"Truly out-of-sight, the seven-piece band celebrates the outlaw spirit with spooky, tripped-out variations on Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Western tradition. Live, they swirl and tremble like a lucid dream, banging a gong and shaking their tambourines for rattlesnake effect, jamming until the audience feels engulfed by a sandstorm."– Salt Lake City Weekly
"Spindrift stage experimental, epic, cinematically inspired music more akin to the textured, symphonic layers of Portishead than the chaps and 10-gallon hat–wearing Riders in the Sky….makes you feel like you've just been made love to by a handsome stranger, a genius visceral experience." – L.A. Weekly
"…saddle on up for the Spindrift experience, which is sure to feel like wandering out of the sun-baked dunes of Death Valley while clutching a Flying Burrito Brothers LP and gumming a mouthful of peyote." – Portland Mercury
"Thomas and his musical cohorts are creating a scene that embraces the outlaw…adding a psychedelic ingredient to the mix…he and other neo-cosmic cowboys have excavated an essence that seems more relevant today than ever before, a surreal and dark cowboy anti-hero for a spiritually and ethically decaying world." – L.A. Alternative
"Spindrift's songs meld the classic Western sound with '60s psychedelic rock." – Monterey County Weekly
The mists of Spindrift began casting their hypnotic haze upon the eastern shores of the United States in 1992. For the next decade, the captain of the mothership, singer/songwriter/guitar-slinger, Kirpatrick Thomas (a.k.a. "KP"), sailed the sonic sea, letting the music carry him and his band to faraway places to perform for audiences around the world. Eight records later, Kirpatrick felt the undeniable pull of the west, and ventured into the sunset in search of a new world.
On his journey, he met up with the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who took him out on tour with their band – a detour that would set the stage for the next incarnation of Spindrift. Ultimately landing in Los Angeles, Kirpatrick became fascinated by the history and heritage of his newly adopted home. Desert landscapes inspired new musical sound-scapes that paid homage to old western movies. For a time, KP bounced from sea to sea, simultaneously working on his classic psyche-pop album "Songs from the Ancient Age" with his east-coast band members, while also recruiting his gun-toting west coast contingent. L.A. musicians and desert dwellers embraced his bluesy psychedelic shoegaze and experimental explorations, and soon, Spindrift "west" would be born …and a new psychedelic western revival movement would begin.
By 2006, the east coast band was no more, and the west coast band had grown into a 9-member ensemble featuring current and former members of Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Warlocks, and other Los Angeles psychedelic veterans. The band performed often at high-profile shows throughout Southern California, building an ever-growing fan base, and soon caught the ear of musician and DJ, Steve Jones, who began spinning the track "Red Reflection" regularly on his popular radio show, Jonesy's Jukebox on L.A.'s Indie 103.1 FM. National tours followed, sharing the stage with bands as diverse as The Seeds, Dead Meadow, Vietnam, The Black Angels, A Place to Bury Strangers, Hopewell, John Doe, and even country legend Charlie Louvin of The Louvin Brothers, among others.
In July of 2007, the band co-produced a three-day benefit concert called, "Clean Air, Clear Stars" in the rustic, former-old-west-movie-location in Pioneertown, CA, located near Joshua Tree National Park in the high Mohave desert. The event, which was meant to create awareness to the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the delicate desert ecosystem, was a smashing success, bringing much needed revenue to the historic town.
Fans and critics alike began to rave about the signature wash of sound created by these sonic storytellers, which transports their audience through new dimensions of time and space. As the music carries their congregation to the constellations, the peyote-swirling sounds ignite movies in one's mind.
With Spindrift's penchant for creating epic cinematic soundtracks, it comes as no surprise that the band has also embarked on a vision quest of their own, with the creation of the feature film, "The Legend of God's Gun." At the heart of the artfully shot independent feature film directed by Mike Bruce which was inspired by the '60s era spaghetti western movies, is the psychedelic sounds of SPINDRIFT.
Both haunting and hallucinogenic, "The Legend of God's Gun" soundtrack takes the listener on a cosmic journey through the desert as a preacher-turned-gunslinger sets out for vengeance.
With a guitar in one hand and six-shooter in the other, neo-cosmic cowboy Kirpatrick Thomas and his current band of banditos, resurrect the spirits of Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai and combines them with the ghosts of Velvet Underground and Jim Morrison, for a psychedelic shootout that weaves a dusty backdrop to a story of sin and salvation in the wild, wild west.
Spindrift along with director, Mike Bruce have recently secured North American distribution for the feature film, "The Legend of God's Gun" with Indican Pictures and Foreign Distribution with Blieberg Entertainment. This music-driven, modern-day western film, was shot in ghost towns throughout the Mohave desert, with a cast comprised of the band members themselves.
The soundtrack to "The Legend of God's Gun" is currently available on CDBABY.com, along with the re-issue of "Songs from the Ancient Age" featuring the track, "Red Reflection" as heard on Steve Jones' radio show, "Jonesy's Jukebox" on Indie 103.1.
Expect the feature film "The Legend of God's Gun" to arrive at a theatre near you in 2008, with the soundtrack soon to be in fine retail stores everywhere!
And be sure to listen for Spindrifts song, "Indian Run" which will be featured in the upcoming film "Hell Ride" a biker film which was produced by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Larry Bishop. The track will figure prominently in a scene where the 666ers gang are chasing Eddie Zero (Dennis Hopper) into a trap. "Hell Ride" is expected to premier at Sundance 2008.
For more information, visit the band's websites: www.spindriftwest.com www.myspace.com/thewest
To view the trailer to the feature film, "The Legend of God's Gun" visit: www.myspace.com/razortreefilms
For more information on the Clean Air, Clear Stars Music Festival, visit: www.myspace.com/cleanairclearstars