Double Naught Spy Car

Double Naught Spy Car has just finished mixing an upcoming release: a guest musician album featuring Nels Cline, Ben Vaughn, Mike Watt, Sylvia Juncosa, Joe Baiza, Vince Meghrouni, Elvis Kuehn, Joe Gore, Woody Aplanalp, Chris Lawrence, Sara Ardizzoni, and Danny McGough. Look for it soon! www.doublenaughtspycar.com Double Naught Spy Car was originally called Pink Floyd The Barber but changed the name when a high powered West Side lawyer said, "Pink Floyd will crush you like a bug." They caved. The band formed in 1994 in Bonedaddys drummer Mike Tempo's garage with original members Tempo, Rick Moors on bass, Bron Tieman on guitar, and Paul Lacques on guitar and lap steel. The guitars were cranked through twin Super Reverb Amps. The music was strange and twisted from the very start, with early roots in surf, Jimmy Wilsey's romantic guitar style, spaghetti western, and Monk. After one of our first gigs bassist Moors worried, "people aren't dancing!" We soon got used to that. The lineup shifted over the years and now consists of Joe Berardi, drums, Marc Doten, bass, Marcus Watkins, guitars, and Paul Lacques, guitar and steel. Double Naught Spy Car has been called surf noir, jazz on acid, spaghetti near eastern, and "difficult." They have backed up crime novelist James Ellroy in live performance, been requested co-bill with Pere Ubu, Banyan, Stan Ridgway, and Jonathan Richman. Individually they have performed and recorded with Stew and The Negro Problem, Josie Cotton, French pop stars David Halliday and Eddie Mitchell, Bo Diddley, The Chapin sisters, and many others. Their own projects as artist/songwriters include The Fibonaccis, I See Hawks In L.A., The Bonedaddys, the Bastards of Belleville, The Underthings, Earthworm Ensemble, The Sheiks of Shake, and Non Credo. DNSC has scored one feature film and contributed to many TV and film sound tracks. WINNER BEST INSTRUMENTAL BAND OF 2002, L.A. WEEKLY MUSIC AWARDS "This L.A. quartet sometimes lends their all-instrumental support to the readings of James Ellroy, that hardest of hard-boiled crime novelists. Like Ellroy's novels, DOUBLE NAUGHT SPY CAR combines dead-on noir flavor with a modern perspective that's both brutal and poetic. Many noveau-instrumental combos excel at retro vibe, but few mix the past and present so convincingly." -- Joe Gore, Guitar Player Magazine "It's a tall order to encapsulate the city's diverse musical acts in one night, but the L.A. Weekly Music Awards came close...celebrating the cream of the crop...expansive surf-meisters Double Naught Spy Car." --Natalie Nichols, L.A. Times "All-instrumental combo Double Naught Spy Car aren't easy to classify. They're not simply surf 'n' drag practitioners or lounge artists -- they're too freewheeling for that. Nor are they purely jazz-heads -- their songs are too structured. Their music draws from a variety of genres they've made seamlessly their own. Danger High is the long-awaited follow-up to their 1998 debut, Comb in Blue Water, and like its predecessor, it shows Spy Car to be the bosses of instrumental music in a "roots noir" vein, but the addition of ace drummer Joe Berardi to the band makes them sound even better. "Spy Car's music is ever more ambitious and complex, rife with tempo changes and varied textures, yet it's always down-to-earth and loads of fun, with a humor evidenced by some of their song titles: "Naked Lurch," "Pork Rendr'ns." Spy Car have appeared on the soundtrack of a number of films and TV shows (as well as backing up Los Angeles crime writer James Ellroy on some of his spoken-word appearances), so it's no surprise that Danger High often has a cinematic feel, evocative of car chases and drag races, tough gumshoes and noirish intrigue. Some of Spy Car's melodies sound like theme songs to imaginary black-and-white movies or old TV shows that never actually existed. "One such "theme song" is the reggae-tinged "Helicopter," which features an exhilarating guitar duel between Paul Lacques and Marcus Watkins, as well as Marc Doten's virtuoso bass playing, by turns frantic and lumbering. Other highlights include the ferocious "Marina del Hayride" and the sinuous, resolutely odd "Crosseyed San Paku." Throughout the record, Lacques dazzles on the lap steel. He makes the guitar wail, sing and speak (and occasionally complain and tell jokes), to the point where a vocalist would be superfluous. With its bravura musicianship, questing originality and offbeat wit, Danger High is an inventive work by a group of true originals." --Gwynne Garfinkle, Los Angeles NEW TIMES "Double Naught Spy Car rocks, socks, rolls, roils, and sizzles. This is a swinging, raunchy, bluesy, throaty, growling band. Their tunes rock, their musicianship rolls, their overall brainpower sizzles. Double Naught Spy Car