Nightcaps (band)
Encyclopedia
Nightcaps were an American Lounge music
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
(or “Cocktail Nation”) band from Seattle, Washington active from 1994 until 2002.
Nightcaps were an integral part if the mid 1990s Lounge music
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
resurgence that included bands such as Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison was a group founded in the early 1990s in Providence, Rhode Island, and was one of several lounge music acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s...
, Squirrel Nut Zippers
Squirrel Nut Zippers
The Squirrel Nut Zippers are a band formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina by James "Jimbo" Mathus , Katharine Whalen , Chris Phillips on drums, Don Raleigh on bass and sideman Ken Mosher....
and Love Jones
Love Jones (band)
Love Jones is an American band, formed in Louisville, Kentucky in spring 1990 by Ben Daughtrey and Barry Thomas , with Chris Hawpe , Stuart Johnson and Jonathan Palmer . According to Entertainment Weekly, Love Jones was the leader of the "cocktail nation" groups of the early 1990s...
. Nightcaps had an impact on the genre as one of the few lounge bands that avoided kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
, while adding elements of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
to their sound. Nightcaps combined American jazz, soul, blues and jump swing with their punk-rock roots to create a sound that was influenced by artists such as Sarah Vaughn, Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
and Oscar Brown Jr., as well as Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, Joe Tex
Joe Tex
Joseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...
and The Sonics
The Sonics
The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...
.
History
Nightcaps were originally conceived and formed in 1994 by drummer Dan CunneenDan Cunneen
Dan Cunneen is a drummer, lyricist, songwriter, disc jockey and graphic designer originally from Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.. Cunneen is best known for his drum work with the 1980s Portland, Oregon band Final Warning and the 1990s Seattle, Washington based bands Zipgun and Nightcaps...
(Final Warning
Final Warning
Final Warning was an obscure yet influential Portland, Oregon-based hardcore punk band active from 1982 to 1986.-History:The band first formed in 1982 as Broken Trust by childhood friends, guitarist Jeff "Simon" Simoncini, drummer Dan Cunneen and vocalist Tim Paul...
, The Obituaries
The Obituaries
The Obituaries were one of the most popular and groundbreakingbands in the Northwest USA from 1986-1990. Fronted by singer/wordsmith Monica Nelson who was known for her powerful stage presence and stunning vocals. She was an influence to many other later female rockers with roots in the area, and...
, Zipgun
Zipgun
Zipgun was a punk rock band from Seattle Washington active from 1991 to 1994.The original founding members were: guitarist Neil Rogers , singer Robb Clarke , bassist Mark Wooten and drummer Dan Cunneen .- History :Zipgun was formed and led by Neil Rogers, who had...
) and vocalist Theresa Hannam. Guitarist Garth Brandenburg and bassist William "Bill" Herzog (Citizens Utilities, Joel RL Phelps and the Downer Trio, Jesse Sykes
Jesse Sykes
Christened Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter in 2002 , singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes and guitarist Phil Wandscher , began what has become their long lived musical partnership....
and the Sweet Hereafter) rounded out the original quartet. In 1995, Lauren Abady (the first of 4 eventual saxophonists), John Broeckel (percussion) and bassist Robert Fucci (replacing Herzog) joined the group.
The first Nightcaps release, the Gambler's Game/For Me single, was released in 1995 on the Nightcaps own label, Rendezvous Recordings. (The Nightcaps ultimately released two other singles: I Don't Like You/Love You More on Sub-Pop, in early 1996 and You Lied/Last of the Secret Agents on Estrus Records
Estrus Records
Estrus Records is an independent record label from Bellingham, Washington that makes surf, garage and trash rock music.They have released such bands as Soledad Brothers, The Drags, The Mummies, Impala, Man or Astro-man?, the Makers, Gas Huffer, The Mooney Suzuki, DMBQ, The Cherry Valence, Midnight...
in 1998).
The success of the first two singles and the band's growing live reputation led to a manufacturing and distribution agreement with Sub-Pop for the Nightcaps first compact disc, Split. Released in 1997 and bearing the Rendezvous Recordings trademark, Split contained 12 original songs written by the songwriting team of Cunneen, Hannam and Brandenburg.
In 2000, the Nightcaps released their second CD, Get On, on the Rendezvous Recordings label. With darker lyrical themes than Split and the addition of keyboardist/guitarist Tor Midtskog and the return of Bill Herzog on bass, the Nightcaps' music evolved from jazzy pop and swing into a harder edged, 1960's soul-rock sound.
In 2002 the B-side of their Sub-Pop single, a re-working of the Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...
tune "Love You More” appeared on a compilation by Japanese DJ Masanori Ikeda called Spinout 3, released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by V2 Records
V2 Records
V2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
.
In 2003 A "Best of" retrospective titled I Don't Like You, was released in Japan on the User Records label.
In September, 2011 the Nightcaps albums Split and Get On were released digitally worldwide for the first time and a new Nightcaps album, In the Live Room (+the singles) was released by Rendezvous Recordings.
Discography
- 1995 Gambler’s Game/For Me (single) Rendezvous Recordings
- 1996 I Don’t Like You/Love You More (single) Sup Pop
- 1997 Split (CD) Rendezvous Recordings/Sub Pop
- 1998 You Lied/Last of the Secret Agents (single) Estrus Records
- 2000 Get On (CD) Rendezvous Recordings
- 2002 Spin Out 3 (CD) (track on compilation: “Love You More”) V2 Records (Japan)
- 2003 I Don’t Like You (CD) User Records (Japan)
- 2011 In the Live Room (+ the Singles) (CD) Rendezvous Recordings