Camper Van Beethoven Talks Tusk (2002)

[michelej1]

Canadian Press, September 1, 2002

HEADLINE: Alt-rock band reunites, releases eclectic version of Fleetwood Mac album

SOURCE: AP

BYLINE: BY JUSTIN GLANVILLE

BODY:
NEW YORK (AP) _ Camper van Beethoven is halfway through a reunion gig in Manhattan when David Lowery, the band's front man, begins to noodle with a Macintosh IBook on stage.

There is a pause as he taps away at the keyboard, his face glowing with blue light from the screen. Suddenly, eerie electronic sounds and the thump of programmed drums begin to filter through the sound system.

The audience becomes restless. This doesn't sound like anything from Camper's recorded oeuvre _ five quirky, acclaimed albums that seemed omnipresent on college campuses in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Then Lowery begins to sing: Why don't you ask him if he's going to stay? Why don't you ask him if he's going away?''

Recognition begins to ripple through the crowd. It's the title song from Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk _ the notoriously weird followup to Rumours.

For Lowery and his band mates, this is not just a throwaway cover. Camper is about to unveil their version of the entire Tusk album: all 20 songs, from Stevie Nicks's Top 10 ballad Sara to Lindsey Buckingham's tortured guitar jam Not That Funny. It's been available on the Internet and is being released Tuesday on Camper's own Pitch-a-Tent label.

Fleetwood Mac fans, be forewarned: Camper's Tusk is not a reverent, note-for-note homage. Some tracks stick closely to the originals, but others veer far off. Sisters of the Moon, by Nicks, is set to a disco beat, the words intoned by what sounds like a Speak & Spell. Honey Hi, by Christine McVie, was recorded this time on a street corner in Tijuana, in Spanish.

Tusk is a big record,'' says Lowery, who also fronts the roots-rock band Cracker. Some of it was stuff that we'd like to pay homage to. But some of it was, well, this is a weird song and we're not really sure what to do with it.''

Lowery is sprawled on a couch backstage at the Knitting Factory, an intimate club where Camper has reunited for a three-night stand to promote Tusk. The band broke up in 1990, but has reunited for occasional live shows in the last few years.

Beside him are Jonathan Segel, who plays the band's trademark violin, and Victor Krummenacher, who plays bass.

Their version of Tusk is not a new project. The basic tracks were cut about 15 years ago, in a cabin in Bishop, Calif., owned by a friend named Sunshine. After Chris Pedersen, the band's drummer, broke his arm skiing, Sunshine suggested they record a version of the album as a side project while he recuperated.

Sunshine had an obsession with Tusk,'' says Segel.

She was always really into Emmylou Harris and stuff like that, and I think she was kind of thinking we could do this nice, country version of it,'' says Krummenacher. And that's kind of not what happened.''

At the time, Camper was turning from a punk garage outfit into a major-label act with a devoted college following. (They had a No. 1 hit on the modern rock charts in 1989 with Pictures of Matchstick Men.) They spent a frenzied three days recording the Tusk songs, which then languished in a storeroom for a decade.

They were badly deteriorated when the band finally dusted them off. Some of the songs had never been finished or were missing altogether.

So we had to take some liberties,'' Lowery says. On Sisters of the Moon, for example, the only thing that was really good was the beginning and maybe about 20 seconds. So we looped that.'' There was no vocal on the track, so they enlisted a computer to stand in for Nicks _ hence the Speak & Spell effect.

On the song Tusk, Segel added a section of electronic psychedelia at the end, making it a 10-minute epic and the centrepiece of the album.

For its recent Knitting Factory shows, the band rotated through five Fleetwood Mac tunes, including Tusk and McVie's mournful Never Make Me Cry.

McVie was usually known as the other woman'' in Fleetwood Mac, playing second fiddle to the whirling, lace-drenched Nicks. But she wrote most of the band's hits, including You Make Loving Fun, Hold Me and Little Lies.

I loved Christine McVie,'' says Lowery. I always thought she was the hot one in the band, not Stevie Nicks.''

She's an English folk-rock diva,'' Krummenacher chimes in. She sounds like she's about to break in two on most songs.''

