I just posted my latest column in the Record Reviews group here -- I reviewed a couple of one-mans, Poor Boy's Soul and O Lendário Chucrobillyman, who is from Brazil.

That's here:

http://garagepunk.ning.com/group/recordreviews/forum/topics/terrell-s-tune-up-one-man-armies

It was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican last week.

Also I did a one-man band set on my local radio show.

Here's my playlist:

Coconut Road by O Lendário Chucrobillyman
Chicken Hop by Hasil Adkins
Hang On by BBQ
Ratfink by Bloodshot Bill
On the Prowl by WolfBoy Slim & His Dirty Feets 
Make You Say Wow by Bob Log III
Factory Dog by John Schooley & His One-Man Band
Feed the Family by Possessed by Paul James
Hang Your Head and Cry by Scott H. Biram
Introducing Chuck Violence by Chuck Violence
Coal Black Mattie by Richard Johnston
Throwing Stones by Poor Boy's Soul

Sorry for the non-creativity, but Dick Dale is #1 when it comes to guitar work, but Dead Elvis is a great choice

At the present time there's a Region 2 (UK and Europe) release but no US release yet. Hopefully it'll pop up on The Documentary Channel again.

Mardy Pune said:

You don't happen to know if there's a DVD release of this?

There's a review in Ugly THings #30 (Spring 2011) by Mike Stax who gives it an absolute stellar review! It's listed as on Cadiz Music (UK)...here's a link:

http://www.oilcityconfidential.co.uk/

It's something that's been on my list of must see since reading the above review.

You don't happen to know if there's a DVD release of this?

I happened to catch about 2/3's of the movie on The Documentary Channel. It's quite a band bio, going into details about Wilco Johnson's hippie background, morphing into being a highly unorthodox schoolteacher, following through with the Dr. Feelgood being the first unsigned band to make the cover of the NME.

There's a quite a bit about Wilco's meth problems and the consequences of said addiction on the rest of the band, creating a chasm in particular between him and Lee Brilleaux. This film is essential viewing.

I urge anyone out there to listen to, Thee Oh Sees, the Dream. Garage class from a future garage classic

Oh hell yeah, the Love Me Nots.

Rockin Rod Strychnine said:

I like The Urges as well. Also Thee Vicars, Wau Y Los Argghs, Los Peyotes, and for the last 16 years, the Woggles. the Love Me Nots are also great.

I've always used a Carvin MTS3200 head live, but during recording we'll use everything from a fender bassman to boogie heads to a JCM800 (which sounds amazing when set up for for a 'clean' sound, by the way). 

Then again I don't use pedals so I don't go for a lot of 'fuzz' I want straight up overdrive from the amp, the old MTS3200 sounded a lot like an overdriven plexi head. Unfortunately most people's experience with that amp comes from the shitty anniversary ones they produced or banged up versions in rehearsal studios. But It's really a solid amp. I've been using one for 10 years. 

I played with this Japanese girl band in 2005 called Megababe. They were almost like a Japanese all-girl ramones or something. Pretty cool 

not sure if you are interested in older bands but check out the trash from tokyo comps (I think I may see them over at paradise of garage comps site right now, wink -wink)

Shonen Knife.

i'd definetely suggest The Golden Arms, hiroshi is refered to as the japanese johnny thunders, here's their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/goldenarmsjp

another band which i stumbled upon by accident and i really enjoyed is called Yura Yura Teikoku, check them out they're really cool!

Damnit, again! I just realized that I replied to a question from 2007!

Sorry about that. I'm brand new here, and sorta old :)

Also, stores are buying very little qty nowdays. Stock isn't moving like it used to. I've noticed that stores will pick up maybe 3 copies each of an album (not including one stops) and then restock over and over. Stores are being extremely cautious, they don't want to be left with anything that can't be returned (ie; vinyl) As strange as it sounds, our cd sales have skyrocketed in 2011, and I think a big reason for that is that cds are returnable to the distributor, most distributors do not take returns on vinyl, so stores are picking up very few copies, and only restocking when the last copy is gone. Cds are returnable, so stores are more liberal with the purchasing.  Stores may pick up 20 of a cd format, and only take 2-3 of the same release on vinyl format.

 It's getting rough. But if you have a great back catalog, great bands that are touring and are active, and a decent promotional budget, there are distributors out there that will pick you up.  Not sure if you give advances to bands? But that is a way to break in and get some bigger bands, if you have one decent sized band that has a solid sales history worldwide, and is active, that can be enough to boost your overall label sales, and that would be time to approach a distributor. D

Distributors are also being extra cautious now also, so finding a distributor among the very few left, is a bit more difficult, and gone are the days of distributor advances to labels.

If you don't mind me asking Erik, how long have you have your label for?

It took my label many years before we started breaking even, and eventually having enough profit to barely survive off of.

