It’s incredible to be back in L.A. after being away from home for so long. We’re happy to be sleeping in beds that aren’t speeding along the highway and doing normal things again, like hanging clothes in closets and eating lunch. Thanks to everyone who came out to our shows these past two months, and to our fans in the U.K. and Ireland who made London, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, and Oxford the perfect, chaos-driven, booze-fueled end to the tour.

Of course, we’re not quite done with the year yet. We’ve been hard at work, planning and prepping our show at Walt Disney Concert Hall, which goes off this Friday, December 4th. We look forward to seeing all of you, and we promise there will be plenty of guests and surprises…

We’re also putting together a special DVD package of the show that will include a “behind the scenes” documentary. We’ll let you more about this…

Loveline Tonight We’ll be guests on Loveline tonight with the endlessly knowledgeable Dr. Drew. Hope you can tune in and listen to us give questionable advice to impressionable teenagers.

Gasoline Video Our bicycle video for “Gasoline” is available now on iTunes, as part of ...
[Read More...]]]> Good afternoon,

It’s incredible to be back in L.A. after being away from home for so long. We’re happy to be sleeping in beds that aren’t speeding along the highway and doing normal things again, like hanging clothes in closets and eating lunch. Thanks to everyone who came out to our shows these past two months, and to our fans in the U.K. and Ireland who made London, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, and Oxford the perfect, chaos-driven, booze-fueled end to the tour.

Of course, we’re not quite done with the year yet. We’ve been hard at work, planning and prepping our show at Walt Disney Concert Hall, which goes off this Friday, December 4th. We look forward to seeing all of you, and we promise there will be plenty of guests and surprises…

We’re also putting together a special DVD package of the show that will include a “behind the scenes” documentary. We’ll let you more about this…

Loveline Tonight
We’ll be guests on Loveline tonight with the endlessly knowledgeable Dr. Drew. Hope you can tune in and listen to us give questionable advice to impressionable teenagers.

Gasoline Video
Our bicycle video for “Gasoline” is available now on iTunes, as part of our Does This Mean You’re Moving On? A/V Bonus Pack. Get it HERE.

We miss you, we love you, we’re loopy from spending so many days in one place..

Bikes. Cops. A tour of L.A.’s East Side.. Check it out on YouTube.

We’re somewhere in Idaho at the moment, about to wrap up the final week of our crazy North American tour. It’s been an amazing one so far, filled with lots of jumping, screaming, sweatiness, and boozy nighttime wanderings.. Thanks so much to all those who came out and made this tour such a memorable one. We’ve been having loads of fun in all these cities and enjoyed meeting all of you. It’s been especially nice seeing so many familiar faces speckling the crowds.

Also, our good friends and tour buddies The Henry Clay People and Red Cortez have been putting on some truly inspiring performances at all these shows. If you haven’t seen them yet, make sure you come early to catch them. If you have, you know exactly what we’re talking about..

NEW YEAR’S EVE IN CHICAGO:

To ring in 2010, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be playing a New Year’s Eve show in Chicago at the River East Arts Center. The night will feature a DJ set by Mark Ronson and additional performances by the Virgins and the Drums. Tickets go on sale this Friday. Go to the ...
[Read More...]]]> Good afternoon,

We’re somewhere in Idaho at the moment, about to wrap up the final week of our crazy North American tour. It’s been an amazing one so far, filled with lots of jumping, screaming, sweatiness, and boozy nighttime wanderings.. Thanks so much to all those who came out and made this tour such a memorable one. We’ve been having loads of fun in all these cities and enjoyed meeting all of you. It’s been especially nice seeing so many familiar faces speckling the crowds.

Also, our good friends and tour buddies The Henry Clay People and Red Cortez have been putting on some truly inspiring performances at all these shows. If you haven’t seen them yet, make sure you come early to catch them. If you have, you know exactly what we’re talking about..

NEW YEAR’S EVE IN CHICAGO:

To ring in 2010, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be playing a New Year’s Eve show in Chicago at the River East Arts Center. The night will feature a DJ set by Mark Ronson and additional performances by the Virgins and the Drums. Tickets go on sale this Friday. Go to the SHOWS section this Friday for the link. More info to come..