Did reconstructing Tusk inspire Camper to make new music of its own?

We haven't really considered going and doing studio recording,'' Krummenacher says. It's possible.''

For the time being, they're content to play sporadic live shows with a changing cast of supporting players. At the New York gigs, for example, they were joined on mandolin and pedal steel by David Immergluck of Counting Crows.

So far, they haven't heard whether anyone from Fleetwood Mac has heard the cover album. Both Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac's drummer, Mick Fleetwood, declined to be interviewed for this story.

We do mean it in the best sort of way,'' Krummenacher says.

Still, the band members don't deny that their tribute is shot through with affectionate irony.

Something our band always did was simultaneously make fun of things and take them seriously,'' Segel says, including ourselves.''

[vivfox]

I love every track on this record. My favorite track is Tusk, 2nd favorite is Angel.

[michelej1]

North Bay Nugget (Ontario)

September 2, 2002 Monday, Final Edition

HEADLINE: Rock band reunites: Camper van Beethoven to remake Fleetwood Mac's 1979 Tusk album

BODY:


NEW YORK (AP) -- Camper van Beethoven is halfway through a reunion gig in Manhattan when David Lowery, the band's front man, begins to noodle with a Macintosh IBook on stage.

There is a pause as he taps away at the keyboard, his face glowing with blue light from the screen.

Suddenly, eerie electronic sounds and the thump of programmed drums begin to filter through the sound system.

The audience becomes restless. This doesn't sound like anything from Camper's recorded oeuvre -- five quirky, acclaimed albums that seemed omnipresent on college campuses in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Then Lowery begins to sing: "Why don't you ask him if he's going to stay? Why don't you ask him if he's going away?"

Recognition begins to ripple through the crowd.

It's the title song from Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk -- the notoriously weird followup to Rumours.

For Lowery and his band mates, this is not just a throwaway cover. Camper is about to unveil their version of the entire Tusk album: all 20 songs, from Stevie Nicks's Top 10 ballad Sara to Lindsey Buckingham's tortured guitar jam Not That Funny.

It's been available on the Internet and is being released Tuesday on Camper's own Pitch-a-Tent label.

Fleetwood Mac fans, be forewarned: Camper's Tusk is not a reverent, note-for-note homage.

Some tracks stick closely to the originals, but others veer far off. Sisters of the Moon, by Nicks, is set to a disco beat, the words intoned by what sounds like a Speak & Spell. Honey Hi, by Christine McVie, was recorded this time on a street corner in Tijuana, in Spanish.

"Tusk is a big record," says Lowery, who also fronts the roots-rock band Cracker.

"Some of it was stuff that we'd like to pay homage to. But some of it was, `well, this is a weird song and we're not really sure what to do with it."

Lowery is sprawled on a couch backstage at the Knitting Factory, an intimate club where Camper has reunited for a three-night stand to promote Tusk.

The band broke up in 1990, but has reunited for occasional live shows in the last few years.

Beside him are Jonathan Segel, who plays the band's trademark violin, and Victor Krummenacher, who plays bass.

Their version of Tusk is not a new project.

The basic tracks were cut about 15 years ago, in a cabin in Bishop, Calif., owned by a friend named Sunshine. After Chris Pedersen, the band's drummer, broke his arm skiing, Sunshine suggested they record a version of the album as a side project while he recuperated.

"Sunshine had an obsession with Tusk," says Segel.

"She was always really into Emmylou Harris and stuff like that, and I think she was kind of thinking we could do this nice, country version of it," says Krummenacher.

"And that's kind of not what happened."

At the time, Camper was turning from a punk garage outfit into a major-label act with a devoted college following. (They had a No. 1 hit on the modern rock charts in 1989 with Pictures of Matchstick Men.)

They spent a frenzied three days recording the Tusk songs, which then languished in a storeroom for a decade. They were badly deteriorated when the band finally dusted them off.

Some of the songs had never been finished or were missing altogether.

"So we had to take some liberties," Lowery says. On Sisters of the Moon, for example, "the only thing that was really good was the beginning and maybe about 20 seconds. So we looped that."

There was no vocal on the track, so they enlisted a computer to stand in for Nicks -- hence the Speak & Spell effect.