WHITE ARROWS JOINS OOH LA LA w/ “GET GONE” SINGLE ON SEPT. 6TH
We’re excited to announce White Arrows are joining the Ooh La La family with the release of the first single off their forthcoming debut album. The RAC-produced “Get Gone” will be released as a limited edition, heavy weight, color 7 inch on September 6th and will only be available via the Ooh La La e-Boutique and on tour. See below to pre-order your copy now (please note: all order placed prior to September 6th will ship 9/1/11). Catch the band on tour this fall as they join The Naked And Famous for a month-long run and prior with shows alongside Weezer, !!!, Those Darlins and others. Visit the TOUR page for dates.
On Monday night Jane’s Addiction, one of my all time favorite bands, played Terminal 5. This was their first NYC proper show in many years. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there because I was too busy rocking out to The Last Royals at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, but thanks to Brooklyn Vegan we can all quickly get an idea for what an awesome (FREE!!!!) show this was.
The free show was the “world’s first 3D user-generated concert event”. The concert itself wasn’t in 3-D, but it was being filmed (and streamed live on Youtube), and the footage is going to be turned into “one special 3D 60-minute documentary film which will be premiered on the LG Thrill 3D YouTube channel on August 4.” (Brooklyn Vegan)
Very cool…Jane’s are going to be touring select cities around the world over the next few months so let’s just hope they had so much fun on Monday night that they decide to come back one more time to promote the new album. On a funny side note, producer extraordinaire Dave Sitek (whose studio used to be next to mine) stepped in to help produce and play bass on the new record. THAT got me even more excited to hear what this new record is going to sound like…apparently they’re leaking the first single this week so we’ll know soon enough.
PS – Dave Navarro posted this awesome live shot via twitter (@davenavarro) yesterday, I call it “Rock Levitation”:
Google Honors Les Paul
This morning I woke up and as usual, got my coffee, booted up my MacBook and opened up my Internet browser. To my pleasant surprise, there was an odd, robotic looking guitar on Google’s homepage. Not only was it a cool image, but it was an interactive guitar “doodle”. I soon learned this Google Doodle was honoring what would have been guitar legend, Les Paul’s 96th birthday. Kudos to Google for honoring Les Paul, the songwriter, guitarist, innovator, inventor! I can’t think of anyone who single handedly played such a large role in the development of guitar technology. Check out this article from The Atlantic that explains it all and also shows a video of the doodle for those of you who missed it. Below is a video of the man himself wowing an audience with one of his new inventions, the “Les Pulverizer”:
This comes shortly after the loss of another great guitar slinger. Last month month the music world lost an incredible talent, guitarist Cornell Dupree. Hailing from Fort Worth, TX, known as “Mr. 2500” (referring to the number of dates he had played on) he was known as one of the great session musicians of his generation. Though he played in a band with Jimi Hendrix at one time, he was glad to stay out of the spotlight which made him the ideal session musician. Pleased to simply earn the respect of his peers and fellow musicians/producers alike he worked closely with legends such as Jerry Wexler, Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, and even Mariah Carey. He was known as the man who could play both rhythm and lead guitar at the same time. Check out a few videos below to see rare footage of a young Cornell Dupree playing w/ King Curtis on sax as well as a more recent clip of him playing with legendary drummer Steve Gadd.
-Theo
QR Quality Control
QR codes have been popping up EVERYWHERE over the last 6 months. All kinds of industries are embracing this new form of content delivery, but is it effective? I stumbled upon a great blog entry by Jeremy Welt where is gives 5 Tips for Using QR Codes Effectively. This is a must read for anyone who works with new media.
Sasha Frere-Jones is one of our favorite music journalists and this week he wrote a great piece for his Pop Music column in the New Yorker about one of our favorite singers, Stevie Nicks. Nicks just released a new solo record. Check out the article “Rock On, Ancient Queen: Stevie Nicks is back.” and also be sure to jump in the time machine for a few minutes and watch the video below of one of our all time favorite jams.
Check out our friends, STEPDAD from Grand Rapids, MI. We can’t stop listening to their 8-bit Nintendo fueled pop song “My Leather, My Fur, My Nails”. See video below for the full effect and tell us what you think!
Satellite Party!
No, we’re not talking about Perry Farrell’s short lived side project with Nuno Bettencourt. We’re talking about SiriusXM satellite radio and The Last Royals. The Last Royals were recently added to SiriusXM’s Alt Nation radio station a few weeks ago and have made it into the Top 18!!!!! This is a HUGE deal! We need everyone’s help to try and make “Crystal Vases” #1. Here is how you can help:
“Each weekend Alt Nation delivers The Alt-18 Countdown. We need your help in selecting the week’s most requested new alternative rock! Request your favorite song right now at AltNation@siriusxm.com and listen as we count down the best new alternative as selected by you!”
