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Poppermost Bio
It
was just before
Poppermost emerged from Trimordial Studio with their 3rd full-length
album. Bitter Suite Swan Songs
is a wide and rich musical palate where power pop, choirboy harmonies,
and orchestral passages rub shoulders with rock and folk music social
commentary. The eclectic pop music diversity of Bitter
Suite Swan Songs
showcases some of the best Poppermost songs written to date.
Like
their debut album, the team of Alex Oliver and Roy Al Rendahl mans all
the switches from writing, arranging, and performing to recording,
mixing, and production. So, why interrupt 6 years of constant
performing, recording, and writing to teach music history?
Starting
out as a duo on July 4, 2001, singer / songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist Alex Oliver joined forces with bassist and audio
/ graphics guru Roy Al Rendahl and freed themselves from a garage cover
band in order to write and perform original music. During the
next 5 years, 
their expanded versions of the band turned in
blistering live performances. They have released 2 other
full-length CDs (the mellow acoustic self-titled debut, and the
daredevil power pop of Absolutely Sonic) plus
numerous CD
singles and extended-plays, which quickly became "must-haves" for
flocks of indie pop music lovers all over the world. They
also
earned airplay globally on commercial and Internet radio while earning
great reviews from the press and fans. Lex Neon guitars, keyboards, vocals |
Lex
Neon:
My reality is I was born human, but marketing decided to go nuts and change us all into birds one night, and boy oh boy what a surprise to wake up the next morning and look in the mirror. Their plan was hatched and so were we. According to marketing, my bird story goes like this... My name is Lex Neon, and I think I'm a mockingbird, because I love to mock everybody! Trouble is, they tell me I'm really a chicken and I'm just not prepared to accept that. Chickens are generally dense and have a tendency to get themselves served up with mashed potatoes and gravy. Besides they can't do what I can do... I can sing like all my musical idols and I'm far more handsome than any chicken could ever dream of being. Don't you think that puts me in the running for being a mockingbird? Beyond that, what does all this have to do with music anyway, baby? Return to Top |
 Ms. Tex drums, percussion, vocals |
Ms
Tex:
I'm the
drummer for
Poppermost, the most fabulous band in the world, and although Lex and
Royal keep claiming that they are sexiest, I'm really the sexiest
member of the band and I can waggle my tailfeathers to prove it better
than they can.My birth name is Daphne Penelope Duckingham, but only my family is allowed to call me that. To everyone else, I'm Tex or Ms. Tex. I was born loving rhythm, maybe because I was born (okay hatched -- picky, picky) on Ringo Starr's birthday. My mama swears I beat out the entire score of The White Album when I was hatching out of my egg. She always said it was a good thing we weren't mammals to where she'd have to carry me inside her or I probably would have driven her crazy with all that drumming. I'm originally from Austin Texas, but currently call Las Vegas, Nevada home. I've traveled all over the world with the band and we've met some great folks. I think I loved the UK best, because I got to see a lot of the places where Ringo played. Return to Top |
 Vegas Royal bass, gadgetry, vocals |
Vegas
Royal: My reality is I was born human, but marketing decided to go nuts and change us all into birds one night, and boy oh boy what a surprise to wake up the next morning and look in the mirror. Their plan was hatched and so were we. According to marketing, my bird story goes like this... My name is Vegas Royal; I play the bass guitar and sing back-up vocals for my band, Poppermost. Everybody calls me Royal, probably because I'm a royal pain in the ass some days when I'm always attempting to outwit or out-do other critters, regardless of whether they're human, winged, or four-legged. I'm generally sort of quiet, but when I get agitated, I talk fast and hard, so watch your ears. A while back, I had a moment of fleeting fame when I earned the right to the quote, "Bass guitars are lethal weapons." Anyone care to take a guess as to what that was all about? The whole story is available upon request. As a Blue Jay, I'm one of the few birds who can employ the use of tools to make things work my way; I'm a regular McGyver of the birdworld. They just can't get along without me around here, artistically or technically. Before we had roadies and sound engineers to help us, I ran all the sound equipment and lights, and made sure we sounded and looked great for our audiences. I do all the maintenance on our birdhouse, and even make sure our flying car is kept in tip-top condition. You'd think with all the money we make we'd hire somebody for all this, but I just can't seem to hand the reigns over to anybody else. Ladies, Lex thinks he's hot stuff... the big stud in our group! I'm here to tell you that great big things come in small packages and I'm the one you really want. My number is 1-800-POPherMOST! Call me if you dare! Return to Top |
 Morty Poppermost co-manager |
Morty: Morty Greenbyrd is a self-made impresario in the "sunshine pop" music business. Along with his brother Sol, Morty has co-managed Poppermost for nearly 6 years. A.k.a. "the Sarge," Morty hails from Queens, NY, and loves telling anyone who will listen just how he brought every band he's ever worked with to the top. Morty pretends to be an old curmudgeon, but he's really a softy. Return to Top |
 Sol Poppermost co-manager |
Sol: Sol Greenbyrd co-manages Poppermost with his brother Morty. Sol balances his brother's ways as a taskmaster with his homespun "hippie" wisdom and ideas. He is Poppermost's most trusted confidant, and the mediator between the band, Morty, and the record label. Note: One day as a child, while flying past the airport, he was hit in the head by a landing plane, and now carries a crazy eye and facial twitch that only a mother could love. Please be kind to our Solly. Return to Top |
Poppermost was formed in 2001 by singer / songwriter Alex Oliver, and bassist / technical guru Roy Al Rendahl. Along with a few guest players, the two "pops" performed for 5 years in support of two albums, a half dozen singles, and a handful of 4-song EPs. Feeling the strain of "band life," Alex and Roy retired to the studio and created a special Valentine for their listeners in the form of a cartoon. Lex, Ms. Tex, and Royal produced the 3rd Poppermost album and they continue to present the latest Poppermost songs, jokes, contests, and musical education. |
