SHE GOT THE JOB BY DEFAULT

David Rodack had a dream.  His dream was to form a rock band.  Originally, his rock band was called Clay Allison.  Maybe it was because there was already a rock band called Clay Alison.  Perhaps it was for some other reason.  Whatever the reason may be, The David Rodack version of Clay Allison changed it's name to Opal after releasing a 7" single entitled Fell from the Sun/All Souls.  Opal rereleased the 7" single Fell from the Sun/All Souls under it's own name.  Joining David Rodack on his journey from being a member of his version of Clay Allison to Opal was former 1980's band Dream Syndicate bass guitar and lead singer Kendra Smith along with drummer Keith Mitchell.  The band Opal only released two albums, Early Recordings and Happy Nightmare Baby with Kendra Smith as the lead singer.

While Opal was on tour to support the album Happy Nightmare Baby, Kendra Smith abruptly walked off stage halfway through the concert and never returned.  It was never known why Kendra Smith abruptly walked away from her duties as lead singer of Opal.  She released a rock group album Kendra Smith Presents the Guild of Temporal Adventurers mini-LP and two solo albums (Valley of the Morning Sun and the appropriately entitled Five Ways of Disappearing) before she vanished into the forest somewhere in California.  Kendra Smith hasn't been heard from since.

As you can imagin, David Rodack was in a bind with his star player and lead singer Kendra Smith walking off and never being heard from since.  He had two options.  He could commit suicide after calling himself a failure or he could replace Kendra Smith.  He chose to replace Kendra Smith.  And thus was how Hope Sandoval joined Opal.  So now Opal had Hope Sandoval as lead singer, David Rodack playing guitar and Keith Mitchell playing drums.  However, this version of Opal never recorded an album.  Yes, they recorded eleven songs for an album entitled Ghost Highway.  However when Opal changed it's name to Mazzy Star, the title of the album  Ghost Highway was changed to She Hangs Brightly.  Mazzy Star released two more albums before breaking up entitled So Tonight That I Might See and Among My Swan.   

After the breakup of Mazzy Star, Hope Sandoval launched a solo career without David Rodack.  Now calling her band Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions, two more albums was released entitled  Bavarian Fruit Bread and Through the Devil Softly.  There is talk that David Rodack and Hope Sandoval might reunite for another Mazzy Star album.  However, details are still under negotation even to this exact second. 

Whatever the case may be, Kendra Smith's story is over and Hope Sandoval's story has only just started.  We can expect bigger and more amazing albums from Hope Sandoval in the years to come.