Black Camaro

Black Camaro

Black Camaro's Tom Miller (left) and Brian Garth (right) performing live
Background information
Origin Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Genres Indie Folk, indie rock, alternative rock
Years active 2003 - present
Website www.blackcamaromusic.com
Members Brian Garth
James "Fuzz" Berg
Jordan Robins
Scott Trujillo
Tom Miller
Past members See "Band Members"

Black Camaro is an American indie rock band that formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001. The band's founding members are guitarist and vocalist Brian Garth and keyboardist and vocalist Tom Miller.[1][2]

Career

White People Fucked Up The Blues

In 2001, Garth and Miller began recording Black Camaro’s first album, White People Fucked up the Blues in a living room in North Las Vegas on a 16 track digital recorder. In 2003, the two members self-released the album in a handmade run of 300 CDs, which were eventually discovered by music journalist Jarret Keene in Balcony Lights, a local record store the duo frequented.[3][4][5] Soon after the release, Las Vegas CityLife alternative-weekly newspaper published an album review, written by Keene, exposing the music to a larger fan base.

Black Camaro's first live performance came in the winter of 2003. Musical artist and writer Ted Sablay then conducted an interview with the band for CityLife during which the duo attempted to scare Sablay by assembling a tower of Budweiser cans, bongs and a double-barreled shotgun on a coffee table in their garage where the interview took place.[1][5][6]

With the addition of Chris Rogers (bass), Gary Wright (drums), Jimi "Fuzz" Berg (Percussion), and Mike “Lazer” Lavin (sound), Black Camaro embarked on its first tour in Spring 2004.[6] The members of the band collaborated on a diary of their tour that appeared on their website. Keene, who would later write about Black Camaro in his book The Underground Guide to Las Vegas, published the diary in CityLife's music issue.[6]

Hang Glider

After returning home from the tour, Black Camaro moved their equipment into the 910, which were two side-by-side storage units converted into a recording studio that also served as a rehearsal space for the band, and had no bathroom and no air conditioning.[5][7] Rogers and Wright left the band shortly after the tour, and the remaining members welcomed drummer Jeremy Lamanna into the band, as well as bass player Jason Wilda from Recess Records bands Civic Minded Five and The Mapes.[8]

After being approached by film director Kelly Schwarze about creating a soundtrack for his independent film, Black Camaro immediately began working on recordings of original score for the Vision Dynamics Entertainment film The Indie-Pendant.[9][10] The soundtrack later became Black Camaro’s second LP Hang Glider, and was released in June 2005 along with the film.[3][10]

One review of the album alludes to the band's silliness by making several marijuana related puns,[11] while a writer for Tucson Weekly mentions how the band created "this wild musical world teeming with seedy characters," and compared Hang Glider to the band's first album calling it "darker, more subversive and a heck of a lot longer, although the sense of humor is still intact." [12]

Hang Glider 2025

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hang Glider (2005), the band “remixed and actually mastered” the songs that appeared on the original release, and claim on their website that the new version "presents the same lengthy album sans the lazy mistakes and gratuitous secret tracks", blaming the crude nature of the original release on the naivete of their younger selves, and the apparent laziness that is inherent in young musicians. [13][14]

Miniature Panthers

In October 2005, Black Camaro released Miniature Panthers, an EP of all new material.[15] Written and recorded in under a month, Miniature Panthers marked the first time Black Camaro would record an entire release as a full band, with Jason Wilda joining on bass and Jeremy Lamanna on drums.[3][5] Album credits show previous albums having been mainly tracked by Garth and Miller with the addition of several guest players. In August 2008, the album reached #2 on Tucson’s Toxic Ranch Records top sales list.[16]

Miniature Panthers: The Motion Picture

In 2006, the band again worked with director Kelly Schwarze on Miniature Panthers: The Motion Picture. After renting a warehouse next door to their local Sam Ash, Black Camaro constructed sets and began filming scenes written by the band to coincide with the EP.[17] The majority of the project was shot as live action starring Jeff Ford of The Big Friendly Corporation in the lead role, while the midpoint of the video veers off into a cartoon sequence that was hand painted and animated by artist Casey Weldon.[5][18] Behind-the-scenes footage of the production shows Black Camaro’s film crew traveling to Hollywood, CA to shoot some scenes.

