Well, it took a while but everyone got their records and I’m finally free of any deadlines for record releases. It’s kind of depressing how lazy I am and how easy it is for me to make promises that would be easy to keep if I could only keep my momentum going after a long week at work. But my love of television and researching cassette recording devices is fucking up my whole work flow. (No wonder I don’t have any friends.)

This time, I’m gonna do what I can to update this site at a regular pace with recordings, videos and a few somewhat-entertaining stories that I might sit down at a computer long enough to write.

Before we get into the first post of the year, take note: all of Lemon Session’s releases are now available for purchase from this very website. Click on the “releases” tab above and go crazy.

This week’s post is a live set from the Hospitals, the third version of the band with guitarist Chris Gunn.

I recorded this at Rob and Bonnie’s wedding in 2009 (same show as the Blowtops recordings) and while mixing it at home, I realized I wanted to start a label — but only if I could put this out. Songs like “Scan The Floor For Food” and “Getting Out Of Bed” sounded like top ten hits to me. It didn’t help that Rob had sold me on the idea of a singles club being an easy, fool-proof way to start a profitable music label just days before. (Surprisingly, I couldn’t convince him to join in the cause, though he did agree to help me round up bands.)

That next day at my shitty job I emailed Chris and pitched him an idea of doing a live whatever — EP, LP, whatever they were willing to do just as long as I could include those recordings. A few days later Chris wrote back and said the band was interested.

Fast forward a few months — I’m rounding up the bands, and have already signed up Rib Cages, Blowtops, Teenage Nightwar for the club, though I don’t have their recordings. The entire time I’m thinking that no matter who I sign up for the club, at least I have the Hospitals stuff ready to go and I know I’ll be proud of releasing that.

And then of course this email shows up:

The Hospitals are broken up. If you want to put those live recordings out you’ll have to talk to Adam. I’m out. I do appreciate your tenacity and enthusiasm but I doubt that anything will happen. Adam just likes to have control of what comes out and all of that shit.

Anyways, I am taking a much needed complete break from music so I won’t need any live recordings anytime soon.

I hope that your label goes well man.

Thanks,
Chris

What was sadder?: the fact that the record wasn’t going to come out or Gunn taking a break from music (if you’re a Hunches fan, you know the answer.)

Around that time I had heard talk of the Hospitals putting out a live tape but I have no idea whether this is the stuff on it. For me, this ties with “Islands of Jocks and Jazz” as my favorite Hospitals recordings (though I would kill for that first 7″…)

I’m a lucky man. I can say that now, not just because I recently bought a house, but because a riot hasn’t started yet over the fact that I’ve been dragging on this month’s singles club records. For those who subscribed to plan #1, your record is on its way — it’s Aluminum Knot Eye’s entry, which features “Same Old Greasetrap,” the most downloaded song on the Lemon Session Sampler (available here.)

As for the Steeples 7", it’s been delayed — it needs to be re-plated, which will hopefully happen soon. I’ll probably be sending off the Blowtops record before the Steeples stuff is ready to go.

I should add that around the same time I bought the house, I was promoted at work, which means more money to sink into this label! Nothing like blowing thousands of dollars on thousands of records that will probably end up sitting in my moldy attic for the next 20 years — that is, until I chuck them into a landfill to triple their worth. (The ol’ “Man’s Ruin” scheme….)

And yes, I know I probably should be waiting until AFTER the rest of the singles club and Bundle of Fags singles are out to be talking about even newer stuff in the queue, but hey, I actually have the tracks and so I’m going to let my mouth start writing checks.

Though I don’t know exactly WHEN, here’s what to expect from Lemon Session:

Von Zippers: It’s been quite a few years since anything has been heard from Calgary’s greatest garage rockers the Von Zippers, and that’s their fault — not only does the band refuse to tour, they insist on not having a web presence. Their Myspace page? Created by a fan with no input from the band.

Now equipped with their own studio, the band spent the past few years laying down 20 of their favorite covers with no idea who would be putting it out. Luckily, I know a guy who knows a guy, and it looks like the band will be calling Lemon Session their new home.

Hobocop: Hobocop has to be Oakland’s best kept secret. I don’t know how a band could have released such an amazing CDR and be passed up by labels for more than a year. The trio is practically a Bay Area supergroup, having been made up of members from Uzi Rash and Shannon and the Clams, and yet Lemon Session is going to put out their first record a year after the CDR’s release. It might include some of the stuff from the CDR, but it will mostly consist of unreleased recordings (and I promise to release as much as their stuff as I possibly can.)

