Hopewell (band)
Encyclopedia
Hopewell is an American rock band. The band was founded by Jason Sebastian Russo
, of Hopewell Junction, New York
. At 19, Russo joined Mercury Rev
, and then struck out on his own with a band named after his hometown.
. Hopewell's first full-length, Contact, came out on Burnt Hair in 1997. Their second release, 2001's The Curved Glass
, led to European distribution, festival appearances and a John Peel
session. What followed was a transition period of line-up and stylistic changes. Most notable was the loss of Dalia Garih as drummer. After regrouping, the band signed to Tee Pee Records
and released Hopewell & The Birds Of Appetite, produced by Dave Fridmann
of Flaming Lips fame at Tarbox Road Studios. Its follow-up, Beautiful Targets, produced by Fridmann protege Bill Racine, was released in 2007 and its symphonic rock leanings were often compared to Mercury Rev
and the Flaming Lips.
The band's 2009 release, Good Good Desperation
, took them in a heavier direction, aligned by critics with Pink Floyd
's Meddle and Can
's Tago Mago
.
A selective list of bands Hopewell has performed or toured with: My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth
, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols
, Nicole Atkins
, The Sleepy Jackson
, British Sea Power
, The Comas
, The Black Angels
, Goldrush
, Mark Gardener
, Mike Watt
, The Posies
, The Lovetones
, Garth Hudson
, Adam Franklin
, The Joy Formidable
and others.
selection 2011), and television shows including One Tree Hill
and Greek
. Other notable appearances include skate videos by Thrasher magazine and Converse, as well as the seminal Birdhouse Skateboards
film The Beginning
.
America (2010) and All Tomorrow's Parties NY
in 2009. The first of the two volumes features several songs from Hopewell's fifth full-length, Good Good Desperation (2009, Tee Pee Records
) and was released to correspond with the band's US tour supporting the Dandy Warhols.
Jason Sebastian Russo
Jason Sebastian Russo is a rock musician. He was a member of Mercury Rev from 1994 to 2001, and rejoined in 2011 for the Don't Look Back concert series Deserter's Songs reunion tour. He founded the psychedelic rock band Hopewell in high school. Hopewell has since been constantly recording and...
, of Hopewell Junction, New York
Hopewell Junction, New York
Hopewell Junction is a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,610 at the 2000 census...
. At 19, Russo joined Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
, and then struck out on his own with a band named after his hometown.
History
In 1995, seminal Detroit-based space rock label Burnt Hair Records released the band's first single, a split with Michigan-based drone-ambient group Windy & CarlWindy & Carl
-Overview:Cited as "A leading light of the Michigan space-rock scene" by Allmusic, the minimalist group formed in 1993 around the core husband-and-wife duo of guitarist Carl Hultgren and bassist/singer Windy Weber...
. Hopewell's first full-length, Contact, came out on Burnt Hair in 1997. Their second release, 2001's The Curved Glass
The Curved Glass
The Curved Glass, an album by Hopewell, is a collection of spacey pop songs consisting of complex layers of instrumentation intermixed with bloops and bleeps. This makes sense, as the band shares members with Mercury Rev, among others. These are compositions of swirling sound collages from another...
, led to European distribution, festival appearances and a John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
session. What followed was a transition period of line-up and stylistic changes. Most notable was the loss of Dalia Garih as drummer. After regrouping, the band signed to Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records is an independent record label located in New York City in the United States, made popular by the signing of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.-Artists :*Ancestors*Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound*The Atomic Bitchwax...
and released Hopewell & The Birds Of Appetite, produced by Dave Fridmann
Dave Fridmann
Dave Fridmann is an American record producer and musician. From 1990 onwards he co-produced all releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips...
of Flaming Lips fame at Tarbox Road Studios. Its follow-up, Beautiful Targets, produced by Fridmann protege Bill Racine, was released in 2007 and its symphonic rock leanings were often compared to Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
and the Flaming Lips.
The band's 2009 release, Good Good Desperation
Good Good Desperation (album)
Good Good Desperation, the latest album by Hopewell - Hopewell blends vintage fuzz pedal jams with their early space rock and shoegaze roots.TPE-096.The band was featured on the June 6, 2009 edition of NPR's "All Songs Considered" broadcast...
, took them in a heavier direction, aligned by critics with Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's Meddle and Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
's Tago Mago
Tago Mago
Tago Mago is the third studio album by the German experimental rock band Can, and was originally released as a double LP in 1971 by United Artists...
.
A selective list of bands Hopewell has performed or toured with: My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. The band was founded by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström, with keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford later joining. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by...
, Nicole Atkins
Nicole Atkins
Nicole Atkins is an American singer-songwriter. She has been compared to Roy Orbison and singers from the Brill Building era.-Early life:...
, The Sleepy Jackson
The Sleepy Jackson
The Sleepy Jackson are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia. The band's name was inspired by a former drummer who was narcoleptic. The band revolves around the distinctive vocal style of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Luke Steele...
