California Wives

California Wives is Chicago's newest conglomerate of new wave pop servants to hit the colorful streets of the city's music scene. Their music has been compared to the recent revival of the new wave genre (think of New Order's synth-pop mixed with guitar riffs reminiscent of The Police). The band consists of Jayson Kramer (vocals/keys/guitar), Dan Zima (vocals/bass/guitar), Joe O'Connor (drums), and Hans Michel (guitar/keys). The track heard hear is "Twenty-Three" off their debut EP Affair that was released in 2010.

As the last addition to California Wives, Jayson Kramer proves that coming in last isn't necessarily a bad thing. A classically trained pianist from a young age, Kramer later taught himself guitar in his early teens, and it wasn't long before he began writing his own music. Kramer dove head first into electronic music while attending Boston University, and though he continued to study biology, his hunger for learning more about computer music than chromosomes generated a self-made library of electronic tracks that helped shape his creative style and self-expression.
Though Dan Zima is responsible for California Wives' streaming pulse, bass wasn't his first instrument of choice. Zima began playing guitar in grade school after his mother purchased him a guitar with lessons, but he didn't take it seriously until high school. As co-founder of California Wives, Zima also splits songwriting with Kramer, and continues to sing vocals on various tracks.
As a child of musician parents, music has always been an imprinted and natural part of Hans Michel's life. He focuses on challenging the band's tendencies to bring forth ideas from more eclectic styles of music, helping to make each song better than the last. At the same time, he always tries to make sure the songs maintain the band's focus and identity.
As the hardest hitting drummer in the Midwest, Joe O'Connor has never been able to pick up anything else, and he's just fine with that. O'Connor tries to split the difference between the various types of music he's loved his whole life, by playing beats appropriate for new wave songs, with enough volume to stick with the loud and energetic crowd.

www.californiawives.net

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