BAND(s) HISTORY, Anecdotes, Bios, Trivia

General discussion about Mazzy Star

Re: Band(s) history, anecdotes, trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Oct 11, 2014 2:32 am

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF HOPE FROM "CHIKIPEDIA" http://www.mademan.com/chickipedia/hope-sandoval/

[This is a third post taken from now defunct Mazzy Star Boulevard site reposted here. A few of my own added notes are in square brackets [ ]. The hobbies, & romances sections are interesting. Info. gleaned for the profile seems to likely have been assembled from various articles & interviews]

QUOTE:
"HOPE SANDOVAL
Birthday: 1966-06-24
Nickname: Hope
Birthname: Hope Sandoval
Sign: Cancer
Hometown: Los Angeles (currently resides in California [San Francisco])
Country: United States
Ethnicity: Latina [Mexican American]
Height: 5'0"
Weight: (add)
Job: Singer
Tattoos: Yes
Piercings: (add)
Hair: (add)
Eyes: Brown
Breast: 30"
Waist: 22"
Hips: (?)

Hobbies:
Chocolate, Fine Wine, Vintage Clothing, Mexican Jewelery, Knee High Boots, Snickers Bars, Fruit Bread,
Fish 'N' Chips, Tambourine, Guitars, Glockenspiels, Harmonicas, Writing Songs, Listening To Music,
Pet Cats ,Walking In The Rain, Traveling To London

Assets:
Mysterious & Smolderingly Sexy. Has One Of The Best Female Voices Of All Time. Her Cute Style

Vices:
Bad Boys, Extreme Shyness

Hookups:
Hope's been linked romantically to David Roback, William Reid (of the Jesus & Mary Chain),
Anthony Kiedis (of The Red Hot Chili Peppers). [The list should also include Colm O'Ciosoig
(of My Bloody Valentine, The Warm Inventions, & Mazzy Star) who was involved with Hope at one point, and later became a roommate, friend, and music-partne but no longer a BF, according to a "reliable source" who told me directly. This same source also said with certainty the report Kiedis and Hope dated in the 1990s is definitely untrue and they were never a couple and never dated. Kiedis wrote about Mazzy Star's/Hope's music in the Chili peppers song "Aeroplane," that's all]

Projects:
Bavarian Fruit Bread (2001) - Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, Suzanne (Ep) (2002) - Hope Sandoval,
Sprout / O.S.T. (2005) - Original Soundtrack [includes Hope's "On the Low" song],
At the Doorway Again (2000) - Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions,
Surrender (1999) - The Chemical Brothers,
Return Of Mystery Tramp (2007) - Various Artists [contains Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You"],
Munki (1998 - The Jesus and Mary Chain, Among My Swan (1996) - Mazzy Star,
21 Singles (2002) - The Jesus & Mary Chain,
Rare on Air, Vol. 4 (1998 - Various Artists, Vetiver (2004) - Vetiver."
[The "Projects" section's obviously out-of-date & very incomplete]
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Re: Band(s) history, anecdotes, trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Oct 11, 2014 2:54 am

RADIO HOST DAVID DYE (of N.P.R.'s WORLD CAFE, WXPN, PHILADELPHIA) REMINISCES ON 20 YEARS OF INTERVIEWING MUSICIANS, INCLUDING HOPE AS A HOPELESS INTERVIEWEE.

[A fourth post from Mazzy Star Boulevard site reposted here. A "Hope-is-difficult" anecdote. Did Dye's personality rub her the wrong way? As far as I can tell, Hope-is-difficult stories seem to mostly date from the 1990s, as I believe Dye's one does, unless one counts live shows from 2000 onwards where she's gotten peeved over sound problems, etc. at times. The Philadelphia Weekly's link for this article which I think came out in 2012 appears to be obsolete now:
http://m.phillyweekly.com/15643/show/9e ... 98aa5b2a52 . The page may have been deleted from their site by now. In the article, Dye recalls memorable interviews with a bunch of artists. Here's the paragraph on Hope]:

QUOTE:
"BIGGEST DIVA: HOPE SANDOVAL OF MAZZY STAR
When you hear the term diva, you might think of soulful ladies of R&B, bedazzled
country vixens or the baby-prostitutes of pop. According to Dye, it was indie-darling Hope Sandoval of
Mazzy Star who was such a prima donna that the show never aired. After extending her
studio session to three hours and generally giving everyone a hard time, Dye did the interview.
“She started answering questions,” Dye gives a dramatic pause, “by nodding her head. That doesn’t
really work on the radio.” They ended the interview and it remains in the World Cafe Vault of Dead Air. "
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Re: Band(s) history, anecdotes, trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Oct 11, 2014 3:17 am

