Listen (via Consequence of Sound): Camper Van Beethoven – “It Was Like That When We Got Here”
CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN’S “EL CAMINO REAL TOUR” 2014
May 29 – Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
May 30 – The Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
Jun 1 – Bottle Rock Festival – Napa, CA
Jun 3 – The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Jun 4 – Sainte Rocke – Hermosa Beach, CA
ADDITIONAL DATES:
May 23 – Friday LIVE! @ The Factory – Charlotte, NC
May 31 – Bottle Rock Festival – Napa, CA
Jun 6 – Circus Mexicus – JJ’s Cantina – Sonora, Mexico
Jun 28 – Red, White & Brews @ Nottingham Park – Avon, CO
Jul 8 – Neptune’s Park @ 31st Street – Virginia Beach, VA
Jul 10 – Brew Thru Summer @ Roanoke Island Festival Park – Manteo, NC
Aug 2 – Kokomo Summer Series @ Foster Park – Kokomo, IN
Aug 3 – Down By The Riverside @ Mayo Park – Rochester, MN
Aug 23 – Silver Cross Field – Joliet, IL
Indie rock stalwarts Camper Van Beethoven are back with El Camino Real, the companion studio album and follow up to their highly lauded La Costa Perdida. Whereas La Costa reflected the northern California “back to the country” side of the band with lush and trippy references to Jack Kerouac, Richard Brautigan, The Beach Boys and “Big Sur,” the songs on El Camino Real are firmly rooted in a grittier earth – one that lies beneath the southern half of the state and stretches all the way down to Baja California. Produced by the band and recorded in various studios and living rooms, El Camino Real’s harder sonic edges capture the sounds of an entirely different road trip from Bakersfield through the Inland Empire and beyond the border to Mexico. The lineup remains Victor Krummenacher, Greg Lisher, David Lowery, Jonathan Segel and Michael Urbano.
Music historians will note that despite the band’s extended residency in Santa Cruz and parts north, Camper Van Beethoven actually formed in Redlands, California—a semi-urban, multi-cultural polyglot landscape populated by a host of characters brought to life by the angular notes and dry observations of El Camino Real. Similarly, the songs “Camp Pendleton,” “Dockweiler Beach,” “I Live in LA” and “Sugartown” evoke a particular view of life in said regions.
Camper Van Beethoven’s El Camino Real will be released on June 3rd via 429 Records.
EL CAMINO REAL TRACK LISTING:
1) The Ultimate Solution
2) It Was Like That When We Got Here
3) Classy Dames and Able Gents
4) Camp Pendleton
5) Dockweiler Beach
6) Sugartown
7) I Live in LA
8) Out Like a Lion
9) Goldbase
10) Darken Your Door
11) Grasshopper
Musically Amusing 