Nowdays, all indie labels are broke. Three out the five biggest independent(punk) distributors shut down all within 3 months. There are a bunch of distro's and smaller distributors still out there. We are fortunate to have great distribution both in the U.S and overseas, but it took a lot of money a lot of releases and many years to get to that point.

 I could go on for hours about the complete suck of running a label (remember Lumberjack Mordam? We were victim to that whole mess) within 3 months, we lost around 25,000 bucks, which is a ton of money for a small label. I almost threw in the towel as well, but decided to perservere. Everyone is having a hard time right now, so your deffinitely not alone.

 As much as it kind of sucks to have to do it, you have to try to pick up large national act's that are already doing really well. Once you get a few larger bands on your roster, it gives a boost to the smaller bands and releases.

 What kind of music do you release?

I personally, don't think cds are going anywhere, anytime soon. For just about all labels, cd's are still their bread and butter.  As popular as vinyl and digital have become, they are still dwarfed by cd sales.

 I believe cd's still have a fairly healthy life left in em, as well as a larger profit margin. Vinyl is pretty much a loss when your selling at a 12.98 or so retail cost. Distributor pays label 7.00 or so, the product cost the label 5 bucks a piece to make, not including promotion, advertising, pr. etc. And the 2-3 bucks a piece made from vinyl does not stretch very far.  Digital is still just a "happy perk" to most labels. Seeing a couple hundred bucks in your account per month certainly doesn't account for much in the grand scheme of things. But cds are still selling well, at least in my experience. They cost about a buck a piece, they still retail for 8-12 bucks. The money made from cd sales help pay for the more costly vinyl releases, and promotion and such. I can't imagine what would happen right now if cds just disapeared. It would have a profound effect on not only labels, but the entertainment industry job market, advertising would plummet which would effect websites and zines, pr companies would drown. It would be almost an industry wide panic.

 Anyway, my half asleep thoughts on it..

Saw Los Straitjackets and Knyghts of Fuzz in June and recently saw The Feelies. Looking at the Fleshtones or Dirtbombs next!

may i sudgest the vox ac4 for that ,small ,cheap ,tube and toneful seems great

Jamie said:

Cool choices. Have you ever tried the infamous "poke holes in your amp" trick? I haven't yet, but one of these days I'm going to get a small amp and try it out. I heard that Dave Davies had a small amp that he then ran through Vox AC30 I believe. If I could find a small cheap amp I would try it.

Added a bunch of you ... Since I know for sure you all have fabulous taste, it's going to make the "My Friends Radio" station extra-specially awesome. :)

i have been using lastfm a lot lately. they play a lot of good garage. i like it a lot better than pandora cuz the lack of commercials and the more verity of music. i just made a profile on lastfm for my band but it's been hard to get the radio station to work i think i need people to try to listen to the tracks on the profile.

Don't forget to check out this weeks playlist at  whfr.fm   - you can search the playlist for "the Wrekking Hours" radio show to see the complete list.

Catch ya next week for more new Psychobilly!! 

Wrekking Hrs is ON THE AIR!! tune in now 4-6pm for Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Surf & More @ http://whfr.fm/about/listen-live-now  - Monday November 21, 2011.   

Today features Mars Attacks, The Moonstompers, Marti Brom, Jumpkatz & More.

For the Psychobilly & Surf hour we'll feature Batmobile, Concombri Zombie, Kitty In A Casket, Circus Knucklebone & More.

Tune in while you can to hear it live!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgILoeOXKg

Thanks a lot Bry! We will look into those things.

Bry Nylon said:

Hi - don't know about digital options or keyboard options - - but in the 'physical world' I have played about in this way for fun ... ...if you have, or can borrow one to check it out - maybe try running the mic. through a phaser of some sort [or phaser & bass flanger linked together]  - I have an old 70's out out control/near uncontrollable 'colorsound' foot pedal phaser ...but with foot pedals [vox etc...] & mics ...I have found that you sometimes need some kind of volume 'limiter' or 'threshold' style noise gate to stop deafening/wild variations in volume   - I also have a pretty wild 'Boss' super phaser PH-2 [they are lime green in colour] - you can tape it onto the head mic stand next to the mic and control all 4 buttons & modes on it real easy it that way ...phasers can give you real squelchy and drippy acid lyrics so long as you constantly fiddle with the settings as you are using the mic  [takes a little practice but good fun and maybe worth a try] - a piece of foam taped between the pedal and the mic. stand can help stop unwated noise vibration from using the pedal in this way  ... guitar effects are pretty good fun anyhow and you can get prefft wierd stuff out of most of them with some mic's - kind regards - bry ; )

The Striped Bananas said:

I'm wondering if anybody has some insight into recording trippy vocal effects? Sometimes in the old 60's psychedelic songs it sounds like the singers are running through a keyboard or tremelo pedal or something. Has anybody ever recorded vocals with these kind of effects?

What would we need?

 

Thanks, Duncan