Okkervil River

Taking their name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya, Okkervil River emerged in the late 1990s to win a big following with their dynamic indie rock, unusually wide-ranging instrumentation and thematic albums - notably the breakthrough Black Sheep Boy. Singer Will Sheff and drummer Seth Warren first met at school at Meriden, New Hampshire and formed Okkervil River with bassist Zachary Thomas after they had found themselves in Austin, Texas. They recorded several EPs as a trio before multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg joined and the band made a splash with a showcase concert at the South By Southwest festival in Austin in 2000. This led to their first album Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See, produced by Brian Beattie, although there were several personnel changes before they struck gold with Black Sheep Boy in 2005; which proved so successful it spawned an EP Black Sheep Appendix. An offshoot band Shearwater resulted from the departure of founder Will Sheff's long-term collaborator Jonathan Meiburg, but Okkervil River maintained their popularity with the filmic albums Stage Names (2007) and The Stand Ins (2008), including the epic Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979.