August 24, 2009
Well, sort of. We’re actually at home right now, because the most recent show of the tour took place here, and tonight’s show at the Sacramento Bike Kitchen was canceled because some stupid idiots trashed the place at the last show…but, we’re on tour. We actually started on Thursday in L.A., at the Silverlake Lounge. We drove south at an ungodly hour but succeeded in avoiding traffic, so it was worth it. We hit up the La Brea Tar Pits, which aren’t nearly as cool as we thought they’d be, and skipped the museum for the gift shop. After cruising around for a bit and seeing the singer for At The Drive-In/The Mars Volta, we drove to Venice to meet up with Appomattox, who are playing a bunch of shows with us this fall. We walked along the boardwalk for a while, then wandered across the sand to the filthy, filthy water. Eventually, we made our way over to the Silverlake Lounge and played the show. Thank you to Sam, Cameron, Mike, Meg, Will, Denise, and everyone who came out and watched us play.
We drove out to Anaheim after the show and stayed with Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, who are almost all in the throes of various debilitating illnesses. We managed to get out with our lives intact and our stomachs full of breakfast burritos. Thanks to them for putting us up, and best wishes for speedy recoveries. We love them.
Friday found us in San Diego, where we spent the pre-show hours at Shannon’s new place. She’s pretty much the best hostess ever. She let us work out in her building’s mini-gym, fed us, and let us play Wii. We headed over to the Kensington Club for our show, which was organized by Rosie and San Diego: Dialed In. Rosie’s great, and so is her site. She’s doing for San Diego what the Bay Bridged does for San Francisco. Once again, we had a great time playing, and we’d like to thank everyone who came out and watched us play. We packed up and drove out of town after the show, cruising through the night to make it back to San Francisco in time for our happy-hour show at the Hemlock (discussed in the previous post).
Sunday, we played the second Rock Make Street Festival, and it was awesome. Huge thanks to go Lynne and Brian from Tartufi, Ben and Christian from the Bay Bridged, and WhizBang fabrics for organizing the event. Some of the Bay Area’s best local companies and vendors rubbed elbows with 15 bands, including Tartufi, Two Sheds, Geographer, and Silian Rail. The event ran wonderfully thanks to the hard work and dedication of the organizers and the volunteers, and we are honored to have had a part in it again this year. Look for the festival to return again next year, undoubtedly bigger and better.
And now it’s Monday, and I’m sitting here, updating our site and heat-setting t-shirts. We were supposed to play in Sacramento tonight, but whoever played there on Friday night trashed the place, so they’ve decided to cancel all of their shows from now until forever. Awesome. Thanks, whatever-band-you-are.
Tomorrow, we’re in Portland, at the Doug Fir. If you’re in town, come on out and say hi. The rest of the dates for the tour will be posted on the site and on our MySpace page. Check them out. We’ll check in again soon.
August 24, 2009
We are happy to announce that our second acoustic EP is now available. We headed into Hyde Street Studios on July 17th with Scott MacDowell and recorded four songs, which were recently mixed by Mike Sempert. We’re very happy with how they turned out. We are making the songs available digitally, accompanied by an 8.5″ by 11″ print based on the lead song, “Queen Esther.” The print is black on silver, hand-screened on recycled, composite stock. Featuring hand-written liner notes on the back, it is limited to 333 copies. The artwork is below:
We celebrated the release with an acoustic show at the Hemlock on Saturday. We were joined by the always-awesome and sometimes-traffic-delayed Appomattox, who will be playing a number of dates with us on this tour. Thank you to everyone who came to the show and sang along with us. The EPs will be available with us on tour and through the Ghost Mansion Records store. If you’re curious, the whole thing is streaming on our acoustic MySpace page.
July 22, 2009
We have placed Dog’s Hymns in its almost-entirety on our MySpace page for everyone to hear. I know the album is almost a year old, and everyone who wanted to hear it probably already has, but…I had some time to kill yesterday, so there you go. I know no one uses MySpace anymore, but screw it. Just go to the page and listen to the songs in another tab while you update your Facebook page. Let’s see if we can get those other 7 songs as many plays as the first 3!
Guys?
July 20, 2009
Or: Fwum Wussia, Wiff Luff.
