Spotnicks Theme In Wild World Of Batwoman?!?

"Is this some sort of weird-ass hootenanny?" I never really thought of the "Spotnicks Theme" as fast pickin' country n' western tune, but that's the way it's used in The Wild World Of Batwoman. I was watching the MST3K version of the movie tonight and was surprised to hear one of my favorite Spotnicks tunes used in a goofy chase scene towards the end of the flick. It wasn't the original version, which got me to thinking... How did a bunch of low budget film producers in the late 60's even hear of the Spotnicks? Then, going beyond that, why did they find a band to record a cover version - there are so many other songs they could have used. I can't embed the clip here, but if you follow this link (scroll forward to 2:40) you can see the segment of MST3K that features the song.

The Mobsmen - Scelerats Syndicate CD Available Now!

The Mobsmen - Scelerats Syndicate CD (Double Crown) Released May 26, 2009 (Order Now!)

Double Crown is proud to announce our latest release - Scelerats Syndicate from the great Norwegian surf combo, The Mobsmen! These masked marauders are set to tear apart the surf music world with their powerful, 12-track debut. You can find out more information about the band, and hear previews of songs from their album, at their MySpace page. Most of the songs are instrumentals, but they sprinkle in a few vocals here and there, so there’s bound to be something for everyone. Who would of thought - Scandinavia is the place to be for surf music these days - The Surfites, The Barbwires and now The Mobsmen!

BONUS! Order direct from Double Crown, or join the Double Crown Music Club, and receive a free bonus track via e-mail. It will be a cover of the classic instro - “Contact”.

Tracks:

1.Chunkje
2.Gridiron Syndicate
3.We’re the Mobsmen
4.Similau
5.Holy Gold
6.Scelerats Ave
7.Cicero Comet
8.Tandenborstel Twist
9.Flamenco
10.Raven Girl
11.You Better Tell me Now
12.Moaning Lisa

The Postmarks Cover "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue"

I have a confession to make - I actually do listen to music other than surf music. Okay, now that you've picked yourself up off the floor...this post is about finding surf/instrumental rock songs in unexpected places. Bands that you normally don't think of as surf bands have actually turned in some pretty decent surf/instrumental songs, bands like REM, Belle & Sebastian and Richard Hawley have all done surf or instrumental rock n' roll songs that have been surprisingly good. I just picked up the latest release by The Postmarks, a cool pop/samba/lounge/indie combo, who have just released an album of cover songs called By The Numbers. Among songs by Ride, The Ramones, Bob Marley and others, there's a cover of the Ventures' Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. I like the use of organ on this - it's actually one of my favorite versions of the song - check out a preview, or purchase it here.

"Operation: CRUSH CANCER” – A benefit for Brian (Spanky Twangler) Rogers of The Penetrators

Benefit Show Announcement!

If any of you have picked up The Penetrators DVD “Declassified” (available for purchase here: http://www.penetrators.com/loot.html ) I’m sure you’ve committed to memory the fact we played our first club gig on March 26th 1994. As coincidence would have it, the 15th anniversary of that date will be commemorated with “Operation: CRUSH CANCER” – A benefit for Brian (Spanky Twangler) Rogers at the Star Bar in Atlanta on Thursday March 26th and Friday March 27th.

Benefit or no benefit, this is one crazy-great line up of straight-up Surf & Garage Rock and Roll!!!!!

Here is the info:

[begin transmission] I'm proud and excited to present the "official" line-up for:

The Southern Surf Syndicate Spanktacular, Operation: CRUSH CANCER

At The Star Bar March 26th-27th. Benefit for Brian (Spanky Twangler) Rogers.

Thursday March 26th

9:00-9:30pm Slim Chance and the Convicts
9:45-10:15pm The Mystery Men!
10:30-10:50pm Myopic i (Debut!)
11:05-11:35pm The Holland Dutch
11:50-12:40pm Cletis and His City Cousins
12:55-close Thee Crucials

Friday March 27th

9:00-9:30pm The Surge!
9:45-10:15pm The Electric Cycles
10:30-11:00pm Dragline (Re-union!)
11:15-11:45pm The Penetrators w/ special guests
12:00-12:50pm The Woggles
1:05-close The Forty-Fives

There will be DJs each night and a fund-raising raffle too!

The Star Bar is located at 437 Moreland Ave Atlanta GA 30307

Concussions - Magic Fingers Named Instro Album Of The Year!

The Concussions Magic Fingers CD, released on Double Crown Records last year, won the WYCE- FM Jammie for top instrumental album of 2008! They performed at the awards ceremony as well, wearing their jammies of course! You can find out more about the event here.

Dap-Tone Records Recording Studio Robbed

The Dap-Tone Records recording studio was recently broken into, which is incredibly unfortunate, but it sounds like they're piecing things back together and should be able to get up and running soon.

Friends and associates,
As you may have heard through the grapevine by now, Daptone was broken into last night. Unfortunately, there was a lot of equipment (mics, pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen and damaged. It is going to take us a while to go through everything and take full stock of what was stolen, and we are not supposed to touch anything until the cops come back to collect fingerprints so we can only guess what's missing from some mic drawers and cabinets.

