What if you could take the attitude and raw rock and roll fury of the Sex Pistols and fuse it with the sass and fun of the Spice Girls?

This was the question Hairy Scary Spice (Mike Muellenberg) asked himself, and the rest of the world in 2017. Ginger Binger Spice (John Risdon) and Maybe Baby Spice (Michael Fairchild) were brought on board with Shorty Sporty Spice (Mike Van Dyle) as the genesis of The Spice Pistols.

In their first year as a band they performed on Americas Got Talent, and were summarily x’d out of existence by Simon Cowell. He relented that the Spice Pistols sounded better than the original. But still, fuck you Simon!

Over the next few years the band went through a few drummers and has worked with James Lightbody, Dider Suarez, Dave Klein, Rick Agnew, and Jim Isaac. They played shows in the Southern California area as well as recording and releasing a demo.

In 2020, the core line up added Mosh Posh Spice (Doug Walker) and began touring. After a successful tour supporting seminal punk rockers Agent Orange, the Spice Pistols are releasing music through Pacific Records and Wet Records.

The Spice Pistols fuse fun and playfulness with a high energy powerful rock show, and are ready to bring their particular brand of party to a stage near you!

Manual Scan returns with, Shooting Stars (PAC 129), their first new studio work in more than three decades! Released by Pacific Records, the new recordings find the band in fine form, turning in five short sharp bursts of melodic rock ‘n’ roll energy. Founded in 1981, Manual Scan still features the frontline of Bart Mendoza (vocals, guitar), Kevin Ring (guitar, vocals) and David Fleminger (keyboards), alongside the ace rhythm section of Tim Blankenship (bass) and Jarrod Lucas (drums). 

Manual Scan started up after the demise of La Jolla High School based group, The Pedestrians, at the beginning of 1981. The band quickly became a California clubland favorite, gigging throughout the state, performing with the likes of The Bangles, The Plimsouls, No Doubt, The Romantics, The Untouchables, The Godfathers, General Public and many others. 

Manual Scan released its first EP, Plan of Action, in 1982, ultimately releasing records in England, The U.S., Sweden and Spain, and showing up on the playlists of radio DJ’s around the world, from Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ) to John Peel (BBC). In 1989 the band’s song “Nothing Can Be Everything” was included in the Sony Pictures crime drama, A Girl to Kill For, while the band has also toured frequently, with gigs at the 100 Club (London, England), Mabuhay Gardens (San Francisco), Purple Weekend (Leon, Spain) and Rancho Grande (Tijuana, Mexico) amongst the highlights.

The new EP’s five songs ably show off the band’s mod / powerpop roots and rock and roll spirit – Look for Manual Scan to also return to the live circuit this year as they ramp up for even more new music!

West Coast blues. Americana. Funky, fuzzed-out soul. #1 Blues artist Shane Hall plays it all, rolling a wide range of inspiration into his own multi-layered sound.

It’s a diverse musical mix that shines a light not only on Hall’s guitar playing and larger-than-life voice, but on his sharply-written songs, too. That songwriting reaches a new high-water mark with West, River, and Queen, three interconnected EPs that serve as his first releases for LAW Records. Each record focuses on a different side of Hall’s musical personality. There’s West, a collection of bold, bluesy songs that mix fiery fretwork with amplified stomp. Then there’s River, a rootsy EP inspired by the acoustic music — from Appalachian folk songs to MTV Unplugged performances — that soundtracked Hall’s childhood days in Pennsylvania, before a 16-year stint in the U.S. military took him around the world. Wrapping up the trio of releases is Queen, whose songs fuse the groove and grit of soul music to the swagger of rock & roll, nodding to influences like Charles Bradley, James Brown, and the Alabama Shakes along the way. 

“I don’t think it’s possible for me to stay in one single lane,” says Hall. “I’d have a hard time only being a blues guy, or an outlaw Americana songwriter, or a soul singer, because I’m all of those things. Billy Gibbons once said you should make music that you’d want to listen to, and I listen to so many different things. I’m a blues-soul-Americana artist, so why not put all of those sounds onto my records?”

Years relocating to San Diego (where he recorded the 14 songs that comprise West, River, and Queen in two inspired days, capturing the tracks with his well-seasoned road band in a series of live takes), Hall grew up in the Rust Belt. His mother and stepfather who sang folk songs around the house, and Hall quickly fell in love with acoustic music. Before long, his tastes deepened and diversified, encompassing not only his parents’ Peter Paul & Mary records, but also the gospel music that filled his church every Sunday morning, the blues pioneers whose music inspired personal heroes like Jimi Hendrix, and the grunge songs that dominated the radio stations in his hometown of Harrisburg, PA. Once graduation came, Hall left Harrisburg for good, whisked halfway across the world as a member of the U.S. Marines. 

Italy. Iraq. Japan. Hall spent plenty of time in all three. While working for the military, he also cut his teeth as a musician, kicking things off as a solo act. He’d play coffeehouses and open mics, steadily sharpening his sound — and his guitar playing — along the way. Later, while stationed in Iwakuni, Japan, he began performing with the house band at a local bar. He was as natural frontman — a big-voiced singer who could play, too, driving the group forward with bluesy blasts of electric guitar — and before long, Hall was touring his way from military base to military base. He released a string of albums, too, including Less Than Vintage (recorded at Studio M in Hiroshima), Thick Teeth (tracked in North Carolina, not long before his move to Southern California), and Human Condition. 