PROMOTER RECALLS MAZZY STAR QUITTING A VICTORIA, B.C. SHOW MID-SET & WALKING OUT

[A fifth post taken from Mazzy Star Boulevard site, reposted here.
A promoter's Mazzy Star anecdote dating from '93 - but published in a 2012 news article at The Victoria Times Colonist site which quotes a long-time local promoter (Marcus Pollard) for a club called Harpo's in Victoria, BC, Canada. The promoter recounts his top 5 most memorable shows he booked for his club over the years. Mazzy Star's one of them. Here's his Mazzy story]:

QUOTE:
" #5. Mazzy Star, 1993. "They had walked off stage (in a huff) so I went to their van and said,
'Guys you really have to come back on.' It was like talking to stoned children. And (singer Hope
Sandoval) said, 'But nobody's listening, nobody cares.' I said something that eventually got them back,
and they finished the set. Their tour manager said to me, 'They always leave the stage, but I've never
seen them come back. What did you say?' "

-[The news site page links below appear to be obsolete now, & the pages no longer available:
http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainm ... story.html
Plus a related article:
http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainm ... story.html
-Presumably, the promoter can't remember what he said that persuaded the band to finish the set.
... "It was like talking to stoned children" - Funny!
-According to Anders' "Bootlegs" section at Mazzy Star Boulevard ( mazzystar.nu, defunct fan site still accessible in archived form) a bootleg exists of this '93 Mazzy show at Harpo's. I've not encountered it yet but it would be interesting to hear].
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Re: Band(s) history, anecdotes, trivia

Postby Spoon » Tue Oct 14, 2014 1:13 am

Would certainly be interested in what the promoter said to get them back onto the stage...
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Re: Band(s) history, anecdotes, trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:57 am

"SHORT FACTS," A SECTION REPRODUCED FROM DEFUNCT FAN SITE, MAZZY STAR BOULEVARD. BAND FACTOIDS ASSEMBLED BY THE SITE'S WEBMASTER, ANDERS.

An interesting collection of facts although a few are out of date by now or are inaccurate. For instance, the claim Hope's early duo started in 1986 seems to be refuted by evidence findable in a "Going Home" post found in this same thread. I'd forgotten till reading in "Short Facts" today that drummer Keith Mitchell had once been in the Paisley Underground band, Green on Red. That's the band that recorded the original of "Hair & Skin," a song Mazzy Star covered. Also, I recall reading a Hope interview where she cited Green on Red as one of her fave live bands to see in LA in the 1980s.
....................................................
Short Facts

