Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
| Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Indie folk, psychedelic folk, folk rock, indie rock, gospel, neo-psychedelia |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | Rough Trade Records, Communion, Community Music |
| Associated acts | Ima Robot, We Are Each Other, Sugarcult, Alexander, Fool's Gold |
| Website |
edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros |
| Members |
Alex Ebert Stewart Cole Josh Collazo Orpheo McCord Christian Letts Seth Ford-Young Mark Noseworthy Christopher Richard Mitchell Yoshida Nico Aglietti |
| Past members |
Jade Castrinos (Lemons) Aaron Embry Nora Kirkpatrick Aaron Older Tay Strathairn |
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American indie folk band formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007. The group is led by lead singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe. Drawing from roots rock, folk, gospel, and psychedelic music, the band's image and sound evoke the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The group's first show was played July 18, 2007 at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. Their first studio album, Up from Below, was released on July 7, 2009 on Community Records and featured the popular single "Home". The group released their second full-length album, Here, on May 29, 2012, and third album, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, on July 23, 2013. Their fourth studio album, PersonA, was released in April 2016.
Since its founding, the band has undergone several iterations. Most notably, singer Jade Castrinos left the band in 2014. The band's current members are Mark Noseworthy, Orpheo McCord, Josh Collazo, Christian Letts, Nico Aglietti, Seth Ford-Young, Mitchell Yoshida, Christopher Richard, Stewart Cole, and Alex Ebert. The band also operates Big Sun, a non-profit focused on funding and developing co-ops and land trusts in urban areas around the world. Their first large-scale project, "Avalon Village," is in Highland Park (within Detroit), Michigan.
History
Origin and first studio album
After years of the Los Angeles party life and subsequent drug addiction, Ima Robot frontman Alex Ebert broke up with his then-girlfriend, moved out of his house, and spent time in rehab.[1] During this time, Ebert began to write a book about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe that was "sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind, but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love." Ebert adopted the Sharpe persona as his alter ego. He said, "I don't want to put too much weight on it, because in some ways it's just a name that I came up with. But I guess if I look deeper, I do feel like I had lost my identity in general. I really didn't know what was going on or who I was anymore. Adopting another name helped me open up an avenue to get back."[2]
Though the band would eventually grow into an ensemble of - at various points - even more than 10 people, Ebert began initial writing and recording completely alone, doing "the horn lines with my mouth or a kazoo on the demos" and "all the background vocals layering [him]self, pretending that there were people there."[3] After meeting singer Jade Castrinos outside a Los Angeles cafe,[4] Ebert and Castrinos started writing music together, and became a part of the art and music collective The Masses, which was partially started by some seed money from actor Heath Ledger.[5] While the two had a romantic relationship that did not last, their fledgling group eventually swelled to more than 10 members, some of whom had been Alex's friends since he was young. In mid 2009, Ebert, Castrinos, and a group of musicians toured the country by bus as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. The first show they played in 2009 was at the Marfa Film Festival in Marfa, Texas.[1] The band recorded their debut album, Up From Below, in Laurel Canyon. Produced by Aaron Older and Nico Aglietti, it was released on July 14, 2009.
On April 12, 2009, the band released "Desert Song", a music video and the first of a 12-part feature-length musical called SALVO!.[6] Part 2, "Kisses Over Babylon", was released November 24, 2009 through Spinner.com.[7] Part 3, "40 Day Dream", was uploaded to YouTube by the band on May 19, 2011.[8]
Big Easy Express and second studio album
In April 2011, the band joined Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show on the Railroad Revival Tour. According to American Songwriter, the tour stopped in six cities, playing alternative venues such as an Austin, Texas high school where Mumford & Sons taught the marching band how to play their hit "The Cave". The tour was also the subject of Grammy-nominated director Emmett Malloy's latest documentary Big Easy Express, which strove to capture "the pure joy of music" through Americana folk imagery.[9] The documentary went on to win in the category for Best Long Form Music Video at the 2013 Grammy Awards. In 2011, Railroad Revival Tour bands Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show together closed their shows at every stop with "This Train".
The group's second album, Here, was released on May 29, 2012.
Third studio album
The band's third studio and self-titled album, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, was released in 2013. This was followed by tours of North America, UK, Europe, and Australia which included headlining concert dates as well as major festivals.[10] The band became being known for taking people onstage with them, including a former patient they had previously met in a hospital performance, and a disabled man in a wheelchair.[3]
PersonA
The band's fourth studio album, PersonA, was released April 15, 2016 through Community Music. Recording the music almost entirely in one room together in New Orleans, their approach was a far cry from their ramshackle, come-one-come-all production audible on recordings of their previous albums.