“MOVING ON” SINGLE/”GASOLINE” VIDEO BUNDLE AVAILABLE ON ITUNES NOVEMBER 17:

We’re also extremely happy to announce the upcoming release of an iTunes Bundle which, along with the song “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” includes our official “Gasoline” music video.

This video was filmed as we rode bicycles all over east and downtown L.A. A few things to look out for in the video include: bike-riding inside the Metro station, a police helicopter, and Steven wiping out on steps..

The “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” [A/V Bonus Pack] will be available on iTunes beginning November 17th.

Special thanks to L.A.’s own Midnight Riddaz and the hundred or so bike riders who showed up for our nighttime bike ride/video shoot through Silver Lake and Echo Park. The whole night was one of those unique experiences we’ll never forget..

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE WITH THE LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA – JANUARY 30:

Just a reminder that we’ll be playing a special performance with the world-famous Louisville Orchestra on January 30, 2010 at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville, KY. Tucson’s own Calexico will also be joining us on the bill for this show.

Sat Jan 30 – Louisville, KY – Kentucky Center for the Arts – BUY TIX

Up next, our final six shows before heading off to the UK..

North American Fall Tour:
Wed Oct 28 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore – BUY TIX
Thu Oct 29 – Seattle, WA – Showbox Market – BUY TIX
Fri Oct 30 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory – BUY TIX
Sat Oct 31 – Portland, OR – Roseland – BUY TIX
Mon Nov 2 – San Francisco, CA – Fillmore (w/special guests Everything Must Go) – SOLD OUT
Tue Nov 3 – San Diego, CA – House Of Blues – BUY TIX

UK & Ireland Fall Tour:
Fri Nov 6 – London, UK – Shepherds Bush Empire – BUY TIX
Sat Nov 7 – Birmingham, UK – Academy – BUY TIX
Sun Nov 8 – Bristol, UK – Anson Rooms – BUY TIX
Tue Nov 10 – Glasgow, SCO – ABC – BUY TIX
Wed Nov 11 – Dublin, IRE – Olympia – BUY TIX
Thu Nov 12 – Manchester, UK – Ritz – BUY TIX
Sat Nov 14 – Oxford, UK – Academy – BUY TIX

Fri Dec 4 – Los Angeles, CA – Walt Disney Concert Hall BUY TIX

Sat Jan 30 – Louisville, KY – Kentucky Center for the Arts – BUY TIX

Hope you can join us for all this madness..

We miss you, we love you, we think it’s perfectly acceptable to succumb to utter insanity every now and then..

Click HERE for a larger version.

Click HERE for a larger version.

As we close in on our last few shows here in the UK, we’re struck by the sheer volume of bands we’ve played with this month (around 80). The new friends we’ve kidnapped in a whiskey-fueled haze and brought to our next gig in the van. The omnipresent line-drawings of dicks on the wall of every green room at every club. The ubiquitous light rain. The superiority of English bacon… and footwear.

We’re immune to the beauty of English landscape—the sheep, the hedges, the stone and brick houses in quaint constellations. Our conversation has devolved into endless jokes about crying, punching, freaking out, screaming.

But we still look forward to the point each night when the sound has been checked, the tuning pedals clicked off, and we start the set. There’s really nothing like it.

And every night, the faint blue glow of the Travelodge sign…

Our last night at Dublin Castle in London was a rollicking, boozy and crowded finale to the residency. Mikel jumped off the stage and Anna’s viola got a new scar. We drank, sweated, swore and danced.

We think we may miss this place of numberless buildings and unnamed streets that lead nowhere…

Nottingham, Barrow in Furness, Stoke on Trent, Cardiff, Bristol, London (again), Sheffield, and Preston — all behind us, and so now we’re officially in the home stretch. Admittedly, we’ve fallen off in posting these things, as we’ve grown more and more exhausted and unable to do much else besides eat, drink, play shows. Leading up to our last London show, we’ve had particularly memorable nights in Nottingham, Barrow in Furness, and Cardiff.

Everyone kept scratching their heads at us whenever we mentioned we’d be playing Barrow in Furness, but we had an excellent show and met some really interesting people. Cardiff was fucking crazy, for no real reason except that we felt especially loopy and decided to play an entire song in the audience. It turned out to be our most ambitious post-show night outside of London so far, stumbling down cobblestone roads until four in the morning. That one pretty much set the tone for this next slew of shows.

