Jonathan Segel

Jonathan Segel
Background information
Born	September 3, 1963 (1963-09-03)
Genres	Alternative rock, Pop, Rock, rock, Blues, Improv, Avant-garde, Electronica
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Composer, Record Producer
Instruments	Guitar, Violin, Mandolin, Keyboards, Voice
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, Dieselhed

Jonathan Segel (b. September 3, 1963 in Marseilles, France) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.

Biography

Segel grow up in Davis, California and Tucson, Arizona. Jonathan went to college at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he studied under Peter Elsea and experimental music pioneer Gordon Mumma. In Santa Cruz he hooked up with Camper Van Beethoven, apparently for life. He moved to San Francisco in 1989, where he worked with many bands including his own Hieronymus Firebrain and Jack & Jill, moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to work for Dane Davis at Danetracks, a film sound post production facility, then back to Oakland, California in 2001, where received a master's degree in music composition at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran and Joelle Leandre. He is the son of Irwin H. Segel, a Professor of Biochemistry at University of California, Davis and author of Biochemical Calculations. Jonathan Segel has taught music theory and electronic music at the College of Marin and Ohlone College in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Today he performs improvising acoustic/digital solo (or with others as Chaos Butterfly), in a revived Camper Van Beethoven and as a rock and roll bandleader in his eponymous band.

Segel has been an occasional contributor to music from the Big City Orchestra over the past few decades.

Discography

A comprehensive Segel Discography can be found here and there on the Magnetic Records site.

Solo, as Hieronymus Firebrain or Jack & Jill

Playing guitar, singing, etc.

• Storytelling (1988)
• Acoustic Music Project benefit for Open Hand (1990)
• Hieronymus Firebrain "Hieronymus Firebrain" (1991)
• Dr. Firebrain's Plane Crash Tape, Vol.1 (1993)
• Hieronymus Firebrain "There" (1994)
• Hieronymus Firebrain "Here" (1994)
• Pushing the Norton -- the Ace Cafe Compilation(1994)
• Jack & Jill "Chill and Shrill" (1995)
• Jack & Jill "Fancy Birdhouse" (1997)
• Scissors and Paper (2000)
• Edgy Not Antsy (2003)
• Honey (2007)
• All Attractions (2012)
• Apricot Jam (2012)

With Camper Van Beethoven

Playing violin, guitar, keyboards, singing.

• Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985)
• II & III (1986)
• Camper Van Beethoven (1986)
• Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988)
• Vampire Can Mating Oven (1987)
• The Virgin Years (1993) (by Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker)
• Camper Vantiquities (1993) Rarities Compilation
• Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven (2000) Rarities Compilation
• Cigarettes & Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years (2002) Box Set. Includes Telephone Free Landslide Victory, II & III, Camper Van Beethoven, Camper Vantiquities, & Greatest Hits Played Faster, a bonus live disc.
• Tusk (2002)
• New Roman Times (2004)
• In the Mouth of the Crocodile - Live in Seattle (2004) Live Album
• Discotheque CVB: Live In Chicago (2005) Live Album
• Look at All the Love We Found (2005) Sublime Tribute

With Eugene Chadbourne

Playing violin, mandolin, slide guitar, keyboards, toys...

• Camper Van Chadbourne (1987)
• Eddie Chatterbox Double Trio Love Album (1988)
• Eugene Van Beethoven's 69th Sin-Funny (1991)
• Used Record Pile (1999)
• Revenge of Camper Van Chadbourne (1999)
• PsyCHADelidoowop (2001)

With Chaos Butterfly

• Live at Studio Fabriken, Gothenburg, SE - with Biggi Vinkeloe (2005)
• threelivingthings (2005)
• Radio (2005)

Electronic/electro-acoustic Projects

• Non-Linear Accelerator (2003)
• Rauk (2005)
• Amnesia/Glass Box (2005)
• Summerleaf (2006)
• Underwater Tigers (2007)

Improvisations

• Fred Frith/Joelle Leandre/Jonathan Segel "Tempted to Smile" (2003)
• Jonathan Segel/Shoko Hikage "Gen" (2003)
• Japan Improv CD Magazine in Brett Larner's M-7 ensemble (2003)
• various artists/Jon Raskin + Myles Boisen "Music + One" (2006)
• Moe! Staiano's Moe!Kestra "An Inescapable Siren Within Earshot..." (2006)
• Lucio Menegon "Sonic Demons" (2009)
• Emergency String (X)tet and Rent Romus "Emergency Rental" (2011)
• T.D. Skatchit & Company "Skatch Surveillance" (2012)

Other Projects

Playing violin, guitar.

• "A Love Restrained" by Granfaloon Bus (1992)
• "Dieselhed" by Dieselhed (1994)
• Dent "Stimmung" (1995)
• "BaltimorePearlCrescentWhiteAdmiralSisterMeadowPaintedGodWillVisitYou" by the Lords of Howling (1997)
• Dent "Verstärker" (1998)
• "The Way You Shine" by The Shimmers (2006)
• "Stimoceiver" by The Artichoke Project (2008) with John Kruth
• "Toast" by the Electric Chairmen (John Kruth) (1996)
• "MoonDog Girl" by the Noodle Shop (John Kruth, Elliott Sharp, Atilla Engin and Jonathan Segel) (1999)
• ""Splitsville" by John Kruth" (2008) with Clyde Wrenn
• "The Container" by the Container (1998)
• Clyde Wrenn "Long Day's Journey into Night" (1999)
• Clyde Wrenn "The Blue Cliff Record" (2001)

Also Appears On

• Yo "Once in a Blue Moon" (1986)
• Frontier Wives "Rockinghorse Violins" (1987)
• Spot 1019 "This World Owes me a Buzz" (1987)
• Young Fresh Fellows "the Men Who Loved Music" (1987)
• Walkabouts "Cataract" (1988)
• Overwhelming Colorfast "Overwhelming Colorfast" (1991)
• Big City Orchestra "Greatest Hits and Test Tones" (1998) + various other BCO releases
• Loud Family "Days for Days" (1998)
• Magnet "Sharkbait" (1999)
• Sparklehorse "Distorted Ghost" (1999)
• Alison Faith Levy "My World View" (2000)
• Victor Krummenacher "Bittersweet" (2000)
• Mike Levy "Fireflies" (2000)
• ld beghtol and the New Criticism "Tragic Realism" (2006)
• Mossyrock "I know I'm Not Wrong EP" (2007)
• Victor Krummenacher "Patriarch's Blues" (2008)

Film Soundtracks

• The Invisibles directed by Noah Stern (1999)
• Bunny directed by Mia Trachinger (2000)
• Kickin' Chicken directed by Joy Phillips (2001)
• 100% Human Hair directed by Ann Kaneko (2001)
• Love Will Travel directed by Teddi Bennett (2002)
• Bill's Run directed by Richard Kassebaum (2004)

External links

• Magnetic Motorworks is Segel's Official Site, the site of his own record label, Magnetic, and the official site of some of his associates and collaborators.
• music.JSegel.com is a site containing online collections of much of Segel's recorded music.
• Jonathan Segel collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• AllMusic guide information
• Material Press, publisher of scores