Savage Republic leader Jackson Del Rey releases first new music in 15 years

For immediate release
June 29, 2005

Savage Republic leader Jackson Del Rey releases first new music in 15 years

In the 1980s, Jackson Del Rey was lead guitarist and chief songwriter of influential Los Angeles post-punk bands Savage Republic and 17 Pygmies. Now, Jackson Del Rey has returned to the studio and live performance as leader of Del Rey & The Sun Kings, as well as performing with the reunited Savage Republic (aka Final Republic) at last weekend's Destroy Festival in San Francisco.

Del Rey & The Sun Kings have just completed work on their first full-length record, "I Am The Light." The album is available in traditional CD format, and as part of a special edition of 100 handmade, interactive assemblages.

Jackson Del Rey has personally constructed the special edition CDs. Each one comes in a patterned cloth bag which contains a CD sleeve made of Chinese funerary papers plus a selection of ritual objects (which may include scented seeds and herbs, a custom-printed scroll, straw, Chinese coins, tiny bangles, candles and beads). Every copy is signed with Jackson Del Rey's chop. These collections of powerful items are meant to be assembled into a personal shrine to enhance the experience of the powerful new music that follows in the tradition of Savage Republic and 17 Pygmies.

On "I Am The Light," Del Rey & The Sun Kings draw on David Bowie’s "Low," Nine Inch Nail's "The Downward Spiral," Nico's "Marble Index," Lionel Hampton, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Javanese Court Gamelan, Miles Davis "Sketches of Spain," Wu Tang Clan, Herb Alpert & the TJ Brass, Dennis Wilson’s "Pacific Ocean Blue," Middle Eastern pop star Warda, vintage surf music (Revels, Lively Ones, Impacts, Sentinals), and soundtracks including Tangerine Dream's "Sorcerer," Nino Rota's "Roma" and "Norferatu" by Popol Vuh to create a uniquely hypnotic and otherworldly sound.

Jackson Del Rey says of this record, "It contains my first recordings in over 15 years. Each item has a unique meaning, all of a mystical nature. The set is to be used to try to attain spiritual ecstasy through the use of music (not unlike the whirling dervishes of Sufism)."

"I Am The Light" is available exclusively from Jackson Del Rey at:
http://www.scrammagazine.com/delrey.html

Visit Del Rey & The Sun Kings on myspace to sample MP3s:
http://www.myspace.com/thesunkings


For more info on Savage Republic, visit http://mobilization.com/artists/savage.html

For photo, interview or review requests, contact Kim at Explosive PR, explosivepr@gmail.com, 323-223-2767