Beginnings Fred started StrangeCloud as a new band
in early summer 1998. Originally the band consisted of Fred on keyboards, guitar and
vocals, Tom McDonald on lead guitar and vocals, and John Rosteck on bass. The idea
was to find a drummer and perform mostly as a cover band, playing everything from Pink
Floyd to Neil Young, Beatles, Tom Petty, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and other favorites of
the 60's and 70's, along with some of the popular alternative rock stuff from the 90's
such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. Rehearsals progressed well through the
summer, with a nice set list being developed. At the same time, both Fred and Tom
were writing new music and were beginning to record the very basics of some of the
songs. We had hoped to start live performances in the fall, but all of a sudden John
decided to move to California and that threw everything up in the air.
Without John it was going to be difficult
to perform the songs we had worked up in a live setting. We'd have to work up new
arrangements as a duo or find a new bass player in addition to a drummer. About this
time we discovered mp3.com and some of the other fledgling indie mp3 sites. So we
finished off recording two songs, "Burn This House"
and "StrangeCloud Theme," and loaded
them up to mp3.com. Somewhat surprisingly, the initial reaction to the songs was
very positive and they did well on the mp3.com charts. At that time there were only
about 4,000 total artists on mp3.com (it eventually grew to about 300,000) and the site
was still in it's infancy. MP3.com has just started a new program called D.A.M. CDs,
where artists could have CDs of their music made on demand. Artists were free to
change the songs on the CDs at any time. It was a great and new way for indie
artists to have CDs of their music made without having to fork out thousands of dollars to
get the standard minimum of 1,000 replicated CDs. Of course, the quality of the
D.A.M. CDs was low being that they were made from mp3 files rather than uncompressed wav
files. They were CDRs with simple black lettering, being shipped in white sleeves.
Very simple, but also very cheap. So Tom and Fred worked up a couple more
songs, and in October, 1998 released an EP called "Blueprint." Songs
included on the CD were "StrangeCloud Theme,"
"Burn This House," "Can't Believe it's You," "These Old Bones," and a remastered version of
"Burn This House." They actually
sold about 20 copies.
Foundation
Throughout the fall and winter of 1998, and early spring of 1999, Fred and Tom continued
to write songs and record them in Fred's home studio. They also continued to rework
songs for a live set, but because of other things happening in both their lives at the
time they did not do any live performing. Fred was really itching to play live and
came up with the idea that StrangeCloud would simply be a recording band, and that he was
going to start a new Pink Floyd tribute band. Tribute bands were really hot at the
time, and since Fred already knew the keyboard parts and many guitar parts for most of the
Floyd songs, it would be the perfect avenue for a live act. The problem would be in
finding the right people to play the parts. Fred would play Rick Wright, the
keyboardist. He needed to find people to play David Gilmour (guitar), Roger Waters
(bass), and Nick Mason (drums). Being very active in online Pink Floyd discussion
groups and knowing the local scene fairly well, he set out to find musicians for the
tribute band. Ads were placed in discussion groups and local musician magazines.
Meanwhile, Tom and Fred continued to
write new songs and work on recording. In February, 1999 Fred was contacted by Jeff
Anderson, who was interested in talking about the Pink Floyd tribute band (bass player),
and just jamming. Jeff played bass and guitar and sang. So while the
StrangeCloud recording continued, Fred and Jeff started jamming on some Pink Floyd songs
and found that they also had a mutual love for The Beatles and the music of that era.
The two really clicked musically and decided to pursue the Floyd project.
Next, they needed to find a guitarist and drummer. Lots of calls were taken and some
auditions held. Nothing seemed to come together. Most of the guitarists had
never heard of Syd Barrett and were only vaguely familiar with the Floyd catalog, other
than "The Wall" and "Dark Side." The drummers were .... well, no
Nick Masons among them. While the search continued, StrangeCloud was nearly finished
with recording 5 new songs for a second EP. The last one to be recorded was "Ladies
With Lonesome Faces." Tom and Fred had finished all
the instrument parts, the lead vocal and a harmony vocal. It sounded good, but not
complete. So we asked Jeff to sing a harmony on the song, and we (Fred and Tom) were
both blown away by Jeff's ability to immediately harmonize in a way that made the song
sound so much fuller. Jeff then added a harmony on "To Take You Home."
In March, 1999 StrangeCloud released the second EP, called Foundation.
The disc contained "Before The Night Is Through," "Sea Life"
(an experimental piece of electronica), "To Take You Home," "Ladies
With Lonesome Faces," and "Night Stalker."
