Double Crown Records / Continental Magazine Weblog

Learning To Play (Surf) Guitar

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 5 Oct 2010 13:21:00 -0700

I've been struggling recently with learning a new instrument - the guitar. I've played in bands in the past, playing bass guitar, then later organ. I got out of music for a few years, but a couple of years ago I decided I really wanted a hollowbody electric guitar (a Gretsch), despite the fact that I didn't know how to play it. Music lessons are an option, of course, but other than playing in the school band in junior high and high school (the only formal music instruction I've had), I've mostly taught myself (and it shows!). I've been thinking about taking guitar lessons, but am not really sure who to go with.

Which leads me to my final dilemma - what kind of music do I want to play. Surf guitar is obvious - I run a surf rock label, and if I could ever come up with something decent, playing and recording solo or with other musicians, I'd have an outlet for it. But I didn't buy a surf guitar - yes, with the right amp, reverb and pedals you can get it to sound pretty "surfy", but it's not the ideal surf guitar. The thing is, I like other kinds of music too - indie rock, electronic, and Brit pop - I can't learn how to play guitar in all of these genres.

I'd love to hear some feedback from other musicians. When you started to play guitar, what made you decide to play the kind of music you play? Do you play more than one style of music? Have you sunk a bunch of money into pedals and amps to get a certain sound, only to decide later that you wanted to go for a different sound?

SNL Is Actually Funny Again (Well, Occasionally...)

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:40:00 -0800

It's been a while, but SNL seems to be getting slightly better recently. One of the funniest bits I've seen in a while was this one:

Spotnicks Theme In Wild World Of Batwoman?!?

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 08:40:00 -0700

"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!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:56:00 -0700

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"

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:43:00 -0700

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

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:09:00 -0800

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!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:19:00 -0800

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

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:38:00 -0800

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!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:05:00 -0800

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

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Thu, 5 Feb 2009 16:11:00 -0800

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

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:24:00 -0800

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!

Merry Christmas From Double Crown Records!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:44:00 -0800

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! It's Christmas evening and it's about time to put away all of the holiday music for another 11 months or so. Here's a little last-minute chestnut for you all - enjoy!

Christmas With Heino

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:19:00 -0800

My family has some close friends that live in Germany that we visit every few years, usually during the holiday season. It is absolutely my favorite place in the world to spend Christmas - lots of delicious sweets, outdoor Christmas markets, snow, Gluhwein (a spiced holiday wine that you can get with Jaegermeister, Amaretto, or straight-up) and Heino. Each holiday, whether I'm at home or in Germany, I have to listen to some holiday Heino at least once. Well, I just stumbled across a whole Heino Christmas special on YouTube - 23 minutes long!

Crappy Skymall Holiday Gift Ideas

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:13:00 -0800

The Skymall catalog sucks, but it passes the time (well, about 10-15 minutes or so) while on an airplane. If you're looking for a last minute gift there are far better places to shop, but if you insist on ordering from the Skymall catalog here are some gifts to avoid.

Happy Days Christmas Episode

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:38:00 -0800

New York Times Book Design Review - Favorites Of 2008

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:49:00 -0800

The New York Times Book Design Review has posted their favorite covers of 2008. The books cover a wide variety of topics and are a mix of fiction and non-fiction. What they all share is gorgeous, innovative design - these books look so amazing I'd love to get them all, even if their content doesn't sound terribly interesting. It'd just be fun to look at them on the bookshelf. Click here.

Star Wars Holiday Special

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 22:22:00 -0800

A while ago, back when eBay first started up, I bought a VHS copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special. At the time I watched about 15 minutes of it, but after endless banter between the wookies in Chewbacca's family, I just couldn't take it anymore (there were no subtitles). Well, I have a couple of kids now and they both like Star Wars, but my wife and I feel they are a bit too young to see all of the movies (we caved and let them watch the original Star Wars, but it'll be a few years before we let them see the more intense Empire Strikes Back). However, I thought the time was perfect to dig out the videotape and watch it from start to finish. Now my wife has threatened to divorce me and the kids won't speak to me. The thing is 90 minutes long! It's got Jefferson Airplane, without Grace Slick. It's got wookies going "whaaargh" at each other. It's got Harvey Korman in drag. The only thing that saves it is Bea Arthur doing a Kurt Weill-esque tune in the cantina....whaaaahhh?!? This clip shows another painful moment - Princess Leah singing about the Wookie Life Day. Sit back and enjoy!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 15:52:00 -0800

Speed Racer: The Complete Classic Series Collection

I was a pretty big Speed Racer fan as a kid, then once I had kids myself, I was able to watch it again with the newly released DVD's that started coming out a few years ago. Each DVD had 6-8 episodes in cool packaging. The only frustrating thing was that the DVD's were somewhat out of order, so you couldn't watch the series from start to finish. Well, that problem is a thing of the past - you can finally pick up the whole series in one package! It's a little frustrating that this came out after the single-disc releases, but I guess I can always sell them on e-Bay and pick this up later. (Click here to purchase through Amazon.com)

Christmas Time For The Jews

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 16:09:00 -0800

It's that time of year - here's one of my favorite Christmas videos - a classic featuring Darlene Love that I converted to MP3 a few years ago and play it alongside the tracks on the Phil Spector Christmas album.