Sadly, the band is basically disbanding because singer/guitarist Owen Cook is moving to New York. Luckily, the band has tons of recordings and there’s even talk of scheduling more in the future.

Below is a bunch of songs for free download, including tracks from the upcoming Unnatural Helpers, Rib Cages, and Von Zippers records, as well as the Hobocop CDR. Enjoy.

So, in response to the notes I recently received asking about why certain records hadn’t shown up on his/her doorstep and to address them all at one time — they’re on the way. REALLY. I’m sorry, but I promise that these few moments waiting for your records are worth it.

Finally, all the free records I’ve been sending out to radio stations, publications and other label owners have paid off (sort-of): Lemon Session has made quite a media splash.

A quick Google search show the label name popping up in radio playlists all over the nation, including KDVS (Davis, CA), WUSB (Stony Brook, NY) and KEXP (Seattle, WA). One DJ named Jared who has a show called “What We Do Is Secret” (Tuesdays from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on KRCL in Salt Lake City, UT) even wrote a great article about the first four releases on the club.

You can read the article here: http://krclblog.org/krcl/?p=562.

A personal highlight for me was listening to The Best Show On WFMU on May 4 and hearing Rib Cages’ “Lock Horns” in the beginning of the show. Being a huge fan of Tom Scharpling, the fact that I got some props from him on my show made this whole spending-thousands-of-dollars-to release-records-no-one-buys thing worth it. (Go to WFMU’s archives and click on the May 4 pop-up player to hear the entire show.)

But one radio show went above and beyond all others: The World Is A Drag, an online show on Rainy Dawg Radio, actually recorded a live set from Rib Cages. And because Jeremy is so rad, he even let me post the recording on this here website for you to download!

So, here is a live set from Rib Cages, who now feature the bass player from Octagon Control and who will be touring the Midwest this summer.

If you didn’t notice, the band has a bunch of new songs, which will appear on their upcoming album that they are currently recording. Keep coming to here to learn more details.

In other great news: this Monday I will be recording the X/A Frames/Hank IV show at the Hemlock, S.F. IN ITS ENTIRETY! The mp3s will show up on this here website for free download soon afterward, so keep checking the website for updates!

From this idea’s inception it took me 11 months to get to this point. Personally, I don’t think that’s too long of a time to get eight records ready to sell, but if it is, I would love to know.

In theory it shouldn’t be that hard to send a CDR to someone in a different part of the country and have them turn it into a record. Yet it is, because:

A. You actually have to talk to two or three people;
B. You have to have the grip of money that’s required to be sent with it.

Oh, and one quick note: I’m doing this so I can start a label and put out more records you’d want. So, to make yourself feel better when you’re buying this, you can tell yourself you’re helping start a non-profit.

Lemon Session Singles Club 2010

Subscription options

Option 1 - 8 Shipments $65.00 Option 2 - 4 Shipments $55.00 Option 3 - Local $45.00 Option 4 - Payment plan $12.00

Email list

After months of compiling this, here it is, the Lemon Session Singles Club 2010. Only eight records, but all previously unreleased material.

The 2010 lineup:
Rib Cages
Teenage Nightwar
Terrible Twos
Butcher Cover
Unnatural Helpers
Blowtops
Steeples
Aluminum Knot Eye

Cover art provided by the most talented Rob Vertigo, singer for Butcher Cover.

There are no real restrictions, but for those outside the US will have to pay the difference in shipping costs.

Option 1: 8 Packages:
For $65, you’ll receive a single every month of 2010, except for January, April, July and October.

Option 2: 4 Packages:
For $55, you’ll receive two singles each package, mailed out in February, May, August and November.

Option 3: Local pickup (for Bay Area residents only):
For $45, you’ll be able to pickup records on an almost monthly basis at 1234 Go! Records.

419 40th Street
Oakland, CA 94609-2508
(510) 985-0325

You’ll need to sign up for the mailing list above to find out when the new records have been dropped off.

NEW Option 4: Payment Plan:
For 5 payments of $12, you get all the records, but the packages only come after you pay.

So you won’t feel surprised or gypped by what you receive, here’s a sampler of all the bands, including 3 songs that will be on three of the singles in the club.