SPIV was
first rockin'
in 1997. The name was divined by bibliomancy: Chris grabbed the
biggest Webster's dictionary he could find, closed his eyes,
opened the book, dropped his finger on the page, and upon
reading the name upon which it fell, knew that SPIV (one who
uses their wits to avoid a real job) was truly autobiographical.
So far, Chris has been a part of four distinct musical epochs.
Born in San Francisco in 1968, his first words were "pretty
lights" and his mom took banjo lessons from Jerry Garcia
in Menlo Park;
raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, playing in punk rock bands in
the "SLC Punk" era; and attending the Evergreen State College in
Olympia, WA, from 1990-1993, where he played shows with Nirvana
and Bikini Kill, among others. And more currently, in
2005, SPIV opened for Denver breakout band The Fray, and are now
a part of the Colorado music explosion.
SPIV
first honed the sound playing the West Coast and Rocky Mountain
regions, recording a few E.P's at The Blasting
Room in Ft. Collins, Colorado (The Descendents and All's studio)
and then signed to POP SWEATSHOP label in the
Spring of 1999. The album By Definition (released October
5, 1999) features brother
Jeremy Barber on bass and electric violin, and lifelong friend Sean Sippel
on drums. Songs from By Definition received national
(mostly college) airplay and
glowing reviews.
Chris then moved to
Olympia, WA., and followed up By
Definition with a six song EP, Junior, recorded in December
1999 by indie wizard Steve Wold at Moon studios. Junior features Dustin Ingram on the drums, and Edwin Peters
on bass. Several tours followed.
For 2001's Everybody's a Rock Star
Tonight EP, recorded at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, WA.,
Jonny reunited with drummer Sean Sippel, and this time
recruited Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, Big Star, REM) to
play keyboards and bass.
The session went so well
that on SPIV's latest release, Don'tcha Know, Jonny once again decided to work with Ken Stringfellow. Toad
"Too Tuff" Tobin, from Aberdeen's Soylint Green, bashed the drum skins
for four of the cuts.
What resulted is a musical gem. The release date was February 25,
2003.
Since its release, the song
"Songs to Sway to" from Don'tcha Know was selected for Spin
magazine's College Radio Show. "Everybody's a Rock Star Tonight"
was featured on RollingStone.com. Radio stations and house
parties from across the U.S. and in Europe have reported playing
cuts from Don'tcha Know.
With the
disappearance of Jeremy Barber and Sean Sippel to other
callings, Jonny continued on, and spent years trying out various
replacements with varying degrees of success until finding the
current lineup, featuring CW Square Dog on drums, which he is convinced is the best it's been in
years.
Look for
the new SPIV record,
