Okkervil River

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Okkervil River is an American independent band. It was founded in 1998 in Austin , Texas . The initiator, head and last remaining founding member of the band is Will Sheff . The music contains elements from country , folk and punk rock .

history

Will Sheff, singer and head of the band Okkervil River (2006)

The band name goes back to a short story by the Russian author Tatjana Tolstaja , Leo Tolstoy's great-great-niece, who was named after a river near Saint Petersburg .

The band's founding members met in a high school in New Hampshire . After attending college in separate locations, they met again to live and form a band in Austin. That was the songwriter Will Sheff, Zach Thomas on bass and mandolin and Seth Warren on drums. They had their first appearance at the Steamboat in Austin on January 11, 1999. That year they recorded an in-house production with producer Jeff Hoskins with seven titles, Stars Too Small to Use . In December of that year, Jonathan Meiburg from the band Whu Gnu joined them on accordion, piano and organ. Shortly after they met, Sheff and Meiburg also formed their own band called Shearwater .

Okkervil River got the chance to perform at the renowned SXSW festival in Austin in 2000 , which is also a talent show and draws the attention of both the press and labels to new bands. Here the musicians met producer Brian Beattie, with whom they recorded their album Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See within a year . Warren moved to Berkeley , California in December of that year and was replaced by Mark Pedini of Providence Rhode Island's the Eyesores . At the SXSW Festival 2001, the band aroused the interest of the independent label Jagjaguwar , on which the album was released in January 2002. A year later the band traveled to San Francisco and played again with Warren to record their third album in the small independent studio Tiny Telephone with producer Scott Solter. The band had previously released a split album with Julie Doiron on the Spanish indie label Acuarela .

Pedinivon left the band to work as a graphic artist. For the SXSW 2003 Travis Nelsen came as a drummer and stayed with the band. During an extensive tour, keyboardist and lap steel guitarist Howard Draper joined the band as a fifth member. From August to November 2004, the band recorded a new album with Brian Beattie called Black Sheep Boy , which was released in 2005. During this time Jagjaguwar released a 5-song EP with outtakes under the title Sleep and Wake-Up Songs . Due to the success of their third album, another EP was released in late 2005, Black Sheep Boy Appendix .

Okkervil River has been on tour in different countries with The Decemberists , Rilo Kiley , Azure Ray and others. Several band members named Neutral Milk Hotel as role models . Will Sheff also refers to the songwriter Tim Hardin . The band covered his song Black Sheep Boy , after which they named the album. In April 2006 Okkervil River / Jagjaguwar licensed the current album for Europe to the major label Virgin / EMI . The label re-released Black Sheep Boy and the successor single and sent the band on a promotional tour in May of that year. In August 2007, the fourth album The Stage Names was released, initially in the USA . A 2-CD version, limited to 1500 copies, was also released, which contains a bonus disc with solo demos of all studio tracks . The European release, one month later, was no longer carried out by EMI, who were no longer interested in the band and the new album, but again by Jagjaguwar. The fifth album The Stand In was released in the US on September 9, 2008. The European release took place on September 12, 2008. In 2010, the band released an album with music legend Roky Erickson , once a member of the influential 13th Floor Elevators she acted as a backing band. In May 2011 the studio album I Am Very Far was released .

style

Allmusic and Discogs summarize the style as indie rock . In laut.de states that the band had developed towards the alternative pop from folk pop. Spex magazine speaks of a “folk-rock carousel” that has been spinning for 20 years. Okkervil Riversounded "not as crazy as The Decemberists and not as heavy as red wine as The National ". On theoccasion of the release of Black Sheep Boy , Eclipsed found that "[z] the predominant indie pop [...] pure rock 'n' roll as well as set pieces from country and folk".

Discography

Albums

  • 1999: Stars Too Small to Use ( Jound )
  • 2002: Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See (Jagjaguwar)
  • 2003: Down the River of Golden Dreams (Jagjaguwar)
  • 2005: Black Sheep Boy (Jagjaguwar)
  • 2006: Black Sheep Boy (Definitive Edition) (Virgin Ger (EMI)) / double album (also contains The Next Four Months the B-side of the For Real - single)
  • 2007: The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar)
  • 2008: The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar)
  • 2010: True Love Cast Out All Evil ( ANTI-Records ) / together with Roky Erickson
  • 2011: I Am Very Far (Jagjaguwar)
  • 2013: The Silver Gymnasium (ATO Records)
  • 2016: Away (ATO Records)
  • 2018: In the Rainbow Rain (ATO Records)

Singles / EPs / Splits

  • 1995: Bedroom EP (Jound) / EP
  • 1999: The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion (Jound) / CD single
  • 2000: Kansas City single (Jound) / CD single
  • 2002: South San Gabriel / Okkervil River - Split ( Tight Spot ) / 7 ”single
  • 2003: Julie Doiron / Okkervil River CD Split (Acuarela)
  • 2004: Sham Wedding / Hoax Funeral CD Split with Shearwater (Jound)
  • 2004: Sleep and Wake-Up Songs EP (Jound) / EP
  • 2005: For Real (There's Nothing Like the Blinding Light) (Jagjaguwar) / CD single
  • 2005: Black Sheep Boy Appendix (Jagjaguwar) / EP

Compilation Contributions

  • 2000: Omie Wise (live) / Aural Fixation KVRX 91.7FM, Local Live Vol. 5
  • 2002: Disfigured Cowboy / Comes with a Smile CD
  • 2003: Riot Act / Glurp / Almost You: The Songs of Elvis Costello
  • 2004: My Bad Days (Live) / Comes with a Smile CD
  • 2005: Nancy (Live) / I Eat Records / Appetizers & Leftovers
  • 2005: Westfall (live) / Workplay Live
  • 2005: Your Other Man / Summersteps Records / A Second Tribute to Jandek : Down in a Mirror

Live albums

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Okkervil River. Overview. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved October 9, 2016 .
  2. ^ Okkervil River. In: discogs.com. Retrieved October 9, 2016 .
  3. ^ Okkervil River. Laut.de biography. In: laut.de. Retrieved October 9, 2016 .
  4. ^ Julian Doerr: Okkervil River "Away" / Review. (No longer available online.) In: spex.de. September 6, 2016, archived from the original on October 9, 2016 ; accessed on October 9, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spex.de
  5. ↑ M [ichael] N [oe]: Okkervil River. "Black Sheep Boy" . In: Eclipsed . Rock magazine. 74, July / August, 2005, CD reviews, pp. 49 .

Web links

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