Oleander

Oleander is a post-grunge band from Sacramento, California, USA. Its name is derived from the poisonous wildflower oleander, which line the highways of Northern California.

Oleander was formed by Fred Nelson Jr. (drums), Doug Eldridge (bass guitar), Ric Ivanisevich (guitar) and Thomas Flowers (vocals, guitar) in the mid-1990s. Their debut was Oleander, an EP released on Fine Records in 1996, which they followed with the full-length album Shrinking the Blob in 1997. The song "Down When I'm Loaded" became a regional hit, and Oleander signed with Universal Records.

During this time, session drummer extraordinaire Jonathan Mover was recruited in the studio to record February Son, as well as play live for the first leg of that tour. Nelson later joined the tour but subsequently left the band and was then replaced with Scott Devours. February Son was their major label debut in 1999, which featured the hit singles "Why I'm Here" and "I Walk Alone." They released Unwind in 2001, which included the hit song "Are You There?". The song "Champion" became about the sacrifice of firefighters during the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City.

Some time later, the band parted ways with Universal Records and moved to Sanctuary Records, where they released Joyride in 2003.

In November, 2003, drummer Devours issued a statement announcing he was leaving the band to join Ima Robot. The decision was amicable and the band went into an unofficial hiatus. During that time, Vocalist Thomas Flowers started collaborating with the band Black Summer Crush until 2008, when he was replaced by Jay Buchanan. The band also changed its name to The Pleasant Return.

It is rumored that Flowers might reunite with his former Oleander band-mates, but nothing final has been said about this.
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