The Call (band)

The Call
The Call in 1990, from left to right: Tom Ferrier, Scott Musick, Michael Been, and Jim Goodwin
Background information
Origin	Santa Cruz, California
Genres	Rock, new wave
Years active	1980–2000, 2013
Labels	MCA, Mercury, Elektra, Fingerprint
Website	the-call-band.com
Past members	Michael Been Tom Ferrier Greg Freeman Scott Musick Jim Goodwin Joe Read

The Call was an American rock band from Santa Cruz, California active from 1980 to 2000.

The Call formed in Santa Cruz in 1980 by vocalist/guitarist Michael Been, drummer/percussionist Scott Musick, bassist Greg Freeman, and guitarist Tom Ferrier. Steve Huddleston played keyboards early on for the band. Been and Musick were originally from Oklahoma. Been was previously a member of Chicago band Aorta, and then, between 1969 and 1971, of Lovecraft, the successor band to the psychedelic rock group H.P. Lovecraft.

Beginning with their self-titled debut in 1982, The Call went on to produce 10 albums by 2000. The eponymous premiere album was recorded in England, and Been later recalled that the band was in an exploratory phase at this point. Been noted in a 1988 interview, "The Call was a compassionate album, but it probably came out as anger." Peter Gabriel liked the band so much that he called them the "future of American music" and asked them to open for him during his 1982 "Shock the Monkey" tour.

The next album, Modern Romans, was notable for its political content. Been later stated, "There was a great deal happening politically – Grenada, Lebanon, or the government saying the Russians are evil and the Russian government probably saying the same about us. That kind of thinking inspired me to write the last lines of 'Walls Came Down'."

This was followed by Scene Beyond Dreams. Been referred to it as The Call's "metaphysical" album. With a strong poetic sense to the lyrics and a change in instrumentation, the change in sound is notable. Garth Hudson of The Band played keyboards on these first three records.

Reconciled was recorded during the summer of 1985. At this point, the band had not had a recording contract for two years, due to what Been described as "legal bickering" between The Call's former record label and their management company. However, when the deal was signed with Elektra Records, the band resumed playing and produced their most commercially successful album to date. Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds' Jim Kerr, and Hudson and former Band mate Robbie Robertson all guested the album which was released in 1986. Several tracks from the album became hits on the Mainstream Rock Chart, and one of these tracks, "I Still Believe", appears on the soundtrack of the 1986 film The Whoopee Boys. The following year, "I Still Believe" was covered by singer/multi-instrumentalist Tim Cappello for the movie The Lost Boys, by contemporary Christian musician Russ Taff on his 1987 self-titled album, and more recently by The Protomen as part of their 2015 cover album, The Cover Up.