New York rockers The Del Lords reunite after 20 years apart

New York roots rockers The Del-Lords are back together again, after disbanding some 20 years ago.

The group--bassist Manny Caiati, drummer Frank Funaro, former Joan Jett's Blackhearts guitarist Eric "Roscoe" Ambel and ex-Dictators guitarist Scott Kempner--just returned from eight shows in Spain, and are finishing a new album, their first since 1990's Lovers Who Wander.

"We had a promoter bugging us for years to go to Spain, who made an offer last fall and we all kind of got back in touch," says Ambel, who since The Del-Lords' breakup has made a name for himself as a producer (the Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren and Mary Lee's Corvette), Brooklyn studio (Cowboy Technical Services) operator, East Village club proprietor (Lakeside Lounge), record company president (Lakeside Lounge Records) and guitarist for the likes of The Yayhoos and Steve Earle.

"Scott did a few solo records and worked with Dion, and Frank's been drummer for Cracker the last 10 years," continues Ambel. "Manny left the business, but we got in touch with him. The Del-Lords was such a band--we couldn't have subs!"

But Ambel wanted to record the band--which was named after the Three Stooges' director Del Lord--before heading for Spain.

"I wanted to have some kind of forward progress, so I started working out some new songs with Scott," he relates. "My thing more than anything else since the band broke up was producing records, and I also have a home studio in my apartment in the East Village. Scott lives in L.A. now and emailed his parts, and we started getting the arrangements and tempos right, then got the guys together and recorded the songs. Since we were going on tour--and since it seems like the music business is different every six months!--we decided to press up an EP."

Appropriately entitled Under Construction, the "work in progress" EP had nearly-finished rough mixes of five tracks. "It was pretty darn daunting, since we had to do the artwork before we decided which songs to include," says Ambel. "You don't even see the titles until you stick it in your player!"

After returning to midtown Manhattan's famed Music Building rehearsal facility ("I even took the same train I used to take there!"), Ambel and the other Del-Lords played a house concert in Rhode Island and a "Happy Hour" show at the Lakeside Lounge under the name the Elvis Club ("We used to wear sleeveless t-shirts, jeans and Converse sneakers when we rehearsed, and the hookers in the hallway asked, 'What is this? The Elvis Club?'").

"We played for a lot of old friends from 20 years ago that knew the band and had been there with us at every corner, and a lot of my friends from afterwards who never saw us--so it was pretty great," says Ambel.

Since returning from Spain, he and Kempner have resumed the recording process.

"We don't have a manager or anything like that," says Ambel, who's now applying his knowledge of producing over the last 20 years to the new Del-Lords project. "We're just doing our thing. Spain was just supposed to be fun--and it was."

Ambel now hopes The Del-Lords get some summer gigs. Meanwhile, he has produced new or forthcoming records for Kasey Anderson, Chip Robinson, Joe Flood, Esquela and the Jack Fords. He's also currently working with Chris Barron & The Time Bandits, Spanking Charlene and Ben Hall.

And Ambel also performs with his own band The Roscoe Trio--and is an avid bicycle enthusiast blogger.

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