1 Mazzy Star began performing live on the L.A. underground music scene in the late 1980's.
2 "Fade Into You" reached #44 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1994.
3 Hope was born in 1966 and grew up in L.A. with her Mexican-American family.
4 David Roback has a long history in the Paisley Underground, with bands like the Rain Parade, Clay Allison and Opal.
5 In an interview, David said that he wanted to have a band with "Mazzy" in the name, and Hope wanted it to have "Star."
6 Hope Sandoval started her career together with her friend Sylvia Gomez in a band called "Going Home," a folk duo formed in 1986.
7 "Five String Serenade" from the "So Tonight I Might See" album is written by Arthur Lee from the band "Love."
8 Hope Sandoval writes nearly all the lyrics, with occasional input from David Roback.
9 Two of Davids guitars are a Martin 000-28 and, of course, a Fender Telecaster.
10 William Cooper's real name was Will Glenn.
11 Jill Emery is a former Hole-member. She has also played in "The Shadow Project."
12 "So Tonight That I Might See" went gold a year after its release and made its way to platinum in April of 1995.
13 Hope is singing a duet with Jim Reid called "Sometimes Always" on the Jesus & Mary Chain-album "Stoned & Dethroned." She´s also singing on JAMC's album "Munki", in a song called "Perfume."
14 The text font "Mazzy Antique" designed by Michael Diehl for use on Capitol Records' Mazzy Star album, Among My Swan.
15 The media shy David and Hope have said in an interview that they preferably would do only one interview per album if they could decide by their own.
16 Jason Yates, Paul Olguin, Aaron Sherer and Kurt Elzner have all guest-played with Mazzy Star.
17 The song "Tell Me Now" is only available on the "Batman Forever" soundtrack.
18 Keith Mitchell likes to listen to Bjork, Portishead, Mozart, the Beatles, the Doors, Emmy Lou Harris, Tom Waits, Sun Ra, Rolling Stones, lots of world music, Brecht, etc.
19 Suki Ewers grew up in Seattle but when she was young she and her family lived in Germany, Taiwan and Japan.
20 The particularly subdued "Into Dust" is known within the band as the "Shush Song," a reference to the devoted fans who shush the uninitiated whenever it is performed.
21 David Roback got involved (both musically and emotionally) with ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith and formed a new band named Clay Allison in the early '80s.
22 Jill Emery is not only a great bass-player, she's also a very gifted painter.
23 "Blue Flower" was originally done in the '70s by the band Slapp Happy, written by Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore.
24 Sandoval lives in Los Angeles, Roback is based in Berkeley, California and Oslo, Norway.
25 Keith Mitchell has played in the bands "Monitor", "The Romans", "Green On Red", "Clay Allison", "Opal" and "Chris Cacavas And Junkyard Love" before Mazzy Star.
26 The album "So Tonight That I Might See" went up to place #36 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in 1994. "Among My Swan" reached #68 in 1996.
27 Hope Sandoval admired Kendra Smith as a teen-age Dream Syndicate fan.
28 Steven Roback, David's brother, has released an album under the name Viva Saturn.
29 The song "I'm Gonna Bake My Biscuit" from the Fade Into You CD-single is an old blues song written by Minnie McCoy in the late 1920s.
30 Mazzy Star's debut album, She Hangs Brightly, was released on the British independent label Rough Trade Records in 1990.
31 The band "Clay Allison" was named after a gunfighter and well known historic figure of the American Old West.
32 Hope Sandoval sings on Air's "Cherry Blossom Girl (Hope Sandoval version)" from their "Cherry Blossom Girl" single.
33 Aaron Sherer (drums) contributed some tracks to the She Hangs Brightly album. He also played drums on "Take Everything" and "Into Dust" at Among My Swan.
34 During the Opal tour in late 1987, Kendra Smith left the band. She was replaced by Hope Sandoval.
35 Suki Ewers wrote the songs "Strange Delight" and "Brigit on Sunday" on Opal "Early Recordings."
36 The DVD "Louder" from the tv show "Later with Jools Holland" includes Mazzy Star performing Blue Flower live.
37 Hope has in an interview named Billie Holiday, the Rolling Stones and Spiritualized as her favorite artists.
38 The song "Hair And Skin" is written by Dan Stuart from the band "Green On Red".
39 Suki Ewers played keyboards, rhythm guitar (acoustic and electric) and some bass in Mazzy Star.
40 William Reid of the Jesus & Mary Chain played guitar on "Take Everything" on the Among My Swan-album.
41 David Roback has produced all of Mazzy Star's recordings.
42 Jill Emery played bass on Hope's solo album "Bavarian Fruit Bread".
43 Hope sings on the song "Asleep From Day" on Chemical Brothers' album "Surrender".
44 Keith's birthday is June 16.
45 David and Hope's last performance together was at Bert Jansch's 60th Birthday Concert on Saturday November 8, 2003

Copyright © 2009 Mazzy Star Boulevard
*************************************************************************************************************
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Re: Band(s) History, Anecdotes, Trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Dec 20, 2014 6:22 am

BAND BIOGRAPHY, and BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES OF SIX MEMBERS OF MAZZY STAR,

four of whom remain current members. The profiles below are taken from defunct fan site Mazzy Star Boulevard, still accessible in archives here: https://web.archive.org/web/20120702032 ... icles.html
& were presumably written by the site's webmaster, Anders. They are somewhat out out date/incomplete by now but still worthwhile. By now (2014), some additional musicians could be added to the list of Mazzy Star members. Colm O'Ciosoig, Josh Yenne, & Paul Mitchell (Keith's son) have all toured as part of the band.

Musician Credits on four albums are:
-She Hangs Brightly, 1990: Hope Sandoval, David Roback, Suki Ewers, Keith Michell, Will Cooper, plus Sylvia Gomez & Paul Olguin
-So Tonight That I Might See, 1993: Hope, David, Keith, Will, plus Jason Yates
-Among My Swan, 1996: Hope (vocals, harmonica, percussion), David (guitars, keyboards & "other instruments"), Keith (Drums), Jill Emery (bass), William Reid (additional guitar on "Take Everything"), Aaron Sherer (Drums on "Take Everything" & "Still Cold")
-Seasons of Your Day, 2013: Hope, David, Suki, Keith, Colm O'Ciosoig, Will, Paul Mitchell, Bert Jansch, Paul Olguin, Al Browne, Steven McCarthy

(note: only Among My Swan gives credits for specific instruments played)
..................................................................................................
[Biographical Profiles taken from Mazzy Star Boulevard fan site]:

DAVID ROBACK

David grew up in Hollywood California. He started a band called Rain Parade with his brother Steven. They first hit the scene in 1982 as part of a loose aggregate of psychedelic '60s-influenced guitar bands in Los Angeles, and they were in the forefront of that movement which lasted a couple years.
After Rain Parade's first album and tours, David left the band. He now got involved, both musically and emotionally with ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith and formed a new band named Clay Allison in 1983. The recordings from the summer this year remained unreleased until the 1989 release of Opal Early Recordings.

