Bethany Curve
Words By Rita Neyter

Sleep is sometimes not just for the tired or the lazy, but it is also for the adventurous. Dreamers like Bethany Curve’s vocalist/guitarist Richard Millang understands this all too well, “For some reason, I happen to dream heavily almost every night and 99% of the time I can remember them vividly.” When Millang first began to dabble in writing music his dreams became the perfect fodder for his lyrical endeavors. He goes on, “My lyrics are primary descriptives of dreams I’ve had.” And if you have ever heard Bethany Curve’s music you too might feel as though you have wandered into some amazingly wonderful and strange but spacious dreamland. Sighting David Lynch as a major influence musically, conceptually, cinematically and as an overall visionary mastermind, drummer David Mac Wha mentions his addiction to the revolutionary Twin Peaks series, where Special Agent Dale Cooper was also someone who was led by his dreams. Millang relates, “ I became so filled with excitement and inspiration I thought I was having a stroke! Watching his work is like someone has tapped into my dreams. I guess that’s what drew me in at first – the way they (his films) remind me of my dreams.”

Currently the band is working on finishing up their fifth record, a 5-song EP that is expected to be out by summertime. Millang is somewhat secretive about the details and that’s maybe because he understands the need for suspense and surprise, “This may in fact be a ‘beach’ release. The “beach” themes mean something special within Bethany Curve (but it’s a secret).” The beach may be a big thing in the lives of this group who reside in Santa Cruz, a quaint costal community just south of San Francisco. And like the entire Bay Area, Santa Cruz can get a bit dank and find itself covered in a perpetual shroud of fog and mist. This sort of environment may also play an intricate part in forming the band’s intricate sound. When their music is referred to as ambient, the specific atmosphere they managed to capture in sound feels like listening to the ocean inside of a sea shell or the wind blowing through thick Red Wood trees or watching wispy clouds of fog rolling across the surface of the waves.

When a band has been together for nearly a decade change is inevitable. As a band progresses, not only the band members themselves undergo transformations, but also their music. Five years after the first line-up in 1994, half of the band went in other directions but the core of Millang and Mac Wha kept with it and are still together along with guitarist Nathan Guevara and Daved Lockhart on bass. Their sound has definitely evolved yet it has retained consistency in evoking those certain moods of longing, love and dreaminess. Listening to different music keeps things new within the group, Millang is big on Bossanova as well as the Pixies, Cocteau Twins, and Lush, while Lockhart likes West Coast Jazz, and Guevara says he’s really been into Sonic Youth and Mac Wha can’t get enough of Interpol and Sigur Ros.

Along with many other things the Bethany Curve sound has often been associated with the shoegazer movement and some parallels could be drawn between the band’s sound and that of shoegazer greats Slowdive. “Shoegazer is a touchy subject for me,” Millang begins. He says that the term once meant something special to him but now it sickens him when it’s used as an adjective because, “It’s been so completely dissected and over-classified by fanatics,” and that is why the band shies away at the mere mention of the word. He adds, that it can be appropriate but only to those who have any knowledge of the movement. “To most folks, we just tell them our music is very ‘spacey rock.’ When it comes down to it, that’s all we are. We consist of 2 guitars, bass, drums and we play very spacey rock. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.” Millang makes it sound very simple but the music sounds more complex than that, apparently there is a band motto, “Atmosphere Arrangement Sound Layering Noise,” and Bethany Curve remain loyal to that saying.

Check it out for yourself: www.bethanycurve.com