Jonathan Segel

Last updated

Jonathan Segel
JSegel-performing.jpg
Background information
Born (1963-09-03) September 3, 1963 (age 59)
Marseille, France
Genres Alternative rock, pop rock, rock, progressive rock, blues, improv, avant-garde, electronica
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, composer, record producer
Instrument(s)Guitar, violin, mandolin, keyboards, voice
Years active1983–present
Website jonathansegel.com

Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.

Contents

Early life and education

Segel was born in Marseille, France, and grew up in Davis, California and Tucson, Arizona. [1] His parents, both professors at University of California, Davis, were biochemist Irwin H. Segel and microbiologist Wiltraud Pfeiffer. [2]

Segel went to college at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he studied under Peter Elsea and experimental music pioneer Gordon Mumma. He later obtained a master's degree in music composition at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Joëlle Léandre. [3]

Musical career

Segel joined the indie rock group Camper Van Beethoven in 1984, while in college at Santa Cruz. [4] His contributions as violinist became the band's hallmark, creating a distinctive identity and sound. [5] : 9  Personality conflicts with frontman David Lowery caused Segel to leave the band in 1989, prior to its 1990 breakup. [5] : 6  Ten years later, Segel returned at Lowery's invitation when the group reunited. [5] : 12  He has remained a member of the revived group since 1999.

During the period from 1989 to 1997, Segel was based in San Francisco, where he formed the experimental band Hieronymus Firebrain, which dissolved and reformed as Jack & Jill. He joined Dieselhed in 1989, and appeared on their 1993 self-titled debut album. He recorded or performed with projects such as Granfaloon Bus, Sideways, and Virginia Dare, and with Eugene Chadbourne. [1]

From 1997 to 2001, in Los Angeles, Segel worked with sound editor Dane Davis at Danetracks, a film sound post-production facility. During this time, he performed and toured with Sparklehorse, [6] Clyde Wrenn, Magnet, and Eugene Chadbourne, among others, in addition to Camper Van Beethoven. [1]

Segel returned to the Bay Area in 2001, where he taught music theory and electronic music at the College of Marin and Ohlone College until 2009, and worked for Pandora from 2009 to 2012. [7]

In 2012, Segel moved to Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and daughter. Segel has collaborated since 2014 with the Copenhagen-based improvisational group Øresund Space Collective. [8]

In addition to the revived Camper Van Beethoven, Segel records solo projects and leads the Jonathan Segel band, [9] performs improvisational electronic or avant-garde music (either solo or, since 2004, with Chaos Butterfly), and he is an occasional contributor to music from the Big City Orchestra. [1] His compositions have also included six chamber music scores written between 1989 and 2011. [10]

Partial discography

Solo recordings

Electronic and electro-acoustic solo projects

Selected side projects

Hieronymus Firebrain

  • Hieronymus Firebrain (1991)
  • Dr. Firebrain's Plane Crash Tape, Vol. 1 (1993)
  • There (1994)
  • Here (1994)

Jack and Jill

  • Chill and Shrill (1995)
  • Fancy Birdhouse (1997)
  • Scissors and Paper (2000)

Chaos Butterfly

  • Live at Studio Fabriken (2005) – live in Gothenburg, Sweden, with Biggi Vinkeloe
  • threelivingthings (2005)
  • Radio (2005)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cracker (band)</span> American rock band

Cracker is an American rock band, formed in 1990 by lead singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. The band's first album Cracker was released in 1992 on Virgin Records; it included the single "Teen Angst ", which went to #1 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart. The band's follow-up, the 1993 album Kerosene Hat included the hit songs "Low", "Get Off This", and "Euro-Trash Girl".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camper Van Beethoven</span> American rock band from Redlands, California

Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk, folk, alternative, country, and world music, amongst other genres. The band initially polarized audiences within the hardcore punk scene of California's Inland Empire and then found wider acceptance and, eventually, an international audience. Their strong iconoclasm and emphasis on do-it-yourself values proved influential to the burgeoning indie rock movement.

<i>Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart</i> 1988 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart is a 1988 album by Camper Van Beethoven, released on Virgin Records. It was the band's first major-label album, and was produced by Dennis Herring, the first time the band had used an outside producer.

<i>Key Lime Pie</i> (album) 1989 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

Key Lime Pie is a 1989 album by Camper Van Beethoven (CVB). It was the band's final album before breaking up in 1990, although the band has reunited and released new material in recent years. It was produced by Dennis Herring, who had also produced the band's previous album, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart.

<i>Telephone Free Landslide Victory</i> 1985 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

Telephone Free Landslide Victory is an album by musical group Camper Van Beethoven, released on Independent Project Records and released in June 1985. It featured the band's best known song, "Take the Skinheads Bowling". The album has sold over 60,000 copies.

<i>II & III</i> 1986 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

II & III is a 1986 album by musical group Camper Van Beethoven, released on Pitch-a-Tent and Rough Trade. It was the band's second album.

