When my brother and sister and I were kids, our father tried to teach us the value of delayed gratification. If we went on some outing, like to the zoo or a museum or wherever, he would allow us to pick out one souvenir, but we would always have to wait until it was time to go home before we could make that decision. That way, he thought, we'd figure out that, by waiting, we'd be able to determine what we really wanted and not miss out by being rash. It was his hope that we'd learn the value of long-term planning, being goal oriented, look at the big picture, that sort of thing, a lesson that would surely serve us well throughout life.
Well, forget that. Everybody knows delaying yr gratification sucks. With that in mind, let Titus Andronicus give you what you think you want right this second, damn the consequences, in the following two ways.
Firstly, it is our pleasure to share with you another song from our forthcoming record The Monitor. It is the first song on said record, and it is called "A More Perfect Union." You know, as in, "We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility..." and so forth. You know, the preamble to our United States Constitution, that most beautiful and beloved of documents. Get it? First song... preamble... come on, it makes perfect sense. What is that, you don't know anything about the preamble? Well, we can fix that, and have fun doing so!
Wow, that was great! I do wish Jack Sheldon had sung it though... what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, that mp3 you can listen to. Here it is.
Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union
You're pretty much loving it, huh? Well, that's great. Let's go ahead and make yr life a little easier still, with help from our old buddies at Extra Large Recordings. Those great folks have made it so that, if you elect the pre-order The Monitor from their web store, you can have the mp3s of said album RIGHT NOW! This is really a good deal for you - for one thing. they are selling this 2xLP set for only fourteen bucks, which is just unheard of. Straight up bonkers. On top of that, you can have the mp3s to listen to or put on yr iPod or whatever without having to even wait until the record actually comes out! Sounds like a slam dunk to me. Take advantage of their generosity here, and do it now - don't think about it for a long time, just do it!
I should also mention that the grand finale of our forthcoming tour of in-store appearances will come to an electrifying conclusion on the 18th of March at Waterloo in Austin, TX. We are also going to play a place called Skull Alley in Louisville, KY on the 21st of April. Spooky! Did I already mention that last item in a previous blog? I guess I could go look at them and see if I did... nah, fuck that. Also, please note that the place we are going to play in Vancouver on April 1st (Amy's birthday!) isn't Cobalt like I said it was, but rather 917 Main. Why not, right? It is the same location and everything, just a different name. No big deal!
All right, that's enough blogging for now. Too futuristic! Enjoy the weekend.
Yr friend,
Patrick
Friday, February 26, 2010
Limited Edition Tour Poster
Limited Edition Titus Andronicus "Monitour" tour posters available on our upcoming tour. 150 Made, Hand screened and numbered.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Further MONITOUR information
Hello again friends. Just wanted to dash off a quick note to keep you up to date with the latest additions to the MONITOUR schedule.
On March 15th, which so happens to be our beloved Ian Graetzer's birthday, we will play a concert in Tulsa, OK at a place called the Eclipse Cultural House. This will be a FREE show, and is being organized by our friend Jay, who worked at the late, lamented DIY venue The Monolith (who we all remember from this blog, surely). Okay, great! Not long after, on March 25th, we will play a show at in San Luis Obispo, CA at the SLO Arts Center. We played here with the So So Glos during the Bring On the Dudes tour. That band Cotton Jones was also there. As I recall, most of the people went home before we played, but that's all right. It bodes well for whoever happens to be opening for us that day. Speaking of...
We are pleased to announce another one of the fine bands who will support us on this MONITOUR, for the first run of proper shows following the record store trip and SXSW. Exploring the West Coast with us, all the way from El Paso to Vancouver, will be none other than English twee upstarts Let's Wrestle. Somehow, we always get mixed up with these sorts of characters. Anyway, their debut full-length, In the Court of the Wrestling Let's, later this year on Merge Records. I haven't heard the whole thing yet, but Merge did have the foresight to release In the Aeroplane Over The Sea, Madonna, Transfiguration of Vincent... need I go on? Merge really is the best record label, besides Extra Large, of course. They are also going on tour with Quasi in April, and Quasi is one of the all-time greats. Anyway, this promises to be a lot of fun. Check out the video for their hit single, "We Are The Men You'll Grow To Love Soon," below.
