The Ocean Blue?

I was listening to Cerulean for the first time in years and suddenly realized: some of the lyrics are pretty judgmental! All about people who don't understand, like, the true path in life. (See: "Ballerina out of Control.")

Haha also watched a video of theirs in which Schelzel, between the chili-bowl haircut, facial expression, and extremely dated jeans, looks rather (I'm sorry) like he has some variety of developmental disability

Rocking out to the s/t debut for the first time in FOREVER & am struck by the precision with which the guitarist out-shimmers Will Sargent while simultaneously totally ripping him off! No hate here, though. Those guys knew exactly what bands they wanted to sound like & proceeded to fashion their sound as such w/ German precision. And, twenty years later, it still sounds fantastic!

RE: Cerulean lyrics - I recall being 15 & a little embarrassed over liking that song about various types of flowers when most of my friends were listening to things like Pantera & Rage Against the Machine.

I liked the first two albums so much but they were (are) faintly boring.

Ah, but its banality is part of its charm somehow. It is comfortable music, like a reliable old pair of jeans or something. Anyway, reviewing my last post, I don't know how much "rocking out" I was doing - more like plaintive nodding? I'd like to listen to Cerulean again as well. I remember that one as being all around the better of the first two, no? I never paid attention past that one. Could there be some relevatory experiences tucked away in late-career Ocean Blue albums? They seemed to put out quite a few, if I recall correctly.

Speaking of Steve Lau, try his organic wine.

Heard "Ballerina Out of Control" at CVS tonight!

christ I used to post such bullshit.

Up this one goes and OUCH, I must say.

As they are one of my all time favorites.

The band v. Steve Lau "being gay" was a misunderstanding of epic proportions by everyone except the band and Steve Lau. They wanted to go in a more guitar oriented direction, Steve wanted to produce. So, that's what they did. A much forgotten fact is that bassist Bobby Mittan left the fold around the same time for a lot of the same reasons (differences of opinion about the direction of the band). There may have been some bitterness at the time, but it had nothing to do with anyone being gay. There are Ocean Blue bootlegs from about a decade ago (Davy Jones' Locker era) where David Schezel sees Steve Lau in the audience and introduces him very cordially. So, consider the hatchet —if there ever was one— long buried.

Anyway, sorry to seem defensive, but they really are a fantastic band and they just released a new album that is easily their best since Beneath the Rhythm + Sound (which is my hands down favorite). Here's the leadoff single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcSYb8fCIOY

Another track from the new album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjJa1atS694

my friends the orange peels are doing 4 shows with them in CA next month, go if you can (2 in SF, 2 in LA; I think half of these shows are already sold out)

the city pages has a new local music videos column each week and the head line said the ocean blue and i was like LoL some younguns didn't know that was already a band but i guess it's THE ocean blue and they relocated to Mpls and started a record label here! weird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vB2gg-42EtY

This Ultramarine is friggin good. Been years since i listened to them...

Too bad they seem to have been blacklisted 'round these parts because it is definitely a winner of an album. One of my favorites of the year, easily.

In 2015, the band’s first 3 albums for Sire will be reissued on vinyl, and the band will be performing their first 2 records in concert, in their entirety, as part of a limited number of special shows to mark the occasion.

A new full length record is in the works and slated for release in 2016.

TOUR DATES:

11/15 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
11/19 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
11/20 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
11/21 – Washington, DC – Jammin Java
11/22 – Lancaster, PA – Chameleon Club

never heard of them before but the debut is very nice late 80s indie guitar pop.
as said above : comfortable.

I head "Cerulean" at a Publix last month.

Very excited for a new record from these guys.

Just found digital promos of the reissues in my inbox (I find this idea odd, digital promos of vinyl-only reissues, but whatever, I'll take it!). I don't really remember them, but these guys are great.

Bought a fairly expensive copy of their debut on vinyl last year ($25), but the first two albums are both great. I once wrote to them and asked them about the Smiths, before they covered There Is A Light, and one of their Mom's wrote back to me, included a signed picture and promo cd. Pretty cool. Then I heard they were homophobes and stopped listening. Was that just a rumor or is it true?

Then I heard they were homophobes and stopped listening. Was that just a rumor or is it true?

answer in the thread.
summary : no(well, my reading of the thread)

It seems completely at odds with the band, their image, their sound etc, to have them fire someone for being gay. I hope it was a misunderstanding but how do you go from creative differences to fired for being gay? Worst game of telephone ever.

probably wouldn't have happened in the Internet era

I was mistaken about Bobby Mittan above, think I got 'im confused with Rob Mining.

But all the other stuff RE: Steve Lau is accurate.

