10 Apr I first became aware of Dramarama in the late ‘80s

I first became aware of Dramarama in the late ‘80s, through a fellow promotion rep for Chameleon Records, who gave me the band’s new album Stuck In Wonderland along with Cinéma Vérité,  which had originally come out on an independent label and was picked up by Chameleon.   The single, Last Cigarette, was being played on WDRE and I couldn’t get enough and that was that.  I was a fan.  The genius of John Easdale, founder, singer and songwriter in Dramarama, is his gift for lyric and the turn of a phrase and his ability to take the day to day struggle of living and infuse it with urgency and wit.

The definition of coincidence is described as: a remarkable concurrence of events without apparent connection.  As I labor in these record mines more often than not I find myself in the presence of greatness and these musical gifts of my past re-emerge far too often to be coincidence, which was the case several years ago in not only reconnecting with Dramarama but also releasing their new album on my label, Pasadena Records.  Through a friend of a friend, I met Jeff Greenberg, owner of the world famous Village Recording Studios in Santa Monica and the co-producer with John Easdale of the multi-year effort of what was going to be Dramarama’s new album Color TV.

Over the last several years I have been privileged to hear the songs from Color TV as they were being recorded and re-recorded and mixed and remixed and tweaked and finally delivered as finished works of art.  During this time I never thought that I would have a label, much less release these songs and I had gone as far as making introductions to other independent labels for John for the purpose of releasing this album.  In 2018 I started Pasadena Records for artists in the middle, beginning and beyond, and 30 years after my discovery of Dramarama  have the honor of releasing Color TV, and working with John and Jeff.  Perhaps this is less coincidence and more a grand design to share this music and the brilliance of John Easdale and Dramarama with the world.

– Bob Divney / Pasadena Records 2020