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Underground > Radio & Music >

Camper Van Beethoven

17:21 / 24.07.02

So...was anyone else at any of the Knitting Factory shows last week? I saw Camper Friday, July 19...they played (in no particular order)

Flowers, Waka, O Death, The Day Lassie Went to the Moon, Paid Vacation: Greece, Take the Skinheads Bowling, 9 of Disks, Down and Out, ZZ Top Goes to Egypt, The History of Utah, Good Guys and Bad Guys, She Divines Water, Eye of Fatima (I and II), Turquoise Jewelry, Tania, All Her Favorite Fruit, Sweethearts, Pictures of Matchstick Men, When I Win the Lottery, Tusk, Joe Stalin's Cadillac, and Where the Hell is Bill?

Simply an amazing show, and I got to talk to Greg Lisher afterward. I'm listening to Camper's track-by-track cover of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk right now, so I thought I'd toss this topic onto the board...

...which was Zion.

18:37 / 24.07.02

I WANT YOUR BRAIN!!!

I want to EAT your MEMORIES!!!

I saw 'em twice in the old days - once in a tiny club (pre-Revolutionary Sweetheart) and once opening for 10,000 Maniacs (Key Lime Pie tour), and on neither occasion did they do History of Utah, which is the first song by them that sank home in my head.

I've been listening to Tusk obsessively while drywalling the bathroom. The Euro-dance, computer vox "Sisters of the Moon" is bizarre.

How did the band seem? Getting along? Who played violin?

She Divines Water - what the hell is that song about?

All Her Favorite Fruit - I really want to know how they did this one, since I heard the live version with the brass band on "CVB Is Dead".

And did they do any covers?

19:06 / 24.07.02

She Divines Water - what the hell is that song about?

Existential dread, the inadequcy of new love in assuaging same, and recurring dreams. Seems straightforward to me.

20:39 / 24.07.02

wow, I've been screaming "Take the Skinheads Bowling" at Cracker shows for the past ten years, and all I've gotten was a "Sorry, kid, I don't do that one anymore!" But you got the whole Camper Van package!

jealous!!!!

21:05 / 24.07.02

She Divines Water - I always thought it had something to do with Marilyn Monroe, frankly.

00:14 / 25.07.02

Wel, yeah--she's the "world-famous actress" in the dream. I figured that was too obvious to be wrth mentioning.

By the time of Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart Lowery had reached a pinnacle of pure surrealism in his lyrics. I mean, for that matter, can you tell me what "Eye of Fatima" or "Devil Song" are quote-unquote "about"?

Asfar as I can tell, they're "about" words and imags.

05:32 / 25.07.02

I'm not big into CVB, but y'all might like to hear the story of how I found out about them:

Me: Who's this?
Roommate: Camper Van Beethoven. They made music the old fashioned way--by taking shitloads of drugs.

BTW, does this mean Cracker has broken up or is this just a one-off reunion?

11:38 / 25.07.02

AIIGGHH!! I just came from reading a thread about Resident Evil and here you are screaming for my brain. Wow, that was slightly unnerving.

The band seemed to get along fine; they were having a lot of fun and it showed. At one point they were playing a song they hadn't rehearsed much (I think Jonathan Segel's "Little Blue Fish"), and Lowery says into the mic, "There's four guitarists on stage--somebody play a solo, willya? That's never happened before." Did I mention that David Immergluck crashed the show? He played mandolin and pedal steel.

I saw Cracker play "Take the Skinheads Bowling" in Boulder a few years back...once they finally figured out that people would really like to hear it, I suppose.

Cracker hasn't broken up...they're all becoming some kind of musical collective. Check out www.magneticmotorworks.com and www.pitch-a-tent.com for more.

I couldn't possibly come up with a better explanation of what "She Divines Water" is about...but I'd say "Eye of Fatima" is about a young, paranoid, delusional drug dealer who surrounds himself with the accoutrements of his profession and "Devil Song" is about the human tendency to destroy everything--wipe the slate clean--to eliminate undesirable elements, whether on a personal or societal level.

Camper is the only band I know that took a song from their first record and recorded it backward onto their second record. "ZZ Top Goes to Egypt" was amazing live, by the way.

13:50 / 25.07.02

Man, you make me jealous!

I'm with you on the Eye of Fatima thing - it's a drug dealer on a road trip through Wyoming, giving cowboys acid and staying in hotels.

I did a lyric search on "She Divines Water" and people can't even agree what the heck Lowery is *saying* at the end there. What is she whistling? A pig? A pitch? A fig? What the hell?
I love that song.

14:51 / 25.07.02

"...she will wrestle a pig," I think, though the sudden surge of operatic backing vocals muddies the mix a bit.

15:20 / 25.07.02

Jonathan Segel and Victor Krummenacher are on the Guestbook regularly at http://www.magneticmotorworks.com. Currently there is talk of the West Coast CVB shows (upcoming) and possible mid-USA dates in January of 2003. Also a possible live CVB album from old tapes.

By the way...has anyone heard the "S.P. 37957 Medley" from CVB is Dead...Long Live CVB? Alternates between "S.P.," "Communication Breakdown," "Hava Negila," (sp.) and "Dazed and Confused." All instrumental, and damn good.