The Black Camaro Variety Show

In February 2008, the band performed at the Black Camaro Variety Show, an event that was part of a larger event known as Black Camaro Weekend, held at The Bunkhouse in the Fremont East district of Las Vegas.[19] The show consisted of several acts that incorporated Black Camaro’s material in some way. Created to look like a game show, the Variety Show was hosted by Jewish Dave and included three acts of Black Camaraoke (karaoke versions of the band's songs), a spoken word artist reading lyrics from one of the band’s songs, and actors dressed as God and Satan.[18] During the event, the band raffled off a custom Black Camaro iPod and finally premiered Miniature Panthers: The Motion Picture as the final act before performing a full live set. The Variety Show would mark the band’s first live performance with drummer Trujillo, and it helped to fund their next project, which would find the band traveling to Eugene, OR to record tracks for Pistachio Moustachio.[18][19]

Pistachio Moustachio

In June 2008, after several months of writing and pre-production, Garth and Miller traveled to Eugene, OR, met with sound engineer Mike “Lazer” Lavin, and the band entered Gung-Ho Studio.[3] Gung-Ho provided the duo with access to high-end studio equipment, vintage instruments, and a change of environment from the living rooms and storage sheds. Garth would later recall, “Most of the record was recorded in Eugene, Oregon, to have that rainy influence” which helped give the album a “more psychedelic-y” sound.[20]

After the sessions, the tracks were brought back to Las Vegas for additional tracking with the rest of the band at the 910.[5] Once the sessions were complete, Black Camaro released their new EP Pistachio Moustachio at a dual CD release party with Las Vegas band The Skooners, who released their EP Blow On My Ha Ha.[20][21] The event cost $10 and attendees received an EP and a live set from each band.[21]

Radio Capricorn

In June 2009, the band was asked to play an all ages birthday show at The Gypsy Den on First Friday the following July 3.[17][22] The band recorded Radio Capricorn to give away to 200 people at the event who had never heard Black Camaro before. The 25 track CD is designed to sound like a radio show that plays Black Camaro’s catalog all day long. With several hosted shows and guest appearances, as well as comical commercials for phony drug stores and 12 of the band's songs, the best-of album quickly received praise from as far north as Oregon.[22][23]

On July 13, 2009, KPSU college radio in Portland played the entire album from beginning to end, only stopping to remind listeners that they were in fact not tuned in to KDIG, which are the call letters to the station on the album.[17] The album also appears on multiple 2009 top ten lists.[24][25]

What's Your Favorite Movie?

In 2011 Black Camaro compiled their first four studio albums, a slew of outtakes, some live recordings, two music videos and a short film on their DVD What's Your Favorite Movie?.[26] The DVD spans the band's career from 2003’s White People Fucked Up the Blues through 2008’s Pistachio Moustachio, and includes all of the band's music video, including Miniature Panthers: The Motion Picture and a making-of featurette called Behind The Claws: The making of Miniature Panthers.[26]

B-Sides and C-Sides (2003-2008)

To coincide with the release of the DVD, Black Camaro released B-Sides and C-Sides (2003-2008), a compilation album that also spans the first five years of the band, and consists of live tracks from the Spring 2004 tour and unreleased B-sides and outtakes.[27]

Black Camaricans

On July 4, 2012 Black Camaro released their third LP Black Camaricans. The album is Black Camaro's first LP since 2005's Hang Glider.[28] The band recorded the album over a three-year period that spanned two recording studios and multiple lineup changes.[29][30]

The album features members of The Big Friendly Corporation, Melissa and Ryan Marth, on the song Phantom of the Moon, as well as their late brother Tommy Marth, who also played saxophone with the Killers.[2][31] Garth asked the Marth siblings to record parts on the song after their brother Tommy committed suicide shortly before the album's release. Tommy had already performed saxophone on the song.[29][30]

