Black Mountain (band)

Black Mountain
Black Mountain performing at the Mercury Lounge, New York City on October 10, 2007.
Background information
Origin	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres	Psychedelic rock, neo-progressive rock, space rock
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Jagjaguwar, Outside Music
Associated acts	Blood Meridian Ex-Dead Teenager Jerk With a Bomb Pink Mountaintops Lightning Dust Sinoia Caves
Website	www.blackmountainarmy.com
Members
Matt Camirand Stephen McBean Jeremy Schmidt Amber Webber Joshua Wells

Black Mountain is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band is composed of Stephen McBean, Amber Webber, Matt Camirand, Jeremy Schmidt and Joshua Wells.

Overview

Since forming in 2004, Black Mountain has released three LPs, Black Mountain (2005), In the Future (2008), and Wilderness Heart (2010), and two EPs, Druganaut (2004) and Bastards of Light (2008) on the Jagjaguwar label. A split single with Destroyer was released in Fall 2004 on Spirit of Orr Records. The "Stormy High" single was released in 2006 on Suicide Squeeze Records. A vinyl single was released in April 2007 named "Surrender Sound Session: Unkle vs. Autolux/Black Mountain" with a remix of "No Hits" on the B side.

Their self-titled album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. In the Future was a finalist for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize and was also nominated for "Best Alternative Album" in the 2009 Juno Awards. The song "Stay Free" from In the Future was featured on the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.

In 2005 the band opened for Coldplay on their Twisted Logic Tour for three weeks, with their final opening in San Diego.

In September 2010 Black Mountain performed in an amphitheater located in the woods of Oisterwijk at the Incubate (festival) in Tilburg, Netherlands.

Leader Stephen McBean also heads another similarly named band, Pink Mountaintops, who are the more experimental side of McBean's musical abilities. Black Mountain is the front line band for Black Mountain Army, a collective of musicians, artists and friends in Vancouver. In an interview the band said "Black Mountain is just the five of us. The Black Mountain Army… which has kind of gotten blown out of proportion, it was kind of just a joke, because everybody thought we were this hippie collective, like we all lived in one house. But it’s basically just our friends at home in Vancouver, just our extended family of creative people that we know." ^[1]

Several members of the band have, for as long as a decade, worked for organizations that meet the basic living requirements of the chronically poor, drug addicted and mentally ill in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighborhood, such as Insite.^[2][3] In an interview, the band said: "After work we all try not to think too hard about the effect it has on our lives. It keeps us grounded."^[4]

Wilderness Heart was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.^[5]

Discography

Albums

• Black Mountain (2005, Jagjaguwar)
• In the Future (2008, Jagjaguwar) – album debuted at #72 on the UK Album Chart.
• Wilderness Heart (2010, Jagjaguwar / Outside Music)

EPs

• Druganaut (2005, Jagjaguwar)
• Stormy High (2006, Suicide Squeeze)
• Bastards of Light (2008, Jagjaguwar)
• Lucy Brown (2008, Sub Pop)
• Rollercoaster b/w In The Drones (26/4/2011, Jagjaguwar)

Related bands

• Blood Meridian
• Ex-Dead Teenager
• Jerk With a Bomb
• Lightning Dust
• Pink Mountaintops
• Sinoia Caves

See also

Music of Canada portal

• List of bands from Canada
• List of Canadian musicians

References

1. ^ http://www.panpot.ca/features/renderInterview.php?id=65
2. ^ Berman, Sarah (January 13, 2009). "Local rockers support Insite in more ways than one". The Thunderbird. http://thethunderbird.ca/2009/01/13/black-mountain-show/?isalt=0. Retrieved December 4, 2010. 
3. ^ "BrightestYoungThings: Black Mountain Interview". http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/articles/black-mountain-interview.htm. Retrieved December 4, 2010. 
4. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/10289-profile-black-mountain
5. ^ "2011 Polaris Music Prize Long List announced". aux.tv, June 16, 2011.

External links

• Official Website
• Black Mountain on Myspace