Darker My Love

DAYTROTTER

2011-08-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

Holy shit, it's up. Our long-lost Daytrotter session. It was back on our last tour, last November, when we devoted a day to driving the 266 miles from Columbia, Missouri, to Davenport, Iowa, to record 4 songs for Daytrotter. Which we'd always wanted to do, because not only do you get that sharp illustration, but they record it all live to 1/4" tape. A few memories remain - it was frigid; we ate at a Chevron Subway for lunch; speaking of gas stations, we witnessed, from the comfort of our hotel room, what we were pretty sure was a tweak'd-out armed robbery at the convenience store across the street the night before; Rob was targeted and embarrassed by a local with a sweet vehicular public address system in the drive-thru line at Starbucks that morning ("You with the beard. That is a kickass beard."); they had a ton of rad gear at the studio, which was a stone's throw from the Mississippi River; we were in and out of there in 2 hours so we could make way for Delta Spirit's all-night session; and subsequently, 9+ months elapsed during which the promotional value of the session evaporated. But if you were wondering what we sounded like on November 17, 2010 (not yesterday, despite what their page says), Hear It Is.

In particular, check out our pretty-hot reworking of "Immediate Undertaking" and our cover of the Scott Walker original "Rhymes of Goodbye".

Amoeba 2010

2011-02-13T22:40:00.000-08:00

Many many moons ago (last August, actually), we did this acoustic session at the world-renown Amoeba Music in Hollywood, featuring an impromptu (like, really impromptu) pseudo-bluegrass version of "Blue Day." So I guess (affect Paul Schaffer voice) you could call it "Bluegrass Day." Boosh.

(Don't forget to check "Split Minute" and the still-only-ever-performed-live "Rain Down South")

LIVE at GLASSLANDS with the ACME STRING QUARTET, 11/28/10

2011-02-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

You might remember when we played that Very Special String Quartet Show a couple months back - it was at Brooklyn's Glasslands Gallery, whose stage all 9 of us somehow fit on, with the highly esteemed ACME String Quartet. Matt Teacher and Mike Lawson were amazing enough to drive up from Philly to record it, and some higher power put Brian Stollery in our realm, who brough Sean Smith and Arlen Cooke to help him shoot the video (seriously, ginormous thanks to all of the above). There's more coming, much more, but for now, look at "Dear Author," which is an exclusive over at RELIX.

the end of the road

2011-01-24T10:23:00.001-08:00

Hell with it, here's parts 3 and 4 of our monthlong series of photos from ye olde Delta Spirit tour. Had to finish off a roll of film, y'know. Like booze, that kinda thing takes a lot of time and effort if you're gonna do a good job with it.

On Sheepshead Bay

Graham, The Fling, Baltimore

Pittsburgh

The O, Pittsburgh, much later that same night

see here

new album title

Cheyenne Morning

Wyoming

not-at-all-official tour photo

photos by will

Wolfgang's Vault

2011-01-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

Back in December, we drove straight from Chicago through whiteouts and subzero climes to get to San Francisco in time for Wolfgang, all to deliver this little acoustic session to you. I can't find any way to embed it here, so you're just gonna have to click the link below. Watch "A Lovely Game" first.

CLICK HERE!

dreams, they're for those who sleep

2011-01-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

part two:

Thanksgiving in Rhode Island

This one's called "Sitting on the BQE in Brooklyn at sunset, still trying to make it to Baltimore in time for our set."
Not "A relaxing drive through the woods."

a backyard

Delta Spirit, Ottobar, Baltimore

proud artist

Christmas in Laramie

photos by will

the tour we just did, in black + white

2010-12-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

part one of four in a series:

The aforementioned Minatures Lounge and/or Paramount Liquors, on Route 66, Gallup, New Mexico

Tim and Guitar Dan, on the Reservation, sometime during the day.

Amarillo

Webster Hall, NYC. File under "metaphor."

Dustin from The Fling, Webster Hall, 11/23/10

photos by will

GET YOUR DML MERCH RIGHT HERE!!! (aka Over-The-Top Seasonal Sales Pitch)

2010-12-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

Just in time for the holiday/holidaze, we gots some new t-shirts up on the ol' DML MERCH STORE! And on top of that, some of those older ones gotta go, so hey, we made em HALF OFF! Get yer order in by December 20 to make sure Santa has it on his sleigh!

TEEVEE

2010-12-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Remember when we were on TV last night? Well, this is what it looked like. Watch Rob courageously fight off a cold while playing our Christmas song for the first time ever:

Approximately .06 seconds of our "actual" song "Backseat" made it on air, presumably because Rachael Ray decided to prepare her burgers medium well instead of the searing Jimmy requested. Which is a bummer, because here that is:

p.s. That's our buddy Dan Iead on pedal steel, whom you might've seen playing on the tour we just finished while Jared was in the studio making our next record for us. Also congratulations to The Fling, Emily Sills, and Reed and Stacy from Dangerbird for getting their faces on TV. I'm sure their respective families are proud.
p.p.s. Yes, we-reoriented the album cover 90°. Looks better, yah?

JIMMY KIMMEL TONIGHT

2010-12-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

Don't forget! He's watching you, so you better watch him. Or something like that. I wonder if we'll get to eat whatever Rachael Ray's cooking.

Jimmy Kimmel Live
ABC
12:06 am / 11:06 pm CST
(we play at the end, naturally)

Guitar Hotel, 3 a.m.

2010-12-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

DML on TV!

2010-12-07T13:17:00.001-08:00

Hey, guess what, we're gonna be on Jimmy Kimmel Live next Monday! December 13. We're taking bets on who else is gonna be on. It's probably online, but we haven't googled it yet, so speculate away. Anyway, here's the deal. We're playing two songs. One of them is the Christmas song that we mentioned that you can get from Target. The other one'll be from our record. It'll be all festive and what not, and hey, it's our late-night national television debut, and that's pretty sick.

IF YOU WANT TICKETS: click on Jimmy. Do it. They're free. 'Twould be rad to see friendly faces there, and hey, maybe the back of your head'll get on TV too!

tv/impressions/strings/moranis/fries/dicks/twins

2010-12-05T16:34:00.000-08:00

a.k.a. tour

Our First Tattoo

2010-12-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

This is Joe. He's from Louisville. He came to Nashville last night and had this on his arm:

with Tim (asleep) and Rob

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

DO NOT GET ON THIS BUS

2010-12-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is one deal you should pass up.

we still want a hula hoop

2010-12-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

Since we're driving/sledding through our first snow right now on our way out of Pittsburgh, now would be a good time to mention that you can now download and forever own our Instant Christmas Classic from Target.com. Yes, this is your Christmas present, and no you're not getting anything else.

house of cards

2010-11-30T21:07:00.001-08:00

Tim has this card in a safe deposit box at the A.P. Giannini Bank at 3rd and El Camino in San Mateo, California. It's worth about $5.

this week in rock shows

2010-11-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

TONIGHT ! PITTSBURGH . BRILLOBOX
WEDNESDAY . COVINGTON, KY (Cincinnati) . MAD HATTER
THURSDAY . ASHEVILLE . GREY EAGLE
FRIDAY . NASHVILLE . MERCY LOUNGE
SATURDAY . CHICAGO . METRO

In other news, we did a session last month at the Village Recorder (whose control room is the very control room pictured on the back of Countdown To Ecstasy and in VH1 Classic Albums - Phil Collins: Face Value, and where we've played before) with Nic Harcourt for livebuzz.com, and it looks like this:

Go to livebuzz.com to see the rest (which is "Backseat," "Dear Author," and the hot new "Rain Down South," as well as an interview)

ONE NIGHT ONLY

2010-11-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

Attention NYC!
This SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28
at GLASSLANDS GALLERY in BROOKLYN
DARKER MY LOVE with the ACME STRING QUARTET
Playing at the exact same time. We wrote 10 hot and/or fresh arrangements of our stuff for them, and this is the only time it's gonna be played. Gonna be really really really good and very very very extra-special. Seriously do not miss this.

Starts at 9. 21 and up. Tickets are $8 advance, $10 day of show. Get em HERE!

