"Diggity" was the 5th TA-80 release. It was a 5 song e.p released at the same time as "Steamrollaz N' Effect" and also had a very small run, probably of only 10. I still have a copy of this but it is badly damaged. I haven't tried loading it into a computer to save it yet, but I have a feeling the computer will not be able to read it. It still plays on the stereo though...not that I ever listen to it. The line-up on this e.p is Amy, Jamin, and Russ 80.
The "Diggity" e.p is actually a comedy record recorded during the same time as "Psychic Headache". This is something we do quite a bit, plan out funny songs and oftentimes we never record them but this time around we actually did.
"Queen Sleep" is titled after a guy I used to work with that had a bad speech impediment and at night he'd hold up a broom and say "I'm going to make a Cwean Sweep of things...", and eventually the phrase just morphed into "Queen Sleep", it's a disco song written for a friend of the band's who asked us to mention her in a song, therefore the entire lyrics of this song are, "Here's your mention, Carrie...you know this song's for you!" except in the middle of the song Russ says in an underwater voice,"So...who else wants to be a millionaire?"
Funny thing is, I don't think Carrie has ever heard this song.
We used to act out this song all the time and talk about shooting a hilarious video...I get the feeling for alot of this to be funny, you kinda had to be there...
"Shark Diggity" is maybe 10 seconds. It's an old timey showtune written about my brother's pet. Here's the phone converation that inspired it....
Jason: I got the kids some fish...
Me: What kind?
Jason: one of them's a shark...
Me: Oh, really? What did you name him?
Jason: Lieberman.
Lieberman was such an awesome name for a shark I had to write a song about it. I want to shake hands with Lieberman the shark!
Entire Lyrics: "Everybody knows when he's coming to town 'cos he's Lieberman the Shaaaaaaarrrrrk!!!! I'll bite 'chyachyachya!"
You had to be there.
"Wah Diggity" was just a short piece of funk with us laughing hysterically and saying swear words with an extreme amount of echo. The best part is Russ has a great laugh... you know the kind with a wheeze in it? That's the kind of laugh he has and when there's an echo on it's endlessly entertaining. Amy says this song sounds like huffing gasoline.
"Punk Diggity" was a humorous attempt at a generic type punk song. Russ kinda sang it like Rancid and it quickly goes dramatically out of tune.
"Beat Diggity" is just a clattering beat and echo-y vocals...I think it was the only one that wasn't meant to be humorous per say... it was just really weird.
So yea, that about sums up "Diggity"... will it ever be reissued? Uhhh...no. That said, I love the cover still...in an odd way it really sums up TA-80.
Track Listing:
1. Queen Sleep
2. Shark Diggity
3. Punk Diggity
4. Wah Diggity
5. Beat Diggity
We've never played any of these live. I think we talked about "Shark Diggity" once or twice. But I don't recall us ever going through with it.
- Jamin 80
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I love the "Diggity" E.P. None of the songs are good. They're all complete jokes. I love that we are comfortable enough with what we do that we can spend time creating something that is 100% meant to be laughed at. Though we weren't great musicians and didn't know a thing about recording properly, we knew how to turn the music we loved into something ridiculous and stupid. It's usually something we try to not do. But for "Diggity", we decided to let people know that we were well aware of how to properly poke fun at ourselves. We don't always have the best taste in music but sometimes, recognizing the ridiculous can make music a lot more enjoyable.
We're not a serious band. We take our band seriously, that's not what I mean. I mean that we have fun. In case you haven't noticed a running theme through these posts so far, but everything we've done was only ever meant for our families and close friends. It was only recently that we realized that other people (outside our net) saw something in us and we could maybe try to make this our life. "Diggity" is a great example of us doing this because we love it and it makes us happy. We'd all love to be able to do nothing but music but no matter what, we're going to do music. Whether people hear it or not. I also think there will be another "Diggity" type album in our future. "The Only Woman Elvis Ever Loved" was close but not quite the same. We need another "Diggity".
So I should probably talk more about the songs on the album. It's pretty much as simple as what Jamin said. We're not a jam type of band but when we do randomly "jam" on stuff, it ends up sounding like the songs on "Diggity". They're joke songs because (at least speaking for myself), when I get into a room with my band, who consists of all my best friends, I wanna make them laugh. So I start coming up with stuff that does just that and they do the same thing back. The stuff ends up too funny to not use.
I've heard people say that it's intimidating to hang out with my band because we're all so close and we do nothing but laugh over what sounds like random comments because, at this point, everything is an inside joke. I hope that other people can hear something like "Diggity" and appreciate the good time we're obviously having, but I'd understand if other people don't really get the joke. That's really not the point. We're not comedians. We just like to laugh and know how to have a good time. And bands should share good times with people. There's enough depressing shit to provide suicide for the ages...there's nothing wrong with a little laughter.
- Amy 80
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It just wasn't your class....
- Klae 80
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The "Diggity" E.P. was one of those you had to be there kinda jokes. I can understand why it's funny because it is funny. I laugh when I hear it. But it was really, really funny when they recorded it. 'Cos it is funny. The Jimmy Durante thing...it's funny.
- Jens 80
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