Doug Dragon, Dennis Dragon, Daryl Dragon & Friends.
Influences
Mose Allison, Cal Tjader, Les Mc Cann, Ray Charles, Bebop from the Blue Note Records catalog; Horace Silver, Roy Hanes, Tony Williams, Kenny Dorham, Eric Dolphy, Thelonius Monk, Lord Buckley, Stan Freeberg, Arthur Lyman, Lawrence Welk, George Martin, Stanley Kubrik...
Sounds Like
Jazz, Psychedelia, Rock, Soul etc......
"Nothing less than a psychedelic classic."
The Times, 4/5
"Weird, quaint and just possibly what the world's been waiting for."
Independent on Sunday
"Invigorating."
Guardian
"Psyche- rock manna. An exceptional find."
Mojo 4/5
"An amazing and varied hybrid of Bokker T-style soul grooves, Beach Boys lushness and a less wilfully moody version of The Doors rock theatre, but with the rich and jazzy arrangements and production that look forward to late-70's Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan. Stands up proudly alongside contemporary classics."
Word 2 page Feature
"Mad acid-psych jams that freak out like Brian Wilson's bad days in the sand-pit. Your lava lamp has a new best friend."
NME 8/10
"Many of the band ended up being backing for the Beach Boys. In another world they could've been just as huge. Thank the lord for crate-digging."
iDj 4/5
"Every one of the funky tunes on this album is instantly desirable, conjuring up an era that really should've been The Dragons to own."
360 Gamer 4/5
"A gem of a find from Ninja Tune. An album fully deserving of the title 'lost classic'"
Knowledge 4/5
It was nearing the end of the sixties’ decade. My brothers, Doug ,Daryl and I were living in Malibu, surfing and gigging around the Los Angeles area in various bands including our own. We came from a very musical family; our father Carmen Dragon was a well known symphony conductor and arranger around Hollywood, our mother Eloise, a colaratura soprano singer and our two sisters, Carmen and Kathy played harp and flute respectively. I was the youngest of the brothers. I played drums and was dabbling with recording equipment and photography. My brothers played great keys. Daryl also played the vibes, bass, guitar and a few other instruments.
That all being said, it was a great time for music. The Beatles with George Martin opened up a big door to just about anything musically and production-wise. Hendrix was blowing minds with his trip and Zep defined new parameters for rock and roll. Around the same time The Doors and others were freaking us out with their hypnotic sounds. Doug and I thought it was time for us to enter the arena and put something “serious” on tape. We hooked up with my high school buddy/recording engineer Donn Landee who was working at Sunwest Recording Studios in Hollywood at the time. We worked out a “spec deal” and arrived in the off hours, sometimes after our club gigs around 3 am and working ‘till morning. We became more “driven” as we laid down more tracks; Doug and I had never explored this territory before, especially in the vocal department. I was playing my usual “jazzy” style with Doug laying down the groove on the keys. Doug was singing the low parts and I was experimenting with high layered harmonies. Donn added his great recording and production ideas and as we listened to the playbacks we were all fired up! There was a unique sound coming from the JBL control room speakers…
We called it BFI, for “Blue Forces Intelligence”! Don’t ask me why. We were certain we had a “hit”. We shopped the finished product all over Hollywood to the major labels with no luck. We got comments from the big boys like “Great production but I don’t hear a hit” to “We can’t fit it into a niche”. After a few months we became discouraged and shelved the tapes. It was fun recording, but The Dragons and the BFI project seemed destined to obscurity.
Advance the clock 37 years…I get an e-mail from Kevin, DJ Food at Ninja Tune, and he says he loves the song “Food for my Soul” by The Dragons and wants to include it in his latest mix. He found the song on a surf film soundtrack album that I produced that was released in the mid seventies. I had put that one BFI tune on that record because the film’s producer, the late Hal Jepsen, really liked it. I told Kev there was more that was recorded at the same time period and sent him MP3s of the album. He liked what he heard. All I had in my possession was a copy of the master tape. I tracked Donn down after losing contact with him decades ago. I asked him if he knew where the BFI master tapes were. He said he was “looking right at them”. Miraculously, the tapes were “rescued” in 1974 by his friend, Howard Weiss when the tape vault at Sunwest was being cleaned out and they were headed for the trash .What a trip.