With the addition of these two shows, we inch closer to our dream of a day-off-free tour. We should have shows to announce for March 29th and April 21st soon-ish, I hope, but there is one date that continues to baffle us. Of course I am referring to April 3rd, a day on which we will be trapped between Missoula, MT and Fargo, ND with no one to play to. Doesn't this concern any of you? Please, all you citizens of Montana and North Dakota - help us out! Throw us a bone! I beg of you, if you have any information about where a gang of rascals can play some punk rock in that general area, please don't hesitate to e-mail TitusAndronicusTheBand@Gmail.com.
I guess we could also say now that we are going to be playing the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain this coming May, but one thing at a time, right?
Okay, that is all for now, but before we go, our keybs-playing friend Dave posted this humorous entry on his blog, Gumballs Please. Hi, haters!!
Yr friend,
Patrick
On March 15th, which so happens to be our beloved Ian Graetzer's birthday, we will play a concert in Tulsa, OK at a place called the Eclipse Cultural House. This will be a FREE show, and is being organized by our friend Jay, who worked at the late, lamented DIY venue The Monolith (who we all remember from this blog, surely). Okay, great! Not long after, on March 25th, we will play a show at in San Luis Obispo, CA at the SLO Arts Center. We played here with the So So Glos during the Bring On the Dudes tour. That band Cotton Jones was also there. As I recall, most of the people went home before we played, but that's all right. It bodes well for whoever happens to be opening for us that day. Speaking of...
We are pleased to announce another one of the fine bands who will support us on this MONITOUR, for the first run of proper shows following the record store trip and SXSW. Exploring the West Coast with us, all the way from El Paso to Vancouver, will be none other than English twee upstarts Let's Wrestle. Somehow, we always get mixed up with these sorts of characters. Anyway, their debut full-length, In the Court of the Wrestling Let's, later this year on Merge Records. I haven't heard the whole thing yet, but Merge did have the foresight to release In the Aeroplane Over The Sea, Madonna, Transfiguration of Vincent... need I go on? Merge really is the best record label, besides Extra Large, of course. They are also going on tour with Quasi in April, and Quasi is one of the all-time greats. Anyway, this promises to be a lot of fun. Check out the video for their hit single, "We Are The Men You'll Grow To Love Soon," below.
With the addition of these two shows, we inch closer to our dream of a day-off-free tour. We should have shows to announce for March 29th and April 21st soon-ish, I hope, but there is one date that continues to baffle us. Of course I am referring to April 3rd, a day on which we will be trapped between Missoula, MT and Fargo, ND with no one to play to. Doesn't this concern any of you? Please, all you citizens of Montana and North Dakota - help us out! Throw us a bone! I beg of you, if you have any information about where a gang of rascals can play some punk rock in that general area, please don't hesitate to e-mail TitusAndronicusTheBand@Gmail.com.
I guess we could also say now that we are going to be playing the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain this coming May, but one thing at a time, right?
Okay, that is all for now, but before we go, our keybs-playing friend Dave posted this humorous entry on his blog, Gumballs Please. Hi, haters!!
Yr friend,
Patrick
Monday, February 15, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Four Score and Seven Inches
DISCLAIMER: For all that the internet is great, it is also a very baffling place, and I don't know how to make it so that every picture I posted doesn't get cropped so that it looks shitty and stupid. If you want to look at this blog where it isn't so ugly, try TitusAndronicus.net.
First of all, let me give a big thank you to all the people who have responded to our plea for places to sleep/play. I had pretty much figured that I would put it out there and it would dissipate into the ether, so imagine my great surprise and delight to see so many of you opening yr hearts to us. So far, we have received about 130 e-mails in response to our last blog, and I am looking forward to the Herculean task of going through them all. Good to know we have so many friends!! :)
So yeah - hopefully soon we'll be able to announce some more shows. So far, we have been able to fill one off-day - on the sixth of April, we'll be playing at Project Lodge in Madison, WI. Neat! In addition, we can confirm that on the 1st of April, we will play a place simply called Cobalt in Vancouver, BC. Speaking of Vancouver, have you guys been pumping that new Japandroids song "Art Czars?" That is the fucking jam!
