Okkervil River
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Okkervil River is an indie band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1998.
History
Okkervil River's founding members became friends in high school in New Hampshire, and after parting ways for college moved to Austin to live together and start a band. These were songwriter Will Sheff, Zach Thomas on bass and mandolin, and Seth Warren on drums. Their first gig was at Steamboat in Austin on Monday, January 11, 1999. Over the course of two weekends in the summer of 1999, they recorded a seven-song self-released record called Stars Too Small to Use, with recording engineer Jeff Hoskins.They met Jonathan Meiburg at a gig with his band Whu Gnu at the Waterloo Brewing Company on December 3, 1999. Meiburg subsequently joined the band on accordion and later on pianos and organs.
On the strength of Stars Too Small to Use, Okkervil River was admitted into the 2000 SXSW music festival. Their first major press was a SXSW [feature article] in the Austin Chronicle on March 3, 2000.
The band met recording engineer and producer Brian Beattie at their SXSW showcase on March 18 and soon agreed to make a record together. They spent much of the rest of that year working on Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See. Warren moved to Berkeley, California in December and was replaced on drums by Mark Pedini.
By the time of that year's SXSW festival, Okkervil River had received interest in their new record from the Bloomington Indiana-based record label Jagjaguwar. The record was eventually released on Jagjaguwar on January 22, 2002.
One year later the band traveled to San Francisco and reunited with Warren to record their third album at indie studio Tiny Telephone with engineer Scott Solter at the console. Jagjaguwar released Down the River of Golden Dreams on September 2, 2003.
In 2003, Pedini left the band to pursue his graphic design work, leaving Okkervil River without a drummer for that year's SXSW. They invited Travis Nelsen to perform with them, and he soon became the band's fulltime drummer. The next year, during a long bout of touring, the band added keyboardist and lap-steel player Howard Draper as a fifth member.
In August of 2004 the band began recording with Beattie again, finally putting the finishing touches on their third full-length album, Black Sheep Boy in November. It was ultimately released on April 5, 2005. As a result of this release's overwhelming success, Okkervil River followed up with an EP entitled Black Sheep Boy Appendix on November 22, 2005.
On April 17, 2006, Okkervil River signed with Virgin/EMI in Europe. The label re-released Black Sheep Boy and its follow-up Black Sheep Boy Appendix as a double disc on April 28.
Further Information
- In 2001 Sheff and Meiburg founded a second band, Shearwater, as an outlet for quieter songs on which the two were working. The groups still share many fans, and while on tour together in 2004 they released a limited-edition split-CD entitled Sham Wedding/Hoax Funeral.
- The band was named after a short story by Russian author, Tatyana Tolstaya, Leo Tolstoy's great grandniece, and after a real river outside of St. Petersburg.
Discography
Albums
- Stars Too Small to Use - 1999 / Jound
- Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See - 2002 / Jagjaguwar
- Down the River of Golden Dreams - 2003 / Jagjaguwar
- Black Sheep Boy - 2005 / Jagjaguwar
Singles / EPs / Splits
- Bedroom EP - 1998 / Jound / EP
- The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion - 1999 / Jound / CD Single
- Kansas City Single – 2000 / Jound / CD Single
- Split single with South San Gabriel - 2002 / Tight Spot / 7”
- Julie Doiron / Okkervil River – 2003 / Acuarela / CD Split with Julie Doiron
- Sham Wedding / Hoax Funeral - 2004 / Jound / CD Split with Shearwater
- Sleep and Wake-Up Songs - 2004 / Jound / EP
- For Real (There's Nothing Quite Like the Blinding Light) - 2005 / Jagjaguwar / CD Single
- Black Sheep Boy Appendix - 2005 / Jagjaguwar / EP
Compilation contributions
- "Disfigured Cowboy" - 2002 / Comes With A Smile CD
- "Riot Act" - 2003 / Glurp / Almost You: The Songs of Elvis Costello
- "My Bad Days (Live)" - 2004 / Comes With A Smile CD
- "Nancy (Live)" - 2005 / I Eat Records / Appetizers & Leftovers
Other
- Black Sheep Boy & Appendix - 2006, Double album of Black Sheep Boy and Black Sheep Boy Appendix (Europe only)
Live albums
- Live at Schubas 05/09/2004 - 2004 / Schubas eMusic / [eMusic.com Download]
- Live at Schubas 05/13/2005 - 2005 / Schubas eMusic / [eMusic.com Download]
External links
- [Okkervil River's official website]
- [Lazy-i Interview: April 2005]
- [Lyrics and music videos]
- [Okkervil River Lyrics and Guitar Tabs]
- [Official Okkervil River FAQ]
- [Okkervil River] - a lengthy biography by PopMatters Magazine
- [NPR Story]
- [Review of Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See by Stephen Dohnberg for earshot! / Exclaim Magazine]
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