Beachwood Sparks performed the following songs on Sunday:

1. The Calming Seas
2. Hearts Mend
3. Ballad of Never Rider
4. Silver Morning After
5. Canyon Ride
6. You Take the Gold
7. Desert Skies
8. Old Manatee
9. Yer Selfish Ways
10. Banjo Press Conference
11. Once We were Trees

This is what it looked like (click thumbnails for larger photos):

Photos by joshc.

By the way, many sources (including Pitchfork) have reported that there is a new Beachwood Sparks album in the makings, slated for a early 2009 release. Keep those fingers crossed…

As most of you probably know the SP20 event is taking place this weekend and that means that the long awaited Beachwood Sparks reunion is tomorrow! Me and Staffan who are responsible for this site will unfortunately not be able to attend since we live and work in Sweden but we hope as many of you Beachwood Sparks fans as possible get the chance to see them. Please send us reviews of the show and photos if you attend it!

In order to help you guys build some hype for the show we have conducted an interview with acclaimed singer/guitarist and Beachwood buddy Neal Casal. He talks about how he came in contact with the group and how he apprehends their music and its importance. In the interview he also shares some intimate memories from his tour with the band. It’s a good read and we hope you’ll appreciate it. We’re really proud to able to post it on this site. Read it here!

If these two items weren’t big enough we’d also like to recommend the new album by the band The Quarter After, “Changes Near”. The Quarter After mainly consists of brothers Dominic and Rob Campanella and plays music in the tradition of inspiring California bands like The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. Rob Campanella has some connections to Beachwood Sparks since he has produced and played on albums by The Tyde and Frausdots. He’s also a member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre which are on tour now.

Changes Near is the second album from The Quarter After and moves the band more towards the moods and harmonies of west coast country music like the already mentioned Byrds, International Submarine Band and Grateful Dead. The album cover might be the coolest one in 2008…

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).

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…

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.