Havalina Rail Co. or just Havalina was a rock band from

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. Many of Havalina's releases were regional

concept albums A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. According to the band's website, the band's name was inspired by the song "Havalina" by the

Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...

. Havalina was active from 1992 through 2005. Havalina played their last show on March 17, 2005, at The Gypsy Lounge. Former members of Havalina are now involved in Matt Death and the New Intellectuals, Os and the Oculist, Starmob and Wargirl.

History

The group was founded in

in 1992. Havalina Rail Co. released their self-titled debut album through

Tooth & Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle where it is today. History Brandon Ebel and Michael Knott conceived the label as a joint venture, before Knott backe ...

in 1994. The album contains 19 tracks of rockabilly, folk, swing and zydeco. This was the only album released by the band that wasn't a concept album. In an interview for KPSU, Wignall commented that the first album was "this sort of finding our path and gravitating towards American sounds." Their second album, '' The Diamond in the Fish'', released in 1996, was a concept album telling the story of a retired secret agent. The album was filled with Rat Pack-style jazz, filtered through folk and blues. About Diamond in the Fish, Wignall said, "We were experimenting with idea of like playing jazz, which incidentally, we kinda sucked at. And found out why most of the time all good jazz players are over fifty, 'cause it takes that long to get good at it." The band independently released '' Russian Lullabies'' through Wignall's Jackson/Rubio label. This was the band's attempt to produce Eastern European music without actually listening to Eastern European music, then making a

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

sound from that. The album is long out of print, however, Wignall uploaded the album to the band's website for free download. Wignall described ''

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

'' as "a musical road trip around America with the idea being to show our influences and what we like about American music while kinda re-defining the ideas if we had been there and done it our own way". The track "Let's Not Forget Hawaii" from this recording was featured on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''

The Real World ''The Real World'' (known as ''Real World'' from 2014 to 2017) is an American reality television series produced through MTV and Bunim/Murray Productions that most recently aired on Facebook Watch after airing on MTV from 1992 to 2017. It wa ...

'' for the Hawaii season closer.Morgan, Laura.
Must-Hear TV
.

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issue No. 513. Published November 19, 1999.Shapiro, Kelli. (1999). "Havalina Rail Co. on MTV". Originally published b
decapolis.com
Available through the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

/ref> ''Space Love & Bullfighting'' (2002) was Havalina's final release with Tooth & Nail Records. This is the first album released under the name Havalina and not "Havalina Rail Co." Wignall described this album as songs about space, love, and bullfighting and various combinations of those themes. Song from this album were played on MTV's ''

Sorority Life ''Sorority Life'' is a reality television series on MTV that aired from June 24, 2002, to November 19, 2003. The show consisted of girls pledging to become part of a sorority. Production The first season occurred at University of California, D ...

''.

Personnel

Though the lineup changed frequently, Matt Wignall and Orlando Greenhill were consistent members. * Matt Wignall – guitar,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, primary vocals * Orlando Greenhill – upright bass, bass guitar, vocals * Jeff Suri – Drums, piano, vocals * Grady McFerrin – trumpet, washboard * Mark Cole – percussion, extra noises * Daniel J. Brooker –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

, piano * Nathan Jensen – saxophone, vocals * Lori Hoopes-Suri – percussion, vocals * Tatiana Simonian – farfisa, vocals * Mercedes Stevens/starry dynamo – vocals, guitar, cello * David Maust –

Farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

, organ, accordion, hurdy-gurdy * Erick Nieto – drums, violin

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Havalina Rail Co.'' * '' The Diamond in the Fish'' * '' Russian Lullabies'' * ''

'' * '' Space, Love, & Bullfighting'' * ''

We Remember Anarchy Havalina Rail Co. or just Havalina was a rock band from Long Beach, California. Many of Havalina's releases were regional concept albums. According to the band's website, the band's name was inspired by the song "Havalina" by the Pixies. Hav ...

Extended plays

* ''

A Bullfighter's Guide to Space and Love ''A Bullfighter's Guide to Space and Love'' is an EP by the band Havalina. Serving as a prelude to the album '' Space, Love, & Bullfighting'', this EP features alternate versions of three songs which would appear on the next album. This is the ...

Compilations

* '' Sweet Family Music: A Tribute to Stryper'' (1996) - Contains "Always There for You" * ''

Surfonic Water Revival ''Surfonic Water Revival'' is a various artists compilation album which was recorded and released in 1998 by KMG Records. The album pays tribute to the pioneers of Surf music like Brian Wilson, Jan and Dean, the Belairs, the Hondells, the Surfar ...

'' (1998) - Contains "The Sun Comes Down Again" (Taylor) – with

Randy Stonehill Randall Evan Stonehill (born March 12, 1952) is an American singer and songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music. His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but ...

* ''Jackson/Rubio's Rockabilly Western Gospel Hymns'' - Contains "Train 13"

Other releases

*''Havalina and the Creaky Old Bridge (Video)''

References

* KPSU interview of Matt Wignall b
Dave Cusick
* *

External links

Matt Wignall's Photography

@ In Music We Trust.com

@ The Phantom Tollbooth. {{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from California Tooth & Nail Records artists Musical groups established in 1994 1994 establishments in California