Cloud_Cult

Cloud Cult

Cloud Cult is an experimental indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota led by singer/songwriter Craig Minowa. The name originated from the ancient prophecies of indigenous North Americans.

It’s a sect of ancient North American indigenous prophecies that have been eerily accurate so far. There’s an incredibly interesting analysis in the prophecies of the balance between technology and nature. In a nutshell, the prophecies indicate that human kind will go through a massive transition due to inability to control some of the unexpected aspects of technology. Those that survive will be those that know how to live off the land. I used it as a project name when I wrote the album “Who Killed Puck?” We weren’t a live band back then, it was just a studio project. But as new albums came together and the project turned into live performance I decided to stick with it.

History

Cloud Cult developed in 1995 as Craig Minowa recruited Cellist Sarah Young, violinist Shannon Frid, painters Connie Minowa and Scott West (who create paintings live at the band’s performances), and recent addition bassist Shawn Neary (formerly of Tapes ‘n’ Tapes), and Arlen Peiffer to contribute to his solo recordings. This early work earned Cloud Cult several offers from record labels, but all were rejected in favor of self-publishing.

In 1997, lead singer Craig Minowa formed Earthology Records on his organic farm, powered by geothermal energy and built partially from reclaimed wood and recycled plastic. to release his band's recordings. This nonprofit label uses only recycled materials and donates all profits to environmental charities. The band also tours in a biodiesel van.

In the year 2002, shortly after the unexpected death of his two year old son Kaidin, Minowa wrote over a hundred songs to deal with the loss.Another Cloud Cult album came in the summer of 2002, titled Lost Songs from the Lost Years, a ten-year anthology of previously unreleased work from Minowa. They Live on the Sun was finished in 2003 and went to #1 on college radio station charts across the country. In January 2004, Cloud Cult added Mara Stemm on bass and released Aurora Borealis just six months later. The album was nominated by the Minnesota Music Awards as “Album of the Year” along with Prince and Paul Westerberg. With a van covered in solar panels, the band began touring nationally. In 2006 Cloud Cult released Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus, which Pitchfork called “insane genius” and rated the album with an 8.3. The Denver Post ranked the 2007 release The Meaning of 8 as one of the top ten albums of the past decade, along with bands like Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips and Radiohead

Cloud Cult released a new album entitled Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) on April 8, 2008 and a Cloud Cult documentary will also come out this year. Craig has said that this might be the final Cloud Cult album: "I don't think there's going to be another Cloud Cult album for a while. It could be never, I don't know. Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying through Tornadoes) was recorded and produced at Minowa’s small organic farm in Northern Minnesota. The place is so far out in the boonies, you can barely find it, because it’s not on the maps, said Dan Montalto, an MTV Producer who brought a camera crew to the farm to film a short MTV feature on the band.

One of the most distinctive features of Cloud Cult shows is the live painting by Connie Minowa and Scott West. Over the course of a show they each complete a painting that is auctioned off at the end.

Awards

Minnesota Music Awards 2004: "Artist of the year" for the studio album "Aurora Borealis"

Band members

Craig Minowa - singer/songwriter
Arlen Peiffer - drums
Sarah Young - cello
Shannon Frid - violin
Shawn Neary - bass/trombone
Connie Minowa - visual artist
Scott West - visual artist/trumpet

Discography

Studio Albums

The Shade Project (1994)
Who Killed Puck? (2000)
Lost Songs from the Lost Years (2002)
They Live on the Sun (2003)
Aurora Borealis (2004)
Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus (2005)
The Meaning of 8 (2007)
Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (2008)

Beth Of, Live, Remixes

On Live at KEXP, Volume III the live version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" (Bob Dylan cover)

A studio cut is available on Spinout Record’s Duluth Does Dylan Revisited, a compilation of Bob Dylan covers that reflects how the local music culture has been influenced by being the birthplace of the music icon.