Wow. Today on the Disk Union website in Japan, I was floored to see that our new double album had reached number one (again), this time under the "in stock" section of the Hit Chart ranking.  We are gobsmacked to see our LP sitting above The Beatles and Queen. Such an amazing honour. Thank you Japan, you truly are the best fans ever!

Meanwhile, back in Scotland.... we have been working tirelessly on The Furry White Album. We hope to release this LP in October, probably late October. There are 17 songs slated for this record, a fitting 47 plus minutes of music.

I think that fans of the first LP will very much like our follow-up LP. It is very much a continuation of Rehearsing The Multiverse, with many of the songs having been written in the early to mid 1970's. Ah, but there are one or two that were written in the late 60's as well.

In other news, with the announcement of Rosie and Gavin (McKenzie) to be married later this year, they both now reside in lovely old England. So, that means that the majority of their musical performances have been recorded remotely and then digitally forwarded to me, in Scotland. It's worked out pretty well, but we do miss seeing their happy faces in person, singing and playing until the wee hours.

And, Rosie has just released a fab new single from her soon to be released LP. She is a brilliant writer/musician and she plays every single instrument on her album. She truly is a female Paul McCartney.
Check out her new single here---> 

It's such a great feeling to know that your LP is #1 on any chart. And today this chart happens to be for the "Old Rock" genre at Disk Union in Japan. It is equally mind-blowing to see your LP sitting one notch above one of the best records ever released in the 90's. Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks with Orange Crate Art, it's such an amazing album! I spy Bowie in there too!  Thank you Japan!

Ladies and gentleman, I give you ....Alice Spur Overture
The story of a lonely old woman who went her entire life without ever having fallen in love. And now she laments and daydreams for a love she never had.

We are excited to announce that our NEW double LP is finished and currently off to the printers! Double Entendre is an exclusive double CD set that will only be sold by DIsk Union Records in Japan (and other stores that they distribute the LP to, such as HMV and a few more). This is a limited edition LP, only 300 CDs will be pressed.

Sadly, you have to be in Japan to buy this LP, as I have just learned that Disk Union only ships within Japan. So if you are in Japan, here is the direct link to purchase by way of pre-order: https://diskunion.net/rock/ct/detail/RY200602FG01

The actual release date is July 29th, 2020. And the CD will feature OBI liner notes with commentary.
Inside the disc, there is also an 8 page booklet with photos of the band and lots of info about the songs.

Disc One features our debut LP, Rehearsing the Multiverse.
Disc Two features 8 NEW songs and 7 remixes/demos of various tunes from the debut.

Click on the Disk Union link and it will show you a full track listing for both CDs.

Be on the look our for our NEW single, called "Alice Spur Overture".

Hello!

I have much news to share with you!

Famous Groupies will be releasing a deluxe version (of sorts) of our debut LP "Rehearsing The Multiverse".  This will be a double CD called "Double Entendre". Although, only 300 CDs will be pressed and it will only be available to purchase through Disk Union Records, in Japan. You might be able to buy it online from Disk Union, at this time I only know that they will be selling it in their shops.

Disc One will feature our debut album and Disc two will feature 8 new songs and 7 new remixes of various songs from the debut. For example, there will be an acoustic "campfire-remix" of The Traveller. And, in addition to other remixes, we will include the original demo of Wouldn't That Be Lovely?

The new songs included will feature several that were considered for the debut but didn't quite make the final round for whatever reason.

Double Entendre will be released in July 2020.

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And if that weren't enough, be on the look out for our actual follow up LP.
The Furry White Album will be released in October/November 2020. We are back to work on this album and all I will say is that this record is very similar to our debut, it features a lot of great songs that were written between 1971 and 1978.

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But wait, there's more!
Slated for a release in February 2021, Famous Groupies "The Chameleon Sessions" will probably be our final album. We saved the more obscure and psychedelic (at times) songs for this LP. All will be revealed with this record, and you will even learn who our mystery bass player is (maybe).

The future is looking brighter.

Hello, all.

As we traverse these uncertain times and wait out the storm, we wait for blue skies to soon return.
My blue skies are sort of broken right now... (I'll explain that in a minute).

Well, the 19 songs that have been selected for the follow-up album are comfortably sitting in place and we have recorded a few of them so far. And then we ran into a bit of a set back (thanks to me and my expert bike riding skills). You see, a week ago I was out riding my bike and I took a steep hill with a sharp turn and I flew over the handle bars...  landed on my side, hit my head and broke my clavicle (collar bone).

