Singles and CD's — The Marina Swingers

The Marina Swingers Singles and CD’s

“I’m a Swinger”

Recorded in 1977 - released by LAX Records and later on Compilation CD’s distributed by Wahala Records in Belgium and Marina Records in Germany

“Sunken Treasures”

This Swinger compilation was completed in 2000 and released for distribution by CD Baby.

“Me Cherona” / “USC”

Recorded in 1980 - 100 singles were produced and distributed. “Me Cherona” made Dr. Demento’s Top 10 on two occassions.

“Go Johnny Go”

A political CD that was never distributed - Can be heard in the “Unreleased Audio Recordings” “Outthere Subsection”

“Fun Fun Fun” / Admiralty Way”

Recorded in 1980 by Allan Gelbard Productions and 100 singles were released for distribution.

“The Barack Obama Song - “The Marina Swingers”

A political tribute song, distributed by CD Baby. Was immediately produced into a You Tube video….

I’m a Swinger

In 1977 and 1978 Jocko and Eddie recorded “I’m a Swinger” in a recording studio buried in the back of corporate offices in Torrance, CA. LMU buddies Toddius Maximus, Cheryl Stotler and Dave Cantu provided back ground vocals and LAX Records took the master tapes to Gold Star Studios and generated a wonderful mix of the tracks. The amazing Michael Muffins added lyrics to another Marina Swinger instrumental recording resulting in the B side. The great artwork was created by Fran’s Graphics. Stella at KXLU first played “I’m a Swinger,” Dr. Demento at KMET gave it a whirl on his syndicated network show and “Jed the Fish” at KROQ played “Swinger” on a Friday nite.

“Me Cherona” “USC”

The Swingers in 1980 booked a couple recording sessions in an eight tract studio on Western Blvd. in Hollywood. The first night they layed down all the instrumental tracts for “Me Cherona” and “USC,” and then all heck broke loose on the second nite. The Swingers invited their buddies “Tans from the Sun” (aka “Burns on the Buns”) to assist with the extensive overdubbing of vocals on “USC” (with 8 people recording multiple tracks from different spots in the studio), allowing us to create a cheering section of slightly inebriated and overly enthusiastic Trojan fans. Tan’s lead vocalist Barbera helped on Cherona, while the other Tans and the Swingers enjoyed a couple beverages before the chaos began and the engineer rolled tape on the make shift SC cheering section. The studio engineer along with the Swingers mixed the tracks and our friend and radio icon Dr. Demento spun the record. “Me Cherona” made Dr. D’s top ten twice and “USC” was played once, but came to the attention of a Trojan alumni producer, however nothing developed. The initial live performance of “Cherona” at the Roxy was a scream. Photographs by Gene Depiano photography and the art work fold out was created by Fran Graphics.

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This actual Demento recorded vinyl included a Swinger song “Repetition” (produced by Jimmy Burque and Eddie) which he played on his show in 1984. We were so happy to see Dr. Demento in 1981 at the Starwood when he came upstairs to our dressing room. Dr. Demento was a powerful influence and motivator to a lot of artists at that time trying to get some airplay. A great guy……

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“Fun Fun Fun” “Admiralty Way”

Allan Gelbard, a recording engineer and great friend and supporter of the Swingers, offered the Swingers a chance in 1981 to record in North Hollywood after hours following a well known heavy metal band’s rehearsal sessions. That of course meant that the Swingers needed to stay up late (all nite) and then go to work in the morning. Eddie had to work at nite so after work, he would drive to sessions at two in the morning far after recording sessions had already begun. Allan did a great job coordinating and engineering the sessions. Art work on the single was shot by Gene Depiano Photography.

“Sunken Treasures”

What an adventure gathering all the older Swinger classics and assembling them into a cohesive compilation CD. However, the Swingers did not perform or market the product. So “Sunken Treasures” sank to the bottom of the Marina with all their other gems. Some classics are on this CD…. The artwork alone is worth the price of admission. Some of the most notable tracks include: “Darkest Nite",” “Casual,” Respect,” “Repetition” and the outrageous “Get on Down Now.” We still possess some “Sunken Treasure” CD’s and they are on sale!!!

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The inside of the CD casing has a large two sided poster mosaic of the Swingers and the liner notes are keyboardist Esteban’s finest work as a writer; cynical, funny and very Esteban. The colorful and brilliant artwork was mostly created by Jocko, but we all pitched in.

Go Johnny Go!!

The Swingers took a quick stab at helping a Presidential candidate they admired and recorded a song having fun with the whole concept of Senator John Carey defeating President George W. Bush in his reelection bid. They sent a copy of the quickly produced CD to a Congressman, also whom they admired. The Congressman sent a note back “I loved your CD, I will pass it around in Boston” (at the Democratic Convention). This note (see below) was greatly appreciated resulting in the Marina Swingers, four years later, creating a much larger production of another political tribute “The Barack Obama Song - The Marina Swingers.” The “Obama Song” video can be viewed in our video section.

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“The Barack Obama Song - The Marina Swingers”

Our previous effort to help Senator John Carey could not battle the “Swift boat” attack against candidate Carey, so four years later the Swingers regrouped and wrote and produced “The Barack Obama Song.” Seven Democrats and Republicans contributed and Dulong Synthetics produced a 4 1/2 minute video on You Tube. During this effort The Swingers explored their appreciation of Big Band Jazz and surf music with an obvious Swinger twist. Look under our video section for direct access to the video. Marina Swinger fraternity brothers Mike Brison and JD added some terrific guitar parts and Jimmy Burque and Mike Brison’s vocal support was significant. Someone said that Raquel Maddow played a small segment of the song, but that has not been confirmed - a question of fact?