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(12/12/07 update)
I had to do a little pre-year-end maintenance on the site & update the shows page today so I thought I'd jump in and wish anyone who may be reading this page a fun and festive holiday season; since I doubt I will update the site again until the first week of January. (Unless something really exciting and / or newsworthy happens, in which case I will let you know.) With that in mind...
Hope you all have a fun and festive holiday season!
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(11/13/07 update)
Hello people! And welcome to our final new release Tuesday update for 2007. As promised in our last update, today is the day that we raise our glasses in celebration of the newest addition to our humble but ever expanding catalog, Alcoholics Unanimous' 20 Years Of Tanked Up Tunes CD. Skol!
As many of you know - because I've mentioned it a bunch of times on this page already - this band is the brainchild of Thee Whiskey Rebel and Intoxica (aka Marla Vee) of Rancid Vat fame. (And, actually the band currently features their literal child, Elvis, on drums as well as Mark Von Diehl, also of Rancid Vat, on guitar.) Lest anyone think otherwise, let me point out that these two bands are not as similar as you may imagine. Whereas Rancid Vat thrives on confrontation, AU is more of a good-time party band; which makes total sense since they're a band dedicated to playing drinking songs. Fittingly they will be popping the cork on this masterpiece by celebrating at one of their favorite watering holes, Grey Horse Tavern, along with special guests Johnny Vomit & Dual Exhaust, on December 1st. Well, OK, pretty much every band has their CD release party in a bar but, trust me, this will be a fun show. More information on this event can be found, as always, on our shows page and more info. on the CD itself can be found on our catalog page, or by clicking on the title above.
While this AU CD is the last addition to our catalog for this calendar year, believe it or not we're already working on 2008's releases - thanks to that pesky calendar our distributor uses that's like 8 weeks ahead of a regular calendar. It's shaping up to be quite a busy year from what I can tell, with new releases by many bands familiar to these news updates, and a few new ones. (See below.) More on that to follow; I just didn't want you to think I'm sitting around with my feet up, eating bon-bons and watching ABC soaps all day. (I'm saving that for the last two weeks of December!)
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(10/30/07 update)
Hello everyone and welcome to our most mischievous new release Tuesday update to date! Actually, there's nothing particularly mischievous about this release but, seeing as how tonight is Mischief night and today is a new release Tuesday, I kind of can't help from tying the two things together. And trust me, if new release Tuesday fell on Halloween I would have tried to tie in that occasion instead. In fact, I think I did so last year when The Earaches' Time On Fire CD was released on Halloween day. Anywhoo, before I digress any further, let's get back to talking about today's new release, shall we?
Those of you who have been paying attention already know that today is the day that we add A Fistful Of Rock 'N' Roll (Volume 13 Parts 2 & 3) to our humble catalog. (In case you were wondering, Part 1 of Volume 13 was released earlier this year inside the pages of our humble bi-annual journal of art, film, music, smut and wrestling carbon 14.) And, of course, those of you who have not been living under a rock since the mid-'90s or just heard their first Ramones song last week already know that this is THE compilation series of the past decade; a Nuggets of our time, if you will. (And ignoring the fact that there was another Nuggets set that came out a year or two ago featuring newer bands.) Since there are 53 bands on this monster 2 CD set it would be impossible for me to mention them all, and rude for me to mention my personal favorites; therefore I will mention none. I think it's fair to say with over 50 tracks, there is a little something for everyone - it's a veritable mixed bag of loud and rowdy punkrockandroll ear candy. (And because I love you all, that will be my last Halloween reference of the update!) To see the full band list, please click on the handy linked title above or visit the catalog page.
Before we completely get off of the subject though I thought I'd mention - again - the first of what will hopefully be an annual series, the Fistful Of Rock 'N'Roll Festival, December 7th & 8th in Montreal. I am not a hundred percent sure what the crossover is as far as bands who are on this volume who are also playing at this year's festival, besides Danko Jones, but anyone planning or thinking about making the pilgrimage can visit the Fistful MySpace page for the full skinny on that.
And on that note, I'm off to work on this week's B-Movie Buffet Halloween menu. (Ooops, sorry, that was the last Halloween reference of the update.) I'll be back in two weeks to talk about the release of the Alcoholics Unanimous CD, which will give me plenty of time to think up booze related references.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(10/15/07 update)
Despite the fact that we are still a couple weeks away from the next new release Tuesday update, I thought I'd jump in with a little non-new release specific news update, since I had a little maintenance to do on the shows page anyway. Although, now that I think about it, all of the news I have to offer is related to one of our upcoming releases.
