TheCalmingSeas.com

Reunion line-up revealed

Staffan — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:03:21 +0000

Chris Gunst, Brent Rademaker and Aaron Sperske will together with guitarist Ben Knight, keyboardist Jen Cohen and steel guitarist Dan Horne form the line-up for this summer’s Beachwood Sparks reunion shows.

Guitar virtuoso Ben Knight is a long time friend of The Sparks and has played on both Once We Were Trees and Make the Robot Cowboys Cry as well as toured with the band. Jen Cohen is the wife of Chris Gunst and together they form Mystic Chords of Memory. Dan Horne has earlier played with Lilys, Ben Kweller and On the Speakers (to name a few).

Beachwood Sparks reunites for Sub Pop anniversary

Staffan — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:54:30 +0000

Yes, it’s true! Beachwood Sparks have been confirmed to perform at the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival that’s gonna take place at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA on July 12 and 13.

We got in touch with drummer Aaron Sperske to ask him a few questions about this historic event:

How come you guys decided to get back together and play this gig?

- Sub Pop asked us to play a “20 Years o’Sub Pop Festival” and we had been talking about playing off and on for a while so that was the catalyst to make it all go down. We have much respect for them as a label and personally they’re just a bunch of great folks, so it all made sense that this is the time to do it…

What do you think it’s gonna be like to play those old tunes with those guys again?

- We’ve already played together in rehearsal and it went swimmingly! If anything, it’s better now that we’ve all gained a lil’ perspective and experience.

Who will be in the line-up?

- So far the line up is Chris Gunst, Brent Rademaker, myself and if all works logistically Neal Casal with Jen Cohen (of Mystic Chords of Memory) on organ and piano. Unfortunately Farmer Dave’s busy schedule with new new wave sensations Interpol doesn’t permit him to commit to any dates at this time. Hopefully that will change…

Is this a one time deal or are there any further plans for the band?

- We’ve currently said yes to a Folkyeah Fest in Big Sur on July 18th at the Henry Miller Library and the Sunset Junction in L.A. on August 23rd or 24th. That’s about it for now, although god willin’ we can get together later this year and make another record…

Let’s keep our fingers crossed…

A New Personality Reunion

Staffan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:00:28 +0000

Brothers Brent and Darren Rademaker will team up with Steve “Fish” Fisher to reunite their 80’s New Wave band A New Personality for a gig at the 27th annual Tropical Heatwave festival in Tampa, FL on May 17.
The festival is hosted by radio station WMNF and was first held in 1982 with A New Personality as one of the featured bands.
For more information check out our brand new ANP page, the band’s official MySpace profile or the Tropical Heatwave website.

Brent Rademaker covers the 80’s this weekend

Staffan — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:08:24 +0000

On Saturday January 26th, Beachwood Sparks bassist/singer/songwriter Brent Rademaker will perform at WMNF 88,5 FM’s “Pop Goes the World” eighties tribute concert. The event will be held at the Crowbar in Ybor City, FL. Brent will hit the stage around midnight!
More information can be found here and here.

Lilys and The Tyde live this weekend!

Staffan — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:09:24 +0000

Alright, we haven’t posted any news in a while, but here’s something: If you live in the LA area (man, how I wish I did…) you should prepare yourself for some sweet Beachwood Sparks related action this weekend! The great Lilys (with former BWS drummers Aaron Sperkse and Jimi Hey in the line up) will play Spaceland tonight and tomorrow night! And on Saturday Darren Rademaker (The Tyde) are gonna play an acoustic solo set as a part of the Madonna Tribute in the Desert concert that will be held at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown. More info on these events can be found here and here, respectively.

Finally we’d like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Bomp! Book

LennyV — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:48:01 +0000

Bomp! Records was the label which released the first single of Beachwood Sparks. They have also, at different points, been the home of other great bands such as The Barracudas, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Boys/Stiv Bators, The Last, The Warlocks, etc, etc. Now there is a book, Bomp! Saving the World One Record At a Time, in which you can read the story and find out about the legacy of this great label and its even greater founder - rock’n'roll angel Greg Shaw.
Check out more at: http://bomp.com/book.html and http://www.myspace.com/bompbook

Darren Rademaker talks about Tyde 4

LennyV — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:20:49 +0000

In an interview with The District Weekly Darren Rademaker from The Tyde talks some about Dennis Wilson, songwriting and his bands yet to released (or named) 4th album. Check out the interview here!
We can also inform you that drummer Ric Menck is back in the group and that Josh Schwartz has reunited with his old Further colleague to play third guitar.

The Tyde are hung up on Madonna

Staffan — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:33:59 +0000

As we’ve reported earlier, The Tyde are going to appear on the upcoming Madonna tribute album, Through the Wilderness, that’s gonna be out on Manimal Vinyl on November 20th. A few of the songs can now be heard here, and among them are The Tyde’s take on Hung Up from Madonna’s 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor.

Josh Schwartz’ Bolero!

LennyV — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 09:36:06 +0000

Josh Schwartz, one of the founding members of Beachwood Sparks, has started a new musical project which is called Bolero. The band lists Neil Young and John Lennon as musical influences and recently played a show together with The Tyde.

Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/bolerobolero

New Beachwood Sparks live videos!

Staffan — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:00:16 +0000

We’re very excited to bring to you two new and exclusive Beachwood Sparks live video clips. Click here to watch them!

This wonderful footage of the band circa ‘98 was brought to us from The Pete Kinne Page by Cloyce on Myspace. We would like to send our big thanks to Jackie Hager for letting us distribute these videos and by that making them available to the Beachwood Sparks fan community. That’s you guys.

The first clip is a performance of Midsummer Daydream and Watery Moonlight (a song that was recorded for the band’s unreleased debut album) from Old Town Pub in Pasadena in March 1998. The second clip shows Beachwood Sparks live at Spaceland in August 1998 performing (the 7″ version of) Desert Skies.

We are also very happy to be able to present a clip with Beachwood Sparks percussionist Pete “Sleigher” Kinne and his friends (playing as Gold Winter People) performing one of Pete’s songs at The Chorus Club in September 1998. Watch it here!

If anyone has any other information about the videos or something visible in them, don’t hesitate to speak up in the forums and we’ll post the info so everyone interested will be able to get to it.