I even had to have surgery to reconnect the broken bones. Oh well, lesson learned. Meanwhile, my right arm is in a sling and I'm limited (no piano, no guitar). But, I'm reading a lot and writing lots of lyrics too. So, maybe some new songs will come out of this and we can add them to the new album.

We still hope to release the new album no later than October, but hopefully sooner. I'm shooting for summer, fingers crossed.
Stick around as we will be posting snippets of new songs, pics, vids and more crazy stories of my accident pron self.

Cheers!

Kirkcaldy McKenzie  (Slinger Esquire)

blog-shinjuku-rockcd.diskunion.net/Entry/1134/
We are elated to find that our LP (CD) is the #1 best selling CD for the month of January 2020 at Disk Union Japan! There are many Disk Union record shoppes throughout Japan and we are honoured to be featured and sold in their shoppes! We owe a great debt of gratitude to the good people and music lovers of Japan. Thank you so very much! We love you!
And we hope to one day visit Japan and play many live shows there. That is our dream, which we hope will come true.  -  KM and the Famous Groupies

It's official! We have selected songs for the next LP and soon the Famous Groupies will head back into the studio  and begin recording. As I had mentioned before, my Grandfather was a songwriter during the 1960's and 70's. He had left behind a treasure trove of songs and ideas, much of it was written during the early to mid 70's (near as we can tell), and most of it is reminiscent of Paul McCartney & Wings. The family knew that my Grandad liked the Beatles, but we had no idea of his infinity for McCartney, so it's still unclear as to why he wrote in such a similar way. Never the less, we love the songs and we plan on recording as many of them as possible.

It's quite lovely that the songs are already written, as most bands who release a debut album have to spend the better part of a year writing new material for a follow up album. And so it begins.

I will post pictures of us at work in the studio in the coming weeks, and perhaps a bit of video too.
This time around, pulling everyone together in the studio 'at once' will be harder to do. You see, Gavin (McKenzie) and Rosie are engaged to be married this year, and they currently reside in England (where Rosie is from). So making the trips to Scotland will be harder to work in, based on everyone's schedules. But, I can promise that we will make it work and a new LP will indeed be recorded by the McKenzie clan this year.

We still don't have an album title just yet, but eventually we will decide on something.

We would like to thank all of the music lovers in Japan who are buying are CD, you have made our LP a smashing success and we are grateful for that. We know that our Grandad would be delighted to find that his songs are alive and well and being enjoyed around the world (esp. Japan).

Thank you all!   ~ Kirkcaldy McKenzie and the Famous Groupies

This album is dedicated to my Grandfather. Seanair Patrick "Paisley" McKenzie.
For without him none of these songs would have ever been heard.
 
I come from a very musical family, even going further back than my Grandad. Patrick McKenzie was a
an up and coming Scottish session player in the early 60's, he would spend much of his time as a lad with a guitar in hand. He could play any instrument he set his sights on and he had a wonderful sense of melody, which would always shine during an impromptu performance. Impromptu performances happened allot around the family home, as there were many pianos strategically placed to be sure.
 
Patrick McKenzie would grace many records during the hey-day of the 60's and 70's, and he would eventually ghostwrite for many small and big name artists too. I could name-drop one big artist that he wrote for, but you wouldn't believe anyway. No one would. Still, here we are.
 
A few years ago I came across a wealth of material, songs that he had written during the early to mid 1970's. Some were finished and fully realized songs and many were simply just ideas he had jotted down or recorded on an old tape recorder. I spent days with these songs, one after the other...playing them on my guitar or piano and listening to the degraded tape recordings. I knew one thing, and that was that I needed to record these songs and release them. They needed to be heard. So I selected 30 or so songs, filled in the blanks, co-wrote a few that needed finishing and played them for my band mates. From there, we whittled them down to about 20 or so and picked the right ones for the album.
 
What you are hearing with this release is just me and my Clan scratching the surface of an otherwise bottomless treasure chest filled with great songs written during the golden age of the 1970's.
 
I invite you to put on your headphones, close your eyes and travel back in time to the golden age of music
when almost everything you heard on the radio was ridiculously melodic and crafted with care.
 
Kirkcaldy McKenzie