In an in-depth interview with Transverso Media, Ebert explained his desire to evolve on PersonA, stating, "In a lot of ways this album does things that are missing." He went on to discuss why the name Edward Sharpe is crossed out on the cover, saying, "There was no character to begin with, so why not kill him? He never really was there. If anything, and at most, Edward Sharpe was a vehicle for me to get to slough off whatever I had become up until that point, and to get back to or sort of allow my pure self to come forth into sort of a clean slate." [3]
Members
- Alex Ebert – vocals, guitar, percussion, piano
- Stewart Cole – trumpet, percussion, keyboards, tenor ukulele, vocals
- Josh Collazo – drums, percussion, saxophone, vocals
- Orpheo McCord – drums, percussion, marimba, didgeridoo, vocals
- Christian Letts – guitar, vocals, mandolin
- Seth Ford-Young – bass, vocals
- Mark Noseworthy – guitar, vocals, banjo, mandolin, charango, ronroco
- Christopher "Crash" Richard – vocals, percussion
As of marketing on the band's Facebook page in 2013[11]:
- Mitchell Yoshida – piano, clavinet, vocals
Additional, touring and/or recording personnel
As listed in the iTunes LP for the most recent album, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, 2013, or present tour:
- Nico Aglietti – guitar and co-producer; previously synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, and a main band member
- Aaron Arntz – piano; previously also clavinet, vocals as a main band member
- Aaron Embry – piano, organs; previously keyboards, piano, vocals, harmonica as a main band member
- Roger Joseph Manning Jr – piano
- Nathaniel Markman – fiddler
- Fred Bows – violin
- Susie Bows – violin
- Hippos August – humming, moaning, Surbahar
- Joy Cantor – public relations
- Ryan Messick – tour manager
- Bryan Ling – manager
Former personnel
In addition to Aglietti, Arntz and Embry:
- Aaron Older – co-producer, bass, vocals, banjo, percussion
- Tay Strathairn – piano, harmonica, vocals
- Jade Castrinos – vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboard
- Nora Kirkpatrick – accordion, keyboard, vocals
Past touring/ additional personnel
- Odessa Jorgensen – fiddle, vocals during 2012-2013 tour
- Anna Bulbrook – viola, vocals
- Tyler James – piano, vocals
- Felix Bloxsom – drums
- Adam Privitera – penny whistler
- Ryan Richter – guitar, lap steel
- Michael Farfel – manager/announcer
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] |
US Indie [13] |
AUS [14][15] |
CAN [16] | ||
| Up from Below |
|
76 | — | 86 | — |
| Here |
|
5 | 1 | 37 | 9 |
| Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros |
|
14 | 2 | 24 | 10 |
| PersonA | 130 | 12 | — | 57 | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or have not been released in that region | |||||
EPs
- Here Comes EP (2009)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [19] |
BEL [20] |
FRA [21] |
NLD [19] |
SPA |
SWE [19] |
UK [22] |
US AAA [23] |
US Alt. [24] | ||||||
| 2009 | "40 Day Dream/Geez Louise" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Up from Below | |||
| 2010 | "Home" | 40 | 39 | 7 | 27 | 46 | 52 | 50 | — | 18 | ||||
| "Memory of a Free Festival" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Chickens in Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2012 | "That's What's Up" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Here | |||
| "One Love to Another" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Man on Fire" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 24 | — | |||||
| 2013 | "Better Days" | — | 109 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros | |||
| "Life Is Hard" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2016 | "Hot Coals" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | PersonA | |||
| "No Love Like Yours" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 29 | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
- 1 2 "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros: C'Mon Get Happy! :: Music :: Features :: Paste". Pastemagazine.com. 2009-09-28. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- ↑ McDonald, Scott (2009-11-06). "Edward Sharpe, aka Alex Ebert, finds himself with The Magnetic Zeros". Sdnn.com. Archived from the original on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- 1 2 3 Edward Sharpe Is Dead: Alex Ebert on The Magnetic Zeros' Pursuit of Failure, Identity, and Unrealism — TRANSVERSO. Transversomedia.com. Retrieved on 2016-04-15.
- ↑ Marta Tarbel (24 November 2009). "Dynamic, Charismatic and Determined to Set the Soul Free". Telluridewatch.com. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
- ↑ Randall Roberts (2008-07-10). "Heath Ledger's Final Days Among the Masses - Page 1 - Film+TV - Los Angeles". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- ↑ “”. "Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Desert Song". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- ↑ "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, 'Kisses Over Babylon' - Video Premiere". Spinner. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
- ↑ "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, '40 Day Dream (extended version)". THE MASSES & Community Music. 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
- ↑ Moss, Marissa (27 April 2012). "Mumford & Co. Chase The American Dream In Big Easy Express". American Songwriter. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
- ↑ Omslagfoto's. Facebook. Retrieved on 2013-08-08.
- ↑ "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ↑ "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ↑ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 8 February 2010" (PDF) (1041). Pandora Archive. February 8, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ↑ "australian-charts.com - Discography Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros". Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ↑ "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Billboard Canada 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ↑ PersonA by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros on iTunes. Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved on 2016-04-15.
- ↑ Edward Sharpe Mag Zeros | Free Listening on SoundCloud. Soundcloud.com. Retrieved on 2016-04-15.
- 1 2 3 "Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Home - Music Charts". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
- ↑
- ↑ Discographie Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. lescharts.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-22.
- ↑ "Chart log uk: new entries update". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
- ↑ "'Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Adult Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
- ↑ "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
External links
| ||||||||||||||||||
|