After Clay Allison's '84 tour, the band decided to go with a name change, and went from Clay Allison to Opal whose sound was defined by Roback's spare, distorted guitar work and Smith's lyrical voice. They released the Northern Line EP in 1985. SST Records signed Opal and released their masterpiece album Happy Nightmare Baby on December 14 1987. During the Opal tour in Decemeber '87, Kendra Smith left the band. She was replaced by Kendra's friend, Hope Sandoval, and they toured Europe through early 1988. Hope and David had an intimate relationship at this time and after Opal was disbanded, David and Hope took the remaining members of Opal and changed their name to Mazzy Star in 1989.

In Mazzy Star David plays guitar and occasionally keyboard and piano. While Hope Sandoval writes the lyrics David compose almost all the music. He has also been the producer of all their recordings.

In 1999 David worked with Beth Orton. He produced and mixed some songs on her album Central Reservation. And back in 1990 he worked as producer for the band Sacred Miracle Cave.
Roback have been spending most of his time in Norway the last eight or nine years. Different sources says that he's been working on material to a new Mazzy Star album. If that ever will be released is hard to say.
David have also played a smaller part in the french movie "Clean" (2004) in which he played himself.
.....................................................................................................

HOPE SANDOVAL

Hope Sandoval was born in 1966 and grow up in east L.A. with her Mexican-American family. Hope started her career together with her high-school friend Sylvia Gomez (Gomez later played on She Hangs Brightly) in a band called "Going Home", a folk duo formed in 1986 [No. See post on Going Home earlier in this thread for evidence Hope & Sylvia were writing songs as a duo by 1981 or 1982 & were gigging publicly as Going Home at least as early as January, 1985]. Hope and Sylvia admired Kendra Smith as teen-age Dream Syndicate fans. Sylvia Gomez handed Kendra Smith a demo tape which was comprised of Hope Sandoval on vocals and Sylvia on guitar. David offered to produce some recordings for them and they went into the studio and recorded an album that to this day is yet to be released. That obviously helped solidify Hope and David's relationship. Hope and Sylvia played gigs in California throughout the mid '80s, and stayed friends with both Kendra and David.

During the Opal tour in Europe December '87 Kendra left the band and disappeared. When found, she informed Roback that she wanted to leave the band but recommen­ded her replacement Hope Sandoval. David called Hope to see if she would be interested to take Kendra's place in Opal. Kendra did two more shows together with Opal but then she flew home. Keith Mitchell flew back to the US as well but the next day he got back with Hope. After that tour Opal became Mazzy Star and Hope has been a very popular band member ever since.

Besides vocals, Hope often plays harmonica and percussion instruments like tambourine, maracas and glockenspiel etc. Sometimes she even plays guitar. Hope has written nearly all the Mazzy Star lyrics, with occasional input from David Roback.

Hope seems to be a very shy and private person, and doesn't seem to enjoy the popularity or the journalist and music business mentality very much. Many writers use the adjective "waifish" to describe Hope, but she's much tougher than that word suggests. Even if she isn't very fond of performing live.

"For me recording is better", she told Rolling Stone. "Live, I just get really nervous. Once you're onstage, you're expected to perform. I don't do that. I always feel awkward about just standing there and not speaking to the audience. It's difficult for me."

In 2000 Hope Sandoval joined with Colm O'Ciosoig (formerly of My Bloody Valentine) to form Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. The project retained the laid-back, slowcore sound of Mazzy Star, and much like Mazzy Star, featured Sandoval's sensuous, hypnotic voice. In 2001 Sandoval issued her first EP with the Warm Inventions, "At the Doorway Again", and followed it up with her debut full-length, "Bavarian Fruit Bread", a year later. She has also contributed on several songs by other artists for example the Jesus & Mary Chain, Chemical Brothers, Death In Vegas and Bert Jansch.

At the moment (mid 2008) she's working on her second solo album together with the Warm Inventions.
......................................................................................................

KEITH MITCHELL

Keith Mitchell plays drums in Mazzy Star. He was born and raised in Long Beach, California, USA June 16. Keith has played in many different bands in the last 20 years. He played with Monitor in 1981 and with The Romans for some years in the mid 80's. Between 1983-86 The Romans released three albums. Keith also played drums on some tracks on Johanna Went's album Posh Boy in 1982. Other bands he's been playing with before Mazzy Star are Green On Red, Clay Allison, Opal and in 1989 with Chris Cacavas And Junkyard Love.

Keith Mitchell knew Kendra Smith when he was in Monitor, she and David were fans and in early 1984, when the drummer of Clay Allison, Terry Graham, left the band they asked him to join Clay Allison to fill his place. It seemed like he was the perfect drummer for Clay Allison. David Roback was delighted when Keith first played with the band. His great ambient and rhythmic droning drums matched perfectly with the sound of the band.
Keith followed David into Opal and later on into Mazzy Star so he has been playing with David Roback for a long time and he has played drums on all three Mazzy Star albums with exception for some songs.