Anywhoo, things are all in order for the Mischief Day / Night release of Parts 2 & 3 of the 13th installment of the most rockinest, mischief filled rock and roll compilation ever - A Fistful Of Rock 'N' Roll; in fact, things have been in order for this event since September. (See, this is one of the weird things about working with a distributor like RedEye. When we handled distro ourselves we were always stressing on getting CDs back in time for their release date; now we have to fit our releases into RedEye's schedule, which requires that CDs be in their warehouse five to six weeks prior to the release date. Needless to say, not having stock on hand or to send out to the bands to coincide with the release date of any given release is one aspect we no longer have to fret over. On the downside, the share of CDs we keep on site for mailorder patiently sits here collecting dust, waiting to be given good homes, for about five or six weeks after they come back from the printer. By the way, I do wipe the dust from mailorder copies before I package them up.) To get back to the original topic of this paragraph though - did you know there's gonna be a Fistful festival in scenic Montreal Canada December 7th & 8th, 2007? It's true. I am hoping to have a full report on the specifics to offer you all included in the Oct. 30th news update but, in the meantime, interested parties can get more info. by clicking on one of the handy links located above or below.
In other SCR news, the Alcoholics Unanimous CDs came back from Imprint last week - looking and sounding amazing, if I do say so myself; and since my only contribution to the project was booklet designing, which is a rather small part of the overall package in retrospect, I feel comfortable saying so myself. Obviously there will be more info. about this release in the following weeks as well, and while you're waiting for that, you can keep up to date with all of Thee Whiskey Rebel's activities - music-wise and other-wise - by reading his internet journal.
Lastly, due to the fact that it takes a hell of a lot longer for vinyl to be pressed than CDs and our distributor is hesitant to release anything in the two weeks directly preceding and following Christmas, we had to shimmy the release of the Polecat Boogie Revival / Armazilla 7" to 2008. But, not to worry, whatever the release date is - the contents will still make you wanna shimmy just as much.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(08/28/07 update)
As you can see below, we're still a number of weeks away from the next new release Tuesday update; but I do have a little new release news to share with you today. (Aside from the fact that we had to shift the release date of the Fistful comp. by a couple weeks.) And that is, we've added a new release to our upcoming new release schedule - a split 7" featuring two shots of sexy Southern fried rock and roll from Chatanooga TN's Polecat Boogie Revival & Atlanta GA's Armazilla. Yay!
In other SCR news, we're literally about 24 hours away from Labor Party's arrival here in Hostile City for this weekend's Labor Party Labor Day Weekend East Coast Extravaganza (in fact, I'm gonna clean the rooms they'll be sleeping in as soon as I'm done posting this update) and I am very much looking forward to taking a couple days off from c14 deadline to hang out, go to shows & BBQ. I don't know what you've got planned for this weekend but if you're looking for something to do, more information on these shows and all of the other upcoming shows I've been made aware of can be found, appropriately, on the newly updated shows page.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(08/01/07 update)
Hello people! As mentioned in Monday's update, I have some news to share with you all; and since I've got a gazillion other things to do on my to-do list for today, and the day is already more than half over, let's get right to it.
First up, alphabetically and on the release schedule, is A Fistful Of Rock 'N' Roll. Although the news I have to share with you all on that topic is not so much about that release per se, as it is about the fact that Sal Canzonieri (aka Sal from Electric Frankenstein, aka the man behind the entire Fistful series) is currently putting together the first annual Fistful Of Rock 'N' Roll Festival. Yay! The event will take place over two nights - sometime towards the end of 2007; at two clubs - Katacombes and Saint (which, from what I understand, are located within a few steps of each other); in one place - scenic Montreal, Canada. (Apparently Montreal is not only known as the "city of festivals," it is home to many rabid rock and roll loving rock and rollers.) Anywhoo, interested parties can read more about this and keep up to date on the proceedings as they are announced via the Fistful MySpace page. I'm not sure if we'll be able to make the pilgrimage or not but if we do, I hope to see you there!
Secondly, also as mentioned in Monday's update, in November we will be toasting the 20th anniversary of everyone's favorite bar- draining, booty-rocking, booze-centric band Alcoholics Unanimous with the release of their mammoth retrospective CD 20 Years Of Tanked Up Tunes. It will be a potent cocktail of greatest hits, rareties and unreleased tracks featuring all of the various line-ups of the band over the years, as well some brand new tracks featuring their most recent Texas incarnation; and, in case anyone reading this is unfamilliar with the band, I suppose I should point out that it is the brainchild of Rancid Vat founding members Intoxica (aka Marla Vee) & Thee Whiskey Rebel (aka Thee Whiskey Rebel). It is however, in many ways, a completely different animal. A very tipsy animal, one might say. At any rate, more on this release to come as we get closer to the release date.
