Trumans Water are 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, hailing from

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, California. They have released over a dozen albums over their career, on which they collaborated with acts in genre, including

Azalia Snail Azalia Snail is an American avant-garde singer-songwriter and musician. She is a multi-instrumentalist active in neo-psychedelia, psychedelic folk, and indie rock, played a prominent role in the 1990s lo-fi music scene, and was dubbed the "Que ...

Chan Marshall Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a solo artist. Born in ...

and

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

Background

Trumans Water was formed by the brothers Kirk and Kevin Branstetter, and the original drummer Jeff Jones in San Diego in 1991, after they were given a guitar and a bass guitar by a friend's father.Ross, Alex (1993)
Review/Pop; A Blend of Influences, With Dissonance
, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 24 July 1993, retrieved 21 November 2009 They advertised for a "lead singer, brain optional", and recruited Glen Galloway as a result. Other members of the band have included Ely Moyal, Andres Malinao and Kevin Cascell.

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

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, The Boredoms,

Sun City Girls Sun City Girls was an American experimental rock band formed in 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona. From 1981, the group consisted of Alan Bishop (bass guitar, vocals), his brother Richard Bishop (guitar, piano, vocals), and Charles Gocher (drums, voca ...

, Pavement and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

have all been identified as influences, and during the course of the band's history Trumans Water has produced experimental

, often with a substantial element of

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

.Bush, John " Trumans Water Biography, ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'', Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 21 November 2009Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p. 448Floyd, John (1997)
God and Junk
, ''

Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami metropolitan area, and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired ...

'', 13 February 2009, retrieved 21 November 2009Sprague, David
Trumans Water
, ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'', retrieved 22 November 2009Terry, Nick (1993) "Trumans Water: The Roosevelt Underground", ''Lime Lizard'', May 1993, p. 68-9 Kevin Branstetter described the band's approach in 1993: "The spirit of the thing is what we want to capture, mess things up, like totally skewing everything, destroying everything and still making it totally listenable" and their recording process: "We record everything live, all play at the same time". The

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

effectively shot the band to indie stardom in the UK when he played their first LP, ''

Of Thick Tum ''Of Thick Tum'' is the first album by Trumans Water. BBC disc jockey John Peel heard this album and was so impressed by it that he played it in its entirety on his show.Ross, Alex (2003)Review/Pop; A Blend of Influences, With Dissonance, ''The ...

'', uninterrupted and in its entirety during an edition of his

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hi ...

show.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p.1039-40 The band subsequently recorded three sessions for Peel's show.Trumans Water
''Keeping it Peel'',

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, retrieved 21 November 2009 The Branstetter brothers relocated to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

in 1994 without Galloway and are the only original members still active in the band. Galloway assumed the Glen Galaxy name to record as Soul-Junk, an experimental Christianity, Christian rock band, before returning to Trumans Water in 1998. Kevin Branstetter subsequently moved to France in 1995. Being on different continents for the last several years has curbed their musical output but by no means stopped it; they have released six albums despite the geographical separation. Trumans Water has recently added the bass guitar player Mike Coumatos after more than ten years touring and recording as a three piece (two guitars and drums). A new drummer, John Schier, has been added as well.Stampone, David (2006)
Trumans Remains Undefeated
, ''San Diego Reader'', 5 October 2006, retrieved 21 November 2009 Trumans Water has been cited as an influence by several bands including The Cribs.Eliscu, Jenny (2005)
Album Reviews: The Cribs ''The New Fellas''
, ''Rolling Stone'', 8 September 2005, retrieved 21 November 2009 In 2011, Kevin Branstetter moved to France. Worlds Dirtiest Sport is his side project doing solo (or with guests) guitar/bass guitar/loops/noise songs. The project was started as an outlet when one or more other Trumans was unavailable.

Discography

Albums

*''

'' (1992, Homestead Records) *''Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox & Ass'' (1993, Homestead Records) *''Godspeed the Punchline'' (1994, Homestead Records) *''Godspeed the Static'' (1994, Drunken Fish Records, Drunken Fish) *''Godspeed the Hemorrhage'' (1994, Homestead Records) *''Godspeed the Vortex'' (1994, Way Out Sound) *''Milktrain to Paydirt'' (1995, Homestead Records) *''The Peel Sessions (Trumans Water album), The Peel Sessions'' (1995, Strange Fruit) *''Action Ornaments'' (1996, Runt) *''Apistogramma (album), Apistogramma'' (1997, Justice My Eye / Elevated Loin) *''Fragments of a Lucky Break'' (1998, Emperor Jones) *''Trumans Water (album), Trumans Water'' (2001, Emperor Jones) *''You are in the Line of Fire and they are Shooting at You'' (2003, Homesleep Records) *''The Singles 1992-1997'' (2003, No Sides) *''Rosolina Mar meets Trumans Water'' (2007, Robotradiorecords - split with Rosolina Mar) *''O Zeta Zunis'' (August 24, 2010, Asthmatic Kitty Records)

Singles and EPs

*''Our Scars Like Badges'' (7-inch EP, 1992, Homestead Records) *''Laugh Light's Lit'' (7-inch EP, 1992, Drunken Fish Records, Drunken Fish) *''Jubileeeee'' (7-inch EP, 1992, Way Out Sound) *"Hey Fish" (7-inch, 1993, Drunken Fish) *''10 x My Age'' (CD EP/10", 1993, Elemental Records) *''Have You Got It Yet?'' (Live in London) (7-inch, 1993, Fear & Loathing zine, Dirter Promotions and Elemental Records) *"Skyjacker (EP), Skyjacker" (7-inch, 1994 Sympathy for the Record Industry) *''Spazz Rockdance Inferno'' (7-inch EP, 1994, Clawfist) *''The First Dead Man of Diluvia'' (7-inch EP, 1995, Howardian/Wantage) *''The Great Flood'' (7-inch EP, 1996, Footprint Records) *"Miss Spaceship"/"Radar 1941" (7-inch, 2000, Sub Pop)

Cassettes

*''Santee Busbill'' (1993?, Destroy All Music) *''Couch of the Spastics'' (1994, Chocolate Monk) *''Cough Forth Such Dilemmas'' (1995, Union Pole) *''No Dead Space'' (1997, Union Pole)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from California Musical groups established in 1991 American art rock groups Musical groups from San Diego American noise rock music groups Homestead Records artists Asthmatic Kitty artists Drunken Fish Records artists 1991 establishments in California