Pearhead - New Album Sneak Peak

Here's a couple alternate versions of songs from the new album. First up is the single edit of Going Nowhere Fast. A longer edit is slated to close the album.

Next up is a stripped down mix of She's A Dancer.

The album is nearing completion. Look for a release sometime in early 2012.

New Site!

We have opened a new site for Sybil Records. Our hope is that the new site will allow more content and better navigation. This site will not be going away but its focus will be changing slightly. We will still announce new projects and provide links to download here but the new site will be the place for more info about the projects and the artists. Here we will talk about works in progress as well as posting individual songs that otherwise might never be heard. One off recordings such as covers, originals and jam sessions that have no obvious place in a larger project. The hope is for weekly posts but I wouldn't hold me to that.

You can find the new site at sites.google.com/site/sybilrecords. 

To get things started here is a cover of Chuck Berry's Memphis/My Marie on ukulele. This is an Uncle Dan recording that joins Chuck's Memphis Tennessee with its answer/sequel song My Marie. Daniel Brooks performs all instruments and vocals.

Ben Kammin - seventunes&threesongs (2001)

I've been wanting to post this album for a long while but because I had nothing to do with this project I needed to get the OK from the artist. Ben Kammin is a fingerstyle guitarist in the style of Michael Hedges and Leo Kottke. I first ran into Ben many years ago when he was playing at a Barnes & Noble bookstore. I ran into him a few more times before striking up a conversation with him. There was a lot of common ground between us as musical influences go and I really wanted to work with him in some way. It took a few years but I finally got him into my basement studio to do some demos. These are not them.

What we have here is Ben's first CD. Recorded and released in 2001 it predates our demo sessions. This CD is sold out and out of print with no plans at this time to reissue. I wanted to share this for many reasons but mainly to give more people access to this album. More often than not I have had to listen to Ben tell inquiring fans about the unavailability of this CD. So with Ben's approval I am putting this up here for all to download and enjoy.

1. jesu, joy of man's desiring -j.s. bach (arr. david qualey)
2. amazing grace -traditional (arr. randy scruggs)
3. solitude -ben kammin (chorus by william blake)
4. the happy couple -michael hedges
5. too much saturn -francis dunnery (arr. ben kammin)
6. dreamsketcher -billy mclaughlin
7. ojo -leo kottke
8. let them in -anonymous (melody based on an arr. by david wilcox)
9. song for robbie -peppino d'agostino
10. first to go -leo kottke

For more information about Ben and his performance schedule go to his website (www.benkammin.com) then go out and see him, you won't be disappointed.

DOWNLOAD

The Road to Mallow [Peter Mulvey]

Here is one song from our demo session. Ben often plays this live and this is a fine rendition.

xxxCelerators - 2010

Here are four songs from a friend of mine Brian Wurch (rhymes with lurch or birch). While I had no hand in the production of these songs (although the bass line on track three is modeled on the line I did on the original demo) the CD these songs come from were mostly produced and engineered by me.

These songs originally were released on a 12 song CD called Book of Detroit by Brian Damage and the Accelerators. That band slowly mutated into The xxxCelerators and assembled in my humble basement studio over three nights and recorded some songs so that I could gain some experience with my new recording gear. We re-recorded the other eight songs from Book of Detroit along with five new songs.

Over the course of the next three years Brian and I layered more guitars, keyboards, horns, mandolins, violins and anything else we could onto those basic tracks. We also recorded one more song and added these four songs from Book of Detroit that we did not re-record to fill out the CD to 18 tracks.

Well after three years of dubbing, mixing, re-mixing, tweaking and more dubbing and mixing we have finally reached a point where we can do no more. It is done, finished. complete. To give you a taste of what's coming and while we wait for funds for duplication and packaging so we can get this baby on the market here are the four songs from Book of Detroit.

1. Nighttime
2. Blue Dress
3. Good Good Girl
4. Cathy

DOWNLOAD

The Spectaculars - Live at Maloney's (1994)

In celebration of the release of Supercomet's debut release here is a live set from Eric Olson's previous band. The band included Eric on guitar, his brother Mike on drums, their dad Leon on bass and on occasion playing harp was Southside Jimmy. Vocals were traded from song to song between Eric, Leon and Jimmy.