For a while he worked on his own material and formed a group called Euphora together with singer Mary Mullen. Unfortunately they ended their collaboration after some time.

Keith was the only original Mazzy Star member (besides Hope and David) that played on the short European tour in 2000.

In 2004 Keith worked together with the band Sugarplum Fairies and played drums on their album "Introspective Raincoat Student Music" (Starfish 2004).
.......................................................................................................

SUKI EWERS

Suki Ewers grew up in Seattle but as a child she and her family lived in Germany, Taiwan, and Japan.
In the early 80's Suki played in a couple of different bands in Seattle with her brother. They were called "The Tears" and "Second Story".

Suki joined Opal in 1985. Kendra Smith had an ad in the paper looking for a keyboard player and Suki who liked the Dream Syndicate records and the Clay Allison single, decided to join the band. In Opal she sang harmonies on many of the Happy Nightmare Baby songs and she also wrote "Strange Delight" and "Brigit on Sunday" on Opal's Early Recordings album. It's Suki that sings the lead vocal on "Brigit on Sunday". She followed the rest of the musicians in Opal into Mazzy Star.

In Mazzy Star Suki played keyboards, rhythm guitar (acoustic and electric) and some bass. Suki contributed on the "She Hangs Brightly" album but did not play on "Among My Swan" or "So Tonight That I Might See". However she appears in the video for "Fade Into You" (both versions) and did all of the touring for "So Tonight That I Might See". She also played at the last California shows of the "Among My Swan" tour.

In 1993 she started another band called Anemone with some friends in San Francisco. The fact that Mazzy Star took alot of her time she moved to Los Angeles where she found new people to her band. Anemone was Suki Ewers on vocals and guitar, Jane Fujimoto on drums, Laura Smith on bass and Russ Chaput on guitar.

After performing for several years with Anemone, and also played in "Maw and Paw" for a brief period, Suki spent the last couple of years in the studio working with Joe Kennedy on a set of nine songs. The result is hazy, bittersweet pop in the vein of Galaxie 500 and Felt. The songs are at once dreamy and enigmatic yet immediately accessible. August 19th 2008 she released the album "Kind of Hazy" on Mind Expansion Records. Be sure to check out Suki's MySpace website and listen to her beautiful music.

Suki is, just like Jill Emery a gifted painter. The art was always something secret that went on behind the scenes. She did photography for a long time and began painting while Mazzy Star was in the studio recording the first album "She Hangs Brightly".
.......................................................................................................

WILLIAM COOPER (GLENN) [now a former member, deceased]

Will Glenn or William Cooper as he preferred to call himself while playing with Opal and Mazzy Star, was born in 1957. He played with David since their days together in the Rain Parade and he continued with them for a while after David left the band. Will was one of the founding members of Rain Parade. He also produced and played with Viva Saturn, and was a key member of Opal and Mazzy Star.

His superb violin and keyboard playing was always musically inventive. He was an expert at crafting beautiful string arrangements, innovative and surreal keyboard parts, and melancholy yet soulful melodies. He was also an accomplished guitar player and songwriter.

Will has contributed on some Clay Allison shows and he also played bass and strings on Opal's Happy Nightmare Baby.

Will did a lot of session work while not working with Mazzy Star and was well known and respected for his talent by the many musicians that have sought him out to play on their albums.

William Cooper Glenn sadly passed away from cancer on March 16, 2001, at UCLA Medical Center. He will be remembered for his incomparable musicianship, gifted intellect, loving friendship and keen sense of humor.
......................................................................................................

JILL EMERY [now a former member]

Jill Emery was born in California 1962 and is a self taught musician. She started to play bass when she was 15 years old and her main instrument is a Fender Telecaster from 1971.

Her first band with Rozz of Christian Death and Steve Darrow on drums were called The Asexuals, an arty punk band. Many bands followed including The Decadent, The Super Heroines, Sylvia Juncosa Band and Hole. Jill was Hole's bassist from 1990-1992, co-writing many of their early songs. She played on the album "Pretty on the Inside" and designed the album back cover.
After she left Hole she joined a new band called Shadow Project together with Rozz of Christian Death and Eva O. from the Super Heroines. A couple of years later her work with Shadow Project ended and Jill became a member of Mazzy Star. She started touring with Mazzy Star in late 1993 and later on Jill played bass on the 1996 "Among My Swan" album. In 2002 she played bass on the song "Around My Smile" on Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions' album "Bavarian Fruit Bread".

Jill enjoys listening to bands like Cat Power, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Acetone, My Morning Jacket and her of course her teenage idol Patti Smith.

Jill Emery doesn't play in any band these days. She now lives in Sierra Madre, California. She is a very gifted painter and her talent ventures beyond the audible into visual with the same intensity and passion as her music.

