Camper Van Beethoven plays downtown Davis

The Davis Live Music Collective will kick off its 2013 schedule with Camper Van Beethoven, live at the Davis Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St., on Monday, Feb. 18. The show is open to fans of all ages, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and music starting at 7:30 p.m.

Advance tickets are $18, available at davislivemusic.com. Tickets at the door will be $20.

The alt-rock mainstays will return to Davis for the first time in more than 25 years. This year also will mark the band’s 30th anniversary with the release of its eighth studio album, “La Costa Perdida,” available this month.

Paste Magazine’s review raves: ” ‘La Costa Perdida’ vividly captures the wild characters and odd experiences that happen on the coastline of Northern California” while Los Angeles Magazine calls the album “… a dreamy musical trip along Highway 1 full of guitar-driven odes and accessible alt-country tunes.”

Produced by the band and recorded over the course of two weeks at band member Jonathan Segel’s home studio in Oakland, “La Costa Perdida” is the band’s most cohesive album yet, marking the first time Camper Van Beethoven have ever recorded live-off-the-floor as a whole band.

The album is steeped in their connection to Northern California, specifically the areas where the band members first nurtured their musical talents — Redlands, Santa Cruz and San Francisco. With a geographical jumping-off point, the band fills in the dramatic, joyous, interpersonal and psychological aspects of the locales as only CVB can.

Says bass player Victor Krummenacher, “The coolest part was that everything flowed from the fact that these distinctive musicians and personalities sat in the living room. Our music now sounds like four people are writing it. The songs have great energy, but we’re more relaxed and stately and a lot more confident. The songwriting here has elements of vintage Camper along with grown-up Camper.”

The West Nile Ramblers will be special guests at the Feb. 18 show in downtown Davis.