 Alex Oliver Makin' the Notes |
Poppermost is the
creation of music director Alex Oliver (ASCAP), a
singer / songwriter, acoustic and electric guitarist (both lead and
rhythm), and pianist / synth player originally from Los Angeles,
California. There he spent the '90s as a solo
performer and
as a
veteran of several pop rock bands such as Junetown, Clover Club, and
After Hours. Alex is also the owner of Poppermost's record
label, Suicide
Pop! Records. Alex Oliver: vocals, guitar, piano December 21 (Sagittarius, folks!) blue Beatles chocolate milk and fencing music and lyrics Steve McQueen "A Hard Day's Night" and "The Maltese Falcon" (tie) "What in the hell does that have to do with music?" "The summer of '76 was a pretty heavy time for me, man. I found FM rock radio, and it changed me. I can only equate it to 'The Wizard of Oz,' when everything goes from black and white to color." Owner of Suicide Pop! Records and music director of Poppermost. Write to Alex at alex@poppermost.com. Or call 702-384-0306. Return to Top |
 Roy Al Rendahl Spinin' the Bass |
Roy
Al Rendahl (ASCAP),
the Poppermost technical director, plays electric bass
guitar, is the audio, video, and graphic art director (the band's logo
and web page designer). The '80s saw him in bands
such as The
Barb Timm
Band, Changes, and Sweetwater in his hometown of Winona, Minnesota
playing a wide range of genres including R&B, country rock, and
pop. This is where Roy started M City Music and Art studio.
The 90's
took him to Fresno, California doing audio and video recording, and
changing the name of his studio to Trimordial Studio - Audio
Video & Graphics.
Roy Al Rendahl: Since the age of 3 when he built his first model airplane, artistic expression has given Roy Al Rendahl great purpose in life. He was, and still is, always creating something. The many talents and accomplishments of this "little mad scientist" or "Mr. Wizard" whose actions and attitudes belie his age consist of the traditional forms of art like drawing, oil painting, photography, and more. Roy's many major triumphs include selling an oil painting to the Ben and Abby Grey Foundation collection at NYU, and having his Mac-computer-pixelated 8'x20' photograph mural featured as part of a highway beautification program in Fresno, California. In Las Vegas, he has had several photographs and oil paintings displayed in the new offices of Cirque du Soleil. Roy's love of color and light and the feeling of being limited by the range of colors available to the artist may have had some bearing on his branching out into other areas of creativity. At his long time "day job" as a mechanical machine design engineer (which is really commercial sculpture) he invented and patented one of the mechanisms used in a machine he disigned. Through the years, no matter what else he was doing, music and sound played a part in his life. The music portion of his artistic talents started in the form of playing a little toy percussion set he got in grade school; in junior high he "upgraded" to cardboard drums. He also was interested in the bass, so he taught himself to play bass from a regular guitar book using a "fake" bass made from a piece of plywood for the body, matchsticks for the frets, and kite string for the strings; until he got his first "real" bass by mail order from Allied Radio (which later turned into Radio Shack) and began his music career. He built his first amp by combining two SAMS schematic diagrams, one from a church organ and one from a radio. It went into some really neat distortion and sound effects if you turned it up too far! In another early experiment, Roy also built an analog synthesizer out of a small electronic organ by installing a synthesizer integrated circuit chip and sound shaping controls. He also built a Leslie style rotating speaker system from a lamp shade, an old TV cabinet, and a sewing machine motor. Roy has been designing and building speaker systems ever since, including the DeadLine Array (DLA), which is described in his business plan for Hackerz Niteclub. Roy's professional music performance experience spans the '80s in the Winona, Minnesota area with a wide range of genres including psychedelic-jazz-rock, R&B, country rock, and pop in bands such as Blooze Union, Peppermint Love, Hot to Trot, Take 5, and The Barb Timm Band. The groups played in a variety of clubs and events; perhaps the hardest gig was at the Winona Athletic Club where they had to haul all their equipment and PA system up 3 flights of stairs. The most interesting was definitely when TBTB played Winona's Steamboat Days Parade. The R&B rock band's caravan presented quite a picture, performing throughout the parade route on a hay wagon pulled by an old black Caddy that said "Rascals Bar" on the sides. Behind them, a trailer carried the sound man and PA system, and yet another trailer behind that carried the generator to run it all. They were so loud that the marching bands had to keep the space of a block in between them in order to be heard by the judges. As loud as they were, the band could actually be seen even before they were heard due to Roy's powerful flashing lights directed forwards into the crowd from atop the hay wagon. Roy officially started recording other people during his tenure in the band, Changes, and did more with the band, Sweetwater, but actually began his crusade to "save the good music" on tape much earlier in high school. He has continued using these skills in the '90s through today with his audio recording, video production, and graphic arts / web design business, Trimordial Studio. Being a member of a band these days also puts all Roy's talents to good use. Playing the bass, collaborating on the creation of the songs' foundation, engineering them, and creating the artwork for the band's logo, website, and CD's are only a small part of what he does as the technical director of Poppermost. Write to Roy at roy@poppermost.com. Or call his cell at 702-340-6748. Return to Top |
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the Popperlist   © 2001-2008 Suicide Pop! Records, Poppermost, Alex Oliver, Roy Al Rendahl 1700 S Main St, PMB 188, Las Vegas NV 89104 USA 702-384-0306 pop@poppermost.com Website by Trimordial Studio - Audio Video & Graphics Page created 11/15/07 modified 5/5/08   |