Check out this fun interview Zoe and Russ Ellis did with Jon Leon Guerrero on the Break It Down Show. Guest appearances by Darryl Anders and yours truly. It was really fun watching and listening to this, and being invited to the discussion. There’s more to come from these marvelous individuals and collaborations. Humble thanks to all involved, and to you, for lending an earball. Much love,
Eric Din
Stop the presses and hold the bus! The latest entry in the Oom Chugga Remix Challenge is up! And yes you read it right, this features Cam Perridge, Michael Marshall, Emcee Soulati, Lexxx Luthor and Zoe Ellis. (Check out the full credits, it’s quite a chorus!) I’m very excited to share this with you today. Have a listen and a read, and please share it up. Thank you!
-Eric Din
Liner notes from Zoe Ellis:
I often wonder where my father gets his optimism. I just know I got mine from him. We both love to celebrate. Even when the odds are against the good news lasting. These are strange times, but my brother and I were gifted a dad who continues to take chances. Songs from the Garden is more than just dad finding his song writing voice at 85, it’s his celebration of learning and doing. He is a participator in life and a connector of humans. With that in mind, I called on many of my music friends to add “a something” to this remix. There are 20+ people on this track and all of them knew why they were there and who they were there for. Some of them know him, some don’t. It didn’t matter. What you hear is all the ways dad taught me to be a participant, and to connect humans. Even though the story in the song is hard and it hurts, it was still a vehicle for celebration. A push for more conversation and connection, and my gift to my father. You can participate in the gift too……Vote.
Credits:
Oom Chugga Remix #4
Written by Cam Perridge, Zoe Ellis, Lex Lewinski, Tommy Shepherd
Based on Oom Chugga by Russ Ellis and Dave Ellis
Producer/Engineer/Mixing – Cam Perridge @ El Sob #1
Mastered by Jon Uhland @ Studio 1225
Guitar – Cam Perridge
Bass – Darryl Anders
Drum Loop – Tommy Shepherd
Sung Vocals – Zoe Ellis, Michael Marshall
Rap Vocals- Emcee Soulati, Lexxx Luthor
Spoken – Lillian Ellis, Faudah the Lion, Troy D, Zora Turman, Julia Turman, Russ Ellis
Outro Vocals – Zoe Ellis, Michael Marshall, Lillian Ellis, Maya Fleming, Will Hammond Jr., Leah Tysee, Jenna Mammina, Bryan Dyer, Luq Frank, Destani Wolf, Audrey Gilbert, Mic Blake, Chris Burger, Sonya Distel, Dan Turman, Zora Turman, Eric Din, Kaitlin McGaw, Bryan Dyer
Photo – Era Balestrieri
Vote Art – Russell Bloom
Oh and here’s the uncut version with the naughty bits:
© 2020 Zadell Music
Super-exciting news here in Catberg. Eric Din’s latest single Am I Not Alien? is now available on Pandora, Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL and maybe some other places, gosh. The B-side is People I May Know.
Wait there’s more! The BandCamp version of this intergalactic release has a BONUS TRACK OMG YES!! Exclusively there you will find, as a C-side, if you will, the brand new, hot-off-the-desk Charles Stella DUB mix of People I May Know, called, of course, People I May Dub. So click the links above ^ for your favorite streaming puppies, or click the fancy widget below to hear it right now via BandCamp, WITH the extra track. Why? Does this make any sense? Of course not, Bethany, things making sense is so last millennium. We hope you enjoy.
Professor Dub at the controls. I sent my tracks to Charles Stella, my UpTones brethren and go-to dubmaster for all tings dub. Because of course I did. He diced and sliced and niced them up into froth of dubalicious madness. People I May Know, dubstylee, mo’ficially on Berkeley Cat Records. Go deh 😽
This is the 3rd entry in the Oom Chugga Remix Challenge and the Panther Fist Studio crew has taken this to a whole ‘nother level! Play and share and get out and vote vote VOTE!!
LYRICS
Motivate like…
Great like date night..
No break lights stay bright …
And get ready for the great fight..
