Natalie Cortez & The Ultra Violets - Davis

Natalie Cortez & The Ultra Violets a.k.a Natalie Cortez & The Ultraviolets a.k.a The Ultraviolets a.k.a. The Ultra Violets were:

Natalie Cortez (lead vocals)
Steve Randall (guitar)
Steve Nicholson (bass, vocals)
Jimmy Brasier (drums)

This now-defunct Davis band won 4 Sacramento Area Music Awards (SAMMIES) from 1996 to 1999 in the Folk category.

On August 16, 1999, The Davis Enterprise reported that the band was going on hiatus to rest and to work on a 4th album, which apparently did not pan out.¹ The Ultra Violets returned in early 2001 to play at a few Sacramento venues and revisited The Palms in October. The band then went on indefinite hiatus, now living on as name-droppings in Sacramento News & Review.

Early member Stacey Sheston (bass) is now part of The Essentials. Greg "Grub Dog" Mitchell moved to Austin, TX and is part of several bands. The two Steves are in a band with Steve Bryant and Steve Edberg called The Universal Steve.

The band's website no longer exists but archives are available at archive.org. The ultraviolets.net domain expired in late 2004/early 2005.

Discography

The following information is taken from the CD liner notes and archived website.

The Ultra Violets (1995)

Released on Raising Bobo Records (RSB 001). Features Eric Stitt on drums and Stacey Sheston on bass and backing vocals. Guest musicians include Melissa Olsen (piano), Greg "Grub" Mitchell (vocals), and Dave Theno (vocals).

Long Time Ago
Flower Petals
Fruitful Harvest
What She Said
Silence of Your Fears
Without You
Only Lonely Thing
Remember Me
Temporary Song
Lena Says

All songs written by Natalie Cortez except #2, #10 co-written with Steve Randall.

Twitch! (1996)

Released on Raising Bobo Records (RSB 002). Features Dave Theno on bass and Grub Dog on drums. Guest musicians include: Melissa Olsen (organ, vocals), Stacey Sheston (percussion), David Houston (guitar, "strange sounds").

Ghost Of You
Everytime
I Ask
In the Nude
Dave's Song
Three Times
The Dog
Up All Night
Joey
Tumble Me

All songs written by Natalie Cortez except #4 by G. Mitchell and #7 by B. Bellamy, J. MacKinnon.

10 Who Dared! Live at the Palms (1998)

Recorded on January 29, 1998 at the old Palms Playhouse and released on Raising Bobo Records (RSB 004). Guest musicians include: David Houston (12-string, e-bow), Grub Dog (drums, vocals), Melissa Olsen (piano, keyboards, organ, vocals), and Eric Stitt (percussion).

Intro
Close My Eyes
Asphalt
Dreamtime
Looking for a Light
Happy
Only Lonely Thing
New Year
You Talk
Only a Friend
Bigger than Elvis
Joey
Long Time Ago
What She Said
Fruitful Harvest
Without You

All songs written by Natalie Cortez except #3, #6, #11 written by Rick Thornton.

The Freeman Sessions: Stupid Bad or Stupid Fresh? (1999?)

A limited-edition EP sold at shows and on their website. Only 100 were printed.

Take You Home
She's Better
You Dear
Looking for a Light
I'm Sorry
Won't Be Boring

Steve Nicholson writes: The official title of the CD is The Freeman Sessions: Stupid Fresh or Stupid Bad?. Or something like that. One is the title and the other is the sub-title. It was a fun CD to record. We did five of the songs in two weekends at Greg Freeman's Tiny Telephone studio in San Francisco. The sixth was recorded at Enharmonic Studios as part of a Kevin Seconds tribute CD. It's too bad we never got to record that fourth album, but you know how it goes with bands sometimes.