Also, there was some misinformation in with those tour dates. On the 11th of April, we're not going to be playing in New Paltz like we claimed. We are actually going to play in nearby Red Hook, at the high school there, the appropriately named Red Hook High School. That show, a benefit for a group called Men Can Stop Rape, was organized by a very ambitious and ethical senior named Rob. Great! That same night, just because we can't get enough of this sort of thing, we will be playing a late show at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT, in their upstairs "Lilypad" space. I wonder if they still have the John Brown biography I left behind back in June when we played there with TL/RX. I hope so - that shit was from the library! Eeek!
Speaking of that tour, and that CT show in particular, we are thrilled to announce the first of the wonderful bands that will be playing with us on the Monitour. Beginning with that show at Toad's Place, and through the show in Philadelphia at the Barbary, we will be joined by none other than The Babies. Here's them crushing it last month at Brooklyn Bowl:
This band is the bomb. Don't take my word for it, though - just head over to their MySpace and hear for yrself! They are going to be playing our record release show at the Bowery Ballroom too, so... great!
All right, enough jibber jabber. Let's get down to why we're really here. As you all know, today is Abraham Lincoln's 201st birthday. This is an extra special event for Lincoln-admirers from Glen Rock, NJ like myself, since 201 is the area code in Glen Rock! Maybe you remember Ludacris praising us in his song "Area Codes" for having "too much green [and] too much fun."
I suppose I could try and say something about why Abe was great, but what could I say about him that hasn't been said a thousand times before? Nothing, I suppose - he has more books written about him than any other American, something like 7000, I think (don't quote me on that). Besides, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is Titus Andronicus on their second ever tour, "The Deep Freeze" of January 2008, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in DC.
You know, I used to think pennies really sucked. They are hardly worth anything! Now I see what a fool I was. I mean, how lucky are we that we live in a country where you are likely to find a beautifully engraved portrait of our greatest hero just lying on the street waiting for you to pick it up? Fantastic. Here's us again last Autumn during the "Bring on the Dudes Tour" out on I-80, some ten miles southeast of Laramie, Wyoming.
Epic! Hey, let me tell you something else. If you feel like celebrating Lincoln's birthday by indulging in the great American tradition of spending money, you should give yr money to a nice lady named
That shit is hot! That design can also be had on a tote bag - oooh! Let's now take a moment to enjoy this beautiful reading of Lincoln's most enduring masterpiece, The Gettysburg Address, by Sam Waterson, who provided the voice of Lincoln in Ken Burns' The Civil War, played him in the TV movie Gore Vidal's Lincoln, and continues to totally kick ass on Law and Order. Also, how brutal is the song at the end of this video? Intense!!
Speaking of the first words of that speech, I have to admit that there is one Lincoln birthday present that no one is going to be getting this year, that being the "Four Score and Seven" seven inch. I know we said it was going to be out by now, but we were just plain wrong. Really, it isn't going to be out until the 23rd. Sorry! For now, here is the cover for you to look at, courtesy of our favorite typographist Nolen Strals.
How about that little puppy sitting on the drum in the middle! So cute! Almost as cute as this...
JESUS CHRIST! Anyway. Have you guys all heard the song that is going to be on that seven inch? You can listen to it and read all about how great it is here.
Speaking of that song, get ready to hear it again, as it provides the soundtrack for this trailer for our new album made by our dear friend and official TA videographer Alex Tretiak. If you weren't already bursting at the seams with anticipation over this record, hopefully this trailer will send you spiraling into full blow dementia.
Good job, Tretiak! Well, that was probably more information than most of you cared for today, and besides, it's almost ten o'clock on a Friday night - yr probably all out partying! So, with that, I bid you a very fond farewell... for now!