Formation
After seeing how well Jeff fit into the mix with Tom and Fred, Jeff was asked to join
StrangeCloud. Not only could he add the sweet vocal harmonies but he was an
accomplished bass player, a good guitarist, and a very good songwriter. After
releasing the second EP, the guys decided it was time to release the first full length CD.
The idea was to combine the songs from the 2 EPs and add some new material. 2
new songs were recorded. "Track Four" was an experiment where Fred and
Jeff alternated adding keyboard sound effects, building up several tracks in random and
uncoordinated fashion. They were all mixed and percussion added. No structure
whatsoever. "I'm Not Here" was a short song recorded on a lark. Fred
had been developing some songs for a film project (later to be released as QCC) and had
come up with a heavy drum beat for a short interlude. One day after a long
practice session, Fred played the drum sequence for Tom. Tom loved it. Fred
plugged the mic into the recorder and told Tom to sing. Improvise. No
practice, no planning. Just sing what comes to mind. Fred turned on the
recorded and Tom belted out the words that became "I'm Not Here."
Formation was released in April, 1999.
Acousticity
About the time that Formation was released, it was becoming more
and more difficult for Tom to make rehearsals and studio sessions. He had other
obligations in his life which couldn't be ignored and he eventually decided that he could
no longer participate as a full member of StrangeCloud. He wanted to be able to
occasionally join in if we got the live thing going, and perhaps contribute on some
recording. He also had a lot of songs that he wanted to record as a solo project if
he ever got the time. Fred agreed to produce them when Tom was ready.
Fred and Jeff had some long discussions about where they were going at that point.
The search for a guitarist and drummer for the Floyd tribute band was leading
nowhere. Tom wasn't going to be able to play much live with StrangeCloud.
Since Fred and Jeff both had strong desires to get back in the live scene, and since it
was becoming a nightmare to find a decent drummer, they decided that they would perform as
an acoustic duo. Of course that would severely limit the venues in which they were
likely to get gigs, but it also had the benefit of making it a lot easier to coordinate
rehearsals, recordings for the next CD, and the logisitics of getting to and setting up
for gigs. Since they would be doing mostly acoustic sets (Jeff would play bass on
some songs), they decided that the next CD should really be recorded with the ability to
recreate those songs in a live setting with just a duo. The live performances would
not have to be exactly like the studio recordings, but we couldn't very well write and
record complicated prog rock songs and try play them live as an acoustic duo. So we
set out writing songs that would have an acoustic folk/alt country type feel. Jeff
had never written a country song before. Fred asked Jeff, after a rehearsal one day,
to write a country song and bring it the next week. Jeff turned up with what became
"20 Years." That song eventually became a huge hit on several
internet sites, including spending about 5 months at #1 on the Alt Country charts at
mp3.com, and became a live favorite that was performed at nearly every gig. In a
first effort at writing country, Jeff had created a hit!
Over the course of the summer of 1999 Fred and Jeff continued to record new songs.
For the most part, the songs consisted of 2 or guitar parts, bass, soft percussion,
vocals. A couple songs had some minor keyboard parts. Easily recreatable in a
live setting by a duo. By the end of the summer the recording was done, and Fred set
out to book gigs. Acousticity was mastered and finally
released in early October, 1999. The CD contained the songs "Open Hand,"
"For A While," 20 Years," " Before The Night Is
Through (the remake)," "Change of Scenery," "Don't
Start Now," "I Can't Take It," " Can't Believe It's
You II," " Sanity," "Voyeur By Day,"
" These Old Bones (country remake)."
Live Shows
The live shows began in late August, 1999. We had no problem booking gigs at
numerous coffee shops, bookstores, art galleries, record & cd shops, and bars.
Throughout the fall of 1999 and winter of 2000, we were playing regularly. At least
2 or 3 times a week. There were Borders Bookstores throughout the twin cities area
that offered a nice setting and a ready made crowd at their cafes. We played
numerous times at the Borders in Woodbury, St. Paul, and Richfield. Dunn Bros.
coffee shops were another great place to play, especially the one on University and
Snelling in St. Paul. Centrally located near 3 universities, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday nights were often standing room only (and not much of that!). There were
many other coffee shops around town that were fun to play. We played an art gallery
in Minneapolis one night (an extremely cold, very snowy night in January) where the entire
show was broadcast live on the internet. We played Mayslacks Bar & Grill in NE
Minneapolis several times. Another really fun place!
