Band Starts Small With 1st Record

And now, another chapter in the continuing saga: “The Death of Vinyl.”

In June, local band Limbo Slam released its debut recording, “Tropical Funk,” exclusively on compact disc.

This CD-only release is hardly a typical move for a San Diego nightclub band. Prior local releases have been limited to the more-conventional cassette or vinyl-LP formats.

But then again, Limbo Slam is hardly a typical San Diego nightclub band.

While most local groups can trace their beginnings to informal jam sessions or chance music-store encounters, the nucleus of Limbo Slam--saxophonist-flutist and de facto leader Anthony Sarain and lead singer-bassist Mark Dycaico--met while studying science at the University of California at San Diego in the early 1980s.

Sarain still works days as a research engineer with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s geophysics department, and Dycaico as a molecular biologist with Stratagene Inc.

When Limbo Slam debuted on the local nightclub scene five years ago, most of the group’s originals-only peers were playing either roots-rock or heavy metal. Sarain, Dycaico and their compadres, however, chose to create their own sound: an eclectic blend of Motown horns, Latin rhythms, African percussion, Jamaican calypso, and American funk, rock and even disco.

“We called it ‘tropical funk’ because that seemed to be the easiest, the most accurate, way to describe it,” Sarain said. “It comes from all of us having grown up in the 1960s and ‘70s and bringing into the band a broad range of influences.”

Limbo Slam’s early years were marked by frequent personnel changes that effectively stunted its growth, Sarain said.

“We spent most of our time teaching new members our old songs instead of writing new songs and developing our act,” he said.

But, two years ago, the band’s lineup stabilized and progress was swift. Limbo Slam went from playing frat parties and dances to regularly gigging at such popular local nightclubs as the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa, and Rio’s in Loma Portal.

When band members began recording their six-song album in a San Diego recording studio in the spring of 1988, it was supposed to come out on vinyl and take three or four months to complete.

“But midway through the recording, we did a little research and found that it wouldn’t cost that much more to do a CD,” Sarain said. “So we decided to go that route: sound was a big issue for us, and we felt CD was just a much nicer format than cassette or LP.

“And, from that point on, things began to slow down because the whole process was new to us, and there was no one else on the local scene who knew anything about it, either.”

Limbo Slammers found Bernie Grundman of Los Angeles, who did the digital mastering, through word of mouth. “He’s got his own company up there,” Sarain said, “and he’s worked with all sorts of big people, including Michael Jackson and Prince.”

They found House Graphics, which did the artwork, by thumbing through the local Yellow Pages. “They had never done CD art before, so we talked it over, bounced around some ideas, and they figured it out,” Sarain said.

And they found Nimbus, which actually pressed the CD, “by looking through a bunch of audio magazines,” Sarain said.

The project ended up costing Limbo Slam just under $10,000, an amount that’s “not that much more than it would have cost us to put out a record,” Sarain said. “And the sound is just so much better, so much cleaner.”

The money came from the band members themselves. “We’ve all got day jobs,” Sarain said, “and, while we’re not exactly rich, we’re not poor, either.”

A thousand copies were pressed and subsequently shipped, on consignment, to the Sports Arena Tower Records and Lou’s Records in Encinitas.

At last count, nearly 200 CDs have already been sold, at $8 apiece.

Not bad, said Sarain, “considering that we have yet to try getting local radio stations to play it and the local press to write about it.”

And, at $8 apiece, the CDs are priced to sell, even though the band doesn’t stand a chance of breaking even.

“We’re not doing this to make money,” Sarain said. “We’re doing this as a way to get exposure and, ultimately, get a contract with a major label.

“It’s a real step-by-step process. We’ve got the album out in the stores, next we’re going to go after radio, then we’re going to try to sell the press on it, and, when all those things are in place, we’ll put together a big package--CD, airplay reports, press clippings--for the record companies,” Sarain said.

“Record companies like to see what you’ve done, and, if you haven’t done anything, they’re not going to pay any attention to you.”