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Up Close with Mel Spinella of Golly Gee Records
Surf and Rockabilly is His Label’s Specialty
 [Lance Monthly] What is your age, and marital status?
Mel Spinella I'm 39 years old, married and have a 5-year-old princess. (I'm a regular customer of Disney - I'm not sure if my daughter has more fun on the rides or shopping in the stores).
[Lance Monthly] Where were you born, reared, and presently live?
Mel Spinella I was born and raised on Long Island in New York until I went to University at Drake U. in Des Moines (Actuarial Science and Accounting double major). From there I kept moving West to the land of sunshine, great waves and beautiful women. Other than a couple of years that I spent in London on an international management development program, I have resided here in Southern California. From the Disney reference above, you can guess that I'm still here in SoCal. I'm a partner with the firm of Deloitte & Touche.
[Lance Monthly] What got you interested in music?
Mel Spinella I've been interested in music my whole life. My mom was a 50s Rockabilly gal and her collection of 45s included Carl Perkins ("Blue Suede Shoes/Honey Don't" on the original Sun Records label pressing), Gene Vincent, Elvis (just about everything from the 50s RCA releases including all the Sun reissues), Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy, The Virtues ("Guitar Boogie Shuffle"/"Guitars In Orbit" - great songs that I still enjoy today - these are the tunes that made me want to pick up the guitar and play), Bill Justis, Owen Bradley ("Big Guitar"), and on and on. I would listen to my mom's 45s while my sister was listening to The Beatles. I was also a big fan of guitar instrumental music - my first favorite was "Stalkin" by Duane Eddy (I didn't realize that "Rebel Rouser" was the hit - I always ended up playing the B-sides first). So I guess you could say that I was sung "Be Bop A Lula" as a lullaby and it kinda stuck there for the rest of my life up to this point. In addition to Rock n' Roll, I have a broad love of music including Classical (baroque is my favorite: Vivaldi, Corelli, Bocherini), Opera (Verdi, Puccini, Mozart . . . the obvious choices), Brazilian Samba and Bossa Nova (Jobim, J. Gilberto) including more modern artists (Milton Nasciemento, Gil Gilberto, Caetano Veloso), Irish Folk music (I'm half Irish and half Sicilian), European Folk music (Hungarian Choral singers, Italian Folk songs, Greek instrumental, French Chansongs, etc.) and I'm a big fan of Be Bop Deluxe, Camel, Badfinger, The Strawbs, Cheap Trick and T-Rex (possibly embarrassing, but true).
[Lance Monthly] Are you a musician?
Mel Spinella Tough question to answer. I played the trumpet for seven years until I picked up the guitar at age 15. I have been playing guitar on and off for the past 24 years. I've composed quite a number of songs that have entertained family, friends and church, but I have never pursued releasing any of them for mass consumption. My wife thinks I'm a better guitar collector than player and would never agree to me claiming that I am a musician. I love the Danelectro reissues and have a general fondness for inexpensive, odd and unusual guitars (my most unusual is a handmade electric guitar from South Africa [that] I picked up in London. It is a very small guitar with a full-length neck and double humbuckers and it has sustain like you wouldn't believe, possibly due to the brass inlays in the body).
[Lance Monthly] You say that you were a big fan of Eddy's. What about the Ventures, Fireballs, Dale, and some of the one-hit instro wonders?
Mel Spinella Sorry, I should have been more explicit. While I presently have a very comprehensive surf collection, it was a bit more limited growing up. I'll have to admit to the guilty pleasures of The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean along with the Surf Instro tunes. I know that's anathema to most Instro fans, but I'm a Rockabilly fan as well and many of those groups’ early tunes were copped straight from Rockabilly and early Rock n' Roll. I've always been a Ventures fan: my folks had several of those albums that I use to play all the time. I like quite a bit of Dick Dale's early work but I'm not a "Dickhead." I learned about The Fireballs later and their connection with Buddy Holly (see answer to Holly question below) and I really like their western sound quite a bit … I'd say they're more in The Shadows vein than West Coast "surf." I'm also a huge Shadows fan (all but the vocal numbers . . . what were they thinking?). My favorite Shads tune is "Man of Mystery" and favorite Ventures tune is "Surf Rider." I really enjoy quite a bit of the obscure surf material but won't give a lengthy list. The Strangers were definitely a band that cooked: "Caterpillar Crawl" and "Rockin' Rebel" are awesome!
[Lance Monthly] You didn't mention Buddy Holly as being an influence on you. Where does he rank on your list of likes and dislikes of Rockabilly artists?
Mel Spinella Buddy Holly . . . wow! What an oversight on my part! In my own style of playing and songwriting, Buddy was the man. I still play a bunch of Holly tunes regularly. I used to go to a club here in SoCal where they had an open mic on Tuesday nights and I would bring my 12-string acoustic and sing Holly tunes. I usually had the stage for the longest period of time and people would be up dancing and singing along. Those songs are golden and were a significant influence on me . . . probably more than any other Rockabilly artist. I used to practice the hiccups to make sure I could get them just right. Favorite Holly tracks - "Everyday," "Heartbeat," "Rave On," "Rock Around With Ollie Vee," "When Sin Stops" and, of course, the big three "Peggy Sue," "Maybe Baby" and "That'll Be The Day" (my mom had quite a few Holly 45s in her collection - I've still got 'em all).