, British Sea Power
British Sea Power
British Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
, The Comas
The Comas
The Comas formed in Chapel Hill, NC, in March 1998 as a joke country band, a sort of counterweight to the hyped No Depression movement. Before long, however, both the "joke" and the "country" parts of the concept were eliminated, thus allowing the band to develop into a quirky alternative rock outfit...
, The Black Angels
The Black Angels (band)
- History :Formed in May 2004, the band's name derives from the Velvet Underground song "The Black Angel's Death Song".In 2005, the Black Angels were featured on a dual-disc compilation album of psychedelic music called Psychedelica Vol.1 from Northern Star Records...
, Goldrush
Goldrush (band)
Goldrush are a rock band from Oxfordshire, England. Their music has been compared to Nick Drake, The Byrds, The Flaming Lips and Grandaddy. The band centres around brothers Robin and Joe Bennett. The other members are Garo , Growler and Graham Roby...
, Mark Gardener
Mark Gardener
Mark Stephen Gardener is an English rock musician, and former singer and guitarist with the shoegazing band, Ride.-Ride:...
, Mike Watt
Mike Watt
Michael David Watt is an American bassist, singer and songwriter.He is best known for co-founding the rock bands Minutemen, dos, and Firehose; , he is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen...
, The Posies
The Posies
The Posies are an alternative rock/power pop group. The band was formed in 1987 in Bellingham, Washington by primary songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. They are best known for their radio hits "Golden Blunders" , as well as "Dream All Day", "Solar Sister" and "Flavor of the Month"...
, The Lovetones
The Lovetones
The Lovetones are an Australian psychedelic rock band with members:*Matthew J. Tow *Matthew Sigley *Serge Luca *Chris Cobb...
, Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
, Adam Franklin
Adam Franklin
Adam Franklin is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who has played in Swervedriver , Shake Appeal , Toshack Highway and currently releases records as Adam Franklin and tours with live band Bolts of Melody...
, The Joy Formidable
The Joy Formidable
The Joy Formidable are a three-piece band formed in 2007 in North Wales and currently located in London, England. The band consists of Ritzy Bryan , Rhydian Dafydd , and Matt Thomas ....
and others.
Film and TV
Hopewell's music has appeared on the soundtracks for films including Tarnation and PsychoGuru (Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
selection 2011), and television shows including One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill (TV series)
One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
and Greek
Greek (TV series)
Greek is an American comedy-drama television series, which follows students of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University , located in Ohio, who participate in the school's Greek system...
. Other notable appearances include skate videos by Thrasher magazine and Converse, as well as the seminal Birdhouse Skateboards
Birdhouse Skateboards
Birdhouse Skateboards is a skateboard company formed by ex-Powell Peralta pros Tony Hawk and Per Welinder in 1992....
film The Beginning
The Beginning (film)
The Beginning is a skateboarding film by Birdhouse Skateboards which features the professionals and amateurs of Birdhouse. The film was released on October 12, 2007. The film starts out with Jean Postec, Tony Hawk, and Shaun White on a vert ramp in the middle of a desert displaying their vert skills...
.
Recent work
On November 2, 2010, Hopewell released the first volume of a two-part live album, Hopewell Live, recorded between Truck FestivalTruck Festival
Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family , who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbury had become too commercial and predictable. It is held in July at Hill Farm in Steventon, near Abingdon...
America (2010) and All Tomorrow's Parties NY
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
in 2009. The first of the two volumes features several songs from Hopewell's fifth full-length, Good Good Desperation (2009, Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records is an independent record label located in New York City in the United States, made popular by the signing of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.-Artists :*Ancestors*Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound*The Atomic Bitchwax...
) and was released to correspond with the band's US tour supporting the Dandy Warhols.
Albums
- Contact (Burnt Hair, 1998)
- The Purple Balloon EP (Priapus, 1999)
- The Curved GlassThe Curved GlassThe Curved Glass, an album by Hopewell, is a collection of spacey pop songs consisting of complex layers of instrumentation intermixed with bloops and bleeps. This makes sense, as the band shares members with Mercury Rev, among others. These are compositions of swirling sound collages from another...
(Priapus, 2001) - Hopewell & The Birds of Appetite (Tee Pee Records, 2005)
- The Notbirds EP (Sunnylane, 2006 EP)
- Beautiful Targets (Tee Pee Records / Star Mole (Japan), 2007)
- Good Good DesperationGood Good Desperation (album)Good Good Desperation, the latest album by Hopewell - Hopewell blends vintage fuzz pedal jams with their early space rock and shoegaze roots.TPE-096.The band was featured on the June 6, 2009 edition of NPR's "All Songs Considered" broadcast...
(Tee Pee Records, May 5, 2009) - Hopewell Live Volume I (South Cherry Entropy, November 2, 2010)