NYC+

2010-11-23T07:42:00.006-08:00

WEBSTER HALL TONIGHT / 8 pm
TOMORROW: SHOPPING
THURSDAY: FOOD
FRIDAY: BOSTON / PARADISE ROCK CLUB
SATURDAY: PAWTUCKET / THE MET

all with Delta Spirit and The Fling, except for Tomorrow and Thursday, which are with J. Crew and Rob's mom & dad, respectively.

Oh Brother!

2010-11-20T17:14:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

2010-11-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, Virginia, we have a Christmas song. It's called "Snow Is Falling" and it's up at Target.com/HolidayAlbum, and sooner than later you'll be able to free-download it too.

p.s. You'll be hearing more about this.

It's not a big deal

2010-11-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

Miniatures Lounge (or is Paramount Liquors?), Route 66, Gallup, New Mexico, Saturday night:

The barkeep at the lounge at the Best Western closed early, so she tells us the lounge down the street is still open, but "they'll really sock it to ya." Well, okay. So we walk 100 yards down the highway to what appears to be called Minatures Lounge, whose entry is marked with a stenciled sign reading "LOUNGE ENTRY." It's a little bit David Lynch, a little bit Pee-Wee's Big Adventure inside - turqouise walls, turquoise booths, 10 or so Native Americans (including one tranny), us 3 white man, and a guy that looks like he's hosting a karaoke night that nobody wants to bother with. Turns out he's just a DJ, introing every CD on a mic via some next-song-themed riddle e.g., "Hey Jay, is that a Dallas Cowboys hat you're wearing? Because you're looking like a real sharp-dressed man;" "Juan, is it 5 o'clock yet? No? Well, it's 5 o'clock somewhere." Etc.). He comes over and introduces himself (Rick), writes our names down on his notepad, and announces us to the other bar patrons, and then goes down the bar and introduces them all by name. Juan's the bouncer, and after a while he comes over and tells us about his years fronting metal band JP Rocks down in El Paso. But he mellowed out ("too much partying") and moved home. Then he tells us that in a few minutes, we're gonna sing "I Fought the Law," like it or not, just on the choruses, it's not a big deal. So we do it, and it's not a big deal.

WE'RE ON TOUR

2010-11-14T22:05:00.000-08:00

Come eat us alive!

DML in ICT Magazine!!!

2010-11-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

Awesome interview with Rob by JamBase's Brennan Lagasse in the new ICT Magazine, from when we played the Hellenic Theatre in Berkeley, in which he discusses the transcription of our newborn album. Highlights excerpted below:

* * * * *

"JamBase: You impact a pretty unequalled sound. What bands impact influenced you?

Rob Barbato: I conceive with the newborn achievement Evangelist Phillips from The Mamas and The Papas was a pretty bounteous influence, and apparently the Grateful Dead, CCR (Credence Clearwater Revival) and clog aforementioned that. But also bands aforementioned Big Star were a pretty bounteous impact for us. Who added would you feature Will?

Will Canzoneri [organ/clavinet]: R.E.M.

Rob: Yeah, R.E.M. as a past sound.

JamBase: Well that’s pretty modify since there’s an R.E.M. calculate in your intermixture shack backstage.

What’s inspired your songwriting and penalization compositions beyond singable influences?

Rob: Friends and kinsfolk are Brobdingnagian inspirations, and also added friend’s music... That’s ever something that gets me rattling agog to create.

The achievement was transcribed in San Francisco at a flat where some added famous tracks impact been recorded. What prefabricated you opt that site?

Rob: Hyde Street was where CCR had the Cosmo’s Factory where they transcribed their prototypal digit or threesome records before they touched to Fantasy in Berkeley... All of Herbie Hancock’s depression records were finished there, and Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty were finished there.

JamBase: There’s awful interplay between you and your bandmates. Do you conceive that comes more from the instance you’ve locate in practicing, transcription or touring?

Rob: It’s mainly from touring.

JamBase: What do you wager in the forthcoming for DML?

Rob: Make added record, indite modify songs, that’s it. And impact recreation activity shows."

On drummer Dan Allaire:
"Yeah, Dan [Allaire] has totally denaturized the band. He’s an awful drummer. Andy [Ganelli] was an awful drummer, but Dan does clog differently... It’s a bounteous care and he’s an awful sheik and an awing drummer, so it’s rattling enthusiastic to impact him in the band."

On producer Nick Huntington:
"With Nick it was more of cooperation in the creation area, and he’s an awful musician, composer and producer, so we were rattling lucky... I would fuck to impact with him again whether with DML or otherwise."

On fans:
"I conceive we impact fans every over the locate that imbibe up. We impact fans in England and here and there, but I would feature existence a West Coast adornment makes it more a West Coast abstract [laughs]. But we impact assorted listeners, especially with the newborn record.

We intercommunicate to a clump of assorted people."

* * * * *

Full interview available here.

Memories

2010-10-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

of last month:

Greek Theatre, Berkeley

Greek Theatre, LA

Liberace Plaza, home of the since-closed Liberace Museum, and Goodtimes Bar & Nightclub, home of the $2 Recession Special.

It's the World's Largest Rhinestone.

Yes, those are American flag hot pants. Hot for the Bicentennial.

Panis, with the iced green tea he ordered.

photos by will.

Backseat

2010-10-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

So a little while back we set up shop in a house down the street and had our pal Mike Mohan film us playing a buncha songs and recorded the whole thing. "Backseat" is up first, and you can watch it on Filter today.

More to come!

TBAnnouncement

2010-10-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

Those TBA's on the Delta Spirit tour you were jockeying for? Well, now we can tell you. The previously-alluded-to winners are:

Nov 26. Boston. Paradise Rock Club
Dec 7. SF. The Fillmore
Dec 8. LA. The Music Box @ Henry Fonda Theatre

Eagle Rock Today!

2010-10-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

Angelenos: we play at 7 o'clock at the Eagle Rock Music Festival today. It's either $5 or free, depending on the size of your conscience/wallet, and besides, you were probably gonna go eat at Oinkster anyway.

Liberace's Piano

2010-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

The Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, located in two buildings on opposite ends of a parking lot in the heart of Liberace Plaza, is forever shutting its doors in a couple weeks. So when the lady at the gift shop from whom you're buying a diamond-encrusted gold-plated piano ring asks you if you're a pianist, and you say yes, and then asks you "would you like to play Liberace's Piano?," you do it. After, of course, filling out all the requisite paperwork, including signing a statement that you're a virtuoso and that you'll wash your hands. The rhinestone-bedazzled and mirrored Baldwin (previously featured on this blog here) was the last piano Walter played, in his 1986 Radio City Music Hall shows, and sits on a pedestal in a room surrounded by all his capes, including the pink turkey feather cape seen behind the piano, and you can bet it'll be the most nerve-wracking performance you'll ever put on.

Later, you might run into Liberace's wheelchair-bound personal dog groomer of 16 years, who will confirm that the man "sure had a lot of crap."

Showtime

2010-09-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Note that we play at 7 pm sharp tonight in SLC and at 7:45 on the button tomorrow in Denver. Oh, and Saturday at 7 at the Eagle Rock Music Festival in LA too. Had considerable luck with 7 in Vegas, so figured hey, let it ride. Don't be late.

TOUR

2010-09-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

Time for our big annual fall tour! With Delta Spirit. We play, and then they play. It's a damn good bill.

Nov 15. Lawrence, KS. Jackpot Saloon
Nov 16. Columbia, MO. Mojo's
Nov 17. Rock Island, IL. Speakeasy
Nov 18. Madison, WI. High Noon Saloon
Nov 19. Milwaukee. Turner Hall
Nov 20. South Bend, IN. Legends of Notre Dame
Nov 22. Buffalo. Tralf Music Hall
Nov 23. NYC. Webster Hall
[HAPPY THANKSGIVING]
Nov 26. TBA
Nov 27. Pawtucket, RI. The Met
Nov 29. Baltimore. Ottobar
Nov 30. Pittsburgh. Brillobox
Dec 1. Covington, KY. The Mad Hatter
Dec 2. Asheville, NC. Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall
Dec 3. Nashville. Mercy Lounge
Dec 4. Chicago. Metro
Dec 7. TBA
Dec 8. TBA
Dec 9. Santa Barbara. Soho
Dec 10. San Diego. House of Blues

Highlights to include winter-home shopping in Milwaukee, visiting Rudy's grave, Thanksgiving dinner at Rob's folks' house and then going to Foxwoods (it's the world's largest casino), driving thru the Tim Hortons by Foxwoods, playing in a college town over Thanksgiving Break (hint hint), finding the brothel whose services Mayor Jerry Springer paid for with a personal check and then eating at the chili parlour next door, and playing (ahem) The Elite Club. Oh, and driving.

the results are in

2010-09-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Behold the fruits of our labor on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday! If you stick around long enough, you'll hear a brand new song called "Rain Down South," and another song that's not quite new but which you've probably never heard before.

