If someone told Michael Ubaldini that the dusty copies of the albums of his former band four decades would be sold for hundreds of dollars each, he probably would not have believed it. Not that nobody really rushes to tell him. Especially, not the young Internet expert fans of their dark Power Pop Band of the 80s, The Earwigs, who followed him to his current concerts as a singer and songwriter asking for copies of “She is soive” pressured in 45 for only $ 20 each. For Ubaldini, 61, he (naively) thought he was getting the best end of the treatment.
“Some children approached me in a concert once and asked me if I had any of Earwigs originals, which had become the article of a collector, but at that time I did not know,” said the musician based in Orange County that still regularly concerns OC and Nashville. “I told them: 'Yes, I have a couple of those.'
Not long after the dubious sale of the parking lot, Ubaldini connected online to discover that the 45 packed in handmade cardboard sleeves with the photo of the band attached to the front (known as the “ALT manga” to the cover of the original band logo) were sold for more than $ 300 on sites like discogs.
After his initial shock decreased, Ubaldini tried to sell the records himself. “I had some more and put an online” the offer starts at $ 100, buy now for $ 350, “he said.” I went to breakfast and returned and someone bought it. “
The Earwigs perform in the cuckoo nest at Costa Mesa.
(Michael Ubaldini)
The highest amount paid for a rare copy of smuggling of the 45 record that contains the catchy single “She's So Naive” and “Here the Earwigs” was sold on discogs for around $ 500.
This revelation, along with his desire to finally give his former band an adequate album launch, caused a recent rebirth for the legacy largely forgotten by the Earwigs. On Saturday, the Earwigs, led by Ubaldini together with the original drummer of the band Dave Reed, guitarist Oscar Muñoz and bass player Jerry Adamowicz, will play a long -sight album launch party at the bar & grill in Huntington Beach for “The Earwigs – Orange County 1981: The Lost Album” Limited Edition Vinyl Vinyl Pressing. The first two presses were exhausted in just five days through an anticipated order. Each of the 100 copies presses is made in a different color, which are being stored in record stores from their native OC to London and Japan.
The band once popular began in 1978 and played in the legendary place of Costa Mesa The Cuckoo's Nest along with famous bands of the early OC punk scene such as adolescents, Tsol, orange agent and social distortion. “We were part of that scene, but we weren't a punk band, we had a small influence of mod mixed with the energy of the BuzzCocks and the Ramones,” said Ubaldini.
Although they never fit the bands accredited for bringing Punk from Orange County to the world, Pompadour's sand that combined the Beatles of the Hamburg era with pop pop songs about the love of adolescents and suburban anguish carved a brief moment in the musical history of the region.
So how did the Earwigs win this unlikely cult that you do not take over your founding member?
Ubaldini believes that he began when Radio DJs such as Rodney Bingenheimer of Kroq and Sue Mink of Knac began playing the band's music in their radio programs frequently in the early 80s. Fans recorded the songs from the waves to the cassettes that passed before they even had an official record to sell. His songs were sought among Power Pop/Garage Rock fans and accelerated Rockabilly. The underground success was driven by the catchy single, saccharin but explosive “She's So Naive”.
Although they were obtaining AirPlay, the band's album, which they recorded in 1981, did not see daylight because the discreet rock-a-mod albums, which recorded the album, folded before it could be thrown.
The original alignment of the band (including guitarist Ashton Rands and bass player Dave Hughes) broke in 1982 as the members grew and separated, only to form again with a slightly different alignment for a couple more years before calling it permanently in 1984, he never released more music. Ubaldini continued playing Roots Roots and Honky-Tonk music in OC and formed a new band called Mystery Train that was signed but only a record lasted. For years, Late Times Entertainment Mike Boehm defended Ubaldini as a leader and dynamite composer.
“Ubaldini, a tall, thin, dark, denim, denim and leather guy, adjusts to the old rock classic 'N' Roll classic, as well as anyone in the OC scene,” Boehm wrote. “Mystery Train is based on ancient and robust models, full of starter guitar riffs, guitar of stones and rockabilly licks. He also greatly worries about the oldest rock 'N' Rock subjects: unbridled sexual lust, cheerful and lush.” The local success of Ubaldini spent many years gaining steam, although he never took off.
“Meanwhile, all this time would be playing in other bands or in my own projects, there would be someone in the crowd that would shout 'Eargs!' To me, “says Ubaldini. “'Play some eyelashes!' It always seemed fun.
Over the years, Ubaldini says he received offers from several small independent labels that wish to get some of the old Eargs singles. These were mostly bad offers that promised very few profits for the songs that Ubaldini wrote when he was a teenager.
“I wasn't going to get anything out of that [from any of these small labels]said. “I thought I could publish it someday, but I'm not going to take it out and start. I've gone through music too much to start again.”
The original Earwigs alignment: Michael Ubaldini, Dave Reed, Ashton Rands and Tom Hughes.
(Michael Ubaldini)
Earlier this year, Ubaldini, inspired by the interest revived in his music, finally made the leap and began rotating the old 17 -track album he never took out, choosing to press it independently. A new lot has arrived in time for the last unique program of the band to commemorate its unlikely cult status. The leader is excited to sell copies to local staunch fans who helped keep his music alive.
“I just want to launch this matter of the floors, it deserves its place, it is part of that time and all these children want to listen to it,” said Ubaldini. As for why music itself seems to have noticed even after revivalist bands such as Jet, The Strokes and The Strypes have gone and come, it attributes it to the timeless and direct nature of music. “It seems that the songs had never really come out because we stayed away from the synthesizers and only played the rock 'n' roll.”
Ubaldini wonders if the mystery of the band that never made it big is what kept the curious people about their old music. “People had recorded our things and smuggled our music during all these years and their own life was acquired.” There was no ounce of promotion or anything. Everything really went for the underground scene. “