It’s been a while since our last posting, and since then, we’ve been coping better than expected. Call it a higher plane, or some kind of controlled insanity, but it works somehow. The last London show was sufficiently ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

Nottingham, Barrow in Furness, Stoke on Trent, Cardiff, Bristol, London (again), Sheffield, and Preston — all behind us, and so now we’re officially in the home stretch. Admittedly, we’ve fallen off in posting these things, as we’ve grown more and more exhausted and unable to do much else besides eat, drink, play shows. Leading up to our last London show, we’ve had particularly memorable nights in Nottingham, Barrow in Furness, and Cardiff.

Everyone kept scratching their heads at us whenever we mentioned we’d be playing Barrow in Furness, but we had an excellent show and met some really interesting people. Cardiff was fucking crazy, for no real reason except that we felt especially loopy and decided to play an entire song in the audience. It turned out to be our most ambitious post-show night outside of London so far, stumbling down cobblestone roads until four in the morning. That one pretty much set the tone for this next slew of shows.

It’s been a while since our last posting, and since then, we’ve been coping better than expected. Call it a higher plane, or some kind of controlled insanity, but it works somehow. The last London show was sufficiently berserk in all ways, fueled by exhaustion and drunkenness. We tried to make an epic night of it to mark the occasion. The next night, we headed to Sheffield, home of Pulp. In fact, we learned we’d just missed a Jarvis Cocker show the night before. Oh well…

Maybe we really are losing it. We’re trying not to make too big a deal out of it.

After London, we headed into Brighton and played a rowdy gig at a place called The Hope just up from the pier. Now officially in the last third of our tour and 19 days in without any real rest, we’ve all gone a bit wonky and recorded said wonkiness for your viewing pleasure. Noah howls occasionally while loading equipment, and Mikel has taken to playing gospel songs on the street. We drink more than we should, anytime there’s sitting and/or waiting involved.

That said, we love Brighton. We were here last summer for the Great Escape Festival, for which we played Komedia with the Annuals. Afterward, we wandered the lanes and ended up at a house party until late into the night. This time, we ran into a group of girls singing on the street calling themselves the Half Sisters. They really were sisters and had just played their own gig up the street. One had a flute and another had a ukulele. We thought they were gypsies at first.

Too bad we didn’t get to stay longer, as has been the case with a lot of the towns we’ve passed through. It sucked to leave Brighton so soon, ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

After London, we headed into Brighton and played a rowdy gig at a place called The Hope just up from the pier. Now officially in the last third of our tour and 19 days in without any real rest, we’ve all gone a bit wonky and recorded said wonkiness for your viewing pleasure. Noah howls occasionally while loading equipment, and Mikel has taken to playing gospel songs on the street. We drink more than we should, anytime there’s sitting and/or waiting involved.

That said, we love Brighton. We were here last summer for the Great Escape Festival, for which we played Komedia with the Annuals. Afterward, we wandered the lanes and ended up at a house party until late into the night. This time, we ran into a group of girls singing on the street calling themselves the Half Sisters. They really were sisters and had just played their own gig up the street. One had a flute and another had a ukulele. We thought they were gypsies at first.

Too bad we didn’t get to stay longer, as has been the case with a lot of the towns we’ve passed through. It sucked to leave Brighton so soon, but we keep busy, pushing ourselves to stay out after shows and chat with complete strangers. Who knew losing your mind was so much hard work?

When we started this band, we tried not to get too excited about guitar effects and gadgetry lest we became one of those groups with huge, unwieldy pedal boards. We bought Velcro, electrical tape, power strips, and slabs of wood from our local hardware stores and constructed our own, homemade boards, a couple of pedals for each member—just enough to get by. Eventually, they began to fall apart, so we broke down and bought proper ones a few months ago.

For the most part, we’ve stuck to the same, basic philosophy of staying slim, though we’ve made additions and grown particularly proud of Anna’s viola rig, which now includes a POG, or a Polyphonic Octave Generator. It basically lets her sound like she’s playing eight violas at once.

In this installment of our blog, we talk about guitar and viola effects for those who might not know much about them. They’re fun to use. We’ll probably acquire more and end up with huge, unwieldy pedal boards.

Days 17 and 18 were our Oxford and London gigs, respectively. Oxford was charming and cute; we had dinner in a converted church called Freud.

