Mazzy Star

From Opal to Mazzy Star

Mazzy Star grew out of Opal. David Roback, born on April 4, 1958 in Los Angeles, had co-founded the psychedelic-revival band Rain Parade with his brother Steven and left after the first LP, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip (1983). He and Kendra Smith of the Dream Syndicate formed Clay Allison, renamed Opal, whose album Happy Nightmare Baby came out on SST on December 14, 1987. Hope Sandoval, born on June 24, 1966 in Los Angeles, had formed a folk duo, Going Home, with Sylvia Gomez, who passed their demo to Roback after a 1983 Rain Parade show. When Smith left Opal mid-tour supporting the Jesus and Mary Chain, Sandoval replaced her. A second Opal album, Ghost Highway, was largely finished but Sandoval was unhappy with it; seven new tracks were recorded at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, and the project became Mazzy Star. Wikipedia dates the formation to 1988 in Santa Monica, while LA Magazine and other sources say 1989.

She Hangs Brightly came out on Rough Trade on May 21, 1990, and Capitol picked up the contract within weeks when Rough Trade's US branch folded. Sandoval wrote the lyrics and Roback composed most of the music and produced. "Blue Flower", a Slapp Happy cover, reached 29 on Modern Rock and "Halah" 19. So Tonight That I Might See followed in September 1993, and Among My Swan on October 29, 1996, after which they toured the US and Europe for five months before a hiatus in 1997. Sandoval formed Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions with Colm O Ciosoig in 2000, and she and Roback appeared together at Bert Jansch's 60th birthday on November 3, 2003.

They returned with "Common Burn" in late 2011, a tour in 2012, and Seasons of Your Day (September 23, 2013, Rhymes of an Hour), their first album in 17 years, which reached 24 in the UK and 42 in the US. The EP Still came out on June 1, 2018, and they played three nights at the Sydney Opera House that month. Keith Mitchell died on May 14, 2017 and William Cooper Glenn on March 16, 2001; David Roback died on February 24, 2020 in Los Angeles, aged 61. Setlist.fm lists their last shows in February and March 2019. Roback told the Los Angeles Times in 1993 that you have to leave something to people's imagination so they feel they can participate.