Saddle Creek Records today confirmed that Chris Hughes no longer is in Beep Beep, the band he co-founded with Eric Bemberger eight years ago.

Beep Beep's line-up is now Bemberger, Darren Keen (The Show Is the Rainbow), Javid Dabestani (Bright Calm Blue) and James Reilly (Pharmacy Spirits), according to Saddle Creek label exec Jason Kulbel. Interestingly, Beep Beep is slated to release a new album in early '09 on Saddle Creek that features Hughes. I've heard a few of the tracks from the CD last summer and they were groundbreaking (I'm not kidding).

A brief history (from this story): Hughes and Bemberger first met in '95 when Bemberger was playing a show with Blandine Cosima, a band that also included Aaron Druery (Criteria) and drummer Mike Sweeney (Criteria). At the time, Hughes was a veteran of The Magnetas, a band that included Todd Fink (the man formerly known as Todd Baechle, of The Faint), Ben Armstrong (Head of Femur) and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes); as well as an early version of Norman Bailer with Fink. Hughes and Bemberger first joined forces in '96 in the band Gabardine that included Hughes' then-roommates Joel Petersen (The Faint) and Armstrong. Gabardine recorded a 6-song EP and two tracks for a Saddle Creek sampler before breaking up in the summer of '98. Two years later, Hughes and Bemberger formed Beep Beep, playing their first show in January 2001. In August 2004 they released their debut, Business Casual, on Saddle Creek Records, with Sweeney on drums and Petersen on bass.