Milwaukee ex-pat Jeff Castelaz, who runs Dangerbird, a label and management company in Los Angeles has signed Milwaukee's Maritime to a record deal.
Other acts on the label include Silversun Pickups, Hot Hot Heat, Sea Wolf and Minus the Bear.
Castelaz was a music journalist and band manager in Milwaukee, where he worked most notably with Citizen King and The Gufs. He is also the founder of the Pablove Foundation, named for his late son Pablo, which raises money to battle childhood cancer.
The announcement on the Dangerbird site says:
"We are pleased to announce we have made Milwaukee mainstays Maritime the newest members of our expanding family. The band, which spawned from the ashes of The Promise Ring in 2003, is currently readying new material for release later this year.
"Recently, Maritime took part in The Onion AV Club's 'Undercover' series, where 25 bands reinterpret 25 classic indie and alternative rock songs. Their take on the Depeche Mode staple, 'Enjoy the Silence,' which has been smoothed out and injected with a healthy dose of keytar, can be heard here."
Maritime's next gig nearby is Friday, April 30 at UW Madison at 4 p.m. The band's next hometown show at the moment is June 19 at Milwaukee Art Museum at 4 p.m.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
