Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom

Twang Twang Shock-a-Boom is an acoustic three-piece band led by Davíd Garza. The name is derived from the sounds of the guitar, bass, and drums. Twang Twang Shock-a-Boom was described by the Austin Chronicle as “one of the most breathtaking musical projects Austin has ever seen.” (Haupt 2010, AMDB).

For 10 months, the trio of Davíd Garza, Jeff Haley, and Chris Searles played humorous tunes with the bare-bones setup of guitar, upright bass, and a guitar case standing in for drums. It began when Garza and his music-school friends decided to go busk in the West Mall of Austin, Texas for a little extra cash. Within two weeks they had landed paying gigs at the Cactus Cafe. Their first cassette, Me So Twangy sold well at shows on the strength of Garza’s charm and erudite hippie-boy raps.(Haupt 2010, AMDB)

'We improvise like jazz musicians, but we play original pop songs with acoustic instruments, Garza said. ( 1990, NYTimes)

Columbia Records A&R man Larry Hamby saw Twang Twang at an in-store performance during Austin's South By Southwest music festival. Hamby, spent a few minutes watching the band and the next hour on the sidewalk talking to the band's manager.

"We were signed as far as he was concerned," says Searles. "And he just had to get us up to the label to get them really pumped."

Hamby was impressed, and the band's manager, Mark Proct (who now handles Storyville and Jimmie Vaughan) also managed an act already within the Columbia group of labels - a group that was actually moving records for CBS: the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Thus, Twang Twang landed an Audition in New York City.

"We flew up to New York," remembers Searles. "And we had never really been out of Austin. We really didn't know what was happening - LaGuardia, the limo, the whole deal - but the next day we ended up in the boardroom of Blackrock, which used to be the big tower for CBS."

"They had us play in the boardroom, with barely enough space for a band. A giant long conference table, and a bunch of New Yorkers with their $500 briefcases and $3,000 suits - they were all there, man. Everybody on the staff was required to be there. It was a really big deal - anyone associated with A&R, it was a big deal. We didn't really know that, but it was packed in the room. We knew that much.

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