Closed Captioned :: the Number 3 Records Blog

RIP SANDY WEST

2006-10-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

GEISHA GIRLS RECORD RELEASE PARTIES!!!

2006-08-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

GGPOSTCARD, originally uploaded by number3records.

Mark yr calendars for the Geisha Girls record release weekend. One in Anaheim at Linda's Doll Hut and then the next in LA at the Echo with Die Princess Die for some Part Time Punks action... come get the new album!!!! this FALL!!!!!

...this is radio clash (a free punk mix in 2 parts)

2006-07-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. Today I am home sick, snotty, sneezing, coughing and sweating and it's 83 degrees outside. So anyway, in my day of sickness I have created a two part punk mix for you all (First of many...) hopefully you all dig on it. It will almost fit on a 60 minute cassette and it leads off with a track off of the soon to be released Geisha Girls record! Enjoy!

Here are the tracklistings:

This Is Radio Clash Side A:
Geisha Girls - Disappearing Act
Red Monkey - 18+
Wives - We Came Out Like Tigers
The Fall - Totally Wired
The Germs - Richie Dagger's Crime
The Dils - Mr. Big
The Chromatics - NBA
The Birthday Party - Happy Birthday
Suburban Lawns - Janitor
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Nicotine Stain
Monorchid - This Jazz Ain't Free
Middle Class - Situations
The Slits - Shoplifting

To Download Part One:

1 - Click here: Download Side 1 of THIS IS RADIO CLASH
2 - On the RapidShare page, scroll down and click the "Free" button. The page will change.
3 - On the new page, scroll down. Watch the countdown of your
download ticket (20 to 30 seconds usually - Ignore the Paypal stuff).
4 - After the countdown, a 3-digit security code will appear.
Enter it into the box and its yours... Rad!

This Is Radio Clash Side B:
A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
The Bellmer Dolls - Diva
45 Grave - Dream Hits II
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Catholic Discipline - Underground Babylon
TSOL - Wash Away
Circle Jerks - Backed Up Against the Wall
The Zeros - Don't Push Me Around
X - Real Child of Hell
Gun Club - Carry Home
The Wipers - Telepathic Love
The Minutemen - This Ain't No Picnic

To Download Part Two:

1 - Click here: Download Side 2 of THIS IS RADIO CLASH
2 - On the RapidShare page, scroll down and click the "Free" button. The page will change.
3 - On the new page, scroll down. Watch the countdown of your
download ticket (20 to 30 seconds usually - Ignore the Paypal stuff).
4 - After the countdown, a 3-digit security code will appear.
Enter it into the box and its yours... Radder!

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

2006-07-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Man. So bummed to get an email today about the loss of Syd Barret. In my opinion he was one of the greatest songwriters to come out of Britain. Obviously I missed the man's music by almost 20 years - since he stopped making music about 6 years before I was born, but his two solo records and the first Floyd record are masterpieces. Seriously. Anyway, I pasted a bunch of the obits that Bruce sent me below... Sad :(

"his impact on my thinking was enormous." - David Bowie

Obituary for Syd Barrett

As a founder member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett wrote songs at once wistful, surreal and quintessentially English. Barrett's increasingly erratic mental state led to him leaving the band in 1968. Syd Barrett's continuing importance, both to his former band-mates and the musical world at large, was made explicit at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park.

Introducing their classic song, Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters said: "This is for the people who can't be here - especially Syd." But it was another Floyd song, the epic Shine On You Crazy Diamond, written as a tribute to Syd Barrett, which will stand as his epitaph.

As a member of Floyd during its formative years, Syd Barrett was a troubled genius whose drug abuse and poetic lyrics personified the psychedelic 60s. Roger Keith Barrett was born in Cambridge in January 1946. The son of a well-known pathologist, he acquired the nickname "Syd" during his teens, a reference to Sid Barrett, a local jazz drummer.

It was as a student at London's Camberwell School of Art that he became guitarist and vocalist with a band called Tea Set, whose other members were Roger Waters and Bob Klose on guitars, Rick Wright on wind instruments and drummer Nick Mason. It was Syd Barrett who christened the new group The Pink Floyd Sound, in homage to two of his own musical heroes, the bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

After Klose left the line-up to pursue a career as a photographer, Pink Floyd - as it soon became - played standards like Louie, Louie, often embellishing them with free-form interludes, improvisations in the jazz style, yet also influenced by heavy rock.

Syd Barrett founded Pink Floyd in 1965. By 1966, Floyd was the most influential act in swinging London's burgeoning underground music scene, filling venues like UFO and The Roundhouse with audiences keen to witness their radical sound and its accompanying light-show.