Set list:
1. Backseat
2. Split Minute
3. New America
4. Maple Day Getaway
5. Trail the Line
[interview]
6. Dear Author
7. Cry On Me Woman
8. Rain Down South
9. 'Tis a Great Art To Saunter
10. June Bloom

Seriously huge thanks to everyone there for having us in - they're so important to us, in fact, that they're the only broadcast entity to have their own keyword on this blog. It was a real joyous occasion for us, which we topped off with our first (!) trip to Canter's on Fairfax, which not only has Babe Ruth's favorite pickles, and is not only where Saul Hudson earned the nickname "Slash," but has the only reuben in town you can eat and not feel like a zeppelin after. Legend'ry.

And yes, Jason Bentley talks like that all the time.

DML on Morning Becomes Eclectic tomorrow!

2010-09-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Turn on, tune in, drop out, roll over, etc. Wednesday Sept. 15, 11:15 a.m. PDT. KCRW 89.9 FM in L.A.; watch and listen at kcrw.com worldwide.

We'll play some songs, get smoothly interrogated by the velvet-throated Jason Bentley, and then we'll play some more songs, kinda like last time. We have to wake up really early.

we gotta move these refrigerators

2010-09-09T12:38:00.002-07:00

What with the economy what it is and what not and what have you, combined with the imperativeness of you owning our music, our bros at Dangerbird are having a whaleuva sale over on iTunes, now thru September 21. So, lookit:
• Alive As You Are for $8.99!
• 2 (the album) for $5.99!
• The "Two Ways Out"video for 99¢!

And you can (still) even download our first record for free.

God bless us, every one.

relaxed fit

2010-09-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, we cruised over to the (ahem) Dickies Lounge, and, in exchange for some gratis coveralls, played some songs, and lo and behold it turned out pretty alright. See?

And there's a little more over on their site. Thanks, Dickie.

Fingerprints / Long Beach tonight

2010-08-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

If you're coming to Fingerprints in Long Beach tonight for our in-store, note that you have to call the store to be added to the RSVP guest list at (562) 433-4996. Otherwise they won't let you in. We play at 7:30 or so. Then we drive to San Francisco.

p.s. Last night was ahhh-mazing. Thanks to everyone that came to the Bootleg. It made us feel good.

OUR NEW RECORD IS OUT TODAY

2010-08-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

It's called Alive As You Are, and it can now be bought. Buy the vinyl if you can. Better yet, if you're in L.A., just come to the Bootleg Theatre tonight and get it there.

This record means a lot to us, and we hope it will to you too.

ANCIENT WARFARE

2010-08-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

revised calendar of events

2010-08-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday August 17 / L.A. / Bootleg Theatre (with Wounded Lion and My Pet Saddle
Wednesday August 18 / Long Beach / Fingerprints in-store / 7 p.m.
Thursday August 19 / San Francisco / The Independent
Friday August 20 / Berkeley / Rasputin Music in-store / 6 p.m.

Attend all 4 and get a free copy of our new record! Yeah!

Alive As You Are is out in the UK

2010-07-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

And that calls for a few words on the record, how we made it, and on the product we're flooding the marketplace with, o informed consumer.

The LP bears a AAA code on the back (and when I say LP, I'm talking vinyl). You used to see these codes on CD's back in the 80's and 90's. It was designed to tell you how the CD was recorded (first letter), mixed (second letter) and mastered (third letter). For instance, AAD would mean a record was recorded analog, mixed analog, and mastered digitally (of course if it's on CD, it's digital and therefore the third letter would always be D). But those codes more or less vanished by the turn of the century. Fast forward to present times, when every band and their grandmother presses vinyl and touts it as the ultimate listening experience. In our neighborhood alone, two record stores have opened in the last year or two that only sell new vinyl. It's poppin' off. Except there's one caveat. If you recorded your album digitally, then it's meant to be listened to digitally (although someone on some message board somewhere might argue that this point is arguable). Once you go digital, it's always digital, and regardless of if it's on vinyl or not, your brain will be fed discrete little bits of data that sounds a lot like music instead of the continuous sound that is music. This vinyl revival hasn't been accompanied by renewed use of SPARS codes (as it's called; although it was never intended for LP's in the first place), so we usually don't know how these records were actually recorded, mixed and mastered; but I reckon that at least 95% of that new, shrink-wrapped $18 vinyl was recorded on a computer. Which means, at least in these eyes, your money might be better spent on the CD. But maybe you have a DJ night, and it's important to you to spin vinyl, who knows.

Anyway. Back to the AAA on the Alive As You Are LP. What this means is that we recorded the whole thing onto tape, mixed it onto another tape, and took that to Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound, whose very special needle etched grooves into what is now the vinyl platter you can hold in your hand (or, simply, he mastered it). Without any digitalia in the way, what comes out of your speakers is essentially a direct transfer of energy from us to you. All vibration and impulses. A more human listening experience. When we thought about our favorite records and what kind of record we wanted to make, we realized the common thread is they were pretty much all made this way. And here we are.

Why doesn't everybody do it like this? Well, it's easier to do every step of the process digitally, it's cheaper, it's more forgiving, you can "fix" mistakes and poor performances, studios are set up that way, people can't really tell the difference... and the list goes on and on. Digital production is insanely compelling, and it takes a lot of practice and discipline to lay it down, warts and voice cracks and all, on tape.

So yeah. After we were done tracking at Hyde Street in SF, we packed up and went an hour north to Prairie Sun, in Sonoma County and mixed for the next 10 days. It was our engineer Drew, our producer Nick, and us all crammed in this fishbowl of a control room around a mixing board turning knobs and moving sliders. Which is not textbook mixing, by the way, and was tense and not fun more often than not. But it worked - we mixed it on our own the way we wanted to do it, onto tape, and that is what's on the record.

The CD's different. When we turned the record in to our label, they said "hey, some of these mixes sound wack, let's have a professional remix em." So we transferred all the tapes onto a hard drive and got a guy named Jason Lader to mix it over a couple weekends at Rick Rubin's house in the hills on the days Kid Rock wasn't there, and I'm pretty sure he broke into it, because he made it out like we weren't supposed to be there and swore us to secrecy (oops). Since these mixes were bound for the CD (and iTunes/etc), to hell with all that analog self-righteousness; song by song, we picked the better mix, and five of his mixes are on the digital version.

All that said, what's so very nice is that when you buy the vinyl, you get a download code. Which gets you the digital version too. Best of both worlds. So there. If your neighborhood general store doesn't have it, you can order it here or here, or if you want to drop some Sterling on the CD here.

*** note: if you can't find the vinyl in the UK, order it from Dangerbird and they'll ship it straightaway ***

live through this

2010-07-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

And now, selections from the remainder of the film from Ye Olde Britannia Tour, circa June 2010. Relive the summer fun:

on the Irish Sea

Irishmen

North Sea. You'd think we spent the whole tour at the beach.

Bob & Laura. They've since eloped.

on Dean's farm, Leighton Buzzard

Band of Horses, Wolverhampton

tour photo. Featuring our most gracious hostess Elaine, and the Brothers Lynch (far right).

photos by will

six more days on the road

2010-07-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

We're bringing our fruitful professional relationship with Band of Horses stateside in September, where you can see us and them and even Admiral Radley on the same stage. Which fulfills of our years-long dream of playing both of California's fabled Greek Theaters on one tour. So fabled Huell Howser's probably visited em. Teddy Roosevelt did (the Berkeley one), that's for sure. So did the Dalai Lama. And soon, us:

September 24. Berkeley. Greek Theatre
September 25. L.A. Greek Theatre
September 27. Las Vegas. The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel
September 28. Salt Lake City. In The Venue
September 29. Denver. Fillmore Auditorium

Alive Comes Alive!

