GospelbeacH - Another Winter Alive (2018)

Featuring a handful of noted veterans of the West Coast indie pop community, GospelbeacH play music that harks back to several eras of California music, from folk-rock and sunshine pop to country-rock and the paisley underground scene. GospelbeacH were formed in 2014 by vocalist and guitarist Brent Rademaker, who in the '90s and 2000s had made a name for himself in the bands Beachwood Sparks, Further, and the Tyde. Rademaker had grown disenchanted with music as a career and spent a few years in Florida, where he worked at a gallery framing artwork. But after Rademaker reconnected with drummer Tom Sanford, who had played in an early lineup of Beachwood Sparks, the two began jamming together for fun and Rademaker felt the urge to form a new band to play the songs he'd been writing with Sanford.

Back in California, Rademaker and Sanford got in touch with guitarist and singer Neal Casal, another former member of Beachwood Sparks who had also launched a solo career when not busy recording and touring with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. To fill out the lineup, the three musicians brought in a pair of friends, bassist Kip Boardman and guitarist Jason Soda, both of whom has been part of the Watson Twins' backing band, while Soda was also a member of Everest. Word about the new group began to spread before the bandmembers had even settled on a name, and they were approached by Patrick Boissel of Alive Naturalsound Records, who not only offered to release an album by them (the label had previously worked with Beachwood Sparks), but suggested the band name GospelbeacH, which reflected their musical passion as well as their California heritage and style.

Rademaker and Soda teamed up with Scott Hackwith to produce the group's first album, and GospelbeacH's debut, Pacific Surf Line, was released in October 2015. The combo's debt to the Grateful Dead and their interlocking guitar sound was clear, but by the time of their second record, 2017's Another Summer of Love, they had switched gears. With Soda behind the board again and keyboardist Jonny Niemann joining him, Rademaker and a wide range of friends, including vocalist Miranda Lee Richards, streamlined their jam band sound and displayed their deep knowledge of the pop teachings of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, while retaining their warm West Coast soul. ~ Mark Deming