==
Eye on the eagle
Calling all people
Everyone of us jus wanna be equal
The fat cats lack dat pulse of the populus
We demonstrate-illuminate like oculus
Akhenaten knockin at ur door
To the rhythm
The sun is risen
Feel the light thru the prism
-Deface racism
Put in place by the system
Keeping us behind
With the pipeline to prison
Time to make decisions
W the bind that we live in
Revolutionary w a very true vision-
Binary proof, given-
Come to Carry you get in
The power thas inside of you
It is or it isn’t-
Prolly won’t feel pleasant-
It’s the struggle of the peasant-
Gotta bright clean patina-
Thas the sign that you present
7 and 11 is the age
Get to steppin
The ballot is the mallet
Meant to smash their perceptions
==
Big poppa Russ Ellis (Zo and Lil double)
Can’t believe what they tell us
Try to be sane
When the other side’s hellish-
Insecure and jealous
Like the Kraut to the relish
They puffin up their chests
But the mess can’t repel us
They try to cling tight
to their symbols of hatred
Colonial conquest tradition
Ain’t sacred-
Hey Kid, time to bust out the Matrix-
Face it-
The mask that you’re wearing
And the latex
You could read a book
And let your mind keep growing
Take a good look
At the author James Loewen
Michelle Alexander
And the new jim crow-
Song of Solomon-
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
Ay yo
Get ready for the payload-
-let your horse out the stable
-put some more sustenance in your ladle
Informed, get active
-sweet like sugar-
-let your locomote smoke like
Oom Chugga Chugga
==
Tik Tok
This is how we rock
You tried to hold a rally
With nobody in the spot
Dropped the mic
When you sought that light
But it wuz kinda easy
Cuz your mind aint right
ALL GENERATIONS
HERE TO HEAL THE NATION
EVERY MEANS NECESSARY
EVEN LITIGATION
PATIENCE IS WORN
NOW WE ON THE MOVE
SURROUNDING THE FRONTLINES
AND ROUNDIN UP THE YOUTH
Freedom to the people
In the cages and prisons
Health decisions
With a scientific vision
Represent good trouble
When incidents bubble
Then we nip it in the bud
Up front or subtle
DYNAMIC, WHY SOULD I PANIC-
ON THE MIC I MANAGE
TO FIGHT FOR MY PLANET
You, Me-all of We in Unity
The Oom Chugga Chugga
Is the way come Free
==
🎶Oom Chugga Chugga is the way we come alive
The mode of locomotive
Pull the pin on 45🎶
Vox – MicBlake, Chris Burger, Lily Ellis, Zoe Ellis,
Josh, Eli, and Ava Lubensky (vox hooks)
Bass – Angeline Saris
Mixing and Guitar- Cam Perridge
Mastering – Justin Weis @Trakworx
Arrangement – Josh Lubensky, CB, Cam Perridge, Angeline Saris
Panther Fist Studio, West Oakland
© 2020 Zadell Music
Another “new” track from yours truly, this one a reboot of a song my UpTones brethren Paul Jackson wrote in the late 1980s. It was right after the original UpTones broke up and Paul and Ben and I started HOBO. We released it as a single and played it in our set for a while as we hoboed up and down the west coast playing concerts and nightclubs and the occasional campfire.
In 2017 I heard a new version with some different lyrics and asked Paul if he’d mind if I made a rewrite. Graciously Paul agreed and I tracked it at home with acoustic guitar and a “voice-box” lead guitar created with a Pignose amp and a funnel (for my fellow Frampton geeks!)
Now in the COVIDopalypse I wanted drums and bass to round it out so I called Dave Tweedie who put down some fabulous acoustic drum tracks, and then I played the bass. Mixed it up and here it be! I’m very happy with how it came out. Hope you also enjoy.
Oh, it’s been called, alternately, Laughing Man or The Laughing Man. I went with Laughing Man and Shannon’s artwork says The Laughing Man and that’s appropriate. “The Laughing Man, he can’t decide.” Full lyrics and credits below. Feel free to share any ol’ which way ya like. Thank you.
Laughing Man
There’s a pile of tacks where the floor meets the wall
He put them there so my pictures would not fall
The laughing man got a magic 8 ball
The laughing man sees and knows all
He is the laughing man
He is the laughing man
And he’ll do what he can
To see that we don’t understand
There’s a laughter where my hand pulls at my eye
He put it there so that I wouldn’t cry
And still the laughing children
Out on a summer’s day
Save their pennies and marbles
To hear the laughing man play
He is the laughing man
He is the laughing man
And he’ll do what he can
To see that we don’t understand
It ain’t a joke but here’s a punch line
He’s laughing at the knot I tied
The laughing man, he can’t decide
The laughing man, he never dies
And still the laughing children
Even as skies turn gray
Travel with minimal cargo
To hear the laughing man play
© 2017 Paul Albert Jackson / Eric Roy Dinwiddie,
Zymurgy Music, BMI / King Roy Music, BMI
Produced by Eric Din at Din’s house
Eric Din: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Talkyboxen
Drums recorded by Dave Tweedie at Dave’s house
Cover art by Shannon Wheeler at Shannon’s house
Now you may listen to it at your house
Like magic
In this lively interview, Jon Leon Guerrero chats with Russ Ellis about his life, what led Russ to become a songwriter in his 80s, his song inspirations and collaborations, the Oom Chugga Remix Challenge, the upcoming election and plenty more. It’s a fun and inspiring talk full of energy and realness, and some hilarious and delightful moments. Check it out and please feel free to share it up!
Berkeley Cat Records recording artist Russ Ellis joins us to talk about new careers and taking your muse all the way to the goal line.