It was about this time that Fred formed the Minnesota Music Coalition and
the Minnesota Acoustic Showcase. Through the internet, and by
networking locally, Fred had made the acquaintance of many local musicians who did
acoustic gigs. Fred brought them together under the banner of the Minnesota
Acoustic Showcase and began booking shows around town. Borders Books and
Dunn Bros were perfect venues. Most of the showcases went at least 4 hours and some
as much as 8 hours of constant music. It was good for the musicians because they got
exposure and were able to play places they might otherwise not have been able to play, and
they got paid! It was great for fans because they got a small taste of many
different acts and styles of music. In addition to StrangeCloud, some of the
other performers were Glenn LePine of the Flammable Mammals, Bruce
Cook, Per Jensen of MagellanMusic, American Gypsy, Big Sky, Bug Candy,
Tim Feeney, Mike Merz, Tom McDonald, and LeNor Barry.
Shortly after the live gigs for the Showcase started, Fred organized a compilation site on
mp3.com where CDs were offered with songs from the various artists. All the earnings
from the CDs, payment for streams and downloads (mp3.com was paying handsomely at the
time), and earnings from showcases were then donated to the Minnesota Children's Home
Society. A wonderful cause, and fortunately we were able to give them a few nice
donations.
MCR
In the Fall of 1999, Fred formed an "NMA" on mp3.com called Minnesota Coalition
Records. Shortly thereafter he set up the business in Minnesota to make it
legitimate and began promoting several artists both online and offline. StrangeCloud
was of course one of the acts. By the end of 2000 there were nearly 150 acts listed
as members of MCR, many from Minnesota, but many from other states and countries such as
Russia, England, Israel, Greece, and Italy. Several compilation CDs were made
through mp3.com, and a couple dozen showcases were scheduled around the twin cities.
These showcases were also sometimes held in coffee shops, bookstores and record
shops, but several were held at the bars and clubs around town. StrangeCloud went
live on KQRS FM in July, 2000 for an interview and live performance and to promote MCR.
The interview was later released on CD as The Homegrown Interview.
To celebrate the two year anniversary of MCR a big showcase took place on Labor Day
weekend 2001 at Dunn Bros in Richfield and included performances by StrangeCloud and
several other local acts as well as REMO (from New Jersey), Bill
Farrish (from New York), and Donaldo (from New Hampshire).
Ho Ho Ho
On December 1, 2000 StrangeCloud released the first new song in over a year. It was
a Christmas tune originally recorded by Jeff back in the 80's. We took the drum and
bass tracks from the original, as well as the backwards guitar on the bridge from the
original. We then added new guitar parts, keyboards, a new bass and percussion, the
lead vocal and a multitude of backing and harmony vocals. The song was released on
mp3.com and on the CD Ho Ho Ho & The #1 Hits, which also
contained several songs off Formation and Acousticity
which had reached #1 on the charts at mp3.com.
A New Member
Not long after Acousticity was released Fred and Jeff started working on new songs, some
of which would ultimately show up on the next CD. During the showcases we had the
good fortune to work with and be entertained by Jodi Jarchow, otherwise
known as American Gypsy. A wonderful voice with an intense vibrato.
On our recordings we often had 3 part harmony. Of course that was
impossible to recreate live with only 2 of us, and so we entertained the idea of adding a
third voice. Jodi also plays guitar. And with her on rhythm guitar, it would
open up Jeff to be able to play bass on more songs, with Fred covering the lead guitar.
We rehearsed our full set list with Jodi (which consisted of all the StrangeCloud
songs and a multitude of cover songs which changed at every peformance). Beginning in
January, 2000 Jodi joined us for most live performances and continued to play live with us
throughout most of 2000. Eventually creative differences and Jodi's desire to pursue
her American Gypsy career caused her leave the group. It was wonderful performing
with her for that time though. The harmonies were exquisite!
Million Dollar Bash
On May 23, 2001 StrangeCloud was honored and humbled to be asked to perform at the Million
Dollar Bash - Bob Dylan's 60th Birthday Celebration in Minneapolis. Meticulously
organized by Paul Metsa, the event included about 8 hours of performances
on 2 stages by people who had known Dylan at various points in his life, musicians who
have recorded with Dylan, friends of Bob, artists who have had hits with his tunes, and
some local artists. It was truly an experience to remember. Every artist
performing that night played only Bob Dylan tunes. Tom McDonald returned to
StrangeCloud that night so we played again as a 3-piece with Tom stunning the crowd with
some incredible lead guitar work.
Psychedelectric Orange
Beginning in August, 1999 and lasting through the middle of 2001 StrangeCloud performed
relentlessly at every gig they could get. It was definitely enough to quench Fred
and Jeff's stage desire for a while. They had several new songs they were performing
and working up, changing and building during these gigs. It was time to record
again. Because of other commitments it was going to be impossible to continue the
intense live schedule and record the new CD the way they wanted to do it. Live
performances were rare after June, 2001, with the final show being performed at The Fine
Line night club in Minneapolis in December, 2001. Recording on the new songs began
in June, 2001.
