Trains Across the Sea’s trucker musical premier at Lestat’s West

Winners of a San Diego Music Award for best hard rock, Lord Howler will debut their third full-length Dance of the Ghosts this week. “The title refers to environmental degradation,” says drummer Charlie McCree. “The music is our most collaborative to date, with songs undergoing all manner of transformation before being recorded.” The album was produced by Ben Moore and recorded at Audio Design and Singing Serpent studios.

Alt-country blues rockers the Drug Hunt is dropping a self-titled four-song EP at the Casbah on July 5. “We’ve curated a truly unique event with a talented palette of San Diego’s finest garage, psychedelic, post punk, and heavy rock bands, with the added benefit of visuals by two excellent mixed media projectionists,” says guitarist Rory Morison, who also designed the cover collage. “Utilizing music and visuals, we’re transforming the space. We want it to be truly psychedelic, maybe even create a drug inducing experience. It’s going to be a rock and roll bacchanal.” The bill includes Warish, Wild Wild Wets, Dream Burglar, and VJ Bang.

The Mad Hat Hucksters self-produced Live at the Firehouse, consisting of 18 tracks recorded in March during the Firehouse Swing Dance (San Diego’s longest running weekly swing dance venue) at Parq West, previously known as the Woman’s Club of San Diego and constructed in 1940. Featuring pre-World War II jazz and swing songs, “the album is meant to capture the energy of a band performing for dancers in a venue built for this kind of music,” according to bandleader Morgan Day. The release party takes place July 14 at Little Miss Brewing, during the three-day San Diego Balboa and Lindy Exchange happening at various venues.

A new Trains Across the Sea EP, Semi Fame, collects five songs from a trucker musical which bandleader Andy Gallagher wrote. It’s set in 1984 along the open highway and starring a long-haul trucker with a voice of gold who dreams of the Broadway stage. “We enjoyed a four night sold out run of the musical and wanted to lay down these songs on a record so more people could hear them,” says Gallagher. The EP premiers July 21 at Lestat’s West, where “the show also features TANÆ, a sensational new voice with whom I’m collaborating recently.”

Strawberry Moons have a new single and video for “Nicole’s Song,” from a full-length they expect to release in September. “It’s a dreamy folk tune with myself singing and soft melodic synth pads,” says singer-keyboardist Aimee Jacobs. “The listener is presented with a story of a young woman’s death and how her family copes with it. The lyrics recall moments of beauty, peace, and strength in a time of grief.”

Joel Rafael’s new Rose Avenue album was co-produced with Marty Rifkin, who also played bass, dobro, pedal steel, lead guitar, mandolin, and lap steel. “The song content reflects solidarity, social justice, and the grateful attitude of a songwriter in my 70th year,” says Rafael.