The Topangas

With a name that perhaps sounds like some exotic breed of wild desert horses The Topangas are a Tex-Mex Country Rock band with a difference that sets them apart from the herd: Their songs are as groovily DANCE-ORIENTED as they are CLASSIC SOUNDING.

The Topangas are in fact named in tribute to the rich musical history connected to Topanga Canyon, California - particularly the late ’60s and 70s era when Topanga Canyon was the gathering place and spawning grounds of the singer-songwriter and ”California Cosmic” Country-Rock scenes - both of which are crucial ingredients at the heart of the sound of the music of The Topangas.
 
One also may notice that the The Topangas has a somewhat latin ring to it as well which was also the intention of the name considering that the band’s sound is also laced with latin, Zydeco and elements of tropicalia and island-style music.
 
Though The Topangas are a new band founding member and singer-songwriter Renn Loren has been working in the music industry for at least a number of years with numerous other successful bands and artists in the U.S. and Norway. Born in Hawaii, raised in California with years spent in Arizona, Colorado, and Europe Renn’s songs are a lifetime in the making. His lyrics paint vistas of lost highways, yearning cantinas, beckoning horizons, wandering souls, fond memories of summers past, small forgotten towns, loves lost, deserts, wistful windswept beaches, mountains, mysterious moonlight, and the hope of love and summers yet to come.
 
Renn has worked with some truly legendary musicians and producers such as Snuff Garrett, Bill Halverson, Billy Williams, Al Casey, Lyle Ritz, Cyril Pahinui, Greg Sardinha, and Kit Ebersbach.

In Norway Renn has worked with many of the most influential and innovative acts such as Magnet, Barbie Bones, Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band, Sondre Lerche, A-HA, Morten Abel, and producers, Yngve Saethre, and Hans Petter Gundersen.
 
IN ADDITION to his musical efforts Renn has also appeared in the Nils Gaup-directed film North Star (Tashunga in Europe) with Christopher Lambert, James Caan, Burt Young, Catherine McCormack, and fellow Native American actor, Frank Grey Wolf Salsedo.

Renn's songs have appeared in documentaries and in the highly successful film; "Hawaii, Oslo."

A cover version of Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay that Renn appears on with
Magnet and Gemma Hayes apperars on the Mr. & Mrs. Smith soundtrack.
 
Featured on the album are some of Norway’s best musicians such as Øystein Fosshagen (Øystein Sunde, Kurt Nilsen)
Tor Bjarne Bjelland (Lorraine, Robert Post, Aftenlandet)
Hans Petter Gundersen (Madrugada, Sondre Lerche, TNT)
Egil Skjelnes (the Flying Norwegians) Ole Rasmus Hjelle, Tommy Haltbakk, David Vogt (Real Ones) Arve Haaland, and Aage Vaksdal (The RoadRunneRs, Aftenlandet), and bassist Tommy Lindman (Vidar Johnsen).

Onstage The Topangas often feature the truly phenomenal Mike Gallaher (Adrian Belew, Joe Cocker) on guitar.