Weatherhead, who left Milwaukee in the mid-'90s, played guitar with Sparklehorse for awhile and if memory serves correctly, his bandmate and fellow Brew City-an, Mickey (Miguel Urbiztondo) Rad played some drums on previous Sparklehorse sessions, too.
Urbiztondo is a co-owner, with David Lowery (of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven), of Sound of Music studios in Virginia, where Weatherhead works as a producer/engineer. Weatherhead and Rodriguez are part of a small contingent of Milwaukee-based musicians who relocated to Richmond, Va., and have remained active on the scene there.
"Dreamt for Lightyears," which comes out on Sept. 26 via Astralwerks Records, was also mixed, in part, at Smart Studios in Madison, further extending the Wisconsin links.
Mellow, simmering and insidious, "Dreamt for Lightyears" is also melodic, dreamy and addictive. The opener, "Don't Take My Sunshine Away," is built on a "Dear Prudence"-like descending chord run and the McCartney bass sound runs like a thread through the dozen tunes.
Things don't really boil over -- and that's OK -- until track seven, the fuzz-laden "Ghost in the Sky." But except for another thumping number in the 10th position, "Dreamt" settles back into a pensive, thoughtful mode.
If you're looking for a rock and roll party record, look elsewhere. But if you want good tunes and an intimate vibe, look no further.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