[Lance Monthly] My label, Lance Records, was created in 1966 because I was turned on to a particular artist. Was that a similar scenario for you and did you have any music ventures before Golly Gee Records?
Mel Spinella Interesting question. Not really. In about 1997, I had put together an idea for an online company for new authors called "Virtual Author." By 1999, I had all of the details worked out, but I decided not to pursue the company after concluding that people weren't ready nor was technology ready yet for delivering and reading books online in electronic format. However, about 80% of what I had created with "Virtual Author" was recycled for Golly Gee Records in 2000, when I had a vision for creating a "third way" for building a record company. The band that launched the label was my brother-in-law's band, The Long Island Hornets. I had helped [it] with some online promotion having set up an MP3.com site. Three of their songs from a live broadcast recording at radio station WUSB in Long Island went to the top of the Rockabilly charts on MP3.com, and convinced me they should really record a record. Not one to do things halfway, I invested in the band and built Golly Gee Records as a result.
[Lance Monthly] How did your label get its name and are you the sole owner?
Mel Spinella Another great question. I wanted to create a name that was not limited to one genre or that would pigeonhole the company. We had played around with names like "Billy Rock Records" and some other forgettable efforts. The guys wanted a tough sounding name but, being the businessman with the vision, I nixed that idea. I worked hard at developing a name that would be evocative of the good times of the 1950s and early 60s without being "oldies" retro. I felt the ‘50s phrase of "Golly Gee" captured the essence of good clean fun in a Buddy Holly kinda way. So I did my research and noted that the name was never used and have been finalizing the trademark (which is a pain in the posterior if you've ever gone down that route, but we've finally got it licked.) After creating the name, I designed the logo to give it a retro-feel that would be instantly recognizable as the Golly Gee product. Our first fifteen releases also use the "45"- style CD label I designed, which looks like a 45 rpm record with an Aqua label. Aqua and Pink (also the name of the fledging online GGR magazine) are the company colors of Golly Gee. My dream car [is] an aqua and white 1958 Corvette convertible (don't have one yet but someday). Golly Gee is a C Corporation with several shareholders. Let's just leave it that I have a lot of say in what happens at the label.
[Lance Monthly] What method do you rely on for distribution of your product?
Mel Spinella Every method possible. Seriously, this is one of the key factors underlying the Golly Gee philosophy. Our goal is to build a grass-roots customer base both online and offline using every method and tool available. We have wholesale distribution and retail distribution (both online and offline). We put in a significant number of hours to make this happen (I rarely sleep more than 4 hours a night). When you can only rely on limited community and college radio airplay, reviews in limited distribution magazines and fanzines, you have to work very hard to get people's attention. We do that by providing the highest quality product both in quality of music and in design and superb customer service. We believe that we are building our customer base one person at a time. We respond to every email. We know every customer's payment preference who purchases directly and which selections they've purchased. We are very strict about maintaining our customer’s privacy and never share any of their information with any other company. In fact, we don't even retain their credit card details on our server to further protect their personal information. Our goal is to build a direct customer base that wants to purchase every Golly Gee CD that we issue. We began operations in mid-2001 and have signed more than 10 bands, released more than 10 records, developed a web site that receives over 150,000 hits a month from all over the world, and built online and offline distribution all in less than a year. We are on a zealous mission to convert disciples to Golly Gee and we view our extended Golly Gee family as our apostles (all in a non-blasphemous sense . . . I am a Christian and we operate the company on Christian principles).
[Lance Monthly] In the overall sales for your company, which is the stronger of the two genres: Surf or Rockabily?
Mel Spinella Tough question. I think they are equally strong. If I use the recent samplers ("Rockabilly Rumble" and "War of the Surf Guitars") as a guideline, they both have moved about equal numbers of units. You would be amazed at the crossover between Rockabilly and Surf music. I'd say that there is probably about a 65% crossover rate between the two. That's one of the beliefs that I've held in structuring the company to focus exclusively on both genres. Surf music was born from Rockabilly and Rock ‘n’ Roll. Rockabilly was the "Punk Rock" of the 1950s and surf instrumental was the "Punk Rock" of the 1960s. I also believe that there is a strong crossover with the Punk scene, [as] many of these fans also like both Rockabilly and Surf music.
[Lance Monthly] What do you look for in an artist for possible inclusion on your label?