While their repertoire consisted of mostly old blues standards and rock classics their sound was modern and unique. Showing off their influences that ranged from classic blues to SRV to Hendrix to Pink Floyd to big band, they covered allot of ground. Although I had no input or took part in the creation of this music I did shoot the video that the audio was ripped from.

This is the amazing Spectaculars at the peak of their game. Recorded live using a video camera which was then dumped onto a DVD then the audio was ripped from that. Sound quality is surprisingly good but don't expect studio grade sound. The performance is typical of the band at that time which translates to amazing. Unfortunately I was dragged from the venue by my ride home so I was unable to catch the later sets which would normally get better and better.

I have included some studio demos that were done when the band was being courted by Alligator Records and features original material, the standout for me being Power but the other two are great also. Of note is a version of The Stud that predates a version that was recorded by another local blues outfit that Jimmy was also working with between gigs with The Spectaculars.

1. Quarter to Twelve
2. Wait on Time
3. Rock Me Baby
4. Walking to My Baby
5. Bama Lama
6. Scratch My Back
7. Running Shoes
8. Down the Road Apiece
9. Nineteen Years Old

Bonus Tracks Studio Demos

10. The Stud
11. Power
12. I Lost My Marbles

You can listen to Eric's new project at his myspace page, his page at ReverbNation or his page at BandZoogle. He also has a fan page on Facebook.

You can listen to Mike's latest project at the Emanate myspace page.

Both are well wort checking out.

DOWNLOAD

Pearhead - Barefoot on a Gravel Road (2009)

This project grew from some simple guitar and vocal demos which were slowly layered with, well, just about everything. Kenny Parisot wrote all of the songs, sang lead vocals, and played guitar and banjo.

Pat produced and engineered while Daniel acted as associate producer and 2nd engineer. A small group of friends jumped in and played a little bit of everything and a good time was had by all.

Out of all this emerged a core group of contributors (Kenny, Pat, Jay, Dan and Ryan) who have continued to record under the Pearhead name. We have already begun the next album and have done some sporadic impromptu gigs.


1. Remember Love
2. Red, White and Blue
3. Tell the Wind
4. Ghetto Song
5. Cinnamon Roll
6. Whisker on a Kitty
7. Set You Free
8. Michelle
9. Norwegian Girl
10. Brown Guitar
11. Rocky’s Place
12. Soft Mattress
13. French Girl
14. None and Slim
15. Feather in Her Hat

DOWNLOAD

Kenny Parisot - lead vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, song writing

Pat Brooks - electric guitars, keyboards, production
Jay Showman - acoustic and electric guitars
Dan Brooks - bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, keyboards
Ryan Carter - drums

The Southern Hospitality Sunshine Singers -
Barb, Saxon, Ben, Charity, Pat, Sam, Ben, Dan

Guest appearances by:
Barbara Meyer-Spidell, Brett Burrow, Brian Johnston, Tam Lin, Mark Schoemann

Uncle Dan - Wasted Time (2009)

I believe it was DiVinci that said that "a work of art is never finished until it is abandoned". Well the time has come to let this go. Not that I'm comparing this to any great work of art, it's just time to release this into the ether and move on the the next project.

In the course of recording these songs many songs were recorded multiple times and many others were dropped along the way. This is the stuff that didn't suck.

1. Wasted Time
2. The River Runs Deep
3. Escape
4. Is This Love?
5. What Am I Gonna Do
6. This Crazy Love
7. I Don't Cry
8. Just You And Me
9. As I Fall

All lyrics and music written and copyright by Daniel Brooks

All vocals and instrumentation performed by Daniel Brooks except:
Lead guitar on Is This Love by Zak Hanson
Lead Guitar on What Am I Gonna Do by Pat Brooks

Artwork by Daniel Brooks

DOWNLOAD

For more info about Uncle Dan visit his MySpace