JamisonParker

JamisonParker
Background information
Origin	Orange County, California
Genres	Rock, alternative
Years active	2003–2005
Labels	Interscope Records
Associated acts	E for Explosion, Say Anything, I and the Universe
Members
Jamison Covington Parker Case
Former members
Ted Vega, Jarrod Alexander, Joseph Assef, Jon-Michael Herrmann, BJ Lightvoet, Hunter.

JamisonParker was an alternative rock duo in the early to mid 2000s, consisting of singer/guitarist Jamison Covington and guitarist/bassist/drummer Parker Case, as well as former founder Alex Hovis, who originally founded the project with Jamison. Alex was the former front man of Astoria, which Parker drummed for. While active, they released an EP titled Notes & Photographs (2003) and an album titled Sleepwalker (2005), and managed to play over 200 concerts across the United States.

History

Growing up in the small town of Guthrie, Kentucky, singer/guitarist Jamison Covington realized he would not be able to find his musical fulfillment within the boundaries of his hometown. In 2002, he moved to Orange County, California, but soon learned that building a career in the music industry from scratch can be a hard and frustrating thing to do. Being a fan of the Orange County based band Astoria, Covington was delighted when, a mere week before his return to Kentucky, he was introduced to their drummer Parker Case through mutual friends. Case and Covington kept in touch, exchanging song ideas via mail for about eight months, until Covington returned to California in early 2003.

On April 25, 2003, the duo went to Skate and Surf 2003 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where they randomly performed so-called "guerilla sets" at merchandise booths and at a nearby hotel. The arising buzz around them was overheard by one of the festival's bookers, who immediately hired them to replace a band that had dropped out at the last minute. Having no time to think of a proper band name, the two combined their first names and played an all-acoustic set as JamisonParker. Their rudimentary but convincing performance quickly gained the attention of several record labels and finally landed them a recording contract with Interscope Records.

In August 2003, JamisonParker went into the studio to record a handful of songs for their debut EP titled Notes & Photographs, which was released on October 28, 2003. The release was supported by the band's first national tour with Straylight Run, followed by stints with Plain White T's, Motion City Soundtrack and Coheed and Cambria. The CD spawned a music video to the third track, "Your Song", which consisted of a collage of self-shot material, in analogy to the Polaroid pictures on the cover artwork for Notes & Photographs. While the buzz quieted down around the duo after January 2004, as they took most of the year off, JamisonParker returned to the stage with newly written songs under their belt in February 2005. In the meantime, they had recorded their first full-length album.

In June 2005, they appeared on the compilation album Punk Goes 80's with a cover version of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". However, due to their busy schedule, they did not have the time to rent a proper studio. Instead, they recorded the entire song while on tour — a hotel room became their recording studio, their laptop served as their mixing console and a bathroom closet was turned into a vocal booth.^[1]

On July 12, 2005, their album Sleepwalker finally hit music store shelves. It was promoted by various tours and a TV appearance on Fuse's Daily Download on September 12, 2005, where the duo gave an acoustic performance of the album's only single "Best Mistake".

While the popular demand for JamisonParker was at an all time high, the band-internal chemistry decreased steadily, up to an incident where during a concert, Covington walked off the stage in the middle of the band's set, leaving Case behind. From there on, it all went downhill, with a continuous lack of enthusiasm until JamisonParker gave their final performance at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California on November 5, 2005 and canceled the remainder of their scheduled tour dates with The Juliana Theory.

On November 8, 2005, Covington officially declared the disbandment of JamisonParker. In the announcement posted online, he made it clear that he and Case will not be collaborating again in the future.^[2] After the split, Covington formed the shoegazing band E for Explosion. His band's name was changed to Covington but again changed to E For Explosion. A debut EP titled Paper Flowers, was released on October 2, 2007. On May 20, 2008, E for Explosion released their debut album Reinventing the Heartbeat. Case announced that up until the release of his upcoming project I and the Universe's debut record, he will be touring as part of Say Anything. He appears as guitarist on the band's 2009 album Say Anything.

Discography

Albums

• Sleepwalker (2005)

EPs

• Notes & Photographs (2003)

Non-album tracks

• "Paper, Rock, Scissors (Acoustic)" – released on In Honor: A Compilation to Beat Cancer (2004)
• "Everyone Wants to Rule the World" – released on Punk Goes 80's (2005)
• "Anthem for the Broken Hearted" – Unreleased
• "Hold Your Breath" – Unreleased

References

1. ^  "JamisonParker speaks with Michael Mason". From Out Of Nowhere. http://www.fromoutofnowhere.com/jp0605.html. Retrieved January 15, 2006. 
2. ^  "Jamison / Parker". AbsolutePunk.net. http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=94984. Retrieved January 15, 2006. 

External links

• Official website no longer
• JamisonParker's profile at PureVolume
• Interview with Jamison Covington from Sept 2006
• E For Explosion's profile at MySpace
• I and the Universe's official website
• I and the Universe's Myspace