With a Little Help From My Friends by Dave Seabury and Heavy Friends

We are very proud to foist Dave Seabury’s second full-length album,
With a Little Help From My Friends, on Berkeley Cat Records. It’s a unique collection of collaborations which Dave has created with some of his friends, including his brother and fellow Psycotic Pineapple, John Seabury. There’s even one with Berkeley Cat Records Cat Herder in Chief, Eric Din.  Here’s more about the album, from Dave himself:

I’ve always felt a certain level of confidence in my ability to compose a solid music track. That said, I’ve not yet developed the skill that one requires to craft words together into a song. But I’ve always felt that my instrumental tracks could be transformed into good songs.

A number of years ago I began asking some of my talented singer/songwriter friends if they might consider taking my tracks and setting lyrics to them. To my delight, 8 artists responded to my invitation.

It’s been a slow, yet deeply rewarding process, often more than a bit challenging for my collaborators, who usually compose from the ground up, writing lyrics and music simultaneously, rather than trying to squeeze lyrics into a somewhat rigid pre-arranged format.

I’m proud of the results, and now pleased to share with you the results of my collaborations with my friends Bruno Coon, The Late Great J.D. Buhl (R.I.P.), Jeff Crump, Eric Din, Helen Holt, Max McMillan, Jon Otis, Theresa Sawi, my brother John Seabury, and Jon Strider.

The cover art, which fittingly, shows us some of these cats in the wild:

And most linkingly, a link, in huge bold type, for ye cats to click upon, and listen and purchase the album at its Bandcampy home:

With a Little Help From My Friends by Dave Seabury and Heavy Friends

More on this later, we think.

Watch as Shannon Wheeler draws the cover art for The Cow Song by Eric Din!

Here we find Shannon Wheeler in his studio, creating cover artwork for The Cow Song. Mr. Wheeler and I have collaborated on quite a number of pieces over the years, including my recent album, Street Party. In this, our worlds collide, with his Too Much Coffee Man cup adorning the noggin of our hero the director’s chair cow (what!?) I swear, Petunia. Too Much Coffee Cow, we will affectionately call her. You may purchase this song from our beloved Bandcamp to keep it with you when teh Inertnet dies! Or stream it in the Grand Temporary Blip of our awareness. Either way we thank you for your moment of attention, in the vast seas of CONTENT in which we bleat 🐑🐄😽

The Cow Song

A surprise single from Eric Din. In that we are Eric Din, and we are surprised! Hope you enjoy. And always love the animals.

Everyone always says that cows are stupid
Eat grass in the valley all day there, lookin’ stupid
They’re really only good for one thing
We all know just why they’re here
But I still don’t understand
Cos everyone knows his soul is bound for heaven
And everyone knows his rump will soon be roasted
But nobody knows why they said that the cow was stupid
Stupid cow, if you’re a stupid cow
You’re not half as stupid as me
Someday, maybe your luck might turn around

Everyone always says that the sheep will follow
And everyone knows the wolves won’t stop to think, (or even blink)
But nobody knows why they said that the sheep would follow
Blind sheep, if you’re a blind sheep
You’re not half as blind as me
Someday, maybe your luck might turn around

Acoustic guitar and vocals: Eric Din
Recorded and mixed by Michael Rosen at East Bay Recorders
Produced by Eric Din for Berkeley Cat Records

© 2022 Eric Roy Dinwiddie
King Roy Music, BMI

Bond Meets The Godfather single, plus Dub and Inskamental versions, goes live this Caturday!

Eric Din returns to his ska musical roots on Bond Meets The Godfather, a new single on Berkeley Cat Records. Featuring Din’s fellow UPTONES founder Thomas White on drums, plus trumpet and flugelbone from brass innovator Steven Bernstein, “Bond” is 100% Berkeley ska. Says Din of the track, “I had this idea one morning that Bond simply must meet the Godfather, and they must meet in a ska song. It made me chuckle, and the music and lyrics spilled right out.” Produced by Mr. Din at his home studio, and mastered by recent 3-time Grammy Award winner Michael Romanowski, this release includes an “Inskamental” mix, and a full-on dub version from fellow Uptones founder, Charles Stella. “The whole thing is really an Uptones affair,” muses Din. “I think if we were playing live currently, we’d hit this.” Perhaps one day they will. But right now, we at Berkeley Cat HQ are aware of no such top-secret plans. Cover art by John Seabury of Psycotic Pineapple completes the all-Berkeley-Cat cast. Bond Meets The Godfather plus Omertà Dub, drops Sept. 17, on Bandcamp and the streaming gizmos.