Jonathan Segel

Jonathan Segel
Background information
Born	September 3, 1963
Genres	Alternative rock, pop rock, rock, progressive rock, blues, improv, avant-garde, electronica
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, composer, record producer
Instruments	Guitar, violin, mandolin, keyboards, voice
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, Dieselhed

Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.

Biography

Born in Marseilles, France, Segel grew up in Davis, California and Tucson, Arizona. He is the son of Irwin H. Segel, a Professor of Biochemistry at University of California, Davis and author of Biochemical Calculations, and Wiltraud Pfeiffer, a Professor of Microbiology at University of California, Davis. He went to college at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he studied under Peter Elsea and experimental music pioneer Gordon Mumma. In Santa Cruz he joined the indie rock group Camper Van Beethoven, with whom he played from 1984 to 1989 and 1999 onward.

He moved to San Francisco in 1989, where he worked with many bands including his own Hieronymus Firebrain and Jack & Jill, moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to work for Dane Davis at Danetracks, a film sound post production facility, then back to Oakland, California in 2001, where received a master's degree in music composition at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Joelle Leandre. Segel has taught music theory and electronic music at the College of Marin and Ohlone College in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2012 Segel moved to Stockholm, Sweden with his wife and daughter. His father and brother currently live in Davis, California. Segel has two nephews (Everett and Graham) and one niece (Sophie).

He performs improvising acoustic and digital solo (or with others as Chaos Butterfly), in the revived Camper Van Beethoven, as the bandleader in his eponymous band, and is an occasional contributor to music from the Big City Orchestra. Segel currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden where he has most recently collaborated with the experimental improvised band The Muffin Ensemble.

His name is commonly misspelled as "Jonathan Segal".

Discography

A comprehensive Segel Discography can be found here and there on the Magnetic Records site.

Solo, as Hieronymus Firebrain or Jack and Jill

Playing guitar, singing, etc.

• Storytelling (1988)
• Acoustic Music Project benefit for Open Hand (1990)
• Hieronymus Firebrain "Hieronymus Firebrain" (1991)
• Dr. Firebrain's Plane Crash Tape, Vol.1 (1993)
• Hieronymus Firebrain "There" (1994)
• Hieronymus Firebrain "Here" (1994)
• Pushing the Norton – the Ace Cafe Compilation(1994)
• Jack & Jill "Chill and Shrill" (1995)
• Jack & Jill "Fancy Birdhouse" (1997)
• Scissors and Paper (2000)
• Edgy Not Antsy (2003)
• Honey (2007)
• All Attractions (2012)
• Apricot Jam (2012)
• Shine Out (2014)

With Camper Van Beethoven

Playing violin, guitar, keyboards, singing.

• Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985)
• II & III (1986)
• Camper Van Beethoven (1986)
• Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988)
• Vampire Can Mating Oven (1987)
• The Virgin Years (1993) (by Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker)
• Camper Vantiquities (1993) Rarities Compilation
• Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven (2000) Rarities Compilation
• Cigarettes & Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years (2002) Box Set. Includes Telephone Free Landslide Victory, II & III, Camper Van Beethoven, Camper Vantiquities, & Greatest Hits Played Faster, a bonus live disc.
• Tusk (2002)
• New Roman Times (2004)
• In the Mouth of the Crocodile - Live in Seattle (2004) Live Album
• Discotheque CVB: Live In Chicago (2005) Live Album
• Look at All the Love We Found (2005) Sublime Tribute
• Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty (2008)
• La Costa Perdida (2013)
• El Camino Real (2014)

With Eugene Chadbourne

Playing violin, mandolin, slide guitar, keyboards, toys...

• Camper Van Chadbourne (1987)
• Eddie Chatterbox Double Trio Love Album (1988)
• Eugene Van Beethoven's 69th Sin-Funny (1991)
• Used Record Pile (1999)
• Revenge of Camper Van Chadbourne (1999)
• PsyCHADelidoowop (2001)

With Chaos Butterfly

• Live at Studio Fabriken, Gothenburg, SE – with Biggi Vinkeloe (2005)
• threelivingthings (2005)
• Radio (2005)

Electronic/electro-acoustic Projects

• Non-Linear Accelerator (2003)
• Rauk (2005)
• Amnesia/Glass Box (2005)
• Summerleaf (2006)
• Underwater Tigers (2007)

Improvisations

• Fred Frith/Joelle Leandre/Jonathan Segel Tempted to Smile(2003)
• Jonathan Segel/Shoko Hikage Gen (2003)
• Brent Larner's M-7 Ensemble Japan Improv CD Magazine (2003)
• Various artists/Jon Raskin + Myles Boisen Music + One (2006)
• Moe! Staiano's Moe!Kestra An Inescapable Siren Within Earshot... (2006)
• Lucio Menegon Sonic Demons (2009)
• Emergency String (X)tet and Rent Romus Emergency Rental (2011)
• T.D. Skatchit & Company Skatch Surveillance (2012)

Other Projects

Playing violin, guitar, etc.

• Granfaloon Bus A Love Restrained (1992)
• Dieselhed Dieselhed (1994)
• Dent Stimmung (1995)
• The Electric Chairmen (with John Kruth and Victor Krummenacher)Toast (1996)
• The Lords of Howling BaltimorePearlCrescentWhiteAdmiralSisterMeadowPaintedGodWillVisitYou (1997)
• Dent Verstärker (1998)
• The Noodle Shop (with John Kruth, Elliott Sharp and Atilla Engin)MoonDog Girl (1999)
• The Container (with Clyde Wrenn) The Container (1998)
• Clyde Wrenn Long Day's Journey into Night(1999)
• Clyde Wrenn The Blue Cliff Record (2001)
• The Shimmers The Way You Shine (2006)
• The Artichoke Project Stimoceiver (2008)
• John Kruth Splitsville – Sonic Impressions of Croatia (2008)
• Øresund Space Collective - "Different Creatures" (2015)

Also Appears On

• Yo Once in a Blue Moon (1986)
• Frontier Wives Rockinghorse Violins (1987)
• Spot 1019 This World Owes me a Buzz (1987)
• Young Fresh Fellows The Men Who Loved Music(1987)
• Walkabouts Cataract (1988)
• Overwhelming Colorfast Overwhelming Colorfast (1991)
• Big City Orchestra Greatest Hits and Test Tones (1998) + various other BCO releases
• The Loud Family Days for Days (1998)
• Magnet Sharkbait (1999)
• Sparklehorse Distorted Ghost (1999)
• Alison Faith Levy My World View (2000)
• Victor Krummenacher Bittersweet (2000)
• Mike Levy Fireflies(2000)
• LD & the New Criticism Tragic Realism (2006)
• Mossyrock I Know I'm Not Wrong EP (2007)
• Victor Krummenacher Patriarch's Blues (2008)
• Victor Krummenacher "Hard to See Trouble Coming" (2015)

Film Soundtracks

• The Invisibles directed by Noah Stern (1999)
• Bunny directed by Mia Trachinger (2000)
• Kickin' Chicken directed by Joy Phillips (2001)
• 100% Human Hair directed by Ann Kaneko (2001)
• Love Will Travel directed by Teddi Bennett (2002)
• Bill's Run directed by Richard Kassebaum (2004)

References

External links

• JonathanSegel is Segel's Official Site.
• Magnetic Motorworks is the site of his and Victor Krummenacher's (now defunct) record label, Magnetic, and the official site of some of his associates and collaborators.
• music.JSegel.com is a site containing online collections of much of Segel's recorded music.
• Jonathan Segel collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• AllMusic guide information
• Material Press, publisher of scores