New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Pink Martini founder
Thomas M. Lauderdale, in collaboration with Oregon surf music legends Satan's Pilgrims, have shared a new single, "Night and Day," off their forthcoming album
Thomas Lauderdale Meets The Pilgrims. The LP is being released on May 19 and today's song, buoyed by Lauderdale's sparkling piano fireworks atop the Pilgrims' iconic surf sound, exemplifies the interpretations of beloved standards found on the LP.
On May 18 Lauderdale will perform a record release party at Portland's Crystal Ballroom. Tickets are on-sale now.
Pink Martini is currency in the midst of a U.S. tour.
Lauderdale previously revealed the album's "Malagueña."
Thomas Lauderdale Meets the Pilgrims is the culmination of a long-awaited collaboration between Lauderdale and Statan's Pilgrams dating back to 1993 when Lauderdale stumbled on a Pilgrims' performance in Portland, and, in a flash, envisioned a surf version of his favorite piece of music, Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."
Nearly 25 years later, a hiatus from
Pink Martini touring during the pandemic led Lauderdale to unearth the project and commit to finishing it. He re-recorded some piano parts with engineer Steve Sundholm, brought in the Portland
State University chamber choir to record some choral parts, recruited self-proclaimed "All-American Jewish Lesbian Folk Singer" Phranc to sing on a cover of the
Beach Boys "Girls on the Beach," and created new mixes of eleven songs with engineers Sundholm and Dave Friedlander, to create an album of blazing new interpretations of beloved standards, alongside classic surf music excursions, tied together and infused throughout with Lauderdale's grand piano.
In 1994,
Pink Martini bandleader Lauderdale had finished college and returned to his hometown of Portland, OR. He was working at City Hall with an eye towards running for office. Being a classically trained pianist, music was always in the background, and he formed his "little orchestra"
Pink Martini as a means to provide music for political fundraisers for progressive causes near to his heart - including civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, and public broadcasting.
China Forbes, Lauderdale's friend from their college days at Harvard, joined the group the following year, and the first song they wrote together, "Sympathique" (Je ne veus pas travailler), became an overnight sensation in France, where it remains a mantra ("Je ne veux pas travailler" translates to "I don't want to work") for striking French workers.
Politics continues to be a focal point for the band, as both Lauderdale and
Pink Martini lend their voice to progressive causes. Lauderdale is also passionate about curating and incubating talent, and often features a variety of guest singers or musicians in the band's performances, from local student musicians to internationally known stars.
Throughout their history, on record and live, in concert,
Pink Martini has featured a dozen musicians with songs in over 20 languages, and they perform their multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout the world. Pink Martini's 13 studio albums, all on the band's own label,
Heinz Records, have collectively sold over 3 million physical copies worldwide, and the band's songs have been streamed on Spotify and Apple
Music nearly 450,000,000 times.
Satan's Pilgrims formed in 1992 during a series of house parties hosted by the members of the band, and were playing shows in their hometown of Portland, Oregon by 1993. Twisting their name from the 60's AIP film Satan's Sadists and donning their now familiar matching outfits complete with vampire capes, they became a band.
The Pilgrims are one of the most influential surf instrumental bands around and while much of their sound has a definite Southern California influence, what sets them apart is the legacy of their Pacific Northwest rock 'n' roll ancestors and other influences, creating their own sub-genre of surf instrumental that many fans call "Pilgrim Rock".
After years of touring, taking the band all over the U.S. and Europe, Satan's Pilgrims continued to develop the surf instrumental genre. The last two decades have seen the release of 9 LPs and singles on Hi-Tide, Jackpot, Hidden Volume/Double Crown, Get Hip, and their own label, SP Records. In 2021, they lost founding member guitarist and keyboardist Dave Pilgrim.
His last recordings were in process, and they treasure having more music to share after his passing. In 2022, their friend and fellow 90s spooky surf veteran Garret Immel (Ghastly Ones, Venturesmania) joined the band as the 3rd guitarist. On October 14 2022, the band released its latest album, Go Action!!, on Hi-Tide Recordings.
