A is Jump
From The Secret History of the Cedar Valley
Contents |
History
Brad and Ryan started making tapes in their Iowa dorm rooms in 1996. They convinced Jessie to put viola parts on the tapes starting in 1998 or so. A little while after that, the sounds from Cory's room were just too much and he started putting his keyboard bits on the tapes. Somewhere in there the live shows began. The first ones were either very weird or very small performances in art galleries and coffeeshops. In 2000, the shows moved into the rock clubs. Jessie still played on tapes but mostly lived in Boulder. Kevin and Grant and Powell and Peter all played in the rhythm section for a time until Phil started playing drums and Steve started playing bass. That was the lineup for about 4 years.
The band made an album called "My Ice-Fingered Ghost" in Chicago in 2003. It came out in 2004 on Future Appletree Records. They toured the midwest a couple of times and played with bands like Outrageous Cherry, The Frogs, The High Strung, Menomena, The Rosebuds, and Quasi.
The band holed up in a house in Waterloo, Iowa with a bunch of recording gear in the hopes of recording their second album, but it never really panned out. In 2006, Brad and Ryan moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A while later, Cory moved to Saxapahaw, which isn't terribly far away. The three of them resumed playing, this time with a laptop, looper, and hand percussion as the rhythm section. Jessie was living in Baltimore by this point, which though not close isn't too bad for a weekend trip, so she said she'd start to play her viola parts in the band again. A is Jump is currently writing, recording, and rehearsing new and old material.
Band Members
Lineup (1998-2000)
- Brad Brandhorst - Guitar, Vocals
- Ryan Creery - Guitar
- Cory Hamilton - Keyboards
- Ben Powell - Basswolf
- Peter Vanderwall - Drums
- Kevin of Spork - Drums
- Grant Freeman - Bass
Lineup (2001-2005)
- Brad Brandhorst - Guitar, Vocals
- Ryan Creery - Guitar
- Steve Wilson - Bass
- Phillip Sterk - Drums
- Cory Hamilton - Your Wildest Dreams
- Scott Meller - Keyboards
Discography
 Chime Records CD 2000 |
 Chime Records EP |
 Poopsicle Records PR011 2001 |
 Future Appletree Records 2004 |
Fliers
 A is Jump |
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Photos
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Memories/Anecdotes
Blake Badker - This band has really good interpretive lyrics and they actually deliver psychedelic music so many bands want to describe their band having. I especially liked "Being Against Being" and "What Can I Do But Burn" off of mp3.com, because I was just getting into Daoism and Buddhism at the time and that's how I interpreted those songs.
Andy Meyer - After hearing that Brad hated trance music, I decided to do a trance remix of "Being Against Being" (well, my take on trance anyway). I was working at the Vibe Coffeehouse at the time, and Brad came in when there were no other customers around, so I decided I'd play it for him there. As it was playing my boss came running out of the office, thinking the awful sound she heard was the dishwasher going out of control. That gave us both a laugh, but I think it made Brad like the remix even more.
