THE MUSIC COOPe

Streetchoir 

Streetchoir is Benjamin and Matt Lemburg and we are brothers. We began playing guitar to Beatles music and early 70's Jesus Freak bands such as Love Song and The Way back in 1988, having also been heavily influenced by our father and uncles who all played guitar. After a couple of years Matt began leading worship at the Los Osos Vineyard and not long after, Benjamin did as well. During this time, Benj met Joshua Fishburn at Calvin Crest summer camp where they formed a band which played at a few youth oriented functions. Benny introduced me to Josh and soon our favorite things to do were drink coffee and make music. Each of us had an acoustic guitar so from time to time we would find a good spot on a busy street and entertain the passers-by, mostly entertaining ourselves, hoping for loose change which we would then spend on a pack of smokes.......ah, those were simple times.

In those days Uncle Mike gave us a Fostex eight track 1/4" reel to reel tape machine and a mixer, and we soon put it to use recording songs that eventually formed a couple of different collections under band names such as Hence the Name and Public Counsel. We sounded kind of like Keith Green + Grateful Dead. We had other guys playing with us as well; Ki Crumpton, Forrest Williams, Clinton Berry, John Kilpatrick...... since we both led bands at church, and the men we served under (Joseph Goodwin, Greg Buscho, Randy Nash) trusted us with the resources that were available such as sound equipment and keys to the doors, we were able to practice and record as loud and late as we wanted. Those were years of beginning to learn to play as a band, how to move spontaneously with music, and how to handle the idiosyncrasies of the people involved so that music could happen out of friendship.

In 1999 we met Matt Cross and formed Streetchoir. This lasted for about nine months as we played around San Luis Obispo and towards the end we recorded Tomorrow's Dreams. For one reason and another the four of us went our separate ways. We got married, we drifted away....... but during this time Benjamin forged a friendship with Kevin Prosch by writing to him and sending him some songs which he hoped would encourage him. Kevin expressed interest in producing an album for us, so we recorded a demo which was comprised of several songs which we wanted to put down in a more polished fashion while still maintaining the vibe of friends just getting together in the same room to make music together.

As 2002 was winding down, Benjamin and I saved every dime, worked on song arrangements and counted the days until we would record with Kevin, who packed up his whole studio and drove it to California in a UHaul (thanks Josh Knapp)!. Little did we know that we would end up using three different drummers, four bass players and three guitarists. God brought us together for a truly collaborative effort. We spent a week and a half recording Forgive and Forget in Los Osos, California with our new friend and all around great guy, Kevin Prosch. This was our first professional record and it was an experience. Lots of fun, laughs, hard work, tough decisions and tears.

We flew out to Amarillo, TX to mix the album. This was in the room at the back of More's old location before Third Ear was built. We mixed an average of eight hours a day for a week and came away with an album which for all of it's roughness, reflected very well where we were at in that stage of life: under pressure and making the best of what time, tools and revelation from God we have at the time. This was the first time we ever heard tornado sirens. We played a lot of ping pong while Kevin spent hours repatching compressors and preamps and input channels to his super-automated Sony mixer.

Since then, we have produced an album ourselves titled Walk Into This Room, the Christmas EP Holy Days, and two more albums with Kevin at Third Ear in Amarillo. The first, Since We’ve Been Apart was recorded and mixed in June 2007. The second was recorded in October of 2008 and is currently being prepared for release in early 2009.