'The Earwigs'
Lost Debut Album
1981
'the Phantom /Gold Star tapes'
Vinyl
will it ever get released?
THE EARWIGS
A Short history
Michael Ubaldini's teenage band 'The Earwigs' recorded an album and single in 1981.
A lone 45 RPM single was released from those sessions in January 1982.
"She’s So Naive’/’Here Come The Earwigs’.
(Now a desired & sought after collectible selling up to 400 dollars on the market) .
The album never was released as the label who was to release it closed shop. This most sought after & mysterious album of it's era has been collecting dust on reel to reels .Hopefully not for long!
It was mastered and pressed at the legendary
Gold Star recording Studios in Hollywood.
Home of Eddie Cochran –The Beach Boys &
Phil Spector's ‘Wall of sound ’which was right up The Earwigs alley. The single was played all over Southern Cal Radio by cutting edge punk rock and new music record spinners on Rodney Bingenheimers ‘Rodney On The Roq’ show &
Sue Minks KNAC ‘New music show’ . Sue and Rodney worked The Earwigs into the rotation on their shows by playing cassette tapes of the bands unreleased album and single-Sue Mink along w/Rodney was especially supportive –playing the band regularly and interviewing them on the air- and since the band was broke and teenagers- she asked for listeners to start an “Earwig fund’ to get something pressed .That is how a rock n roll band with no album pressed became one of the most influential bands on the Orange County & LA county . playing the same circuit as The Pandora's & Social Distortion &strangely The Earwigs have a modern young cult following to this day-
the debut album that never saw the light of day & sits on 'analog reels' for 40 years.
Sixteen blistering tracks that pre-dated Wild Billy Childish's The Milkshakes and also preceded later on bands The Strokes, Vines,& The Strypes by decades .The Earwigs had a large following mostly filled with out cast kids & a strong female following who screamed their lungs out for the band sometimes even attacking them on stage ( an infamous Holiday Skate rink incident in Garden grove CA a show never to forget - a rare type of reaction for a Punk rockabilly /Mod influenced band in that era
not to mention infamous police shut down club riots at The Cuckoos nest turned 'Concert Factory').They had a rebel guy fan base as well since the Earwigs were like a real life grittier version of SE Hinton novels 'The Outsiders & Rumble Fish' and hung out with their fellow rock n roll brothers as if they were all one big gang.
Then the Band as fast as they burst on the scene ..........disappeared without a trace.
Well hopefullythe legendary 1981 vinyl because of heavy demand will be issued from the original analog tapes in a first pressing 40 years later and sounds timeless never dated and could have been recorded yesterday!
So if you own the original single or bootleg cassettes recorded from long ago radio plays from of the album that never was - dig into the Punk rock n roll history now - spin the platter -play the platter play the cassette -drop the needle and let the hot wax burn your turntable-and make sure ya'......
Turn it Up!
Hopefully to get this thing issued-there's a lot of interest and a strong modern fan base and the single is featured regularly now in 2021 along with Ubaldini's new songs in 2021 on
Little Stevens Undergound Garage on Sirius XM Rodney on The Rock show -!!