2010-07-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

After our old Roswell Record Release Party-With-An-Alien failed to catch on with the financiers, and months and months of subsequent careful consideration of highly competitive bids from several world-class venues, we have decided to celebrate the release of Alive As You Are with a LIVE performance at the following:

Tuesday, August 17. L.A. Bootleg Theater (with Wounded Lion)
Thursday, August 19. S.F. The Independent (with Sonny & The Sunsets)

These should be pretty enjoyable. The Bootleg is on Beverly Blvd, across from Brooklyn Bagel, which is the only place to get a fresh bagel in this godforsaken town, and there's free parking behind Praise Christian Church, which proves that this town is not godforsaken after all. The Independent is on Divis, in local parlance, and is where we had our last record release show, which was capped off by Jared taking a pie in the face, what fun. Both of these shows will be 21+, on account of adult content.

There will also be an in-store performance at a record store in each locale, if you're on a budget and/or 14 years old. Details forthcoming.

a lame metaphor? where? is it over here?

light flight

2010-07-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

Glahz-guh

this was at like 10:30 p.m.

it's tough being the support band

seafaring, more or less

Irish Sea

Little John's buried here

the farm, Leighton Buzzard

croqueheads

Young Mick, Young Bono, Young Keith Moon, Young Sting, Fat John Martyn and 2/5 of Darker My Love have all rinsed their hands and dried them off on their trousers here.

photos by will

split minute

2010-06-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

we put another new song on our myspace. it's called "Split Minute" and it's on our new record and now you can hear it.

through the dark wicket

2010-06-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

Croquetmania has bitten the band. We'll be importing it to the states - namely, Elysian Park - in short order, to be played on one of the days we're not already meeting at Burger King at 7 am to play gin rummy 500.

croquet

Stayed 2 nights at our new friend Dean's honest-to-Jehu farm in semirural Leighton Buzzard (which is a town, and somehow not the name of a forgotten 70's British metal band). Made peace with cows, played sherpa with sheep, grilled mackerel and pork shoulder and adopted croquet, or our own version of it, until long after dark, and again at the crack of dawn. Didn't watch any World Cup. It made us feel good.

good morning!

Now we're in Wolverhampton, scene of our last show with Band of Horses. They're dudes of the best variety - genuine, beer-battered country-fried ones - and we wish them the best of luck on their journey.

Roundhouse

for Keith

PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDS OF THE SONIC CATHERDAL OUT NOW

2010-06-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Guess what: Roky Erickson/13th Floor Elevators tribute album The Psychedelic Sounds of the Sonic Cathedral - which includes our cover of "She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)" - is out (as the subject so subtly implies). Now that we've held it in our hands, we can say it looks, feels and sounds badass, and you should buy it here:

swift kick

2010-06-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

London Roundhouse tonight. This place is big and badass. Also, round.

Managed (barely) to escape Manchester last night, but failed to allot enough time this morning to visit the scene of Rick Allen's limb-severing.
(scenes:)

That's the chocolate!

Ireland

2010-06-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

We have to cryogenically freeze Jared before every show to prevent chop deterioration. It's on our rider.

Irish Sea. Leprechauns, Lucky Charms, etc., etc.

John, our moral support agent and driver, view'd through Malahide Castle. While built in the 12th century and occupied by the same family for 800 years, it's frozen in 1975, when the old lady that lived there alone retired to Tasmania. Plush carpeting, wallpaper, the musty smell of isolation in the 1970's. We played American football on the front lawn. Tim/Jared 28, Rob/Will 21.

another day, another metal show

2010-06-04T08:02:00.001-07:00

So we needed to play a warmup show. We've been practicing in a cramped room at Rob's house all month and needed to get our stage legs before these big Band of Horses shows and all. Which is why we found ourselves flying into Glasgow (pronounced Glahz-guh) and playing at the venerable King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut, site of Alan McGee's discovery of Oasis in 1993. Only thing is, we were on a bill with 3 prog-hardcore/bordering-on-grindcore metal bands, the likes of which haven't been seen stateside since 2000. That was ten years ago. One of them had a live hawk on stage, wearing a headset, screeching at key moments. Or at least that's what it sounded like from 2 floors up. All this just when we've practically exorcised all the fuzz from our set. We even almost got the elusive no-clap after a song, until somebody broke the silence in pitiful fashion. It didn't get dark until 11. The whole thing was fucked up and retarded as shit, and we'd like to thank our booking agent.

Otherwise, while we did get to taste the National Canned Beverage of Scotland - Irn Bru (pictured below) - which tastes exactly like bubble gum from a pack of last year's Topps baseball cards, we didn't manage to get thee to a chippie for another Glasgow classic, the deep fried Mars Bar. Because what donuts are to Chinese restaurants in LA, deep fried Mars Bars are to fish-n-chippies in Glasgow. As in, <i>hey, we got this deep fryer, might as well use it.</i>

ALIVE AS YOU ARE

2010-05-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

The new one. The one we've been promising for the last year. It's almost here. July 26 in the UK and Europe and August 17 in the U.S. It's called Alive As You Are and it looks like this:

1 Backseat
2 Split Minute
3 18th Street Shuffle
4 New America
5 Rain Party
6 Maple Day Getaway
7 Trail the Line
8 June Bloom
9 Dear Author
10 A Lovely Game
11 Cry on Me Woman

For something more immediately gratifying, go HERE (or click on the album cover) to download "Dear Author" for free! You'll be so happy. We are.

British Isles Summer Fun!

2010-05-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Provided a giant plume of volcanic ash doesn't obstruct our flight path, we're spending our June soaking up the cosmic rays (or, rather, building a vitamin D deficiency):

6.02. Glasgow. King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
6.04. Dublin. Tripod (w/ Band of Horses)
6.05. Belfast. Auntie Annie's
6.06. Middlesbrough Music Live
6.07. Cambridge. The Junction (w/ Band of Horses) [SOLD OUT]
6.08. Manchester. Ritz (w/Band of Horses) [SOLD OUT]
6.09. London. Roundhouse (w/ Band of Horses) [SOLD OUT]
6.10. London. Boston Music Rooms (w/ Serena-Maneesh)
6.11. Oxford. O2 Academy (w/ Band of Horses) [SOLD OUT]
6.12. Southampton. Lennons
6.13. Leeds. Nation of Shopkeepers
6.14. Wolverhampton. Wulfrun Hall (w/ Band of Horses)
6.15. London. Scala (w/ Ariel Pink)
6.17. London. The Lexington

Including:
6 shows with Band of Horses!
5 headlining shows and/or club nights!
2 ferries!
1 show with Serena-Maneesh!
1 show with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti!
1 festival!

Stay tuned for more...!!!

Our Dirty Laundry

2010-04-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Our longtime official band mother Malia James accompanied us to Texas last month, and this is what it looked like, apparently. Tim cussed a lot. And if you'll blink, you'll miss hearing a couple of never-before-heard snippets from our new record. Check it out on Dirty Laundry and win a copy of 2 on vinyl!

Dirty Laundry Presents: SXSW With Darker My Love from Dirty Laundry on Vimeo.

Down in Monterey

2010-04-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone deserves a break and since William "Wilibald" Canzoneri does most of the heavy lifting around here, it seems about time for one of my bi-annual posts.

So the week before last we got a chance to spend some quality time with some very special people. At the time most of us were too disgruntled or agitated to realize how lucky we were.

We set out Thursday morning up the 101 freeway (good call Will) headed for Santa Cruz. There we were to meet and rehearse with Andrew Granelli. That's right. It was just like old times. The jokes flowed, the cymbals crashed, laughs ensued. After two practices, one interaction with the local cops, three boardwalk fastballs at 49 mph and three trips to Taco Bell, we headed down to Monterey for the fabled Sea Otter Classic.

We couldn't help but dream of John Phillips cruising up the coast in his Rolls-Royce getting ready for the Monterey Pop festival. Maybe tomorrow our show will be like that? Maybe Jared will light his guitar on fire? The future was wide open.

Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey:

We got to the Best Western, knocked off for a few hours and then our day started.
Sean Paul and Jessica showed up, and Jessica took these awsome photos.

Having a blast in the Sierra Nevada beer garden..

Jared looked sharp per usual...

Got time for a little game of catch?

Sean gives the signs to the pitcher...

The pitcher nodzzz yes...

Here's the pitch!

>

Emily was having fun (or, “what your mom looked like in 1972”)

Thanks Jessica!!!

Let's go home.

Stay tuned for info on the new record.

check out this t-shirt Tim designed!

2010-04-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

Proceeds go to our favorite charity, The Pablove Foundation. Read more about them here.

GO LONG

2010-04-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! We're going on tour with BAND OF HORSES in the UK (and Ireland) in June. This is a good thing. And this all builds up to the arrival of our new one, which which you'll be hearing much much more about real soon. But I digress. The dates:

June 4. Dublin. Academy
June 7. Cambridge. Junction
June 8. Manchester. Ritz
June 9. London. Roundhouse
June 11. Oxford. Academy

... and more (sans-BOH) to be announced betwixt and between and beyond. Stay tuned...

we got more 7" splits

2010-04-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

FYI, if you've tried to order the Audacity split 7" in the last 2 months or so, good news - we got some more! Just a handful though, so don't wait too long this time. And of course, y'know, while you're there, there's other crap you can buy. Happy Spring.

(click below to be transported)

Because We Appreciate Your Patronage

2010-04-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, May 8th, FYF Fest (née F Yeah Fest, née F*** Yeah Fest, née Fuck Yeah Fest) will be hosting a Fan Appreciation Show in Pomona, Calif. Just like the original concept of the Fuck Yeah Fest, this is taking place at three locations that are all steps from one another. For $8 you will be given a wristband at the Glasshouse that will get you access into each room and given the option to see over a dozen bands. This is for you, the fan.

FYF FAN APPRECIATION SHOW
SATURDAY, May 8th 2010

Fucked Up
The Strange Boys
Abe Vigoda
Darker My Love
Graf Orlock
The Like
xbxrx
Dangers
Audacity
Woah Hunx
+ Many Surprises More TBA

@ The Glasshouse & More Locations
6:30pm / All Ages / Only $8
--> TICKETS <--
--> FACEBOOK <--

Expect more bands and comedians to be added to the show over the next few weeks. Obviously precisely who that is is a state secret, but you can rest assured that it will excite EVERYONE.

Avoid the processing fees and get your tickets at any of these amazing independent record stores:

Headliner Records
7706 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 655-2125

Fingerprints
4612 E. 2nd Street
Long Beach CA 90803.
(562) 433-4996

Glasshouse Record Store
200 West 2nd Street
Pomona, CA 91766
(909) 865-3802

Origami Vinyl
1816 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 413-3030

P.S. THIS WILL SELL OUT FAST.

Roky Tribute Out June 7!

2010-04-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

June 7 will mark the release of The Psychedelic Sounds Of The Sonic Cathedral: A Tribute To Roky Erickson And The 13th Floor Elevators, on which appears our recording of "She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)" (from the Elevators' 1967 Easter Everywhere, and which fulfills our goal of appearing on an LP with Roky Erickson and Kevin Shields. You'll be able to get it on CD or download, natch, and on limited-edition yellow vinyl, which even comes with a cool acid blotter illustration of Roky. Proceeds go to the Roky Erickson Trust.

Full tracklisting:
Roky Erickson & The Black Angels / 'Roller Coaster'
The Strange Attractors / 'Reverberation (Doubt)'
All The Saints / 'Don't Fall Down'
A Place To Bury Strangers / 'Tried To Hide'
Dead Meadow / 'Kingdom Of Heaven'
Darker My Love / 'She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own)'
Sarabeth Tucek / 'Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)'
Lower Heaven / 'Fire Engine'
Hush Arbors / 'Dr Doom'
Cheval Sombre / 'You Don't Love Me Yet' (feat. Sonic Boom)
Le Volume Courbe / 'I Love The Living You' (feat. Kevin Shields)
Black Acid / 'Unforced Peace'
I Break Horses / 'Goodbye Sweet Dreams'

And there's a Facebook page too for you to be-fan.

On Tour With Connie Chung

2010-04-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

NRBQ, The Best Bar Band in the World, tells it like it is:

Tour bus and on-board jamming notwithstanding - the card games, the frequent quitting, the dietary habits, the music video your label makes you shoot with puppy dogs... everything's the same. It's just one big Taco Bell.

the moral of the story

2010-03-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

things learned from SXSW:

Is it a complete waste of time, money and energy? The only way to find out is to go, then sit back and wait and see if anything that subsequently transpires is traceable back to one of your 18 free-malt-liquor/free-bloody-mary-fueled appearances. There were 1,981 registered bands this year, which means there's a 1-in-1,981 chance that somebody important was watching you play.

Whichever show you're least into and still half-asleep during is the one everybody's gonna go to.

The Hot Dog King's a real dick, and doesn't care if everybody can hear him screaming.

It takes your body 45 minutes to digest food after eating, and it takes your body 45 minutes to generate a hangover after consuming Colt 45.

Thee Oh Sees are most likely the best live band in whatever town they're playing. Also, The Black Angels' new songs are really good.

The Taco Bell/KFC in Fort Stockton, Texas, remains both the worst Taco Bell and the worst KFC in America, by a mile. After going there 3 times, to Sonic twice, and K-Bob's Steakhouse (home of the Salad Wagon) once, all that's left in Fort Stockton is Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, and Wal-Mart. And it's the only town within like 6 hours of itself. Next time, we're just not eating.

If you choose to drive, your van will break down within the first 100 miles:

Singles Only

2010-03-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

File under Hotelevision:
Singles Only, a production of Pima Community College, ca. 1984. 109 episodes of public access soap opera. If you're sleeping in Tucson, seek and its hideously beautiful cast will find you. Darker My Dudes is seeking the rights holder re: licensing and possible simultaneous series/VHS and too-good-to-be-true theme song/7" re-release.

Local investigative reporter/tabloid smear-queen Emerald Green (née Emmett Green), confronting Singles Only residents with closeted skeletons

not Jeffrey Dahmer

Starr. Not only does he look like an alien, turns out he is one too.

trying to lose her New York accent

"I like kids."

sunday sunday sunday

2010-03-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

We're playing a show/publicly rehearsing before we go on spring break. It's this Sunday at Long Beach's only gold rush-themed steakhouse, The Prospector. Come get steak'd out and watch us play our new record!

Doors at 9
21+ / $5
with DJ Bill Gazer

SXSW200010

2010-03-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

First things first, no, you cannot get a ride. Same thing goes for Burning Man.
Second things second, it's our semiannual spring break, which means you can watch us funnel Natty Ice at the following:

Friday, March 19
Little Radio party
Red Eyed Fly / 715 Red River
we play at 2:20. with Serena Maneesh, Warpaint, Spindrift, Dead Confederate, and more
18+, free bloodys + beer

I Hate Rock N Roll/Volar Records/Videothing party
Trailer Space Records / 1401 Rosewood Avenue
we play at 5:45. with The Soft Pack, Thee Oh Sees, Audacity, Grass Widow, and more
free beer + Vitamin Water + badassery

Saturday, March 20
Vestal Watch party
The Longbranch Inn / 1133 East 11th St.
we play at 2. with The Icarus Line, Dios, Mini Mansions, and more
21+, RSVP required (click on the link above)

Relix Magazine official showcase
Galaxy Room Backyard / 508 E 6th St.
we play at midnight, before The Black Angels and after Dios, thereby setting a new record for Most Shows Played With Dios In One Day.
21+ SXSW badge required

for real.

