Double Naught Spy Car

(Formerly known as "Pink Floyd The Barber")

They said about the band... "This L.A. quartet sometimes lends their all-instrumental support to the readings of James Ellroy, that hardest of hard-boiled crime novelists. Like Ellroy's novels, Double Naught Spy Car's debut combines dead-on noir flavor with a modern perspective that's both brutal and poetic. Despite an infatuation with the lower depths of pop culture (the band's name is lifted from a Beverly Hillbillies episode), light music this ain't. Guitarist/lap-steeler Paul Lacques and guitarist Marcus Watkins attack their instruments with a snub-nosed intensity that recalls the raised-middle-finger meanness of Link Wray and Marc Ribot. Many noveau-instrumental combos excel at retro vibe, but few mix the past and present so convincingly." Joe Gore, Guitar Player "The Ventures on Valium, from a quartet of popular and ubiquitous locals who used to be called Pink Floyd The Barber. What sets this mysterious outfit from the rest of the current surf-and-spy glut is the generous use of lap steel guitar and a fondness for spare, twangy interpretations of jazz standards." Buzz Magazine 'Top 10 LA CDs of 1997' "Nothing sizzles like a couple of good guitar players crisscrossing a stoked rhythm griddle, and if you've got that, who needs some crotch-clutching singer blubbering over his bay-beh? Talkin' 'bout Double Naught Spy Car's non-talkin' (instrumental) music: Davey Allan biker burn banked with a layer of Chicago chug and huffed with a mean L.A. smog. The double naughties are six-stringers Marcus Watkins and Paul Lacques; dig Paul's dentals while feeling his lap steel lines rip up your back like space rays. Spy Car's new CD, Comb In Blue Water, delivers its densities like few other recordings in this frangible digital age, so don't try to use it as background sound, because it won't leave you alone. Perspiration is permitted." Greg Burk, L.A. WEEKLY "Double Naught Spy Car rocks, socks, rolls, roils, and sizzles. This is a swinging, raunchy, bluesy, throaty, growling L.A. band. Their tunes rock, their musicianship rolls, their overall brainpower sizzles. Double Naught Spy Car rules. Woof." James Ellroy, crime novelist "Have you ever wondered what King Crimson would sound like if they were a, oh, let's say, 'bar band'? Probably not, but that description certainly fits Double Naught Spy Car, a quirky quartet with leanings toward Captain Beefheart, surf music and prog rock. Yes, it's just as wacked-out as it sounds, but what a sight they are to behold on stage. I saw 'em at Spaceland a few weeks back and the place was packed (duh, it was Monday night-no cover!). Jim Freek, BAM Magazine "Lounge-core...a musical highlight" San Francisco Bay Guardian "A tantalizing concoction of tribal folk music" STROBE Magazine "Killer! This recording is better than any instrumental release I've heard all year" Glenn Dicker, Upstart/Rounder Records "Embracing space rock, chamber pop, jazz punk, and everything in between, the outer reaches of the recent instrumental boom." Guitar Player Magazine "Don't look for the swirling barber pole, but rather bend your ear for the melodies inspired by Floyd. Pink Floyd The Barber has combined unique instrumentation to create some of the most pleasurable new music around. Perfect songs to lounge with by the cement pond." Jim Dunfrund, Surfwave, KXLU "Combines a noirish sense of instrumental mystery with a present-day sense of, well, instrumental mystery." Buzz Magazine