We’re now up to speed. “BFI” is finally released. My brothers, Donn and I couldn’t be more
pleased. In the early ‘70’s, we three brothers all “did some time” with The Beach Boys backup band. In the mid seventies, Doug moved to Hawaii. Around ‘79-’80, he made a name for himself gigging around Australia. Daryl went on to join Toni Tennille as “The Captain”, and I am still producing and recording bands and now doing music television, occasionally drumming and “beaching it” in the Santa Barbara area.. Donn went on to make records at Warner Brothers with Ted Templeman, Lenny Waronker and Ed Van Halen. He is currently doing Internet commerce and still photography.
There’s a lesson here to be learned…
Don’t throw your old master tapes way!
hey sexy fruitcake it's jimmy the fingers... i've got a tune out called grace you can buy it on itunes and a whole host of others including beatport and amazon... wanna book fingers for a live show? get in touch! check out the video to get you in the mood.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRLv_KkkKiQ it's all on me profile have a gander! love and squidgy kisses jimmy the fingers xxx sorry for the blatant plug but if i don't plug it, no one else will innit! wanna book fingers let me know! r.i.p. mike
We’re proud to show you our first vidéo Clip "Sub Man" May all the Dead Jelly fish rest in peace Thanx for thus who followed our way since the beggining
THANK YOU FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT. I AM OFFERING REAL HIPHOP THAT'S DIFFERENT. CHECK MY NEW VIDEO "THE ISH." I HOPE YOU DIG IT. PLEASE POST IT UP AND PASS IT ON TO YOUR PEOPLES. PEACE - 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsO1_XHMp3c
Hola Les 4 nouvelles pistes d'1kub & The Wicked Wicked sont en écoute sur myspace !! Alors gares ta roulotte, et vient faire un tour Dans l'electro Bastard Muzik Made in 1kub. Big Up Tanj
We've got a great show coming up at the Boom Boom room SF this Friday April 10th with Nucleus ,if you like what we do you should come by and check it out .Psych Prog Funk fusion all in one show .Peace .
Hello from Mash & Munkee,<br /><br />we just want to let you know, that our first EP,<br />called “Wake Up” has been released on Backslide Records.<br />Featuring Remixes from Mr. Confuse, Torpedotrickser & BadboE<br /><br />So get that wax before it’s sold out!<br /><br />Below you can see some shops selling our EP.<br /><br />Germany:<br /><br />www.hhv.de<br />www.grooveattackrecordstore.com<br />www.soultrade.de<br /><br />UK:<br /><br />www.juno.co.uk<br />www.kudosrecords.co.uk<br />www.fatcity.co.uk<br /><br />Digital available on:<br /><br />iTunes<br />Musicload<br />Juno Download<br />NuLoop<br />Akuma<br /><br />Thanks for the support!<br /><br />David & Kolja<br /><br />
Hello There,
<br />
<br />New Half Past Never song, ”Escape From Warsaw”, is now online. Go and check it out and tell what you think.
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<br />-Half Past Never
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Hi, Hello, Hey!<br />RU FABULOUS 2day?<br />Welcome on board of madaMKapitano Special MY-SPACE KING-SHIP.I'm 50% BUSINESS & ARTIST.While I improve my business skills,I use my ART to network, explore the artistic industry.I like to gain personal experience on all the different topics that I'll be dealing with in the nearest future.<br />My 1st song TREASURE ISLAND is out now on www.beatport.com<br />SEARCH for: madaMKey-All or just GOOGLE: madamkey<br />NEWS-FLASH:<br />CADIZ-ANDALUCIA-SPAIN<br />www.raveart.es<br />www.musikart.info<br /><br />Watch OUT:<br />WMC 2009 MIAMI MUSIC CONFERENCE<br />FINAL MIAMI LINE UP: Poolside Sessions @ Pilikia Bar-(WMC)@South Seas Hotel:<br />www.myspace.com/openbarmusic<br />Poolside Sessions<br />@ Pilikia Bar - (WMC)<br />South Seas Hotel, Miami, Mar 24-29<br /> http://miamieventswmc.ning.com/<br />Grab your sunscreen, your hottest pair of shades,your sexiest<br />swimsuit and get ready for the<br />BEST WEEK EVER!<br />As sign of respect,<br />madaMK<br />with <br />KoK-oc Ltd supports: <br />Media Services NYC & The Joint present<br />A week of Poolside party, the biggest press event to hit<br />directly off Sthe outh Beach. RELAX & do it, drink your KOK-tails with the best in the industry, bask in<br />a hammock, do cannonballs off the dive & let the MusiK take Kontrol.<br />LET'S HAVE SOME <br />ROYAL <br />FUN-key-TIME <br />& CURE the planet <br />while DANCING,SINGING&PERFORMING the REAL thing!<br />Love <br />MK<br />3kS!<br />
Online Now!