The structure and style of the songs on Formation and especially on Acousticity
had allowed StrangeCloud to perform as a duo or trio in a live setting and get a sound
very close to the recordings. But the new songs being written were calling out for a
full band arrangement. They were more upbeat and needed full drum patterns,
keyboards, more electric guitar. So it was decided that Fred and Jeff would take
their time recording the songs, doing most all the parts themselves and perhaps bringing
in a guest here and there on a few songs. Once the songs were recorded the idea was
to expand the band by bringing in more people for the live shows that would start up again
once the new CD was released.
During the summer of 2001, 3 new songs were recorded. It was obvious that it was
going to take a long time to complete the CD. Acousticity
had been written, recorded, mixed, mastered, the artwork completed, and the CD released
all in about 4 months time. In working on Psychedelectric Orange
it had taken 3 months just to complete 3 songs. So in August, 2001 the guys decided
to release a new EP. MCR had just set up an online deal with CDStreet and
StrangeCloud wanted to be a part of it. So they released the EP Citrus,
which contained new songs "You Are Not Alone," "Illusions End,"
and "Landscape." Also included was "Ho Ho Ho."
On November 1, 2001 the promotional CD Some Live Stuff was
released. It contained full length live versions of 4 songs, plus clips from live
versions of 22 other songs.
On November 19, 2001 a compilation CD called Thanksgiving Collection
was released on mp3.com. The CD contained 20 hit tunes, new releases, previews of
unreleased tunes, and some live recordings.
On December 10, 2001 the Instrumentals & A Cappella Treasures
CD was released, containing several special mixes of songs from Psychedelectric
Orange, and a few old favorites. All mixes were either purely
instrumental or vocals only.
In January, 2002 another compilation disc was released on mp3.com called In
My Heart. The disc was only available for a week or so. The
songlist was changed somewhat and the CD renamed Songs From The Heart.
In March, 2002 the compilation CD StrangeCloud was released.
The CD contained preview versions of new songs, some live songs and clips and some
of the top hits from earlier releases.
All the while when these various promo and compilation discs were being released,
StrangeCloud was hard at work recording new songs. It was a slow process as we were
trying out many things. We had played most of the songs live several times and had
worked out the basic arrangements, but in the studio we had the opportunity to layer
guitars and keyboards and vocals without the constraint of worrying about whether we could
reproduce it live as just a duo. The plan was to add 3 new musicians for the live
performances. In June of 2002 we recorded a version of The Beatles song "Things
We Said Today" for a tribute CD to be put out by Canadian label Bullseye
Records. We were so happy with the result that we decided it would also make a nice
addition to our own CD. And since we decided to do one cover tune on the CD, why not
another? During our live shows we regularly played about an hour of original tunes
and an hour of cover tunes. We almost always did a Beatles tune (different ones
almost every gig) and almost always did a Pink Floyd song (quite a few different ones).
One of the staples of the Floyd catalog that we did was "Set The Controls
For The Heart Of The Sun." There are several Floyd versions of the song,
but as a duo we had to come up with our own version for gigs. We came up with a
pretty good rendition with both Jeff and Fred on guitar. Jeff played a rhythm part
on a fairly "dry" but warm guitar mixed directly in the center. Fred ran
his acoustic through several effects and spread it out in a wide stereo spectrum and
picked the main guitar part while singing the lead. Jeff also sang a harmony on the
chorus. In recording, we wanted to keep that same feel we had developed live, but
also wanted to add a lot more in terms of instrumentation, sound effects, and vocals.
Fred did the drums, 3 or 4 electric guitar parts, 3 or 4 acoustic guitar parts,
several keyboards and sound effects, the lead vocal and a backing vocal. Jeff then
added an extremely cool bass, percussion, an acoustic guitar, and several harmony and
backing vocals. Loads of fun!
By the end of January, 2003 the recording had been completed. The last song to be
recorded was "Hello!" By this point we had found 2 guys to join
in for the planned live performances: a keyboardist and a guitar player. Both
sing as well. The guitar player, Shannon Grady, shows up on "Hello!"
doing the "hoedown guitar solo" right after the bridge. Just as the
recording was coming to a conclusion and plans for the live shows were starting to be put
together, Fred was offered a job in Oklahoma that he couldn't refuse. As much as he
was looking forward to the release of the new CD and a return to playing live, the move
was the best thing for his family. In late April, 2003 Fred moved to Oklahoma and
decided to let the recordings sit for a while before doing the final mixing and mastering.
In the fall of 2003 and early 2004 the final mixes were completed, mastering was
accomplished, CD artwork prepared, and on May 4, 2004 Psychedelectric Orange
was released.
Future
For the first time in 4 years Fred is writing some new songs.
