New Soild Gold Style LP! Be Gulls – Dead Giveaway – Little Wings + Lee Baggett Cover the Grateful Dead on their iPhones
****Please note that this is a preorder... we dont have the LPs, yet. Supposedly they are going on the press early next week, once the pressing plant solves a couple technical problems. Usually, I would wait until we had the records in hand, but the Scott McMicken "In Your Dreams" LP is hot on its' heels (hopefully in time for Xmas!) and we really need to get this record out before that one arrives.****
I know that EVERY indie rocker in the known universe is giving props to the Dead these days (as they should), but this release has been in the works for YEARS. So, please don't think we are some sort of Johnny Come Latelys... Also, lest you forget that Be Gulls also covered Cassidy on the Be Gulls 2 boxset that PIAPTK released in 2009.
Have I told you that I love Little Wings? Because I do. I REALLY REALLY do. I love Little Wings almost as much as I love Kristofferson, but I’ve loved Little Wings longer, so I guess that would make it a tie. I love Little Wings. Like, so much I wish I could marry them, but alas, Man/Musical Project unions are still illegal in all 50 States and Puerto Rico, and I don't see that changing under Trump. Be Gulls is the side project of Kyle Field and Lee Baggett from Little Wings.
The Impetus for this record...
I’ve been to a LOT of shows. Big ones, tiny ones, theaters, house parties, etc. But hands down, one of the most moving and amazing show experiences of my entire life happened in the mid-to-late-aughts (2007?). I was in Anacortes, WA for What The Heck Fest, a weird little DIY festival in a tiny fishing town that was organized by Phil Elverum, and featured a pretty consistent cast of characters drawing heavily from the K Records and related rosters. After a very late night of watching music, night swimming, drinking, possibly smoking things that were, at the time, illegal in Washington State, and generally sucking the marrow out of the bone of life, I went to sleep in my tent, which, along with dozens of other tents, was set up in Karl Blau’s back yard. I was awoken a few hours later at about 9 am to the sounds of two acoustic guitars around the smoldering fire pit (10 feet from my..uhhh…feet). It was Kyle Field and Lee Baggett playing Box of Rain. For the next hour or more, they sat alone (everyone else was asleep) playing Grateful Dead songs and talking and just generally enjoying each other’s vibes. I lay silently in my tent, vibing on the vibes of them enjoying the others’ vibes. Heavily posi hangover healing vibrations in the vibosphere that morning. That morning is burnt into my brain like the birth of my daughter or the day I met Kristofferson and got to give him a copy of the 2xLP Tribute PIAPTK released. I’ve been begging Kyle and Lee to record an album that attempted to recreate that morning for years. Now, it is finally seeing the light of day.
And they finally did. And it is great! Here is the track listing and liner notes:
Be Gulls
Dead Giveaway
A
Mexicali Blues 3:56
Shake Sugaree 5:07
Box of Rain 4:01
Ship of Fools 5:24
B
Stella Blue 5:52
Eyes of the World 13:55
All songs by The Grateful Dead. Recorded to various cell phones by Kyle Field, Lee Baggett, (Aram Stith, and Ned Oldham of The Anomoanon appear on Mexicali Blues).
As is Soild Gold’s style, it is limited to physical analog formats: 100 tapes and 200 LPs sold on translucent gold vinyl, 30 of which will be randomly inserted and have Red, White, and Blue splatter. Comes in bootleg style jackets with a 12x18” poster of a picture of Lee B’s desk in the mid-90s, because, inquiring minds want to know… what Lee B’s desk looked like in the mid-90s.
Gratis Test Pressing Guessing Game: If you want to add some change onto the end of your purchase, i.e. $20.37, and your change amount matches the number that Lee B chose, you will also receive a free copy of the test pressing. If you don’t guess correctly, your change (and any additional dollars you want to contribute) will be used to buy beer for the Soild Gold Packing Party that we throw to help assemble these monsters. You have no idea how much time, money, and expertise goes into making something look this quick, cheap, and amateur.
Listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/piaptkshop