Double Crown Records & The Continental Magazine | Surf Music | Surf Rock | Garage Rock | Rockabilly | CD's 7"s & Fanzines » Live Reviews

Man Or Astroman’s First Reunion Show With Video

Double Crown Records — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:03:40 +0000

Although sadly I’m clear across the country and wasn’t able to see the first of the Man Or Astroman reunion shows, reports and video are beginning to flood the internet. They played Atlanta last night – here is a report courtesy of the Surf Guitar 101 website (more to follow):

MoonDawg: “Let me be the first to report that the show was excellent! Some early tunes (Invasion of the Dragonmen, Destination Venus), but mostly middle period (Man Made of CO2, Television Fission). Nothing from the post-Star-Cruch era, although btw Trace Reading was among the attendees. The stage was set up at the intersection between two hallways, so it was an odd configuration, but hey. The band was remarkably tight. New spacesuits, new video distractions playing behind them. Word has it that after SXSW they’ll be playing a festival in Spain and doing maybe 20 dates around the country in a series of weekend missions (the band members have day jobs now).”

Agent 317X has a nice report and a bunch of videos on his blog.

Here is a couple of videos already posted on YouTube:

Man…or Astroman? Live at Whirly Ball, 05.05.10 from rob downs on Vimeo.

The Penetrators Pay Tribute To Rip & Spanky At Drive Invasion 2009

Double Crown Records — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:45:32 +0000

Trace Lugar and Sticks Stechkin joined friends Daniel McNeill, Johnny “Knox” McGowan and Jamie Galatas to play a set of Penetrators tunes at the Drive Invasion show last weekend. Among the songs played were “Triple Dog Dare” and “Bikini Drag”, which is our featured video to the right. I can think of no better way to pay tribute to Rip and Spanky – Rip was one of the people that started the festival and the Penetrators made regular appearances at the fest over the years.

Spankfest A Huge Success!

Double Crown Records — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:59:51 +0000

Accounts are starting to come in from the big Operation: CRUSH CANCER shows in Atlanta this past weekend. Renamed “Spankfest”, this mammoth bill was put together to celebrate the great surf/garage/rock n’ roll scene in the South, and raise some money for Spanky Twangler, Penetrators guitarist, as he battles esophageal cancer. The event featured a dozen bands and raised over $3500!! The Penetrators, by all accounts, played a mind-blowing set that mixed old favorites with some new and rarely performed numbers. You can read accounts of the show at SurfGuitar101. If you haven’t picked up the new Penetrators “Declassified” DVD or “Locked & Loaded” CD, you can purchase them here at Double Crown, or even better, buy them directly from the band – either way the funds go to Spanky.

The Sadies w/Black Mountain – Bellingham: Wild Buffalo 3/26/09

Double Crown Records — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:25:16 +0000

It’s nearly 24 hours after the Sadies/Black Mountain show at the Wild Buffalo, and my ears are still ringing! I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get in – I never got around to picking up an advance ticket, and I had a indoor soccer game to play until 10pm, so I didn’t get there until a quarter after. The place looked packed when I looked in from the front door, but I was still able to get in. Apparently the show was declared sold-out shortly after that. It was hot, it was packed, and it was pretty uncomfortable considering that I had just run my ass off on the soccer field before that. To top it off, 3/4 of the capacity crowd was swarmed around the bar. The ‘Buff needs a PBR station – just someone there handing out cold cans of PBR with one hand and grabbin’ cash with the other. Luckily I saw my pal Bill right at the front of the bar, so I yelled to him to get me whatever he was drinking. Just after that the show kicked off with the Sadies taking the stage. I’ve seen them many times in the past, starting with their first Bellingham show opening for Neko Case at the 3-B Tavern (they opened for her, then were her backing band during her set). This time they had a bunch of albums worth of material to choose from, and they did a great job picking a few songs from each of ‘em. The songs, performances and banter with the crowd were great – the Sadies never fail to disappoint. I talked to a few people later during the Black Mountain show, who were there to see Black Mountain, and they all said they were either surprised by how awesome the Sadies were, or said they were better than Black Mountain! Towards the end of their set they played a powerful cover of Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine” that blew everyone’s minds. It was completely unexpected, given the Sadies usual country/spaghetti western twang, but it was the right choice with that particular crowd.

Black Mountain came on shortly after and my energy level, after a full day at work and an exhausting soccer game, was fading fast. I was determined to make it through the first few songs, which in the case of Black Mountain, ended up being about 40 minutes. I wasn’t blown away by the vintage keyboard doodling and metal guitar riffing of their first song, but the songs that followed were much better. I dug the vocals of the guitarist, but I wasn’t sure about the female vocalists’ warbling, goat-like stylings. It got to be a little much – kinda like the vocoder vocals of Black Moth Super Rainbow get to be too much after 6 or 7 songs. I finally could barely stand and had to call it a night – overall a great night at the Wild Buffalo.

The Mobsmen – Scelerats Syndicate CD Available Now!

Double Crown Records — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:16:36 +0000

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

Double Crown is proud to announce our next 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