Once released, the album received praise from several music writers and was featured on UK label Choose My Music's New Music For Monday blog.[29][30][32][33] Las Vegas CityLife's Mike Prevatt voted it one of the best albums of 2012 and the album won the band the Best of Las Vegas title in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in early 2013.[34]

The song Summer of Dirt from the album appears on the Zia Records compilation You Heard Us Back When Vol. 7 that was released to coincide with Record Store Day 2013.[35] The album sold for $3 with proceeds from the sales going to HALO Animal Rescue, an organization that helps with animal adoptions.[35]

The song Charlemagne from the album appears on the Choose My Music Records compilation album New Music For Mondays Vol. 2 that was released on May 11, 2013.[36]

B-Sides & C-Sides Vol. 2

In January 2013 Black Camaro released their second B-sides record B-Sides & C-Sides Vol.2 that brought together leftovers from the Black Camarican sessions as well as songs from the previous 5 years. Where their first B-Sides record left off, Vol. 2 began. Though an outtakes album, critics still praised the "consistently fresh" and "immaculate production."[37][38][39]

Michael Landon 2004 Western Region Semi-Finals

In July 2013 Black Camaro released a 60-minute video on YouTube documenting the band’s 2004 tour across the U.S. in support of debut album White People Fucked Up the Blues. Michael Landon 2004 Western Region Semi-Finals is a collage of live video footage combined with audio mixes from a 16-track recorder that accompanied the band on the road, and quirky “on the bus” moments sprinkled throughout. The band told a writer that they admired the actor of the same name and that the title was intentionally "quirky and confusing".[40]

The Black Camaro Variety Show III

On New Year's Eve 2013, Black Camaro partook in their third installment of the Black Camaro Variety Show. The event was described by Jason Bracelin of the Las Vegas Review Journal as having "skits involving dudes with boxes on their heads playing UNO, a Navajo version of Auld Lang Syne, some stand-up comedy that may or may not be deliberately unfunny and plenty more.[41] As with the other two installments of the Black Camaro Variety Show, the band ended the event with a live performance.

The Last Menagerie

On December 25, 2014 Black Camaro released The Last Menagerie to surprised fans, as the 11 song album was kept under wraps until it appeared on the band's website at midnight on Christmas morning with a "name your price" option.[42][43] With Miller describing the sound of Menagerie as being "like dust," and Garth describing it as "gray," the album was written to evoke the chill and gloom of the winter season in which it was released.[43] Opting for a more stripped down record, the band wrote the songs quickly, and in November 2014 gave themselves a Christmas deadline.[43] [44]

While recording the bulk of the album in about a week, Garth and Miller utilized their home recording studios as well as a professional studio, Digital Insight in Las Vegas, to create what Miller later described as a "lonely, far-off...earthy" record, while Garth claims to have derived his inspiration for the album from the band's past recordings on 4-track cassette, invoking the "clicks and pops and snaps and ugly hissing sounds" of that medium.[42]

Band members

Current
Former
Non-member album credits

Discography

Studio albums
Compilations/soundtracks
Music Videos
Feature film, television, & documentary appearances

