All posts by Al

Mommyheads’ “Flying Suit” Recording Sessions!

A few weeks ago, Adam sent us a bunch of pictures that he had found from the _Flying Suit_ recording sessions. We also had a few lying around, from the opening night of the _Flying Suit_ tour in Berkeley, CA.

That night, a chilly Bay Area evening in September of 1994, I met up with Sam Koritz of the San Francisco band The Sarnos. He took me into Aquarius Records for a quick introduction, and then we hopped into my nondescript rental car and drove into Berkeley.

The three things from that night that I remember most vividly:

1) Anchor Steam Beer. It was, at that point, my third or fourth trip to San Francisco but my first experience with Anchor Steam. I enjoyed several. I eventually would have discovered this beer as its distribution broadened, but it was nice to be introduced to it in its native habitat. Thanks, Sam.

2) An old-school hippie, seemingly straight from 1969, was dancing wildly in the middle of the floor while the band was playing. In the middle of the instrumental break in “Broken and Glazed,” Michael Holt came down from the stage and began dancing with the man. At first, I thought Michael was making fun of the hippie, but a few measures into their dance I realized that Michael was _also_ dancing, the two of them just lost in the music and enjoying the performance.

3) The band were utterly _fantastic_, simultaneously incredible musicians and tasteful players, with articulate lyrics and an amazing ability to play as a unit yet maintain their individuality as musicians. This was, I thought, a whole new kind of indie rock. Fifteen years later, with bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and John Vanderslice carrying the torch the band lit so many years ago, I think back to that night and know I was right.

Just a few days from now, _Flying Suit_ will be available once again for the first time since the late 1990s. Remastered beautifully by Fred Kevorkian (White Stripes, Phish, Stuyvesant) and featuring three tracks that did not appear on the original CD, _Flying Suit_ will, hopefully, help revive those same emotions that indie rock stirred in us in the 90s – and introduce a whole new crop of people to the greatness of The Mommyheads.

Angels and Weathermen Live Video

The Mommyheads reunited in 2008 to perform at a memorial for original drummer Jan Kotik.

This low-fi recording of the band performing “Angels and Weathermen,” from the 2008 CD _You’re Not A Dream_ (Bladen County), complete with a cameo from a cellphone, serves as a fantastic representation of The Mommyheads’ tremendous songwriting, Beatlesque melodies, and groovy funk.

In case we haven’t said it enough, _Flying Suit_ is on the way. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be able to give this record back to you after all these years.

One Week Away: I Am Spartacus

h4. Friends, Romans, Countrymen

h4. _I Am Spartacus_

Just one week until the official street date for _I Am Spartacus_, the dynamite CD from Friends, Romans, Countrymen.

Now, you can hear the CD in its entirety, streaming for *FREE* right here on the Dromedary Records website!

On April 6, we’ll have CDs available for purchase right here at Dromedary-records.com, and the entire record will be available for download at finer online music stores everywhere.

Mommyheads Announce Swedish Tour Dates!

That’s right, to support the release of the new _Flying Suit_, The Mommyheads will be hitting the road for a brief but powerful tour of Sweden – the band’s first tour in two years!

Date as follows:

May 20, 2010 – 2 Lingon & Blåbär – Västerås, Västmanlands län
May 21, 2010 – Alcazar/Nalen – Stockholm, Stockholms län
May 22, 2010 – The Cave – Sundbyberg, Stockholms län
May 23, 2010 – Polar Studios – Stockholm
May 26, 2010 – Munkkällaren – Visby, Gotlands län
May 27, 2010 – TBA – TBA, Kronobergs län
May 28, 2010 – Stallarna – Växjö, Kronobergs län
May 29, 2010 – TBA

Stay tuned right here or to the Mommyheads’ “MySpace page”:http://www.myspace.com/theoneandonlymommyheads for more updates!

Also, check out the “Catbird Seat”:http://www.catbirdseat.org/archives/1933.php for a free MP3 of the _Flying Suit_ track “Worm!”

Mommyheads Live Video!

Check out this music video, from 1995, of The Mommyheads performing “Broken and Glazed.”

“Broken and Glazed” appeared on the band’s 1995 CD _Bingham’s Hole_ (Dot Dot Dash). The live footage was filmed at the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco, and the video was created by Dave Gresalfi.

_Flying Suit_ hits the street on May 18. Get excited – it’s truly an amazing record.

New York Magazine reviews Flying Suit

…in 1994, that is. Here’s what _New York Magazine_ had to say about the original _Flying Suit_ release:

bq. _”A hidden treasure that’s been roaming indie-rock byways from Brooklyn to San Francisco for years, the Mommyheads specialize in winsomely low-key, perfectly cut gems of avant-pop. There are keyboards but of the clunky, Modern Lovers variety; there are guitars but overlaid and cross-hatched with a baroque imagination worthy of XTC. The surreally poetic lyrics and quirky arrangements give way to gorgeous vocal harmonies and hooky, Beatlesque choruses that last and last. This record, like their last for the superhip label Simple Machines, is an embarrassment of riches, but the unfashionably clean production and note-perfect playing shows anything but embarrassment.”_

_Flying Suit_ hits the streets again in just five weeks. Exquisitely remastered by Fred Kevorkian (The White Stripes, Phish, Stuyvesant), the album features three bonus tracks that did not appear on the original.

To hear tracks from the remastered album, “friend us on Facebook::http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dromedary-Records/49187886217?ref=ts – we’ll be posting a few tasty treats over there as we get closer to the street date.

And for our friends in Scandinavia – brace yourselves for a Mommyheads spring tour!