Pitchfork

Reunited indie rock pioneers Camper Van Beethoven have set October 12th as the street date for the Vanguard Records release of New Roman Times, their first album of all new material since 1989's Key Lime Pie. After reuniting as a touring entity back in 1999, the question of new material has been on the lips of many a CVB fan. In a lengthy email correspondence with frontman David Lowery, Pitchfork was able to get to the bottom of the band's decision to make a new album.

"We did a couple of reunion type gigs but vowed to not milk it unless we were gonna do a new record," Lowery explained. So after selling out three nights in a row at New York's Knitting Factory, the band decided it was time to get back to business. "Apparently, people still cared about us. We could still play the songs [and] we didn't feel stupid playing the songs we wrote 20 years ago. We just needed to try to write some new songs together."

Explaining the differences in the process this time around, Lowery stressed the importance of technology: "The biggest change is that we were able to collaborate a lot closer because each of us could just email ideas to each other. We then could work on them in our own time in our own way, at home, before we would have to all get together and rehearse to flesh out the songs."

However, despite recording the album digitally, technology's insurgent domination of the recording industry didn't keep the band from maintaining their feel-the-groove attitude. Lowery continued, "Almost all the recording was done with me, Greg, Jonathan, Victor, and Jimmy, all in the same room at the same time. The last five or six songs were done almost live. We all looked at [digital recording] as a way to get the results that we wanted in less time, so we could spend more time on the real creative aspects of being a musician."

New Roman Times is a concept album set in an alternate universe of sorts where the United States is divided into many different countries rather than states. The story unfolds through the eyes of a young soldier fighting for the Christian Republic of Texas as they invade the Republic of California. Nilla what?

"There is a strong storyline in the record," Lowery explained. "The idea of having a story was to have some self imposed boundaries to work within. But secondly to talk in an exaggerated manner about the current political climate. And by this I don't mean Bush. I mean the deep (and artificial?) division of our country into 'blue' and 'red', conservatives vs. liberals, secularists vs. fundamentalists, science vs. faith..." Or in other words: "Wacko-grape-koolaid-drinking-fascist-homophobe-Christian-right-winger-cretins vs. smart, tolerant and decent people." So we know which side he's on, then, right?

To create a background for the story, the band did a great deal of research covering such topics as alien mythology, Roman history, genetically modified crops, classic surfing beaches, Victorian England, Mexican drug trafficking groups, and cryptography. If all of this sounds a bit complicated for a Camper Van Beethoven album, allow Lowery to calm your fears: "This makes it sound heavier (and more coherent) than it really is. Remember it's CVB after all. It wouldn't be a record if some pot wasn't smoked."

If you were to chronicle the shift in sound from Camper Van Beethoven's debut, 1985's Telephone Free Landslide Victory through Key Lime Pie, you'd see a band that matured, yet continued to incorporate a bevy of influences in their melting-pot of indie folk rock. So how does the New Roman Times compare to the past? According to guitarist Greg Lisher, the album is most similar to 1986's self-titled LP, and although Lowery doesn't completely agree, he does see where Lisher is coming from. "It's as if this record is centered on that point in our career. Some Kaleidoscope or Fugs hillbilly stuff with social commentary; some deep English blues rock fading into prog rock riffs; a little eastern European ska; and some southwestern Fairport Convention.

"We didn't really care if the record 'fit' into the catalogue. We didn't want to set out and try to make a record that ignored the last 15 years of our musical careers and more importantly the last 15 years of music created by other bands... It was most important to us that the record be really good and be very Camper-esque. I can't define that, but a sci-fi prog rock concept record fits the bill." It seems apparent that, much like their other records, New Roman Times stands alone as its own sonic declaration, and that is precisely what makes it fit in. Finally, the tracklist:

01 Prelude
02 New Sons of the Golden West
03 51 7
04 White Fluffy Clouds
05 That Gum You Like is Back in Style
06 Might Makes Right
07 Militia Song
08 R and R Uzbekistan
09 Sons of the New Golden West Reprise
10 New Roman Times
11 The Poppies of Balmorhea
12 The Long Plastic Hallway
13 I am Talking to this Flower
14 Come Out
15 Los Tigres Traficantes
16 I Hate this Part of Texas
17 Hippy Chix
18 Civil Disobedience
19 Discotheque CVB
20 Hey Brother