SONG OF THE DAY

“Lake Michigan” by Rogue Wave (Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, Brushfire Records, 2007).

WHERE I HEARD IT

My sister Cat has the major blessing of friends who actually make her mix cd’s. I only have one friend, Mikey, who does this for me, though I work hard to make mix cd’s for a lot of people. I’m jealous of Cat. I’m especially jealous of her collection of mixes by her friend WesWes, though she has been kind enough to share them with daddy dearest and I. And thus, Rogue Wave enters our family. Thanks, Cat. Thanks, WesWes (whoever the hell you are). Thanks, Dad, for reminding me I hadn’t blogged about Rogue Wave yet. Thanks, Rogue Wave.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– Asleep at Heaven’s Gate is the third album by the indie rock band Rogue Wave.

– It was produced by Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo).

– “Lake Michigan”, the first single from the album, was featured in a TV commercial for Microsoft’s second-generation Zune music players. It was also featured as one of the daily free songs available to Starbucks customers through iTunes in October 2007.

– Rogue Wave is an indie rock band from Oakland, California, (formerly signed to Sub Pop, now to Brushfire Records), and headed by Zach Schwartz (a.k.a. Zach Rogue) who created the band after losing his job in the dot-com bust.

– Rogue Wave began almost by accident. In early 2002, faced with the sort of existential crisis unique to the newly unemployed, Zach Rogue decided to take some time off from his home base of San Francisco. He set off with a one-way ticket to New York in March with the intention of recording one or two songs with friend Bill Racine, in an effort to exorcise his demons both artistically and personally. He came away with both a new lease on life and an album’s worth of material that would later become Rogue Wave’s debut, Out of the Shadow. After returning to the Bay Area with a nearly completed record in hand, Zach decided to leave his former band, the Bay Area based Desoto Reds, in which he played guitar, and form his own group. At the end of 2002, while preparing the album for release, Zach rounded out the band’s lineup with the addition of Pat Spurgeon (drums, keys, samples, vocals) Sonya Westcott (bass, vocals), and Gram LeBron (guitar, keys, vocals).

– Pat Spurgeon has played with bands Antenna, Stranded at the Drive In, Ramona the Pest, Brando, Steve Kowalski, Lessick, and has also released solo work as The Phantom Drummer.

– Gram LeBron has been involved in the bands Long and Golden, Schrasj, Sad Like Crazy, Conundrum, Jessica Six, All Transistor and has also released solo work as Golden Gram.

– Sonya Westcott was in the band Venus Bleeding before her time with Rogue Wave.

– Evan Farrell played with The Japonize Elephants, Mega Mousse, Amaldecor, Big Mule, Hunted Haunted Bazergahn Klezmorchestra, Grande Rouge, Kentucky Nightmare, Mama HooHoo.

– Patrick Abernethy was formerly a keyboard player with Beulah before joining Rogue Wave.

– Evan Farrell left Rogue Wave after the recording of Descended Like Vultures, to pursue his other project The Japonize Elephants, but remained a friend of the band. Farrell died soon after on December 23, 2007 in Oakland CA, suffering from “massive smoke inhalation” in an apartment fire caused by a dangerously obsolete gas-fired floor furnace. Farrell himself had replaced original bassist Sonya Westcott in 2004. Patrick Abernethy joined the band in 2007 to take Farrell’s place on bass and was later replaced by Cameron Jasper in 2009.

– Most recently, Rogue Wave appeared as themselves in the 2009 movie Love Happens, starring Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston. In the movie, set in Seattle, Eckhart’s character is disappointed that tickets to a Rogue Wave outdoor concert are sold out. However, Aniston’s character surprises him by borrowing a friend’s utility truck with a “cherry picker” boom. She parks the truck near the large open-air amphitheater, and the two of them enjoy a great view of the concert from the elevated bucket.

– Rogue Wave is featured on the Stubbs: The Zombie Soundtrack performing a cover of Buddy Holly’s “‘Everyday'”. Their cover of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” was also plagiarized for a television commercial for the movie Rachel Getting Married.

– A live version of their Out of the Shadow track, “Every Moment”, appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Napoleon Dynamite, but not in the movie itself.

– The song “Eyes” was featured in the movie Just Friends, the sixteenth episode of season two of 90210, the pilot of television series Heroes, and a 2010 commercial for LG.

– Rogue Wave’s songs have also appeared in episodes of Friday Night Lights, Scrubs, Chuck, Weeds, The O.C., Nip/Tuck, One Tree Hill, Lone Star, Cougar Town, and The Vampire Diaries.

VIDEO OF THE DAY