Greenwheel/Soma Holiday/Go Van Gogh

[Soot and Stars]

GREENWHEEL

Have you ever had that group that you knew had you hooked after just a few seconds of their music! This is what happened with my discovery of "Greenwheel"! Back when Wal-mart had both a mixture of newer groups hidden in their nearly completely top 40 selection plus those listening stations where you could at least listen to at least three samples of songs I found Greenwheel!

I found the c.d. while digging and I loved that it was something as simple as a distant picture of the band in a field. I could tell it was going to be a straight ahead rock band but I couldn't predict the rawness it would have. In fact, even though wikipedia calls them alternative I would call them Raw Pop Rock! This is owed largely to the vocalist Ryan Jordan who belts out vocals in a way that may not make the music heavy but it definitely keeps them out of any Starbucks scene!

The c.d. was called Soma Holiday which is a reference to the book "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley for all you readers out there! Soma Holiday was also the bands original name which I'll get to later! Here's the c.d. I saw that day:

The song that really grabbed me in the short sample I heard was this one:

Sustain You
(I loved how you could hear his actual breathing in the song)

After that when I bought the c.d. I seriously did not take my headphones off for the whole day! I rode in the car with it, I slept with it playing, I just kept going and going! All that time, I was thinking "This is so pop rock! This is so simple! What is drawing me too this! I can't separate myself from this!"

The closest the world was to being exposed to this band was with the single Breathe which had a moderate buzz:
Breathe


which was later redone by Melissa Etheridge and caused fans to think she took it from the band but the band actually appreciated her singing of it and weren't ripped off in any way! The single was solid but definitely not my favorite on the c.d.! In fact, my favorite part of the c.d. was what I call the last "trilogy" of songs! Here they are in order:

Dim Halo


Radiance
The End
(I love the little piano part added at the end)

The above c.d. was on Island records and would be their only major label release! (so far)

In the next thread I'll post smatterings of their other career work!

 

[Soot and Stars]

Of course when you love a band you want to see what else you can grab from them so after the band was dropped from Island I checked out their status online and found they were re-releasing their first c.d. in which they went under the moniker "Soma Holiday"! Here's the squint and you can see it cover:

This c.d. had grabbed them a buzz that lead them to their record deal and I could see why. It was more laid back and acoustic but the hooks were definitely there! So after buying this I gained some new favorites including:

I Don't Believe (This may just be my favorite!)



I Don't Believe Live



Resolve


Peace of Mind



So after releasing their earlier work Greenwheel would make one more release under the Greenwheel moniker in an EP called:

"Bridges For Burning"


In this they would try a heavier sound and it worked! I particularly liked this song:

"Knife"

 

[Soot and Stars]

So finally, Greenwheel in what may be a mystery as to whether they are having a creative streak or identity crisis has become Go Van Gogh

!

Even though they tour as both Greenwheel and Go Van Gogh they have their most recent work out as Go Van Gogh! The mp3 release by Go Van Gogh is titled "Ruby and the Starlight Ballroom" and the picture I've found is so small I won't bother with it (Grrrrr again)!

Go Van Gogh is a switch in styles as what I can only describe as a funkier version of the band with a little bit of rustic country twang added to the mix! Here are some examples of their work in an acoustic session:

"Change"


"Same Old Games" (music starts 2 min. in)


"After You" (music starts at 1:36)


"Find My Baby"



So there you have it! One of my all time favorite group of musicians based on the scraps I could find on the internet! These guys like them or not keep pushing forward to play music no matter what level of success they gain. So to answers my question from the beginning of this post:

"What Draws me to Greenwheel?"

Raw
Sincere
Passionate
Artistry

 

[Magic]

Thanks Bry! Another goodie

I like acoustic stuff, and these guys are raw talent. I will have to obtain their first release "Soma Holiday", and the remake of it as well to compare. How many times has this been released? I see an Island records version in 2002 and two indie versions, one in 2000 and another in 2005>

Which one should I get?

 

[Soot and Stars]

Thanks Bry! Another goodie

I like acoustic stuff, and these guys are raw talent. I will have to obtain their first release "Soma Holiday", and the remake of it as well to compare. How many times has this been released? I see an Island records version in 2002 and two indie versions, one in 2000 and another in 2005>

Which one should I get?

Thanks Magic! There is only one version of the "Soma Holiday" (2002) c.d.

which is the one in my first segment. There is a japanese version but it only has one extra song. This was their only commercial release and the first c.d. under the Greenwheel name.

I looked at wikipedia and I see where this can be confusing. In my second segment of the thread you'll see that small album cover.

(as Soma Holiday, originally 2000, rerelease 2005)

That is there rare first release where it was very underground. They called themselves Soma Holiday in this release and it was self titled. This has original versions of what would of a handful of songs on the Greenwheel "Soma Holiday" c.d. but also a bunch of original songs not on anything else! Fans were able to buy the rerelease on there website for a limited time but unfortunately I don't believe it's available anywhere anymore.

So having said that, I would recommend their commercial release Greenwheel "Soma Holiday" (2002) which is a great album track for track and should still be found online!

 

[Soot and Stars]

Thanks to Ezequiel uploading songs to Youtube I was able to finally add to this thread and give it new life!

 

[Soot and Stars]

I miss this band!

Their myspace has a couple of songs that sound like the Greenwheel stuff but I see no announcements of recording new material so they could just be b-sides! They sound really good though!

Greenwheels Myspace