The following year saw Pink Floyd enter the charts with the Barrett-penned single Arnold Layne which, although banned by the BBC, reached an impressive number 21. The follow-up single, the drug-inspired See Emily Play - also written by Barrett - fared even better, going to number 6 in the charts.

Signing up to the EMI label, the band recorded its first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967. With Barrett as its driving force, the album included a number of classic tracks, most notably Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Overdrive, and more whimsical offerings like Bike and The Gnome.

But Syd Barrett soon found himself grappling with his new-found fame and facing a serious drug problem, especially with the psychedelic drug LSD. His live appearances became shambolic, often silent or confused and, by the end of 1967, the band had been forced to bring in Barrett's friend, one David Gilmour, as a substitute guitarist. In early 1968, Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd went their separate ways.

Syd Barrett's solo career was short. His first album, the inconsistent The Madcap Laughs, appeared in January 1970, and its altogether more polished follow-up, Barratt, hit the record shops that November. Songs like Gigolo Aunt, Vegetable Man and Dominoes, showcased on his albums and in live sessions recorded for BBC radio, brought Syd Barrett a cult following.

But a lack of popular recognition, combined with the increasing fragility of his health, led Syd Barrett to abandon the music industry altogether and, despite a couple of abortive attempts to re-ignite his career, Barrett remained, for more than 30 years, British rock music's greatest recluse. But he did attend Pink Floyd's recording sessions in 1975, ironically sitting in the studio while the band recorded Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

In recent years, Barrett preferred to be known by his birth name, Roger. But, despite continuing mental problems and diabetes, those who met him spoke of a content man who had left his illustrious past behind him. A devoted gardener, regular royalty payments made his later years more comfortable. Barrett's influence was rich indeed.

Former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon released a statement saying: "Lost him again... for bang on 20 years Syd led me to better places."

Barrett's biographer Tim Willis said the guitarist's music left a lasting legacy. "I don't think we would have the David Bowie we have today if it wasn't for Syd," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
"Bowie was very much a kind of clone of Syd in the early years. His influence is still going.
"New bands discover him all the time. There's always a Syd revival going on - if it wasn't the punks, it was REM, and I'm sure that Arnold Layne and Emily Play as pop songs will live forever."

Happy 666.

2006-06-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

Punk Rock Mixtape

2006-04-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody. I was bored today so I made you all this mix of great punk rock... I hope you enjoy it...

The Art of Making Things Up Vol. 1

playlist:
45 Grave - Dream Hits II
Adolescents - LA Girl
Alice Bag Band - Gluttony
Suicide - Ghost Rider
Viza Noir - No Record
Magazine - Motorcade
The Fleshtones - Shadowline
Contortions - Dish It Out
Wives - We Came Out Like Tigers
Suburban Lawns - Unable
TSOL - Wash Away
Wire - Sand In My Joints

1 - Click here: Download The Art of Making Things Up Vol. 1
2 - On the RapidShare page, scroll down and click the "Free" button. The page will change.
3 - On the new page, scroll down. Watch the countdown of your
download ticket (20 to 30 seconds usually - Ignore the Paypal stuff).
4 - After the countdown, a 3-digit security code will appear.
Enter it into the box and its yours... Enjoy!

Love Toddrick

Brother Reade House Party Contest!

2006-03-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

Brother Reade, Radder, and Rabbittusk present the first in our bi-monthly house party series. Message Brother Reade on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/brotherreade) if you live in the greater Los Angeles area and think you have a good ass house to have good ass house parties. Our panel of judges will evaluate your home and if your house is the raddest, you win the prize.

The winner receives:

The whole brother reade discography, a piranha Tee (the new BAPE), and Brother Reade will host a house party at your house that your friends will talk about forever, featuring live performances of never before heard brother reade jams from rare releases such as Killyou meyou's "Lead the Field", The Dual JimmyJael mixtape(s) "Too Smart for the IRS", and "Everybody's Boyfriend: a study in RnB". If you're lucky there will also be cuts dropped from the upcoming (as yet untitled) Brother Reade LP. On top of that there will be mad celebrity guest DJ's, a gang of alcohol, and more pretty women than you can count on a TI-86. Does your house have what it takes? enter today. message brother reade on myspace now, and the future could be yours.

oh yeah, and go get that dang Killyou Meyou mixtape for free, yherme?

Check it out...

2006-03-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family!

We here at No.3 are pretty stoked right now. Here's why:

1. Our entire catalog is now on iTunes.
Download Ladykillers "Welcome To Rock'N'Roll Kid".
Download Frausdots "Gonna Lose It" 7".
Download Brother Reade "North Cack ep".
Download Crystal Skulls "Blocked Numbers".

2. Geisha Girls upcoming debut full length "Disappearing Act" is getting mastered this week. That means it'll be out this summer and it is really really good. I'm not just saying that. Check out some unmastered tracks here.

