Sky Parade

Sky Parade are a Los Angeles based psychedelic pop band led by musician and producer Tommy Dietrick, formerly of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Smallstone.

EARLY FORMATION

Sky Parade began as a recording project in 2004 amongst fellow musicians Jason Anchondo (The Warlocks, Spindrift, Hawkeye), Matthew Lindgren (Currently of Magic Mirror) Bobby Bones (Spindrift, Psychic TV ) and whomever would make the trek from Silverlake to Encino where Tommy has actively worked as a producer in his aptly named recording studio, Skylab since 2001. Various early collaborators include Jeff Davies (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, Tin Machine), Miranda Lee Richards, Guylaine Vivarat, Sharif Dumani and many other locals. After performing in several bands beginning at the age of 14, Tommy decided to make Sky Parade his primary focus after completing the band's first album, Fire In The Sky in 2005.

Fire In The Sky was recorded on a 16 track analog tape machine and mixed without automation with the exception of the opening track "Fire In Your Heart", "Stolen Hymns" and "My Eyes Are Bleeding Tears" which were completed after incorporating a Pro Tools rig into the otherwise all analog studio. The 1st song the band ever wrote together, "Losing Control" instantly caught the attention of local press and radio and sparked a cult worldwide following for the group.

THE LINEUP

After recording a majority of Fire In The Sky and performing shows with the band from 2004 through early 2005, Jason (Plucky) Anchondo's touring schedule with The Warlocks prevented him from staying on and so was replaced by Dan Allaire. At this time what might be considered the 1st concrete lineup of the band emerged. This lineup remained consistent from 2005-2009 with one exception - Dan would later be replaced by Joel Patterson in 2007. This lineup would be Tommy Dietrick on vocals and guitar, Matthew Lindgren on Lead Guitar, Bobby Bones on Bass and Dan on Drums with Joel replacing him in 2007. In 2009 the lineup would change again with the addition of a new lead guitar, Scott Moran, who would later be fired in 2011 for unspecified reasons but believed to involve personal issues with Tommy. Over the years a few keyboard players were introduced but never stuck. They were Joey Rossiter and Guylaine Vivarat who both actively pursue their own projects currently.

UNDERGROUND vs MAINSTREAM

Los Angeles in 2004-2005 was teaming with great independent acts. Although Fire In The Sky seemed to capture a fair amount of buzz for the band and did well amongst underground. college and some major FM DJ's, the band seemed destined to hover the underground. The band's first break did not come for them in the USA. In late 2005, the offer of a support slot from British band, The Bluetones, saw the band playing to enthusiastic audiences all over the U.K. The band received another boost when by the end of 2005 Fire In The Sky was beginning to hit radio markets in the emerging online and satellite radio worlds. Although Sky Parade has teamed up with various Independent labels including So Sweet Records, Custom Made Music, Ripple Music, Northern Star Records, Dead Bees Records and Green Fuse Records, most of these releases were limited edition CD's and Vinyl. Ultimately, Sky Parade did many releases themselves and has sold thousands of digital downloads with little help from outside of the band. Much of this was possible because of the new digital revolution which had begun with the likes of Myspace, Facebook and Twitter.

DISCOGRAPHY

1) Stolen Hymns EP (2005)
2) Fire In The Sky (2005)
3) Love Is Forever (2007)
4) High On Desire EP (2008)
5) Split 12" w/ Black Nite Crash (2009)
6) Intoxicated (2010)
7) I Should Be Coming up (But I Keep Coming Down) 7" Single (2010)
8) Trails Of Light (2012)
9) Broken Hearts Will Kill Us All (2013)

2007-2010

After pushing hard and playing consistently on the west coast from 2004-2006, Sky Parade started on their 2nd full length album, Love Is Forever, which would draw the group away from a psychedelic indie sound and push toward a more dreamy etherial sound. Although the band was happy with the new album, it did little to push Sky Parade further along. The two best known tracks on the album would be "I Feel Surreal" and the title track "Love Is Forever". It wouldn't be until the following year in 2008 when a little 4 song EP titled "High On Desire" would see the band's top selling track on iTunes. To this day, the title track "High On Desire" is a fan favorite and it was even featured on Showtimes hit series Californication with David Duchovny. High On Desire marked a return to the kind of sexy psychedelic pop sound that the band is best known for. The new EP also saw the first of many collaborations with Smashing Pumpkins Guitarist, Jeff Schroeder, as it was around this time that Matthew was starting to pull away from the group in order to pursue a project of his own. Jeff plays guitar on "Paralyze" from the High On Desire EP. The band seemed back on track, having even been selected as "Song of the Day" on pre-emiment Los Angeles Radio station Indie 103. Sky Parade suited up and returned to the U.K. headlining clubs while still staying active primarily on the west coast from San Diego to Seattle.