Mel Spinella We are focused on assisting talented bands that have excellent original material in either the Rockabilly or Surf Instrumental genre. They need to be willing to work closely with us and not view us just as a pocketbook to help them get a CD released. We also look for bands that are taking the music to a new level and not just repeating what's already been done. We try and limit our signings of bands that are in the same sub-genre. For example, we believe that we already have one of the world's best traditional Surf Instrumental bands in The Supertones (no offense to any other surf band . . . we're a little bit subjective about this belief). The other surf bands that we have signed have expanded on that: The Retroliners (Spy-fi Urban Surf), Estrume'n'tal (Metal-Surf-Punk), The Honkeys (Surf-Punk-Math Rock), Ralph Rebel (Classic 50s style Rock and Surf instrumentals), and there's a few more but we're still finalizing the paperwork. To sum it up, we look for musicians who are passionate about the music and serious about getting it released.
[Lance Monthly] Are '50s and '60s recomps your primary focus or do talented modern bands, which specialize in the Surf and Rockabilly genres, play a big role in your productions as well?
Mel Spinella This is a very important question. We don't expend any energy or resources on recomps of 50s or 60s material. We have no interest in just selling CDs as product. We'll leave that to Ace and Sundazed as they already do a fantastic job in that area. Our primary and exclusive focus is on supporting modern Surf and Rockabilly bands and creating a platform that will provide mutual benefit to all of the bands. As Michael Welch of The Retroliners aptly states "A rising tide floats all the boats" . . . this kind of collective vision is what we believe makes Golly Gee Records special and why our bands believe in what we are doing. It's all about the artists and the music.
[Lance Monthly] How successful is Golly Gee Records in getting airplay? Is the label having much success with commercial radio and T.V. stations?
Mel Spinella We have been very successful getting airplay on college and community radio stations. We have had minor success with commercial radio but we are stepping up our focus on that market. Our band in Brazil, Estrume'n'tal, has been very successful in getting radio and TV attention including play on MTV Brazil. We are still trying to penetrate the TV market here in the US. We haven't conquered it yet, but we've only just celebrated our first year in business. Give us another year and we'll be there.
[Lance Monthly] Who would you say is your most standout artist at present in reference to CD sales etc.?
Mel Spinella I just can't answer this question without appearing to be preferential to one of our artists over another. So I'll answer it differently. The artist on our label with the longest pedigree and the most accolades on a global scale are The Supertones. We viewed our signing of The Supertones as a very significant step in entering the Surf music arena. Again, we're focused on Modern Surf bands. I think our recent deal with The Torquays is also another significant step in our development of our Surf catalogue. On the Rockabilly side, The Rebel Rockers are probably the most renown with Ralph Rebel on guitar/vocals and Gary Setzer (Brian's older brother) on drums and vocals.
[Lance Monthly] Has Golly Gee Records been approached by any major labels, movies, radio, or cable T.V. for licensing?
Mel Spinella On the movie side, we have three songs in an independent production [that] has not yet been placed with a major. We have had success getting some local cable TV deals, but we are really still building this side of the business. Now that we have a publishing catalogue with over 100 original compositions, we're working the publishing side of the business more aggressively. I can tell you it was a real pain in the posterior getting our publishing company name approved with ASCAP. They approved the first name [that] appears on our first four releases (Golly Gee Publishing), and than reversed their decision and forced us to change the name which is now GGR Publishing. That process took about seven months.
[Lance Monthly] What's your take on today's mainstream music?
Mel Spinella You've probably have guessed my answer to this one. I think the music being played on commercial radio stations is pre-processed garbage created with Pro Tools and an eye toward the Teen Beat magazines. It's really unfortunate that talent counts for so little today. For example, take that new song by the Swedish band, The Hives. It's just a blatant rewrite of "All The Day and All The Night" by The Kinks . . . they didn't even bother to change the chord progression. Meanwhile, countless quality compositions remain unplayed and therefore unrecognized by the masses. I know that the quality of music we release on Golly Gee would have broad appeal if we can crack the code to getting airplay on radio and TV. Over 80% of our customers have purchased most or all of our releases. Compare that to satisfaction levels the general public has with the releases by the majors. There is a very good reason why CD sales have plummeted and it's not because of "rampant piracy" . . . it's the simple fact that the major labels are foisting trash on the public. The time could not be more ripe for Rockabilly or Surf music to make a breakthrough as listeners are searching for real music from real performers with an upbeat sound and message (not more of that Emo bilge). Anyway, you can guess this question gets me on the soapbox.
[Lance Monthly] Your final thoughts, Mel?
Mel Spinella I think you've exhausted about all of my thoughts on most questions. I guess if I were to have a chance to make one more statement, it would be that I think all of the independent labels in the Rockabilly and Surf music genres should band together as an association to promote the music and to collectively create a focal point for the music industry to elevate the two genres. Everyone seems content to do [his or her] own thing and thus, unless we get a major hit from either genre, we will be almost forced to languish in obscurity. My vision is that as a combined marketing force that seeks to expand our market share and fan base, we will be successful in generating renewed interest in the most classic of genres underpinning Rock ‘n’ Roll. This will inevitably help the modern bands [in] pursuing these genres and provide new life to the current moribund radio medium.
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