2010-03-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

only in L.A.

where the water tastes like wine

2010-02-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

In which we commuted to Prairie Sun, up in Cotati, about 45 minutes north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, to finish our record. We were still staying in the city (except for our last 3 days) and driving up and back down every day. Our van's accelerator requires an inordinate amount of quadricep strength to operate, and after a few round trips, we got tired and caved in and rented a Chevy Cobalt, whose factory stereo proved invaluable in listening to mixes. Will's aunt came up to play oboe and English horn and brought a bassoonist friend, and thus, some class to the whole thing. Tom Waits sang about Red's Recovery Room down the street, but they lost their lease last summer and now there's nowhere to drink. So we stuck to playing cards and watching every episode of Celebrity Rehab.

we got to drive thru this twice a day, which means we got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge twice a day, and did you ever realize what a badass bridge that thing is?

there was an In N Out, and it was time to eat.

told you

actual musicians!

these Minimoogs once were the property of Michael Jackson, whose keyboard player ran it through a keytar on stage. until the keytar was stolen from his car.

photos by will

Hyde Street Heyday

2010-02-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

look, ma, no computer

Dan, after the drum machine showed up

big rods

Maria Taylor spent a day with us. they decided to sing, standing, by the corner of the piano. protocol, I guess.

there has to be a morning after

photos by will, except for the out-of-focus one of him.
all rights reserved, et cetera et cetera.

Europe Redux

2010-02-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

For starters, we're back. The tapes and our stuff and our bodies made it back intact to the harsh reality that is real life, post-Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp. So now, while we're waiting patiently for our Major Label to decide what they think of our new record and which song they're gonna lube up and slip down the gullet of mainstream rock radio, entertain yourselves with this recently-excavated footage from the fall (as in, a few months ago), when drove ourselves around Europe, broken up into two EZ-bufferin' clips.

part 1

part 2

Cabin Fever

2010-02-03T12:32:00.001-08:00

The last song is being mixed right now. We're in exile out here, and we spend our quote-unquote downtime playing gin rummy (what else) in this unpleasantly-lit waiting room. There was another band here from the area last week, but I'm not sure they actually recorded anything, onaccounta all the beer-shotgunning and and dry-humping in the parking lot and all. They did bring in a sax player one day though to lay down some cool SNL party sax. So that happened. There are white horses in the pasture beyond the the window, and a maroon McMansion on the gleaming green hill beyond that. A lot of this part of California can look like another planet, or at least like Scotland, and I keep half-expecting to see Teletubbies bouncing over the hill.

Today we get the brakes checked on the van and put air in the tires, and tomorrow we drive home. Friday, we start looking for jobs. Peace be with you, and also with you.

live music

2010-01-29T12:39:00.000-08:00

we're playing at our friend's house next sunday. it's a benefit for our friend's mom. new songs. this will be good.

New Morning

2010-01-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

So last night I stayed up in the cabin at Prairie Sun Recording Studios. I went to sleep to the sounds of the boggy creek and awoke with the rooster's morning call to arms. The sun is shining and the air is crisp. It's almost as if the city doesn't exist.

....deep thoughts with Robert Wallace Barbato

while you were sleeping

2010-01-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

You probably deserve an update, so here. We're 98.7% done cutting mic to tape and have started mixing what's done. Bid our home sweet Tenderloin home adieu yesterday and relocated up the 101 in Sonoma County to Prairie Sun to finish this up. Which is a handsome reward after 2 weeks of not being able to, y'know, go outside for fresh air, out of concern for zombie attack, not to mention a lack of fresh air. This place has chickens running around and tractors in the driveway and and all the vibe that makes Tom Waits records as vibey as they are. Down on the drag is Red's Recovery Room, immortalized in song.

Still, all the $3 Vietnamese sandwiches $3 can buy will be missed. It's been bed-to-studio-to-bed-to-studio-to-studio-to-bed ad nauseum, with a jacuzzi here and a repeated bootlegged-Fleetwood-Mac-Tusk-documentary viewing there, betwixt, like this:

Got 13 songs recorded and can't fathom any of em not making the cut. Convinced our friend Maria Taylor to come up on Friday to sing with us and wound up teaching us how to open a bottle of wine with nothing more than your shoe and a wall (lesson: it doesn't work). Saturday, got a pro's pro to come play all those pedal steel licks you hear in your dreams. Sunday, up to Sonoma. Maybe you noticed this is gonna sound different. Point is, shit's good.

Progress

2010-01-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Tenderloin

2010-01-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Wildlife abounds in the Tenderloin National Forest. Literally, wild, wild life. Go outside - although rule no. 1 is don't go outside - and you're guaranteed an encounter. The native fauna is so approachable, it'll approach you:

"Which way ya headed?"
"Hey, I remember you. C'mere!"
"That your shoe?"
"Excuse me sir, can I use your phone?"

The answer is always no.

Maple Day Getaway

2010-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

It’s time to make a record again. Tomorrow we’re driving* to our once-and-future home of San Francisco and recording at Hyde Street Studios thru the end of the month. We're throwing longtime Friend of the Band Nick Huntington in the van to produce, who has a colorful enough track record** to con the proverbial suits into trusting him with their investment, and engineer of yore Drew Fischer will turn the knobs. Drew did “Hair Decisions,” which might be the most special thing this band’s ever done (a re-listening to which, in the van, on a dreary day in Germany, cosmically revealed that he was The One), and 4 tracks on the first record, all at Hyde Street. “One Toke Over the Line” was recorded here (the least among many, at the former Wally Heider Recording). There’s a burrito place around the corner. We spent the better part of 2009 writing and rinsing and spin-cycling and line-drying 20+ songs, and we’ve democratically whittled it down to 13. Strangest thing is, we feel this creative empowerment this time around that previous recording experiences rendered foreign to us, so much so that we still feel like we’re scammin' the record label, who somehow someway are actually letting us do it our way. It's like they like us or something. Anyway, we're all abuzz about making something we love so much that you'll love it too. Oh, and happy 2010.

look, ma! it's just like when you wuz a kid!

* Tim, who refuses to ride in our van after years of comically negative experiences, will, in the style of Seal, follow the van in a sports car, accompanied by his manager (or, in this case, Rob).
** cough cough Britney Spears
† We were Blog o' th' Day, or something like that, the other day. Thanks Blogger! And greetings, people of the world.

Europe: Days 1-15

2009-12-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

Won a sweepstakes for a free monthlong trip to Europe for you and your 4 closest friends, so to make some extra spending money we put a band together and made up some songs and played a buncha shows with a band called White Lies in many old European theatres for many European teenagers and/or their European parents and the rest of the time did this:

Day 1: Amsterdam. Killing time until it gets dark so we can go to sleep.

Day 2: Driving to Eindhoven. First show. Late.

Day 3: Paradiso, Amsterdam. Still trying to learn songs.

Day 4: Jail, Rotterdam. This was where we figured out that we don't like putting sheets on our own beds.

Day 5: Dan makes a friend in Alkmaar (celebrating 750 years!)

Our picnic in Alkmaar. Thanks to the fine folks at Subway.

Day 6: Teylers Museum, Haarlem. Working hard.

(see above)

St. Bavo's Cathedral, Haarlem. 10-year old Mozart played that organ. So did Handel, except he wasn't 10.

Day 7: Brugge (Bruges). Frites'ed up before we even left the train station.

Brugge Cruise

Day 8: de Noordzee in Oostende, where Marvin Gaye wrote "Sexual Healing." You can see why.

French hackin', outside McDonald's, somewhere in Picardie (look closely).

Day 9: us in like 5 years.

Day 10: Paris. Tim thought the housekeeper stole his iPod. Turns out she didn't.

Day 11: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris, home of Jim.

Parisian bum eating McDonald's

Day 12: previously documented here

Day 13: Luxembourg

Day 14

Halloween in Luxembourg

Band photo, featuring unknown creepy guy, possibly Gene Simmons (at left)

photos by Will

Europe: Days 16-31

2009-12-21T11:41:00.001-08:00

And now, the exciting conclusion. I love you.

Day 16: In a parking lot.

Day 17: Backstage spread in Hamburg. Somebody cracked the seal.

Day 18: Polizei

Ferry no. 1, Baltic Sea

Day 19: Ghengis Will. Stockholm.

Day 20: Welcome to Norway

Day 21: Vega, Copenhagen

Day 22: Ferry no. 4. Gin Rummy 500 addiction commences.

Day 23: Official premature end-of-tour photo

Day 24: Low point. Munich hostel.

Brief respite

Day 25: Still in Munich

Getting a, y'know, closer look at Munich.