Yr friend,
Patrick
First of all, let me give a big thank you to all the people who have responded to our plea for places to sleep/play. I had pretty much figured that I would put it out there and it would dissipate into the ether, so imagine my great surprise and delight to see so many of you opening yr hearts to us. So far, we have received about 130 e-mails in response to our last blog, and I am looking forward to the Herculean task of going through them all. Good to know we have so many friends!! :)
So yeah - hopefully soon we'll be able to announce some more shows. So far, we have been able to fill one off-day - on the sixth of April, we'll be playing at Project Lodge in Madison, WI. Neat! In addition, we can confirm that on the 1st of April, we will play a place simply called Cobalt in Vancouver, BC. Speaking of Vancouver, have you guys been pumping that new Japandroids song "Art Czars?" That is the fucking jam!
Also, there was some misinformation in with those tour dates. On the 11th of April, we're not going to be playing in New Paltz like we claimed. We are actually going to play in nearby Red Hook, at the high school there, the appropriately named Red Hook High School. That show, a benefit for a group called Men Can Stop Rape, was organized by a very ambitious and ethical senior named Rob. Great! That same night, just because we can't get enough of this sort of thing, we will be playing a late show at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT, in their upstairs "Lilypad" space. I wonder if they still have the John Brown biography I left behind back in June when we played there with TL/RX. I hope so - that shit was from the library! Eeek!
Speaking of that tour, and that CT show in particular, we are thrilled to announce the first of the wonderful bands that will be playing with us on the Monitour. Beginning with that show at Toad's Place, and through the show in Philadelphia at the Barbary, we will be joined by none other than The Babies. Here's them crushing it last month at Brooklyn Bowl:
This band is the bomb. Don't take my word for it, though - just head over to their MySpace and hear for yrself! They are going to be playing our record release show at the Bowery Ballroom too, so... great!
All right, enough jibber jabber. Let's get down to why we're really here. As you all know, today is Abraham Lincoln's 201st birthday. This is an extra special event for Lincoln-admirers from Glen Rock, NJ like myself, since 201 is the area code in Glen Rock! Maybe you remember Ludacris praising us in his song "Area Codes" for having "too much green [and] too much fun."
I suppose I could try and say something about why Abe was great, but what could I say about him that hasn't been said a thousand times before? Nothing, I suppose - he has more books written about him than any other American, something like 7000, I think (don't quote me on that). Besides, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is Titus Andronicus on their second ever tour, "The Deep Freeze" of January 2008, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in DC.
You know, I used to think pennies really sucked. They are hardly worth anything! Now I see what a fool I was. I mean, how lucky are we that we live in a country where you are likely to find a beautifully engraved portrait of our greatest hero just lying on the street waiting for you to pick it up? Fantastic. Here's us again last Autumn during the "Bring on the Dudes Tour" out on I-80, some ten miles southeast of Laramie, Wyoming.
Epic! Hey, let me tell you something else. If you feel like celebrating Lincoln's birthday by indulging in the great American tradition of spending money, you should give yr money to a nice lady named
That shit is hot! That design can also be had on a tote bag - oooh! Let's now take a moment to enjoy this beautiful reading of Lincoln's most enduring masterpiece, The Gettysburg Address, by Sam Waterson, who provided the voice of Lincoln in Ken Burns' The Civil War, played him in the TV movie Gore Vidal's Lincoln, and continues to totally kick ass on Law and Order. Also, how brutal is the song at the end of this video? Intense!!
Speaking of the first words of that speech, I have to admit that there is one Lincoln birthday present that no one is going to be getting this year, that being the "Four Score and Seven" seven inch. I know we said it was going to be out by now, but we were just plain wrong. Really, it isn't going to be out until the 23rd. Sorry! For now, here is the cover for you to look at, courtesy of our favorite typographist Nolen Strals.
How about that little puppy sitting on the drum in the middle! So cute! Almost as cute as this...
JESUS CHRIST! Anyway. Have you guys all heard the song that is going to be on that seven inch? You can listen to it and read all about how great it is here.
Speaking of that song, get ready to hear it again, as it provides the soundtrack for this trailer for our new album made by our dear friend and official TA videographer Alex Tretiak. If you weren't already bursting at the seams with anticipation over this record, hopefully this trailer will send you spiraling into full blow dementia.
Good job, Tretiak! Well, that was probably more information than most of you cared for today, and besides, it's almost ten o'clock on a Friday night - yr probably all out partying! So, with that, I bid you a very fond farewell... for now!
