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Secret Skwirl

Secret Skwirl Radio

General Info

  • Genre: Powerpop / Psychedelic / Rock

    Location Los Angeles, Un

    Profile Views: 3566

    Last Login: 12/10/2011

    Member Since 7/7/2011

    Website www.secretskwirl.com

    Record Label S.K.W.I.R.L.

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    In late 2009, a recording engineer (Sheldon Gomberg) and a friend of his drove by a garage sale, in Tarzana, CA; and noticed a stack of 2 inch tape boxes. After a brief discussion with the homeowner, he found out that the tapes had apparently been left in a closet, under the stairs of her home, and were there when she moved in. She found the tapes when the wood floors of the house were being refinished. She was the fourth owner of the home, which was built (according to her) in 1972. There were 23 boxes of tape; which Sheldon bought for the forty-seven bucks that he had in his wallet, at the time. Sheldon took the tapes back to his recording studio The Carriage House in Silverlake, and cracked them open. The only information in the boxes were song lists with the name "Sloan Kramer" written by hand, beside each title. A quick count of the titles totaled slightly over one hundred songs! Sheldon had the tapes baked (to avoid delamination) and digitized, for playback in Pro Tools. Being a fan of "this type of music", Sheldon was immediately enamored by what he heard. "The songs were very well written, and recorded. They smacked of that late '60's/early '70's Brit Pop, Psychedelic vibe. I fell in love with these songs, at the first listen. There was just one problem: I had no idea who these guys were; only the cryptic "Sloan Kramer" reference beside each song title". Sheldon took it upon himself to try and find the original band; but had little to go on. In the meantime, while on hiatus from his gig as Producer, Mixer, Engineer and Musician (Rickie Lee Jones, Fistful of Mercy, She & Him, Sweet Relief, etc.) he decided to mix several of the tracks. He overdubbed some horn samples, tuned a few of the vocal tracks, and with the addition of some other tricks of the trade, made the recordings sound very current, while still retaining their "vintage" feel. Now Sheldon's "labor of love" seemed more like a mission. Obsessed with wanting to know who wrote and recorded these songs, and having the finished mixes in hand, what was he to do next? "I decided that I had to release these songs, the album, as it were. In homage to the guys on the tapes, who were obviously huge Beatle fans; I decided to have the mastering done at Abbey Road". He dubbed the project "Secret Skwirl", registered the songs with BMI, and asked a friend of his to draw and direct and animated video for the song "Jeez Louise", and released the album. In his continuing effort to locate the real band, Sheldon started a website www.secretskwirl.com and is hoping the answers to the mystery will come to him from cyberspace. "In this day and age of social networking, someone MUST know who these guys are". Sheldon intends to keep any income generated by the album sales or song placements, until he finds the rightful owners of the songs. He is currently mixing the next batch of "Secret Skwirl" songs, for the second CD. Stay tuned…

  • Members

    Secret Skwirl

  • Influences

    Much of the Rock-n-Roll of the Psychedelic '60's and early '70's; leaning heavily on Brit Rock.

  • Sounds Like

    The Beatles, The Zombies, The Who, The Chocolate Watchband, The Electric Prunes...

Videos

Jeez Louise

04:16 | 4 plays | Nov 13 2011

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