Joey Racano at Huntington Beach Pier Plaza (photo by Mary Stampone)
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Above: Working at the Studio on a song
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At right: Joey Racano appearing with the 'Tigersharks' at Peppers, City of Industry
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Search this site for more archival footage!
Joey Racano & the Tigersharks perform 'Blue Highways' off the Wild Bird album LIVE! at Gallagher's Irish Pub,
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above: Joey plays Berkeley 1990
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Visit us on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/Lupinesong-Recording-Studio-504834133056343/
Welcome to my band site! First thing's first, here is the new single 'Medicine Wheel' from the latest CD, still in production:
https://youtu.be/2FoXx_B3OSs
Several months earlier...
...the studio is officially back in action, with a brand new CD underway. The first thing on the agenda is to untangle the logjam of new music inside my head that keeps playing itself over and over- and will continue doing so until it is finally recorded. Then, it stops. Did you ever see the movie 'Scanners'? It's like that.
At this blogging, I have the drum track chosen and the bass and lyrics written. I am working hard every day to develop the stamina to record the bass line. Not there just yet- right, hand? (looks down at throbbing right hand) 'Right' answers painful picking hand. The first tune is called 'Tell the truth', inspired by the horrible 2016 US Presidential election. Another rock/blues/rap hybrid jammie. This is what the whole CD will likely be. I am loving writing this stuff, and have finished song one and am working on song two. Here is a link to the finished first song on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/emcee-neapolitan/tell-the-truth-1
We expanded the recording studio so we could fit a drum kit in there, but due to logistical problems, (drummer can't afford to fly in from New York and doesn't want to be away from his therapist more than 1 week) we are stuck using a drum machine again. The good news- it doesn't matter, my new shit kicks holy ass anyway June bug!
Meanwhile, we still have one last recording to mix and master from the ICE project at Sutton Sound (see below). More on Lupinesong next time! Keep on rockin'!
-joey racano
The 'ICE' project- a resurrection :
Back in the Studio: 32 years after laying down the basic trax, recording has resumed on my very first project! The scene has switched from South Florida to Central California, where the 5 surviving recordings of a 30-song project are now being completed. These last 5 tunes represent 'ICE', a rock power trio I fronted in 1983.
Stay tuned for the finished product, featuring Chuck Ugalde on Bass, Mike Sciarrino on Drums and yours truly on Guitar and Vocals. Special thanx go out to David at Thin Brown Line Studios in Anaheim Hills for the great work on baking the multi-track analog tape and resurrecting the songs, and to Rick Sutton at my new studio of choice, Sutton Sound, in Atascadero, California. It's a real trip singing with yourself 32 years later! Finally, Thanks to our Producer, Sandra Brazil!
Below: Joey & the Tigersharx perform 'Down Hearted' off the Wild Bird album LIVE! @ Gallaghers, Huntington Beach Calif. 3-8-00...
Latest Developments as of 12/25/2016:
Wouldn't you know it, with only one song left to mix & master, Sutton Sound Studio is shutting its doors after 40 years in action! But thanx to the work of Rick Sutton, we were able to complete the final mix at Baywood Tracks in Los Osos California. Stay tuned on that. It will be the finished 5-song extended play CD representing all the music of ICE. (Of course, there were 35 original songs recorded at soundcheck recording studio in Fort Meyers Florida, but owner Jim Becker destroyed them all and re-sold the tapes. What a scumbag! Fortunately, we saved 5 songs and these are those 5). The project is called: 'ICE- Defrosted'.
With (Sutton) studio closing down, we bought some of Sutton's gear, including a setup that not only prints and designs CD labels directly on the CD, no paper label, but it also can burn 10 CD's at once! So if you want any of my CD's, you can order them with a single e mail to:
joeysingstheblues@yahoo.com
Welcome to the official home of the MUSIC of the 'OBB' (Original Brooklyn Bad-boy), JOEY RACANO!
That tough guy on the right there, that was me, living in the streets and fronting some crazy rock/fusion hybrid, circa 1990. That's the famous Haste & Telegraph mural on the wall behind me in Berkeley, California. I remember that axe, too, it was a borrowed Peavey T-15, which I promptly spray painted flourescent orange with black tiger stripes. That was my style back then, my way of saying, "That's a fairly dangerous guitar man right there!"
Oh but those were the days! Starving, sleeping in a not-running 1977 Volkswagon Campmobile, stuck on the side streets of Berkeley at 'People's Park'. No freaking thank you. Babes all over the place though, yes. The cowboy hat was also borrowed, from my best friend and fellow street urchin 'Hank'. Hank had a dog named Shunka- American Indian word for dog, I was told. I moved away from there when I saved enough quarters from playing in front of Mrs Field's Cookies and bought a car. Drove out of Oaktown and all the way to Huntington Beach, where I wrote a song for Hank called 'Fabric of Society.' Hank used to tell me about his days on the streets and back alleys of New York. He knew a guy there who played a wicked blues piano at the local hotel restaurant. The guy would get off work, join Hank and the boys in the alley out back and drink all night long with them. One morning, when the boys returned, they found the piano guy dead. He fell asleep and froze. They decided to remove the man's I.D. so he would go down as a John Doe. This, to spare his family from knowing the truth about where and how he died. The song came out pretty good and when some friends from Berkeley came down to visit me in my new world, I showed it to them. They said, "Man, that's a good song!" I told them I wrote it for Hank and couldn't wait to show him. They looked at each other and then back at me, and said, "Hank's dead. He got killed over a welfare check." The song is on my first CD, 'Wild Bird'. -jr 
Above and below: Joey Racano opening for Bonnie Raitt, Bolsa Chica State Beach 9-21-96.