Day 26: Austrian Alps

(see above)

Day 27: Shit. Forgot to take any pictures.

Day 28: Berlin 2009

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag

Day 29: Ready to leave.

Day 30: Windy. Calais, France.

Ferry no. 5. More rummy.

White Cliffs of Dover

Aboard the ferry: three busloads of British high school freshmen, captain, crew, us.

Day 31: Sleeping really hard. Then we went home.

photos by Will!

us in the u.s., again

2009-12-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Found a few more from our recent visit to the United States. Look!

waiting for Hog's Platter

called, no answer

that guy was a roadie for U2 and the Stones. it's true.

X marks the spot

our Texas tour guide

El Paso

us in the u.s.

2009-12-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Remember when we went on a tour with A Place To Bury Strangers and All the Saints? It was October. That was a long time ago. These should refresh your memory. Click to enlarge.

Day 1

Arthur Bryant's BBQ, Kansas City, Missouri

Sun Inn, Kansas City, Kansas

us and Nikki, at our favorite Cincinnati chili parlor

Time-Out Chicken N Biscuits, Chapel Hill

this place

the photo(s) Linda took

New Orleans

Jared Zapruder, on the grassy knoll

having a very, very good time in El Paso (official tour photo)

photos by will!

We have a merch store - and you can buy the new Darker My Love/Audacity Split 7" there now!

2009-12-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Remember back in June when we recorded a few songs for some 7 inches? Well, one of em is ready for the holiday season, and comes in 7 inches of stocking-stuffability.
Our dear friend Matzah at I Hate Rock N Roll has started a little series called "Under the Covers," in which two bands cover each other, and we get to grace Volume Numero Uno. Audacity might be the best band round these parts right now, and gotta say they really smoke us out of our hole with their rip-roarin' version of "Summer Is Here." Meanwhile, we laid track on their "Mr. Alvarez," and we're pretty pleased with the results. And the best part is: it's out now! This shit is super limited, as in, 300-copies limited, and we only get a handful of em! You can only hear it on wax, so hurry hurry hurry!

Which brings us to point number two:
We now finally have a MERCH STORE, like for real. We have a lotta stuff that you can buy, which we will personally ship to you. It's all sitting in the basement waiting for a loving home. And if you buy the new split, we'll throw in some stickers or buttons or something. So when you consider that your purchase as a gift for your loved one will directly go towards gifts for our loved ones, it's a real value added deal.

Happy December,
Us

Songs they were playing when I walked in

2009-11-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

hotel bar, Amsterdam, Day 1: "Twilight Zone," Golden Earring

bar, Luxembourg, Day 12 (Halloween): "Alone Again (Naturally)," Gilbert O'Sullivan

convenience store, Oslo, Day 17: "Super Trouper," Abba

hostel lobby, Munich, Day after the tour was cancelled: "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night (I Gotta Feeling)," Black Eyed Peas

Dunkin' Donuts outside the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Day 26: "I Wanna Go Home," Michael Bublé

Best of Kebap, Brussels, Day 27: "California Dreamin'," Royal Gigolos (the version you can dance to)

p.s.
home.

Marooned in Munich

2009-11-13T07:35:00.000-08:00

4 songs into their set in Munich Monday night, Harry from White Lies announced that that's it folks, show's over, tour's cancelled, very sorry, see you next year. Then they pulled us into their dressing room and said the same thing, except they gave us all their booze too. Seems Harry (aka Ol' Goldenpipes, for good reason) came down with something or other and was on the verge of blowing out his voice. And when that happens, you stop singing, and that's what they had to do. It was great while it lasted and we wish we coulda seen it thru to the end. But it meant for us no Vienna, no Rome, no Milan, no Zurich, no clue what to do, no fun.

The next 36 hours were dark ones. Checked out of Munich hotel no. 1 and, homeless and directionless, went straight to the only thing resembling home: the Hard Rock Cafe. Just as Rob was recounting his night-before dream of watching Dan play "Fortunate Son," (our dreams don't stray very far from reality at this point) we walked in to the sound of, yeah, "Fortunate Son," and knew it was meant to be. Except that the grill was broken and we'd have to wait, which we did, until they fixed it, which they never did, so we ate the one thing on the menu they didn't need the grill for, which sucked, and sucked up all our money. Then after 3 hours of sitting at the Hard Rock watching music videos under Tom Petty's glass-encased flannel, we decided to stay in Munich until we had a plan.

So we went to hotel no. 2, sat in the lobby, emailed, pondered going home, ordered pizza, pondered going back to Berlin, played gin rummy, pondered our existence, ate pizza, sulked, figured out it would cost us a fortune to change our flights and leave, realized we were stuck in Europe for another week, emailed some more, waited anxiously for answers, played gin rummy, bitched, sulked, drank beer, continued playing gin rummy until 3 am.

Hotel No. 2

waiting

Woke up, no answers, then more checking out, eating German food, sulking some more, yelling at each other, immediately apologizing, sitting in the lobby of the hotel we just checked out of, waiting, playing gin rummy, emailing, waiting, horribly depressed, and then all of a sudden we had a show lined up in Berlin for Friday. Things started looking up. Decided to stay in Munich again since it was too late to drive to Berlin. Continued playing gin rummy. Booked another hotel and went to it.

And then we walked into the hotel of the tiny 2-star Hotel Max and saw this:

Jimi Hendrix stayed here. May 1967. Room 43. Double room with no bathoom. And that's when we knew it was gonna be alright. Then right before bed, we had a Zurich show lined up for the next night at Bosch Bar. Which was last night, and was totally packed. It was nice to play for people that were there to see us. Then we drove straight to Berlin, because the hotel we booked atop a foggy Black Forest mountain was closed when we got there at 4 am. Tired. Show tonight.

So the details:
Tonight. Berlin. White Trash. 10 pm.
Monday. London. Borderline.
Tuesday. London. KoKo (w/ The Fall).
Wednesday. We go home.

Song of the Viking

2009-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

Scandinavia. Nary a plastic Viking helmet has been purchased, much less observed for sale, and I mean, what the hell? Håve they nø pride? We sadly haven't seen much/any of this nether-land, except for the parcels immediately roadside (beautiful though they are), because we've been driving the whole time. This is a big place. There are still people named Leif here.

Hamburg to Stockholm is a long, lonely drive, with either aurora borealis or very-distant city lights as your guide. You'll arrive in the wee hours of the morning, after two ferries and three different currenies, some of which you could fashion into a sweet necklace.

northern Germany

We stayed in an old prison (ca. 1863) on an island in Stockholm. We've stayed in our fair share of hostels that felt like jail cells, but this one was actually a jail cell. A nice one, at that. The day never really gets going up here. We played in the nicest theatre of all time (ca. 1863). Highly recommended, if you're a band of a certain caliber traveling thru Stockholm and looking for a cool place to play.

Berns, Stockholm

Oslo to Stockholm consisted of mostly two-lane blacktop in snow/slush, past many lakes, over many hills, thru a veritable winter wonderland. Then, turns out, the Norse run a real tight border, especially once they catch wind that you're a band. Pockets emptied, contents
explained, genitals handled, the works. Everybody except Will, of whom it musta been assumed was a narc. The ultimate was when Sgt. O'Norse mumbled a mouthful of foreign tongue into his radio and punctuated it with "te DOGS." Which was terrifying for no reason, until he let us go 2 minutes later.

Oslo girls are the polar opposites of Paris girls. It's like they've never seen dudes before. They're sweet. Maybe French girls are sweet too, but they don't make ostentatious displays of it. Unless they're from Chile. They want you to drink all night with them and never get drunk, except all you wanna do is sleep, in the land of the midnight sun.*

Bummer we didn't get to experience Copenhagen at all. Although the book's yet to be closed on that.

* except in winter. land of the noon moon.

Halloween in Luxembourg

2009-11-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Belgium Wafels

2009-11-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

This is what we looked like in Brussels, according to rock 'n' roll sketch artiste Robbe Vervaeke (note: this is actually what we looked like).

Next morning, harried tourists we are, jogged into the Grote Markt for a quickie natur Belgian Wafel or three, speckling powdered sugar all over our respective duds. Took pictures of ourselves and cruised to Luxembourg, the Aspen of Europe. Stay tuned for that...

