Giant Sand

Giant Sand

Giant Sand performing in Faenza, Italy in 2006
Background information
Also known as Giant Sandworms
Origin Tucson, Arizona, USA
Genres Alternative rock
Americana
Roots rock
Alternative country
Years active 1985–present
Labels Fire Records (UK)
Associated acts Calexico
Website www.giantsand.com
Members
Howe Gelb
Thøger T. Lund
Anders Pedersen
Peter Dombernowsky
Past members
John Convertino
Joey Burns
Rainer Ptacek
Chris Cacavas
Paula Jean Brown
Tom Larkins
Iain Shedden

Giant Sand is an American rock band, based in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The name is shortened from the original Giant Sandworms, a reference to the creatures in the Dune books. Overseen by singer-songwriter Howe Gelb, its membership has shifted over the years—at times with each album. For a long while the band's rhythm section consisted of John Convertino and Joey Burns who left the band when their side project, Calexico, grew more widely known than Giant Sand and, as Gelb characterized it in 2004, Calexico "began to work against Giant Sand and eat away at what the band was".[1]

Other members have included keyboardist Chris Cacavas (of Green on Red), bassist Paula Jean Brown (who was briefly a member of The Go-Go's and was married to Gelb at the time,[2] Mark Walton (of The Dream Syndicate and Continental Drifters), drummer Tom Larkins (later to become a Jonathan Richman sideman). and Iain Shedden, drummer with Australian band The Saints.

Guest artists have included Victoria Williams, Neko Case, Juliana Hatfield, PJ Harvey, Vic Chesnutt, Steve Wynn, Vicki Peterson, Rainer Ptacek, M. Ward, Isobel Campbell nearly all members of the band Poi Dog Pondering, and regular cameos from Jello Biafra and Gelb and Brown's daughter, Indiosa Patsy Jean.[3]

Contents

Discography

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Simmons, Sylvie (3 September 2004). "True grit". guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2004/sep/03/popandrock. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 
  2. ^ Stance, Frankerton (1 May 2006). "Howe Gelb". Crooked Rain. http://crookedrain.org.uk/?p=27. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 
  3. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145197-giant-sand-provisions
  4. ^ unattributed (2007). "High and Dry: Where the Desert Meets Rock 'n Roll". Upstairs Film. http://www.upstairsfilm.com/highanddry/. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 

External links