References

  1. 1 2 "Horny goat weed: Black Camaro sticks neo-psychedelic music in its pipe - and smokes it". Las Vegas CityLife. 2003-12-23. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  2. 1 2 "Killer Saxophonist's Death Ruled Suicide". MTV.com. 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Black Camaro Discography". Vegas Seven. 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  4. ↑ "Black Camaro". Las Vegas CityLife. 2003-12-12. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "KNPR State of Nevada: Neon Reverb Music Festival". KNPR. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  6. 1 2 3 "The 6th annual Local Music Issue: Interstellar Overdrive". Las Vegas CityLife. 2004-06-23. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  7. ↑ "The unsung hero : Music Stories". Las Vegas CityLife. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  8. ↑ "A costume spotting, line waiting free tour of Comic Book Day in Las Vegas". Las Vegas Weekly. 2013-05-08. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  9. ↑ "Vision Dynamics Entertainment, INC: Las Vegas Filmmakers Blast Back into the Bottom Spotlight with New Feature Film". PR Web. 2005-05-11. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  10. 1 2 "Black Camaro scores movie soundtrack". Las Vegas CityLife. 2004-12-17. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  11. ↑ "Black Camaro: Hang Glider". Las Vegas CityLife. 2005-09-25. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  12. ↑ "Rhythm & Views: Black Camaro". Tucson Weekly. 2005-09-25. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  13. ↑ "Same Sex Mary brings theater to Fremont Country Club—plus new music from Kerfoot & Dau, Good Grief". Las Vegas Weekly. 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
  14. ↑ "Black Camaro’s Sophomore Album Gets a Facelift". Vegas Seven. 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  15. ↑ "Miniature Panthers". Bandcamp.com. 2005-10-28. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  16. ↑ "Top Ten in Music". Tucson Weekly. 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  17. 1 2 3 "Black Camaro: Biography". Last.fm. 2009-09-11. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  18. 1 2 3 "Revving up for Black Camaro Weekend". Las Vegas Weekly. 2008-02-21. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  19. 1 2 "Bitchin' Camaro". Las Vegas CityLife. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  20. 1 2 "Stocking Stuffers:Black Camaro, Skooners hand out new EPs at co-release show". Las Vegas Sun. 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  21. 1 2 "Black Camaro/Skooners EP Release Party". Las Vegas CityLife. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  22. 1 2 "Summer rush: a bounty of local releases flood the year's halfway point". Las Vegas CityLife. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  23. ↑ "Black Camaro's Radio Capricorn". Las Vegas Weekly. 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  24. ↑ "Making a List: Our music critics share their thoughts on the best of 2009". Tucson Weekly. 2009-12-24. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  25. ↑ "The eclectic company: Downtown indie rock wasn't the only sound that triumphed within the Vegas music scene, as these 10 albums prove". Las Vegas CityLife. 2009-12-31. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  26. 1 2 "What's new in:local music". Las Vegas Weekly. 2011-03-30. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  27. ↑ "B-Sides and C-Sides (2003-2008)". Bandcamp.com. 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  28. ↑ "Black Camaro oozes raw power". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  29. 1 2 3 "Black Camaro celebrates its long-awaited new album". Las Vegas Weekly. 2012-07-11. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  30. 1 2 3 "Behind the scenes with Black Camaro's new album". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  31. ↑ "Remembering Tommy Marth". Las Vegas Weekly. 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  32. ↑ "CD Reviews: Black Camaricans, Unnecessary Maps, Night Visions". Vegas Seven. 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  33. ↑ "New Music For Mondays (Part 14) - Black Camaro". Choose My Music Records. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  34. ↑ "Best of Las Vegas. p.82". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2013-03-24. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  35. 1 2 "Zia Records Blog-o-rama". Zia Records. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  36. ↑ "New Music For Mondays Vol.2 - Out Now". Choose My Music records. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  37. ↑ "CD Reviews: Calmosa, Black Camaro and Be Like Max". Vegas Seven. 2013-02-19. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  38. ↑ "Vegas music hits sharpest notes". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  39. ↑ "Someone Sent Us This: Black Camaro, ‘B-Sides & C-Sides, Vol. 2’". Las Vegas CityLife. 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  40. ↑ "Camaro Tracks, Blues Licks, Island Vibes". Vegas Seven. 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
  41. ↑ "Band plans fun entry to new year". Las Vegas Review Journal. 2013-12-25. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  42. 1 2 "Black Camaro digs into its past to deliver a new album on Christmas". Las Vegas Weekly. 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  43. 1 2 3 "Hazy shade of winter". Las Vegas Review Journal. 2014-12-25. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  44. ↑ "Black Camaro Peels Out, Love Hate Away gets stuck in our heads". Vegas Seven. 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2015-01-13.

External links

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