Jill is also an animal activist and she has three cats. She misses playing music but environmental, animal and human rights as well as her art interest takes most of her time.
......................................................................................................

[Also, here's the now somewhat out of date band(s) biography found at Mazzy Star Boulevard site. For this section, Anders credits a book, "Rough Guides to Rock. First edition published Aug 96 / Nov 96 (USA)."
For a more complete band biography as of 2014 one could refer to Wikipedia's Mazzy Star entry, largely written by mazzystar.free.fr forum member, Homeostasis]

BIOGRAPHY

Though Mazzy Star have managed the neat trick of updating psychedelia for the 1990s without sounding dated, if you're looking for blissed-out music with a happy smile on its face, you might want to think twice before taking the plunge.
When guitarist David Roback wraps his shards of feedback and drawn-out crescendos of re­verb and distortion around Hope Sandoval's laconic vocal delivery, the results can indeed be trance-inducing. But their music is as much a disengagement from real life as an investigation of alternate realities, and the druggy states they evoke are comfortably numb rather than euphoric.

In the beginning:

Mazzy Star's roots in the California Paisley Underground movement of the 1980s are deep. Roback, along with his brother Steve, was one of the main architects of leading LA psychedelic revival band, the Rain Parade. Leaving that band after their first LP, he founded the dreamier Opal in the mid-1980s with ex- Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith. Opal's quasi-psychedelic ruminations, with their guitar drones and hints of blues and folk, weren't far off the map that Mazzy Star would follow, and indeed Roback met Sandoval through Smith, who was a friend of Hope's.
Sandoval, still in high school at the time, was playing in a duo called Going Home with Sylvia Gomez; Kendra was impressed enough to make a tape of their music and pass it on to Roback, who produced a still-unreleased album by the pair.
When Smith left Opal under cloudy circum­stances in the middle of an American tour with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Sandoval was tapped as her replacement. After that tour and a jaunt through Europe were completed, Opal disband­ed, and Roback and Sandoval decided to con­tinue collaborating in Mazzy Star.
Though theoretically a full band, Mazzy Star is very much Roback and Sandoval's show. They write all of the material, and although other musicians (including ex-Clay Allison drummer Keith Mitchell) are given minimal credits (no instruments are listed) on their albums, their backing players remain virtually anonymous to the public.

Three album releases:

Their 1990 debut on Rough Trade, She Hangs Brightly, was a post-punk take on the kind of dark, long-winded psychedelia practised by The Doors on "The End", as well as the hypnotic massive guitar drone woven by The Velvet Underground on "What Goes On". That's only about half of Mazzy Star's world, though; most of the rest of their material is devoted to dusty, haunting acoustic-flavoured ballads with heavy blues and folk elements, often giving Roback a chance to stretch his chops on slide guitar. Sandoval's detached, sing-speak vocals betray a bit of a country-folk twang, but are seemingly less concerned with piloting the songs than reflecting their fuzzy, sedate states of free association.
The American branch of Rough Trade folded in 1991, but Mazzy Star's contract was picked up by Capitol, who re-issued the first album and put out the follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See (1993). Similar to the debut, but a bit more forceful in con­struction and execution, the emphasis remains on mood and texture, rather than melodic variety or clever messages.
A year after its release, So Tonight That I Might See yielded an unexpected hit single, the wispy "Fade Into You". The album, seemingly destined for the cut-out bin, began an unexpected ascent into the US Top 40, and Mazzy Star were suddenly stars in sales as well as name. Make that anti-stars: Roback and Sandoval are notoriously difficult inter­view subjects, responding to most questions with monosyllables or silence. Their sub­sequent release, Among My Swan (1996) confirmed them as out-and-out champ­ions of the mournful - their brooding, enigmatic public personas seem less a cultivated pose than a complement to the shadowy, brooding mystery of their simultaneously frust­rating and entrancing soundscapes.

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions:

Sandoval made her solo debut in 2001 with Bavarian Fruit Bread ostensibly backed by the Warm Inventions, though really this is a pairing with Colm O'Ciosoig (once of My Bloody Valentine) with folk legend Bert Jansch popping up with his six string on the beautiful "Butterfly Mornings" and "Charlotte". Largely written by Sandoval, this plunges further into a languidly erotic, narcoleptic haze than even Mazzy Star could manage, the latter's spacey guitar rejected as possibly too energetic for the collection's country/folk saturated sleepiness. Adorable.

Rough Guides to Rock.
First edition published Aug 96 / Nov 96 (USA).

