Mike Dillon & Punkadelick makes its recorded debut with Inflorescence, an album of heady, instrumental rock highlighting a band deep in the throes of creative freedom, road tested and wild. Consisting of 10 tracks in 42-minutes, it’s an expansive, focused and fearless collection, representing a world where Duke Ellington and Augustus Pablo rub shoulders with crate-digger exotica, the freak-funk of Parliament and the ‘anything fits’ outsider ethos of acid-fried punks like The Meat Puppets.  A trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos, Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals, Punkadelick is the unified vision of six hands creating a world that often sounds like the work of an ensemble three times the size.  During 2020 and 2021, while many music venues were still shuttered, the group began touring, sweating their way through cuts Dillon and Haas had composed during quarantine writing sessions. Locking in on stage, it quickly became clear the band was functioning at a level that made the hair on their arms stand at attention—even for three live music veterans accustomed to life on the road.  “It became obvious to let this become a collaboration,” Dillon says. “This is really something all three of us are doing because we have so much love for one another and a love for the music that we started creating.” “There’s only three of us, but we move together like a big, nasty school of fish,” Haas adds, laughing.  During the tail end of a 2021 tour, the band booked time to record with engineer—and functioning fourth band member—Chad Meise, and Inflorescence sprouted. Opener “Desert Monsoon,” sets the stage with a spiritual-jazz intro of organ, vibraphone, percussion and wordless vocal coos before crackling to life as a swaggering funk strut. The title track, and “Pandas,” dig into thick dub textures built around Glaspie’s drumming and Haas’s subwoofer-straining bass synths.  “Apocalypse Daydream,” which appeared as an exotic head-nodder on 2020’s Shoot the Moon (titled “Apocalyptic Daydreams”) is reborn as a meatier jazz-rock slab where Dillon and Haas circle each other like Television performing as a lounge act on a cruise ship sailing seas of psilocybin. Bending ears and surprising audiences has long been part of Dillon’s MO and Glaspie and Haas act as perfect foils for forays into the weird. While Dillon bristles at the “punk jazz” tag, punk rock and jazz remain core influences to the band, in sound and spirit.  “We’re students of the titans of music. We grew up listening to punk and rock ’n’ roll but we also love instrumental music—particularly the forefathers of Black American Music. In our minds, Led Zeppelin and Milt Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic and The Minutemen, The Bad Brains and Frank Zappa are interconnected influences,” explains Dillon. “All that comes together in how we approach instrumental creative music. Both punk rock and jazz are not prefab things, they’re about the freedom. We have no genre restriction in this band, and people who get it really respect that.” Maybe the greatest example of the band’s punk-steeped sonic free-for-all is “Slowly But Surely,” a track Dillon told Haas to compose as if he were “writing for Queens of the Stone Age.” The song plays like QOTSA translated to piano runs, vibes and deeply swinging drums—big-riff stoner rock upended and played with huge smiles by America’s premier proponents of the unclassifiable.  “We try to challenge our listeners,” Dillon says. “We’re touching a nerve with people who maybe don’t want to see the same songs done in the same variations all night long,” continues Dillon. “Part of my mission is taking these instruments that are primarily designed for the orchestral or jazz world and taking them to the rock world, the club world, running them through pedals and effects. We’re not afraid to be soft, or to surprise. That’s what we all do in this band — get beyond our own conceptions of what music is supposed to be.” “We are so blessed and lucky to do what we do for a living — it’s apparent in the music,” Glaspie chimes in. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going, but we get to the club, set up and crush the gig, all the other stuff doesn’t matter. We’re likeminded individuals who love life, love people and want to spread happiness.” Mike Dillon & Punkadelick’s Inflorescence is out Jan. 27, 2023 via independent record label, Royal Potato Family.   

A collective of like-minded freaks who carry on the spirit of M.I.T.B. with visions of exploring and discovering new sonic territories

Formed in October 2018, Movie Club is an instrumental rock duo out of Venice Beach, California. Movie Club is Jessamyn Violet on drums and Vince Cuneo on guitar. After only a few weeks of playing together, the band performed their first show for a Cal Jam party that local legend Robbie Krieger (The Doors) was headlining. Seeing the potential of the project, the two started writing every day and playing live around Los Angeles. The band experimented with mixing their favorite genres of music and channeling other instrumental groups.  They went on to drop two EPs, “Kraken” & “Hammerhead,” collaborating with producer Matt Wignall (Cold War Kids, Wargirl) and bassist Erick ”Jesus” Coomes (Dr. Dre, Kanye, Lettuce). The group performed 30 shows, received KCRW airtime, & built an international following in one year.  To further show their range, Jessamyn & Vince decided to make a grittier & more psychedelic EP with their third release “Man O’ War” out 3/31/20. Inspired by both modern and classic psych rock bands, they retreated to the desert to demo their new songs. Working with a different team, the four song EP was recorded at Kingsize Soundlabs by Brian Rosemeyer, featuring bassist Tim Lefebvre (David Bowie, Black Crowes).     Drawing from their deep love of film, Movie Club produces and directs their own cinematic music videos in order to illustrate their visual, musical, & artistic influences. Their first music video, “Surf Basement,” is classic black and white. Beautifully shot by DP Mike Mast, it shows the group wandering a dilapidated pier in the Pacific ocean. “Navy Seal” is a tribute to surf rock legend Dick Dale, and was coincidentally recorded the day after he passed. For the music video, the group collaborated with notorious street artist Muck Rock & surf videographer Michael Veltman. For their latest “Man O’ War” music videos, they recruited talented videographer Dustin Downing. “Moonbow” was filmed in Venice and was an ode to Beastie Boys “Sabotage.” “Bones” was shot at an abandoned California water park and has heavy references to “Mad Max” and “Indiana Jones.” “Driftwood” was shot in front of iconic independent Hollywood venues during the quarantine as a video tribute to the end of an era. Movie Club’s mission is to keep producing unique art for an international fan base. They released Black Flamingo on Nov. 27th, 2020 to international critical acclaim. The band’s debut full-length record features special guests on a few tracks: bassist Tim Lefebvre, Rami Jaffee on organ, and violinist Jessy Greene. The album was recorded and mixed by Jeff Thompson and mastered by Mike Tucci. “Like a road trip through a David Lynch film, with Movie Club you’re never quite sure where you’re going to end up,” says Louder Than War in their review of the album. The music video of the title track “Black Flamingo” was directed by Ran Pink and features the bandmates dressed in masquerade masks performing magic tricks in a tiny spirit house. Movie Club’s 4th EP “Fangtooth” was released August 10th, 2021. Their seventh music video, made for the single “Trap Door”, features the duo exploring the wild terrain of Salton Sea, CA, and won “Best Music Video” at the 2022 Istanbul Film Awards.