The following night was the third week of our Dublin ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

When we started this band, we tried not to get too excited about guitar effects and gadgetry lest we became one of those groups with huge, unwieldy pedal boards. We bought Velcro, electrical tape, power strips, and slabs of wood from our local hardware stores and constructed our own, homemade boards, a couple of pedals for each member—just enough to get by. Eventually, they began to fall apart, so we broke down and bought proper ones a few months ago.

For the most part, we’ve stuck to the same, basic philosophy of staying slim, though we’ve made additions and grown particularly proud of Anna’s viola rig, which now includes a POG, or a Polyphonic Octave Generator. It basically lets her sound like she’s playing eight violas at once.

In this installment of our blog, we talk about guitar and viola effects for those who might not know much about them. They’re fun to use. We’ll probably acquire more and end up with huge, unwieldy pedal boards.

Days 17 and 18 were our Oxford and London gigs, respectively. Oxford was charming and cute; we had dinner in a converted church called Freud.

The following night was the third week of our Dublin Castle residency. We shared the bill with an impressive band from Brooklyn called Chairlift, and the place was sold out, amazingly. This one was more unhinged than the last. We’re happy to report that we’ve begun to feel very much at home at the Castle.

We’ve been to Manchester, Hull, and Leeds now, acquiring quite the scenic tour of this country. We’re excited that we’ve passed the halfway point intact, while gaining an appreciation for the towns we’ve only heard about from Smiths songs or episodes of The Office. Just another 14 days to go before it’s officially the longest any of us have gone without taking a night off.

It’s what you would expect: fast-paced and thrilling at times, and tedious and incredibly draining at others. We’re meeting tons of people and becoming experts at roadside eating establishments like Little Chef and Welcome Break. We try for any chance to partake in “normal” activities, like shopping and strolling. We try to read books. We watch a lot of DVD’s. We decided to take this opportunity to talk about our first (or favorite) concerts. It’s not a mind-blowing topic, but an important one nonetheless that makes us marvel at our younger selves—how they might be intrigued at our current undertaking. Primus, Mike Watt, R.E.M., Sonic Youth, U2, the Sugarcubes, Public Enemy, The Cure—the range is pretty amusing.

For now, it’s starting to hit us that we might actually survive this thing, and we’d be ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

We’ve been to Manchester, Hull, and Leeds now, acquiring quite the scenic tour of this country. We’re excited that we’ve passed the halfway point intact, while gaining an appreciation for the towns we’ve only heard about from Smiths songs or episodes of The Office. Just another 14 days to go before it’s officially the longest any of us have gone without taking a night off.

It’s what you would expect: fast-paced and thrilling at times, and tedious and incredibly draining at others. We’re meeting tons of people and becoming experts at roadside eating establishments like Little Chef and Welcome Break. We try for any chance to partake in “normal” activities, like shopping and strolling. We try to read books. We watch a lot of DVD’s. We decided to take this opportunity to talk about our first (or favorite) concerts. It’s not a mind-blowing topic, but an important one nonetheless that makes us marvel at our younger selves—how they might be intrigued at our current undertaking. Primus, Mike Watt, R.E.M., Sonic Youth, U2, the Sugarcubes, Public Enemy, The Cure—the range is pretty amusing.

For now, it’s starting to hit us that we might actually survive this thing, and we’d be lying if we said there wasn’t a hint of sadness at the prospect of putting this tour behind us.

Naturally, a few of us started humming and singing Beatles songs as soon as we got to Liverpool, so someone came up with the idea to do a “Day in the Life” blog about what a typical day has been like on this exhaustive (and exhausting) tour, titled after the song. We readily admit that we’d set ourselves up for a terribly boring entry, but still, thought it would help encapsulate—for anyone who cared—the simultaneous tedium and rush of a band on tour.

Like most days, we started the day off by checking out of our Travelodge. Having passed through the UK a few times before, and now well into our 30 Shows in 30 Days tour, we’ve become quite the connoisseurs of England’s various Travelodges. We give Liverpool’s a 4.5—not as nice as Leeds’, but miles beyond Birmingham’s, which seems on the verge of collapse. Depending on what time our load-in is for the next gig and how far we have to drive, we either: a) grab some food, then leave immediately; b) grab food, stick around and explore the city, and then leave; or c) hit the road as soon as possible. Luckily, England’s fairly driveable, ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

Naturally, a few of us started humming and singing Beatles songs as soon as we got to Liverpool, so someone came up with the idea to do a “Day in the Life” blog about what a typical day has been like on this exhaustive (and exhausting) tour, titled after the song. We readily admit that we’d set ourselves up for a terribly boring entry, but still, thought it would help encapsulate—for anyone who cared—the simultaneous tedium and rush of a band on tour.