15:52 / 23.04.03

This site here has a nice band bio... and streaming audio of one of the Tusk shows.

12:47 / 07.10.04

I just got a copy of the new album, New Roman Times, and I think if Key Lime Pie was their Meddle, this is their Dark Side of the Moon.

It's a concept album about a (parallel?) near future America.

And, in the finest CVB tradition, they do a pop cover of an uncoverable song... in this case, "Come Out" by minimalist tape-loop composer Steven Reich. Which works as a jangly pop number, in a hypnotic sort of way.

I'm still digesting the rest of the album, but there are some real genius moments in it. It doesn't quite sound like old Camper Van Beethoven -- it sounds like Cracker, FSK, Monks of Doom and various other oddballs got together to make an album.

At least two of the 20 tracks will become personal anthems for these dangerous times.

There are samples at the links....

Porn Star Justice

22:39 / 07.10.04

I've always heard the line as "She will wistle on key".

Have you ever heard the Ramones "Pinhead" in that mash-up towards the end of the song? It's in there. Just listen.

I'd hoped to play my card and tell you exactly what the song is about, cause I'd seen CVB many times back in their heyday, and one time Lowry went into an extremely long explanation of what one of the songs was about (werewolves in a communist country) but it turns out it was "My Path Belated" and not "She Divines Water".

Frankly, I think "She.." is their "Stairway to Heaven". Lots of lines that sound introspective and mystical, but really isn't about anything in particular, really.

Unless, of course, you ascribe meaning to it.

15:11 / 22.10.04

Karl Rove and TexSecurIntelliCorp have struck against our beloved revolutionaries!

It is true, yes! Read on....

> Yes, Camper Van Beethoven had a bunch of gear
> stolen. Keep reading.
>
> Camper Van Beethoven already planned to take
> Wednesday off, so no
> change for Wednesday. The show for Thursday at
> Lee's Place in Toronto
> is STILL ON. Yes - still on. Get your tickets
> already. I cant imagine
> what this show will be like.
>
> David Lowery is sponsored by Ibanez and they
> are kindly replacing
> David's gear and loaning some additional gear
> for the tour. Friends,
> fans and members of other bands in the areas
> are also loaning some
> additional gear.
>
> http://www.ibanez.com/
>
> I repeat... Camper Van Beethoven is playing
> Toronto Thursday - as planned.
> The rest of the tour is of course still on.
> You do have your tickets, right?
>
> About the stolen gear .. it was some serious
> professionals - you should
> see the van.
>
> I've set up this page about the stolen gear.
> It will be updated frequently.
>
> http://www.campervanbeethoven.com/gearstolen/
>
> If you have any info or need to get in touch
> with some one ...
>
> email: gear@campervanbeethoven.com --- this
> goes to the band and the webmaster
> phone: 757-463-1940 ( maybe better to send
> email )
> web:
> http://www.campervanbeethoven.com/gearstolen/
>
> We would like to ask that our fans keep their
> eyes and ears open to web
> sites like eBay.com and other sites that sell
> vintage guitars and stuff.
> Also, if you happen to find yourself in a
> guitar shop or pawn shop, take
> a look around for our gear too.
> Find anything? email
> gear@campervanbeethoven.com
>
> Keep getting the word out and be sure to
> include this link:
> http://www.campervanbeethoven.com/gearstolen/
>
> We'd also like to thank our fans for the out
> pouring of .. well, everything.
>

I wonder how that show went last night...

17:27 / 22.10.04

How completely lame is that? Ugh. I hope they manage to get some of it back.

It's unsettling to pop into the Music forum intending to start a thread on CVB's new album, and be reminded that you already started that thread a year ago. Is there any better reminder to use the gol-dang search function? (Thanks to whomever added a neat-O thread summary.)

quote: It doesn't quite sound like old Camper Van Beethoven -- it sounds like Cracker, FSK, Monks of Doom and various other oddballs got together to make an album.

To me it does sound like old CVB...notably the faux-ethnic instrumentals, the prog rock opener "Sons of the New Golden West," the hillbilly stomper "Militia Song," and even "Might Makes Right." But it also sounds as though they haven't tossed out everything they've learned as musicians since CVB broke up...they brought stylistic elements of the intervening years back to the table. "51-7" puts me in the mind of Cracker, while "Civil Disobedience" was obviously separated-at-birth from Jack & Jill's "Finest Janitor."

So in that sense, yeah, the "oddballs making a record" angle works.

I saw CVB last week, twice in one day. They played Olsson's Books in Washington DC (five songs + autographed the new CD--they're good folks! Very approachable. Greg Lisher said, "You look really familiar. You come to a lot of our shows, don't you?"), and then played the 9:30 Club. T'was a damn fine evening.

David Lowery summed up the difference between the 80s Camper and the 00s Camper thusly: "Back then the music was mostly acid, where this new record is mostly pot."

01:16 / 03.06.05

There's a new CVB album? holy fock!

I just got a 2ndhand copy of BNRS this week and have been revisiting the two-and-a-half-week roadtrip I made up and down the east coast of Australia between Melbourne and Newcastle, listening to a cassette dub of that album until it became all muffled and worn out. I still have the tape somewhere - it'll never be thrown out, it's an artefact now.

whee.

m.