Copyright © 2009 Mazzy Star Boulevard
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Re: Band(s) History, Biogs, Anecdotes, Trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:45 pm

KEITH MITCHELL IDENTIFIES THE GIG WHEN KENDRA QUIT OPAL BEFORE HOPE REPLACED HER

Mazzy Star's/Opal's drummer Keith Mitchell showed up again yesterday in the comments section of one of my youtube uploads to share some helpful info (Thank you Keith!). He previously left comments at my yt upload of Mazzy Star's Nov. 4, 2013 Seattle show. This time it was at the upload of the Opal (with Hope) video recording of a complete 1988 Italy show: http://youtu.be/fIWhLwJ-kyY
In its comments section, there'd already been discussion re. the mystery of when Kendra quit Opal & Hope replaced her (earlier posts in this mazzystar.free.fr thread also address this question). Nice of Keith to show up & finally clear up the mystery. Here's what he wrote:

QUOTE: "Kendra did not storm off the stage and quit. She left after the show in Providence, RI on the Jesus and Mary Chain tour. We finished the tour with Hope and then toured Europe as Opal."

I found a gigs list here: http://aprilskies.amniisia.com/gigs/gig ... _sort=1987 showing dates from the 1987 tour Keith refers to. It lists the date for the Providence show, which Keith says was Kendra's last Opal show, as Nov. 12, 1987.

Keith's info puts to rest erroneous reports (found on Wikipedia & repeated elsewhere) that Kendra supposedly stormed off the stage & quit mid-set in Europe at "Hammersmith, UK."
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Re: Band(s) History, Biogs, Anecdotes, Trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:08 pm

DAVID ROBACK'S & SUSANNA HOFFS' EARLY MUSIC COLLABS/RECORDINGS, PRE-1981

Came across a new interview with Sussana Hoffs, here:
http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2015/ ... 5BkYS.dpbs
where she talks about her & David Roback's early collaborations of recording music together in a band called The Unconscious they put together in college before The Bangles & before David's band Rain Parade were formed. She doesn't mention it in the interview, but elsewhere it's reported she & David had been neighbors growing up in L.A., & became roommates & romantically involved when attending University of California, Berkeley, & started working on music together.

Here are her interview quotes re. David Roback:

QUOTE: (Susanna Hoffs): "...When I met Vicki and Debbi all I had to show
from my musical past were cassette tapes of recordings I’d made with David Roback (who went on to start the
Rain Parade with Matt Puicci and his brother Steven and then later Mazzy Star).

So Vicki and Debbi came over to my house and we went into the garage, which was kind of the rehearsal space that I had set up. I played them some tapes I made with David Roback who’s now with Mazzy Star. He and I had been in a band together in college at UC Berkeley. I played them this version I’d done of (The Velvet Underground‘s) 'I’ll Be Your Mirror.'

I had recordings of me singing Velvet Underground songs and our song 'Bitchin’ Summer,' which was originally
called 'Speedway,' was a surf instrumental.

David and I did a lot of funny, droney things. We used to do a slow Mazzy Star version of the Beach Boys
song 'Little Honda,' if you can imagine. I really want to resurrect that. It was like Mazzy Star, really
slowed down with tons of reverb...

I drafted an early version of 'Call on Me' with David Roback and then Vicki and I worked on it and it
became the B-side of our first single. "

-[later edit] A new quote from Hoffs turned in a 2016-6-24 interview with Guitar World mag.
http://www.guitarworld.com/artist-news- ... -gentlemen
QUOTE: "GW: Let’s discuss a few of those tracks. What can you tell me about “Bitchen Summer/Speedway”?

Hoffs: That song actually pre-dates the Bangs. David Roback (Rain Parade/Mazzy Star) and I were really into surf stuff and started my very first band. David took that sound and “Mazzy Starred” it into a song we called “Speedway." It was one that I brought in during the early period of the Bangs and we crafted it more."

-[Later edit]: I rediscovered a Newsweek Mazzy Star interview, Sept. 20, 2013, found in the 2013 interviews thread, has a quote from David re' his collabs with Hoffs.
QUOTE: <<As a teen on the other side of Los Angeles, Roback had been in a band
called the Unconscious with future Bangles frontwoman Susanna Hoffs.
"The only thing we ever released were cover versions of two songs:
Bob Dylan’s ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’ and Lou Reed’s ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror.’ " >>
Those two songs sung by Hoffs appeared on Roback's "Rainy Day" L.P., but did they also
get an earlier release under the name The Unconscious, I wonder? Or is David referring just to the 1984
Rainy Day project? I'm guessing he likely means they got released on Rainy Day (re-recorded 1984?).

-Also here's a passage from a 1990, July 22 L.A. Times article with a Roback quote:
QUOTE: "Returning to the West Coast in the late '70s, he joined a band in Berkeley
with Hoffs--an old schoolmate from Palisades High School in Los Angeles--called
the Unconscious. But he soon left it. 'She was more into the pop side of things,'
he said, 'and I . . . Well, I don't know what I was looking for. . . . Something
more serious, I guess.' "

......................................................................

