Hello again music fans.

As my old bowling teammate Wilson Pickett once sang, “The night was clear, the moon was yellow, and the leaves came tumbling down…”

That’s right music fans, Fall is upon us and the leaves definitely are coming down. I’ll tell you what’s not coming down though: your good buddy Jon Raw, that’s what. And what, per chance, has this crotchety, old-time rock ’n’ roller feeling so high as the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer? Why it’s none other than The Great Outdoors’ third release in their series of four seasonal EPs entitled – you guessed it – Fall.

Now I know the boys in The Great Outdoors rocked out a bit hard on their last EP, Summer, to the point where some of you more pansy-assed listeners out there were even filling my inbox with comments like, “I thought TGOD was a folk band,” and, “Ian Tyson must be spinning in his grave.” (BTW: Ian Tyson is alive and well, numb nuts. I just had brunch with him three weeks ago. And as folkie as he is, Ian loves the rock as much as anyone; we listened to Kyuss while he prepared us Eggs Florentine. But I digress.) The Fall EP, however,finds Adam Nation (vocals, guitars), Randy Forrester (guitars, keys), Craig McCaul (bass), Steven Wegelin (percussion), and Steve Wells (vocals, guitars) back in their wheelhouse: delivering smooth and bluesy folk rock. In fact, Nation’s and Wells’ brilliant songwriting, the band’s now unmistakable sound, Melissa Devost’s glorious backing vocals, and the magic of the East Van Eden Studios’ atmosphere all come together to create what is, without a doubt, the band’s finest effort to date. (Though, at the rate these kids are trucking, I’m betting the Winter EP will even outdo this one.)

So that, music fans, is why your Uncle Jon is so up these days. Yes indeed, The Great Outdoors’ Fall EP has me feeling higher than five billy goats. Well, that and the three drops of hash oil I put in my vanilla latte this morning.

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
(owner – DDG Records)

Here is the new video from Slim and Randy. Hopefully this earns us all a trip to the VMAs. I want to take a run at that Rihanna girl at an afterparty. Not for signing; just for wining and dining and, you know, whatever else. So yeah, let’s go Slim and Randy. Please.

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner/operator
DDG Records

]]> http://ddgrecords.com/2011/11/telephone-line-blues/feed/ 0 http://ddgrecords.com/2011/11/test-2/ http://ddgrecords.com/2011/11/test-2/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:08:07 +0000 admin http://ddgrecords.com/?p=17 Recorded over the course of a year and half at East Van Eden Studios, in partnership with labelmates The Great Outdoors, and mixed by Steve Loree (Corb Lund, Jr. Gone Wild), Kingsway’s fourth full-length effort is due out early in summer of 2010 on DDG Records. 

KINGSWAY & THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Paul Roberts

Greetings music fans.

 I was chatting with RC a little while back in the kitchen at EVES while he was washing dishes. That’s his major contribution to the studio – washing the dishes. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid. He’s just not an earner. “Verse, chorus, verse, chorus,” I always have to say to him. Let’s move some units. Does he listen? No. He writes an 8 minute song called Alaska that has absolutely nothing to do with fishing or hunting or Northern Exposure or Sarah Palin or snow. Whatever. At least there’s always clean glasses.

Anyway, he was washing dishes and telling me that his new album was going to be a “concept album about/love letter to” his old apartment building, The Belvedere Court at 10th and Main in Vancouver. I said that sounded “commercially suicidal/a little bit gay”. He got all huffy and left. Called me a homophobe on his way out the door. He’s not even gay. Anyway, he didn’t come around for about a week. We ran out of clean scotch glasses so I called him up and told him he could make his record. Glad I like scotch so much, ’cause it turned out to be a pretty good album. 

Shine on you crazy diamonds. 

Jon Raw 
owner/operator
DDG Records

Must be time for another Great Outdoors gig at the legion. How does your Uncle Jon know this? Well, I swung by East Van Eden the other night to catch a bit of the boys’ rehearsal (and to grab my backup stash – long story). Anyhoo, I ended up staying only 15 minutes – just long enough to hear ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ five goddamned times. No other reason to be rehearsing that song unless they were preparing to wow a bunch of bluehairs down at the A.N.A.F. And Your Uncle Jon dyes his hair, so I grabbed my goodies and got the hell outta there. I mean, I love The King and all, but not five times in a row. Not even Anne-Margret could love ol’ Elvis five times in a row. (Now I’m designing my material around the blue-hairs, too. What the fuck?)

Anyways, Adam and the boys are (hopefully) only gonna play that song once this weekend. Well, twice actually; they are playing two nights in a row – Friday and Saturday. You know the place: 5896 Fraser Street. So yeah, see you there. I’ll be the handsome devil holding up the bar whilst sporting some the shockingly vibrant looking hair.

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner/operator
DDG Records

March_GO_Poster

Greetings music fans.

I know you were all excited about the big Slim & Randy gig coming up this Friday at the Anza Club, but you’re just gonna have to hold on a bit. Seems there is a problem with the booking. How that happens, I don’t know. A venue is either available or not, right? I don’t actually know whose fault this all is, but I am going to put my money on the Australians. They almost never have their shit together. Too much drinking and fighting and surfing and singing Men At Work anthems. Though they did give us Miranda Kerr, so I can forgive a little double-bo0king here and there. Oi.