Lastly - for today at least - I updated the shows page with way too many newsworthy events to mention here... well, OK... I'll mention a few. There's Labor Party's Labor Day Weekend East Coast Extravaganza at the end of August / beginning of September (I'm not sure if four shows count as a tour so I decided to dub it an extravaganza; also, Mr. SCR is still working on that Thursday night show so I'll post info once it's confirmed); the upcoming European tour that will take Blowfly & Co. from Germany to The Netherlands to Spain to Austria to Ireland - and, in some, cases back again; plus Jeff Dahl's November trip to LA where he'll be playing with (among others) super sexy supergroup Suckerstar featuring Wendy Lee of The 440s & Whiskey Bitch fame, Punky & Blare N. Bitch of Blare Bitch Project fame and a lovely lady we have no official affiliation with, Lanie Fire, who has been in a TON of other bands; although none with releases on our label. (Yet!) You should still go and look at the shows page anyway though, cause there are a lot of things I left off that list. Okey dokey?
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
[PS: Of course, as I was getting ready to post this update, I remembered another upcoming new release news tidbit that I've thus far forgotten to mention on this page but, as the details of that release are probably gonna get sewn up in the next couple days, I will save that one for next time.]
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(07/30/07 update)
Hey everybody! We are back from Florida - refreshed, relaxed and somewhat tan. (Mr. SCR is really tan, bordering on swarthy - as is his way; while I am, as my sister likes to say, "tan for me." Which translates to: I'm not really tan, per se, but I am much less pale than I normally am.) Anywhoo, soon we will be ready to resume our normal business of delivering the full contact rock & roll to the world at large but first we have to go food shopping, answer two weeks worth of email & try to tackle the teetering, tottering, towering laundry pile that always follows me / us home after a long trip.
Speaking of our email, we returned to find a few interesting tidbits of news in there - plus I completely keep forgetting to tell you guys about the Alcoholics Unanimous 20th Anniversary CD that, based on the conversation I overheard Larry & Marla having this morning, will be released November 13th - so I will be back with another, more news filled, update sometime in the next 24-48 hours.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(07/09/07 update)
I don't have any real news to report today but I did want to jump in and mention that, as we do every summer, Mr SCR and myself will be heading South next week to spend some time in the land of beaches, humidity and elderly retired folk. (Including Father-Of-Mr-SCR, who has a beachside apartment; thus our yearly pilgrimage.) Yay!
And I bring this up not because I think any of you really care about the details of our lives but because this also means that the SCR mail order department will be on vacation during this time. Because, essentially, the "department" consists of me and the built-in shelving unit behind my desk and, you know, we won't be seeing each other during this two week period of time. Therefore, any orders placed before noon on Friday, July 13th will be mailed before we leave; and any orders placed in between then and Sunday, July 29th will be sent out on Monday, July 30th. Okey dokey?
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(06/26/07 update)
Hello people! And welcome to our most potentially offensive new release Tuesday ever (or, rather, so far) featuring Tucson's most dangerous band, The Besmirchers. Just to clarify that earlier statement, neither Mr. Steel Cage nor myself are offended by this band - or by Besmirch And Destroy, their debut CD - nor do I really think the majority of visitors to this page would be offended by them. But I do think it's safe to assume folks who thought our Blowfly 7" was an affront to humanity (I think that's what the MR&R reviewer said) very well may not enjoy such ditties as "One More Slut" and "Daddy's Little Fuckhole." (On the other hand, who gives a shit about those people, right?) To get back to the CD though, as always, more information on this release can be found by visiting the catalog page, or by clicking on the title above. Still no word yet on when / if there will be a show to celebrate the release of this record (no need to elaborate on that part really, as the reasons why this band has a hard time booking shows will become more evident the further you investigate) but I will keep you posted.
In the meantime, as mentioned in our last update, there is a story to go with this CD. Of course, there is a story to go with each of our releases but since this new release Tuesday is all about the Besmirchers, and I have two other websites to update today, we're gonna stick with this story for now. Also as mentioned in our last update, this story (which is kind of a long one so you might wanna get comfortable) involves censorship and a tattooed penis. (Actually I think I forgot to mention the censorship part last time but let's not veer of topic.) Sadly, this is not the first, or even the second, censorship story I've had to tell on the SCR news page. It is, in fact, the third incident I have had to deal with - and at this point I'm guessing it is not going to be the last. (For further details on the first two, scroll through 2006's collected news. Now that I think of it, that MR&R Blowfly review was from 2006 as well so, in retrospect, it was quite a busy and prosperous year for me as far as visually offending people.)
