Camper Van Beethoven will always hold a special place in my heart. I can recall my brother bringing a promo of Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart home when he worked at the Record Bar in 1998. A year later I started working at a record store where we would listen to their entire catalog, especially Telephone Free Landslide Victory. Although I never had the opportunity to see a Camper Van show back in the day, I did keep all of their records I bought and saw their spin off band Cracker when their first record was released. That all changed in 2013 when I found myself living in the band’s home town of Santa Cruz, California. I had been there for 12 years already, but suddenly out of nowhere it was announced that they would performing at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for two performances. I got there pretty early as I was excited about seeing both of their sets. I remember the billing was for Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, so each band performed two 45 minute sets. I started talking with a guy who was an avid fan and spoke of their days in Santa Cruz like he knew them. He went on talking about knowing the guys in Mr. Bungle/Faith No More as well. After the first set started we settled into our own vibes and they played a great opening set of some deeper cuts from their catalog. By the time the second set started a buddy of mine from work had arrived as well as my girlfriend at the time who became my wife. I remember my co-worker passing a joint around and we all got pretty high. It was pretty magical. We got to see them again a few weeks later at Outside Lands in San Francisco. I hold those Santa Cruz memories very dear to me along with getting to see Bl’ast in Santa Cruz, the Mermen in Santa Cruz, Fury 66 in Santa Cruz and essentially Comets on Fire (Under the name of Six Organs of Admittance) in San Francisco.
Fast forward 12 years. We’re now in Atlanta, and I noticed Camper Van Beethoven were performing their 40th anniversary of the entire Telephone Free Landslide Victory album so this was a can’t miss concert for me. I had never been to the 40 Watt Club in Athens, where the concert took place. It’s such a legendary venue where bands like R.E.M., Pylon and the B-52’s got their start. Keyboard and Violinist Jonathan Segal said Telephone Free Landslide Victory contained ‘around 100 songs that were all less than 1 minute each which was the style at the time’. The record is well known for the song “Take the skinheads bowling” but also contains a cover of the Black Flag song “Wasted” and “Club Med Sucks”. The album also contains several instrumental tracks that incorporate the bands signature style with a mixture of ska and traditional/international musics.
At the show, much of the focus was on the 40th anniversary of Telephone Free Landslide Victory as Cooking Vinyl has reissued both a green vinyl and orange and clear marbled vinyl versions this year. In addition, the sextet also performed many songs from other heyday albums II & III, S/T, Vampire Can Mating Oven, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie.
Fans got the opportunity to hear many of their favorite songs including “Good Guys and Bad Guys”, “Seven Languages”, “ZZ Top Goes to Egypt”, “We’re a Bad Trip”, “Eye of Fatima Pts 1 and 2”, “Pictures of Matchstick Men” and “Turquoise Jewelry” among many other songs. The group concluded their set with the Pink Floyd song “Interstellar Overdrive” as an encore. It was all pretty amazing. When the came back on stage, Accordionist Chris Molla said “Now its time to get serious” before they played the song. Band leader David Lowery is a professor at University of Georgia in the field of Music Business. He recently released a 3 LP musical autobiography entitled Fathers, sons and brothers where he collaborated with west cost band the Bellrays on the title track. Jonathon Segal currently lives in Sweden, drummer Chris Pedersen is based in Australia. Pedersen, along with guitarist Greg Lisher and bassist Victor Krummenacher account for 3/4 of the CVB spin off band Monks of Doom.
Moving to a new area can have its share of challenges. People and places are new and unfamiliar. But it can also be one big opportunity. The opportunity to learn about the rich history of a club like the 40 Watt and the opportunity to see a band I know and love like Camper Van Beethoven makes me feel quite grounded. To quote and album title from CVB, to those who say Camper Van Beethoven is Dead, Long Live Camper Van Beethoven.
