10/28/2008
We have a gig in Nov. Click on gigs to the left for more details. Hot for Sur must investigate...
09/04/2008
Well, I had to dust off my copy of Dreamweaver MX, email the web host to reset my password, and get on here to update the site. I was very close to being fired this time around. I totally have to stay away from http://icanhascheezburger.com/! I added a gig. It's on 9/6. Click on gigs to the left to check the details. We hope to see you there! It's gonna be a good time for a good cause!
Sincerely,
One shirker of a web page guy...
05/30/2007
We've added a gig. Click on gigs to the left to check the details. We hope to see you there! It's gonna be a good time for a good cause.
01/20/2007
We've added a gig. Click on gigs to the left to check the details. Also, Big Sur has joined the My Space community. Our My Space url is http://www.myspace.com/rockbandbigsur.
07/25/2006
The August 5th gig in the Kentlands has been cancelled. If you would like to book Big Sur, hit us up at band@bigsurrock.com! Until we are called upon to again play for the masses, we will be keeping our chops spic and span!
05/24/2006
Summer means big fun w/ Big Sur!
- We've just launched an updated website. (You're lookin' at it.)
- The Hold On LP is continuing to sell lika de hotcakes.
- We've
got some fantastic gigs comin' up!
All
in all, the band is doin' pretty darn tootin' well.
See y'all at the shows,
-- Big Sur
14 NOV 2008
BAR 9p
SHOW 10p
EJ's LANDING 8601 BALTIMORE AVE COLLEGE PARK MD 20741
18+
$5 cover
The Takoma Voice
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 drowned
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JAMMING: We started out as a jam group – like a lot of bands – and caught some breaks. A lot of musicians in the DC area, not a few of whom dropped in from time to time at the Silver Spring studio of guitarist Mark Kreiser. These souls included Ray Thibodeaux, poet, musician, writer and resident of Takoma Park - first nuclear free zone in the United States. . . that's right, we're not Republicans. . . Ray's songwriting created the foundation for the band and we went with it. It's been about ten years now, and we're having as much fun as ever.
THE PRODUCER: Around 1996 we met Baltimore producer Jeff Order. With Jeff at the console the band released a collection of originals entitled Salt. "Wow", we said, "this stuff ain't bad." Amazing what the right producer can do. Good reviews, better gigs, some airplay – including a feature on XM Radio's Unsigned Bands program, and. . . nada. No label interest in a thirty/forty something non-grunge, non-hip hop, non-deathmetal band that doesn't tour. Still, we want to be heard. We want to be an overnight success, but we've only put in about 10 years. We're patient, and we're having fun.
CHANGES: Winter, 2002. Enter Sam, a keyboardist in search of a band. Then, love, marriage, and war correspondence take Ray to West Africa where he now strings for the Boston Globe and Voice of America, wife Emily filing eloquent stories for the Washington Post. He's still writing songs and we still get the tapes in the mail. He's just not showing up for sessions all that often. So. . . enter front man, Eric Lloyd of D.C.'s FOE. . . .in your face soul. Great mix, post punk angst and classic rock.
LATEST PROJECT: After more than a year of writing and arranging, Big Sur released its latest effort Hold On in January 2004.What do we sound like? Samples are two clicks over. You tell us.
THE NAME: In a scenario some might find familiar, settling on a name for the band turned out to be the really hard part. After much fruitless and disruptive haggling, Mark K. said "I'm gonna turn around and put my finger on one of the books behind me, and we go with the title whatever, agreed?" So, for a few painful weeks the band was called "Uncle Oswald" (apologies to Roald Dahl). And nobody was happy. Finally, a poster behind the drum kit provided the name, advertising a show of Henry Miller's paintings at the Big Sur Gallery in Northern California. An extraordinary stretch of coast line, dramatic cliffs, spectacular scenery, hidden beaches, and a winding road just made for fast cars, provides the right vibe for a rock and roll band with poetry in its heart and a revved motor in its gut. At least it ended the squabble.
Eric is a raspy, raw, 60 grit vocal talent with deep roots in the DC hardcore and melodic hardcore movements of the 80's and 90's. Singing with Big Sur, Eric has discovered an appreciation and affinity for the likes of Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Al Green, etc. Eric Lloyd may very well be the greatest lead vocalist in the history of the United States of America.
mark kreiser – guitars
Born 1953 in Baltimore, son of Belorussian immigrants, educated mainly in seminary. Degrees in Philosophy and Law, touched by the blues, the sound of Lightning Hopkins, never let go. Learned to play guitar working the night shift at a gas station, no longer on the corner of Reisterstown Road and Northern Parkway. Played for a while with D.C. blues band "Mad Moose". Lived in New York, Boston, Jerusalem, now in Silver Spring with wife Cheryl, a hip and understanding woman with the soul of a gypsy and the voice of an angel – she's heard on both Salt and Hold On.
mark rosenberg - drums and percussion
Started playing drums at eleven, on a used Gretsch kit bought by his mother to keep him from banging on everything else. He formed his first band just a few years later, and played with the same mates at high school dances and sweet sixteens. “What could be better than getting paid to do something I would do for free.” Dreams of rock n' roll were put aside for career, until later, much later, the jamming started at Kreiser's house. "It's a dream come true, playing and recording music, audiences are great. . . I'll be playing rock till I'm 94, God willing I should live so long.” Married with two children, Beth and Jill.
sam gutter - keyboards
Grew up in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley, playing piano from the age of five. His first teacher wanted him to work off sheet music, Sam wanted to jam. The lessons were split in two equal parts, with mixed results - after one recital the teacher said, "I never heard anyone make so many mistakes, but cover them so well." Sam misspent his high school years in various garage bands with names like "Gobi Desert" and "Mac Truck," switching to guitar in college when he got tired of carrying a piano around. Now back to keys, he's been with Big Sur for about three years, purging mid-life demons by buying bigger and better keyboards. Sam lives with his wife, Denise, who enthusiastically supports the music (it's better than a motorcycle, she says). Sam's daughter, Bess, sings back-up on Hold On. His other daughter, Rachel, is a fan.
richard ackerman - bass
Born 1952 a native of Washington DC. Musical training at age 5 - classical guitar, piano and later cello. Began improvising at an early age spending hours jamming in the basement with older brother Mike. Organized first rock band at 12 and played through grade school. Full time bass player with "The Progressions," a 10 piece soul band. Wife Ilene and children Jake, Adrienne and Olivia all have musical backgrounds. Jamming is a household word for us. Favorite composer-J.S. Bach, major R&B influence-John Mayall.
"Music is mathematical, but when it combines with the spirit it becomes magical. "
deb fiscella - vocals & rhythm guitar
The estrogen balance to a band-full of testosterone. Deb's earliest recollection of performing is singing along to The Mamas and The Papas (the bathtub album cover). She got a taste of the spotlight in 7th grade as part of the singing duo Deb and Deb (creative, no?) and never looked back. Her largest audience so far has been at the Penn State dance marathon as lead singer with a band once known as Azgard, but she doubts that many of the dancers (having been dancing 32 hours already by the time the band took the stage) remember her. She once fell off a chair when performing, so be forewarned.
other players
Cheryl Kreiser
Bess Gutter
Jake Goss
David Rhodes Vocals on Salt and "Nairobi Nights" on Hold On
Backup vocals on Hold On
Sax on "Any Road" on Hold On
Keyboards on "Machina" on Salt
what are you waiting for?
click on jams and buy our cd!
