Summerskiss Records proudly presents "Summer's Kiss: A Tribute to the Afghan Whigs."

Overview
In the summer of 2006, the Afghan Whigs-centric website summerskiss.com made an open call for covers of Afghan Whigs tracks. The response was overwhelming, uncovering talented Whigs-influenced artists from around the world. Nearly 100 tracks were culled to a collection of 13 that range in style from pogo punk duet (Wussy’s “Retarded”) to jazz inflected Memphis soul (Susan Marshall’s “Going to Town”) to back-alley brooding (Mark Lanegan’s “Tonight”).  Throughout, the guitars are loud, the screams are from the gut and as the sun comes up - you get the feeling that the party is just getting started.

The Album
Summer’s Kiss: A Tribute to the Afghan Whigs is presented in a Tri-fold wallet CD package, evocative of traditional album gatefolds. The cover photograph, an updated slant on The Whigs classic Gentlemen cover, was shot by Sam Holden. Sales will be conducted online in the deluxe CD format through Summerskiss Records and a handful of independent record stores across the country. Promotion will focus on music bloggers and indie press.

The Contributors
This collection takes the term “Various Artists” to heart, with major label ex-pats, small town upstarts and members of the Afghan Whigs extended family contributing their time and talents.  Whigs touring mates (Marshall, Mighty Fine’s Steve Myers) rub shoulders with recording members of Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers and Gutter Twins projects (Lanegan, Joseph Arthur, My Jerusalem, Zykos) while exciting unsigned artists (The Gin Riots, Sonny Oaks) wait in the wings. See the website for full artist bios.

The Label
Summerskiss Records is a boutique record label focusing on collector-grade issues of decidedly niche artists.
http://www.summerskissrecords.com

The Afghan Whigs
The Afghan Whigs released 5 full-length albums on Sub Pop, Elektra and Columbia records from 1990-1998.  Their album Gentlemen is widely recognized as being one of the best rock albums of the 1990s.
http://www.summerskiss.com/afghan-whigs

What we've been up to
We've been dealing with a ton of legal over the last few months. The artists we're working with have all been great - but there is a ton of behind the scenes stuff that has taken a long time to sort through. We were planning to piggy-back on the the gutter twins release, but that's just not going to happen.

What's done
We have a brilliant cover photographed by Sam Holden that you're going to love. Our tracklisting is finalized and evenly divided between artists you know and artists we think have very bright futures ahead. We've been living with some of these songs for two years, and we're dying for you to hear them.

What's left
There's still some outstanding paperwork that we need to get back. The disc needs to be sent to final master and duplication and the artwork needs to be completed.

What's next
My label partner and I have both been out of the loop - but our lives are starting to calm down and we should start offering better communication about the record. A new label website, a way to pre-order and a steady stream of info will start in March.

Thanks

Lee

If you want an advance preview of songs that will be featured on our upcoming Afghan Whigs tribute disc, make sure you're listening to the Scott Ford Show on Little Radio.

Scott has mentioned two of our acts on air, and has spun jeff klein's excellent cover of '66'.

Thanks to Scott for spreading the word! We'll get some more tracks his way ASAP...

Sorry for the lack of updates around these parts. Things have been busy (and very good).

A few songs from the Afghan Whigs tribute record are starting to pop up on Myspace. We've posted Shawn Smith's cover of "Turn on the Water" right here. Jeff Klein is streaming "66." Wussy has "Retarded" on their profile. And there's lots more to come. Hang in there.

A very happy new year to all from SK.

We'll be sending out emails/Myspace messages to our Afghan Whigs Tribute finalists this week. It's an exciting time, and we're looking forward to putting out an incredible record.

We will be pushing back our time line a bit to accommodate the schedules of our artists. We'll publish a release date and party time as soon as we can get it nailed down.

Finally, we're going through the submissions for the sampler contest now. We'll notify the winner via Myspace.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

PS - Be sure to catch The Twilight Singers on Jimmy Kimmel Live tomorrow night!

We've posted two sample tracks, culled from our open submissions for the Afghan Whigs tribute disc. There are 38 songs in these mixes, chosen at random.

Want to win a free copy of the upcoming Afghan Whigs tribute CD?

The person that comes closest to naming all 38 songs in the mixes will get a free disc. To enter, send us a message through Myspace with your guesses.

Yes, they are all Afghan Whigs songs (performed by other artists). No, you do not have to guess the performing artist. Yes, some songs are used more than once. Yes, the same 38 songs are used in both mixes. No, you do not have to name them in any sort of order. No, all of the songs in the sampler will not be on the released disc, unfortunately. Yes, there are songs not in the sampler tracks that will most certainly be on the disc.

To get you started, three of the tracks are covers of "What Jail is Like." So, only 35 to go.

Contest closes December 31. In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random. Artists featured in the mix are ineligible.

We want to thank all of the bands that submitted tracks for the Afghan Whigs tribute record. We have our work cut out for us to select the best songs for the album.

We'll be posting regular updates to the SK Records Website, including pre-order info, release party details, and more.

Open submissions for the Afghan Whigs tribute record will be ending on October 30. If you're planning on submitting but can't make the deadline, drop us a line and we'll see what we can work out.

We'll continue featuring bands that have submitted tracks over the next few months on our website: http://www.summerskissrecords.com

Be sure to check out the Summerskiss Records website for profiles on select bands submitting tracks for the Afghan Whigs tribute disc!

http://www.summerskissrecords.com

We've relaunched the Summerskiss Records website. We'll be using it to promote our upcoming Afghan Whigs tribute disc and to profile bands that are submitting tracks.

→ Summerskiss Records