Fall concert dates -- UPDATED- Philly show added! Here they are:

October 30: Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY (with Allen Clapp, My Favorite, and Hockey Night) tickets at ticketweb via www.spsounds.com (GET THESE ASAP, it's part of CMJ)

October 31: IOTA, Arlington, VA (with Sprites [former member of Barcelona])
no advance tickets, but email Skippy about a possible paid reserve list

November 1: The Five Spot, Philadelphia, PA (appearing with Allen Clapp and Sprites) only a $8 show, ticket info TBA.

November 2: Fez, NYC, NY (a special evening with The Ocean Blue, Allen Clapp, Kevin Tihista's Red Terror, Sprites, Marmalade, and See Venus)
Call 212-533-7000 to make reservations or www.feznyc.com Limited tickets available at futurepopshop.com when they relaunch next week

Rob- Missing from the upcoming shows, again, will be the long-absent Rob. A formal annoucement from the band is apparently never going to happen, so you will have to put 2 + 2 together yourself. You just have to wonder if (and why) Peter will again be announced as "filling in" for Rob.

As a tribute, here's a picture from Rob's last live performance with TOB, June 1997 in Reading, PA, harmonizing on "Past Future Perfect."

Chicago Concert in April - Here's the where and when:

THE OCEAN BLUE with special guests THE HANG-UPS
at Double Door, Chicago, IL
Friday, April 5, 2002

February Concert Dates Announced - These are all East Coast dates. West Coast folks don't despair: maybe "late spring," but nothing more definitive than that.

Friday, February 15, 2002: IOTA, Arlington, VA (w/Allen Clapp from Orange Peels) buy tickets at www.iotaclubandcafe.com

Saturday, February 16, 2002: Brownie's, NYC (March Records 10th anniversary with Allen Clapp + The Cherry Orchard) (www.browniesnyc.com) tickets available at www.futurepopshop.com

Sunday, February 17, 2002: Ottobar, Baltimore, MD (with Allen Clapp) (www.theottobar.com)

Damn. I thought I'd be able to get away with that one. I'm not quite the Ari Fleischer type am I. Those plans for Her Plans were scrapped plans. Maybe I can convince Oed to release it as an MP3 bonus once the new Ocean Blue site is up.... Oed's the man.

BTW, the "new" TOB site is www.theoceanblue.net. (There's nothing there yet.) It's the band's Official Site, or it will be. I have nothing to do with it (this site is Unofficial, don't forget) so I don't know what the content will be or when it will launch. In case you were wondering, the "www.theoceanblue.com" domain was taken--it's owned by some Net company that buys up domains by the thousands.

I know, you want to know when TOB is coming to your city. This is all there is right now, that's all I can tell you.

Other cities are in the works as well: NY, DC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and more. More details as I get them.

There was an unconfirmed show April 1 in Salt Lake City. Probably not going to happen.

TOB plays two shows - The Ocean Blue played to enthusiastic crowds in New York and New Jersey on consecutive nights. For those who didn't get to go, here are some reports from some of the lucky fans who attended.

Official Update - The band recently sent out an "October 2000" update (could've left off the 'October' part probably :) ) that details the upcoming shows and release dates for the EP and DJL. Here it is:

Greetings! Back from a long hiatus, The Ocean Blue returns this fall with a brand new EP, Denmark, and a re-launch of Davy Jones' Locker on March Records.

Join the band as they commence operations for Davy Jones' in the New York City metro area on October 19, as part of CMJ, and October 20 for an evening with the band in ole blue eyes hometown of Hoboken. Visit Marchrecords.com for details. This marks the band's first appearance in recent years and is sure to be a treat for those that can make the shows.

For those who can't, get reacquainted with Denmark, the EP and first single. It will be available for purchase on or about October 15. This EP features the band's first single in 3 years, as well as 3 other tunes unavailable elsewhere. Feel free to check in your local record stores, online, or at Marchrecords.com for a copy. Additionally, feel free to phone your favorite radio station and make a request for Denmark. It will make you feel better improving the quality of the air around you.

