Electric Skychurch -
kasperx said:
Thank you Tom. You answerd everything I wanted to know. Good choice on headliners. Agent K, Monk, Factor E. I know there all raw live. I have a couple k's cuts on vinal. Dope as hell. Is Sky Chuch really is tight as you guys are making them out to be. I've Never heard of them till now. Are any of those headliners real turntablistic? Like Craze for example.
ELECTRIC SKYCHURCH holds an important place in the American electronic music scene. Founded in 1989 as an outlet for James Lumb’s solo material, Electric Skychurch has expanded from a one-man band to a full multimedia ensemble with a revolving cast and crew.
Lumb launched Electric Skychurch in Athens, Georgia, while serving as the music director of the local alternative radio station. During that time he began producing rock bands and experimented with electronic music. He began using the moniker “Electric Skychurch” to label his studio tracks, and as the years rolled on a growing audience accepted his innovative music. When “Electronica” broke in the 90’s, James was recognized as a pioneer in his field, and a master producer who blurred the lines between “acoustic” and “electronic” music.
In 1991 Lumb relocated to Los Angeles where he landed a job with Ron Howard’s “Imagine” film company assisting movie producer Brian Grazer. As he spent long days working in the film business, he spent equally long nights pursuing his other passion—the electronic music underground. In 1992 Lumb released the self-titled “Electric Skychurch EP,” which quickly circulated on cassette through LA’s pirate music network.
In 1993 James was throwing parties at his home studio in Silverlake, a Los Angeles neighborhood that serves as a creative haven for countless musicians, filmmakers and artists. The late-night events quickly took off, eventually moving from Los Angeles to the Mojave Desert, where the parties grew into large monthly gatherings. Within a year, the gatherings exploded to include thousands of people and seeded the notorious “Desert Rave” movement that swept through the American West throughout the decade. During this period Lumb penned “Deus”, a song that would come to be recognized as the earliest incarnation of the “West Coast” trance sound.
With the underground cassette in hand, burgeoning Moonshine Music signed Skychurch in 1994 and released “Deus” and another single, “Creation”, followed in 1995 by Skychurch’s first full-length ensemble LP, “knowoneness.”
During the time that “knowoneness” was being recorded James met Roxanne Morganstern. They were friends for a year before she finally auditioned for a spot in the band. Impressed with her unique and powerful talent, James immediately brought her into the project and, even though it shocked his band mates, he shared the spotlight with her the very next week in front of 5000 fans.
The vocal chemistry worked. Fans loved it. In the wake of their first shows together, James reevaluated his music and began writing music for voice. They created a magical live show, which instantly catapulted them into the spotlight.
A second album based on their live performances, “Together,” followed a year later, climbing to #1 on the CMJ RPM chart and holding that spot for 20 weeks. The band stayed on the road for next three years, introducing DJ John Kelley, drummer Alex Spurkel, Bassist Leigh Gorman, and VJ Greg Leeper to its lineup.
After playing hundreds of concerts and festivals that drew crowds in the tens of thousands, Electric Skychurch built a solid grassroots following. During the long tour, James and Roxanne were filmed by director John Reese for interviews that became part of the feature documentary “Better Living Through Circuitry,” giving the world a refreshingly honest portrait of the producer and his band mates. The film remains popular and continues to run on the major cable networks worldwide, and has drawn mainstream fans of all ages to the band.
In 2000 Lumb returned from the road to refocus and regroup. Roxanne took a long hiatus, and James spent the next year writing new material that pushed the boundries of his creativity. During that time Skychurch received a call from the now notorious Napster MP3 sharing website. Napster had noticed that Skychurch, an underground band, was getting an unusually large number of downloads. The MP3 revolution had begun, and the fans were voting for Skychurch.
As an experiment, Lumb began releasing his “personal” ambient works online. With the encouragement of fans and friends, James produced “Sonic Diary” for release on Water Music Records (MCA/Universal). The chill out album was quickly heralded as one of the “Top 20 LPs of 2001” by Mixer Magazine. “Sonic Diary” crossed over onto the CMJ Alternative Chart, exposing Electric Skychurch to a completely new audience.