Steve produced one of my all time favorite albums right before the time he left tOB with Riverside's One. It's a bright, jangly album with slight shoegaze influences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAzb-fFCrH0

The band v. Steve Lau "being gay" was a misunderstanding of epic proportions by everyone except the band and Steve Lau. They wanted to go in a more guitar oriented direction, Steve wanted to produce. So, that's what they did. A much forgotten fact is that bassist Bobby Mittan left the fold around the same time for a lot of the same reasons (differences of opinion about the direction of the band). There may have been some bitterness at the time, but it had nothing to do with anyone being gay. There are Ocean Blue bootlegs from about a decade ago (Davy Jones' Locker era) where David Schezel sees Steve Lau in the audience and introduces him very cordially. So, consider the hatchet —if there ever was one— long buried.

i took this as the definitive say so in this ..

Well, thank you very much.

sorry, did not mean to come over as hardcore, just my interpretation of the thread to date.

No, that was a genuine thank you.

ahh phew.

have really succumbed to their delicate 80s indie groove of late - new moodswing and all that ..

I currently prefer Horsebeach when I want to put on some 80s style indie jangle, but there was a time when the Ocean Blue dominated my listening time. I should give their albums post Beneath Rhythm & Sound a spin.

The Planetarium Scene + Emotions Ring both sound pretty fantastic today.

Beneath the Rhythm and Sound is my favorite, but Ultramarine is their best later period work.

The band v. Steve Lau "being gay" was a misunderstanding of epic proportions by everyone except the band and Steve Lau. They wanted to go in a more guitar oriented direction, Steve wanted to produce. So, that's what they did. A much forgotten fact is that bassist Bobby Mittan left the fold around the same time for a lot of the same reasons (differences of opinion about the direction of the band). There may have been some bitterness at the time, but it had nothing to do with anyone being gay. There are Ocean Blue bootlegs from about a decade ago (Davy Jones' Locker era) where David Schezel sees Steve Lau in the audience and introduces him very cordially. So, consider the hatchet —if there ever was one— long buried.

i took this as the definitive say so in this ..

I guess I have a different definition of "definitive." "It was a misunderstanding" is the band's explanation, which Austin repeats here. How is that definitive?

I know Steve. After he left the group, he told me it was because he was gay. To me, that's definitive, unless Steve tells me otherwise. Doesn't have to be definitive to you, because you don't know me. (He also said the same thing in a 1995 Out magazine interview, according to multiple references online, though I couldn't find the original via Google, which casts some doubt on its existence.)

The Ocean Blue started as a Christian band. That's a fact. Followers of Christ often don't like gay people. That's a fact. Bands sometimes lie about their history in order to make themselves seem like better people, or because they're embarrassed at something they did when they were young, or because time has scrambled their memories about how certain things happened. That's a fact.

The fact that they're now cordial? That could just be forgiveness.

But IDK, maybe Austin is saying Steve misunderstood why he was kicked out of the band. Or maybe Steve misunderstood sexuality and isn't actually gay.

Hey Ernie,

Tell Steve he's a good man. He probably already knows it, but it certainly doesn't hurt to hear it from a stranger from time to time.

Every version of the story I've ever heard has Steve leaving the group of his own accord. I'm not saying anything other than just that: he left. Maybe he was asked to leave, I don't know. That's a bad situation indeed if that was the case. Inexcusable even.

But I'd like to think that we grow up and learn from our mistakes. I certainly regret many things I did ten, fifteen years ago even though I had to do those things in order to learn they were mistakes. If we just go on living the same life and never learn anything, it becomes apparent to those around us who were wronged and they eventually leave. But the fact that Steve is friendly again with his old band mates tells me that mistakes were indeed made, but wrongs have since been righted and people are older, wiser. Imperfect and flawed, just like the rest of us.

idk anything about the above controversy and i don't care tbh

posting because this band played at the venue attached to my workplace last night and i snuck in for a couple minutes to see if i could hear a song i recognized and i did! i walked in right as "drifting, falling" started and had a massive flashback (not really a bad one just a weird shimmery time warp), enjoyed the very jangly guitars for a minute, and went back to work.

I like to put on Cerulean in the autumn and think about lazy days when I left my high school at lunchtime and listened to my walkman in a park somewhere.

I won that album off my local college (actually k-12) radio station before they banned me from winning bc I won too much. It’s how I learned the word “cerulean” but honestly I found it mostly kind of uninspiring bc I was very angry at the time. It’s much more pleasant as an adult!

Hearing "Sublime" on heavy rotation in fall '93 during the season of In Utero was one of those glimpses into a college radio world already vanishing.

Ocean Blue are miles better than Nirvana. Actual melodies, decent lyrics, no heroin addictions, no abandoning a little baby because you're privileged life as a millionaire is so hard.

Sure! And Benjamin Harrison was a better man than FDR.

I remember someone saying one of the songs off Beneath the Rhythm and Sound was an anti-Bill Clinton screed, that's some classic 90s Internet. Could be true though!

"Cerulean" at the campus bookstore an hour ago....unexpected.

I thought I heard Ice Skating at Night at Dulles Airport early one morning but I was just hallucinating from being awake for like 36 hours straight

i'd be extremely pleased to encounter "mercury" in the wild.