Biography
David Lowery rose to improbable prominence in alternative rock during the 1980s and 1990s as the frontman of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, shaping an eclectic range of musical influences and a dry, off-center wit into material that positioned the first group as an underground favorite while giving the second a short-lived taste of wider recognition. Born in San Antonio, TX on September 10, 1960, Lowery grew up with an Air Force father whose assignments kept the household mobile until the family settled in Redlands, CA during his teenage years. He enrolled at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he connected with several compatible musicians and played in transient groups such as Sitting Ducks and Box O'Laffs. In 1983, while visiting Redlands on summer break, Lowery and guitarist/percussionist Chris Molla began writing new material; once back in Santa Cruz, Box O'Laffs—already featuring drummer Anthony Guess—expanded with bassist Victor Krummenacher, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Segal, and guitarist Greg Lisher to become Camper Van Beethoven. The band quickly built a local audience for its unusual blend of folk rock, garage rock, world music, and punk, held together by Lowery’s wry, askew lyrics, and issued its first album, Telephone Free Landslide Victory, in 1985 on the L.A.-based Independent Project Records. The record drew strong critical notice and college-radio attention for the track “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” establishing Camper Van Beethoven as a modest but influential underground success. The group toured steadily, including a major outing as openers for R.E.M., and released two further albums on its own Pitch-A-Tent imprint, II & III and Camper Van Beethoven, before moving to IRS Records in 1988. Its first major-label release, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, yielded a minor MTV and college-radio hit with “Eye of Fatima (Pt. 2),” yet internal tensions surfaced during the sessions for the follow-up, 1989’s Key Lime Pie, which relied heavily on outside musicians. Although the album’s version of “Pictures of Matchstick Men” became a modest hit, the momentum arrived too late; the band dissolved in 1990.
Lowery moved to Richmond, VA in 1991 and launched a new project, Cracker, recruiting guitarist Johnny Hickman, an acquaintance from the Santa Cruz days, and bassist Davey Faragher, who had played in Camper Van Beethoven’s final lineup. Unlike its predecessor, Cracker operated as a more direct rock & roll outfit, though Lowery’s lyrics retained their eccentric and occasionally irreverent tone and the music carried a strong roots-oriented flavor. The self-titled debut, cut with session drummers, appeared on Virgin Records in 1992 and gained traction on MTV and alternative stations through the single “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now).” The next album, 1993’s Kerosene Hat, brought the band into the mainstream as “Low” and “Get Off This” broke out at radio and the record achieved platinum status. Cracker stayed active afterward but never repeated that level of commercial impact; after 1998’s Gentleman's Blues the band departed Virgin for a succession of independent labels. In 2006 Virgin issued the compilation Get on with It: The Best of Cracker without the group’s involvement, prompting Lowery and his colleagues to re-record their best-known songs for Greatest Hits Redux, released simultaneously and outselling the Virgin collection.
In 1999 Lowery joined Victor Krummenacher and Jonathan Segal to compile the Camper Van Beethoven rarities set Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead: Long Live Camper Van Beethoven; several tracks were newly recorded for the project. In 2002 the band issued the box set Cigarettes and Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years, which gathered its pre-IRS catalog plus rarities and a disc of previously unreleased live material. To promote the collection Camper Van Beethoven reconvened for a limited number of concerts and has continued to perform intermittently ever since, with Lowery balancing commitments between the two bands both live and in the studio, sometimes booking them on the same bill.
Outside his band activities, Lowery holds a stake in the Richmond, VA recording facility Sound of Music Recording. He has also worked as a producer for Counting Crows, Sparklehorse, Magnolia Electric Co., Modern Skirts, Carbon Leaf, and numerous others. Lowery released his first solo album under his own name, The Palace Guards, in 2011.
Lowery moved to Richmond, VA in 1991 and launched a new project, Cracker, recruiting guitarist Johnny Hickman, an acquaintance from the Santa Cruz days, and bassist Davey Faragher, who had played in Camper Van Beethoven’s final lineup. Unlike its predecessor, Cracker operated as a more direct rock & roll outfit, though Lowery’s lyrics retained their eccentric and occasionally irreverent tone and the music carried a strong roots-oriented flavor. The self-titled debut, cut with session drummers, appeared on Virgin Records in 1992 and gained traction on MTV and alternative stations through the single “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now).” The next album, 1993’s Kerosene Hat, brought the band into the mainstream as “Low” and “Get Off This” broke out at radio and the record achieved platinum status. Cracker stayed active afterward but never repeated that level of commercial impact; after 1998’s Gentleman's Blues the band departed Virgin for a succession of independent labels. In 2006 Virgin issued the compilation Get on with It: The Best of Cracker without the group’s involvement, prompting Lowery and his colleagues to re-record their best-known songs for Greatest Hits Redux, released simultaneously and outselling the Virgin collection.
In 1999 Lowery joined Victor Krummenacher and Jonathan Segal to compile the Camper Van Beethoven rarities set Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead: Long Live Camper Van Beethoven; several tracks were newly recorded for the project. In 2002 the band issued the box set Cigarettes and Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years, which gathered its pre-IRS catalog plus rarities and a disc of previously unreleased live material. To promote the collection Camper Van Beethoven reconvened for a limited number of concerts and has continued to perform intermittently ever since, with Lowery balancing commitments between the two bands both live and in the studio, sometimes booking them on the same bill.
Outside his band activities, Lowery holds a stake in the Richmond, VA recording facility Sound of Music Recording. He has also worked as a producer for Counting Crows, Sparklehorse, Magnolia Electric Co., Modern Skirts, Carbon Leaf, and numerous others. Lowery released his first solo album under his own name, The Palace Guards, in 2011.
Albums
