The first video from the new double CD GO WEST, released August 18, 2009:
AMCB'S MY SPACE GROUND RULES:
We NEVER randomly send friend requests to people. We ALWAYS e-mail first (unless we already know you personally). We listen to every band and check out every profile that friends us. We add almost every individual person that sends us a friend request, but we usually refuse bulk friend requests. We don't want 10,000 friends that we'll never see or hear from again.
SEMI-OFFICIAL BAND BIO, QUOTE-UNQUOTE:
Recently described in SPIN magazine as "a high-energy cross between Brian Wilson, Paul Stanley, and Elton John,” Adam Marsland's restless muse has touched on rock, punk, baroque pop, soul and roots through the course of nine albums and 25 tours. When his label collapsed, he went totally underground, touring for 2 1/2 years and selling thousands of albums out of the back of a 1994 Toyota Tercel. Gradually, Marsland's brutally honest, complex but catchy songs attracted a new audience, culminating when the 2008 compilation DAYLIGHT KISSING NIGHT: ADAM MARSLAND'S GREATEST HITS peaked at No. 17 on amazon's rock chart.
This writer of songs "almost too literate and catchy for mass consumption" (All Music Guide) founded the L.A. based high-octane pop-punk band Cockeyed Ghost, signing to Rykodisc-distributed indie Big Deal in 1996. Two albums followed as did appearances with Fastball, Third Eye Blind and Shonen Knife, on the cover of the L.A. Weekly and in an NBC-TV movie. A change in membership and a move toward a broader pop canvas resulted in 1999's THE SCAPEGOAT FACTORY, which The New York Press named album of the year. It also coincided with Big Deal going bankrupt, killing momentum for the band.
The band pressed on with its last and finest album, LUDLOW 6:18. At first ignored and poorly distributed, LUDLOW 6:18 CD eventually garnered a small, but devoted following, partly due to Adam's relentless solo touring (documented on his 2002 live album 232 DAYS ON THE ROAD). He also contributed keyboards and vocals for 2008 Tony Award winner Stew and The Negro Problem on tours with Counting Crows and John Mayer and on the highly acclaimed albums Joys and Concerns and The Naked Dutch Painter.
Returning to Los Angeles, Adam formed an alliance with soul chanteuse Evie Sands (a much-covered songwriter and the original voice of "Angel of the Morning," along with three Billboard-charting singles of her own). Along with Cockeyed Ghost alumni Kurt Medlin and Severo and keyboardist John Perry, they cut Adam's solo studio debut YOU DON'T KNOW ME, which was released in 2004 and was the first of Adam's records to garner substantial commercial radio play, but soon afterwards Adam was felled by a mysterious illness (years later revealed to be an undiagnosed jaw infection) that plagued his hearing and interfered with performing.
By mid-2005 he had recovered enough that Adam Marsland's Chaos Band -- with Dragster Barbie bassist Teresa Cowles replacing Severo, who left to join The Smithereens – began to stun audiences with its versatility, playing as many as 60 songs (originals and covers ranging from the O'Jays to the Dead Kennedys) in one night. They then mounted an ambitious tribute to Beach Boys Carl and Dennis Wilson with archivist/Grammy nominee Alan Boyd. This drew the attention of Beach Boy Al Jardine, who appeared with the band at a few shows that year.
Grammy-award winning engineer Mark Linett (Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE)recorded the band's June 24, 2006 performance for the LONG PROMISED ROAD: SONGS OF DENNIS AND CARL WILSON – LIVE album, which was released over the internet in December and hit record stores March 13, 2007. The album, which showcased the band's harmonic and instrumental versatility and was released with few studio overdubs, was a steady seller throughout the year and even made the short list for a Grammy nomination.
In 2008 Adam completed his return to full-time music-making with a 20 track album called "Daylight Kissing Night - Adam Marsland's Greatest Hits," released on March 18, 2008. The CD immediately sold out across the U.S., followed by a traditional media campaign and a 40-date national tour in the summer.
Upon returning from tour, Adam immediately set to work on his first album of original material in five years. Despite the deaths of two family members and a home invasion, recording progressed so well that two album's worth of material was recorded around a coming-of-age storyline. The stylistically varied, 23-track double album GO WEST was released on August 18, 2009, immediately shooting to the top of Amazon's best-seller list, reaching No. 22, followed by an extensive national press and radio campaign and a full-band tour of the U.S. throughout the last quarter of 2009. GO WEST made significant inroads to college radio, with 120 stations adding the record. Many critics and listeners considered the album Adam's finest album to date, but despite its quality (and a popular video for the single "When I Lied To Everyone"), the extreme length and diversity of the album coupled with the recession hindered its breaking through to a larger audience.
While on tour, Adam added another jaw-dropping achievement to his resume: he wrote an entire new album in the van, and recorded all 14 songs from start to finish with his touring band in one 8-hour session at a studio outside Cleveland, Ohio with noted metal producer Bill Korecky. Titled HELLO CLEVELAND, it is scheduled for release in January 2010. He also unexpectedly reunited for the first time in 6 years with his former bandmates in Cockeyed Ghost for a benefit concert in December 2009, and has left open the possibility of future reunion shows.
In addition to recording and touring his own music, in the last several years Adam has become an increasingly sought-after triple threat (keyboards/guitar/vocals) session player and sideman with a reputation for accuracy and detail, most notably after recording and playing live with Hal Blaine, Don Randi and Jerry Cole of the legendary Wrecking Crew. His list of backing credits includes members of the Beach Boys, Stew, Davie Allan, Carnie and Wendy Wilson, Pete Ham of Badfinger (posthumously), Paul Collins, Julia Fordham, Kjehl Johansen (Urinals), Sara Stanley, Rich McCulley, Kaz Murphy, Jeff Merchant and countless others. He acted as producer on soul singer Norman Kelsey's 2007 debut album A Talent For Loving, as well as arranging vocals on Anny Celsi's 2009 album Tangle Free World, and acting as music director for the October 2008 Carl Wilson Foundation concert.