<i>Camper Van Beethoven</i> (album) 1986 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Van Beethoven is a 1986 album by musical group Camper Van Beethoven, released on Pitch-A-Tent. With the six then CVB members joined in the studio by acid-folk eccentric Eugene Chadbourne, the album is arguably the zenith of the band's musical experimentation, with surreal lyrics, backwards, sped-up and slowed down parts; a portion of the track "Stairway To Heavan" is itself a musical palindrome. A great number of ethnic instruments are used in addition to the usual violin parts played by member Jonathan Segel; the album also features pedal steel, banjo, tablas and sitar.

<i>Camper Vantiquities</i> 1993 compilation album by Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Vantiquities is a 1993 rarities compilation album by musical group Camper Van Beethoven, released on I.R.S. It included the earlier EP Vampire Can Mating Oven and a number of other unreleased tracks, compiled by bassist Victor Krummenacher a few years after the band split up. The 2004 re-release added several more tracks, all demo versions of songs that appeared on the band's two Virgin Records albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Chadbourne</span> American banjoist, guitarist and music critic

Eugene Chadbourne is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.

<i>New Roman Times</i> 2004 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

New Roman Times is an album by musical group Camper Van Beethoven, released October 12, 2004 on Pitch-A-Tent Records. It is the band's first studio album of new material since they released Key Lime Pie in 1989 before dissolving in 1990.

<i>Kerosene Hat</i> 1993 studio album by Cracker

Kerosene Hat is the second studio album by American rock band Cracker, released on August 24, 1993. It reached number 1 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart, and number 59 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The singles from the album, "Low" and "Get Off This", helped Cracker gain widespread notice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dieselhed</span>

Dieselhed was a San Francisco-based band, originally from Arcata, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lowery (musician)</span> American singer-songwriter

David Charles Lowery is an American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, mathematician, and activist. He is the founder of alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven and co-founder of the more-traditional rock band Cracker. Lowery released his first solo album, The Palace Guards, in February 2011.

<i>Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot</i> 1995 studio album by Sparklehorse

Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot is the debut studio album by American indie rock outfit Sparklehorse, released in August 1995 by Capitol Records. The album was largely recorded with musicians from Cracker, for which Mark Linkous worked at the time as guitar tech, roadie and sometimes-collaborator. Most of the album was produced and recorded with Cracker's David Lowery, under the pseudonym David Charles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Lisher</span> American musician

Gregory Allen Lisher is the lead guitar player for Camper Van Beethoven. He is also one of the founding members of the Camper Van Beethoven spin-off Indy prog rock group Monks of Doom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Krummenacher</span> American singer-songwriter

Victor Krummenacher is an American bass guitarist and guitarist. He is a founding member of alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monks of Doom</span> American alternative rock band

The Monks of Doom is an American alternative rock band, formed in California in 1986. The band's music draws from post-punk, progressive rock, indie rock, psychedelic and folk rock traditions. The group is a side project of the band Camper Van Beethoven, with whom all Monks of Doom members have been involved.

Kevtone is an American musician, percussionist, and songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Performing live and in studio, his rhythm style may best be described as improvisational, melodic, progressive, and bluesy, over a wide variety of styles; reflecting influences from many genres of music.

<i>La Costa Perdida</i> 2013 studio album by Camper Van Beethoven

La Costa Perdida is the 8th studio release by the American alternative-music band Camper Van Beethoven. It was released on January 22, 2013, and contains 10 tracks. The lead-off single from the album, "Northern California Girls", was released on January 1, 2013. This album focuses on Northern California in its lyrics and artwork and is paired with the following year's release El Camino Real, another concept album about Southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Segel discography</span>

This article presents a discography of multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Segel.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "About". Jonathan Segel (official website). 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ University of California, Academic Senate (1993). "Wiltraud Jutta Christine Pfeiffer, Microbiology". In Krogh, David (ed.). University of California: In Memoriam, 1993. pp. 138–140.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ "Jonathan Segel". Magnetic Motor Works. 2011. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  4. ↑ Saunders, Hilary (April 2, 2012). "Catching Up With Camper Van Beethoven's Jonathan Segel". Paste . Archived from the original on October 4, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Sullivan, Denise (2001). Rip it Up!: Rock & Roll Rulebreakers. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 6–20. ISBN   9780879306359.
  6. ↑ Perry, Jonathan (February 11, 1999). "Sparklehorse Revel in Life After Death". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016.
  7. ↑ Roy, Linda (March 10, 2014). "Rock and Roll Coffee: An Interview With Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven". The Weeklings. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ Silverstein, Robert, ed. (2016). "MWE3.com presents an interview with Scott Heller of Øresund Space Collective". Music Web Express 3000. Archived from the original on May 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ "News, Updates, Etc". Jonathan Segel (official website). March 2016. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Scores: Jonathan Segel". Material Press. Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.