Troy Olaf Murrah and J State met at either a keg party or a football game while attending rival junior high schools in a small South Texas town called Victoria. They didn't start playing music as a band until years later after moving to Los Angeles to write the Great American Bromantic Comedy screenplay and work at a slot car race track/Cirque du Soleil respectively. Their musical collaboration began one fateful evening after "last call." An indefatigable desire to keep the good times rolling would inspire the well-intentioned abuse of a Wurlitzer organ, an empty beer box and some slide guitar that went deep into the night in the confines of a moldy Silverlake apartment . This was the first Restavrant show, played to a drunken friend who was so riveted he promptly passed out. Some of the artists that inspired this radness are Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, The Fall, Too $hort, Doo Rag, George Jones, A Tribe Called Quest, Ugly Casanova, Hank Williams, Bo Diddley, Bobby Fuller, Mel Brooks, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, The Country Teasers, The Pogues, The D.O.C., Joseph Cornell, Run D.M.C., Halle Berry, Chuck Berry, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cap n Jazz, Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston, The Clash, Afrika Bambaata, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Mance Lipscomb, The Pharcyde and Val Kilmer.
The Echo says this about Restavrant:
Restavrant are two screemin freeks—term used so respectfully—from adorable Victoria, Texas, that use expired license plates for drum parts and bodily drag truly addled hillbillyism into the digital age. They engineer a sloppy collision between Hasil Adkins and DJ Assault that boils down to beat, guitar and rooster-at-sunrise screaming, and behind them the drunkest dancers fall obediently in line.
Ahh... we love you too, Echo.
we didn't get invited to the nylon pool party and we're not from mississippi, but it was very nice of this gentleman to big up the R... watch about two minutes in and be jazzed.
NYLON/GUESS POOL PARTY in AUSTIN
oh, also there's this:
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BILLBOARD EXCLUSIVE: LIONSGATE AND NARNACK RECORDS IN SYNCH
June 21, 2008
Narnack Records Inks Lionsgate Pact
by CORTNEY HARDING
Lionsgate Entertainment has announced an innovative distribution and publishing agreement with indie label Narnack Records, Billboard has learned. Under the deal, which sources say is the first of its kind, Lionsgate will handle the physical and digital distribution of the Narnack catalog and will administer the publishing rights to all of the label's new releases and some of its catalog. The two sides declined to disclose the financial terms of the pact.
The agreement gives Lionsgate access to music produced by the Narnack roster for potential placement in its films and TV shows. That, in turn, could help uncover new audiences for Narnack acts, which include the Fall and reggae legend Lee "Scratch" Perry, as well as a host of lesser-known noise and indie bands.
"This is a new type of joint venture which fosters a relationship between a major studio and an independent label, and allows each to draw from the other's strengths while still retaining their own autonomy," Narnack president Shahin Ewalt says.
The studio‹which counts among its releases "3:10 to Yuma," "Why Did I Get Married" and the "Saw" and "Hostel" horror franchises‹is also free to license Narnack songs to other studios. Lionsgate produces 30 to 34 films per year and has 14 TV shows currently in production. It has a distribution pact with Sony BMG's RED Distribution.
"I'd estimate that there are more than a thousand placement opportunities for bands every year when you add up all of our films and television shows,"Lionsgate VP of TV music and A&R Russell Ziecker says. "We see this deal as an opportunity to be able to steer an interesting catalog in there."
In terms of the promotional benefits for the bands tied to each placement, Ziecker says it varies from outlet to outlet. "We always push for songs to be used as part of the promotion and to have ad cards and credits, but in the end, the network makes the decision," he says. "From the film side, we see the possibilities for doing YouTube exclusives or spinning off singles featuring the Narnack bands."
Narnack acts have had a few synch deals in the past, but they didn't constitute a significant part of the label's business. "The deal benefits Narnack by providing more exposure to our label and artists through marketing and placements in Lionsgate's film and television productions,"Ewalt says.
An appealing aspect of the deal is that Lionsgate keep the Narnack catalog to itself, Ewalt says. "Our catalog will have Lionsgate's team tracking, monitoring and placing our music worldwide in a way that an independent, under normal circumstances, would not have the capacity to facilitate to its full potential," he says.
The first record released under the new deal will be Perry's upcoming album "Repentance," which is co-produced by Andrew W.K. and features such guest artists as Moby, Don Fleming and Chris Stein of Blondie.
Other future releases include Restavrant's "Returns to the Tomb of Guiliano Medidici," out Sept. 30, and IRAN's "Same Song Over & Over," which will be released Oct. 28.
Hey thanks for the accept you groovy f**kers! Are you doing the Strummerville show? We've lost track!! Anyhoo see you in August - hooray for Hollywood!
Is your new album coming out on CD? I downloaded the MP3s from the Snocap thing on this page but I don't know how long they will last me before I go insane from Restaurant withdrawal...
HEY!!WE ARE PLAYING THIS THURSDAY AT BORDELLO (FORMERLY LITTLE PEDRO'S) ON 901 E 1ST ST IN DOWNTOWN 10PM. THE SHOW IS FREE AND WE ARE PLAYING WITH GO BETTY GO AND OBEDIENT WAVES BOTH ARE FUCKING AMAZING. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!
Cinema Bar hands itself over to us so that we can rock Culver City one Sunday every month. $8 includes a Sunday School Burger.
Don't know Cinema Bar? Who would have thought that in a town a-glitter with glam and relentless gentrification, there still exists the ultimate, seedy, totally shitty, dive bar? Sprinkled between the shot glasses and overflowing ashtrays (oh no, that's right they finally gave in and canned that last year) are the same, old, barfly codgers who've been frequenting the joint for decades, blow-ins, ring-ins and locals young and old. There's a swift-kick-to-the-side rock n' roll / country juke box, a patio & BBQ out back.
JUNE 8 LINE UP ANNOUNCED
3PM: MATT ELLIS Our Sunday School founder kicks things off this month with a stripped back set, featuring a few special guests. Haven't seen our much loved, super talented Aussie transplant? Do yourself a favor and come check him out. http://www. myspace. com/mattellisband
4PM: JAKE LABOTZ provides the perfect partner to your first whiskey for the day. This be some finger-lickin', dirty blues by the muso who founded the 'Tattoo Across America Tour.' http://www. myspace. com/jakelabotz1
5PM: ANDY CLOCKWISE back by popular demand. If you loved his set last month, wait 'ti
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