Donavon Frankenreiter
, born December 10, 1972, in Downey, California, is an American musician and surfer. He is a long-time friend of Jack Johnson and his debut self-titled album was released in 2004 on Johnson's Brushfire Records through Universal Music and made the Australian ARIA Top-40 charts in April 2004.
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DONAVON FRANKENREITER TICKETS
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Surfing career
He took up surfing as a teenager at
San Clemente, California, and was signed to a sponsorship deal with
Billabong allowing him to travel the world surfing. During his travels, he rented a room in North Shore,
Oahu, Hawaii, from
Jack Johnson's parents and the surfer-musicians developed a strong friendship.
Donavon is also well known for his appearances in the Drive Thru series of surf videos.
Musical career
Frankenreiter started playing in
Peanut Butter and Jam at the age of 18. In 1996 he began to seriously pursue a musical career when he formed the band Sunchild. In Sunchild, Frankenreiter was the lead guitar player but did not sing. The band had a 70s rock sound similar in style to
The Black Crowes. They released their first CD,
Barefoot & Live
, on
Surfdog Records in 1997. Produced by Gary Hoey, the live album featured covers of
The Allman Brothers Band,
The Marshall Tucker Band,
The Rolling Stones, and
Van Morrison, as well as several originals.
California Honey
followed in 2000 on their own Sunchild Records. This studio album is now out-of-print and is very hard to find. Sunchild disbanded in 2001 and Frankenreiter went on to pursue a solo career. Sunchild is rarely mentioned in interviews or press-releases which leads many people to believe that Donavon only started his professional music career more recently.
In 2002 Frankenreiter signed with
Brushfire Records.
His self-titled solo album,
Donavon Frankenreiter
, was recorded with co-producers
Jack Johnson and
Mario Caldato Jr. Johnson appears on the album, as do
G. Love and
Eels member
Koool G. Murder. The album was released in April 2004 in Australia due to his high profile in that country from his support gigs for Jack Johnson and from Frankenreiter’s own surfing career. He toured Australia in April 2004, helping the album reach the top forty of the
ARIA albums chart.
Gary Jules was his support act on this tour. The album was released in the United States one month later, on 11 May 2004.
In 2006 Frankenreiter left Brushfire Records and signed with Lost Highway Records, home of such notable artists as Elvis Costello, Ryan Adams and Willie Nelson. His follow-up album,
Move by Yourself
, was released on June 6, 2006. Later that year Donavon recorded a song called "Lovely Day" along with Koool G., which was featured in the opening sequence of the 2006 film
Snakes on a Plane, and also appears on that movie's soundtrack.
In November 2007, Donavon toured throughout Brazil on the Mostra Alma Surf Festival with bands,
Animal Liberation Orchestra,
G. Love and
Matt Costa along with Surf Artists
Jay Alders, Nathan Gibbs, CĂ©line Chat, Surf Photographer Sean Davey and Surf Film Maker
Sunny Abberton.
[1]
Donavon's first live DVD, "Donavon Frankenreiter: The Abbey Road Sessions" was filmed and recorded at a special concert performed at Abbey Road studios in London, England in November of 2005, and subsequently released in early '06.
An EP full of cover versions called
Recycled Recipes
landed in 2007 with the polished full-length
Pass It Around
following a year later. For the Pass It Around Tour, Donavon teamed up with Surf Artist and friend,
Jay Alders to design a Limited Edition Tour Poster.
[2]
Discography
with Sunchild:
- Barefoot & Live
(1997)
- California Honey
(2000)
solo:
- Donavon Frankenreiter
(2004) #165 US
- Move by Yourself
(2006)
- The Abbey Road Sessions (DVD)
(2006)
- Recycled Recipes EP
(2007)
- Pass It Around
(2008) Wrasse Records
With Jack Johnson and G.Love:
- Some Live Songs EP
(2004)
References
- http://www.surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/alma-fest/
- http://jayalders.com/