If Human Condition, with its road-tested tracklist and proudly diverse arrangements, marked a turning point for Shane Hall, then the West River Queen project finds him officially hitting his stride. Like Human Condition, these songs were molded and perfected onstage, with Hall playing as many as six shows a week for several years in a row. And like the songs themselves, his performances have been eclectic, ranging from one-man shows to power-trio gigs to soulful, collaborative shows featuring a horn section and an eight-piece band. The West, River, and Queen EPs make good use of that versatility. There are southern-sounding ballads, country shuffles, and full-blown, fuzz-rock freakouts. There are bursts of brass and layers of coed harmonies. Tying the whole mix together is Shane Hall himself: a dynamic performer who’s built his career the old-school way, playing shows night after night, distilling his influences into a sound that’s both wide-ranging and focused. 

Tourmaliners (pronounced The Tur – Mo – Leen – ers) - A dynamic Surf Guitar Band from San Diego CA. Winner of "Best Rock Album" at the 2023 San Diego Music Awards and Pipeline Instrumental Reviews' (UK) 2023 “Album of the Year.”  The Tourmaliners blend the raw instrumental guitar sounds of Dick Dale, Link Wray and The Ventures mixed with fun dance-able tiki vibrations and spy gyrations… all while watching a cool Spaghetti Western from outer space.

With a “Tiki” Waikīkī’ vibe, Slack Key ‘Ohana®  blends beautiful Hawaiian melodies with Beach Boys / Elvis Presley style harmonies, using old school recording techniques, to craft their signature sound. Comprised of Brian Witkin & Kamaka Mullen, Slack Key ‘Ohana® is a Kaleponi (California) based guitar duo with an expansive roster of guest musicians augmenting their sound, in both studio and live performances. 

Originally from Wales, Jonny Tarr always knew he would end up in California. He started playing the saxophone when he was 11 years old to get girls’ attention, but ended up loving the instrument. He got involved with Jazz early on and found that this was a solid foundation for understanding other genres of music. Tarr went to Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts to get his music degree and after college he toured Europe, the US, and Japan. He played nearly every major festival in the UK, as well as opened for acts such as Goldie, The Egg, Breakbeat Era, and Gil Scott Heron during the early 2000s. He was also part of the bands Part Time Heroes and The Nextmen (with whom he wrote and sang the tune “Rockets” which has now had over 2.5 million streams on Spotify). Tarr was one of the first people in Europe to play saxophone with House music DJs and found that he was mostly interested in music that made people dance. He soon taught himself how to play guitar and piano and used his understanding of music theory to help him start bands and create unique solo shows. On top of this, he is consistently involved with a wide range of projects as well as his own band – The Jonny Tarr Quintet. Since moving to the United States, he has opened for acts like The Victor Wooten Trio, Ozomatli, The Family Stone, and The Pink Floyd Experience, as well as shared the stage with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Bebe Winans. Jonny Tarr recently won the San Diego Music Award for Best Pop Artist in 2020 and headlined the NAMM show’s D’Angelico Stage 2020 with his Quintet.

Kela Sako’s music is the culmination of the sounds and feels taken in while growing up in a family that moved around to new places frequently. Growing up in a chaotic environment and always being the “new student” forced her to find solitude and solace in the music her parents would play for herself and five other siblings. 

Starting from simple poetry recitals, plays and musicals, to talent shows and high school performances with her sister, then graduating to writing and recording her first original composition in Underground Studio on Haight Street “I am beautiful” (2014), Kela gained notable features with artists from Japan, Australia and France performing her first headlining show in Sacramento at The Antiquite in 2019. 

Izzy Delan is a Bay Area queer artist who has been writing and singing original songs since the age of 11. She credits her mother, Lisa Delan, a renowned American soprano and published poet, as one of her main inspirations.

Equal parts introspection and communication, her indie folk blend bridges the gap between self and other. She holds a strong belief that music shapes, colors, sustains, and connects us, citing Joni Mitchell, Elliott Smith, and The  Beatles among her musical influences. Her songs evoke a nuanced emotional longing as they provide a coping mechanism for life’s traumas and mental health challenges.

Sean Witkin is a multi-instrumentalist based out of San Diego, CA. The son of former Sha-Na-Na keyboardist Joe Witkin, Sean began drumming at the age of 6 and playing guitar at the age of 7. He was exposed to a wide variety of musical styles throughout his childhood, with influences ranging from The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Kansas, Lynard Skynard, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Metallica and others from the classic rock era.

Sean spent a number of years playing primarily rock/pop music, but always had a strong interest in electronic dance music (EDM). He stepped away from rock music and explored beat-making, and has found a unique style of electronic pop with a subtle hint of rock-edge. He is pursuing a genre of his own, hoping to gather interest from fans across a variety of genres of music.

Once Sean started college, he took a strong interest in audio engineering and had the opportunity to track, produce, mix and master artists at studios such as Studio West in Rancho Bernardo and LoveJuice Labs in Riverside CA. After accelerating his studies in college, Sean took an 8-year hiatus from music to pursue his Doctorate in Physical Therapy. While he was not actively playing or recording in the music scene, he remained inspired by artists including Yellowcard, Green Day, Thrice, Story of the Year, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Static-X and Korn.