Author: Berkeley Cat Records

We’re from Berkeley. We are cats. We make records.

Push the Better Button – Maxi-Meow-Mix Single from Eric Din

I am thrilled to share with you this Berkeley Cat Records Maxi-Meow-Mix Single of Push the Better Button! I wrote the song in November of 2020, and with the help of some great old friends and bandmates, this happened. Hope you enjoy! Credits and lyrics below. Feel free to share. And remember, it works on everything!

Eric Din – Guitars, Bass, and Vocals
John Mader – Drums
Paul Jackson – Keyboards and “Beeper Box” Mix
Charles Stella – Vocoder and “Interstellar” Mix
Michael Valladares – Organ, Dumbstruck Whites, and “Shut Up and Dance” Mix
Michael Rosen – “Maxi Mix” and additional mixing
Artwork by Shannon Wheeler
Produced by Eric Din for Berkeley Cat Records

© 2020 Eric Roy Dinwiddie
King Roy Music, BMI

Push the better button
Push the better button
Push the better button
The voice was out of tune
But now it’s o-kay
Push the better button
Shooting for the moon
And now it’s so great
I don’t care
Who’s playing first or last
I just like
To mix it on my laptop
You can try
To autotunafish
But when you’re done with it
You should try this

Push the better button
I cannot wait
For the inevitable blissful state
A super-genius in my own mind
I push the better button
It works ev-er-y time

I don’t know
If anyone can hear
I don’t care
The party’s up in here
Having fun
In my imagination
Gettin’ freaky in my audio station
Push the better button
Play that funky bass line
And two electric gee-tars
Push the better button
Twangin’ at the same time
Drinking club soda and lime

Push the better button
So easy to do
No pressure, you better,
We depend on you,
Hey, is this my good side?
Is this a better light?
Push the button
And make our dreams come true

Push the better button
Problems fading fast
Push the better button
Now it’s gone viral (oh noooo!)
Push the better button
History’s in the past (fake news!)
Push the better button
Now we put it on blast
Push the better button
It is to laugh
We’re destined for destiny
What can go wrong?
Push the better button
Wow, this works on everything!
Push the better button
Now you give it a try
Push the better button
Hmm, let’s see now, I would like
A new president, a sweet girlfriend
World peace, and bunny slippers!
Is it too much to ask?
Don’t answer that,
Push the better button
Eureka! At last!
Push the better button
Brilliant, remarkable!
Outstanding, stunning, exemplary, amazing, magnificent! Unfreaking believable,
Oh my gawd! It’s so awesome, I can’t even stand it, it’s too much, stop.. don’t.. push..
the better button
We will have to do studies on this matter
There is no greater example of great examples
Maximize it, quantize it,
I am the button presser!
Live in cyberspace
Telecon-fer-encing with our loved ones and dates
Push the better button
Yes, we kick it solo
Mix it and we fix it and we do like we know, so
Push the better button
Rockin’ til the dawn
Neighbors put a sign that said
GET OFF MY LAWN!
Push the better button
Come over, we love you,
Push the better button
We want to get know you
Push the better button
In the dark before the dawn
Push the better button
In the year that we been gone
Push the better button
In the dark before the dawn
Push the better button
In the year that we been gone
Push the better button

Eric Din – Guitars, Bass, and Vocals
John Mader – Drums
Paul Jackson – Keyboards and “Beeper Box” Mix
Charles Stella – Vocoder and “Interstellar” Mix
Michael Valladares – Organ, Dumbstruck Whites, and “Shut Up and Dance” Mix
Michael Rosen – “Maxi Mix” and additional mixing
Artwork by Shannon Wheeler
Produced by Eric Din for Berkeley Cat Records

© 2020 Eric Roy Dinwiddie
King Roy Music, BMI

Jupiter Girls now streaming – aaaand a new DUB version!

Today Berkeley Cat Records is thrilled to announce the availability of Jupiter Girls by Eric Din on the streaming services. First released in November 2020 exclusively on Bandcamp, this original song is now in Pandora, Apple Music, Spotify, TIDAL, and some other gizmos as well. So exciting. MORE exciting is that there’s a wild and fab new DUB MIX from Eric’s fellow Uptones founder, Charles Stella, as part of the streaming release. We invite you to have a listen and share it up any ol’ which way you may like to! For streaming links, which went live, oh but mere seconds ago, you may go HERE. So easy.

For the story behind the song and the full credits, hava look at the original Bandcamp post, HERE. Magic.

So why streaming services? Why, you ask? Why did we go to the moon? Why do people climb Everest? For exactly no good reasons. Why do cats play with little bits of string? Because it’s there, Aluishis, because it’s there.

A note on the dub mix! If you dig Charles Stella’s dubalicious dubbings you may also enjoy his mix from earlier in 2020, of People I May Know.

There that’s pretty good for one Caturday. Wishing you all a mighty fine and healthy start to 2021.

-The very extensive and carefully vetted staff at Berkeley Cat Records

Oom Chugga Remix # 5 (by J​.​K Ellis)

On this the first Caturday of a new era, we are proud to present this exciting new entry in the Oom Chugga Remix Challenge, from J.K Ellis. As we had hoped at the beginning of this endeavor, each version in this series has been inspired and unique. Young Joshua Ellis expands on this, taking the audio in new directions. It’s a remarkable sound collage that reframes the original stems in brilliant and unexpected ways. Have a listen and a share, do!

