indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...
band. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Steve Schiltz; guitarist Shannon Ferguson; bassist David Marchese; and drummer Jeremy Greene. The band was active from 1999 to 2008. As of 2018 the band had reformed and was recording new music. Longwave's fifth album ‘’If We Ever Live Forever’’ was released October 25, 2019.
History
Before Longwave formed, Schiltz played guitar in a band called Scout, featuring vocalist Ashen Keilyn.
A few months after Schiltz left his hometown of
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, he returned to play regular gigs at the Blue Sunday coffee house with a group called the Deaf Aides, named for John Lennon's comments that open the '' Let It Be'' album. Later renamed Longwave, their revolving cast of members eventually included bassist Marchese and drummer Greene, followed by Ferguson, who had been working in a studio as a bassist for various bands on the West Coast. The band, based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, found its initial audience by performing a series of shows at the
Luna Lounge
Luna Lounge was a bar and music club located at 171 Ludlow Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Opened in 1995 by Dianne Galliano and Robert Sacher, it was a popular venue for local bands and stand-up comics (the rock band Interpol played there ...
club on
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
.
Longwave's first release, the self-produced '' Endsongs'', was released in 2000 on LunaSea Records, a record label created by Luna Lounge co-owner Rob Sacher. The album garnered notice in the burgeoning early 2000s New York City rock scene, and soon after the band began touring the U.S.
Greene left the band, and Schiltz's friend (and fellow Rochester native) Mike James (formerly Mike Lapiana) joined as drummer.
With their popularity on the rise, the band gained the interest of major record labels and were eventually signed by
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
. The subsequent second album, '' The Strangest Things'' (2002), was produced by
Dave Fridmann
David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician.
Career
From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore, Neon Indian, Wolf Gang, ...
(
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, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (k ...
,
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were the Vines. Three videos were produced for this album, including "Everywhere You Turn," which was directed by writer-director
Daedalus Howell
Daedalus Howell (born July 19, 1972), is an American writer, journalist, filmmaker, actor and conceptual artist who lives and works in Petaluma, California. He wrote the novels '' Quantum Deadline'' and ''The Late Projectionist'' and the essay ...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.
After several successful years of touring the UK and US, and the release of a 2004 EP ''Life of the Party'', Longwave returned to the studio to record their third album, '' There's a Fire''. Produced by
John Leckie
John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's ''25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
, it was released in 2005. Marchese and James had both left the band, and Schiltz and Ferguson performed all of the bass guitar on the album. Nic Brown, who had previously filled in for James while touring, played drums on the album, while Jeff Sheinkopf played keyboards and guitar. By the time of the album's release, a new rhythm section had joined: bassist Paul Dillon and drummer Jason Molina. Dillon was later replaced by Morgan King.
Parting ways with RCA, they released their fourth album, '' Secrets Are Sinister'', on November 11, 2008, on the
Original Signal Recordings
Original Signal Recordings is an American independent record label based in New York City. Original Signal is owned and operated by Music Nation, distributed by Universal Motown Republic Group, and is a member of the American Association of Indep ...
label and mounted a national tour with
Blue October
Blue October is an American rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and is currently composed of singer/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, bassist ...
. The band then went on an extended hiatus.
Schiltz collaborated with Keilyn again on his project Hurricane Bells, releasing two albums: ''Tonight Is the Ghost'' (2010) and ''Tides and Tales ''(2011). In 2014, he collaborated with members of the band
Blue October
Blue October is an American rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and is currently composed of singer/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, bassist ...
on the project Harvard of the South.
After leaving Longwave, James returned to Rochester and formed the Mercies. He later started his own band, Mikey Jukebox, and fronted Admirers.
On January 17, 2018, Longwave announced on the band's official
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
page that they had resumed activity, saying, "We have been playing again. There is new music, and there will be shows". The current lineup features Schiltz, Ferguson and Molina, with new bassist Christian Bongers replacing King.
On November 14, 2018, Longwave shared the music video for their first single in more than a decade, "Stay With Me", released on the Bodan Kuma label. Dave Doobinin of Follette Films directed the video.
The next year, on July 26, 2019, they released a new single, "Dreamers Float Away", also on the Bodan Kuma label.Archived a Ghostarchive and th Wayback Machine
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
Original Signal Recordings
Original Signal Recordings is an American independent record label based in New York City. Original Signal is owned and operated by Music Nation, distributed by Universal Motown Republic Group, and is a member of the American Association of Indep ...
* "Exit" single (2002, Hummer)
* "Pool Song" single (2002, Hummer)
* ''Day Sleeper'' EP (2002, Fenway Recordings)
* "Everywhere You Turn" single (2003, 14th Floor Records)
* "Day Sleeper" single (2003, 14th Floor Records)
* "Wake Me When It's Over" single (2003, 14th Floor Records)
* ''Tidal Wave'' EP (2004, BMG Funhouse)
* ''Life of the Party'' EP (2004, RCA Records)
* '' There's a Fire'' EP (2005, BMG Direct)
* "Stay With Me" (2018, Bodan Kuma)
*''Dreamers Float Away'' (2019, Bodan Kuma)