In September of 2002 James and Roxanne reunited to embark upon a 40 date US tour. The new, energetic live show features a blend of classic Skychurch hits and highlights the duo’s powerful vocal sound, harmonies, and mature eclectic songwriting. To the delight of fans, the pair continues to tour, write, and record constantly. Riding a massive wave of downloads, Electric Skychurch plays sold out concerts around the world.
In addition to Skychurch’s busy concert schedule, James Lumb writes a tech column for Big Shot Magazines, produces other bands, speaks at public engagements, and participates in the development of music hardware and software.
With songs in a class of their own and music you can't forget, Electric Skychurch and founder James Lumb hold an important place in America's electronic music scene. Lumb, a combination artist/composer/producer, founded Electric Skychurch in 1989 as an outlet for his solo material. He and the band quickly earned a reputation for their unique blend of sounds that range from the energetic to the ethereal. In particular, they are credited as pioneers in the fusion of rock and electronic music. Since those heady days, Electric Skychurch has expanded from a one-man band to a full multimedia ensemble with a revolving cast and crew.
In the early 1990s, Lumb spent long days working in the film business, and equally long nights pursuing his other passion—the electronic music underground. In 1992, Lumb released the first self-titled Electric Skychurch EP, which quickly circulated on cassette through LA's pirate music scene. In 1993, David DeLaski joined the project and began producing music with Lumb.
Burgeoning Moonshine Music Records signed Skychurch in 1994 and released Deus and another single, Creation, followed in 1995 by Skychurch's first full-length ensemble LP, Knowoneness. A second album, Together, followed a year later, climbing to #1 on the CMJ RPM chart and holding that spot for twenty weeks. For the next three years, Electric Skychurch stayed on the road constantly, along the way introducing DJ John Kelley, drummer Alex Spurkel, VJ Greg Leeper and singer Roxanne Morganstern to its lineup.
After almost three years on the road, Lumb returned to his home in Los Angeles to refocus and regroup. He spent the next year writing new material, taking his music in an aggressive new direction by developing a brand new Skychurch live show. After parting ways with Moonshine, Lumb recorded hundreds of songs for future Skychurch albums. He began releasing music again in 2001 with the vinyl single Heaven, which was soon followed by the critically acclaimed album, Sonic Diary.
Alex Spurkel is an accomplished drummer with over 15 years of experience in both Western and Non-Western traditions. His forté is world percussion--particularly the Middle-Eastern Doumbek--and his unique brand of electronic drumming suited for various genres of dance music. Alex routinely dazzles his audiences with his dynamic style, explosive flare, and razor sharp precision. Although he is well studied in several ethnic traditions, he is by no means a traditional player. Alex combines his Arabic as well as his African, Indian, and Western percussion skills with his talent for electronic drumming and programming. The result is a sound that is extremely contemporary and exciting for young Western audiences, while still maintaining the respect and appreciation more traditionally minded ethnic listeners. Alex is a truly unique, creative, and effective drummer and musician.
Cutting-Edge Electronica Beats
As an innovative and multifaceted player, Alex developed a very unique style of electronic drumming. He has toured and recorded extensively with Electric Skychurch, one of electronica's premier true live bands, and has gained a reputation around the country as one of the few drummers that can effectively play live Trance, Break Beats, and Drum 'n' Bass. Of course, he also blends his electronic grooves with his Arabic and Word percussion skills in a way that seamlessly fuses these two often-opposing worlds. Alex is featured with Electric Skychurch in the recent house/techno documentary Better Living Through Circuitry.
Recently, Alex has teamed up with former Red Elvises drummer Avi Sills and formed Naked Rhtyhm, his latest project that is currently producing a Middle-Eastern/World electronica album for Hollywood Music Center. See News section for details and the latest!