Yr friend,
Patrick
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
THE MONITOUR Phase Two: "Sea to Shining Sea"
Friends, it is with great pleasure that we reveal to you the remaining dates of THE MONITOUR, which, as you can surely guess, is the tour we will be doing to support the release of our new record, The Monitor. Get it? Monitor tour = Monitour. Right? You all remember the record store appearances we promised you a few weeks ago - we are still going to do those, don't worry, but now we can confess that we will also be playing a multitude of conventional rock concerts in conventional rock nightclubs and the like. Behold!
3/21 - El Paso, TX - Black Market
3/22 - Phoenix, AZ - Chryo Arts
3/23 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater
3/24 - Santa Barbara, CA - Club Mercy
3/26 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door
3/27 - Sacramento, CA - Luigi's Fungarden
3/28 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
3/30 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project
3/31 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
4/1 - Vancouver, BC - TBD
4/2 - Missoula, MT - The Palace
4/4 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
4/5 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry @ 1st Avenue
4/7 - Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
4/8 - Detroit, MI - Majestic Cafe
4/9 - Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dee's
4/10 - Montreal, QC - Green Room
4/11 - New Paltz, NY - St. Paul Lutheran Church Parish Hall
4/12 - Allston, MA - Great Scott
4/13 - Bronx, NY - Rodrigues Coffee House @ Fordham University
4/14 - Purchase, NY - SUNY Purchase Student Center
4/15 - Philadelphia, PA - The Barbary
4/16 - Washington, DC - Positive Force DC @ St. Stephen's Church
4/17 - Charlottesville, VA - Random Row
4/18 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
4/19 - Atlanta, GA - 529
4/20 - Indianapolis, IN - Radio Radio
4/22 - Columbus, OH - Summit
4/23 - Harrisburg, PA - Abbey Bar
4/24 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
Hopefully soon, we will be able to tell you that we are going to be playing with some totally badass bands on this tour. Right now, all I can say for sure is that on the 23rd of March, we will be playing with our boy Ted Leo! Woo! Whether or not there are going to be any other Pharmacists there remains unclear.
Yes, we will play all these shows, for no other reason that we love all of you and want nothing more than for you to be entertained. We shall drag our weary bones from coast to coast, all in the hope that, for one magical evening, you may forget all yr troubles and dance and sing and share in the joy of just being alive... but it isn't going to come for free! This is where you come in, all you punks.
First and foremost, the broke-ass boxcar bums of Titus Andronicus need roofs over our heads. Will you please let us come and sleep over at yr house after the show when we come to yr town? Accomidations need not be anything special at all - a floor and a ceiling are our only two requirements, though beds/couches/beanbags/etc. are always nice. If you will agree to let us come over, we will make it so that you can come to the show for free! You can even bring a friend. Hell, you can bring two friends. Just send an e-mail to TitusAndronicusTheBand@Gmail.com and we will work it out.
Now, here's a request for the slightly more ambitious punks. Those of you who are familiar with what a calendar looks like may notice there are a couple days in the schedule above where we don't have any shows. You are probably thinking: "They must be doing something really cool and top secret that day." Wrong! We're not going to be doing shit. Black Flag never took days off, so why should we?
I guess what I am trying to say is, if you want Titus Andronicus to come to yr town on one of those off days, we will do it. We are happy to play at yr house/community center/church basement/whatever. All you have to do is ask. Here are the days that we are looking to be constructively occupied, and roughly the areas we'd like to do it:
3/25 - between Santa Barbara, CA and Visalia, CA
3/29 - between San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA (not Portland, though)
4/3 - between Missoula, MT and Fargo, ND
4/6 - between Minneapolis, MN and Chicago, IL
4/21 - between Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH
Can you do this for us? It doesn't have to be a big deal. If you have a PA system, we'll play for you and the one other punk in yr town. Simply e-mail TitusAndronicusTheBand@Gmail.com and all will be well.
In other news, it is snowing today. What better excuse than to watch this sweet video of everyone's all-time favorite band Galaxie 500 playing their song, "Snowstorm?" There is none, so let's hit it!
Hmmm, I sort of feel like I had been planning to say something else. Apparently not!
