Album Notes

The honest to God , real PUNK BLUES by DAY-Z DAZE.

A little over 20 years ago, I formed RATCAGE RECORDS. Ratcage records was my little store in the basement of the now legendary squat studio 171A in NYC. One of the first records released on RATCAGE was by a band called THE BEASTIE BOYS. You may have heard about them, over time they managed to sell a few records. They were gonna break up after a couple of gigs and I talked them into going into the studio and the result was MOTR 21 POLLY WOG STEW, currently available as SOME OLD BULLSHIT and that's no bullshit. The rest is history but it ain't over till its over, is it?

In fact, its really just begun.....2 Christmasses ago I bought my daughter a Ukulele and I haven't put it down since. I had to get her a new one. I sold my '65 GIBSON SG and practically everything else I own, bought a Marshall combo and a vintage CRY BABY WAH and started making as much noise as I possibly could. Last year at the Montreux Jazz festival the local radio station made a video clip
of me for their web site and it was just the confidence booster I needed...

Nobody had heard ROCK N ROLL UKE before..Some of the folks who couldn't get enough of my funky noise were members of P FUNK ALLSTARS and TRICKY and a couple of his friends actually got in a fight with some lame brain haters over the legitimacy of what I was kickin ... So I called JOHN at SOUTHERN who had been minding RATCAGE over the years and asked him if I could have my label back and of course it was no problem..

In November I went to NYC to record an ep's worth of material and did my first gig at CBGB on Dec 2 2001 as the headliner!! People said: Hey, DAZE, how is that you gets to headline a Saturday night at CBGB for your first gig?...That's easy, baby, I paid my dues in advance...

Well, the recording session went well, but nobody knew exactly what to do about this ukulele playing fool and we tried a lot of stuff out. I went back again in February to add some more tracks and then shot down to Miami to do a show with the PSYCHO DAISIES and jam with the legendary JOHNNY SALTON, we recorded the live set we did there and we are still waiting for DAVID CAMP to get up off his butt and give us a final mix. Meanwhile, back in NYC things kept getting more and more complicated and all I wanted was to play like I was at Montreux just me and my over amped uke...simple as that. But sometimes the simplest things are the most complicated things and after two 4 day sessions at JERRY TEEL'S FUNHOUSE, I still didn't have satisfaction.

OK so now we at APRIL 2002 and I still ain't got nuthin in the can...
I call up my friend CIAKY in MILAN, ITALY and I told him to get me some time at his friend GIGI's studio and to rent me a TSL60 and a couple of Celestin cabs. Me and GIGI hit it off like a couple of newlyweds. We miced that uke 7 ways and I blasted my way through 9 songs. On the 3rd day we mixed down 4 of the songs and the result is:

PUNK BLUES MOTR101 (the next generation).Track by track.

SELLIN DAT STUFFis auto biographical and I'll let it speak for its self..Its a punk blues...ok?

BIG ROCK is well, "WOODIE GUTHRIE backed by BLUE CHEER" is the best I can describe it and has a surprise track tagged onto the end. Its a cover of a song from another famous early hardcore band whose first release I did the cover art for. Confused? Think ROIR CASSETTE. Think BAD BRAINS ,who are amongst my 20 best friends in the whole world. Think THE BIG TAKEOVER.....and think how many times that cover design has appeared on t shirts. If I had 10¢ for every time that graphic..etc...

INCLUDE ME IN is more of this AMPED UP UKE MADNESS. I wrote the lyrics on September 11, but had never found the music to fit it until I got up with another old buddy, POPA CHUBBY and I realized what was needed was some bottleneck slide. And here it is. Complete with street sounds picked up by an ambient mic next to the open window..

LONAMILOU is a peaceful end piece dedicated to my two daughters LONA MALIA and AMI LOU. LONAMILOU is also the name of my publishing and any royalties I make go into a fund for their college tuitions..

All the tracks are just ME, MY UKULELE, CRY BABY, OTTO'S special custom built OCTAVIOUS FUZZ (which I have named DAZE HAZE) and one of JIM MARSHALLS finest. NO OVERDUBS...

GIGI ran this all through his MAC G4 and beyond that,what we do is secret....

When I was down in MIAMI some of my old punk rock friends came to "see me make an utter fool of myself" and EDDIE O'BRIEN of THE EAT (whose first disc, I also did the cover art for) said: DAZE plays the UKULELE with a HENDRIX-LIKE FLAIR.

There is plenty more where this came from...I've already been back at GIGI's and that NEW YORK stuff is ready to go now too.

PUNK BLUES is the first release on the NEW RATCAGE and honey, PLAY IT LOUD OR GO HOME!

and yes, I still SKATE....and yes I am TRANSGENDERED....and no, I won't stop till I drop.

LOVE
DAZE