Ultra Velvet

It’s been a little over a 6 years! since the members of Ultra Velvet went from mercilessly annihilating cover songs in a San Francisco Bay Area rehearsal space to writing over 70 songs that pull influences and references from pre-Star Wars American movies, classic British pop music, and their own opaque humor. “It is not our guiding intention to create obscure music,” says Ultra Velvet’s chef/ songwriter Bryan Harms. “I don’t think any of us are really into prog-rock complexity for complexity’s sake, however, we do attempt to incorporate unusual chord changes with melody-driven tunes, as opposed to allowing the bubble-gum pop crap mentality to govern,” asserts Harms. Graphic designer/drummer David Muench is quick to interject, “Which is not to say that we’re afraid of bubble-gum pop.” Adds guitarist/band fashion coordinator, Joel Proto, “Bring it.” Of course, during a live show, Ultra Velvet can bring it with a cover tune. “Covers for us are explorations. It’s like Morrison said, man, when we were in the desert: ‘Ride the Snake!’ right?” explains bassist/Cobbist Garrett Brown. “And I was all like ‘Fuckin’ Morrison, man, you blow my mind, man!’ And he just smiled that smile, you know, man?” Brown played bass for the seminal American band the Doors before joining Ultra Velvet, and contrary to popular belief, is not British at this time. Adds graphic designer Muench, “Or we’ve got that crowd-pleasing medley of ‘Gimme Some Money’ by the Thamesmen and ‘The End’ by the Doors, but Garrett doesn’t like to play that anymore, because it reminds him of being in the desert with Jim.” Proto notes, “Bring it.” The key to their brand of pop music has been the band’s twin desires of making music they enjoy playing and having a bit of fun with with their enjoyment. “We’re just out there trying to make people happy and/or money,” Harms comments. “There’s certainly a sarcastic sense of humor to our approach to this crazy, mixed-up world. At the same time, we’re quite serious about everything. However, we’re not arrogant musicians. Or at least 20% of the time we aren’t not. Frankly, I’ll tell you this, we enjoy having fun. Not that that means anything or has any validity or informational value.” Harms notes that his lyrics come from many different viewpoints. “I usually attempt to write from the perspective of some character’s character. That is I try to write as if I were a person, which I am, but I mean another person, you see?, who is writing from the perspective of ANOTHER person. You see? I would understand if you don’t. It’s pretty intense. Wait, that doesn’t sound dumb, does it?” No, clearly what pushes Ultra Velvet beyond standard cliches is their innate ability to simply stand up and play. Nothing dumb about it. Or as Proto suggests, “Bring it.”

its been a while, our last show was with Train @ the Fillmore in San Francisco on July 31st 1998.

so its been a while... if enough people keep bugging us i think we will gig...

Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Creeper Lagoon, Elliot Smith. the Beatles.