Yr friend,
Patrick
3/21 - El Paso, TX - Black Market
3/22 - Phoenix, AZ - Chryo Arts
3/23 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater
3/24 - Santa Barbara, CA - Club Mercy
3/26 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door
3/27 - Sacramento, CA - Luigi's Fungarden
3/28 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
3/30 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project
3/31 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
4/1 - Vancouver, BC - TBD
4/2 - Missoula, MT - The Palace
4/4 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
4/5 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry @ 1st Avenue
4/7 - Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
4/8 - Detroit, MI - Majestic Cafe
4/9 - Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dee's
4/10 - Montreal, QC - Green Room
4/11 - New Paltz, NY - St. Paul Lutheran Church Parish Hall
4/12 - Allston, MA - Great Scott
4/13 - Bronx, NY - Rodrigues Coffee House @ Fordham University
4/14 - Purchase, NY - SUNY Purchase Student Center
4/15 - Philadelphia, PA - The Barbary
4/16 - Washington, DC - Positive Force DC @ St. Stephen's Church
4/17 - Charlottesville, VA - Random Row
4/18 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
4/19 - Atlanta, GA - 529
4/20 - Indianapolis, IN - Radio Radio
4/22 - Columbus, OH - Summit
4/23 - Harrisburg, PA - Abbey Bar
4/24 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
Hopefully soon, we will be able to tell you that we are going to be playing with some totally badass bands on this tour. Right now, all I can say for sure is that on the 23rd of March, we will be playing with our boy Ted Leo! Woo! Whether or not there are going to be any other Pharmacists there remains unclear.
Yes, we will play all these shows, for no other reason that we love all of you and want nothing more than for you to be entertained. We shall drag our weary bones from coast to coast, all in the hope that, for one magical evening, you may forget all yr troubles and dance and sing and share in the joy of just being alive... but it isn't going to come for free! This is where you come in, all you punks.
First and foremost, the broke-ass boxcar bums of Titus Andronicus need roofs over our heads. Will you please let us come and sleep over at yr house after the show when we come to yr town? Accomidations need not be anything special at all - a floor and a ceiling are our only two requirements, though beds/couches/beanbags/etc. are always nice. If you will agree to let us come over, we will make it so that you can come to the show for free! You can even bring a friend. Hell, you can bring two friends. Just send an e-mail to TitusAndronicusTheBand@Gmail.com and we will work it out.
Now, here's a request for the slightly more ambitious punks. Those of you who are familiar with what a calendar looks like may notice there are a couple days in the schedule above where we don't have any shows. You are probably thinking: "They must be doing something really cool and top secret that day." Wrong! We're not going to be doing shit. Black Flag never took days off, so why should we?
I guess what I am trying to say is, if you want Titus Andronicus to come to yr town on one of those off days, we will do it. We are happy to play at yr house/community center/church basement/whatever. All you have to do is ask. Here are the days that we are looking to be constructively occupied, and roughly the areas we'd like to do it:
3/25 - between Santa Barbara, CA and Visalia, CA
3/29 - between San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA (not Portland, though)
4/3 - between Missoula, MT and Fargo, ND
4/6 - between Minneapolis, MN and Chicago, IL
4/21 - between Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH
Can you do this for us? It doesn't have to be a big deal. If you have a PA system, we'll play for you and the one other punk in yr town. Simply e-mail TitusAndronicusTheBand@Gmail.com and all will be well.
In other news, it is snowing today. What better excuse than to watch this sweet video of everyone's all-time favorite band Galaxie 500 playing their song, "Snowstorm?" There is none, so let's hit it!
Hmmm, I sort of feel like I had been planning to say something else. Apparently not!
Yr friend,
Patrick
Friday, February 5, 2010
Whisper words of wisdom - let me pee
Hey gang. Did you see this little blurb about us that is in Rolling Stone this month? Pretty cool, right?
Yeah, except for one thing - the actual lyric is "let IT BE on a stretcher if I get carried away," not "let ME PEE on a stretcher if I get carried away," even though that is funnier. Hopefully that bodes well for the critical response to the abundance of actual scatalogical references on the record. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Heh heh... let me pee.
