Cardinal rose out of the ashes of Richard Davies' legendary pop/punk band The Moles. Richard Davies, fresh from a run at making The Moles a success, working the legendary clubs and studios of Sydney, London, and New York City - dispersed that band and headed off to Boston in 1991 for a fresh start with a handful of great songs and a dream about making a new, different kind of record. While in Boston, Richard met Bob Fay (Sebadoh) at a Cambridge night club. The two became fast friends that began
organizing jam sessions with various of Bob's musical peers. One of those peers, Eric Matthews, was found two floors down in Bob's Somerville apartment building. The 3 joined forces and in between "jams" began working out some of Richard's material. Richard on guitar, Bob on drums, and Eric on bass, together began forming an interesting trio identity, where at the center were Richard's songs sung together by Richard and Eric. Great chords, strong melodies, a solid beat, and a love of vocal harmonies were the character the boys were arriving at and they loved it.
With a combination of Richard songs, and songs penned collaboratively, Cardinal was able to score a small record contract to record an EP with an upstart record label out of Seattle called Flydaddy Records. At the end of 1992 Cardinal recorded the Toy Bell EP. The sound was refreshing and the music was full of a ragtag pop vitality not commonly heard in that time, or any other.
In the summer of 1993 Eric moved from Boston to Portland, Oregon (his home town) and the trio broke up. Bob Fay joined Sebadoh full time and Richard stayed behind working on new material for what Richard and Eric hoped might someday be a
full-length debut LP. With Flydaddy Records on board again to finance the production of this debut LP, in the fall of 1993 Richard flew out to Portland where Eric had assembled a studio and crew to help produce what Cardinal hoped would be a stunning entry in the world of Orchestral Pop music. Richard at the guitar again, Eric playing bass (and a multitude of instruments), and Steven Hanford/Tony Lash on the drums - Cardinal was back at it but this time bringing Richard's songs to a new kind of light, complete with sassy brass arrangements, and Eric's classically inspired string arrangements. The 1994 ten-song debut won the hearts of music fans and critics alike all over the world. After the release and success of the debut, Richard and Eric went separate ways and on to making long-planned solo records.
Ever, and still a favorite of the critics, the Cardinal record continues to be played, talked about, written about, and in 2005 was reissued by Empyrean Records. The reissue was remastered and compiled in a new package that contained eleven (11) bonus tracks made up of favorites from the 1993 Toy Bell EP, demo recordings of album tracks, unreleased Cardinal originals, and a cover of the classic Love song; Willow Willow.
The calls for a reunion are constant.
For more about the 22-track Cardinal CD, visit: Empyrean Records website for ordering information:
www.empyreanrecords.com
