Formed in Redlands, Calif., in 1983, the early days of the band found them sloughing their way through mostly folk versions of Hardcore Punk covers while, let's just say, freaking out the puck rock faithful.

But, with the release of their full-length debut, Telephone Landslide Victory, in1985, CBV had begun to hone it's own voice. Their quasi-psychedelic, lo-fi indie guitar pop took college radio by the antennae and knocked it on its steel supported rump. In the process, they would go on to inspire a legion of nebbish nerd rockers for the next 19 years.

Arguably, everyone from Pavement to The Silver Jews is indebted to CVB. They shattered the rules, and defied definition by cross-pollinating extended jams with the repetitive drone of, say, The Velvet Underground with dashes of Ska and Punk, and flashes of folk and blues.

Songs from Telephone Landslide… like, "Where The Hell Is Bill," and "Take The Skinheads Bowling" were prerequisites at college radio. Later, 1988's Virgin Records debut, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, would yield another college radio staple, "Eye of Fatima," and receive a smattering of MTV rotation. But, it was 1989's Key Lime Pie that would punch through to commercial radio and MTV on the strength of their cover of the 1968 Status Quo hit, "Pictures of Matchstick Men." Sadly, it would be the band's last album for 11 years, as the group broke up in April of 1990.

"We kind of fried," admits Krummenacher of his band's demise. "We worked really hard. It was that young, passive aggressive, male thing that tends to happen to guys in their mid-twenties who are in bands, and who couldn't really see a way out of what we were doing that worked for everybody. So, we just broke it up. We didn't have enough common sense to say, 'Hey, we just need to take a break.'"

Soon after the band split, CVB singer, David Lowery, would form Cracker and write songs about Euro Trash Girls, and everything from folk singers to moviestars with stinging wit, and deft ironic twists.

Krummenacher and some of the remaining members of CVB, plus one, formed The Monks of Doom.

"That was Greg (Lisher) and I, and Chris (Pedersen), the drummer, and David Immergluck that plays in the Counting Crows. We did that for a few years. At the end of '93, we got dropped, so in '94 I started doing solo stuff. I've put out four records out in the last eight years."

That steady diet of recording and touring kept Krummenacher fairly busy for most of that time, but in 1999, he teamed up yet again with Lowery, thus beginning a process that would eventually bring CVB back together.

"I was playing with Cracker, substituting for Bob Rupe, who had left the band," says Krummenacher. "Then we made the decision to expand the show and bring in (former CVB violinist) Jonathon (Segal) and Greg and kind of do this Camper/Cracker mixed up set.

"It was basically this extended family thing where we would start with a set of solo stuff with Craig, Jonathan and I, and then go into this Cracker/Camper set. The shows were three or four hours long. It was very exhausting, but very fun. That was the beginning (of the reunion)."

Then the four of them took it a step further all wanting the CVB legacy to continue.

"We did some studio work together and we started dusting off some old Camper stuff as well," continues Krummenacher. "A lot of our records were out of print at this point, and we wanted to regenerate the visibility of this band. We didn't make any plans, it just got thrown out there — 'Hey, you want to do some Camper shows? We should do New York. Alright, let's do New York and we'll see how it goes.' So we did three shows at the Knitting Factory last summer, and they went very well. We did some stuff on the West Coast that did well. After that we decided to do a tour. Almost all of the shows have been sold out."

The result of rooting about in the studio has lead to the release of an assortment of old odds and ends. Perhaps the most interesting releases are Cigarettes & Carrot Juice — a 5 CD box set, and the long awaited release of the group's interpretation of the Fleetwood Mac epic, Tusk.

The box set includes the first three CVB albums, a live album, and a collection of older re-mixed material. And Tusk was the result of skiing incident that left Pedersen with a broken wrist. The band was on vacation in Mammoth Mountain, California, and staying in a cabin. The intention was to get together and write new material for their next album, which would turn out to be our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. Due to his accident, Pedersen couldn't play the drums, but programmed his electronic Drumulator instead, and the band recorded Tusk from start to finish.

"(Tusk) is pretty strange stuff," admits Krummenacher. "We did that record in 1987, but we finished it in 2001. The tapes were missing for a long time. When we found them we were, like, 'Why not release them?'"

Having played in this band off and on for twenty years, Krummenacher has seen a lot in his time with this band. And it's hard to get a read on just how excited he is about this recent reunion, but he seems to have it in perspective.

"I don't know if excited is the right word for me these days," he says. "I just enjoy doing it. It's a nice part of my life. There's a deep sense of satisfaction to it. The thing about being in a band is when it's going well it's great, but if it's not going well it's just as bad a job as you can possibly imagine. There's a really wild range of experiences and emotions you can have while doing it. But, I like playing a lot. We've been playing really well, which is good.

"We've been playing together for a really long time now. So there's a really unique chemistry to have been playing together for twenty years, which is a really cool thing to have in your life. As long as it's fun and enjoyable I'll be there. But if we're not having a good time, or things are tough for whatever reason then it might be time for another break."