Bikeride

All Music Guide:

Indie song sculptor Tony Carbone began releasing his Beach Boys/Burt Bacharach-styled West Coast pop tunes under the name Bikeride in 1997. The band's schizophrenic take on nearly every popular musical style from Beatlesque light psychedelia to the Pixies' alt-rock pioneering (not to mention bossa nova, jazz, and new wave mod) caught the attention of indie label Hidden Agenda. Along with a number of indie vinyl releases, Carbone and his on-again, off-again Bikeride contributors have released 1997's Here Comes the Summer!, 1999's 37 Secrets I Only Told America, 2000's Summer Winners, Summer Losers, and 2002's Morning Macumba. Five years later, Bikeride returned with their fifth full-length album, The Kiss.

Wikipedia:

Bikeride was an American indie rock band fronted by Tony Carbone. Their record companies of the past have included is Hidden Agenda, a part of Parasol Records, and Choclaty! Records. Bikeride's newest album, The Kiss, has been released on SHMAMM! Records, Bikeride's own imprint.

History

Bikeride was formed in 1994 by Tony Carbone (guitar, vocals), Bill Sipes (bass), and Craig Hendricks (drums) in Fountain Valley, CA. That lineup split by the end of the year. Ian Spalding joined up on bass and Greg Roberts took over drums. Both Ian and Greg had played with Carbone in high school as Catherine Wheel (before the British band of the same name) and as Chelsea Hotel. As a trio, they began work on Here Comes the Summer in the Fall of 1995. Half of Here Comes the Summer was recorded on 2-inch 24-track analog tape at Loyola Marymount University as Carbone's Senior thesis project and half was recorded at home on a half-inch 8-track analog recorder. By the summer of 1996, Spalding and Roberts had moved away from Southern California and Sean How? joined as keyboardist. Here Comes the Summer was finished by Carbone, How?, and various other players and was released in June 1997 on Choclaty! Records, Bikeride's own imprint.

Here Comes the Summer caught the attention of Parasol Records who opted to release Bikeride's America's Favorite Omelettes EP and second album, Thirty-Seven Secrets I Only Told America on their Hidden Agenda label. Joining Carbone and How? on rhythm were James Kochen on drums and Erick Hauser on bass. Recording of 37 Secrets... lasted throughout 1997 and 1998 and was finished in the spring of 1999. Upon its release, it became a college radio favorite. Soon after, Bikerde released two vinyl-only EPs of outtakes from their first two LP's- the Dogs EP (1999) and the Raspet EP (2000). Both EPs were released together with other tracks from B-sides as Summer Winners, Summer Losers in 2000 on Hidden Agenda.

By the end of 1999, Hauser and Kochen were replaced by Adam Deibert on bass and Chris Petrozzi on drums. Also joining the fold was Charles Gray on lead guitar. Adam and Charles were both members of The Aquabats and Petrozzi was singer and bassist for The Moseleys. From 2000 to 2002, Bikeride recorded their fourth album, Morning Macumba, at various studios in LA and Orange County. Many of the songs were written abroad in South America while Charles and Tony were on vacation in Brazil and Peru. Upon Morning Macumba's release in the Summer of 2002, it was hailed as "a pop masterpiece" by allmusic, and favorably received by other publications but sales did not match the critics' appreciation.

Over the next four years Bikeride worked on their fifth album, The Kiss, released in March 2007.

Tony Carbone died from cancer March 6, 2008.