Leap Year song "2/29" by Rookie Card acoustic
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I am a band from San Diego. I am the walrus. I am a scientist. I am the resurrection. I am, I am, I am Superman. I am a rock. I am an island. I am.I said. I am a tree. I am one. I am woman (hear me: RAR!). I am what I am (& that's all that I am). I of the tiger. I am a 2006 San Diego Music Award nominee for best pop album. We actually won one of 'em a couple of years ago. For reals.
Rookie Card "Who's Got Dibs?" video
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NEW ALBUM: "WHAT'S ON SECOND?" OUT NOW
Nominated for Best Pop Album at the 2006 San Diego Music Awards
Click to buy from CDBaby.com or
Click to buy Near Mint (2004 San Diego Music Award winner) from CDBaby.com, 11345.com, Notlame.com or
Click to buy demo EP First Day Of Class from 11345.com or Notlame.com
ALL OF OUR ALBUMS ARE AVAILABLE LOCALLY AT M-THEORY MUSIC, OFF THE RECORD AND LOU'S RECORDS!
ONCE UPON A TIME
Internationally unsigned recording artists Rookie Card are off to quite a start. Ever heard of a band's first demo getting nominated for an award? Neither have I. Hailing from San Diego, the band features Adam Gimbel on
lead vocals and guitar, Dylan Martinez on lead guitar, Pete Bayard on bass
and Andrew McNally on drums. They play rock music but have been called
alt-country, indiepop and "damn catchy". The emphasis is always on good
songwriting, smart lyrics, and stick-in-yer-head hooks, which means the
band can knock 'em dead at an indie snob convention OR a San Diego Padres
game. Their demo EP, First Day Of Class, was nominated for Best Local Recording at the 2003 San Diego Music Awards, a feat unheard of for a mostly self-produced debut demo.
In 2004, they released their first full length album, Near Mint on their own Blanco Nino Records. It doesn't sound like a debut album. But it is. The band's energy and kitchen sink influences were perfectly captured by producer Mike Kamoo at San Diego recording hotspot Earthling Studios. The album immediately received a ton of local radio airplay and glowing press (including a coverstory for SD Music Matters Magazine that showed them eating KFC with the world-famous San Diego Chicken). Within 3 weeks of its release, the band was nominated for TWO 2004 SDMA's & invited to play at the awards ceremony, where they took home the award for Best Pop Act. To celebrate its release, Rookie Card played San Diego's legendary Casbah to a near capacity crowd. For a truly memorable encore, they pulled the entire audience outside onto the street for one last song. Being conveniently located in the San Diego Airport flightpath, it wasn't long before a plane flew over and the band broke into the Beatles' "Back In The USSR" without missing a beat. Two minutes and 43 seconds later, another plane flew over. Just like on the White Album. Here's video.
In the years following the release of Near Mint, RC played countless shows, recorded a second record, and Dylan had a son. Preview tracks from their new album, What's On Second?, got over 5000 plays on the band's website and the disc has already been picked as local release of the month by 94.9FM and got them on the cover of the San Diego Union-Tribune's Night & Day section. Reviews are already praising the record as the band's best work by far. The album's twelve tracks include a slew of new instant classics plus two re-recorded versions of early demos, including the ultra-catchy "Green Glo" which is still one of the highest ranking songs of all-time on GarageBand.com. Once again, the band combines a ton of musical influences with country stompers, singalong pop nuggets, 50's style prom themes, and epic rockers that fade into organ lullabies.
Producer Mike Kamoo once again makes it all sound great together, even with a wide variety of guest stars like Joanie Mendenhall on Wurlitzer, Unsteady's John Roy on saxophone, Kite Flying Society's Kelly Duley on piano and Johnny Eager Band's Doug Camphuis on harmonica. Sarcasm and self-deprication rules on songs railing on namedropping, cellphones, possessive breakups and fake country rockstars but the album also includes the dark piano tune "U Put The C" and a tear jerkin' boy/girl duet with songstress Angela Correa. Per usual, pop culture references run throughout the album (Ferris Bueller, Price Is Right, Elliott Smith, Flashdance) and even the album's artwork and secret bonus track are some of the most memorable in recent years. Following the release of the album, the band regrouped with a new lineup that includes Andrew McNally on drums.
The band manage to do something fun and newsworthy more often than not, whether it's plugging into a Judas Priest guitar on the wall during a rawk set at the Hard Rock Cafe, being the first band to ever play "Rock The Casbah" at the Casbah, doing a Halloween show in Star Wars outfits as Wookie Card, playing Weezer's entire first record dressed as old men (Geezer), becoming the first band to ever play with the world's largest outdoor instrument (the 90 year old Spreckles Organ in Balboa Park). In their first couple of years, they've got more local press and shows opening for their heroes than most bands ever will. Plus, they're humble enough not to brag about it.
BRAG
The band has been profiled in CMJ Music Monthly, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego CityBeat, ChinMusic, The Troubadour, SignOnSanDiego.com and, of course, San Diego Jewish Journal.
The band was a featured "On The Radar" artist on mp3.com's homepage, getting over 5000 plays in one week and topping their alt-country, indiepop and power pop charts as a result.
* Their songs have been featured on L'Oreal's Garnier Fructis website, in the surf film "Ultimate Sessions", a Jones Soda documentary, and several
REALLY good mixtapes.
The band has played live on Fox TV's Humane Society telethon and Fox Rox, NBC affiliate KNSD's Sunday morning news show, Balboa Park's huge annual Earth Day fair, San Diego County Fair, Adams Avenue Street Fair, Comicon, San Diego Gulls' post-playoff game party, 91X, 92.1 and 94.9's local radio shows and Jack Murphy Stadium for the last weekend of Padres baseball there.
NAME DROP
Rookie Card has played packed shows from LA's Spaceland & Knitting Factory to SF's Independent and all over San Diego (Casbah, Hard Rock Cafe, Cane's, Belly Up, La Jolla Contemporary Museum of Art)
The band has shared the stage with Violent Femmes, Calexico, The MC5, Louis XIV, Beulah, Dramarama, Elf Power, Clem Snide, the Pernice Brothers, Apples In Stereo, Soul Asylum, Bow Wow Wow, David J (Love & Rockets), ABC, Dramarama, Incredible Moses Leroy, Brothers Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies), Jon Auer (The Posies), the Rugburns, Convoy, General Public, Tommy Stinson, El Vez and other national touring acts.
The band released a song condemning namedropping yet uses an undoctored photo of Jack Black throwing out one of their cd's whenever possible.