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner/operator
DDG Records 

Vancouver Co-op Radio Archives

The show is listed under the title: African Vibes – Sunday Jan 30 (in two separate hours, 7-8pm and 8-9pm).  African Vibes is the name of the show that normally runs in that slot. But it’s appropriate, ’cause like most African nations DDG is a disorganized dictatorship ruled by some debaucherous lunatic.

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner/operator
DDG Records

Greetings music fans.

The Great Outdoors are playing this Friday and Saturday at the ANAF Hall on Fraser Street. Hipsters and hip-replacers will be cutting a rug and sipping cheap draught and hi-balls whilst Adam Nation and the boys lay down some swinging goodness for the vets and their pets. Bring your dancing shoes. Even your Uncle Jon will be making the scene – unless I take a bath on that LSU/Alabama game. I’m taking LSU to beat the spread. I still think they’re gonna lose, but not by more than the 5 points my Korean bookie is giving – a whole half point more than Vegas! But if I’m wrong, then I most likely won’t be at the gig ’cause I’ll be too busy drawing the shades, drowning my sorrows, and ignoring calls from the very persistent Mr. Kim. However, I might still stop on by  the ANAF and try to recoup my losses by hustling some of those geriatics at shuffleboard. The only thing sweeter than winning regular money is winning pensioner money. (Take that, greatest generation.) And you know, now that I think about it, that actually might be a pretty good back-up plan. Besides, Mr. Kim would never look for me at a Legion hall. He was in country back in the early fifties. Last thing he wants to be around is a bunch of liquored-up vets on a Saturday night. God bless our fighting boys. But I digress.

See you there, music fans. Here are the deets:

The Great Outdoors
November 4th and 5th. 7pm start. 4 sets a night.
ANAF Hall, 5896 Fraser Street
NO COVER!

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner/operator
DDG Records

THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Nanton: Live at the Auditorium Hotel
DDG Records (DDG-013/DDG-013LP)
release date: September 7, 2010

Jamaican Prison Song

Recorded by Steve Loree at the Auditorium Hotel in beautiful downtown Nanton, Alberta, this 10 song masterpiece is set to be released on both CD and vinyl.

Greetings music fans.

Let me fill you in on The Great Outdoors’ new album, Nanton: Live at the Auditorium Hotel. They recorded a live album during a two night stint at the Auditorium Hotel in Nanton, Alberta. (I guess that was pretty much explained in the title, huh?) Anways, we just completed all kinds of expensive updates to our own East Van Eden Studios when Adam Nation and the boys decided to do their next album on the road. In another town. In another province.

Jon Raw: Why do you guys want to record in Nanton?
Adam Nation: It’s the greatest town I’ve ever been to. I love the people. I love the vibe. And I think if we record a live record there we can capture that real 70’s sound.
Jon Raw: The 1870’s?

But he album actually turned out pretty fucking great. BC Musician even called it, “…the best live album of the past thirty years.”  And it turns out Nanton’s a pretty nice place too. So yeah, sometimes it pays to take the show on the road. (Please God, let it pay.)

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner/operator
DDG Records

LIVE @ EVES – Volume 1: Kingsway 

 JOKE SHOP

SUNDOWNING

BY YOUR HANDS

$5

THE GIRL GETS AWAY

Bill Battery – drums
Jojo Darling – vocals
Randy Forrester - keys and vocals
RC Joseph – vocals and guitar
Brian McKendry – guitar
Adam Nation - bass and vocals  

Listen while you read…
SONG: Maybe Time will Tell…

Hello again music fans.

Yes, dammit – I know. I am fully aware that summer is already half over and just now are the kids in THE GREAT OUTDOORS getting around to releasing Summer, the second in their series of four seasonally themed EPs. And while I am sure all you tight asses back east are going off about how those west coast stoners at DDG Records have probably been partaking in so much smoked salad that they can’t even get their shit together long enough to get their releases out on time, let me just say this in our defense: You couldn’t be more wrong. We haven’t been smoking any weed. Just hash.

But that’s not the only reason THE GREAT OUTDOORS are a little late releasing their Summer EP; it has been an unseasonably cold June and
July out here on the coast. And what with all this chilly weather, it was pretty hard to wrap our heads around a release of four songs celebrating cool car rides through the hot city, sweaty nights rolling in the surf, and reective trips through the sun-baked cemetery while ballpark reworks explode in the distance.

But alas, we are now ready to rock for the heat has arrived. (The heat of the sun, that is, not the pigs. Good thing, too, ‘cause we still got a ton of that hash lying around here somewhere.) Adam Nation (vocals, guitars) is back with the sweltering line-up of Randy Forrester (guitars, keys), Craig McCaul (bass), Steven Wegelin (percussion), and Steve Wells (vocals, guitars) to deliver what may be the band’s nest work to date. With Nation and Wells penning two hits each, songstress extraordinaire Melisa Devost adding some lovely back-up singing to all the tracks, and Kingsway’s RC Joseph even lending some of his vocal goodness, Summer has denitely shaped up to be an EP well worth the wait.

So keep your druggie/slacker comments to yourself. DDG Records gets its releases out on time (for the most part). We got THE GREAT OUTDOORS’ Spring EP out on time, and we will redeem ourselves with the timely release of their upcoming Fall EP. So just relax, sit back, crack a cold one, and enjoy the smooth sounds of Summer. And I think I will do the same. Now, if I can just remember where I put the rest of that hash…

Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Jon Raw
owner, DDG Records