In January of 2001, look for the March release of Davy Jones' Locker. If you just can't wait or are looking for that special holiday gift, you can mail order the record directly from March Records in November. The release will feature the 12 songs of the band's independent release, now sold out, plus an additional track or two previously unreleased.

As far as other shows by the band, stay tuned. The band hopes to be visiting other cities and towns in the New Year, hopefully one near you.

So, see you in New York or via the listening experience of Denmark and Davy Jones' Locker. Enjoy and spread the good word.

Tour Dates - The Ocean Blue are scheduled for two performances in the NYC area in October: Thursday, October 19th at Mercury Lounge in NYC and Friday, October 20th at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. These are the only scheduled appearances for the band until the release of Davy Jones' Locker (October 31st).

New TOB releases - March Records is releasing "Denmark" as a single on September 19, and re-releasing DJL on October 31. Both will feature new, unreleased tracks. "Denmark" will have two new Oed songs: "Sweetheart You're Surrounded" and "Her Plans" in addition to one of David's, "Mood Swing." I'm familiar with "Mood Swing", a nice slow-paced song, since it was one of the songs they played live many years before prior to the release of STOB. OED's stuff, that's all new to me.

As for the release of DJL, it will have slightly altered album artwork, and will feature two new songs. "Walk Away" and "I Can't See You" are supposedly the two new tracks. It's not known if the "new" songs are recently recorded, or like "Mood Swing" are leftover from the long-ago STOB sessions.

Tour! - We wondered if it would ever happen again, and according to March Records it will. The band will be touring this fall, and it will be a national tour. Some of the shows they may play acoustic. I do not have any dates or locations at this time. I'll post the info as soon as I get it. Which, if the past is any indication, won't be any sooner than the rest of you.

New Mailing List - Since the old Cerulean listserv doesn't appear to be functioning anymore, I've started up a new one. The new list is simply called TheOceanBlue, and is provided by egroups.com. To subscribe, send an email to TheOceanBlue-subscribe@egroups.com. You probably will need to register with egroups.com so head over there just to be sure. Let the discussions begin!

Shameless Plug - A very big THANK YOU to everyone who has been using the Amazon.com link at the top of the pages to purchase items. I don't get too much commission from it, but it's appreciated.

Here's one other way you can support this site. If you use Ebay a lot, a great service is Paypal. You can make credit card payments quickly and easily for your auction items, it's secure and it's free. Sign up using this link and you get $5 (so will I) right off the bat. I've used it a couple times already and it's really useful.

New Label - TOB has signed with March Records and have a few interesting things lined up. Probably the first of which is the release of a "Denmark" single with previously unreleased b-sides, and Davy Jones Locker which might get an overhaul as well. According to a source at the label, they are hoping they will play a series of acoustic shows and/or full on live shows to correspond with the releases. The single is expected in August, the album, late September or October.

New Q&A with David Schelzel - David provides some insight on DJL and being independent from the major labels. And as for the future? Well, read on.

Davy Jones' Locker Lyrics - I have received the official lyrics to DJL from the band. You can find them here, although lyrics to Oed's song weren't provided. Enjoy!

Guitar Resources - A new website devoted to TOB tablature has opened up, Dan Marx's TOB guitar tablature. It has several songs from each of TOB's albums, even some from DJL! Also, Neal Clark sent me his tab to "Whenever You're Around." It is pretty complete (the most I ever figured out was the intro riffs)...it can be found on the Guitar Tabs page.

New Design - Welcome to the new Deep Into The Ocean Blue website! The last version had been around since 1997 so the site was past due for a facelift. In addition to a new look there are some new additions such as a FAQ page. Some pages are still under construction but old content will be transferred from the old site eventually.

Be aware that this site makes heavy use of some of the latest neato internet tools such as stylesheets and the Flash plug-in. You can still view the site using older browsers but it won't look as intended. Sorry about that, but progress marches on.