And, no, we did not have insurance. We had been shopping around with different companies earlier this month but had not signed a check, so nothing was insured. We are working on replacing the gate in front, installing an alarm system, and getting insurance, but it is President's day so it's not going as quickly as we would have liked...

Thankfully, we all still have our health, ambition, tape machines, and sense of humor in tact. You can slow us down, but you can't stop us. Sleep well knowing we here at Daptone will continue to...

Keep putting Soul up,

Gabriel Roth

I've really gotten into the Dap-Tone roster of stars, including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and would highly recommend anything released by the label if you are into the 60's/70's soul/funk/R&B sound. Here is a tour MTV did of their studio a couple of years ago:

MTV Shows

Surf Party - Complete Movie On Hulu!

I've been diggin' Hulu quite a bit recently - it's a great way to catch up with late night TV, SNL and a bunch of other shows. I haven't dug into the movies that much yet, but found this gem, Surf Party, amongst 'em - enjoy! The theme song, performed by The Astronauts, can be found on this great box set at Amazon.com

The Cramps' Lux Interior Passes Away At Age 62

The Cramps were really the only band from the punk era that mattered to me. The Clash and Sex Pistols had some great songs and I've definitely enjoyed listening to them over the years, but The Cramps were really the only band that I identified with. Back in high school I took a trip to Europe with my school German class. There were about 20 of us, many away from home without our parents for the first time, and it was one of the most exciting times of my life. I was open to anything, and everything was thrown at me all at once. Legally drinking a beer or three in public, at the age of 16? Sure! Staying up 'til 3am on the streets of a large city? Why not? None of my really close friends were on that trip, but I bonded with a guy named Ken who was in a punk band called The Pink Slips. He had cool hair and a leather jacket with the cover art from The Cramps' Bad Music For Bad People on the back, a cover which featured singer Lux Interior in a ghoulish artist's rendering. He told me about how great they were and how they were a huge influence on his band. Our first stop on our whirlwind trip around Europe was London, and the first place we went was King's Road, the birthplace of the UK punk movement. This was 1986, nearly a decade after punk was at it's peak there, so what we saw wasn't nearly as vibrant as it was before, but there were still tons of cool clothing shops, hair salons (all advertising mohawks and razor cuts, but not in a touristy way), and record shops packed with vintage vinyl. When I got back home I picked up a cassette copy of Gravest Hits in a used record shop, and at that point I had my first exposure to rockabilly (or psychobilly) and surf rock. It was no better introduction to this kind of music - there are only a handful of artists that did what they did with the amount of passion that Lux & Ivy delivered over 3 decades as the leaders of The Cramps. The book Incredibly Strange Music Volume 1 goes into great detail in an interview with them, revealing how they met, how they collected music (almost all vinyl) and how they immersed themselves in 50's/60's pop culture. Over the following years I slowly collected each of their releases - I didn't have a turntable at the time, so at first I collected cassettes, then moved on to CD's. In the 90's I was fortunate enough to have seen them twice - first with Brent Cole of What's Up Magazine at Oz in Seattle in 1992, then a couple of years later at KNDD's Deck The Hall Ball in 1994 (headlining a bill that included, and I'm not making this up, Sheryl Crow, Radiohead, Jesus & Mary Chain, Butt Trumpet and Fretblanket). I think they've swung through the NW a couple more times over the years, but as I've grown up and now have family responsibilities, it's not as easy to get down to Seattle for shows. In a way though, I'm glad I saw them when I did - it was definitely after their peak, but man, were they still a mighty force on stage. They were a great, great band and will be sadly missed by many.

Penetrators CD / DVD / iTunes Sales Going To Spanky Twanger

From: Trace Luger 017

Just wanted to announce to everyone that The Penetrators are donating all proceeds from the sale of DVD's, CD's and all other merchandise that we have to Spanky and his family. As some of you may know, Spanky is in a battle with cancer and some are asking about ways to help. Sticks and I thought this would be an easy way of helping the Twangler's.

If you are interested, our loot can be purchased here:


Double Crown Records - http://www.dblcrown.com/
The Penetrators Website - http://www.penetrators.com/loot.html

You can get our stuff from countless other ways also. They all buy more copies from us or Sean anyway. Downloads, such as iTunes, are also included in this.

If nothing else, please keep Spanky and his family in your thought and prayers.

When he gets a chance, Spanky updates everyone on this most important mission here:

http://www.myspace.com/briansupdates

Many Reverb T(h)anks,

Trace Luger 017

Note: I would personally recommend purchasing Penetrators items directly from the band - they get more money that way, plus they have a wider variety of Penetrators merch than I have available at Double Crown. Please check out the mySpace link above to stay up to date on Spanky's battle against Esophigal Cancer. Leave a comment, become a mySpace friend, and do whatever you can to support Brian/Spanky in his battle against this terrible disease - we're all pulling for him to lick this and get back on-stage delivering the twang and reverb once again!