We're heading out of town for six shows in August and September.  The dates:

Thursday, August 20th
The Blooze Bar
12014 North 32nd Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85028
w/ The Surfside IV

Friday, August 21st
The Double Down Saloon
4640 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, Nevada 89169
w/ Thee Swank Bastards

Saturday, August 22nd
The Pike
1836 E. 4th St.
Long Beach, California 90802

Sunday, August 23rd
Huntington Beach Surf Museum
411 Olive Avenue
Huntington Beach, California 92648

Saturday, September 19th
Tokyo Garden
1711 Fulton St
Fresno, California 93721
w/ The Neptunes

Sunday, September 20th
Hotel Utah
500 Fourth Street
San Francisco, California 94107
w/ Dakaiku, Pollo Del Mar, and The TomorrowMen

Follow our antics on our tour blog:
http://thesecretsamurai.blogspot.com/

L'Ultimo Basamento, from our CD, GUN-SHO-GUN, has been included in the latest Continental Magazine CD Compilation.  In the accompanying magazine are two fantastic interviews of Laika and The Cosmonauts and Mike Barbwire from The Barbwires taken by Ivan Pongracic of The Madeira.  This is a MUST HAVE issue.  Get your copy here

Just thought I'd jot down a few notes about the songs from our CD, GUN-SHO-GUN.  I always enjoy hearing the stories behind the songs from albums I really like.  It kind of gives me something to hold onto when I listen.   

The title of the album was penned by Steve, our bassist and is a bit of a play on words "gun show" and "shogun".  Steve actually knows the term for this sort of word combination.  

Don't Fear The Reverb - This was actually one of the last songs written for the album and marks a major shift musically for the band towards a more hard core, bare bones surf sound.  This song really helped cement our desire to become a bit more focused.  I think this song's genesis springs from constant listening to the first Nebulas CD, Nebula One and I was sort of trying to capture that type of raw intensity.  The song's title is actually in rememberence of Dave Bruer, a friend of ours that passed away a few years back.  He was a big supporter of and friend to the band.  His trademark phrase when he'd introduce bands was, "Don't Fear The Reverb."  RIP Dave.

Shoegazer - This song was written in my 600 sq. ft. apartment (at the time).  The song is pretty happy melodically, which must have something to do with the then new relationship with my wife.  The title of this stems from a condition that a lot of bands, including ours, suffers from.  The act at gazing intensely on the top of ones shoes while playing a live show.  I'm consciously trying to break this habit, but man is it tough!

Bereft of Enemies - This tune is a reflection of my love for latin music as well as the music of Ennio Moriconne.  I wanted to write a song that really embraced spanish phrasings and scaling.  When I wrote this tune, I was listening to a TON of Moriconne and I'm sure that rubbed off on me in a big way.  The title of the tune was penned by Steve, our resident wordsmith.

Titus - Also one of the early tunes written for the band and has undergone reconstructive surgery a few dozen times.  The current incarnation of this tune sounds nothing like its original version.  I guess that is what gigging a tune for four years will do.  The feel of this tune is sort of Joe Meek inspired; mixing happy and melancholic melodies.  The guitar lines are really trying to get that runaway farfisa sound.  The title is just a name I've always liked.  It just sounds cool.

Sink or Swim - Along with Don't Fear The Reverb, one of the last songs written for the record.  Maybe a month prior to recording.  This is another heavily Moriconne-inspired showdown tune.  However, the middle break was probably more influenced by my then discovery of The Madeira's Sandstorm album, which became highly influential in my songwriting/playing.

Bakersfield - This tune is simply a reflection of my love for the "bakersfield sound" country music of Buck Owens.  This was the first song written on my then brand new '62 Reissue Stratocaster.  At the time I was listening to a ton of Flying Burrito Brothers, Buck Owens, Lefty Frizzell, and George Jones.

L'Ultimo Basamento - Kind of a mixture of Middle-Eastern and Spanish influences.  The tune started out with my desire to write something a little more "trad surf", but it ended up going in a completely different direction and started heading down the Moriconne-inspired path again.  I know, "enough already!!" The song's title is Italian for "The Last Stand."

Off The Richtor (Act II) - When it was time to record the album, we had 10 tunes and I really wanted one more, but didn't have quite enough time to write another one, and I didn't want to do more than one cover on the album, so we decided to include a Surf Report tune that we were still playing live at the time.  This version has a different arrangement than the original.  I wrote this song about 6 or 7 years ago and it appeared on the last Surf Report album, Supersonic Salvation.

Dastardly Deeds - Another early written tune.  This song has also undergone a lot of reorganization and rework over the years to try and make it a bit more cohesive.  Kind of a snapshot of where we were at that time. 

Istanbul - The one cover on the album.  We were playing this one quite a bit live and decided to record it.  Although we don't play this one very much anymore, I always loved this tune and the different versions of it out there.  Our version is rooted in The Gladiators' version from the Lost Legends of Surf Guitar vol. 3 comp, but with a slightly altered arrangement and a solo section that I wrote.

The Song Remains Insane - This is easily our proggiest tune and probably stems from listening to too much Mastodon.  Lots of influences happening in this one (maybe too many.)  From the middle eastern / Spanish scaling in the main verse, to the Big Lazy-esque noir/crime theme that follows, to the heavily Nels Cline induced solo, to the metal meltown that brings the main verse back from the dead.  This one is tough to play when volume is an issue at a gig ;)

Anyways, there you have it.  A little background on the tunes.  Thanks to everyone who has bought the album so far.  We truly appreciate it and hope you are enjoying it as much as we did making it.

~Ryan

We now have a page on Facebook.  Check it out!

Follow us on twitter