The Mowgli's

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The Mowgli's are a seven piece alternative rock band from southern California, known for their song "San Francisco", which reached number 11 on Billboard's alternative chart in 2013.[1] They are named after a former band member's dog Mowgli, itself named after a character from Rudyard Kipling's novel The Jungle Book.[2] 4 of the members are from the Calabasas area of Northern Los Angeles. Singer Colin Dieden is from Kansas City, Guitarist/Singer Josh Hogan is from Oklahoma City and Percussionist Spencer Trent is from Nashville.

Members

  • Dave Appelbaum – keyboards and vocals
  • Colin Louis Dieden – vocals, guitar, percussion
  • Katie Jayne Earl – vocals and percussion
  • Josh Hogan – guitar and vocals
  • Matthew Di Panni- bass guitar and vocals
  • Spencer Trent – percussion, guitar, melodica, and vocals
  • Andy Warren – drums, percussion, and vocals

Past Members

  • Michael Vincze – guitar and vocals


The Mowgli's are an "indie, gospel, folk, love-rock" band created with an intention to help change the world for the greater good by spreading a message of joy and love that is embedded in their music. Their belief is that "the true voice' of the band can only be heard when everyone (including the audience) is singing together". Their sound is rooted in Indie Rock, Folk, Classic Rock 'n' Roll, and Country.

The band was formed from a group of artists, musicians and friends calling themselves The Collective Ca. They released their first recordings in March 2010 for free download through thecollectiveca.com and bandcamp. Of that batch were the demos for "San Francisco", "The Great Divide", "Time", "I've Been Around" & "Waiting For The Dawn". These demos were recorded in a Woodland Hills garage studio known as The Victory House. Through 2010 they headlined an array of 'mini' festival/event concerts called "manifestivals" where all of the bands, artists and friends of the collective would join forces and perform together. Bands would rock back to back on 2 stages with some of The Mowgli's performing in as many as all of the groups on the often up to 8 act line ups . The nights would usually culminate in one massive Mowgli's performance where it was likely that most (if not all) of the collective and the audience would end up on the stage screaming at the tops of their lungs about being in love and losing their heads in San Francisco.

In the Summer of 2010 most of the band rented a house in Venice Beach, Ca and "thought it wise to spark a revolution to re-invoke consciousness expansion and the 'destruction of the best minds of our generation by madness' ". They spent those months performing hundreds of shows in the area. Sometimes as many as 5 gigs in a day and night, anywhere from cafes to the Venice Boardwalk to art galleries, venues, bars, underground warehouse gatherings, backyards, offices, house parties, hair salons, clothing stores, farmer's markets, airplane hangars, etc. They "had found the madness they were looking for" and they used it to refine their sound while landing a foothold in a scene that could support them. The Venice party was never ending though and the band began to suffer detrimentally because of it. In those days, "members and friends came and went with the tides." That emotion almost caused the entire group to collapse.

The Mowgli's spent the better part of 2011 migrating from Venice and gigging throughout the South West while recording what would later become their debut LP Sound The Drum. Most of the recording was done in former member and producer Christian James Hand's Hollywood studio, Mid-Bronx Recording. Vocals were also recorded at St. Genevieve's Church in Panorama city and Swinghouse Studios.

That summer the band launched a Kickstarter campaign, informing fans that "they had been kidnapped by a record producing kangaroo who was known simply as "Kevin"." Kevin held The Mowgli's and their LP hostage until their campaign goal was met and his ransom could be paid.

In October 2011 the band began participating in the Occupy Movement, performing a number of concerts at the Los Angeles City Hall encampment and raising awareness through social media. They had crowds of activists chanting "love's not dead!" and "we are are free if we wake up!" and performed with John Densmore, NOFX, Tom Morello, Danny Glover, The Makepeace Brothers, The Luminaries, Parker Ainsworth, Matthew Schildkret, Eduardo Manilla, Peter Joseph & Marianne Williamson.

On May 1, 2012 they independently released their debut LP "Sound The Drum". The single "San Francisco" was sent to College Radio where it peaked only at #89 on the CMJ charts, however the record came to the attention of Paradigm who began booking the band almost immediately, sight-unseen. On October 5, 2012, The Mowgli's signed to Photo Finish Records, a joint venture with Island-DefJam. The final page of their recording contract simply states that "we love each other".

In mid-October 2012, The San Francisco Giants began playing the song "San Francisco" during their games and using it in some of their team videos. The Giants went on to make the song a part of their theme as they took the 2012 World Series in a 4-0 sweep against the Detroit Tigers.

Culling 5 songs from "Sound The Drum", Photo Finish released the EP "Loves Not Dead", with iTunes making the song "San Francisco" the single of the week. The record was released during the week of Hurricane Sandy.

The band performed "San Francisco" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on November 17, 2012, on February 21st, 2013 for Jimmy Kimmel Live and on Conan on May 23, 2013. They contributed music for various indie movies, TV and video games including recording a version of San Francisco in "Simlish" for The Sims.