Like most days, we started the day off by checking out of our Travelodge. Having passed through the UK a few times before, and now well into our 30 Shows in 30 Days tour, we’ve become quite the connoisseurs of England’s various Travelodges. We give Liverpool’s a 4.5—not as nice as Leeds’, but miles beyond Birmingham’s, which seems on the verge of collapse. Depending on what time our load-in is for the next gig and how far we have to drive, we either: a) grab some food, then leave immediately; b) grab food, stick around and explore the city, and then leave; or c) hit the road as soon as possible. Luckily, England’s fairly driveable, unlike the States, and we can usually find time to bum around town.

In Liverpool, we had a nice English breakfast (for lunch), then took some time to visit a war memorial and an art gallery before heading off to Carlisle in our bulky, cozy van. Van life involves laptops, DVDs, books, and some music programming here and there—some of it serious, and some of it purely for our own amusement. Usually, it’s Noah huddled over his Macbook, composing classical scores or cheesy techno.

It’s amazing how early it’s been getting dark here. By 5:00, it’s pitch black outside, which was the case when we finally arrived in Carlisle and unloaded all of our gear. After sound check, a few of us sneaked out for some Italian food before returning to a good-sized crowd at the Brickyard—a nice, if chilly venue resembling an old church. The audience was great and seemed to have a fine time. After loading out—an arduous process, especially when you’re dead tired from a show and going on very little sleep—we drove to the local Travelodge and checked in. This one wasn’t bad: a 7.0, at least.

We’re now halfway through our residency—not halfway through the tour, though, mind you. It feels simultaneously disconcerting to find ourselves still so early on in this adventure and amazing that we haven’t imploded yet after 11 consecutive days of driving, performing, consuming massive quantities of alcohol, and sleeping in dodgy hotels. Normal life is forcing itself back into our wayward schedules, and so upon our return to London, we set out to do mundane things—shop, eat, call friends, sit… After so many days, you get the hang of it and learn how to mimic normal living, as much as you can.

It only lasted for a few hours, though, and then we were off to sound check at Dublin Castle in Camden. We held an impromptu drum competition (you learn to get creative with things to do while waiting for sound people to arrive) and then headed next door to Toasted, a living room of a Toastie shop co-owned by the proprietors of the Dublin Castle. In addition to toasties (which we learned are sandwich pockets that can contain anything from cheese and peanut butter to cat food), you can get custom-made t-shirts. We continued our afternoon wind-down ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

We’re now halfway through our residency—not halfway through the tour, though, mind you. It feels simultaneously disconcerting to find ourselves still so early on in this adventure and amazing that we haven’t imploded yet after 11 consecutive days of driving, performing, consuming massive quantities of alcohol, and sleeping in dodgy hotels. Normal life is forcing itself back into our wayward schedules, and so upon our return to London, we set out to do mundane things—shop, eat, call friends, sit… After so many days, you get the hang of it and learn how to mimic normal living, as much as you can.

It only lasted for a few hours, though, and then we were off to sound check at Dublin Castle in Camden. We held an impromptu drum competition (you learn to get creative with things to do while waiting for sound people to arrive) and then headed next door to Toasted, a living room of a Toastie shop co-owned by the proprietors of the Dublin Castle. In addition to toasties (which we learned are sandwich pockets that can contain anything from cheese and peanut butter to cat food), you can get custom-made t-shirts. We continued our afternoon wind-down there, well into the evening, then headed off for Vietnamese food with some friends living in London. Normal living never felt so good.

When we returned to the Castle, we found the place even more crowded than it was last week. Little Death, friends of ours through Los Angeles connections, shared the bill with us. They were fantastic. More friends appeared, and then, we finally took the stage for a particularly loud and sweaty set. In all, our night lasted until four in the morning, when we gradually lost track of each other. We fully expect to be raving mad by week 4.