rules. Woof." -- James Ellroy, crime novelist "I've written much about my favorite LA band, Double Naught Spy Car, but I think I said it best the first time I wrote about them, "take a ride in a souped up GTO to a place where surf guitar rides shotgun with old smoky westerns and spy movie a go-go meanders through ethereal innuendo in a post-punk glamour world. Don't miss the magic." --Teresa Stone, Grooves, Santa Monica Mirror "Playing a gig with my friends DOUBLE NAUGHT SPY CAR is always a sincere pleasure. Their old tunes are now classics and their new ones are soon to be. I love the fact that they never let their musicianship overwhelm the melodic beauty of whatever piece of music they happen to be chewing on at the time. If they would just remix all their material with a goofball corporate extreme sports hip-hop/techno groove they'd be millionaires by tuesday." --Stew, Stew Says webpage "Your guitar work is fabulous!" -- Davey Allan "Just some old fashioned love songs filled Spaceland Saturday night for a tribute to Paul Williams, the man behind such hits as "We've Only Just Begun," and of course, "The Love Boat Theme." The house was packed. Williams, who was in the audience, was thrilled by the variety of musicians performing his songs, especially DOUBLE NAUGHT SPY CAR'S surf-rock instrumental on "Just An Old Fashioned Love Song." -- Lisa Derrick, New Times "You guys blew my mind. It's so great to see somebody do something original." --Paul Williams (the Paul Williams) "Have you ever wondered what King Crimson would sound like if they were a, oh, let's say, 'bar band'? Probably not, but that description certainly fits Double Naught Spy Car, a quirky quartet with leanings toward Captain Beefheart, surf music and prog rock. Yes, it's just as wacked-out as it sounds, but what a sight they are to behold on stage. I saw 'em at Spaceland a few weeks back and the place was packed. -- Jim Freek, BAM Magazine "Double Naught Spy Car had the room in a collective jawdrop which is saying a lot since the musicians in many of these bands are hands down the best anywhere playing anything. These guys went out on a limb, then just created more limbs to climb out on ad infinitum. Their influences are all over the place, from like Ellington to Beefheart and beyond--instrumental, jazzy, sometimes throw down rockin, with a lap steel that sounds like it's from Mars." --Amnesian.com Double Naught Spy Car is an eclectic group of guys who perform a bizarre mixture of surf, western, and mod rock. It is no mystery that some of the songs sound as if they are a mixture of early Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa, as the group was formerly known as Pink Floyd The Barber. With their numerous time changes and noir expressions, Double Naught's songs are expansive, yet tight. Each member contributes his own spice to this hot act. Tempo plays his drums with an expressive style that has substance and flair. On bass, Marc Doten thumps out box-like patterns that give the instrumentals a solid foundation. The double-edged guitar styles of Watkins and Lacques compliment one another like surf 'n' turf. Watkins executes confident ability with his Stratocaster while Lacques pulls off clean switches from lap-steel to a Telecaster like a seasoned pro. What is so entertaining about this band, aside from their fine musicianship, is a personality not seen in many outfits. Doten prowls the stage with spooky and even campy mannerisms. Watkins gets on his knees screaming out his rich solos, while Lacques puts so much raw emotion into his siganture style it's exhausting to watch. At one point the two guitars and bass were playing the same notes up and down the neck, producing chilling energy. These guys know how important it is to be tight and they certainly look like they're having a blast. Seeing Double Naught Spy Car lives proves why they've garnered plenty of local attention over the years. From movie soundtracks to theatrical gigs, these guys stay busy and know how to keep an audience attentive. --Daniel Siwek, Music Connection INTERVIEW L.A. Weekly February 8 - 14, 2002 The Song, Not the Singer The dangerous twang of Double Naught Spy Car by Greg Burk "We don't pay off for fans of any genre," says Paul Lacques of Double Naught Spy Car. "If you're a surf fan, we're really gonna let you down. If you're a jazz fan, we're gonna offend you. If you're a rock fan, good luck. If you're a country fan . . . well, maybe we're reaching a country audience. We sort of mock genre, and at the same time we're trying to create our own genre." No slot. No singer. What a bunch of stubborn dickheads. Must be musicians or something. GuitarSteelBassDrums instrumentals poignant and dissonant, more than enough reverb, just enough restraint. Maybe. Surf swamp noir hillbilly.