STEP 4. DANCE AROUND TO VIDEO BELOW KNOWING YOU JUST HELPED YOUR FAVORITE BAND!!!
Thanks in advance from everyone at Ooh La La and The Last Royals, xoxo
MONDO STUDIO UPDATE
Things have been crazy since I got back from Austin last month. The day after getting back to NYC I started work on the new Cymbals Eat Guitars (CEG) record, which the amazing John Agnello produced, engineered, and mixed. John and I have known each other for a few years now and have lots of mutual friends, but this was the first time I had the pleasure of being part of one of his records. The guy is an inspiration. He did 10 songs in 15 days! Recorded and mixed! Over a three weeks and dozens of lunch specials from John’s favorite Thai restaurant (blanking on the name?) I helped out with additional engineering and anything else that helped make things rock harder and run smoother. The first week we tracked basics and a started overdubs in the A room at Headgear. The band tracked all the drums, bass, and most guitars live. Here are a couple photos of the guitar selection for the guitar geeks out there (yup, 5 Jazzmasters and even my ’64 SG made it on the record):
CEG spent a lot of time working on pre-production in the weeks leading up to the session and it showed. They were ready to go the day they walked in. We’d track a take or two of a song and then move on. That’s all they needed. We finished basics sooner then expected so started Then we moved to my studio (the B Room) to finish overdubs and track vocals. By the end of the second week everything was tracked and it was time to move back to the A Room at Headgear to mix the record. Mix master John pulled up the faders the first day, rolled up his sleeves and went on to mix and put the final touches on what turned out to be an amazing record.
During the third week while John was mixing, things got really busy because I got a call to do another version of a Nokia commercial I worked on before SXSW. The music for the commercial is a cover of the Cole Porter song “Don’t Fence Me In”. I had originally created an entirely new version of the song with the existing lyrics that had a very Americana/folk vibe to it, but the client ended up changing directions. This time around I teamed up with a few other composers/producers to put together a different version. I even got my main man Damon Daunno to sing the vocal on the track. Here is what we ended up with that is going to be on air:
The following week I got a call to do some post-production sound design and composing for a video artist Steve Powers is working on. It’s a promo video for Style Wars The Musical. Steve teamed up with fellow artist Todd James to work on this hilarious project, which you can read more about on his blog. Both Steve and Todd came by the studio to hang for the session. We all immediately bonded based on our mutual geekdom and it turned out to be a super fun and productive session. A lot of laughs. Keep an eye out for Style Wars The Musical and be sure to sign up for their e-mail list on the website www.stylewarsthemusical.com/
Last, but not least were The Toothaches who came into the studio with my good friend David Pollock. David and I go way back and he had been telling me about this band The Toothaches he was in love with for a few months. An opportunity recently came up for David to move back to his hometown of Portland, OR and be the chief engineer/studio manager at Super Natural Sound and he called me and said before he leaves he MUST make a record with The Toothaches who are based in Brooklyn, NY. David booked 5 days in the B Room. He tracked an entire record in 3 days and then mixed it in 2! Huh? The craziest part is how awesome it sounds for how little time they spent on it!!!!!
It was a busy month over at Headgear. Lots of exciting stuff happening and lots more on deck. I almost forgot, yesterday was my birthday! Happy birthday to me. Thanks to everyone for making April 2011 such a fun month! Until we meet again…
-Theo
SXSW Wrap Up
It was a long, fun week in Austin, TX this year for SXSW 2011. Mother nature came through with some amazing weather, which made it especially fun to run around, see music, drink Lonestar and stuff ourselves w/ Tex Mex and BBQ. Plagued with some Facebook mobile app issues a few meals didn’t get documented, but for the play by play report check out the Ooh La La Records Facebook page and you’ll get the important stuff.
Highlight of the week is a serious toss up between Twin Shadow (above photo) at Maggie Mae’s and Phantogram (photo below)at Luster Pearl. Both bands put on a great show and had amazing songs for us to get lost in.
They also made Paste magazine’s list of 13 intriguing band names at SXSW: http://bit.ly/erOtWr
Upon our return on Sunday to NYC we were greeted with 34 degree weather, which made it even more apparent how awesome Austin truly is…New York, I love you, but you’re bringing me down. All in all an awesome week of music, friends, food, and drink. Now if we can just catch up on some sleep…ya right!