Francin' on the Ceiling

2009-10-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

"dear Jim,
we put this awesome rain effect on Riders. you'd love it."

Jared, with the Sultan of Kebap

shit is beautiful.

Brugge Cruise (or, Cruisin' for a Bruggein')

2009-10-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

frites

the most photographed spot in Brugge

this is where they invented beer*

* historical accuracy not guaranteed.

Holland

2009-10-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog,

We are in Holland, or, the Netherlands, whatever the difference is. Conundrum: starting a month in Europe with three nights in Amsterdam, and realizing all you wanna do once you get there is sleep. Solution: get over it, lazy American.

Played in Eindhoven on Tuesday and Amsterdam on Wednesday and Rotterdam (aka Rotown) on Thursday. This whole opening-for-White-Lies thing means we're playing in front of packed theatres. Really nice ones, too. Like Paradiso in Amsterdam, an old church, ca. 1880. Stones played there, or something like that. Lots of teenagers, too, which is kinda culture shock for us. A girl on the front row asked for one of Jared's picks in Amsterdam. Hope she enjoys it.

Scenes:

impromptu wine-and-cheese picnic, Alkmaar centrum (cups by Subway)

Dan, at work in his fossil room, Haarlem (oil on canvas)

slightly racist chocolate bar

totally partied with these guys in Amsterdam. here they are reminding us we're awesome.

everything's better when wet

2009-10-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

Culinary highlights & lowlight from Texas:

Huevos Rancheros. H&H Car Wash & Coffee Shop, El Paso

Pancakes & Co. H&H Car Wash & Coffee Shop, El Paso

Jarrod's Kolaches. Czech Stop, West, TX

Aboard the Salad Wagon. K-Bob's, Ft. Stockton

Not pictured: Cisco's Restaurant Bakery, Austin

The Big E-Z

2009-10-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

Too-loose Street

not an illusion

it's too late to turn back now

2009-10-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

Not much for words today. These, however, should be worth a cool thousand or so:

Tim and MJ, Chapel Hill

Turistas (or, Meet Linda)

Wintzell's Oyster House, Mobile, AL. Look for it on the next best-of list.

Shopping, Part 42

2009-10-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

Deep in Noth Cah'lana, lured in off the highway by the promise of a Wrangler outlet and an eatery called Biscuitville, we by chance pulled our van up in front of this single-wide built into a grassy noll on the back side of a grocery store parking lot, called CD's-R-Used. Which is an odd name, because it's so matter-of-fact - I mean, sometimes CD's r new too, y'know? It took us an hour down the road to figure that maybe it's like Toys R Us - pronounced as if there was a past tense for the word us. Clever. The proprietor came bouncing out the door, promising us each a free CD if we'd just come on back now after we's done at the Biscuitville, and bounced back inside and continued bouncing off the walls. Not sure what kind of business plan the whole thing is, but hey, who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth? So we came on back, to the sight of said sole proprietor frantically emptying a spray can of air freshener in the place, blasting a John Tesh CD (after asking if that was okay with us). Dude was thrilled that we were there with him, conveyed in an incessant flow of words, and we did well on our second quasi-gratis record shopping spree in as many days. In exhange for our 2 CD's and $12, we got:

The Hondell's Greatest Hits CD
Lindsey Buckingham's Law & Order CD
Grace Jones' "Slave To the Rhythm" 45
Zapp's "Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing)" b/w "Come On" 45
John Fogerty's "Centerfield" b/w "Rock and Roll Girls" 45
Loretta Lynn's You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man) LP
Loretta Lynn's Blue Eyed Kentucky Girl LP
The Best of Bread LP
Simon & Garfunkel's Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme LP
The Jesus & Mary Chain's Barbed Wire Kisses CD
3 World's Finest Chocolate bars ("they're already paid for.")
(Jared passed on a CD called Punk Rock, which may or may not be the name of a local band.)

sorry, no trades. unless you're us.

Quote of the day, from David (proprietor) to Jared, who had stepped outside: "You look so good out there with the wind in your hair, why don't you come back in here and be with us." (note: there was no wind).

So if you're in Burlington, NC, take exit 143 off I-40 and please go be with David over at CD's-R-Used, behind the Biscuitville. Because he gave us that sweet deal in exchange for us spreading the word about him. Please go see him. Please.

Drama at the Chili Parlour

2009-10-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Been a few days; much/not much has happened. Saturday, drove all day and all night from St. Louis to Pittsburgh, stopping only for our first taste of that famous beanless Cincinnati chili, per drummer Dan's proselytizing/hometown pride. Out of all 300+ options - according to Dan, Cincinnati has the highest chili-parlor-per-capita quotient - we chose Camp Washington Chili. It was built a long time ago, possibly by George Washington himself, but was lost to road-widening in the 90's and rebuilt, retaining absolutely no divey charm, but the exact same sweet-ass chili. Thing is, there, they serve it over spaghetti, so it's almost like a hyper-meaty bolognese pasta.

chili remnants

The most thrilling aspect of it, though, was our waitress Nikki, and I hate to say you just had to be there. She totally wins Personality of the Year, with an entire 'nother personality's worth of personality to spare. So much so that we kinda wonder if she was an actress in intense character study for an upcoming Cincinnati chili parlor movie. Killer waitress, to boot. Everybody razzes her for her rainbow steez (e.g. "rainbow brite," "gay," "Skittles-bag-kicker"), but she caps 'em back with "picklehead" and "5-gallon buckethead." And now we've got her back. If you're ever looking for a hug, go see Nikki at Camp Washington Chili at the corner of Hopple & Colerain in Cincinnati, in the heart of the historic meat-packing district. But still, you had to be there.

Tim 'n' Nikki

Anyway. Sunday was Philly, the first show with A Place To Bury Strangers and All the Saints. Monday was DC. Rocked Little Ethiopia. Last night was Chapel Hill, after a record buying spree at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, courtesy RVA Magazine and the mighty Les Enfants Terribles blog. Times are good.

And one final show announcement:
We're headlining a London show, on Nov. 16. At the Borderline. Get tickets here.

El Polio Loco

2009-10-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

Whole Hog

2009-09-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

Day 1 or 2, depending on what you call a day. En route from LA to KC. We ate breakfast at Hog's Family Restaurant in Flagstaff, which is either Hog's family-style restaurant or the restaurant that Hog's family owns, after failing to resist the call of the advertised $3.95 Hog's Platter, which, from the best we could suss from the painting, featured eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, and pubic hair. So we ate it.

Competing across the street, priced 4 cents more expensive at $3.99, was the Farmer's Platter. We cut out the middleman and went straight for the hog.

let's go away for awhile

2009-09-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Leaving this town for another one and then another one and then another one and then another one. In advance of that, we're putting you, Kansas City St. Louis Philadelphia DC Chapel Hill Atlanta Tallahassee New Orleans Austin Tucson Riverside San Diego, on notice that we're now accepting gastronomic suggestions. Although we've already decided on where we're finally gonna have some KC BBQ, so unless you're gonna say "go to Arthur Bryant's!," keep it to yourself.

Food aside, we're psyched. Touring's fun, or at least it is when you haven't done it in a while. So we bid adieu to our way-downtown-in-trucker-town home, where we spent the summer writing all the songs we're gonna be taking you aback with on the road, which reminds me we gotta drop off that rent check like now or we're gonna be homeless when we get back. This is what it looks like. This is the inspiration:

p.s. click here and buy tickets.

Rock! Live! Amerikaans! Shoegaze!

2009-09-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Forgot about this. This is what we sounded like in Europe back in April (the 10th, to be exact). Recorded in a hangar for Dutch Radio at the Motel Mozaique Festival in Rotterdam. Slow news day. Enjoy.

(click on the picture)

London / The Fall

2009-09-11T11:09:00.001-07:00

We've added a fall London show. November 17 at KOKO with... The Fall. There's a possibility this could be our only UK show, so tally ho and get tickets here. We're hoping there will another show or two, but as it stands right now, this is it.

Happy Labor Day Everybody!

2009-09-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

From,
Amy and Misty Malarky Ying Yang (pictured)