Yr friend,
Patrick
Yeah, except for one thing - the actual lyric is "let IT BE on a stretcher if I get carried away," not "let ME PEE on a stretcher if I get carried away," even though that is funnier. Hopefully that bodes well for the critical response to the abundance of actual scatalogical references on the record. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Heh heh... let me pee.
Yr friend,
Patrick
Thursday, February 4, 2010
MONITOUR eFlyer 1.0, plus, "I won't fuck us over, I'm Dr. Pepper"
Hello friends. I hope this blog finds you well. Do you guys remember that short tour of record stores that we said we were going to do? Well, we are still going to do them, and to make it easier for you to remember to participate, the good people at Extra Large Recordings have prepared this eFlyer for you to look at. Behold!
Damn, that looks sharp. Well, now that we have that out of the way, let's get down to more serious (read - YouTube related) business.
Did you happen to see this video of us that was posted on PitchforkTV a couple weeks ago? It was from a performance we did at their offices as part of a birthday party for Pitchfork founder Ryan Schrieber. Do you like it? It is just another classic from the magical eyes of Ray Concepcion, who really stepped up his usual game into new, more psychedelic, high-octane territory. Yr crazy for this one, Ray! It will also give you a chance to observe Dave and Amy outside the context of a still photograph, which isn't really very helpful when you are wondering what something sounds like, know what I mean?
Speaking of PitchforkTV, you know what video I like to watch on that website? This one, of the National performing their song "Mr. November" from the album Alligator. This song gets me pumped up! It is a great song to sing to yrself when you need to get psyched, like how Ally McBeal used to sing that song to herself to stay focused and motivated. Remember? Ally McBeal? Anyway, this is a sweet song.
I'll tell you what isn't often said about the National, though - this singer seems to be taking a lot of his cues from late period Joey Ramone! Check out this video and see if you don't agree - it is from the last Ramones concert, a performance of "53rd and 3rd" featuring Tim Armstrong and Lars Fredriksen from Rancid!
Speaking of Lars Fredriksen, did you know he did a cover of the Billy Bragg song, "To Have and To Have Not?" Well, he did. Observe.
I can't help but imagine I would have felt differently about that in eighth grade than I do now. I still love that Billy Bragg song, though - it is so beloved around here that it was the last number played at nearly every show of last autumn's "Bring On the Dudes" Tour that we did with the So So Glos. Did you realize? Maybe if you went to one of the shows you did. Anyway, here we are playing it in Montreal way way back in September of 2009.
And now for something completely different. Recently, our old friend Dan Tews shared this picture with me on Facebook - an image of a badass king standing in front of a truly impressive collection of generic Dr. Pepper equivalents. Check it out!
Now, if you know me, you know I consider myself a pretty serious connoisseur of generic Dr. Pepper equivalents, but even I have to bow down before this guy. Some of my favorites from this picture which I have yet to encounter in real life include Dr. Extreme, Dr. Good Guy, and Dr. Radical. The two greatest ones, though, have got to be Dr. Becker, like Ted Danson's early '00s sitcom character, and Dr. Bob, the doctor character that Rowlf the Dog played on "The Muppet Show."
Also included in this masterpiece is Dr. Path, which, as some of you who have been paying attention will remember, got a shout-out in our song "Arms Against Atrophy." You see, Dr. Path was the Dr. Pepper equivalent sold at the Path Mark in Fair Lawn, NJ - three liters for a dollar. Unbelievable! Yum. For Christmas 2003, my friends all chipped in and got me 35 3-liter bottles of the elixer, with the condition that I accept a challenge to drink the whole stash before our high school graduation the following June. That is why I sang, "By June 22nd, I have done the math/it's 105 liters I'll consume of Dr. Path." Get it?
Speaking of that song, yesterday was the 23rd birthday of one-time Titus Andronicus keyboardist Matt Miller. You probably never saw him play with us - this was back in, like, 2005. I can't find any pictures of him when he was in the group that I am able to resize properly and yadda yadda yadda, so here is a picture of me and him dancing our asses of at our cousin Erin's wedding last year.
