New Album Is the Highly Anticipated Follow Up to 2007’s “Meet The Smithereens”

NEW YORK, NY–(EMWNews – July 23, 2008) – KOCH Records is happy to announce the release

of “B-Sides The Beatles,” The Smithereens’ highly anticipated follow up to

their critically acclaimed 2007 release, “Meet The Smithereens.” The album

will be released on September 2, 2008.

It’s no secret that The Smithereens grew up listening to The Beatles. Their

album “Meet The Smithereens” paid homage to the group’s landmark Capitol

debut album by lovingly re-recording “Meet The Beatles” in its entirety.

This time The Smithereens dug through their treasure of early Beatles

singles and selected a dozen of Beatles B-sides.

The last two years have been an incredibly prolific time for The

Smithereens.

“B-Sides The Beatles” is, amazingly, after a ten-year absence from the

recording studio, the SEVENTH full-length Smithereens CD released within

the past two years. The band also released their first best-selling

Beatles Tribute smash hit “Meet The Smithereens!,” “The Smithereens Live In

Concert,” “Christmas With The Smithereens,” and “7th Inning Stretch” (the

Soundtrack Recording from Smithereens’ singer Pat DiNizio’s ESPN-TV

Baseball/Rock and Roll Special “7th Inning Stretch”), all on KOCH. In

addition, frontman Pat DiNizio released two recent solo CDs, the pop

standards collection “This is Pat DiNizio” and the rocking “Pat DiNizio,”

both released in late 2007.

When asked about “B-Sides The Beatles,” Smithereens Co-Producer Kurt Reil

said, “The project started while we were making demos in preparation for

the next new original Smithereens album. As the band warmed up on obscure

Beatles B-sides they used to play in clubs, we soon realized there was some

unfinished Beatles business for The Smithereens, especially in light of the

success of ‘Meet The Smithereens,’ and the idea for a follow up was born.”

The Smithereens have enlisted legendary illustrator Jack Davis, one of the

most beloved and talented artists to be associated with Mad magazine, to

create the cover of this album. His work for Mad dated back to its

inception as an EC comic in the ’50s. Davis’ work has also been featured

in TV Guide, Creem, Playboy, Time, Ebony, myriad book covers, movie

posters, advertising campaigns, greeting cards, bubble-gum trading cards

and on scores of record albums. Now The Smithereens join a distinguished

fraternity of artists that includes the likes of Homer & Jethro, Spike

Jones, Johnny Cash and The Cowsills, all of whom can boast long-players

adorned by the art of Jack Davis.

The album includes some very special surprises for dedicated Beatles

fanatics. For “B-Sides The Beatles,” Andy White, who in 1962 played drums

on The Beatles’ original version of “P.S. I Love You,” reprises his role as

surrogate stickman for The Smithereens in 2008. The September 11, 1962

session that produced “Love Me Do” and its B-side “P.S. I Love You”

featured session drummer White, with the newly recruited Ringo Starr

relegated to tambourine and maracas duties. Upon release in America, the

A-side shot to #1, and the B-side made the top-10 as well.

“B-Sides The Beatles” also includes fantastic in-depth liner notes by

Beatles author/historian Bruce Spizer, as well as “Beatle” Tommy Frangione

(Joe Johnson’s Beatle Brunch), and the Smithereens’ own Dennis Diken.

At the time Beatlemania exploded, the dominant format was the 45 RPM single

— an unbreakable vinyl disc that spun on a turntable at 45 revolutions per

minute. One paid anywhere from 69 cents to a buck for these records, and

although they were called singles, each disc contained two songs, one on

each side.

The Smithereens’ respectful treatment of these B-sides from 1964 and early

1965 re-enforces what we knew all along — The Beatles B-sides were better

than most of the A-sides released by other artists.

The Smithereens drive home this point by keeping the arrangement the same

while remaining true to their New Jersey bar band roots. You know you are

listening to great Beatles songs, but at the same time, you know it’s The

Smithereens who are performing them.

THE SMITHEREENS "B-SIDES THE BEATLES":

1.  Thank You Girl        7.  P.S. I Love You

2.  There's A Place       8.  Happy Just To Dance With You

3.  I'll Get You          9.  If I Fell

4.  You Can't Do That    10.  Slow Down

5.  Ask Me Why           11.  I Don't Want to Spoil The Party

6.  Cry For a Shadow     12.  Some Other Guy

www.officialsmithereens.com

www.myspace.com/officialsmithereens

www.patdinizio.com

www.jimbabjak.com

About KOCH Entertainment

KOCH Entertainment, founded in 1987 and now in its twenty-second year, is

the leading and fastest-growing independent music company in the U.S.

KOCH’s operations encompass record and video labels, music publishing as

well as distribution companies in the U.S. and Canada. KOCH Entertainment

is the market leader among independent labels and distributors in both the

U.S. and Canada. Its record label KOCH Records is the # 1 independent

label in the U.S. and had the largest number of Billboard charting albums

among independents for seven years in a row (2001 – 2007). KOCH

Entertainment is a subsidiary of Entertainment One Ltd. which is listed on

the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market (ticker symbol “ETO.L”).