3. Speaking of the Geisha Girls, you can see them live at the following shows:
TONIGHT! March 4th Costa Mesa, CA at Avalon Bar w/ The Tyde and Japanese Motors
March 11th Costa Mesa, CA at the Roc w/ Japanese Motors, Plastick and Hemingway
March 18th Sunset Beach, CA at J. King Neptunes w/ the Matamachine
April 6th Los Angeles, CA at the Echo w/ the Flesheaters (original line-up!!!!)

4. Brother Reade will be at SXSW this year playing AFTER Lady Sovereign! For more info go here.

5. Ladykillers have been hard at work getting their new album all finished up for you. And they've dropped some rough mixes for you to check out at their myspace page. Listen to them here. I've heard a lot of this record as they've been working on it. It is gonna blow some minds. Serious.

6. And since we're on the topic, it's been a little while since Ladykillers played live (1/2 the band are in Europe touring with Lords of Altamont) so we're damn excited for these upcoming stateside dates:
April 7th Santa Cruz, CA at the Catalyst w/ the DEAD KENNEDYS
April 8th Newhall, CA at the Rendezvous -- FREE but sadly 21+
May 12th Los Angeles, CA at Safari Sam's w/ the Bellrays, Donita Sparks of L7, and the Spores

Thats all for now. As always you can get more info on us over at www.number3records.com

Love,
Number 3 Records

R.I.P. AL LEWIS

2006-02-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

Today my friend Rory told me that Al Lewis (aka Grandpa Munster) had passed away. I looked it up on Google and found an obituary from NPR. I am saddened. Here are parts of the obituary (if you want to read the whole thing check out this):

Al Lewis, the cigar-chomping patriarch of The Munsters whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom, died after years of failing health. He was 82.

Lewis, sporting a somewhat cheesy Dracula outfit, became a pop culture icon playing the irascible father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster on the 1964-66 television show. He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on Car 54, Where Are You?

But Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics. A former ballplayer at Thomas Jefferson High School, he achieved notoriety as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach.
He operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant, Grandpa's, where he was a regular presence -- chatting with customers, posing for pictures, signing autographs.
In 2000, a ponytailed Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate against incumbent Gov. George Pataki. Lewis campaigned against draconian drug laws and the death penalty, while going to court in a losing battle to have his name appear on the ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis." He didn't defeat Pataki, but managed to collect more 52,000 votes.

Lewis was born Alexander Meister in upstate New York before his family moved to Brooklyn, where the 6-foot-1 teen began a lifelong love affair with basketball. He later became a vaudeville and circus performer, but his career didn't take off until television did the same.

Lewis, as Officer Schnauzer, played opposite Gwynne's Officer Francis Muldoon in Car 54, Where Are You? -- a comedy about a Bronx police precinct that aired from 1961-63. One year later, the duo appeared together in The Munsters, taking up residence at the fictional 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

The series, about a family of clueless creatures plunked down in middle America, was a success and ran through 1966. It forever locked Lewis in as the memorably twisted character; decades later, strangers would greet him on the street with shouts of "Grandpa!"

Unlike some television stars, Lewis never complained about getting typecast and made appearances in character for decades.

"Why would I mind?" he asked in a 1997 interview. "It pays my mortgage."
Lewis rarely slowed down, opening his restaurant and hosting his WBAI radio program. At one point during the '90s, he was a frequent guest on the Howard Stern radio show, once sending the shock jock diving for the delay button by leading an undeniably obscene chant against the Federal Communications Commission.

But in 2003, Lewis was hospitalized for an angioplasty. Complications during surgery led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his right leg below the knee and all the toes on his left foot. Lewis spent the next month in a coma.
A year later, he was back offering his recollections of a seminal punk band on the DVD Ramones Raw.
He is survived by his wife, Karen Ingenthron-Lewis, three sons and four grandchildren.

Sam Velde (Coldsweat Records) : Best of 2005 - In No Order

2005-12-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

Here are our friend Sam's favorite records of 2005...

10. BLACK MOUNTAIN - S/T

9. AKRON/FAMILY & ANGELS OF LIGHT - S/T

8. LORDS - SWORDS

7. MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. - WHAT COMES AFTER THE BLUES

6. COLISEUM - GODDAMAGE EP

5. PISSED JEANS - SHALLOW

4. DOOM RIDERS - BLACK THUNDER

3. EARTH - HEX: OR PRINTING IN THE INFERNAL METHOD

2. BORIS - PINK

1. CURSED - II

Be sure to buy Coldsweat Records! Check them out here.

Best Of 2005

2005-12-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

My friend Robert asked me to compile a list of my favorite releases of 2005. So barring some really rad records coming out this month, here are my favorite records of the year...