New Album - The fabulous new album by The Ocean Blue, Davy Jones' Locker, is now shipping and available for ordering! Here are the details:

To obtain your copy of Davy Jones’ Locker on CD, send $14 (includes shipping and handling) to:

THE OCEAN BLUE
PO BOX 363
HERSHEY, PA 17033 USA

Include your name, shipping address and email. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. QUESTIONS? email theoceanbl@aol.com

Santa delivers TOB in time for Xmas - Several people have reported that they have received their CDs in the mail. If you ordered one, look for it to arrive soon.

The News You've Been Waiting For - The embargo appears to have been lifted so I can now pass on to you the info on how to order the new TOB album, "Davy Jones' Locker."

To obtain your copy of Davy Jones’ Locker on CD, send $14 (includes shipping and handling) to:

THE OCEAN BLUE
PO BOX 363
HERSHEY, PA 17033 USA
Include your name, shipping address and email. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

QUESTIONS? email theoceanbl@aol.com

Above is a picture of the album artwork. I am working on getting some Q&A with the band.

MP3s of Old Songs - I recently got a tape (thank you Heather) that has some old and rare TOB tracks. Two of these are from a compilation album called Preliminary Hearing that was put out by a Lancaster, PA radio station. These songs are "On Growing Up" and "Wounds of a Friend." I have encoded these as MP3s, and will be making them available for download. The first one is available now, and others will follow.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! Fans everywhere, rejoice. Here is the official word on the new album:

This September, The Ocean Blue will be releasing a new record entitled DAVY JONES' LOCKER. The record contains 13 tracks including songs you may have heard in concert and one's that were slated for the band's second PolyGram release. The record will initially be available only through mail order until later this year when the band hopes to have it available in stores and other retail outlets.

Information about the record and how to order it will be coming soon to all on the band's postal mailing list, the band's email list, and it will be posted on the various TOB websites.

Rob Minnig is playing drums with a band called Magpies. There has been no word on whether this is a side gig while TOB lies in limbo, or something else.

I have received an update about a tribute album to which TOB might be contributing. The album is songs first performed by an obscure band called Daniel Amos. TOB supposedly covered some of their songs live early on in their career. In any event, a TOB contribution is still up in the air, but Bobby Mittan plays on his sister Erin Echo's track, "William Blake" - which was originally recorded by Daniel Amos on their 1984 LP, "Vox Humana". (Thanks to Eric Townsend... see this link for more Daniel Amos info.)

To follow up on the story below, I received this email from Jon of the fan club:

The song predates most of the songs on the first record but has been a perennial favorite at the band's live shows. The band told me once that although the track was a popular one, with the band's label, management, and fans, it just never seemed to fit into any of the albums.

The band did make a studio recording of it in 1994 for a soundtrack, however it was never used. They had talked about releasing it with a compilation of other songs, but that would require Sire's permission, as they still own the master.

So, it is not an album, not even a single, just a song that the band has done for a long time that never wound up on a record.

It is a good song, sorta "Doors-y/REMy" with a great organ part and some peppy drumming.

And just to let you know, there is STILL no word from PolyGram/MCA about the fate of the band at the label. There won't be much movement on the new record until things are resolved, hopefully soon!

Is "City Traffic" the name of the new TOB album? On the All-Music Guide website there is a list of TOB albums, including this one that follows 1996's STOB. It lists The Ocean Blue as producers and David Bernini as the engineer. No date or label is given.

David and Oed answered some questions recently through email and the responses were published on the Cerulean listserv. Probably the most important news from this is that Mercury Records appears to be in great internal turmoil due changing ownership, the result of which has frozen the release of various albums. TOB apparently falls into this lot and there seems to be hints that they may look for a different label. The other bit of news was the confirmation that Rob is still in the band.

The band has not had many (any?) full rehearsals lately but have been playing at each other's houses.

There have been rumors floating around for the past week that Rob has left or is leaving the band. I haven't posted anything because it is just that--a rumor. However the TOB staff has officially sent out an email responding to this development, so that legitimizes reporting about it. Here it is:

Subject: Inquiries about Rob and what the band is up to...

