Cloud Cult

"They came out of nowhere, but in a matter of only four days of their first CD release to North American radio, they began taking over Radiohead's #1 slot on college radio stations." said Scott Spider, Fairbanks Alaska's KSUA radio station Music Director of Cloud Cult's explosion from a "nobody" band to a national radio hit."That kind of thing just doesn't happen, particularly for a band that no one had ever heard of before."

Cloud Cult is a multi-faceted band unlike any other. Established as a not-for-profit music centered environmental and philosophical movement, Cloud Cult and the band's self-created record label, Earthology Records, are providing music lovers across the U.S. with some of the most intelligent revolutionary music on the market today. Beyond all of that, college and alternative radio fans just plain love the music. In the last two years, Cloud Cult has gone from a "nobody" band to radio charting in the top 10 in over 100 cities across the U.S., being nominated Artist of the Year by the Minnesota Music Awards (along with Prince and Paul Westerberg), and sharing bills with bands like Violent Femmes, Cowboy Junkies, Cracker, Low, and even presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

What makes all of that even more impressive is that Cloud Cult, having spent next to nothing for promotion and marketing, is now passing bands on the radio charts that are signed to major record labels, who regularly invest anywhere from $100,000 to over a million bucks on marketing. The music industry hasn't seen the likes of such a successful grassroots campaign since Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe Records started launching her into the public eye in the mid 90s.

Where did Cloud Cult Come from?According to founder, Craig Minowa, the shows he did prior to Cloud Cult's formation in the early 90s were oftentimes quite disappointing. "I remember playing at these small venues, and in between songs I would walk around the bar and hand out fact sheets on environmental issues. It was usually just older women and gentlemen that were regulars at the bar, so I'd hand them the fact sheet, and they'd just crinkle it up and throw it away. I think they were probably just there to get drunk, and didn't care about the message, but each to his own. They were nice folks, just on a different path." During that time, Minowa was pursuing his degree in Environmental Science, and for a paycheck, he was shining shoes, driving an ice cream truck, fixing toilets and dressing up as Barney the dinosaur at kids birthday parties. All the while, he volunteered for a variety of nonprofits ranging from Clean Water Action to Citizens for a Better Environment and Greenpeace. "I had a lot of unrealized dreams about bringing environmental education together with music and art."

The Shade Project (1995)In 1995, Minowa spent a year recording music out of a closet, obsessed with creating what would ultimately become Cloud Cult "The Shade Project". In order to get around the limitations of an incredibly low budget, Minowa used household items, like buckets, pans, and couch cushions to fill in for instruments he couldn't afford. The album received several record label offers, including an offer from Chicago's legendary Bright Green Records.

Who Killed Puck? (1996-2000)

Minowa released Cloud Cult's "Who Killed Puck" in early 2000, a revolutionary and intensely visual concept album discussing social, political and philosphical struggles. "I had the story and visuals of the film laid out as I did the music," said Minowa, "so it was really interesting to write music to a storyline, rather than just creating random individual tracks." Cellist Sarah Young and drummer Eduardo Vaz also added to several tracks on the album.Minowa gave the album out to his local radio station and a couple of newspapers, but the lack of promotion left the album with little fanfare, leaving Minowa with an increasing financial crisis. "I remember donating plasma in the early morning, working at the food co-op during the day, then going to work at my environmental job in the early evening, and capping the day off with a full shift parking cars at the airport," said Minowa. "I spent the weekends being a disc jockey at weddings."

They Live on the Sun (2001-2003)

Minowa's son, Kaidin, was born shortly after, fortifying his transition away from live performances and into strictly a studio band. "I wanted to spend time with my family, and being on the road all of the time would certainly detract from that. Besides that, I had sort of lost my confidence in my ability to survive in the music world, given how little came out of Who Killed Puck." Little did Minowa know that several years later, the album would finally catch on with both radio play and sales. Minowa cherished his time with his wife and son, oftentimes taking his son into the recording studio to record him learning his alphabet and reading books together.

The next two years would be spent focusing on his family, while recording, writing grants, setting up environmental events and working as an environmental activist.Tragedy came in February of 2002, when his two year old son unexpectedly passed away in the middle of the night. Minowa and his wife (a high school sweetheart) separated shortly after that, due to the intense emotions of the loss. After that, Minowa fell into hermithood on his small dilapidated farm in Northern Minnesota. Over the next year, Minowa wrote over 100 new songs, in an effort to deal with the loss."I just needed the medicine that writing music provides me." said Minowa.

"I was obsessively writing music, working from home for a couple of environmental groups, and trying to come to terms with all the pain I was drowning in." It was during that time that Minowa formed Earthology Records on his organic farm. Powered by geothermal energy and built partially from reclaimed wood and recycled plastic, Earthology quickly became his heavily used recording studio and grassroots environmental home business. Minowa dealt with the pain of his loss by diving head first into bringing into fruition the concepts he had dreamed of a decade earlier.

"They Live on the Sun" was polished off by adding in tracks from cellist Sarah young and drummer Dan Greenwood, who quickly became mainstays and integral members of the Cloud Cult band. Minowa then launched a creative "Do It Yourself" grassroots radio and marketing campaign with the release of the 2003 album "They Live on the Sun". The album's radio charting brought Cloud Cult an avalanche of unexpected attention and show offers.

Aurora Borealis (2004)

In January of 2004, Cloud Cult added Mara Stemm on bass and released "Aurora Borealis", just six months after the release of "They Live on the Sun." Reviewers noted the album's messaging was as philosophical as the previous release, but somehow slipped deeper into the struggles with mortality and lost love. The album highlighted Minowa's attempts to "communicate" with his son on the other side and assess the concept of "true love."

The album debuted at #2 on North America's college radio charts (CMJ Most Adds) and quickly went to #19 on the national college radio Top 200 as well as #18 on North America's AAA radio charts. At its peak, the album was regularly being played on well over 400 radio stations. Given the heavy radio response and demands for performances, Minowa organized a nationwide tour and took to the road. National reviews started pegging the band as a "literal cult phenomenon," and newspapers and music publications began rating "Aurora Borealis" as one of the best albums of 2004. The band began to pack shows at major clubs in the Midwest and caught audiences off guard by including live painters, performance artists, back screen video, and nonprofit environmental tabling organizations at their events.

Lost Songs from the Lost Years (2004)Coupled with performing at an exhaustive pace, Cloud Cult released yet another album in the summer of 2004 "Lost Songs from the Lost Years".