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Thanks for posting those tunes, Ivan - great stuff! As one who had
the pleasure of seeing The Troubadours and D!E in Indy last year, I
think we're going to see some fine work from this band!
Can't wait to hear more! This sort of thing will make my broken
collarbone recovery a bit easier (I busted it skimboarding on
vacation last week - in a sling for at least 3 more weeks, so no
guitar playing for while :( . . . )
Thanks again, Ivan!
-Dick
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
> Hi, this is Ivan Pongracic, formerly of the Space Cossacks and
> currently of the Troubadours.
>
> I'm extremely happy to introduce my new surf band, the Madeira.
The
> Madeira has Dane Carter on drums, Scott Waddell on bass, Patrick
> O'Connor on rhythm guitar, and myself on lead guitar (Scott and
Dane
> have been known to show up on SG101). Dane and Scott are also in
the
> Troubadours with me, and Patrick is also the lead guitar player in
> Destination: Earth! from Indianapolis (D:E! is still together and
> they'll continue to subjugate the Earthlings throughout the
Midwest).
>
> We spent a weekend in mid-April practicing for the first time, and
> sparks were flying! I can honestly say that I have never played
with
> a finer group of musicians than this, and I'm just giddy with
> excitement over the possibilities. I'm also really happy to be
> getting back to surf music proper after playing only Shadows
covers
> for the last four years (the Troubadours, BTW, will also
continue).
> We fully intend to make this an original band and we're already
> working on three new originals with more to come soon. But for
now
> it's mostly covers, though not your usual covers. We'll be doing
> some Space Cossacks stuff, some New World Relampagos, some rarer
> first wave things and even some third wave songs by the Treble
> Spankers and the Surf Coasters. Oh, and then there's that Paco de
> Lucia cover! We're aiming to develop the whole North African
> (Morocco, etc.) and Southern Spain (Andalucia, flamenco stuff)
> connection to the surf sound - that's the MO. Still keeping the
feet
> firmly planted in the trad sounds, but with the eyes aimed at the
> horizons, trying to peer a bit beyond. It promises to be
> interesting, if nothing else!
>
> Brian Neal has kindly put up a temporary website for us as part of
> the SG101 website (Thanks Brian you RULE!!). Go here:
>
>
>
> It's very bare at this moment, but there are two mp3s available
for
> download. Both songs are covers: "Express to Bagdad" originally
by
> the Atlantics (from '64) and "Intruder" originally by the Surf
> Coasters. The first seemed quite topical as well as effectively
> showcasing the band chops, and the second is just a mind-blowing
tune
> that seemed like a really nice challenge - hopefully we lived up
to
> it! The recording is from our first practice session in a very hi-
fi-
> hostile environment. It was recorded in Dane's basement with bare
> hard walls and the sound bouncing all over the place. In
addition,
> we could only record on two tracks so we had two mics for four
> instruments. (Yes, that's what they call an ambient recording.)
And
> to top it off, we didn't really have the time to ensure the best
mic
> instrument balance, and as a result the rhythm guitar got buried
> (fortunately Patrick set up the recording so he can't claim a
> conspiracy to keep him quiet! :). But we're quite pleased by the
> results, and it'll give you some idea of what this band is all
> about. We hope to have a few more mp3s from the same practice
> session to put up in the next few days
>
> Finally, we would like to announce our first gig. It'll be on
> Saturday, June 5th, at Zanies Too in Indianapolis, with the
Volcanos
> and the Troubadours (the same venue where the Troubadours played
with
> Destination: Earth! and the Nebulas last year). So, you'll get
the
> hard-driving exotic-tinged surf of the Madeira, groovy trad surf
of
> the near-legendary Volcanos AND the finest (well, the only)
American
> Shadows cover band! Consider this an invitation for people from
all
> over the country - we'll try to make it a memorable show and worth
> your airfare or long hours on the road! I hope at least a few of
you
> can make it.
>
> Thanks for reading and listening, and hope to see all of you over
the
> next few years.
>
> Ivan