Given the emails we've gotten this week, and requests for an update, we thought we should send everyone a brief update.

To begin, the posting about Rob's departure can not be confirmed with the members of the band. They said it may be entirely true what Rob has said to the J. Minnig that posted (if so, it sure seems unthoughtful to me to be posting the details of Rob's life), but that Rob hasn't given them any notice of a decision to leave.

As for work on the record, the writing and demoing process is continuing. David said more songs were finished last week that he had been working on on his own and with Allen Clapp of the Orange Peels. He hopes to resume sessions with the group in a few weeks.

I apologize to the avid fan for not posting more frequent updates, but honestly it is a slow time for band activity, and I feel like I'd be just saying the same thing over again. I can assure you that the band, despite whatever may be occurring with its drummer, is alive and well and making (to my ear) great music. Once the band and the label feel the right group of songs has been written, the record will be put together.

Until next time,

Jon
TOB staff

The bad news: the band has not gotten together for rehersals all summer due to a number of scheduling conflicts. The good news: David is working some on his own.

Rather than paraphrase, I'll just give you the goods straight:

Greetings to all on The Ocean Blue email list from Hershey PA.
We have had a lot of mail in the past two months from eager and curious fans wanting to know what's going on with the band- what are they up to? are they still alive? when is this next record coming out, etc.? Well, we can assure you that they are indeed alive and are up to what promises to be a great record. Some of us have had the privilege of listening in on some of the band's sessions, and I can personally report that the band already has some of its best work yet headed for this record.

But unfortunately, for the devoted fan , working on a record can be a long process of rehearsing and demoing up various songs that are being worked on, going back and refining some, discarding others, all leading to a final collection of tunes that will go on the next record. Because of many factors, the band is not in a particular hurry this time around. They'd like this record to be an especially good one. Also, there have been big changes at Mercury Records these past two years since the band arrived and they and their management have been forging new relationships with the folks there… This said, the record is coming into being and is a reality, though completely underwater so to speak.

The band has no concerts planned this spring, but they are not especially avoiding them, its just that none have been put together. I know David has said he'd like to play some of the new tunes out in the coming months to get the live spin on them. That would be great…

So for now, sit tight, sorry to keep you waiting. All is well, enjoy life, the band's other recordings are always there for you, as are we (theoceanbl@aol.com or po box 363 hershey pa 17033) and good folks like the Drone and his fabulous tob website. Speaking of which, we will run a spring special (thru June 15) in his "surf shop" on the SEE THE OCEAN BLUE t-shirts. They'll be just $5 plus s/h. Check out his revamped site! Also, look for some new pictures and interviews with the band on the progress of the new record in the coming months. We'll let you know where and when….

Yours,
Jon (you can always "ask me")
TOB pal and staffguy

Rob (drummer) got appendicitis and that put the new album sessions behind just a bit.

David is selling some equipment. Nothing flashy but you musicians out there might be interested.

From the newest e-mail update from the fan club: the band is currently rehearsing songs for the new record that hopefully will be released this year. Since they are hard at work on that, there are no tour plans in the next few months. However, they would like to give the songs a workout in a live setting so a limited number of concerts (probably at colleges) are likely. "If any of you are students especially, you may want to check with your school's concert committees to see what is being planned for the semester." The unreleased tracks record, as reported here previously, is currently on indefinite hold. Their label (Mercury) felt the band would be better off working on new stuff, apparently; however, they seem open to possibly releasing it after the new album so we may see it yet. (I sure hope so, I am dying for a studio version of "Ayn"!) Finally, the fan club source (Jon, I assume) had this to say about what the new album sound like:

"To me it seems more like vintage TOB- circa record one and two, but with a more mature musical twist. Some of the romantic charm and subtlety of earlier records seem to be peaking through the tunes I have heard, and some of the raw, up front presentation of SEETOB seems to have receded- at least in the tunes I have heard. Can it be the best of all TOB musical worlds? I hope so."