Anywhoo, as these stories always do, it all started out innocently enough... seeing as how the cover art (which would also be reproduced within the booklet in a larger size) was already being handled by the able fingers of MightyTiki (also the creator of The Besmirchers logo) the only thing I had to do was fill in the portions of the booklet where his art would not appear, and try to make those pages look half as cool as his amazing likeness. Since the band was pretty adamant about not having a bunch of photos of themselves in said booklet, they sent me a number of examples of Lenny & Damnation's "Free Besmirchers Logo Tattoo Initiative" to use instead, which I paired up with a number of foreign sex ads featuring a wide array of underage looking Japanese "models." (Read: prostitutes.) Oddly enough, it was the tattoo photos that got me / us in trouble.
See, most of these logos are / were inked on body parts that countless people have adorned - arms and belly tattoos for the boys and back tattoos for the girls - but a couple fans opted for something a little more intimate. Specifically one fella decided to give his sex partners, or anyone else who might happen to be seeing him naked, a little something extra to look at… "down there"… if you know what I'm saying… and if you don't, let me spell it out for ya in plain English - he had either Lenny or Damnation tattoo the logo on his dick. (Interestingly, with all the surrounding hoopla I forgot to ask which one of them was personally responsible for this particular tattoo.)
In the age of Tommy Lee and whichever one of the Jackass guys staples his balls to his leg, you'd think this in itself wouldn't be so outrageously shocking to most adults but, apparently, there are middle-aged women in Alabama who have never seen a penis in their lifetime. (And guess where they all work!?) Therefore seeing this guy's ink laden private parts was upsetting enough to inspire them to literally stop the presses on the job, and return it to Imprint. Man, I actually felt bad for Walt when he had to call and tell us that one our booklets was flagged - again! - but the three of us had a good laugh over it.
To be honest with you, I don't actually think the situation is funny; I think it is complete and total bullshit. Well, except the part when the one printer referred to the photo and it's contents as "objectionable." That was, and still is, hilarious! (To that I say: you can disapprove all you like honey, but at this point in civilization I think it's fair to say that the penis is here to stay, so you may as well get used to the idea. And if you think that's the most outrageous thing you've ever seen done with one, perhaps you'd like to check out the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow or let me introduce you to a couple of men I used to date.)
I would also like to point out, just for the record, this guy's penis is nothing to be afraid of. See? As far as I'm concerned, penises in general are nothing to be afraid of. Unless we're talking about the one attached to sleazy Italian porn guy Rocco. And that one only scares me a little bit because it seems to attract an unusually large amount of flying insects; which is just gross. Should that young man with the tattoo on his dick wind up reading this page by the way, I hope I didn't offend him with that statement because it is truly meant as a general comment and not a review of his penis in particular; which I'm sure is very nice and has brought many hours of pleasure to it's owner. (And, hopefully, the members of the opposite sex - or the same sex; depending on his preference - he's shared it with.) But I digress.
I was going to attempt to argue my point with the people but we were already in jeopardy of missing our release date (in the end RedEye did have to push it back by two weeks) and Walt had already found another printer to take the job so I didn't bother. I suppose the only important part is that I did not have to alter my initial design & the penis photo is now in print and further immortalized in cyberspace and thus able to enjoy a long and happy life offending uptight bitches across this great land of ours and around the world. God Bless America!
This concludes my latest story of art-related censorship, or perhaps I should call it attempted censorship, and I hope it's a long time before I have to tell another one! Based on how much eye strain reading this post has caused us all, I'm sure you feel the same way.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(06/19/07 update)
I realize I've been a little lax in updating this page as of late but since I had to do a little light maintenance on the site today I figured I'd jump in and say hey. Hey!
I don't really have any news of a new release nature to share with you - as I normally do when I update the site - but if you come back next Tuesday (aka June 26th, aka the release date for the debut blast from Tucson's most dangerous band, The Besmirchers), I promise I'll have a fun story for you. It's about a tattooed penis. No, seriously, it really is. But you'll have to wait to read the whole story. Lord knows I've waited long enough to tell this story - we've had the CDs in our basement for a month already! But I digress.
