Bounce The Ocean was formed in the early 1990s by Hawk Bjorn (a born-and-bred Swede) and John Utter (a Washingtonian, also of Scandinavian heritage) who became friends at college in Walla Walla, Washington.
The duo recorded a demo tape, which soon caught the attention of Hollywood film producer Rick Stevenson who wanted to use their songs in his Patrick Dempsey/Jennifer Connely movie called “Some Girls”.
Hawk and John continued to write songs together and soon were “discovered” by Private Music, a small new age LA record label venturing into the world of pop music by signing artists like Jennifer Warnes, Taj Mahal, Ringo Starr along with Bounce The Ocean.
Their self-titled album “Bounce The Ocean”, produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Crash Test Dummies) and Michael Omartian (Amy Grant, Rod Stewart, Quincy Jones et al) with help from Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson, Alanis Morissette et al), yielded a Billboard-charting single in “Throw It All Away” and a modest radio hit in “Wasting My Time”, selling over a quarter-million copies.
Musicians:
John Utter: Guitar, vocals, background vocals
Hawk Bjorn: Piano, keyboards, synthesizer bass, background vocals
Dave Boroff: Saxophone
Andy Kravitz: Drums, percussion
Frank Bry: Keyboard programming, bass, drum samples
Michael Thompson: Guitar
Greg Leisz: Slide guitar
Steve Berlin: Bells, triangle, percussion, saxophone
Michael O’Martian: Keyboards, organ, synthesizer, bass, piano
Tracklist:
1. Throw It All Away
2. So We Collide
3. Wasting My Time
4. Letting Go
5. Gloria
6. Crooked Heart
7. Dry Your Eyes
8. When She Turned Away
9. Scientists
10. It Just Gets Better