The TOB mailing list has been receiving mail from someone claiming to be David Schelzel. The official word from the fan club is that this mystery person is bogus, definitely not David. If we ignore this person hopefully s/he'll go away.

Recent discussions on the mailing list have revealed that the band may include a cover song on their next official release, although that remains unconfirmed and the track in question remains a mystery.

According to Drone's site, the unreleased tracks album will come out after all. The release time is hoped to be before the holidays (which isn't too far off). No word on the recording label. 

According to the fan club newsletter, the band has just signed an agreement to make a new album for Mercury, ending speculation that they would release a record of unreleased tracks on an independent label. You might puzzle over why they would sign an agreement with the label they are already affiliated with, but apparently Mercury was going through a top-to-bottom upheaval during the time that STOB came out and things are just now getting in order.

That pretty much rules out those unreleased tracks coming out anytime in the near future. Also, no time frame was given about the new album except that it will be "in the coming year."

No mention was made of any tour dates. That probably means the East Coast dates in September are not going to happen.

A new update from the fan club has this to say: A "new" album of material (actually recorded between the BTRS and STOB albums in Rob's studio) could be released sooner or later, depending on which label gets to release it. If it's Mercury, it could be 1998...if it's an independent label, it would be much sooner. (Personal opinion: I'm sure every fan would want the latter option for our own selfish reasons, but I believe the band would also benefit from the exposure, something they lost during the long layoff before the release of STOB.)

Also mentioned was some tour info. The phantom Chicago concert was all cleared up and hopefully we won't have that sort of miscommunication again. But as for upcoming events, East Coast dates in September are possible--sorry to all you fans in Chicago, California, Kansas and Washington state, and elsewhere :-( . The good news is that the band may be performing with The Orange Peels, one of David's fave bands, so we might finally get a chance to see what they are like.

Looks like a new album could be coming out this summer! A very informed source (who I'll just refer to as "DS") indicated that a new full-length album with all-new material is very likely to be released. Also, the "source" hinted that the record might not be on Mercury's label...

Also, according to Bobby Mittan (another well-informed source), there will be a show in Chicago in July. The date he thought it to be is July 25th. No word about the location yet.

The latest TOB e-mail update was brimming with news. Most of it concerned the two upcoming concerts. Those are the Reading show on June 21st and Norfolk on June 28th. The shows planned for Boston and Chicago will not occur in June, and apparently a tour is unlikely without record label support.

The most intriguing news item is a small blurb from the e-mail update mentioning a possible new album! It says a summer release is possible. This would be terrific and amazing but not a complete surprise, since a previous update had mentioned that the band was contemplating releasing a bunch of tracks that were done during the STOB recording sessions. We'll have to wait and see I suppose....

The "Slide" single is still being played on various radio stations (but none where I live...). Unfortunately the record label has shelved the release of the video at this time. (It sounds as though the band is not receiving the support from the label that they would have liked, but this is the news section, not the Op-Ed section...)

Small aside here...I was out to dinner last Friday and a really catchy tune was playing over the restaurant sound system. Listening over the din of conservation and clatter, I realized it was "My Scream." I don't believe it was from a radio station. That's one of my favorite STOB tracks and I've always thought it would make a great single. Apparently someone else agrees.

This website got a major overhaul! I've expand things somewhat and made some new graphics to spice it up. I'm not finished yet though...more to come!

More details on the Reading, PA show is available. The shows planned for Boston and Chicago will probably occur in June.

I've added my report of the Norfolk show.

Detailed info about the Norfolk show is now available.

TOB will be playing an outdoor benefit concert on Saturday, April 19 near Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA).

Due to moving into a new apartment, I'm a little behind. But anyway, TOB recently played The Bayou in DC, and a limited tour is currently on.

Join the mailing list for The Ocean Blue! Check out the Contacts/Links section for details.

Looks like another tour is in the works. Details are sketchy at this time though.

Current tour ends in New York! The next single from See The Ocean Blue will be "Slide."

New tour dates announced.

New album, See The Ocean Blue, out now!!