Viva Nueva! is the fourth album by the Rustic Overtones

Rustic Overtones

Rustic Overtones is a rock/jazz/funk band from Maine active from 1993–2002 and 2007–present. They were the first group to perform live on XM Satellite Radio, and their 2007 album Light At The End was the fastest-selling local disc ever in the state of Maine....

, released in 2001 before their highly publicized breakup a year later. With 16 tracks, the album has the most songs of any Rustic Overtones album to date. Tommy Boy Records

Tommy Boy Records

Tommy Boy Entertainment is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.-History:...

 distributed the album after relations soured between the Rustic Overtones and major label Arista Records

Arista Records

Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

. The group produced a (supposedly) million-dollar record with Arista, then found themselves in trouble with the label after playing an extraordinarily hardcore set. It is said that an Arista representative was heard to admonish the group, yelling "We thought you were going to be like the Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...

!" The group claimed that they had made no such promise, and Arista allowed them to take the record with them when they left. This album was then given to Tommy Boy for release, and there was much rejoicing among the fans. In December, 2009, the Portland Phoenix ranked Viva Nueva! the tenth greatest local album of the decade, saying that "The fact that the vagaries of the music business beat them back doesn't diminish its greatness," and called it "Maine's first real major-league rock album."

Videos

The two singles from the disc were "C'mon" and "Combustible", and both had music videos made for them. An open casting call, in the summer after the album was released, was advertised for filming of the new video. The Go-Kart racing

Kart racing

Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits...

 portions were filmed in Amesbury, Massachusetts

Amesbury, Massachusetts

Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Though it officially became a city in 1996, its formal name remains "The Town of Amesbury." In 1890, 9798 people lived in Amesbury; in 1900, 9473; in 1910, 9894; in 1920, 10,036; and in 1940, 10,862. The population was 16,283 at...

. Rumor has it that the video for "Combustible" had to be redesigned in the wake of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks, since a video showing things blowing up was deemed not to be in the band's best interests.

Special guests

Guests on the album include Funkmaster Flex

Funkmaster Flex

Aston George Taylor, Jr. better known as Funkmaster Flex is an American hip hop DJ, rapper, musician and producer on New York City's Hot 97 radio station and host of the hit MTV show Funk Flex Full Throttle....

 (track 6), Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap

Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...

 (track 11) and David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 (tracks 9 and 16).

In a live performance with his new band Rocktopus (now As Fast As

As Fast As

As Fast As is an alternative rock band from Portland, Maine, which includes former Rustic Overtones keyboardist Spencer Albee, who along with Haché Horchatta and Zach Jones were members of the power pop group Rocktopus. Their debut album, Open Letter to the Damned was released on Octone Records in...

) on WAAF-FM, former Rustic keyboard player Spencer Albee

Spencer Albee

Spencer Aaron Albee is an American musician, producer, and front man of the Maine-based rock band Spencer and the School Spirit Mafia...

 claimed that he had been smoking David Bowie's custom-made ultra-ultra-light cigarettes, which Bowie had evidently given him during the time when they were recording Viva Nueva!.

Track listing

1. "C'mon"
2. "Gas on Skin"
3. "Love Underground"
4. "Hardest Way Possible"
5. "Crash Landing"
6. "Smoke"
7. "Baby Blue"
8. "Revolution AM"
9. "Sector Z"
10. "Combustible"
11. "Valentine's Day Massacre"
12. "Hit Man"
13. "Check"
14. "Boys and Girls"
15. "Beekeeper"
16. "Man Without a Mouth"

Personnel

• Dave Gutter – guitar, vocals
• Spencer Albee – synthesizers, vocals
• Tony McNaboe – drums
• Jon Roods – bass guitar
• Ryan Zoidis – saxophone, engineer
• Jason Ward – baritone saxophone
• Scott Pederson – guest trumpet
• David Bowie
  David Bowie
  David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
  
   – guest vocals on "Sector Z" and "Man Without a Mouth"
• Funkmaster Flex
  Funkmaster Flex
  Aston George Taylor, Jr. better known as Funkmaster Flex is an American hip hop DJ, rapper, musician and producer on New York City's Hot 97 radio station and host of the hit MTV show Funk Flex Full Throttle....
  
   – guest vocals on "Smoke"
• Imogen Heap
  Imogen Heap
  Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
  
   – guest performer on "Valentine's Day Massacre"
• Tony Visconti – producer, engineer, bass (upright)
• David Leonard – producer, engineer, mixing
• Steve Drown – producer, engineer
• Roger Sommers – engineer
• Jim Begley – engineer
• Chris Mazer – assistant engineer
• Ryoji Hata – assistant engineer
• Alex Chan – assistant engineer
• John Goodmanson – mixing