July 17, 2009
Hello, everyone. We hope you all had a very enjoyable and relaxing 4th of July. Ours was not relaxing, necessarily, but it was certainly enjoyable. For the fourth straight year, we celebrated by throwing a show at El Rio. This year, we were joined by Birds & Batteries, Finn Riggins, Writer, Two Sheds, Birdmonster, D Numbers, and Murray the Thief. We also stepped it up in the food department, with Sneaky’s BBQ providing fantastic (if I do say so myself) pulled pork, mac, and slaw. Thanks to everyone who came out to the show, to all of the bands (who all put on great performances), to those who helped us serve the food, to the Bay Bridged and the Guardian for presenting the event, to Lynne, Brian, and everyone else who worked, and El Rio for hosting. We had an awesome time, debuting a brand-new jam and hanging out with our friends. After the show, there may or may not have been a lot of random fireworks set off in streets, thrown from rooftops, and shot at one another, and there may or may not have been a stink bomb planted in Birds & Batteries’ van. It’s hard to tell with these things. Also…(ahem). Finally, it should be noted that the guys in Writer talk a big game, but when push comes to shove, they end up driving over the bridge to catch up on “The Gilmore Girls” or something instead of staying in SF and tearing it up with a bunch of idiots.
We were in Hyde Street Studios last night, laying down some epic acoustic tracks with the venerable Scott McDowell. That guys is awesome. If I had a sister, I would totally be cool with him dating her. It ended up being quite a late night, but it was completely worth it. We recorded “Queen Esther” (a very old Low Red Land song that we recently brought out of retirement), “Abraham,” “The Beast,” and “Longing.” The latter three tracks all tell pieces of the same story, and will be appearing (in electric form) on a new album that we hope to have done by the end of the year. We tracked each song live, and then added live key accompaniment. The songs turned out great, and we’re excited to release them. I will be printing art for them, something smaller than a poster but bigger than a…small thing, and we will be making the songs available digitally to everyone who purchases the accompanying art. We figure it’s better than just giving someone a CD that they’ll probably just rip on to their computer and then lose anyway. Plus, with any luck, the print will look sweet on your wall. We will have this new acoustic EP ready for our fall tour, and we’ll be celebrating its release at the Hemlock on August 22nd with a special happy hour show. We’ll be joined by our friends from Brooklyn, Appomattox. In fact, we’ll be joined on the whole western leg of the tour by those dudes, and in the east, so why don’t we get to that now?
We’ll be hitting the road again from August 19th to October 10th (-ish), and we’ll be playing the whole country. Many of the dates are currently available on our MySpace page. We’ll be starting off in southern California and working our way north, up through the Northwest, inland through the less-North-less-West, east through the Midwest, into New England and down the East Coast, west through the South, and back up through southern California (or something like that). We are very excited to be touring again, playing shows with and for our friends, and road-testing some new material. We are especially psyched to have the Appomattox boys with us, because they’re awesome people who play awesome music. As more dates are confirmed, they will be posted, and I’ll soon post the itinerary on this site. Be on the lookout. For now, there are a few local shows you should mark on your calendars. The first is the aforementioned happy hour show at the Hemlock, and the second is the 2nd Annual Rock Make Street Festival on Sunday, August 23rd. Details:
Saturday, August 22nd
The Hemlock
6:00 p.m. (or so), 21+
Low Red Land (playing acoustic, celebrating the release of Acoustic EP II) and Appomattox (playing electric)
Sunday, August 23rd
Treat Street between 17th Street and 18th Street
Rock Make Street Festival
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., all ages
Tartufi, Low Red Land, and 10 other local bands (plus over 60 local artists and vendors)
That’s right: two Low Red Land shows, one acoustic and one electric, back-to-back. One isn’t free (the Hemlock), and one is (but a donation is strongly encouraged), but they’re both different, and they’ll both be great.
That’s about all we have for now. We’ll be on the road in a little over a month. We hope to see you out at a show. Take it easy.
June 27, 2009
First: the post below. The show is going to be awesome.
Second: the show at the Fort Gallery on July 5th has been CANCELED. They have been experiencing issues with their landlord, and have been threatened with eviction if shows continue. Since we don’t like making people homeless, the show has been postponed until a later date (whenever they find a new spot). It’s unfortunate, but it’s not the end of the world.
Third: we are famous. FINALLY. See?
We were deemed so handsome and so attractive, especially while shoving burgers into our faces, that our photo ran with the LA Times’ article about 8 Oz. Burger. You could read it, but it doesn’t have anything to do with us other than our photo, so why would you?
June 24, 2009
It’s going to go off. Also, a similar line-up will be going off (mostly acoustic-like) the next day at the Fort Gallery in Oakland. That show will be all ages, and you shouldn’t miss either one.
(Doesn’t the stupid gray border around the image totally drive you crazy? Me, too. Sigh.)
June 10, 2009
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Elbo Room on a Monday night. We had a great time, and it was good to see some folks we haven’t seen in a while. It’s also nice to have Marcus and Megan in town, fresh from Wichita. Thanks to Matt and everyone at the Elbo Room, Brett and Elizabeth of Juanita and the Rabbit, and Nicole and Sam of Mr. Gnome. Thanks, also, to Michael Fearnow and the Examiner for writing and publishing a review of the show. You may read it here. Our apologies to those of you (you know who you are) who drove to the show with some underage friends and had to leave them outside (we admire and appreciate your dedication).
