PacificUV

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, by way of Augusta, the space rock outfit Pacific UV formed in 1998 under the auspices of Clay Jordan and Howard Hudson. Almost immediately after the duo began mixing song ideas together, drummer and keyboardist Lucas Jensen dove into the mix and the trio began honing their sound and planning their debut album. The group sequestered themselves in the studio with <a href="spotify:artist:1dzNcpfO3mxONyYYWIYMlU">Andy LeMaster</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:70UZ254VvtSUmrfqPOkUQZ">Azure Ray</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5o206eFLx38glA2bb4zqIU">Bright Eyes</a>) and <a href="spotify:artist:3m0TvR2vpnJ3xCnq5yBGvE">David Barbe</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:2Plkkomsc4DKawkCioLKjc">Uncle Tupelo</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4DD6xBZ1INIT3yGJRQLzej">Sugar</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1rXr1ZnvbRoYBaedIl9v4v">the Drive-By Truckers</a>) assisting behind the board and cut their debut, finishing it in 2002. Before the album was officially released in September 2003, Jensen left the band to attend grad school and was replaced by drummer Stephen James.

Though the album was eventually released under the title Pacific UV on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warm+Records%22">Warm Records</a>, the initial promotional copies went out to press under the title Longplay One, causing the first item of confusion over the band's history. The second piece of controversy, a purposeful ruse on the part of Jordan and Hudson, came when Pacific UV issued a statement within their promotional campaign which boasted the addition of two brand new mysterious Swedish members, Sven and Piotr. The press, including the All Music Guide, heartily supported this claim as an interesting fact of Pacific UV's history, and one even further swallowed the joke when the band announced Sven and Piotr changed their names to Jorge Torres and Shane Davis to sound "more American." While bassist Torres and keyboardist Davis are indeed genuine members of Pacific UV, it shouldn't be surprising that Sven and Piotr never existed in the first place.

The group worked sporadically throughout the coming years, releasing a self-titled EP in 2006 and second full-length, Longplay, Vol. 2 in 2008. In the early part of the 2010s, the band released a string of free MP3s of new tracks via their blog, and delved into a darker, more electronic sound with their Chrysalis EP. Third full-length Weekends was released in early 2012, and was followed a little over a year later by 2013's poppier After the Dream You Are Awake. ~ Gregory McIntosh, Rovi