Bart Davenport

I’m pleased to announce that my new album, ‘Physical World’ is now scheduled to be released March 4, 2014 on Lovemonk Records. There will be multiple formats, including download, vinyl and cassette tape. Me and the band will be out on the road this Spring in Europe and the States, including SXSW. Contact us here if you want the Bart Davenport Band to play in your town!

Spain at a glance

It seems like I blinked and January was nearly over. Happy belated New Year to all yall! The end of 2012 was a busy time for me, recording, then touring Germany, followed by Spain and finally back to California to mix the new album. The Spanish tour was particularly epic. Gigantic thank yous go out to Joan Guardia, La Castanya, Houston Party and of course the four gentlemen who make up the group, Biscuit, possibly the loudest band in Catalonia. We covered a lot of territory, both geographically and spiritually. It was my thirteenth trip to Spain and surely one of the most memorable. Special thanks to Pinky!

I arrived back in LA just before Christmas and immediately joined producer, Luke Top to finish mixing the new album. That record is being mastered as I write this! Details for its release will be forthcoming and announced here soon. Meanwhile, its time to do some more live shows. The first two cities to be rocked in 2013 will Be San Francisco and Los Angeles! Me and the band can be seen and heard on February 1 at Cafe DuNord in SF along with some of the bay’s best: Hot Lunch, LENZ and Puce Moment. Then Thursday, February 7 we’ll be in LA at The Satellite opening a record release night for Big Search. Check the ‘Tour’ page for details and we’ll see you there!

After putting the final touches on the new record this past weekend its time to talk about playing LIVE. I’ll be hitting the road next week in Germany with a solo acoustic tour presented by Tapete Records in Hamburg. I’ll be singing many original songs as well as a few choice covers from the ‘Searching For Bart Davenport’ album.

After that, it’s off to Spain for a strange and yet significant tribute tour with Barcelona based band, Biscuit. My anglophile past will collide with the present as we pay homage to The Jam by playing their ‘Sound Affects’ album front to back! These will be the most ‘English’ lyrics I’ve ever sung and for a California boy like me, it’s a bit like performing Shakespeare or Dickens. I managed to see Weller himself perform twice last month in LA and he was fantastic. Those who know me are well aware of my connections to the mod world and this tour will be a chance to celebrate the music of one of my earliest influences. We’ve even been invited to play at the Purple Weekend, perhaps the biggest mod fest on the planet! Check the ‘Tour’ page for dates, cities and venues!

Meanwhile, I’ve just completed the tracking of a new album and owe a great deal of thanks to the band: Jessica Espeleta, Paul Burkhart, Nathan Shafer and Wayne Faler with additional percussion and drums by Andres Renteria. Also some big hugs go to producer, Luke Top as well as Carrie Clough, Rachel Fannan and Amy Blaschke for their cameos. Its going to be a great record. Look for it in 2014!

Its been a not so cruel summer and as autumn comes I find myself recording a new album. I don’t know why but this always seems to happen in the fall, my favorite time of year. For the past couple months Bart & The Art Thieves have been playing a lot of new material at shows throughout California and audiences are enjoying new tunes such as ‘Fuck Fame’, ‘On Your Own Planet’ and ‘Dust In The Circuits of Love’. This week its time to commit those songs to tape at Infrasonic in east LA. Many thanks to Lovemonk Records in Madrid for helping to make this happen! We have Luke Top wearing the almighty Producer’s Hat. Luke has worked with the Papercuts, Cass McCombs and my pals Willow Willow as well as fronting his own band, Fool’s Gold. So far, he’s been getting some unique and interesting drum sounds. Here’s a photo of drummer, Paul Burkhart making some very serious music with us in the studio.

In other news: ‘Someone2Dance’ is featured in a new film called SMASHED and it opens on October 12th in LA and NYC. A soon to be released soundtrack album will include myself, Smog, Richard & Linda Thompson, Cass McCombs and Sonny & The Sunsets along with a score by Andy Cabic (Vetiver) and Eric Johnson (Fruitbats).

Our next LA show will be exclusively at the Satellite in Silverlake and don’t miss it because after that, I’m off to Portland and then onto Europe for a tour! More on that later…

I’ve been living in Los Angeles and writing lots of tunes for a new album. My brand new, LA based lineup will be performing a set of ALL NEW SONGS this month, starting in San Francisco, then in Santa Cruz and finally in LA! Just click on the Tour page for details.