It’s worth noting here that at age 20, Joshua is by far our youngest remix contributor so far.  For behind all this was Russ Ellis’ inspiration to employ his original song, Oom Chugga, toward inspiring and motivating young people to register and vote. This is effort is ongoing, and of course our fun remix challenge is just one small piece of a much larger picture. All together, when we engage, we can win. Let’s win some more. Here’s to the youth. Here’s to the future. Love from all of us at Berkeley Cat Records.

-Eric Din

Remember by FAVES is streaming now!

For our first release of the new year, we are very excited to share Remember by FAVES, in the streaming audio wilds. This song was written by Greg Kihn and recorded by the Greg Kihn Band in 1978, becoming an early hit for the group that would later hit the top ten with The Breakup Song and Jeopardy. Greg Kihn Band drummer Larry Lynch plays and sings lead on this brand new single, which revisits the song with a rocking tight pop arrangement. Featured on guitar is Robbie Dunbar, also a veteran of GKB and East Bay rock legends, Earth Quake. Jimmy Jet Spalding on bass and David Tashinian on keys complete this Bay Area rock n’ roll dream team.

I’ve been a fan of these guys my whole life, having grown up in Berkeley, where Greg Kihn Band would play the Keystones regularly and some of the other clubs the Uptones would later come in and play. Robbie’s a guitar hero of mine and a big influence on me. It’s a unique honor to release this new recording now on Berkeley Cat Records. Recorded (and filmed!) at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, we are so proud to present, Remember, by FAVES. You can listen on:

Spotify

Pandora

Apple Music

You can also find this at Deezer, Tidal, Napster, iHeartRadio (wow, so many!) Please feel free to share any ol’ which way ya like. And catch FAVES live in concert sometime in the post-COVID near future, we hope! Meanwhile, you can enjoy watching the band playing this track, as it went down, in this live-in-studio video.

Thank you, and Happy New Year!!

-Eric Din

FAVES new video single – REMEMBER

We are SO very proud to welcome FAVES to our humble Berkeley Cat home!
The band features these living legends:

Larry Lynch – drums and vocals
Robbie Dunbar – guitars
Jimmy Jet Spalding – bass
David Tashinian – keyboards

Here’s their cover of Greg Kihn’s 1978 single, “Remember,” captured at 25th Street Recording in Oakland. Larry Lynch, who sings this version, also played drums on the original with Greg Kihn Band back the day! Exclusively on YouTube right now, coming out soon in the streaming services, Berkeley Cat Records is thrilled to present, FAVES, with Remember.

BERKELEY CITY STREETS 2020 featuring “Oom Chugga Remix #3”

Alrighty! For our Caturday share we have this marvelous surprise, a new video created by Berkeleyan Ian Ransley with our Oom Chugga Remix #3 ommchugga’ing along throughout!

This came about in the most Berkeley Cat way. Ian sent us a note saying “Hey, I’m doin this, is it cool I use this track?” We replied “Hella yes it’s cool, may we share?” And hella yesses ensued and here it be! As a lifelong Berkeleyan myself, I was struck as I noticed that every scene in here I know well (except for the newer buildings), and many of these places have numerous memories attached. Subway Guitars! I got my first guitar there as a wee lad when they first opened up, around the corner from my childhood home. The Jupiter is in here! And scenes of the Berkeley good and bad and the all of it. The images fit beautifully with the song, so from here, a big Berkeley Cat Records THANK YOU to Mr. Ransley for creating the video and to all the cats who made this marvelous music track as well. All the Oom Chugga remixes are here. You can read about and listen to all of Russ Ellis’ recorded works to date here. Info on videographer Ian Ransley can be found here. Please share on all the Berkeley pages and whatnots, and tag your hella Berkeley cats! Thanks and stay safe through all this kerfuffle. Love,

-Eric of Berkelshire

“I’m So Terribly Stoned” by Eric Din and Damon Wood

Berkeley Cat Records is thrilled to announce.. wait, what was it? Hmm.. I may need a snack. Oh! Hahaha yes, I’m So Terribly Stoned, a new collaboration by Eric Din and Damon Wood. Sez Eric: “Damon and I have been good friends and guitar-nerd buddies since forever, and we finally got around to making something together. The process was fun and easy – I sent Damon a track with just my vocal over a drum loop, and within a day he sent me three guitar tracks and a bass track. I loved the way they all worked together and I didn’t edit or change a thing – just positioned everything and mixed it.” Along the way, Shannon Wheeler sent in his interpretation of events to complete the package. We somehow see this as a Christmas or Holiday release, and we understand that won’t make sense to just everyone. Wishing you a safe and merry end of 2020, and wishing us all a bright and creative and healthy new year!

Eric Din: Vocals, P-Bass, production
Damon Wood: Electric guitars, fuzz bass

Artwork by Shannon Wheeler

© 2020 Eric Roy Dinwiddie / Damon Wood
King Roy Music, BMI