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walkerpogue
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walkerpogue Loose, accomplished fun reminiscent of Golden Smog. Can’t wait until The Skiffle
players unleash their live archive onto the world!
George Chammas
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George Chammas What's not to love about this album? You got Cass McCombs, Neal Casal and the gang ripping on some incredibly groovy tunes! A+ from start to finish. Favorite track: You’ll Miss It When It’s Gone.
Tyler Senatore
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Tyler Senatore One of the best albums in recent years for road trips and for just having a good time. It has an excellent mix of styles going from folk to pop to rock. Many of the songs are just good old fashioned fun Ex. Wham, Herbamera. But My favorites are Cara, You’ll Miss it When it’s Gone, and Los Angeles Alleyway Favorite track: Cara.
evencarlsagan
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evencarlsagan After seeing the CRB 3 times this summer/fall, I'm thrilled to hear more Neal!

I hope those pins I handed ya in Indianapolis got a laugh.
Thanks for signing the record & everything!

(I love you other dudes,too - Haha!)
more...
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited Edition Clear Vinyl with Blue Smoke. Available only on Bandcamp or from the band!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Skiff via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    edition of 500  53 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $27 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Black Vinyl Edition

    Includes unlimited streaming of Skiff via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Skiff via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
Cara 05:06
2.
Local Boy 04:41
3.
4.
5.
Wham! 02:10
6.
7.
Herbamera 02:09
8.
9.
Skiffleman 03:06
10.
Harsh Toke 03:09
11.
12.
Santa Fe 06:13
13.

about

Their second LP, “SKIFF” is a new direction for The Skiffle Players. Now, they all sing and write. There is NO LEADER.

Recorded at Infinitespin Recorders in Van Nuys CA, with engineer Matt “Linny” Linesch, SKIFF begins with a bold opening; the Farmer Dave penned ‘Cara’, heavy information for the soul. Then, into classic Cass insanity on ‘Local Boy’, a wild ride on the run from the cops. Third is a touching tribute to a bygone companion, ‘Miss It When It’s Gone’, written and led by Neal.

SKIFF’s revolving perspective continues to bounce around, leaving no apparent land to stand upon. In that, it is deeply subversive. For there is nothing to defend, but the ability to transform and imagine.

The album continues to unfold back to Cass with a satire on justice, ‘The Law Offices of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe’. From the saloon ‘Long Horns, Long Necks, Long Legs’, to the rainforest ‘Herbamera’. Neal blasts in again with the sun-bleached rambler, ‘Los Angeles Alleyway’. Farmer Dave’s ‘Skiffleman’ “sings a song for everyone”. Cass plays with memory in a song about coming of age in the Bay Area on ‘Oakland Scottish Rite Temple Waltz’. Penultimately, ‘Santa Fe’, an elliptical broadside about materialism and waste. SKIFF concludes by pushing off again, out into the familiar waters of a traditional skiffle number, ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, each member taking a perhaps all-too casual solo.

This is acoustic dance music at its finest. It is also refreshingly contradictory. Irreverent and mystical. Deeply personal and communal. Traditional and profane. The ever revolving and disintegrating ship known as SKIFF.

STORY OF THE SKIFFLE PLAYERS.

Once upon a time, Mollusk Surf shop asked Farmer Dave Scher to put together a band for a concert in Big Sur. Thus the Skiffle Players were born, selected from friends of both Californias - Northern (Cass, Dan) and Southern (Dave and Aaron) plus a New Jersey transplant to Ventura County (Neal) - each meeting at the metaphorical heart of the state, the mythical SUR. The origin concept of the band was to create a new folk fabric from the ashes of tradition - whatever the ashes of tradition means to you.

WHAT IS SKIFFLE?

A matter of debate. Although The Skiffle Players approach the definition as, broadly, ‘street music’. Busking. Singing for one’s supper. Entertaining the passers-by. Make em dance all the way home. The term may have its origin in Memphis jug band music of the 20s. It seems to have emigrated to England with the US soldiers during WW2, and was taken up by a new generation, beginning with Lonnie Donegan, ending with The Quarrymen aka The Beatles. The term then somewhat disappeared.

SO, THEN, WHAT IS WEST COAST SKIFFLE?

The Skiffle Players are the very ash to explore that question. From the beginning, no rules. No song off-limits. Everybody sings. No idea is silly enough, for sometimes the absurd is the very device for a cataclysmic rift in the fabric of sound. Of course, it can also end in hilarious catastrophe, and often does - a necessary, cosmic comedic consequence to this fearless approach. Like Kurt Vonnegut and Bo Diddley sharing a surfboard, something interesting is going to happen.

credits

released October 26, 2018

Neal Casal - Guitar, Lead Vocal on Track 2 and 8
Farmer Dave Scher - Keyboards, Slide Guitar, Lead Vocal on Track 1 and 9
Cass McCombs - Guitar, Harmonium, Lead Vocal on Track 2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12 and 13
Aaron Sperske - Drums
Dan Horne - Electric Bass, Upright Bass

Engineered and Mixed by Matt Linny Linesch at Infinitespin Recorders

Assistant Engineer - Marciel Miranda

Produced by Dan Horne and Farmer Dave Scher

Mastered by Ian Sefchick at Capitol Mastering

Artwork by Matt Adams

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