Friends of Dean Martinez is an American

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...

/ post-rock band featuring members of

Giant Sand Giant Sand is an American musical group from Tucson, Arizona, United States. Its most constant member is singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. The group started as Giant Sandworms in the late 1970s post-punk and paisley underground scenes. They later s ...

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

, and

Naked Prey Naked Prey was an American rock band from Tucson, Arizona. United States, which was formed in 1982 by the former Green on Red drummer Van Christian and David Seeger, who had been in the original line-up of the Giant Sandworms (who later became ...

. The band combines

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

with electronica, ambient,

lounge Lounge may refer to: Architecture * Lounge, the living room of a dwelling * Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby * Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar * Airport lounge, or train lounge (e.g., AMTRAK's Acela Lounge), a premium ...

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

and dub and intertwines surf rock-inspired

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

History

The band was formed in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

as an experimental side-project by various members of

and

. Their debut album, ''

The Shadow of Your Smile "The Shadow of Your Smile", also known as "Love Theme from ''The Sandpiper''", is a popular song. The music was written by Johnny Mandel with the lyrics written by Paul Francis Webster. The song was introduced in the 1965 film '' The Sandpiper' ...

'', was released on the Sub Pop label in 1995. Friends of Dean Martinez have gone through a variety of line-ups in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

before reforming in Tucson. Currently, the band includes Bill Elm on steel guitar and organ, Naim Amor on guitar, Tommy Larkins on

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, Joe Peña on drums and Thøger Tetens Lund on bass. Former members Burns and Convertino started the band Calexico.

Cinematic musical work

They performed a live score to the silent film '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' at the

Alamo Drafthouse The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the movie, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...

in Austin. Film-scoring work includes the Richard Linklater film ''

Fast Food Nation ''Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal'' is a 2001 book by Eric Schlosser. First serialized by ''Rolling Stone'' in 1999, the book has drawn comparisons to Upton Sinclair's 1906 muckraking novel '' The Jungle''. The book ...

'' and the

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

narrated feature documentary '' Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea''. Upon seeing ''Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea'' for the first time, Elm recollects, "I felt I could really write music for this. It was a nice fit for what we do, the images, and the story. It felt natural to watch it and want to write music. It was inspiring, and that's the most you can ask for when you score something or write music." In December 2010, Elm and Jackson won Best Original Score at both the Machinima Inside Gaming Awards and Spike TV's Video Game Awards for their work on ''

Red Dead Redemption ''Red Dead Redemption'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. A spiritual successor to 2004's '' Red Dead Revolver'', it is the second game in the '' Red Dead'' series. ''Red Dead Rede ...

''.

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (1995) * ''Retrograde'' (1997) * ''Atardecer'' (1999) * ''A Place in the Sun'' (2000) * ''Wichita Lineman'' (2001) * ''Under the Waves'' (2003) * ''Random Harvest'' (2004) * ''Live at Club 2'' (2005) * ''Lost Horizon'' (2005) * ''Fast Food Nation OST'' (2006) * ''Red Dead Redemption OST'' (2010) * ''Undead Nightmare OST'' (2010)

EPs

* ''Atrasar'' (2001) * ''In the Wire'' (2001)

Singles

* "Polena" / "Seashells" (1995) (as Friends of Dean Martin) * "Cordova" / "Monte Carlo" (1996)

Compilation albums

* ''On the Shore'' (2003; two discs combining songs from ''Wichita Lineman'' and ''Live At Club 2'' on disk 1, with ''Under the Waves'' on disk 2)

References

External links

At MySpace

''Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea'' official website

''Fast Food Nation'' official website

"Redemption songs: the making of the ''Red Dead Redemption'' soundtrack"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 May 2010 {{Authority control American post-rock groups Musical groups from Tucson, Arizona Sub Pop artists Knitting Factory Records artists Glitterhouse Records artists Rock music groups from Arizona