10. Brother Reade – Northcack Aphonicrobotickillatrackatronic ep

9. Akron/Family & Angels of Light – s/t

8. Crystal Skulls – Blocked Numbers

7. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

6. Iron & Wine/Calexico – In The Reins

5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl

4. Jeffrey Lee Pierce “Wildweed” (Re-issue)

3. Black Mountain – s/t

2. The Books – Lost And Safe

1. Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities

Honorable Mentions :
Scout Niblett - kidnapped by neptune
Red Sparowes - at the soundless dawn
Youth Group - skeleton jar
Lungfish - Feral Hymns
Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow
Dungen – Ta Det Lugnt
Animal Collective – Feels
Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Worlds Apart
Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Matt Sweeney – Superwolf

Rest In Peace Link Wray

2005-11-29T14:03:00.000-08:00

The legendary Link Wray died two weeks ago at a young 76. Without Link Wray and his Wraymen there would be no punk and no metal. He is the father of distorted barre chords and pure attitude meshing together to start a whole new sound. He was the baddest of the baddest. And he will be missed. Here is a snippet from the LA Times obituary:

Link Wray, 76; Rebel Guitarist's Power Chord in 'Rumble' Started Rock Music on Its Journey to Punk and Heavy Metal
By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer

Link Wray, the rock guitar pioneer who gave birth to the aggressively primal sound known as the power chord on his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble" and influenced two generations of rock guitarists, has died. He was 76.

Wray died Nov. 5 at his home in Copenhagen, his family said on his website. Although no cause of death was given, his wife, Olive, and son, Oliver, wrote that the North Carolina native's heart had been "getting tired."
On stage, the rebel Wray never tired of wielding his ax.

"He just loved playing," said Michael Molenda, editor in chief of Guitar Player magazine, who saw Wray perform last July at Slim's, a small San Francisco club.

"He was certainly a young soul, very gracious, kind of like a punk to the end," Molenda said Monday. "He wasn't like a guy who was 76 years old. He was like a 19-year-old in a 76-year-old body."

To read the rest go here.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

2005-11-27T08:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you celebrated turkey and small pox blankets with gusto! While every one else is in a food coma the Number 3 Fam has been hard at work! Read below...

Frausdots are playing two shows this winter. They are seriously one of LA's best bands. You should buy their 2004 debut on Sub Pop "Coutre Coutre Coutre" and while you're at it pick up a copy of their rad 7" single here.
11.29 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland w/ The Parson Red Heads, Early Dolphin, and The Winterflowers
12.13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Key Club w/ Geisha Girls and Totally Radd!!

The boys in Geisha Girls have leaked two extremely raw versions of songs from their upcoming Number 3 Records debut and we figured "what the hell?" and posted them for all of you on our MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/number3records). For those of you who need a little Geisha fix you can see the boys in all their black jean glory at a string of Southland dates:
12.2 Azusa, CA @ Smart City Grinds w/ ADHD and Prima Donna
12.13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Key Club w/ Frausdots and Totally Radd!!
12.15 Santa Ana, CA @ The Galaxy Theater w/ The Starvations (2nd to last show ever!), The Stitches, and more!

My favorite foursome of ne'er-do-wells, Ladykillers, have started the demo process for their follow-up to the critically acclaimed Welcome To Rock'N'Roll Kid, and early reports say this is their most ambitious batch of songs to date! You can purchase Welcome To Rock'N'Roll Kid at the Number 3 Records online store and at Insound, and make sure to check out Ladykillers live at the Troubadour in December!
12.9 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour w/ Death By Stereo and Hunter Revenge (feat. Hunter of AFI)

Also: Check out the Ladykillers song "Heart Attack Machine" on Comcast Cable's new On Demand channel Ripe TV! The Nascar Show features the track along side jams by Early Man, Decahedron, and more!

Crystal Skulls' debut album "Blocked Numbers" is sure to place on everyone's best of 2005 lists (I know it's on mine.) These guys are a hard working bunch, it seems like they're always on tour! Below are the next round of dates for these Seattle luminaries! Oh, and pick up the 12" version of "Blocked Numbers" at our online store and the cd at Suicide Squeeze.
12.8 Bellingham, WA @ The Nightlight
12.9 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
12.10 Kennewick, WA @ 321 Art Space
12.11 Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan
12.13 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
12.14 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Attic
12.15 Costa Mesa, CA @ The Detroit Bar
12.16 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland

Welcome to Closed Captioned

2005-10-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out our blog. In the coming days this space will feature studio and tour diaries, record reviews, opinions, show announcements, daily affirmations or whatever bullshit the friends and family of Number 3 Records want to write. For me, this space serves as an attempt to help nurture and build our local LA underground community. Thanks for the opportunity.

luv,
Toddrick
Number 3 Records