There's actually quite a bit of news just in the list of who's playing where this summer - ANTiSEEN will be going West; Labor Party is coming East; and of course I would be remiss if I did not mention that, starting tonight, Radio Birdman will be gracing our shores for the second time in as many years - which is two more times than they played in the States in all the years of their existence prior to that! (And, in case you can't tell, I am totally excited!!) I'm sure there's other stuff that should be on that list as well but those were the first three things that came to mind. Anywhoo, for more detailed details keep an eye on our shows page, which I vow to update as often as information is filtered down to me.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(04/17/07 update)
Hello regular readers of the SCR news page (both of you; and anyone else who may happen to have foud themselves on this page) and welcome to the third installment of our 2007 series of new release Tuesdays. Yay! Today we are pleased to unveil the latest in a long string of excellent records by the prolific and handsome Jeff Dahl, Battered Stuff. Again, yay! The CD has been described, by Mr. Dahl himself, as "one acoustic mother"; however Mrs. Steel Cage (aka me) would suggest that you not focus too much attention to the acoustic part of that phrase - lest the term conjure up music of a wussy, weak or limp variety. Would Jeff Dahl put out a record like that? No. He would not. But sometimes he does like to take a break from roaming the desert like a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm to strum a non-plugged-in instrument and / or rock a laid-back funky jam about sandwiches. This record is more along those lines.
Anywhoo, those of you who find yourselves in the neck of the woods / desert that he calls home this weekend can take in a fully electrified performance by the Jeff Dahl Band, plus see a whole slew of other AZ bands, at the George & Dragon in Phoenix on Saturday night. (For the record, I don't believe this show is actually related to the release of this disc in any way but I thought I'd mention it.) As always, further information on this and any other SCR related events that I'm made privy to can be found on the shows page.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(03/06/07 update)
Welcome one and all to another exciting new release Tuesday update! Keeping with the theme of that last sentence, we are excited to announce the release of The Downbeat 5's first - and, until the point another one is recorded and released, only - live CD Smoke & Mirrors. As I always like to say after such an announcement, yay! Appropriately, the band is celebrating the occasion by headlining their own CD release party at The Middle East this Friday night; then next Friday the fellas and lady will be heading to Austin, TX to bring the rock to SXSW for the third year in a row. (They're actually playing two shows on that day, an afternoon one and a nighttime one.) I'm not sure what they're doing the Friday after that but if it's anything related to the CD, I'll let you know. For more information on these shows click here. More info. on the disc can be found by clicking on the album title above or by visiting the catalog page.
In other SCR news, I said in that last post that if Hammerlock decided to have a third CD release show for their recently released 5th CD Forgotten Range I would let you know. Well, guess what, if you live in or around Reno, NV or are planning on attending the Lady Luck Tattoo Convention there this weekend, you're in luck. (Interested parties can scroll down to the last update to see the poster for that show.) If you live somewhere besides Boston or Reno, there's still hope for your weekend; The Jabbers, Labor Party & Thee Minks are all playing in or around their respective hometowns either Friday or Saturday night. Visit the recently updated shows page for more info. on all of the events mentioned above & to see who else is playing where, and with whom, this weekend and beyond.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(01/23/07 update)
Hello everybody & welcome to our first official new release Tuesday of 2007. Yay! It's actually been a while since our last new release Tuesday so let's get right down to business. On this day - the 23rd day of the first month of 2007 - we are proud to officially add the long awaited fifth full length CD - also the band's fifth SCR release and the 60th release on our label - by Bay Area badasses Hammerlock, Forgotten Range, to our humble and ever expanding catalog. (I wasn't really going anywhere with that whole number thing by the way; I was just making conversation.) Anywhoo, as always, you can find more information on this fine release by clicking on the CD title above or by visiting the catalog page.
As you may recall from our last update (and, if not, you can scroll down & read it) Hammerlock already had their first two CD release shows in honor of the disc's impending release - and, as far as I know, they haven't set up a third; if they do I will let you know - but there have been a number of other non-CD release specific shows added to the shows page, as well as the first of what is sure to be many mentions of the upcoming CD release show for The Downbeat 5's upcoming CD release on our label, Smoke & Mirrors.
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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(01/08/07 update)
Happy New Year everyone! I know that actually happened last week but I think the sentiment is still valid 8 days later. Anywhoo, our next release date is still a couple weeks away but for those of you who just can't wait for the distributor relegated release I wanted to remind you that a copy of this fine Hammerlock CD can be obtained ahead of the Red Eye schedule by heading out to Emo's in Austin, TX this Friday night where you can see the band perform some or all of these songs live and in person, in addition to being treated to sets by Rancid Vat, a band that should be familliar to anyone visiting this page, and Honky, a band that doesn't have any association with our label but one that I like very much. Yes, this will involve quite a long drive, and possibly a few plane rides, for some of you in the audience but I'm sure it'll be worth it. I can't go - we're still trying to finish up the next issue of c14 - but if you do, tell everybody I said hi!
'til next update,
xo,
leslie
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For anyone who wishes to read some old news - 2006's collected news page is archived here.
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