Sunshine is rare in this benighted land. Though we do believe it invites wit. The most one can reasonably wish for is a light drizzle to accompany the ubiquitous grey skies. Instead of torrent. Though that has its advantages too, as we discovered in Hayle the other night, playing inside an enormous white tent while the wind raged against the side walls. The amps were plugged in anyway. Ale was consumed, the flash of bodies moving together in time while the storm wailed on lent a certain air to the evening — that of people huddling close against a great abyss.

As Californians we are not accustomed to the emotional influence of weather.

We have, however become quite accustomed to the emotional influences of late-night post-pub fare: kebabs, jacket potatoes, fish, chips.

We’ve also been heartened at our reception here, which has been beyond our reckoning. We went to dinner tonight with Sean and Steff who we met on our first UK tour over a year ago.. Today’s blog is about them.

The touring continues. We still have 18 shows to go. Friday night we play Manchester at Moho Live then Sunday it’s Leeds at Rocket then Oxford on Monday then ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

Sunshine is rare in this benighted land. Though we do believe it invites wit. The most one can reasonably wish for is a light drizzle to accompany the ubiquitous grey skies. Instead of torrent. Though that has its advantages too, as we discovered in Hayle the other night, playing inside an enormous white tent while the wind raged against the side walls. The amps were plugged in anyway. Ale was consumed, the flash of bodies moving together in time while the storm wailed on lent a certain air to the evening — that of people huddling close against a great abyss.

As Californians we are not accustomed to the emotional influence of weather.

We have, however become quite accustomed to the emotional influences of late-night post-pub fare: kebabs, jacket potatoes, fish, chips.

We’ve also been heartened at our reception here, which has been beyond our reckoning. We went to dinner tonight with Sean and Steff who we met on our first UK tour over a year ago.. Today’s blog is about them.

The touring continues. We still have 18 shows to go. Friday night we play Manchester at Moho Live then Sunday it’s Leeds at Rocket then Oxford on Monday then London again on Tuesday back at the Dublin Castle.

We’ve so enjoyed meeting all of you at the shows. We’d like to thank you for your enthusiasm and propensity to clap.

So we were driving south heading towards Cornwall and casually looked out the window and saw one of the most famous sites in the entire world. From a distance, it looks like a does in the movies. Up close, it’s much windier.

So we stopped for a few minutes to take in the history, the engineering achievement, the sheep.

We don’t get to do much tourist stuff on this tour with a show to play every night, but 20 minutes in front of this stack of enormous rocks gave us our fill.

We’re starting to get adjusted to life on the road. It’s a bit like being in the army, without all the bullets and bombs and clean clothes. You spend a lot of time being cold, eating and sleeping when and where you can. There’s quite a bit of moving equipment and the food is mostly made from potatoes. At least here.

We’ve all grown quite fond of the United Kingdom. Leicester, Northampton, Darby, Hayle…all these towns half a world away from our home that are beginning to feel rather familiar with their small shops, town centres, the ever-present beat of the rain. It’s easy to see how such things contribute to a national character.

Precipitation invites wit. I think Wordsworth said that.

We’d like to thank all of you who’ve been to so kind to us at shows, with all the clapping and the handshakes, the odd signing of a copy of White Noise. We feel most welcome.

We’ll be in London again on Tuesday night at Dublin Castle. Should be quite a night. See you then. Oh, and we’re totally lying about that Wordsworth thing.

It is a good day to be an American overseas. Everywhere we go people are shaking our hands, giving the high sign, acting like our country’s wayward foreign policy didn’t just fuck up the world in the past eight years. It’s not so much that all is forgiven, more that people seem to remember why they loved America in the first place.

It’s odd how much the focus over here is on Obama’s race. I guess we’ve been living with the race (and gender) question in this election for so long, it’s been eclipsed by other things: leadership ability, political organization, questions about the economy and war and just how we’re going to drag ourselves out of the mess we’re in. Race seemed almost irrelevant.

Then it suddenly was again. Images of Jesse Jackson crying or Obama being hugged by his recently-deceased white grandmother crowd TV screens. It’s a feeling that he is the son of the American idea: a rare person whose life story is interwoven with the questions of immigrants, patriots, Midwestern values, Northeastern education and the uniquely American experience with race.

And now he’s going to be president. It’s almost as if we forgot all of this ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

It is a good day to be an American overseas. Everywhere we go people are shaking our hands, giving the high sign, acting like our country’s wayward foreign policy didn’t just fuck up the world in the past eight years. It’s not so much that all is forgiven, more that people seem to remember why they loved America in the first place.

