Late ’80s alt-pop band the Ocean Blue is making waves again from Minneapolis

The way David Schelzel tells it, his globally lauded band the Ocean Blue probably would have ended long ago had he not met Peter Anderson the day he arrived in Minneapolis in 1999.

“I had this idea I was turning 30, starting law school and putting aside my rock ‘n’ roll dreams,” the Ocean Blue frontman recounted.

Those dreams had pretty well come true for a while, too.

Formed by high school classmates in Hershey, Pa., the Ocean Blue recorded three albums for Sire Records (their heroes the Smiths’ U.S. label), landed a No. 2 alternative rock hit with 1989′s “Between Something and Nothing” and toured the globe for the better part of the 1990s. It sounds like they genuinely had a good time, too.

A quarter-century after that initial run, Schelzel and two of his Ocean Blue bandmates from back then are making quite a go of it again.

The melancholic and melodious guitar-pop band already has 15 U.S. tour dates booked in 2024, including a sold-out gig Saturday at Icehouse in Schelzel’s adopted hometown of Minneapolis. It also has released three albums over the past decade and is working on a new one.

Schelzel, 56, credits a lot of that activity to Anderson, who joined the Ocean Blue in the early ’00s. He met the ubiquitous Twin Cities drummer at a backyard gig with the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, which Anderson played in at the time alongside Polara and the Willie Wisely Trio.

“Pete said, ‘Hey, if you ever need a drummer…,’” Schelzel recalled, adding that he “had literally just pulled into town with a truck full of my stuff.”

“That was just the start of feeling like I landed in a city with a super healthy and creative music scene.”

Part of the community he fell into includes his fellow Korda Records acts/partners, such as Ruiz and the Hang Ups. The artist-run Twin Cities label has released all of the Ocean Blue’s 21st century albums, most recently 2019′s “Kings and Queens / Knaves and Thieves” and last year’s reissue of the band’s 1999 LP, “Davy Jones’ Locker.”

So much for moving to Minneapolis to move on.

“Even after I started law school, about a year into it I realized, ‘You know, I can probably do both things,’” Schelzel recalled.

“I started writing again and feeling encouraged. Pete was super-instrumental in that, because he’s very handy and knowledgeable about studio work. And he has this super-positive way of saying, ‘Let’s just make music.’”

Schelzel did become a lawyer, and still is. He specializes in copyright and intellectual property law, another way he has stayed tied to the music business (Prince and Fleet Foxes are two names he mentioned as onetime clients). However, he said, “I like to keep the worlds separate.”

“Being a songwriter, obviously I became very interested in these intangible rights that creatives have,” he said, “but I’m more likely to work with a book author or any other general creative type now.”

Unlike many other bands that came out of the financially chaotic alternative-rock boom of the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Ocean Blue “don’t really have any horror stories or big complaints,” Schelzel said.

“We were a band of friends that had been playing together since junior high,” he said.

“We had a bidding war over us from seven or eight labels wanting to sign us straight out of high school. And we wound up going to England and recording for a label that a lot of our heroes were on. That was all pretty wonderful.”

Anderson said the no-hard-feelings vibe became apparent when he started playing with the band.

“I had seen them play the [First Ave] Mainroom and was a fan of their records,” Anderson said, “but I really got excited about playing with them once I actually started working with them.

“They’re just very easygoing and very enthusiastic about the music. And they really like each other. That can all be rare for bands that have been together a long time.”

Bassist Bobby Mittan, who still lives near Hershey, remains in the lineup from those school-boy days. Guitarist Oed Ronne (pronounced “Ed”), based out of Portland, Ore., joined in 1993 for the tour behind the band’s third album, “Beneath the Rhythm and Sound.”

The Ocean Blue’s best-remembered record is their 1989 self-titled debut, produced by John Porter, who had also worked with the Smiths. Along with the second LP, “Cerulean,” the group’s music fell in with the more mopey, lusher, prettier brand of pre-Nirvana alternative rock led by groups like the Cure, New Order, the Church and fellow Sire labelmates Echo & the Bunnymen.

Like many bands of that ilk/era, the Ocean Blue developed an unusually strong following in Central and South America. Just how big a following they had down there became apparent to Schelzel as he listened to a taxi driver when the group traveled to Lima, Peru, for a gig in 2019.

“He was singing along to one of our songs on the radio, and he had no idea the band behind it was in his backseat,” he said, offering this for an explanation: “Those countries have a lot of songs about death and love, and that’s sort of our forte, too.”

Mexico gigs are being planned for later this year, but in the meantime the band has mapped out unique U.S. tour plans: They are flying in for two-night stands in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, performing their first album in full the first night, then their second record on Night Two. Saturday’s warmup gig at Icehouse will be a two-in-one offering featuring performances of both albums.

“It’s a really fun way to do it,” Anderson said. “These are cities we like to go to. We get to settle in and actually spend time there. And we get to dig deep and play stuff we don’t always play.”

For Schelzel, the Ocean Blue’s 2024 itinerary reflects the balance he wanted — but didn’t yet know he could find — when he first came to Minneapolis.

“I didn’t want to do those three-month tours living out of a tour bus anymore,” he said.

“I’m all about not living a one-dimensional life now. It’s a lot more fun and interesting this way.”