MP3 Del Mar - After The Quake

High-octane surf/punk with equal parts slamming skate rock, surreal road-tripping sleaze, and vivid surf guitar twang inhabited by a colorful cast of characters including beach bums, meth heads, a Reno roadside prostitute and even a crazed giant jellyfish

18 MP3 Songs in this album (66:16) !
Related styles: ROCK: Punk, ROCK: Surf Rock

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Details:
Former drummer for Sublime, Bud Gaugh has made a point to keep fans on their toes. From the early Long Beach days of The Juice Brothers through the bittersweet success of Sublime, and subsequent bands Long Beach Dub All Stars and later, Eyes Adrift with Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) and Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets), Gaugh has seen his share of major label success, fan adulation, and even devastating disappointments. After âretiringâ from all these bands, Gaugh intended to kick back a little and enjoy life. That is, until he started playing with a loose contingent of musicians from the Reno area that eventually formed into his latest band, Del Mar.

Combining high energy, tongue-in-cheek skate punk with classic surf instrumentals, Del Marâs first release After The Quake is a vivid potpourri of slap-happy musical styles. A common thread runs through the disc depicting life after the âbig oneâ and some of the bizarre people that inhabit the wild west. These themes are held together by a colorful cast of characters including roadside Reno prostitutes, unwashed beach bums, meth heads, and even a giant jellyfish. This all adds up to an intense and rather peculiar listening experience of in-your-face music deliberately played with utter abandon by the four members of the band. As Gaugh likes to say, âDel Mar is an uncorked 572 big-block driven by a schizophrenic, machete-wielding, blunt smoking, green puss-dripping monster shooting cop cars with a barrett .50 cal. BMG!â

The members of Del Mar regard themselves as family which is quite literally true. In addition to Bud Gaugh on drums, his wife Nicole Hutcheson plays rhythm guitar and sings. The band is rounded out by Mike Martinez, a Reno native, on bass; and Matt Bode on lead guitar and vocals. It is Bodeâs manic over-the-top vocals and intense high-octane guitar that give much of After The Quake its signature sound and power. Commenting on Del Marâs music, Bode remarks âThe surf stuff is great and the punk stuff is better. I want to have an arsenal of punk music for the young fans and surf music for the older fansâ

In addition to the four band members, Dennis âLil Daddyâ Roth makes a few guest appearances narrating the opening track Westbound â80-Intro and again on âI Got A Woodyâ and his signature tune, Rothâs Revenge. Son of Ed âBig Daddyâ Roth, the acclaimed counter-culture cartoonist and car builder best known for popularizing âKustom Kultureâ with his outrageous car designs and caricatures, âLilâ Daddyâ continues this tradition depicting imaginative, outsized characters behind the wheel of classic roadsters as the imaging for Del Mar. It is the perfect visual compliment to Del Marâs extreme surf-punk ethos and wacky lyrics.

After a few too many bad experiences with major record labels, Gaugh and the band decided to shun the majors and enter the new world of âDo It Yourselfâ recording and distribution, handling all aspects of the release through indie startup Half Of Nothing Records in Sacramento. Like many bands today, Del Mar is more interested in forming a deeper band-to-fan relationship instead of handing everything over to a major record label only to be told what to write, what to sing, how to sing it, and how to market it (comically depicted in âRats On A Sinking Shipâ from After The Quake.). Half Of Nothing Records shares these concerns with Del Mar as echoed by label chief Zach âZippyâGoodin âNo suits or ties here,â says Goodin. âBands like Del Mar started Half Of Nothing Records to play what they want, own the masters, and have control of the creative process. Goodin looks forward to Del Mar hitting the road to âblow up some amps, break some strings, and have a little fun in the sun.â

This DIY ethic will affect the marketing approach with After The Quake being a self-release on Half Of Nothing Records as well as CD Baby and later through independent distribution targeting indie record stores, mail order, and colleges. The direct-to-fan experience also includes a series of video vignettes recorded in Tahoe and Reno that showcase the bandâs varied interests including snow and skate boarding, tattoos, gun collecting, hot rods and car restoration, punk rock, surf music, music videos, live performances, and the bizarre trippy artwork of Lilâ Daddy Roth (who also created the bandâs cover art and visual imaging). The vignettes will take the place of a standard record company EPK and will be featured on the bandâs website DelMarReno.com as well as through various lifestyle internet channels devoted to these interests. The band will also feature this and other content on their MySpace and Facebook pages and through a direct-to-fan Twitter relationship.

âIâm happy that were not doing the label thing,â says guitarist Nicole Hutcheson, commenting on the DIY approach. âWe are doing Del Mar to be one of the biggest bands in the world without being industry backed â we want to do it ourselves. This is also Budâs chance to be totally free artistically.â