Lavender Diamond

Lavender Diamond is a Los Angeles-based Folk/country-pop quartet known for its light-hearted, often winsome sound, its simple, romantic lyrics, and the charismatic, whimsical stage presence and ethereal vocals of frontwoman Becky Stark.

History

While living in Providence, Rhode Island, Stark began performing as Lavender Diamond in a play that she and puppeteer Xander Marro wrote, created and toured with called "Birdsongs of the Bauharoque", [http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/462] inspired by the work of artist Paul Laffoley. A self-produced CD of Stark's songs accompanied the tour in a hand-sewn, silkscreened sleeve. Lavender Diamond grew into a four-piece band after Stark relocated to Los Angeles. With the help of local patrons Brian Kaneda and Josh Scuteri, Lavender Diamond self-released a four-song EP and have performed at L.A.'s ArthurFest, at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and at the CMJ New Music Seminar in New York City. In 2006 Lavender Diamond signed to Rough Trade Records in Europe, and Matador Records in the U.S., and toured and performed with The Decemberists for three weeks.

Becky Stark performs solo and has a band called The Mystical Unionists with drummer/cartoonist Ron Regé Jr. Regé draws and Stark writes a Lavender Diamond comic strip entitled "Peace Comics." Rege furnishes the band with all of its artwork.

In November 2007, they released a cover of Madonna's song "Like A Prayer" on a charity/tribute record, "Through the Wilderness"

Members

* Becky Stark — vocals
* Steve Gregoropoulos — piano, vocals
* Ron Regé Jr. — drums
* Devon Williams — guitar, vocals

Former Members

* Jeffrey Rosenberg — guitar, vocals

Elvis Perkins also played guitar on the band's first single.

Discography

* "Artifacts Of The Winged" 12-song solo CD (2003, self-released)
* "When Are You Coming Home?" b/w "Wild" (2003, self-released)
* "Cavalry of Light" EP (2005, self-released)
* Split 7" with Queens of Sheeba, Devendra Banhart (2005, Cold Sweat records)
* "Imagine Our Love" full-length album (2007)
* Through the Wilderness a tribute to Madonna on Manimal Vinyl Records performing "Like A Prayer" (2007)

ee also

* New Weird America

External links

* [http://www.lavenderdiamond.com Official Site]
*

Articles

* [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/13883400/rolling_stones_10_artists_to_watch/3 Rolling Stone]
* [http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=2301 Arthur Magazine]
* [http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/notebook/2007/03/12/070312gonb_GOAT_notebook_frerejones New Yorker]
* [http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0721,wood,76788,22.html Village Voice]
* [http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/courier-of-joy/1062/ L.A. Weekly]
* [http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2007/05/27/lavender_diamonds_positive_glow/ Boston Globe]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=3090621&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 ABC News]