Photo by David Brendan Hall
Last month, prolific California garage wizard John Dwyer announced his Damaged Bug project would return on March 10th with a new album, Bunker Funk. Coming from Dwyer’s own Castle Face Records, the Cold Hot Plumbs follow-up is described as the band’s “most rhythmically adventurous offering yet.” Lead single “Bog Dash” certainly took an eerie path through its shrieking three-minute length, and the beat of new track “Unmanned Scanner” is downright extraterrestrial.
“Unmanned Scanner” finds pulsating feedback buzzing like an alien transmission spliced with funky blues rock licks. It’s the aural equivalent of an ’80s sci-fi comedy, complete with monotone delivery of the lyrics as Dwyer sing/talks, “Roll your eyes and drop your gun/ The world is dying, oh my God/ To be alive right now is such a gas.” Take a listen below.
Bunker Funk isn’t the only work Dwyer will be putting out via Castle Face this March, either. He’s today announced the release of Exploded Globes, a retrospective book collecting a number of the concert and art posters he’s made over the years. Compiling work from 1999 to 2016, the fabric-bound hardcover coffee table book features the “bold, brash, lovingly imperfect prints” alongside a few of Dwyer’s stories from the nights the posters were advertising.
“I’m really not a huge fan of the typical rock poster,” Dwyer writes in the book’s forward. “It can be a tedious format to look at, especially after years of playing shows and a million posters, so I try to make something from a bit of a different place.”
Exploded Globes will be available via Castle Face Records and at select retailers on March 24th. Take a look at the cover and an exclusive peek at some of the posters below.
Exploded Globes Book Cover:
Coachwhips Poster:
Feather Gong and Total Shutdown Poster:
Thank You Poster:
