MARCH 2007 - SPANISH TOUR!

Here are the dates:

3/21 Madrid (Wurlitzer Ballroom)
3/22 Tarragona (Sala Scumm)
3/23 Barcelona (Razzmatazz Pop Bar)
3/24 Granuja Rock Festival (Teruel)
3/25 Valladolid (Porta Caeli)
3/27 Algeciras (Salon de Actos Escuela Politecnica Superior)
3/28 Marbella (Premier)
3/29 Murcia (12 y medio)
3/30 Burgos (Coliseum)
3/31 Pedreguer -Alicante- (Rockodrom)





By the way, we were in MOJO again last month. Our song "Sheepwalking" (from the Holland Tunnel cd) was picked in MOJO's Readers Playlist at Number 6!

MOCKERS GOT THE MOJO & AT THE MOVIES---DECEMBER 2006

Tons of big news out here in Mocksville. The January issue of MOJO (in our opinion the best music mag out there) has just come out, and as part of a special feature on the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds, the issue comes with a free CD dedicated to the "Genius of Brian Wilson." Amazingly enough, our version of "God Only Knows" is included in the cd, along with a few other bands you may have heard of, i.e. The Who, Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Curt Boetcher, Barracudas, High Llamas, Apples in Stereo, etc. Yeah, to be honest, we're thrilled. So, if you're interested or curious, pick it up. Dylan (who else?), as you can see, is on the cover.


More big news: Jonathan Porcelli and JVP Productions are currently editing a documentary about us. Jonathan is best known as the producer of installation artist/photographer Spencer Tunick's documentary films, Naked States and Naked World. Jonathan has been following the band, camera in hand, through 3 years of our almost Almost Famous life, including two tours of Spain. From what Jonathan has told us, this ain't your run of the mill rock bio of destruction, dysfunction and disaster, as anyone who's met us would already know. Here's what he says, "This is a film is about four semi-normal guys, living semi-normal lives, playing music for the sheer love of playing, while knowing full well that stardom, whether super, semi or any, is highly unlikely. If it sounds depressing, it's not, it's exhilarating. The Mockers are doing what we all dream of doing--breaking out of that "quiet desperation"--if only for just an hour at a time, for a few weeks, every few years." The working title is The Mockers--15 Minutes of Spain. It should be out in the fall of 2007. You can check out some rough clips on their myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/mockersthemovie
Tell 'em we sent ya'!

"ELECTRIC CAMPFIRE" RELEASED IN JAPAN--NOVEMBER 2006

After a few delays, the great Japanese label Wizzard in Vinyl has released our latest album, The Lonesome Death of Electric Campfire. It's a special double cd edition that includes a bonus cd of demos, live tracks, alternate mixes, and an extra special new recording, our version of The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" sung by our drummer, Nelson Bragg.
For more info on the bonus cd, check out the complete liner notes we wrote in the discography page (or just click here). Order it directly from us at the amazingly low price of $18.95. While supplies last!

PHOTOLOG BACK ONLINE ! -- April 7th, 2006

The Mockers Photolog is back online. Feel free to post your own Mockers photos in the "Mockers fans & friends" section!
» To the photolog

MOCKERS LIVE IN MADRID! -- March 1st, 2006

Brand new video of us playing "Highway Star" (yes, THAT "Highway Star" live at Moby Dick, in Madrid, February 2003). It will also be available on the Japanese release.
» Check out the video here

THE MOCKERS ARE THE "POLITICAL PLAY OF THE WEEK! -- Feb. 15th, 2006

The good (and very strange) news for the day is that believe it or not, apparently, our song "It Wasn't Just Me" was the basis for the "Political Play of the Week" on CNN! Here's the transcript link:
www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/10/schneider.tenors/index.html

It aired first on last Friday during Wolf Blitzer's show, The Situation Room, and then repeated throughout the weekend. I missed it, of course, but I'm trying to get a copy. I have no idea how Bill Schneider at CNN heard about the song. Maybe they had the title and found the song after that? Who knows? The ironic part is I figured that it would have been for "The Emperor Strikes Out" or "Here Come The Lackeys"!

NEW RECORDING AND NEW RELEASE -- February 1st, 2006

We recently finished recording a version of "God Only Knows" sung by our world renowned drummer, Nelson Bragg (who, for those of you who don't know, also plays with the guy who originally wrote the song!). We played it on our last Spanish tour, and it went over so well, we decided to record it. Unbiased (as well as biased) observers say it came out rather well. We've yet to hear Brian's opinion on the matter.