Anyway, while he isn't in the band anymore, he is still a great cousin, and I rather enjoyed celebrating his birthday last night with a screening of "House Party." Ace! I guess my point is, Matt Miller used to sing a solo on the song "Arms Against Atrophy," and so I wanted to share with you a recording of that song featuring his great voice from one of our early practices. Hope you like it!
Okay, that's probably enough for now. I guess what I am really trying to say is that I hope you like the eFlyer for our record store tour we're doing!!
Yr friend,
Patrick
Damn, that looks sharp. Well, now that we have that out of the way, let's get down to more serious (read - YouTube related) business.
Did you happen to see this video of us that was posted on PitchforkTV a couple weeks ago? It was from a performance we did at their offices as part of a birthday party for Pitchfork founder Ryan Schrieber. Do you like it? It is just another classic from the magical eyes of Ray Concepcion, who really stepped up his usual game into new, more psychedelic, high-octane territory. Yr crazy for this one, Ray! It will also give you a chance to observe Dave and Amy outside the context of a still photograph, which isn't really very helpful when you are wondering what something sounds like, know what I mean?
Speaking of PitchforkTV, you know what video I like to watch on that website? This one, of the National performing their song "Mr. November" from the album Alligator. This song gets me pumped up! It is a great song to sing to yrself when you need to get psyched, like how Ally McBeal used to sing that song to herself to stay focused and motivated. Remember? Ally McBeal? Anyway, this is a sweet song.
I'll tell you what isn't often said about the National, though - this singer seems to be taking a lot of his cues from late period Joey Ramone! Check out this video and see if you don't agree - it is from the last Ramones concert, a performance of "53rd and 3rd" featuring Tim Armstrong and Lars Fredriksen from Rancid!
Speaking of Lars Fredriksen, did you know he did a cover of the Billy Bragg song, "To Have and To Have Not?" Well, he did. Observe.
I can't help but imagine I would have felt differently about that in eighth grade than I do now. I still love that Billy Bragg song, though - it is so beloved around here that it was the last number played at nearly every show of last autumn's "Bring On the Dudes" Tour that we did with the So So Glos. Did you realize? Maybe if you went to one of the shows you did. Anyway, here we are playing it in Montreal way way back in September of 2009.
And now for something completely different. Recently, our old friend Dan Tews shared this picture with me on Facebook - an image of a badass king standing in front of a truly impressive collection of generic Dr. Pepper equivalents. Check it out!
Now, if you know me, you know I consider myself a pretty serious connoisseur of generic Dr. Pepper equivalents, but even I have to bow down before this guy. Some of my favorites from this picture which I have yet to encounter in real life include Dr. Extreme, Dr. Good Guy, and Dr. Radical. The two greatest ones, though, have got to be Dr. Becker, like Ted Danson's early '00s sitcom character, and Dr. Bob, the doctor character that Rowlf the Dog played on "The Muppet Show."
Also included in this masterpiece is Dr. Path, which, as some of you who have been paying attention will remember, got a shout-out in our song "Arms Against Atrophy." You see, Dr. Path was the Dr. Pepper equivalent sold at the Path Mark in Fair Lawn, NJ - three liters for a dollar. Unbelievable! Yum. For Christmas 2003, my friends all chipped in and got me 35 3-liter bottles of the elixer, with the condition that I accept a challenge to drink the whole stash before our high school graduation the following June. That is why I sang, "By June 22nd, I have done the math/it's 105 liters I'll consume of Dr. Path." Get it?
Speaking of that song, yesterday was the 23rd birthday of one-time Titus Andronicus keyboardist Matt Miller. You probably never saw him play with us - this was back in, like, 2005. I can't find any pictures of him when he was in the group that I am able to resize properly and yadda yadda yadda, so here is a picture of me and him dancing our asses of at our cousin Erin's wedding last year.
Anyway, while he isn't in the band anymore, he is still a great cousin, and I rather enjoyed celebrating his birthday last night with a screening of "House Party." Ace! I guess my point is, Matt Miller used to sing a solo on the song "Arms Against Atrophy," and so I wanted to share with you a recording of that song featuring his great voice from one of our early practices. Hope you like it!
Okay, that's probably enough for now. I guess what I am really trying to say is that I hope you like the eFlyer for our record store tour we're doing!!
Yr friend,
Patrick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