-Interesting that some early recordings Hoffs & Roback first did together later got turned into early Bangles songs. Here are yt links to Bangles recordings Hoffs suggests in the interview began as early collabs between her & David:
-Bitchin' Summer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg5AAFfurHY
-Call on Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq2rER436ss
The Bangles formed in December, 1980, so the recordings she made with David she refers to here must
date from before then. Note Hoffs & Roback would later work together again for Roback's (now out of print)
1984 album project, Rainy Day,where he collaborated with a bunch of musician friends from L.A.'s Paisley Underground scene, including Susanna & Vicki from The Bangles. Hoffs sings lead on two songs on that album, including "I'll Be Your Mirror," a song she mentions in the interview here. There's a DL link for the Rainy Day album listed in the Boots thread. I've also upped it to yt, here: http://youtu.be/ui2VjVqgM_U
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Re: Band(s) History, Biogs, Anecdotes, Trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:41 pm

BACKSTAGE ANECDOTES, HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS' AUG. 19, 2002 SHOW, CHICAGO

[Concert review of Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions Aug. 19, 2002 Chicago show, but containing enough backstage anecdotes that it's added to this thread instead of waiting to put it in a potential "Show Reviews" thread that would make for a worthwhile future thread].

from http://www.hopesandoval.com/tour/2002/c ... 1902.shtml

Chicago, IL

August 19, 2002 ... Park West

SETLIST

Lose Me On the Way
On the Low
Clear Day
Charlotte
Butterfly Mornings
Friends of a Smile
Bavarian Fruit Bread
Drop
Silver and Gold
Around My Smile
Suzanne

Encore:
Louise
Play With Fire (The Rolling Stones)

REVIEWS

Ben Maki: Caught the Chicago stop last night at Park West mostly due to
the fact that Mark Lightcap from Acetone was on the tour. The band was hanging
pretty low due to excessive celebrations after what was according to them one
of the best stops on the tour so far in Minneapolis the night before. Had dinner
with Mark, Al, Colm & the light guy--or as I like to call him the Dark Man,
seeing as Hope is constantly asking him to turn down the lights because it's
too bright for her. (even though prior to her asking it so dark that one of
the band clocked himself in the head onstage trying to change instruments)
They're a nice lot. Colm & Al were rather quiet, due in some part to the
aforementioned hangovers and unfamiliar company. They seem to be having fun
on the tour and are starting to loosen up a bit with the songs.

I enjoyed the Soledad Brothers. Nice simple raw sound. Provided a bit of
energy before the big slowdown. Hope's set was nice. There was a brief delay
around the third song as they started only to discover the bass amp had gone
out (the ghost of Richie Lee causing trouble-it was his head) Hope was forced
into what was pretty obviously an uncomfortable position of having to address
the audience. She handled it fairly well with a couple of remarks and then
asking the audience for cigarettes, then more cigarettes and then a lighter.
Equipment issues were rectified before it got too ugly. The set was nice.
Very low key, but things gelled well. Being a huge Acetone fan I was
thrilled that--while others cycled on and off stage--Mark (and Colm)
were always there backing Hope. At times the mix was not quite ideal, but I
think that was more the venue than the band.

The encore was what stunned me, they come back out and break into the
opening riff of "Louise" by Acetone. "They can't be" I say to my friend.
Sure enough, a sweet cover of a song by a band that Hope has always been
a fan of. Later I found that there were several Acetone songs they were
deciding from for the tour because she really wanted to play something of
theirs. This was followed by a great version of Play With Fire. So, nice
show, some surprises (but don't expect any material from her other projects)

After the show I had a chance to chat with Johnny of the Soledad Brothers
and others that were hanging out from both bands (and significant others
like Meg White of White Stripes) Everyone ended up hanging out either in
the bus or on the curbs outside the bus for quite some time. I did get to
meet Hope, but didn't pursue much of a conversation with her other than
to locate a bottle opener for my beer, which she graciously opened for me.
She is talkative in familiar company, but she and others were getting ready
for the night trip to Toronto so I wasn't going to outstay my welcome. I saw
that quite a few fans got to stick around and chat up various band members
out on the sidewalk (including a few that eventually got a chance to go on
the bus and meet Hope) All in all a very nice lot of people.

As far as Mazzy Star plans, my understanding is that Hope and Colm are
going back to Norway at the end of the tour to start work on the new album.
I didn't really press for any more details.
.........................................................
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Re: Band(s) History, Biogs, Anecdotes, Trivia

Postby Hermesacat » Sat Aug 08, 2015 5:08 pm

KENDRA SMITH INTERVIEW, 1995-3-25, BILLBOARD
https://books.google.ca/books?id=7AsEAA ... &q&f=false
Kendra was Opal's singer before Hope was. Seems it's true she lived in a northern California cabin in the wilderness without electricity or phone in the early 1990s.
Image

Image
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