Oucho Sparks is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. Since the formation circa the turn of the century, the ensemble has gone through several style and personnel transitions. The consistent thread has been a strong display of musicianship, complex/dense song arrangements, and a DIY work ethic.

About the band

The name Oucho Sparks is a

phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

on the name

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...

, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

. In its various incarnations, Oucho Sparks is known for its

vocal harmonies Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chor ...

, epic guitar lines, icy

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

, and lush cinematic soundscapes. They have been compared to other rock bands such as

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

, and

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

Timeline

The

formed around 1998 as a

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

group with experimental tendencies. The founding members were Ryan Chindlund on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, Robert Salihar on

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, and Aaron Allietta on keyboards. Dan Haggerty and Scotty Kattenbraker were soon added as

guitarists A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

. The first album ''From The Blue Light House'' (1998) showcases this particular incarnation. In the next year, the

had some significant personnel changes as

Haggerty and Kattenbraker left to pursue other artistic ventures. The ensemble added a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, Mike Strazzulla and Jason Lavalle respectively. With the addition of horns, the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

element was emphasized. Salihar remained as the main

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

though Chindlund would perform the lead

on certain songs. The resulting work of this incarnation was the second album ''Rebirth of the Fool'' (1999.) The title is a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, ph ...

on the

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

album titled ''

Birth of the Cool ''Birth of the Cool'' is a compilation album by the American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis. It was released in February or March 1957 through Capitol Records. It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the ...

''. During 1999, the band performed several live shows but lost

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Lavalle toward the end of the year. The

continued as a four piece until

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Rob Heinz and

Tim Sandusky joined in late 1999. 2000 proved to be a major transition for the band as many new members were added.

Guitarists A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

David Gallagher and David Bowers replaced

Rob Heinz. Second

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

James Gallagher and

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Matt Topic concurrently joined also. Much of the reason for this increase in personnel was in preparation for Zappening 2000, a festival held in tribute to

. The bill included bands with Zappa band alumni and notable acts with Zappa flavor. After Zappening 2000 Dave Gallagher, Dave Bowers, James Gallagher, and Matt Topic all became official members as their other project ( Dave's Tune) ceased performing. Soon after,

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist Chris Grant joined, thus making Oucho Sparks a ten-member band. This period produced the most

influenced music. By 2001 Oucho Sparks started to emphasize the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

element of their sound. After dropping Mike Strazzulla, Chris Grant, and Matt Topic, the

embarked on recording ''Silver Daddy'' (2001.) This album is mostly instrumental and features some of the most advanced instrumental arrangements with sparse vocals by Salihar and Chindlund. Two songs from ''Silver Daddy'' ("" and "Floigan") appear in the 2002

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

Urban Ground Squirrels. Throughout 2001 and 2002 The seven member lineup performed several festivals and concerts most notably Camp Buzz and

The Blackhawk Farms Festival ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

. The members of Oucho Sparks collectively founded an underground music venue named Cafe Ballistico in 2003. Many now notable Chicago music acts had some of their earliest performances at Cafe Ballistico including

Bound Stems Bound Stems was an indie rock band with math rock influences from Chicago, Illinois. The band's members were Robert Gallivan (vocals), Dan Fleury (guitar), Dan Radzicki (bass, keys), Evan Sult (drums, ex-Harvey Danger), and Janie Porche (multi-i ...

, Bang Bang (band), and

The Andreas Kapsalis Trio The Andreas Kapsalis Trio is an American acoustic ensemble formed by acoustic guitarist Andreas Kapsalis, drummer/percussionist James Gallagher and multi-instrumentalist Darren Garvey. Discography *''The Andreas Kapsalis Trio'' (2004) *''Original ...

. The Ballistico concept culminated at the 2004 Ballistico Fest featuring Oucho Sparks and several other Ballistico friendly bands. Except for Ballistico Fest, Oucho Sparks as a music project was unseen from 2003-2007. During that period, the band reformed once again and decided to take a more vocal-focused approach. In late 2003 the band started a new recording to help define the musical direction. Laura Grey joined to provide female

, while former

Tim Sandusky took over lead male

. In order to properly record this album, Tim Sandusky and cohorts built a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

now known as Studio Ballistico. The album ''Foreign Cars and Robots'' was completed near the end of 2006. This album marked the modern age of Oucho Sparks and supporting shows in 2007 reflect this. The project has been largely inactive since 2009.

Live concerts

The band throughout its incarnations has been known for its "over the top" live shows involving

props A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

and

theatrics Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicat ...

. Currently Oucho Sparks desires theaters and alternative performance spaces for the multimedia show. A live concert was released on the official website in 2009, and free on YouTube.com.

Discography

*1998 ''From the Blue Light House'' *1999 ''Rebirth of the Fool'' *2001 ''Silver Daddy'' *2001 ''Live From Earth Vol. 1'' *2002 ''Live From Earth Vol. 2'' *2007 ''Foreign Cars and Robots'' *2009 ''Photographs & Epitaphs''

ive Ive or IVE may refer to: Music * Ive (group), a South Korean girl group * I've Sound (aka "I've"), a Japanese musical group People * Ive (given name), a Croatian and Slovenian given name * Bert Ive (1875–1939), British-born Australian cinema ...

References

External links

ouchosparks.com
— The official Oucho Sparks website
Oucho Sparks on MySpace

Oucho Sparks on last.fm

Amplifier Magazine Article
{{Authority control Alternative rock groups from Chicago American post-rock groups American experimental rock groups American psychedelic rock music groups American art rock groups Indie rock musical groups from Illinois Math rock groups Musical groups established in 1998 Progressive rock musical groups from Illinois