PRESS INQUIRIES: [email protected]
For more about the band, visit https://campsite.bio/bobbyjoeebola
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10/15/24
PRESS INQUIRIES: [email protected] • For more about the band, visit https://campsite.bio/bobbyjoeebola
The 20-song double album Solar Cantata, the first new Bobby Joe Ebola record in 12 years, officially drops November 19, 2024!
Apocalyptic earworms for troubled times.
Satiric musical duo Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits announced November 19 as the official release date for Solar Cantata, the band’s first studio release since 2012’s Trainwreck to Narnia. The album was recorded in 75 days beginning in late 2023 at the new Palm and Vine Recording in Cotati, CA, the former location of the North Bay Area’s legendary Prairie Sun Recording. Helming Palm and Vine’s recording console and production duties for Solar Cantata is Gabriel Winter, a studio engineer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who many years ago had been a fan of Bobby Joe Ebola as an eleven year old punk rocker.
Solar Cantata’s 20 songs showcase the band’s trademark melodic earworms, scathing social satire and unsettling musical storytelling with moments of earnest vulnerability to create glimpses of an unfolding apocalypse; taken together, Solar Cantata asks how we got here, and how we find meaning, and even hope, in a world seemingly bent on self-destruction.
The new album explores a wide range of genres, from hard rock and folk rock to big band and heavy metal, from funk to punk to klezmer and beyond. Solar Cantata’s ambitious musicality and cinematic scale are brought to life by over 50 musicians including Frank Piegaro (Worriers, Plot 66, Leftover Crack), Gabriel Winter (Junior Toots, Dubcraft), Noaa Rienecker (solo artist, NPR's Tiny Desk Top Shelf finalist), Jason Willer (Charger, Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine, UK Subs, Nik Turner of Hawkwind), Joel Berhman (K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Boz Scaggs, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Tony! Toni! Tone!), Erica “Unwoman” Mulkey (solo artist, Amanda Palmer, Stripmall Architecture, Rasputina), Craig Billmeier (The Love Songs, World Air Guitar champion), Danny Graziani (DoSomething, The Adicts), Dylan Blackthorn (That Damned Band, 999 Eyes, Mazel Tov Kocktail Hour, Thee HoboGobbelins), Melissa Jones (Singer, Songwriter, Author), Julian Hogan (Goapele, The Hogan Bros.), Mike Olmos (Rosemary Clooney, Etta James, Michael Buble), Daniel Casares (AttaKid, Otis McDonald), Miles Blackwell (California Honeydrops, Phases), Jason Kocol (Impaled), Lucas Warford (Three for Silver), and many more.
Surreal and stunning album art makes the gatefold double-vinyl format of this album a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. Solar Cantata’s front cover is an original piece by Winston Smith, the iconic Punk Surrealist who designed the Dead Kennedys logo and whose subversive collage art helped shape the visual aesthetic of punk art. The inside gatefold features an original painting from legendary fantasy artist Erol Otus, known for his often-psychedelic illustrations for early Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks. The back cover and 12-page insert boasts tin-type images from acclaimed photographer and installation artist Michael Garlington. Layout and design were done by illustrator and longtime Bobby Joe Ebola collaborator Jason Chandler.
Solar Cantata officially drops on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms on November 19, 2024, and is available now for pre-order at https://bobbyjoeebola.bandcamp.com/album/solar-cantata as a digital download, a double LP with 12 page insert, or CD.
About the band:
Sometimes known as simply Bobby Joe Ebola, songwriting duo and high school pals Dan Abbott and Corbett Redford first formed the band in 1995, which became the flagship nucleus of the vibrant Geekfest scene at the fringes of East Bay punk. The band toured relentlessly in the US and beyond and recorded over 100 original songs for a variety of releases, all while producing music videos, books, zines and more.
The band went on hiatus in the mid 2010s to focus on other projects, though the two still collaborated often. Released in 2017, Redford directed and produced the acclaimed feature documentary Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk with executive producers Green Day and narration by Iggy Pop. Abbott also worked on the film, serving as story editor. In 2022 the duo appeared as themselves in an animated short called That Sucks, which boasted of an all star cast including Weird Al Yankovic, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Dexter Holland of Offspring, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Jonah Ray and more.
