVB]
Fri., Jan. 13 - World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA [CRACKER / CVB]
Sat., Jan. 14 - Highline Ballroom, New York, NY [CRACKER / CVB]
(Tickets are $22 in advance and $25 DOS)
Sun., Jan. 15 - Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA [CRACKER / CVB]

Links:
Cracker
Camper Van Beethoven

Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven Bring "Key Lime & Kerosene Tour" to Highline Ballroom

DOWNLOAD: David Lowery - "The Palace Guards" (title track from David's forthcoming solo CD)
DOWNLOAD: Camper Van Beethoven - Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, MO 10-12-89 (Live Show from 1989's Key Lime Pie Tour)

(photo: Jason Thrasher)
Camper Van Beethoven & Cracker are playing a short run of East Coast dates as part of their Key Lime & Kerosene Tour, where both bands will be performing their signature albums (CVB's Key Lime Pie and Cracker's Kerosene Hat) in their entireties. The tour stops at Highline Ballroom on Jan. 14th and tickets are $22 in advance and $25 DOS.

David Lowery is apparently not planning on resting this year as he is following this tour with the release of his first solo album, The Palace Guards, on Feb. 1st (429 Records). After years of helping steer the lauded and eclectic careers of both of his bands, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, co-founder and frontman David Lowery has seen fit to present a collection of songs recorded apart from those iconic indie & alternative rock entities. Stopping short of calling it a solo record, Lowery has collaborated with a handful of trusted musical cohorts associated with his Richmond, VA-based studio, Sound of Music - an inner circle that Lowery has relied on for over 17 years and who’ve been instrumental in helping create the sounds heard on this album as well as past projects. David recorded and produced The Palace Guards in conjunction with John Morand and Alan Weatherhead. Key players include Miguel Urbiztondo on drums, David Immergluck on guitars and bass, Craig Harmon played organs and Ferd Moyse on upright bass and fiddle. Special guest appearances include Cracker mates Sal Maida and Johnny Hickman, as well as the late Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) who played keyboards on “Big Life.”

The Palace Guards took David several years to complete. Lowery felt it liberating to write the songs without the constrictions of how they might fit in with the Cracker or Camper canon of songs and performances. The easy rapport and powerful creative chemistry that Lowery shared with his studio pals allowed his introverted musical inclinations to shine through. Apparent in this collection of nine songs is a willingness to push the envelope stylistically—from the Appalachian-woven folk of the album’s first single “Raise ‘em Up on Honey” to the swirling, languid psychedelia of “Deep Oblivion” and eclectic Syd Barrett-inspired title track, to the rocked-out “Baby, All Those Girls Meant Nothing to Me,” Lowery enjoys the freedom to write and record just about anything that pleases him at that moment.

“One of the reasons the album sounds the way it does is that I have pretty strong personalities playing with me,” says Lowery, “guys who I’ve worked with for years, who have done engineering or playing on Camper and Cracker albums. There’s that instant easy rapport that shines through. Working with them brought out the more extreme edges in these songs and amplified them. It was also liberating to start with no preconceived notions of what they would end up sounding like or worrying about how they might sound in a live setting, as I have to do when I write songs for Cracker."

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN & CRACKER'S KEY LIME & KEROSENE SHOWS
Fri., Jan. 14 -- Highline Ballroom / New York, NY
Sat., Jan. 15 -- Lee’s Palace / Toronto, ONT
Sun., Jan. 16 -- Middle East Downstairs / Cambridge, MA

Links:
Cracker
Camper Van Beethoven
David Lowery

Cracker Plays Two Nights with Rev. Horton Heat at Highline Ballroom

DOWNLOAD: Cracker - Live at Crossroads, KC 5-13-10
(Note: This is hosted on Archive.Org and is an authorized bootleg...buzz off RIAA weenies)

Cracker came back into the mainstream last year when the first single, "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me", from their Sunshine in the Land of Milk and Honey CD hit the Billboard charts. This new disc has been called "musically gutsy and lyrically sharp" and "as engaging and enjoyable as anything they have released since Kerosene Hat in 1993."

Cracker features co-founders David Lowery (vocals/ guitar) and Johnny Hickman (lead guitar / vocals), along with bassist Sal Maida (Roxy Music / Sparks) and drummer Frank Funaro (The Dictators / Joey Ramone / Del Lords).

Cracker and the reconvened Camper Van Beethoven played a series of double-bills earlier this year and the band is now back on the road for a national co-headlining tour with Reverend Horton Heat. The tour stops at the Highline Ballroom on May 27th and 28th and tickets for the all-ages show are $30. Doors open at 6PM and the show starts at 8PM.

Links:
Cracker

Camper Van Beethoven & Cracker Play a Double-Bill at Highline Ballroom on Jan. 15th

(photo courtesy: Pitch-a-Tent)

Cracker came back into the mainstream this year when the first single, "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me", from their Sunshine in the Land of Milk and Honey CD hit the Billboard charts. Cracker and the reconvened Camper Van Beethoven have been playing a series of double-bills which kicked off in California right after Christmas and the two bands' Traveling Apothecary Show hits the Highline Ballroom on Jan. 15th.

Cracker, featuring co-founders David Lowery (vocals/ guitar) and Johnny Hickman (lead guitar / vocals), along with bassist Sal Maida (Roxy Music / Sparks) and drummer Frank Funaro (The Dictators / Joey Ramone / Del Lords). Camper Van Beethoven, whose recent best-of album Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty was released last year as part of their 25th Anniversary as a band, features David Lowery (vocals / guitar) and original bandmates Greg Lisher (lead guitar), Jonathan Segel (violin / guitar) and Victor Krummenacher (bass) along with Cracker’s Funaro on drums.





This show is all-ages; tickets are $22 in advance and $25 at the door. Door time is at 7PM and the show starts at 8:30PM.

Links:
Cracker
Camper Van Beethoven