Spindrift (band)

Spindrift (band)

Spindrift is a psychedelic rock band created by singer-songwriter-composer-producer-actor Kirpatrick Thomas. Founded in 1992, the band originated in Newark, Delaware along with such other local bands of the period including Jake and the Stiffs, The Verge, Boy Sets Fire, Zen Guerilla and Smashing Orange. Heavily influenced by The Doors, My Bloody Valentine, Hawkwind, Bruce Haack, and Chrome, Spindrift's early stages were experimental and differed greatly from their present sound.

In the Summer of 2001, band members Kirpatrick Thomas, Joe Baluta and Zachary Hansen re-located to Los Angeles. The band re-formed to include Bobby Bones, Dave Koenig, Frankie "Teardrop" Emerson and Rob Campanella of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Jason “Plucky” Anchondo of The Warlocks. Inspired by their new locale, the band began a new stylistic approach evoking the spirit of the Old West as mythologized by Western Cinema, Spaghetti Westerns in particular.

In 2005, Kirpatrick Thomas along with filmmaker Mike Bruce began production on the psychedelic western independent feature film The Legend Of God’s Gun, inspired by the same classic Western Films that influenced their music, most often those directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Morricone.

During this period (2005–2009), the lineup consisted of David Koenig on rhythm guitar and harmonica, Julie Patterson on vocals, organ, and lap steel, Jason "Plucky" Anchondo on drums, Henry Evans on double neck bass and baritone guitar, and Kirpatrick Thomas on vocals and guitar. Tours with Dead Meadow (Kirpatrick Thomas filled in for an ailing Jason Simons on guitar during one tour), The Black Angels, and The Dandy Warhols followed until November 2009 when the band suffered a major lineup change due to tour burnout and financial difficulties.

It was around this time that Spindrift began performing electro-acoustic shows with a more intimate, stripped down campfire atmosphere under the name of "Bluniform" and "Boy Scout Jamboree" with Koenig and Thomas taking the lead harmonies and performing tunes written by the likes of the "singing cowboys" such as Johnny Western, Johnny Bond, Tex Ritter, The Louvin Brothers, Frankie Laine, The Sons of the Pioneers, and Rex Allen. Spindrift also began incorporating these songs into their regular set and on occasion, would play them live. This would prove to be a huge influence on their later years.

In December 2009, Henry Evans and Kirpatrick Thomas began reforming and rebuilding Spindrift while rehearsing and writing new songs in the Gram Parsons death room at Joshua Tree Inn. Added were Luke Dawson (who was innkeeper at the time) on pedal steel and rhythm guitar, Sasha Vallely on vocals, organ, and Native American flute, and James Acton on autoharp, vocals, and drums. This current lineup performed at SXSW 2010, Psych Fest III, supported Black Mountain, and toured Europe for the first time with B.R.M.C. in May 2010. In December 2010 after a 7 week U.S. Tour and following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the band went in and tracked Classic Soundtracks Volume 1 at Hicksville Trailer Palace in Joshua Tree, CA.