Biography
Born in Foster City, California, Clapp launched his musical path as a lo-fi pop specialist by joining neighborhood garage groups in the late 1980s. He later switched to acoustic guitar and concentrated on recording original material in the traditional singer-songwriter style. His first release, the 1991 flexi-disc “Very Peculiar Feeling,” was followed by the single “A Change In The Weather” and the EP Mystery Lawn. For his first full-length album, One Hundred Percent Chance Of Rain, the artist performed nearly every instrument on a set of meticulously crafted lo-fi pop tracks. Rather than remain a solo performer, he assembled the four-piece Allen Clapp And His Orchestra, whose lineup featured his wife Jill Pries on bass plus high-school acquaintances Larry Winther on guitar and Maz Kattuah on drums—the last two having previously played in the masked cult garage band the Mummies. After Kattuah’s departure, Bob Vickers took over the drum chair, the group adopted the name the Orange Peels, and issued the well-received albums Square in 1997 and So Far in 2001. Years later Clapp revived his solo work with the 2002 release Available Light.
Albums