YouTube has taken the video down, but here's a site that has it (click here)

A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector At Amazon For $1.99

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 13:25:00 -0800

Most of you probably have this in your collection, but if you don't, Amazon has this available as a digital download for just $1.99! No Christmas goes by where I don't play this at least 10-15 times - it's definitely in my top 3 holiday albums of all time.

A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector (From Amazon.com)

Cool Lego Tiki Bar

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 11:31:00 -0800

My kids are 6 and 9 and we spend hours each week building things with Legos. This is a project I'd like to try sometime, or perhaps an easier project, like a freestanding tiki statue. Check out more info on this here.

The Concussions w/Eddie Angel & The Volcanos

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:27:00 -0800

Okay, you have less than 2 weeks to book your plane ticket to see the biggest surf show of the year - Eddie Angel's Guitar Party, The Concussions and The Volcanos. The show is free!!! If you live anywhere near Michigan, you must see this show!!!

HOLIDAY TWANG BANG!!!

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13TH HOPCAT 25 IONIA DOWNTOWN GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN

Show starts at 9 o’clock sharp! FREE!!!

THE VOLCANOS (SURF AND DRAG FROM DETROIT) www.myspace.com/thevolcanos
THE CONCUSSIONS (TANKED UP AND TORRID TRASH FROM MICHIGAN’S WEST COAST) www.myspace.com/theconcussions
EDDIE ANGEL’S GUITAR PARTY!!! (WORLD FAMOUS GUITARIST) Eddie Angel is the grammy nominated guitar player for Los Straitjackets. Joining Eddie for this fantastic show will be Jason "Teen Beat" Smay (Los Straitjackets, The Hi-Risers) on drums and Greg Townson (The Hi-Risers) on bass. www.myspace.com/eddieangelonguitar

Untamed Youth - 2008 Reunion "Pabst Blue Ribbon"

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:23:00 -0800

Unfortunately I couldn't fly to Spain to see the most recent Untamed Youth reunion show, but thanks to Youtube, you can catch some of their performance. There's other UY vids there too, but you really can't go wrong with "Pabst Blue Ribbon". The go-go dancers are a nice touch, and Deke's "beer volcano" is unrivaled.

The Kilaueas Are Back!!!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:17:00 -0800

The Kilaueas Are Back!!!

The Kilaueas celebrate "10 Years Of Magmanautic Twang" and the introduction of their new guitarist, Matze Kilauea, with a show on December 12th in Stuttgart. They have a few other shows in Europe, and hopefully they can start work on a new set of recordings. They have won many fans over the years with their CD's, frequent shows in Europe and their 3-week US tour in 2006, so the news that they are back in action is very exciting!

Double Crown Records - Big Black Friday Sale!!!

records@dblcrown.com (Double Crown Records / The Continental Magazine) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:49:00 -0800

If you, or someone you know, has music on their holiday wish list, come on over to the Double Crown website this Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday and get 33% off any size order! This offer is only good for orders placed on these days. Just go to www.dblcrown.com/catalog.html and use coupon code: BLACKFRI. If you miss this sale, you can use coupon code DEC15 for 15% off through the end of December.

This is the perfect opportunity to add any of our 2008 releases to your collection, including:

King Of Hawaii - Mele Kalikimaka CD-EP - #DCCD34 - $6.00
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

The Concussions - Magic Fingers CD - #DCCD33 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

Frankie & The Poolboys - S/T CD - #DCCD32 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

The Surfites - Escapades In Space CD - #DCCD31 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

The Madeira - Carpe Noctem CD - #DCCD30 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

The Penetrators - Declassified DVD - #DCDVD01 - $14.95
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

Bonney & Buzz - Bang It Again CD - #DCCD29 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

Plus our two Christmas/Holiday compilations

V/A - Seasonal Favorites Volume One (Reissue) CD - #DCCD09 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

V/A - Seasonal Favorites Volume Two CD - #DCCD28 - $12.75
(Buy Now From Double Crown Records / CCNow)

The sale starts this Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and runs through Sunday. If you prefer Paypal, or mailing a check, instead of our online shopping cart, please shoot me an e-mail at: records@dblcrown.com