(Wallflower David Rinck introduces a new project by old friends.)
Here’s our new record. As far as we know, this is the latest project by musicians associated with the Che Underground.
We wrote the music over the Internet, since we now live in various far-flung corners of the globe (Africa in my case). One of us would write a riff and a few lines of lyrics and then send it on. Pretty soon it added up to a song, and then the eight on the record (actually more, but we could only record eight ’cause of time limitations).
But we all used to be in bands in San Diego and play shows together, so we were used to working together, and the distances were easily overcome.
Hope you like the record. Basically the music here is straight-up San Diego underground rock and roll. We’re all true sons and daughters of San Diego, so this record is at its heart a product of our city and its very distinct and exciting music scene. Essentially what we’re trying to do is carry on the illustrious tradition of our “underground” pedigree. We have the whole second half or our lives to fill with music, and we plan to keep playing until we keel over and die.
Someday, we’ll lose our teeth and our hair and be old and all, but even then we’ll sit out on the porch and play music together on old acoustic guitars like those crazy old blues dudes.
Buy “The Perils of Life” on CD Baby!
Yeah, and we plan another one soon, this time a full 13 songs! We’re all Blues Gangsters, and so we think it’d be incredibly cool to get as many of you as possible to work on a new record with us — those who don’t choose to express yourselves by playing musical instruments, well, make up some artwork for the cover … Or OK, let’s write some lyrics. (Yo, Kristen: We’re calling all you poets and artists here … )! You guys are all so incredibly talented, and we have a long way to go, so let’s keep it rocking.
The Blues Gangsters play “Tigershark Blues” … Listen now!
The Blues Gangsters “The Perils of Life” (FURIOUS BABYFACE RECORDS 2009)
Dave Ellison – Guitar
Dave Fleminger – Bass, Organ, Rhodes Piano
Matt Johnson – Drums
Kristi Maddocks – Vocals
David Rinck – Guitar, Vocals
Special Guests:
Heather Vorwerck – Cello on “We Are Washed Clean”
Dylan Rogers – Blues Rap on “Sometimes I Forget I’m White”
— David Rinck
Nairobi, June 2009
Congratulations!
I have a lyric; to whom should I send it?
Simon, I’d love to check your lyric out! Please send it on. Matthew can hook you up with my email address.
Dig, we’ve been sorta thinking around this for a while, what do you guys think… would there be interest in a “sub-branch” or feature here (or some other sort of associated set-up) on this blog, which would focus on lyrics and songwriting? The idea would be to start by posting some of the lyrics (and maybe even the tabs) to the Che Underground cannon up there. I feel like, while we’ve done an amazing job unearthing the audio relics, we’ve not paid enough attention at all to the words we’ve written, and we have so many classic tunes in our collective songbook, and it’s so amazing to read those old lines and see where our heads were at when we wrote them. For my part, when we went through the Wallflowers setlist recently preparing for the Che Games, it was like an amazing chance to re-live my past and remember what was up with me then (though it reminded why my parents were a bit concerned about us at the time… hahah).
But the goal would be create forum for collaborative new writing -- partial ideas, song titles, random lines… let each of us kick them around together and see what happens. I’d love to write new songs with pretty all of the people here! Any takers for something “along these lines” (pardon the pun). Who’s up for a sub-branch on the evolving Che Underground Songbook?
Matthew, I’m sorry, I forgot to address your comments on long-distance song-smithing. Actually, not really that difficult to overcome. We started by trading lyrics sheets by email, and then tab sheets for the arrangements, and then used Garageband, which is now built into Macs, to send demos back and forth. Large files can be uploaded to a data vault, and then downloaded again by the next band member. It was all actually very inter-active and smooth. By the time we got to the studio in January, we all knew the songs pretty well. We did the whole CD in just two days.
BTW, speaking of the “collective” Che Underground songbook, I wanna cover “Brother P-Touch” (off your amazing Amazons CC!) with the Beathogs here in Nairobi when we play at Dass next month. That is such a great tune to play live on a miced acoustic guitar! I love that CD man, and that song is just an absolute rocker. Please everyone, go check that one out! Oh man…
this sounds awesome. be proud, be proud!!
As a lyricist and a proud member of the Blues Gangsters, I’m all up for a Che Underground Songbook!
It is kinda interesting to note that when David Rinck firast was forminf the collaboration behind The Blues Gangsters last April (2008) or so, I was just 3 years into my recovery of my brain injury, and not an active writer. In fact, serendipidusly, David’s phone call from Africa came to me (if i remember correctly) just 2 weeks after my 3rd “Rebirthday”, and a reunion of David Flemminger, Bruce Hammerly, Anni, Andy Grossberg and finally Carina Burns Randolph. There had been some talk of making music with them, but i still was unsure I was up to the task of songwriting. So Dave Ellison and David rinck were very good with The Blues Gagsters project at putting me at ease and reminding me that we were making the music for the process of it, for the “fun” of it. Dave Rinck suggested I use some of my old poetry he remembered me writing at the Madison Avenue flat in the old days…He he. I laugh now, because they really put me at ease. The first 4 songs or so I wrote with them were old dusty lyrics.
Within a couple of months I had lyrics spilling out of my ears 24 hours a day…now I have another 20 songs waiting to be finished!
Anyhow, The guys who played inThe Blues Gangsters were masters in the studio…they made my first recording experience an easy one.
We hope you enjoy the tunes, and maybe recognize some vibes from our shared yesterdays!