It’s odd how much the focus over here is on Obama’s race. I guess we’ve been living with the race (and gender) question in this election for so long, it’s been eclipsed by other things: leadership ability, political organization, questions about the economy and war and just how we’re going to drag ourselves out of the mess we’re in. Race seemed almost irrelevant.

Then it suddenly was again. Images of Jesse Jackson crying or Obama being hugged by his recently-deceased white grandmother crowd TV screens. It’s a feeling that he is the son of the American idea: a rare person whose life story is interwoven with the questions of immigrants, patriots, Midwestern values, Northeastern education and the uniquely American experience with race.

And now he’s going to be president. It’s almost as if we forgot all of this race business because none of it would have mattered if Obama hadn’t been such an incredibly astute politician. They’re still catching up with that idea over here, and it is true that of the two reasons to be inspired by an Obama win, it is the less interesting one.

But for those of us who are accustomed to our ideas being ignored, to watching our country deteriorate amid a mindless rush of nationalism and greed, to standing helplessly as a portion of our country embraces a willfully ignorant and morally bankrupt philosophy — after eight years of that shit, it almost doesn’t matter that Obama is black. It’s more important that he is right.

And what a great feeling to wake up in the morning, for the first time in eight years, without mixed feelings about our country.

After three days of wandering the streets of unfamiliar English towns, we finally make it into London. We were last here in July, and it feels surprisingly easy and familiar, as if we’d never left. The city’s similar to Manhattan, except it’s massive, sort of like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles rolled into a single, circuitous mega-city with a logic-defying number of places to get drunk.

It’s the first night of our month-long residency at Dublin Castle in Camden, a perfect little place for drinking and mayhem that’s not nearly the dungeon its website suggests. We meet the other bands playing with us — all incredibly nice people: Bear Hands, from Brooklyn, the Boat People, from Melbourne, and the Race, from Reading.

At 7:00, the place is already buzzing, and everyone feels good about the night. Even so, it’s Election Day in the States, and all day we’ve been fretting about the stakes, hoping for the best (Obama), bracing for the worst (McCain). It’s Noah who keeps frightening the rest of the band, telling us: “I have a bad feeling about this.” We all try to ignore him and drink some more pints.

In any ...
[Read More...]]]>
From NME.com.

After three days of wandering the streets of unfamiliar English towns, we finally make it into London. We were last here in July, and it feels surprisingly easy and familiar, as if we’d never left. The city’s similar to Manhattan, except it’s massive, sort of like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles rolled into a single, circuitous mega-city with a logic-defying number of places to get drunk.

It’s the first night of our month-long residency at Dublin Castle in Camden, a perfect little place for drinking and mayhem that’s not nearly the dungeon its website suggests. We meet the other bands playing with us — all incredibly nice people: Bear Hands, from Brooklyn, the Boat People, from Melbourne, and the Race, from Reading.

At 7:00, the place is already buzzing, and everyone feels good about the night. Even so, it’s Election Day in the States, and all day we’ve been fretting about the stakes, hoping for the best (Obama), bracing for the worst (McCain). It’s Noah who keeps frightening the rest of the band, telling us: “I have a bad feeling about this.” We all try to ignore him and drink some more pints.

In any case, the show goes off really well, and we’re kind of amazed to find people singing along. Later, in our hotel room, we’re glued the television. Sometime after 4:00 a.m., Obama wins. Everyone’s dead tired, but ecstatic. All is well with the world. No relocating to Canada necessary.

We spent day three of our 30 day tour in Birmingham, looking for curry, drinking vodka in the van, and otherwise preparing for our show at Bar Academy. It was a windy and rainy night (typical, so we’re told) and the sound engineer was a woman named Becky. She was rad in all ways.

It got us thinking about what it’s like to be a girl in the rock and roll boys’ club. In the video blog Anna discusses her inside track to what guys think about, her classical background, learning to use a distortion pedal with a viola and what it’s like to be onstage with the boys…

Day two of our tour was spent driving from Derby to York where we played Fibbers. We are adjusting to the rain and meeting people along the way. We sleep off hangovers, we check amps, we dream of faraway lands…

“When you go through dark times, let them disfigure you and use it to make art.”