FABCOM! Records
Home of Fabulous Combos and Far-Out Ideas
We started FABCOM! Records, a small independent label, to feature musicians who we believe in. Our passions include garage rock, punk, power pop, surf, rockabilly, and other roots music. Check out our artists below, and contact us at fabcomrecords@gmail.com if you want to learn more.
Artists
Rami & the Reliables is the ongoing project of Scott Ligon (NRBQ, Flat Five), Casey McDonough (NRBQ, Flat Five), Alex Hall (Flat Five, JD McPherson, Cactus Blossoms, Pokey LaFarge) and their muse, guitarist Rami Gabriel. They have recorded over sixty of Rami's songs in the past seven years at Alex Hall's Reliable Recorders studio in Chicago. Scott describes the sessions as "Our own little version of Second City: Rami sets the scene and we go berserk!"
Juniper
Age 15 at the time of her debut LP, Juniper Shelley has been singing for as long as she (or anyone) can remember. She grew up in a deeply musical home, absorbing the sounds around her and basking in the eclectic tastes of her dad, seasoned singer-songwriter and longtime WFMU DJ Michael Shelley. The 12 new songs that comprise her debut album Juniper reflect her expansive musical sensibility, while also embodying the interests of a normal teenaged girl in 2020. Throughout the album, she flavors her effortlessly accessible songs with inventive touches of vintage keyboards, electric sitar, Latin percussion, harp, and vibraphone.
To bring her debut album's distinctive musical vision to life, Juniper and her father, who served as producer, were joined by an all-star cast of pop luminaries, including guitarists Marshall Crenshaw, Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Mark Spencer (Blood Oranges, Son Volt) and Greg Townson (Los Straitjackets, Hi-Risers), keyboardists Chris Geddes (Belle and Sebastian) and Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers), and drummers Steve Goulding (Mekons) and Dennis Diken (Smithereens). Lending their voices to the album are Chris Collingwood (Fountains of Wayne) and the vocal trio of April March, Megan Reilly and Rebecca Turner, all solo artists in their own right.
While many of the album's songs were written or co-written by Juniper and her dad, they also invited some talented friends to contribute material to the project. These include the timeless "Best Kept Secret" by Tommy Dunbar (Rubinoos) and Kyle Vincent, the swaggering "Punk Rock Boy" by Francis Macdonald (Teenage Fanclub), and the witty "Poke Your Eye Out," co-written for Juniper by the late Kim Shattuck (Muffs) and Lisa Marr (Cub).
FABCOM! Records is proud to release the vinyl version of Juniper. (CD's are available from our friends at Confidential Recordings
http://www.michaelshelley.net/confidential/)
"She Steals Candy" Juniper's second LP, also on FABCOM! More energetic garage pop, a mix of choice covers and originals. All-star guests include members of Yo La Tengo, Smithereens, Reigning Sound, Cactus Blossoms. NRBQ, Los Straitjackets, Belle & Sebastian, and The Rumour. Produced by Juniper's dad and ace WFMI DJ Michael Shelley.
The Harrisonics
The Harrisonics are a trio based out of Lawrence, Kansas who play garagey pop of the highest order. FABCOM! Records is thrilled to be releasing their smashing debut LP/CD "Love Songs for All Occasions," bursting with hooks, ace songwriting, and impassioned playing. Includes 10 originals plus a magnificent cover of Richard Thompson's "Small Town Romance."
The Harrisonics feature former members of Lawrence's indie/underground bands The What Gives (search out their mid-'90 little-hit-filled gem on the esteemed Bus Stop label!), The Wilmas, The Eudoras, and Fear & Whiskey, among others.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Musician-Band/Harrisonics-222680567820885/
The Shebangs
lloyd Thayer
Rami & the Reliables
Thee Slobs
Thee Slobs are the FABCOM! Records house (actually our basement) band featuring a very talented young multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, organ, drums, vox, etc.) and his talent-starved dad (a-rhythmic guitar, vox). Fortunately, they both share a love for garage rock, punk, surf, and rockabilly, and they have a blast goofing around together. Their first CD single "Ain't Gonna Do that Work" b/w "Snot Rag Daddy" is not for public consumption.
If you like your Garage Rock mixed with a dash of New Wave and a bit of Punk, look no further than The Shebangs. The three-piece band hails from Lawrence, KS and has been playing together for a while. The trio is made up of Kit Cole (percussion and backing vocals), Bret Dillingham (guitar and keyboards; also drummer for labelmates The Harrisonics!), and Tamyra Heim (bass guitar and lead vocals). Among their stew of influences are The Buzzcocks, Cramps, Sonics, Gories, Terraplanes, and Thee Heacoatees. Other musicians have occasionally played with the band, but the core group has remained the same since the 2010s. They previously recorded a five-song EP at Black Lodge Studios, and a single a few years later (with an ace cover of The Saints’ “A Minor Aversion”), but this is their first full-length album. The Shebangs’ new recording, “now! is when” on Boston’s FABCOM! Records, was recorded 2019-2020 at Microburst Studios in Lawrence. All 12 spirited, high-energy songs on the LP are band originals.
TheShebangs.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/The-Shebangs-163619234772/
lloyd Thayer is a multi-instrumentalist who plays a mind boggling assortment of stringed intsruments including but not limited to: Dobro and Weissenborn lap steel guitars, Turkish Oud, Saz and Cumbus, Indian Chaturangui and Mohan Veena, Ragmakamtar, Ukulele and more. His influences include American folk and blues with elements of Indian, Arabic, Turkish, and Southeast Asian music. lloyd has teamed up with former Morphine (and current Vapors of Morphine) drummer Jerome Deupree to release the new single, "King Baby" b/w "90 Guns," the first release on FABCOM! Records.
