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David C. Lowery founded the legendary bands Camper van Beethoven and Cracker. He’s also a mathematician, writer, producer, professor, entrepreneur, and a member of Ricochet.com. (Please join!) Jon and David talk about his music, the industry in the age of COVID-19, and how streaming services affect the bottom line.
The intro song is “Take the Skinheads Bowling” by Camper van Beethoven and the outro (and David’s pick) is “What a Fool Believes” by EURINGER. Jon’s song of the week is “Alice Hyatt” by Damien Jurado. To listen to all the music featured on The Conservatarians, subscribe to our Spotify playlist!
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I imagine being with you guys this week will be… like being stoned.
Re: Cracker (underrated genius) Eurotrash girl: so insulting, however, from an American: a high-praise, much-desired status, yes?
cinderella+ fall of the berlin wall= singularly great moscow live footage and instant legit beyond gnr even (spag incident was pretty awesome though)
Fun interview!
I haven’t listened to a lot of Camper van Beethoven, but I did put “Take the skinheads bowling” on more than a few mix tapes in college.
Learning that David Lowery is a Ricochet member is mind blowing. The confluence of my favorite band, Cracker, and my favorite podcast source, and the dulcet tones of Jon Gabriel is fantastic. Thanks Jon!
This is *great*! Thanks for getting David Lowery on a Ricochet podcast.
Folks, Camper Van Beethoven’s “Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart” is my personal favorite album. A total joy to listen to from beginning to end.
CVB is a crazy mix of genres (punk, prog, ska, folk, psychedelia…) but they weave it together so well. Someone once describe the band as “ethnic folk music from a country they made up”.
Cracker is more Americana, and the song writing is stunning.
@davidclowery ,
Given the current state of the music industry… such as it is…
How can music fans spend their hard-earned entertainment dollar so that their favorite musicians end up receiving the most revenue?
Don’t know much about his music or this general music scene but it was an interesting interview and he knows a lot about the music industry. Fascinating that there’s some board deciding on royalties. I think there is so much regulation like this that the general public knows nothing about.
David is both an amazing songwriter and Twitter follow. I really enjoy watching him spar with all of the parasitic anti-artist copywright lawyers that trawl the depths of Twitter. Not CoC compliant but that’s part of the charm. Great podcast and interview.
This is a great ep. Thanks Jon! Possible new co-host?
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” (Hunter S. Thompson)
This was a great interview of a guy who’s made interesting and entertaining music for eons. “Take the Skinheads Bowling” was the first song I ever learned on guitar. After Camper Van Beethoven played a GREAT show at the University of Oklahoma, in ‘86 or ‘87, one of them gave me a “Monterey Pope Festival” t-shirt, with a psychedelic picture of Pope John Paul. Several band members then went to the top of the student union building with a bag of fireworks. A fantastic concert, fun bunch of guys and good memories. I think I paid $8 and I think the opening band was called Catbutt….
Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart is one of my tops too.
In previous life, was always fun to happen across people who were seriously intelligent. Neil Peart, obviously you’ve seen me mention him, but two others who come to mind are John McCrea of Cake and the late Gordon Downie of The Tragically Hip. This was great, Chief, and hope you submit more interesting music/entertainment gets here. A nice change of pace from the political wind tunnel coming from every angle.
Side note, wonder if Lowery ever gigged with or knew the band Too Much Joy. Vocalist Tim Quirk is (was?) involved with a music-app company called Freeform, which is detailed in the article and podcast below. I say “was” because am wondering if maybe company was acquired, cursory search not finding much recent news on them.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3047054/ex-google-play-exec-launches-freeform-a-music-streaming-platform-powered-by-mo
https://youtu.be/3z3s4XzzgSY
I thought CVB basically lived at the Boathouse in Virginia Beach.
“If you want to change the world, shut your mouth and start to spin it” Has been a mantra since that came out
I had friends who where at that show at Zia’s, and I know I was at Big Surf in 1989 when Camper Van played there along with Mary’s Danish and the RHCP (that was a HECK of a show), and then again at Phoenix Munie in 1992 for Q-Fest where Cracker performed.
And I should I have more memories of Camper Van playing at the Mason Jar, but my recollections of that venue are a tad hazy.
Beer might be the reason why.
Man, I miss that scene. Thanks for the memories, @exjon, and let’s go grab a beer at Nita’s sometime soon. :)