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Bloomfield, New Jersey’s Joy Cleaner are one of the most exciting young bands in the area. We were introduced to them through a split 7″ that they did with the band Spowder (another favorite), and followed them through the release of their debut LP _Total Hell_, on Seattle’s Jigsaw Records.

After a live appearance on our weekly radio program “Signal To Noise” (Sunday nights on WFDU in New Jersey) and a couple of live sets at various New Jersey venues, we were sold. When the band expressed an interest in releasing a single in the fall, we jumped at the chance to work with them. We’ll be releasing “Easter Tuesday,” a three-song single on digital, cassette, and a super-cool, limited-edition lathe cut square vinyl 7″.

The street date for the new release will be October 19.

Most people we’ve met that started record labels did so to help promote a band, or to have a vehicle to put out their own bands’ records. In our case, we wanted to have a record label. We didn’t have a band. We just wanted to find bands we liked, and turn as many people on to them as possible. So we started Dromedary. There were three of us, we were 22 years old. We had no idea what we were doing.

At some point in late 1992, in Jim Santo’s demo column for _Alternative Press_, we discovered our reason for living for the next year or so: Melting Hopefuls. Rich read a review, and recognized the name of singer Renee LoBue as someone he knew from high school. The review sounded promising, so he caught the band live and bought their demo tape. The following morning he was knocking on our apartment door far earlier than any of us should have been awake on a weekend day.

“You’re going to love this,” he said, handing me the tape. And it took about ten seconds – right when all the instruments come crashing together to open the lead track, “Gondola” – for him to be right. Melting Hopefuls were just the right blend of powerful noise and beautiful melody, propulsive rhythm and angelic vocals, right on our wavelength. When they agreed to kick off our first release, the compilation _Nothing Smells Quite Like Elizabeth_, there was no question what song we wanted to use: “Gondola.”

Over the next year we grew very close. We shared all our highs and lows, we bitched and we dreamed and we collaborated and commiserated. Melting Hopefuls were the first band we called “our” band; we talked about them with the pride and the love of a parent. Worshipping every solo by Max, straining to hear Sue’s quiet backing vocals, crunching along to Lorraine’s noisy guitar accompaniments, marveling at every perfectly-placed Ray Ketchem drum fill, and JESUS, those lyrics! So wise, and simultaneously so whimsical, it felt like Renee always knew something the rest of us didn’t, she was fearless and funny and a step ahead of everyone.

I find myself, at 48 years old, reciting a Renee LoBue lyric almost like a mantra, trying to explain something that made little sense to me at 22 but means the world to me as a father of a young woman, as a greying old guy chatting with young female punks trying to create and produce and move forward. It goes like this:

“I always notice one thing – whenever they review a ‘he,’ foremost is his playing.
I always notice one thing – whenever they review a ‘she,’ first comes what she’s wearing.”

It’s like a bolt of lightning that still strikes every time I read a stupid, sexist review. I never noticed it before 1992, and I notice it every single time since.

Anyway, time did what it does, we grew in different directions, moved on to other triumphs and hardships. Other bands became “our” band and our designs got much less grand. Melting Hopefuls evolved into the band Elk City, who have released four wonderful albums and a host of singles and compilation tracks, and recently signed to the great Bar/None Records label. Ray and Renee have been creating music together for more than 25 years.

We’re celebrating 25 years of kinda putting out records for a handful of people, and our greatest success is this idea that I have in my head that somewhere out there, there’s a person who’s favorite song came out on Dromedary Records. If I were to lay odds on what song would most likely be _the song_, “Gondola” would be a good bet.

It’s been a long time since we’ve done anything here.

We have, of course, released a few titles on our “Sugarblast”:https://sugarblastmusic.wordpress.com label, which we founded in early 2014 as a way to release noisy music to a tiny audience. But since the D. Smith _Groping For Luna, Vol. 1_ title was released in 2013, Dromedary has taken a backseat to the “Signal To Noise” radio show that Al has been hosting on WFDU FM in New Jersey.

That being said, it’s our 25th year in “business.” We should celebrate that. Many of our bands are still bands, their musicians are still making music, and we’re all doing musical things, despite the constant, unstoppable aging process. So during 2018, Dromedary will be active, with lots of memories, special surprises, and even a few releases and such.

So stick around. Bookmark this page. We’ve got stuff happening.

The great blog *Wilfully Obscure* published a review of *d.smith*’s _groping for luna, vol. 1_. Check it out:

Remember the band *Shirk Circus*? Yeah, I had a hunch you probably didn’t, but you can catch up on them via a feature I wrote in 2011, in memoriam of front-man Josh Silverman. Smith played bass for them, and from what I understand, _Groping for Luna, Vol. 1_ is his solo debut.

Alternating between muscular melodic rock and quieter reflective pieces, _Groping…_ is chockablock with sixteen pensive and considered numbers that tend to err on the side of melancholy. Comparisons to Bob Mould are inevitable, but if you’re anything like me you might also hear traces of likeminded singer songwriters including but not limited to Jon Sondgrass (Armchair Martian, Drag the River) and Mark Eitzel. Despite his weariness at times, Smith manages to brew up a howling, manicured maelstrom on some of _Groping’s_ most assertive slammers, nicely exemplified on “Worst Case Secnario,” and “An Ultimatum.”

_Chockablock_ is such a great word to use in a review, and I’m pretty sure that’s a word I’ve never seen in a review before.

You can check out *Wilfully Obscure* and download two free d.smith tracks for a limited time “here”:http://wilfullyobscure.blogspot.com/2014/11/graig-markel-and-88th-st-band-st-in.html

Our pals at *The Big Takeover* are now running an exclusive stream of the new *d.smith* album _groping for luna, vol. 1_.

Visit their “website”:http://bigtakeover.com/news/exclusive-album-premiere-groping-for-luna-vol-1-by-d-smith and give a listen to the new album (and read some dromedary news we’ll elaborate on later).