Said cover version will appear shortly (we're looking at sometime this spring) on the Japanese release of The Lonesome Death of Electric Campfire on the legendary label Wizzard In Vinyl. It's actually going to be a 2 CD release--the second cd also chock full o' demos, live tracks, assorted outtakes and videos to play on your computer. We'll let you know.

MOCKERS MAY 2005 SPANISH TOUR!

Weds. May 11th--Barcelona (Sidecar) Thurs. May 12th--Tarragona (Zero) Friday May 13th-- Monterrubio de la Serena (Badajoz) (Sala Olibar)(a fiesta for the Contempopranea Festival) Saturday May 14th--(to be announced) Sunday May 15th--Yecla (Murcia) (Beat Club) Monday May 16th--Los Conciertos de Radio 3 (national tv show) Tuesday May 17th--Albacete (HiFi) Weds. May 18th--Madrid (El Sol) Thursday May 19th--Burgos (Quinta Avenida) Friday May 20th--Cartagena (Underground) Saturday May 21st--Valencia (Loco Mateo) Sunday May 22nd--Castellon (Ricoamor)

FINALLY, A NEW MOCKERS CD! -- MARCH 22, 2005

Like leap years or presidential elections (don't remind me), it seems about time for another Mockers record. And believe it or not, we've finally released our new album THE LONESOME DEATH OF ELECTRIC CAMPFIRE, on the Spanish label, Zebra Records. As has been reported earlier, the CD was produced by our very own Robbie Rist, not to mention three tracks by Mitch Easter. Of course we think it's our best one yet, and so far so good, it also seems to be the consensus among those who've heard it. And if you want to hear it for yourself, we've put up mp3's of the whole album in the multimedia section here.

The cd comes in a digipack, with a 28 page booklet, chock full of lyrics (in both Spanish and English) and other fancy stuff. We also included a special cd-rom featuring the infamous video for our "anthem" THE EMPEROR STRIKES OUT. As of now, we have no US release date set. But I do have a few copies that Zebra sent me, and they're supposed to send me more soon. So, conveniently enough, a copy of your own is a mere point and click away.

Speaking of Spain, I just got back from a fantastic week of promo in Madrid. In between a dozen or so press interviews, I played live on all three national radio stations (plus the number one top 40 network). We were also featured on several television shows (alongside our pals Coldplay, U2 and Oasis). But the one thing we thought we'd never see was our picture, next to J-Lo on the cover of the biggest Spanish music mag, La Revista 40! Ok, it's not OUR faces, but our alter-egos from the Emperor video. But when you're making the big bucks like we are, it's things like this that get you through the day. There's nothing like seeing yourself plastered across every newstand in Madrid. Click on the images if you want to read the article--in Spanish, claro.

We're working on a bunch of new things, including a video for our new single, and a Spanish tour set for May. We'll have the dates up here soon.

A reminder: Check us out on MySpace! We need more friends (and who doesn't?): www.myspace.com/themockers

December 13, 2004

Well, we have good news and we have bad news: the good news is that over 50,000 people so far have downloaded the video for THE EMPEROR STRIKES OUT, and it’s in regular rotation all over Spanish television. The bad news (which you already know) is that unfortunately, it’s still relevant and appropriate. Which I guess is good news for us, and bad news for the rest of the world. Anyway, if you want to check it out, it’s still available as a free download in the multimedia section. Tell us what you think. We even love hate mail. And remember: Better dead than Red!

And speaking of “Emperor” it will soon appear (in an unreleased “punk” mix) on our brand new album THE LONESOME DEATH OF ELECTRIC CAMPFIRE, which is finally finished and mastered. The album was produced and recorded by our very own Robbie Rist at his new studio, THE BOATHOUSE (plus three tunes produced and recorded by Mitch Easter). No US release date yet, but it will be out the first week in February on the fantastic Spanish label, Zebra Records. We’ll probably put up a few mp3’s soon.

More news: THE MOCKERS NOW HAVE A FOTOLOG! And as a special holiday treat to you, our fans, friends and loyal customers, the first month of photos will be a travelogue of sorts. A trip into the psyche that is The Mockers. In other words, drunken idiots in the studio, getting way too familiar with their good friend Señor James Beam. Check it out here: www.fotolog.net/mockers Bookmark it, it’ll be updated just about every day with a new picture, and the scene promises to get VERY scary.