The Mowgli's co-headlined a US tour with Family of the Year, stopping at SXSW2013 along the way. They would go on to tour the country 3 more times during 2013, playing at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Bunberry Festival, Summerfest, Center of the Universe, Hangout Festival, Bumbershoot, Loufest, Cultivate Chicago, Taste of Chicago Festival, Music Midtown Atlanta and will shortly play Austin City Limits.

On April 27, 2013 "San Francisco" hit #1 on the Sirius Alt 18 Countdown and shortly afterwards held the #1 spot on Alt Nation for 2 weeks running. It also reached high playlist positions on numerous local radio stations including those in Denver, Kansas City, Seattle, Albany, Rochester, Nashville, Austin, Madison, Milwaukee and Indianapolis. The song peaked at #11 on the Alternative Radio Charts and #4 on the AAA charts.

The full length debut for Photo Finish, Waiting For The Dawn was released June 18, 2013. Comprising the songs from "Love's Not Dead", several other tracks from "Sound The Drum" and 4 newly recorded tracks, the LP charted at #4 on Billboards Heatseekers Chart. The band debuted the second single "The Great Divide" on Leno again on June 20, 2013.

The band supports charitywater.org - an effort to share clean water world wide, relayforlife.org - an effort to aid in cancer treatment, and URawesome.org - the promoters of world kindness.

Sound the Drum (2012)

The band's first album was the self-released Sound the Drum in 2012. It charted at #91 on the CMJ College Radio Charts. Steven Spoerl of PopMatters gave the album seven out of 10, calling their music a "delightful blend of summer coastal powerpop and hints of folk-rock" but commenting that the album started to "slow down at the end" and that the band's music might benefit from shorter releases.[3]

  1. "Hi Hey There Hello" – 3:25
  2. "San Francisco" – 2:52
  3. "Waiting for the Dawn" – 3:30
  4. "Slowly, Slowly" – 4:04
  5. "Time" – 3:29
  6. "Gambler's Hall" – 3:14
  7. "The Great Divide" – 3:05
  8. "Ca$h" – 2:43
  9. "Carry Your Will" – 4:12
  10. "See I'm Alive" – 4:46
  11. "I've Been Around" – 3:35
  12. "Colin's Song" – 3:20
  13. "Together (We Are One)" – 2:21
  14. "We Are Free" – 6:29

Love's Not Dead (2012 - 2013)

After signing with Island Records offshoot Photo Finish Records, the group's second release was the extended play Love's Not Dead in October 2012. The record's release coincided with an iTunes Single of the Week for the single "San Francisco" but also with Hurricane Sandy. The band performed the song on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on November 17, 2012. "San Francisco" charted at #11 on the Alternative Music Chart and reached #3 on the AAA Charts. The song was also the 2012 theme for the San Francisco Giants World Series-winning run. The band also performed the song on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Feb 21st, 2013 and on Conan May 24, 2013.

  1. "San Francisco" – 4:03
  2. "The Great Divide" – 2:43
  3. "Time" – 3:22
  4. "Slowly, Slowly" – 3:06
  5. "Carry Your Will" – 2:54

Waiting for the Dawn

The major label debut from The Mowgli's was released through Photo Finish Records/Island Records on June 18, 2013. At the 11th hour, the band returned to the studio to re-record several songs for the record. They returned to Jay Leno on June 20 to perform the second single "The Great Divide".

  1. "San Francisco" – 2:52
  2. "Slowly, Slowly"
  3. "Waiting for the Dawn"
  4. "Love Is Easy"
  5. "Clean Light"
  6. "Time"
  7. "Emily"
  8. "The Great Divide" – 3:06
  9. "Say It, Just Say It"
  10. "Leave It Up to Me"
  11. "Carry Your Will"
  12. "Hi, Hey There, Hello"
  13. "We Are Free"

Tours & Festivals

The Mowgli's supported Walk Off The Earth in October 2012. They co-headlined a tour with Family of the Year in March and April 2013. Following non-stop headlining dates around the US that included stops at Summerfest, MoPop, Lollapalooza, Bunberry, Cultivate Chicago, LouFest, Hangout, they announced a support tour with Walk The Moon to follow their appearances at Austin City Limits 2013. as well as one more headlining tour in the fall of 2013 with support from Royal Teeth, Kopecky Family Band, The Rocketboys, X Ambassadors, Hunter Hunted and Blondfire.

In 2013, they were part of the line up of Atlanta's two-day Music Midtown festival.[4] They played as part of the Friday line-up.

References

  1. ↑ "The Mowgli's from Billboard". Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  2. ↑ Lopez, Karina (2013-05-31). "On the Verge: Success Shines on Indie Rockers Mowgli's". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  3. ↑ Spoerl, Steven (2012-07-17). "The Mowgli's: Sound the Drum". PopMatters. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  4. ↑ http://lineup.musicmidtown.com/

External links

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