Speaking to that last sentence, we’ve booked an all-ages show at the Fort Gallery in Oakland for Sunday, July 5th. Get psyched. We’ll be playing with Birds & Batteries, Writer, and some of the other folks from the El Rio 4th of July party. Heck, maybe even some other other bands. Who knows? The answer is: you, as soon as we confirm all of the details. Keep your eyes peeled.
Lastly, it seems that a local chocolatier is sweet on us. We get a mention about halfway through this interview, and at the end, he states that he once left a bag of chocolates on the stage while Earlimart played, which kindled a long-running friendship. Mr. Recchiuti, if you are reading this: we love chocolate. Gary, especially, loves free chocolate. He can hear the call for miles. Whaddayasay? Regardless, we appreciate your support, sir, and thank you for speaking out about us.
June 8, 2009
It’s been a while since we’ve had an update, and there’s been quite a lot happening. We played an awesome late-April show at the Bottom of the Hill, and we would like to thank everyone at the club, from Ramona on down, for being so great to us yet again. The sweetest folks work at the BOTH, and we can’t wait to get back there. As for the show, we played with Fake Problems and William Elliott Whitmore, and there was quite a crowd for what ended up being an awesome show. We debuted another new song, tentatively titled “The Beast,” and ripped a sweet acoustic “Duke” to end the set, hopping off stage and playing amongst the crowd because we are consummate showmen. You know how we do. There are still posters available from the show, in case anyone wishes to purchase one. You may view them at the fledgling Ghost Mansion Press blog, which, with any luck, will have several new pieces posted in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out.
We also had the opportunity to play a couple of great shows in Idaho in late May with our friends Finn Riggins and Tartufi. Mark and Neil drove out from San Francisco, while our friend Adam and I drove into Idaho from the east, truckload of antiques and all. “And all” mostly refers to the fireworks we picked up from this awesome store in Gary, Indiana. The salesman demonstrated every firework (save for a few of the larger ones) that we wanted to see, and we demonstrated back to him how well that sales method works by buying pretty much everything he showed us. The first show was at the Sun Valley Brewery, and I would say that everyone but the crowd had a great time. The owners, management, and staff treated us spectacularly and were sweet people, and it was great to play with two of our best friend bands. The crowd wanted more Jimmy Buffett than we were able to provide, however, and they responded predictably when we started screaming. Oh, well. After fantastic sets by Tartufi and Finn Riggins, we headed back to Cameron Riggins’ house and, among other things, microwaved a grapefruit for seven minutes and left long, falsetto in-the-round Christmas carol messages on Eric Riggins’ phone.
The next day, a few of us ran up a mountain while the other stayed back and used Garageband to make the best McDonald’s breafkast song ever, which was then cranked over the van speakers as they ordered breakfast at the McDonald’s drive-through. The big event of the day was the annual Bouiss family ranch party, which was being held in honor of Cameron’s 30th birthday. It was a day of music, meat, and Charles Barkley Presents: Randy Johnson’s Gauntlet. We played again (to a much more receptive audience), Tartufi put on a great set, Test Audiences killed it, a bunch of other bands played, and Finn Riggins capped off the night with a marathon set. Cameron was presented with a battle axe that Mark bought for him at a trading post, and we set off about a billion fireworks. If owning 40-plus acres of awesome land in beautiful Idaho is anything like visiting such a spot for a day and a half, it’s got to be amazing.
We are now home and gearing up for a few shows. The first is this tonight (!), June 8th, at the Elbo Room in San Francisco. Cleveland’s Mr. Gnome is visiting our fair city on tour, and we’re more than happy for the chance to play with them again. They’re great, and you should definitely check them out. Juanita and the Rabbit is opening and celebrating their album release, so the show should go off.
June 19th finds us in San Diego at the Radio Room, playing with some bands. Go figure. A couple of days later, on June 21st, we’ll be serenading dads and chowder lovers all acoustic-like with our pals Writer at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. Then, of course, we’re just days away from the annual Fourth of July rager at El Rio. This year, we’ll be playing alongside Birds & Batteries, the aforementioned Writer, Finn Riggins, Two Sheds, Birdmonster, and others. The whole thing will be catered by Sneaky’s BBQ, and music will run from about 1:00 p.m. until about 8:00 p.m., stretched across two stages. It’s going to rule.
A “new” video has made its way online: “Abraham/Dog’s Hymn,” acoustic, from the Ghost Mansion show in February. Check it out.
Lastly, Dog’s Hymns has received a couple of new reviews. Thank you to Aquarius Records and PunkNews.org for writing about us. We really appreciate it.
That’s all for now. More information will come along when the time is right.
April 29, 2009
- William Elliott Whitmore, Fake Problems, and Low Red Land at the Bottom of the Hill.