Right: Joey Racano and Marco Forconi recording WILD BIRD at Studio 1605, Huntington Beach, California, 1999 
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In the Studio
Joey Racano in Berkeley, California, 1990
Here's 'Fabric of Society', the only acoustic song on the CD 'WILD BIRD' (1999). Recorded at Studio 1605, Huntington Bch. Calif. Engineered by Marco Forconi, Produced by Reynaldo Macias jr and performed live-in-studio by Joey Racano. Note the beautiful sound of 'Ol' Number Seven', a custom acoustic guitar built by Terry Scheffer.
WILD BIRD About the CD/album 'WILD BIRD: How it was named...If you know anything about me, you know I am a vociferous defender of the California coast and ocean. One of my heroes was a very special woman named Margaret Wentworth Oweings. She did more to save the coast than anybody of her day. She kept Pacific Coast Highway from being expanded into a 6 lane superhighway, keeping it beautiful. Her husband was a famous architect who built her a home in the cliffs above California's Big Sur. That home she called Wild Bird. The musicians... Joey Racano...All Guitars and vocals Brad Cummings........................Bass River Blue........................Harmonica Dave Blazer.........................Trumpet Produced by Reynaldo Macias Junior * Engineered by Marco Forconi * Recorded at Studio 1605, Huntington Bch. Calif. 1999 
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Back in Sutton Sound Studio, Atascadero, California for the last guitar riffs and on to post production. Yesterday's session included a dreamy guitar solo and then mixdown of one of the so-called 'lost songs', this one entitled, 'I Wonder Why'. Originally recorded 8 track analog at Sound Check Recording Studio in Fort Meyers Florida, the bass and high hat were a bit compromised by the tape recording being 32 years old! But Rick worked with it and it is a cup half full situation. I lost about 19 excellent recordings from the original project and I am so glad to at least have these 5 tunes, with the original youthful energy! I have decided not to release any of it until they are all mixed and mastered, which should be a couple of more months. After 32 years, what's the hurry, right? :) I called Mike Sciarrino, the drummer on the project, in New York and let him know we were recording - at least *I* was recording- "You recorded 32 years ago" I told him!
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'ICE' on the beach:
The year was 1985 and the band was ICE. On drums was Kenneth MacDonald, a native of West Virginia. Photo taken during performance on a flat bed trailor on Fort Myers Beach Florida! 
On September 8th, 1982, I left New York and headed for South Florida, where I had a job waiting at the 2 family bakeries. I used the money to put myself through the studio and recorded my first project, Ride the Monster'
As soon as I got to Cape Coral, I set up in my mother's garage and took out an ad in the local rag for a drummer. That is how I met Mike Sciarrino. Mike was a product of the metal era of 80's glam, and dressed the part. But his chops were the best I have ever heard, before or since. We played together for 6 years, including a tour of the bay area of California. Mike's work can be heard on 'ICE'- out of the permafrost' Pictured above, Mike plays the Lee County Arena with me, February, 1985. Photo by Burnell Caldwell |
Welcome to Joey Sings the Blues, featuring the blues, rock, rap, and art of Joey Racano. Recorded live, studio, electric or acoustic, my music can't easily be categorized. My rock can include a rap or hip hop component, and my rap often features hard rock guitar riffing. Even my blues is anything but traditional. I write an occasional pop tune, enjoy composing barbershop harmonies, and mix all of the above. I do not apologize. I play guitar and bass and I like to sing the blues. I've been playing for 37 years, and am still writing and recording.
I want to save the world.
View Special Archival Footage!
Joey opening for Ralph Nader, 2000 US Presidential campaign, Chapman University, Orange County, California (video by Mary Stampone)
I want to save the world.
View Special Archival Footage!
Joey opening for Ralph Nader, 2000 US Presidential campaign, Chapman University, Orange County, California (video by Mary Stampone)
FEEDBACK CORNER:
"Joey Racano is a throw back to when men with guitars changed the world" -Will Swaim, OC WEEKLY
"I wish you would post more songs on youtube. And the sound of your guitar flows through my veins, ,like I grew up with it." -Nicole Kater, Costa Rica
"Joey is one of the true unstoppable forces of nature" -Mark Bixby, Huntington Beach, California
"A damfine musician" -Jim Washburn, author of 'Martin Guitars, An Illustrated Celebration of America's Premier Guitarmaker'