Hey everybody!

Some people here might already have guessed from my signature or some remarks I made in other posts: Los Apollos from Berlin are back with a new line up and new songs!

I first heard about Los Apollos three years ago, when they were starting out and Kahuna Kawentzmann (from the legendary german surfband The Looney Tunes) was their guitarist. But unfortunately I never got to see them live, but I heard good things about them. A few months later Ralf from The Kilaueas (another legandary german surfband) told me, that KK had left the band and that he was their guitar player now. I saw four very interesting and fun gigs of this line up, before Ralf also announced that he had left the band.

Around the same time (summer 2012) it became clear that my own surfband (spektrophon) would split up soon and for the first time since 2006 I found myself in the position that I would have no band... and I kind of knew, it would be very difficult to find new people to form a surfband. So when the word came around that the rhythm section of Los Apollos was looking for a new guitarist I naturally jumped at the chance, invited them to one of he last gigs of my old band and "got the job" in the end.

A few months ago we took some time and recorded three songs, which are now mixed and mastered. We will try to release them in an "offical" release in the near future so that they will also be available on spotify or itunes, but for now they can be listened to on our soundcloud-Page:

https://soundcloud.com/los-apollos

Bomb Stomp was originally a song by my old band, we tightened up the arrangement a little though. Then and now it is a song about the happy combination of dancing and explosives.

Schrödingers Kater is a critical account of the interferences of pet-quantums and headaches. A complex theme cut short. ["Kater" in German means "male cat" as well as "hangover". The title of the thought experiment from quantum physics originally uses the female form (Schrödingers Katze). Okay, it's a pretty weak pun and it wears off in translation.]

Pipe Out is the result of a lot of tinkering based upon the drum and bass patterns. It is about... Somehow I forgot in the middle part... Maybe something with Pipes? Or Indians?

I am very much looking foward to your comments and reactions!

Los Apollos - cinematic surf music trio (Berlin)
"Postcards from the Scrapyard" Vol. 1, 2 & 3 NOW available on various platforms!
"Chaos at the Lobster Lounge" available as LP and download on Surf Cookie Records!

Thanks for listening!
You have good ears: There are some minor, barely audible percussion overdubs on Pipe Out (and also on Bomb Stomp). Everything else was recorded live and stayed as it happened, except for a small retake, which I had to do for one passage in Pipe Out (the return to the intro after the middle part was a little shakey), and the echo, which was also added later.

Also: I would not have known, what to play, if I had been asked to overdub a second guitar. I already mentioned in the threads about trios that I consider arrangements the key element to make a surf trio work. And since the arrangements are directed at playing the songs live, we would have had to thin out the arrangement to create space for additional instruments. Which makes little sense considering the time we already spent to build up the original arrangements.

Los Apollos - cinematic surf music trio (Berlin)
"Postcards from the Scrapyard" Vol. 1, 2 & 3 NOW available on various platforms!
"Chaos at the Lobster Lounge" available as LP and download on Surf Cookie Records!

simoncoil wrote:

Thanks for listening!
You have good ears: There are some minor, barely audible percussion overdubs on Pipe Out (and also on Bomb Stomp). Everything else was recorded live and stayed as it happened, except for a small retake, which I had to do for one passage in Pipe Out (the return to the intro after the middle part was a little shakey), and the echo, which was also added later.

Also: I would not have known, what to play, if I had been asked to overdub a second guitar. I already mentioned in the threads about trios that I consider arrangements the key element to make a surf trio work. And since the arrangements are directed at playing the songs live, we would have had to thin out the arrangement to create space for additional instruments. Which makes little sense considering the time we already spent to build up the original arrangements.

Always like to listen new stuff

is it easy to make good surf shows in Berlin? always hear, that Berlin is a really good place to 'make culture' - for strange/sometimes weird stuff, etc..

here - as i see - totally pointless to play in common places (clubs. etc) - if we find the right drummer (the hardest part) we will plays on private parties, fashion shows, stuff like that. It's really boring to hear these 'why don't you have a singer' questions

original compositions (low-level demo stuff /out of tune, etc) myStuff not my best, but i don't like to be in a musician community without anything to show

I finally listened to all your songs on SoundCloud. I think they're very interesting and energetic, with fascinating rhythms driven by fantastic drumming and powerful guitar-playing. The sound and feel is first-rate surf! I'm glad you reminded me of them.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Thank you guys, you're very generous.

As mentioned in another thread we made an official release from the tracks I recorded with the band so far (Pipe Out, Schrödinger's Kater, Bomb Stomp).

Looking back at these recordings I must say I am a bit divided: While I'm proud of the songs as compositions (well, mostly...) the sound is not how I would do it today. When I joined the band I had played in another surf band for almost five years, which had a different approach to music and sound, in consequence of which I played with a very clean and transparent (sometimes maybe even 'sterile') guitar sound. I kept this for some time with Los Apollos and it is still present in this recordings, but after that I grew more and more unsatisfied with it, since it didn't really fit with the playing of my new band members.

By adding just a little bit more of dirt to the sound (i.e. basically cranking up the amp a little more) the overal sound of the band got much better, I think. I'll add a more recent live video to show you, what I mean.

In the meantime we wrote quite a number of new songs, which we are planning to record for an LP around the beginning of next year.

Los Apollos - cinematic surf music trio (Berlin)
"Postcards from the Scrapyard" Vol. 1, 2 & 3 NOW available on various platforms!
"Chaos at the Lobster Lounge" available as LP and download on Surf Cookie Records!