Middle-Eastern & World Drumming
Being an accomplished doumbek player Alex has also delved into the Mideast music and world fusion scene. Having apprenticed under master Arabic drummer Souhail Kaspar and studied with other world drum masters such as Francis Awe and Kobla Ladzekpo, he has the skills necessary to captivate and delight his audiences. He routinely plays Middle-Eastern concerts around Los Angeles and performs regularly with prominent bellydancer Anahata. He is also a core member of the Shaman's Dream World Groove Ensemble, and has recorded with a variety of artists in LA. Some of his Arabic percussion can be heard on the soundtrack for the animated feature, Sinbad: Beyond The Veil Of Mists.
Recently, Alex was chosen for the prestigious task of recording a sampling CD for Sonic Foundry's highly respected loop libraries. His drumming will soon be used and heard on possibly thousands of commercial tracks worldwide! (Click here for more info on this project.)
LasVegas Weekly Says
Midnight mass
Clubgoers find faith in Electric Skychurch
By Antonio Llapur (
[email protected])
If you were in attendance at Utopia's Halloween Ball last Saturday, you were lucky enough to catch a rare area appearance for the progressive Electric Skychurch. Their performances are no standard DJ act. With the mind-blowing beats and melodies of producer James Lumb and the hypnotic and angelic vocals of Roxanne Morganstern, Electric Skychurch is unlike anything you've ever seen or heard.
James Lumb started Electric Skychurch in Athens, Ga., as a moniker for his solo material. Lumb soon moved to L.A., where he began releasing underground tracks and EPs as well throwing the legendary Moontribe parties in the California desert. While Lumb was making a name for himself, he worked as an assistant to Academy Award-winning producer (and Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment partner) Brian Grazer.
"That man was so patient with me," Lumb says about his former boss. "Back then, it was really hard work, but I was nuts! I was out all night, throwing parties, running back and forth, and coming to work. He had no idea that I was running Moontribe and (about) these huge desert parties I was throwing out of his office."
Lumb and Skychurch continued to thrive with a rotating stable of artists, including DJ John Kelley and drummer Alex Sprunkel, but it was with the addition of vocalist Morganstern that the Skychurch sound was really born.
In 1994, Morganstern moved to Hollywood, where she met Lumb. "Four months into my six-month lease, I ran into this strange guy in the parking lot. He was really cool," Morganstern says. "Next thing I know he's playing me all of this strange music, this ambient music. I knew that there was this certain kind of music that I was looking for, but I didn't know where to find it. We became friends."
By then, Skychurch had already released one album and a few singles. "Roxanne told me that she wanted to play drums for us at the show," Lumb recalls. "She was real persistent. She would come down to the practice space for drumming, and I promised that I would let her try singing. ... When she started singing, my jaw hit the floor."
Not your run-of-the-mill pop duo, Electric Skychurch eschews lyrical verbosity for what Lumb describes as a "straight-up primal" sound. "The emotion, the voice comes first," he says. "If the words don't back that up, then it pulls you into (different) directions."
Morganstern adds, "Most of the music I listen to is foreign music—African music—and I have no idea what they're saying. There's a certain appeal to the music when you don't know what they're talking about, but you understand their emotion. It's very relaxing."
During Electric Skychurch's performance at Utopia, Lumb worked a series of keyboards and drum machines—electronic devices whose beats rivaled those of a symphony. And Morganstern sang like a choir of angels, dancing and frolicking about like Stevie Nicks.
I wasn't the only one blown away by the live performance: There wasn't a still body in the house.
"(The audience) likes the human element. They like having something to latch on to," Morganstern says of the crowd's enthusiasm. "As a vocalist, singing with electronic music is unique in and of itself. But James and I have similar intentions to what we want to accomplish with music. I think that James and I want to express goodness, but also the reflection. ... When I sing, there's something higher, something more than just what we see."
Lumb concurs. "One thing I really like about working with Roxanne is that I can make really dark music, and Roxanne can balance it out. I can make really light music, and Roxanne can balance it out with darker vocals."
As our time came to an end and another interviewer patiently waited for us to stop yapping, Morganstern offered up this piece of advice: "You really have to go after what you want to do in life, because you're never going to be happy doing anything else."