Whatever warm breeze that blew over the band from The High On Desire era of 2008-2009 was interrupted by the departure of Matthew Lindgren by mid 2009. This was very hard on the band and so the remaining members decided to get back in the studio and re-invent the group with it's next full length album, Intoxicated. One interesting note during period in 2009 is that Tommy met and became friends with legendary guitar player for The Doors, Robby Krieger. Robby asked Tommy and Joel to join him in a recording project/band called Treehouse. Later the group would perform a one-off gig at the 3rd Annual Clean Air Clear Stars Festival playing classic Doors songs like "The End", "Roadhouse Blues" and "5 to 1" as well as new material that the band had collaborated on.

If Fire In The Sky is "Indie Rock", Love is Forever is "Dreamy Pop" and High On Desire is "Psychedelic Pop" - Intoxicated is a kind of marriage of 1970s psychedelic rock within a psychedelic pop styling that began with the High On Desire EP. For the album's Single, Sky Parade teamed up with Courtney Taylor Taylor and Zia McCabe of The Dandy Warhols on the track "I Should Be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down)". Working with the Dandy's at their Odditoriium studio in Portland would prove a great experience for Sky Parade. Intoxicated would be the band's most successful venture to date with the album becoming top 20 on the nations largest Independent radio station, KEXP, in July of 2010. The Seattle based station invited the group up to perform live on air and they did the following month. The band would later return in 2012 to perform alongside Mark Gardener of legendary shoegaze band, RIDE. Excited about the new energy created by Intoxicated, the band again embarked on a USA, UK and EU tour in support of the new album... Alas, it would be perhaps the worst most unimaginable tour any of the members had ever been on in or out of Sky Parade...

On the 1st show of the tour in front of a packed crowd at the Bootleg theatre in Los Angeles, Tommy's pedal board short circuited after the 1st song and thus was forced to perform sans effects. After leaving New York and entering the U.K., the band saw poor promotion for many of the English dates and the band were not paid for 4 or 5 shows. Money was pouring out for everything but little was coming back in. Tommy and Joel joked as they survived on Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches until they arrived into the warm arms of the French who lifted their spirits briefly until the band's near fatal bus crash in North Paris on the evening before a gig in Paris. The bus crashed in a tunnel sending smoke and debris into the vehicle but thankfully no one was injured. The dilapidated vehicle somehow managed to limp through another 2 weeks on the road but cost the band thousands even with insurance. Upon returning to England, two more shows were cancelled due to poor promotion. By the time the group landed back in Los Angeles, spirits were at an all time low... If there was any saving grace in this picture it was that the band just landed a licensing deal with Sony for their new single "I Should Be Coming (But I Keep Coming Down)". The track would be featured in Gran Turismo 5, a highly successful video game which sold some 6-7 million copies worldwide since it's release. The money was enough to cover all of the losses incurred by the crash and the tour but the experiencel left quite a bruise on all members of the band.

2011-2013

After the ordeal in Europe, Sky Parade again retreated into the studio. By mid 2011, Tommy was busier than ever producing and engineering in the studio for other artists and it seemed that the band was put on a kind of de facto haitus. Two things helped to keep the band moving forward in 2011. The first was a surprise one off show with Mark Gardener (of RIDE) where the band performed classic Ride songs with Mark at the 5th annual Clean Air Clear Stars Festival in Joshua Tree, CA. The band had met Mark sometime around 2004 and became friends. The second was the decision to release a 20 song retrospective, Trails Of Light, featuring newly re-mixed and re-mastered songs from the band's existing catalog. While primarily focussed on producing for much of 2011, Tommy and the band slowly began to write new material. After deciding it was not working out with their current lead guitar player, the band fired Scott Moran and re-enlisted the help of both Matthew Lindgren and Jeff Schroeder to get the ball rolling for the band's next album, Broken Hearts Will Kill Us All. It was around this time that Tommy's personal life was in ruins having split with his longtime girlfriend whom he had married in 2009. Hence the album title was a direct reflection of where things were coming from. During this period very few shows were performed until the Summer of 2012 when the band again united with Mark Gardener for a very special tour in honor of the 20 year anniversary of Ride's seminal shoegaze masterpiece, Going Blank Again. In front of sold out crowds from San Francisco to Melbourne, the tour re-energized the band's spirit and for a period Matthew was back on playing lead guitar which helped to re-focus the group into a unified force.

Currently the band is rehearsing and preparing to get back on the stage in support of their new release, Broken Hearts Will Kill Us All.

"Sky Parade caught the ears of the L.A. underground with the song "Losing Control", a joyride of dense, churning guitars that sounds like Primal Scream getting Spiritualized. You figured good things were in store for the quartet if there were more where that came from."