The new BD band features some formidable friends. JESSICA ESPELETA helped me tour the Palaces album back during the ’08 presidential campaign. She’s been in bands most of her life and has played with Tamaryn, Mark Burgess, Weird War and Love As Laughter just to name a few. We’re together again in the ’12 campaign and she’s been solid as the rock of gibraltar on bass guitar. We’ve got NATHAN SHAFER of old AF labelmates, Hard Place on keys. I’ve been covering one of his songs for years and its about time we actually play some music together! BD band alum PAUL BURKHART (Mover, Willow Willow, White Music) conveniently relocated to LA before I did. He is thankfully back on drums and heavily caffeinated. I first saw guitarist WAYNE FALER last year, playing with an artist I like a lot called Devon Williams. I was quite impressed with Wayne and even more so later on when we found ourselves playing together in a one-time super group, a tribute to the classic Rough Trade catalog. His ability to enhance and improve any song he plays on is a wonder on god’s green earth. So if you’re in or near any of these CA cities, stop by and feel the magic as I continue to strive to evolve, to confuse and distract you from the increasing stress and anxiety of modern life.

As promised, the new video for ‘Cheap Words’ directed by Peter Rubi! This features Erin Weber of the band, Garbaj Kaetz. The song is the b-side of ‘Someone2Dance’, available on 7″ and download through Smile/Antenna Farm. Click on the discography page if you’d like to buy! Also Antenna farm, Peter and myself would all appreciate it if people share/post this video wherever possible. It would please us to no end if it gets a lot of views. BIG THANKS to Sam Flax for bringing the song to life and to Peter for making it a complete statement. I know, its a little sad but perhaps beautifully so.

I wrote this song and it’s about loneliness, isolation, you know, the usual stuff. I recorded it with Sam Flax and he helped to make the words and music more clear. Now, Peter Rubi has added a visual component and finally, the song is complete. The video for ‘Cheap Words’ will be visible on the internet THIS TUESDAY. I am encouraging anyone who likes it to please share it wherever you do that sort of thing! You can find the video right here on Tuesday, May 8. Until then, please enjoy this nice still.

A big thanks to all of you who attended the recent Smile/Antenna Farm record release show! If you haven’t got the single, be sure to order a vinyl copy through Antenna Farm or download it from iTunes. I just finished shooting a video for the b-side, Cheap Words with director Peter Rubi. That video will probably see release later this month! The a-side, Someone2Dance is featured in a new film, Smashed starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul and Octavia Spencer.

Presently, I’m taking a break from touring and writing new songs for the next full length album, tentatively titled Physical World taken from a song of the same name. The words I wrote look like this…

We rely on the physical world for love
See me cry when invisible things still hurt
It’s a bitter pill to swallow
Will it take effect tomorrow?
We rely on the physical world for love

I give in to the gravity of this time
While I long for the weightlessness of space
Loneliness is like a noose
Keep it light and keep it loose
I give in to the gravity of this time

Isn’t it you that you’re thinking of?
Isn’t it you, really you, really you?
Isn’t it you that you’re thinking of?
We rely on the physical world for love

I return to the spiritual womb at times
You would to if you had it as good as mine
Every woman, every man
Run like the wind if you can
And return to the spiritual womb

Isn’t it you that you’re thinking of?
Isn’t it you, really you, really you?
Isn’t it you that you’re thinking of?
We rely on the physical world for love

and the music looks a little bit like this…Physical World

Hello lovelies! I’d like to thank Jill Karjian from Antenna Farm for resurrecting and rejuvenating the website. I’ll be posting here on a regular basis with news, concert dates, recordings and who knows, maybe some lyrics or even a philosophical rant or two.

I recently relocated to Los Angeles and I’m finding a lot of inspiration there. Meanwhile, I’ll be back in the bay area this Friday, February 17 for a record release party at Cafe DuNord in SF. The new record is a single, ‘Someone2Dance’ b/w ‘Cheap Words’ produced by Sam Flax and available on 7 inch and download through Smile/Antenna Farm Records. Sam is playing guitar in the picture. You can check out the a-side here!