Musician and entrepreneur Craig Minowa drives the energy-efficient bandwagon. He refused to sign his solo project Cloud Cult to a label almost a decade ago, fearing the distribution process would be wasteful. And so the conquest began: Earthology Records, a label designed by Minowa, serves as a business model to other record companies who seek to reduce their carbon emissions. Even major labels ask the songwriter for tips. Whether they want to save the earth or save their public image seems irrelevant as long as something changes.
“Bands will contact us on how they can make their tours green. It’s gotten to the point where a couple of weeks ago Universal Records called to see how they could do their shrink wrap,” said Minowa, who uses eco-friendly wrap around his CDs.
Besides saving the planet, Minowa’s band, Cloud Cult, rocks out. The six-piece, indefinable, independent band will have you head-banging to guitar riffs, grooving to electronica or contemplating with quiet bluegrass melodies, all in the same set.
“In being completely independent, we don’t have people telling us we have to stay in one genre, so we can do what we want. If in a given night I’m feeling electronic, folky or bluegrassy, that gets to come out.”
Cloud Cult began as a creative outlet for Minowa while he studied environmental science in college. He layered his music so intricately on his first release, “Who Killed Puck,” the album took him four years to complete. “I had to have every little nook and cranny just right. It was the first album I did like that,” Minowa said. Soon Cloud Cult became a group effort, with the addition of cellist Sarah Young, drummer Dan Greenwood and bassist Matthew Freed.
“It’s started off as a studio project; it wasn’t expected to become a touring thing,” Minowa said. But with the praise of critics and local radio stations, Cloud Cult began to take flight with the band’s last album, “Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus,” and left on tour from its Midwest homestead into the bigger cities of the nation. This meant the songs needed reworking in order to perform them live, something Minowa considered while writing “The Meaning of 8,” which Earthology Records released in mid-March.
The new album compares to his past records in only one way: Again, the band has created something completely different on each track. The genre leaps, however, cohere with the Minowa’s signature vocals: high, clear and edged with a biting sincerity. The band’s exploration of sound makes the album a music lover’s maze, with house beats around one corner and soft, country violin around another. The danceable and nappable music are threaded together with the musicians’ apparent honesty. Not once while listening to or watching Cloud Cult will you get the sinking feeling that the band’s image drives its music. The art speaks for itself.
Cloud Cult doesn’t limit itself to musical creativity, either. The band includes two artists who paint live, on-stage with the band. “We start and finish it in the time the band does their set. Basically it’s inspired by the music, the people in the audience, the travels that we’ve had,” said Connie Minowa, Craig’s wife and one of Cloud Cult’s visual performers. She explained that she and Scott West, the other artist, get a feel for the energy of the day, crowd and music, allowing all these to influence the creation.
“It’s a culmination of the different experiences,” Connie Minowa said. “The music does inspire the paintings, but we also incorporate our personal feelings, too, at the end of the show, and serves as a memory for what the show’s about.”
Cloud Cult’s stop in Eugene will benefit high-risk kids in the area. “We’re really looking forward to doing the show. It’s the kind of event we really like to do,” Minowa said. “The benefit itself is worth attending.”
Beyond the humanitarian effort, the band rocks out and shares the Zen experience of music with the audience.
Connie Minowa described performing as “a moment in time when we’re together. It’s a creative moment. Where everyone gets to take part in art and music, and we also get to exchange of energy. It’s a spiritual experience.”
Plus, the Minowas are excited to get some time in the countryside on the outskirts of Eugene, instead of whisking through the city after a typical set. Though Cloud Cult appeals to urban dwellers and indie rockers, the band clearly loves natural settings; Minowa wrote most his songs at a farm an hour north of St. Paul, Minn.
While saving the planet, helping kids at risk and creating music and visual art worthy of pretentious-hipster salutations, Cloud Cult dons no superhero suit, and most relieving, no attitude. Not a hint of self-righteousness rings in Minowa’s voice – his philosophies inspire his music, not his image.
WOW Hall will host the benefit on Sunday, and Cloud Cult will headline. Fans or newcomers will find the down-to-earth musicians create out-of-this-world songs. Beware, but welcome the possible paint splatter amidst the assault of sound.
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Cloud cult
What: Eugene Hope Fest 2007, featuring Cloud Cult, a six-piece musical, artistic collaboration founded by songwriter/environmental philosopher Craig Minowa. The June Umbrellas and Madison/McCoy will also perform. Tickets are $13.
Where: WOW Hall, Sunday April 29 at 8:00 p.m.
Why: The music will rock, the art will inspire and the profits will benefit high-risk children in Lane County.
