OLD TIMES THEY ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

Much has been happening in the world of Titus Andronicus. Here:

RECORDING:
I don’t know if I can announce this project for fear that I may step on the toes of some XL Recordings marketing intern, whose only job, aside from buying coffee for the higher-ups, is to develop a Titus Andronicus release and announcement timeline, so I won’t say anything. However, I will but hint, in the most general sense, at what was committed to tape last week at Marcata Studios in New Paltz, NY. New songs were recorded. Only, the songs are not new to the world, only new to us. Look, if one is to assume that a particular song is, ipso facto, that very song, then, no, the songs are old, but the fact remains that Titus Andronicus has never performed these songs live, nor for their own pleasure or edification, etc, etc, but only in practice, so that they might be recorded. And they have been recorded. That is all.

These two songs will be released on two separate seven-inch records. Now you think, why would I buy a record that has only one song on it? To which I would say: There is another song on the other side. A crucial piece of information that I deliberately left out of the first paragraph is that the songs that we recorded are cover songs, so when I say that the songs were old, I mean to say that at the time of our recording them, another band had before then committed a version of their song, which was the quote-unquote definitive version of the song. None of this solves the mystery of what is on the other side of the record.

This does: the band whose song we covered on one side of the record will cover one of our songs on the other side.

FILMING:
1. We spent Monday shooting a video at New York’s famous Silent Barn with a guy called Mike Reynolds. He was great. Thanks to those who live there and especially Joe Ahearn, who runs show paper, and especially, especially to all of the folks who showed up and allowed us to cover them with mylar, even after they had begun to sweat. You are probably still trying to wash it off. Thank you. The video is for our upcoming single for the song whose title can be shortened to “Icarus.” That should give you some idea. We placed a baby on the floor, smashed some glass, jumped around, sprayed confetti. Not in that order!!!!!! You get me???

2. Episode two of our now famous webisode has been posted on our website, TitusAndronicus.net, for your viewing pleasure. It may soon be removed and slightly edited. Featured in the video is Randy and Dean of No Age, Hisham of Soft Circle, and other great friends from the tour from last Winter.

TOURING:
Lucero is a band from Tennessee that none of us were familiar with until we met them the other day in St Louis. If that show was any indication it is a different kind of thing, touring with Lucero, than it is touring with No Age or Los Campesinos. Case in point, they had not gotten as far as their second song before a brawl erupted between four grisly women. Bo, who was an eye witness to the affair, said that one woman grabbed a beer bottle and attempted to smash it over another lady’s head, unsuccessfully. The rest is a blur, but the bouncer kicked them out and these women had the rest of the night to think at home about what they’d done. Meanwhile Lucero finished their set and discovered that a fat clump of hair that had been torn from one woman’s head now rest on the stage. Imagine that. I thought we would be in for more of a wild ride after the first night, but the whole thing just started with a bang and has plateaued into something vaguely exciting. We are having fun.

Sorry, if anybody reads this, that there have been fewer posts of late. America isn’t as stimulating!