We’re also on MySpace now too: www.myspace.com/themockers

Even more news: For those of you who don’t already know, our drummer Nelson Bragg, lucky bastard that he is, has spent the past year as the new vocalist/percussionist for Brian Wilson. Not only has he been touring the world (he’s in Australia this month), he also was part of the band that helped Brian record the finally released SMILE. And the ubiquitous Robbie Rist, not content to be the star that he most definitely is, has just wrapped shooting in his first film as a behind the scenes “player” so to speak. The film is called STUMP THE BAND (hehe, ask Robbie), and the production/direction team of EMPEROR, Bill Holmes and JoJo Hendrickson are doing this one too. A promo trailer of it should be out there soon. We’ll let you know.

New Video Release - April 2004

After we had a left field hit with Dejame we were asked to be on a tribute album for Los Nikis , one of the biggest bands in Spain in the '80's.  We decided to record their song El Imperio Contraataca (The Empire Strikes Back), a tongue in cheek look at the Spanish Empire.  But we decided to update it in English, and now the song is called The Emperor Strikes Out , and it's our take on the adventures of our fearless leader.  The song came out so well, that we decided to film a video of it.  So in February, we went to LA and filmed it with legendary director William Holmes.  We're pressing up a special DVD of the video and we'll be releasing it in the next two weeks.  More details very very soon.

New Album News - March 2004

We've already recorded and mixed three new songs, that we tracked at Mitch Easter's studio in October.   And last month, the four of us (that's Robbie, Nelson, Tony and Seth) trundled into the newest recording facility in Los Angeles , THE BOATHOUSE , to record the rest of our new album.  For those of you who don't know (and if you don't, you will!), THE BOATHOUSE is our guitarist, Robbie Rist's new recording studio.   We spent two weeks, almost 24 hours a day together (yes, 24 hours a day with Nelson---'nuff said, hehe), working the tunes up, from acoustic demos to full blown Mockers' songs.  Robbie is producing and engineering this batch, and in between prodigious alcohol and burrito intake (I'm still detoxing), we've just about finished 9 more songs.  And we're really excited about the results.  As they always say, this one will be our best yet!

Mockers in the Movies - August 2003

After two fantastic tours of Spain last year (one with the full band, another a Seth and Santi Campos acoustic tour), someone at Disney/Buena Vista España decided to use our English cover of the Spanish hit Dejame as the theme song to one of their films, LA FIESTA.   They also released it as the single from the soundtrack, and the next thing we knew, we had a top 40 radio hit over there.  It was rather surreal, hearing The Mockers played before and after such power pop favorites like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake .  If you want to see the trailer to the film, which features Dejame here's the link: http://www.terra.es/cine/lafiesta/index2.html

Spanish tour - May 2003

First off, our tour of Spain was an amazing success.  The crowds were fantastic, we got TONS of airplay and press, including a full page write-up in the Guia del Ocio of Madrid (their version of Time Out ) and articles and reviews in both major Spanish newspapers, El Pais and El Mundo .  We played two shows in Madrid that were more like fiestas than concerts.  And we were lucky enough to corral Alvaro Urquijo of Los Secretos (the band that originally recorded Dejame ), Joaquin Rodriguez of Spanish punk legends Los Nikis , and Robin Wills of the also legendary Barracudas into playing a few of their own tunes with us in Madrid.  Robbie and drum god Nelson Bragg blew everyone away with their ultra rock-a-tudes, and there was ne'er a dry eye in the house when we blasted into our Rist led version of Highway Star! Speaking of Dejame, our version is still getting airplay, 4 months after the tour.  In fact, someone wrote us the other day to say he heard it over the sound system in a department store!  The Spanish release of "Holland Tunnel" with Dejame as a bonus track is selling well.  We may release it as a single sometime in the future, but in the meantime, if anyone wants a copy of the Spanish release, e-mail me. David Myhr of the great Swedish pop band, The Merrymakers recorded both Madrid shows on his mobile digital studio.  We took the recordings last week to Robbie's studio in LA to, ahem, "tweak" things a bit.  We're hoping to release it in the fall.  It will include a few new songs, and some cool covers, as well as the aformentioned Highway Star.  We'll keep you posted. An indie film crew followed us on the tour for 2 weeks, and they're currently logging the 100 plus hours they filmed.  We're hoping they can sell it somewhere (they're optimistic), but if worse comes to worse, we'll release some kind of DVD in the future.  The live CD might include a few video clips too. Lastly, I'm heading back to Spain in three weeks for an acoustic tour with Santi Campos .  Santi booked and road managed our last tour, but he's better known in Spain as a former member of Malconsejo .  He recently released one of the best albums of the last few years, a solo record called "Pequeños Indendios" on Rock Indiana.  We'll be doing both Mockers' and Santi's songs, including some brand new ones, as well as a generous helping of covers.  I'm really looking forward to it.