From April to June.

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.

TONIGHT!

Tour recap, upcoming shows, and other news.

Hey, everyone.  We’re back from our shortened trek of the Northwestern states.  It was wicked fun, though we were a bit unprepared for the weather.  Late winter/early spring in San Francisco doesn’t exactly translate to other states, so we left our sunny, mild home and entered snow and sleet land.  No matter.  Our east coast roots served us well, and we layered up (read: we wore all of the clothes we brought, day and night, for seven days) and soldiered on.  The van handled the weather like a champ, new gas tank and all.  It was great to be back on the road, even for just a week.  We started in La Grande, OR, and played shows in Spokane, WA; Missoula, MT; Moscow, ID (twice); Boise, ID; Rexburg, ID; and Pocatello, ID.  Thanks go to everyone who came out to the shows and the folks who set things up and took great care of us: Wayne, Annie, Bill, and the whole La Grande crew, Rhea, Matthew, and the Caterina Winery; Nathan, John, Asher, Ethan, Mark, Dave, Ian, Andrew, and everyone in Moscow; Chris, Mike, and the folks at the Palace; Ford and the folks at the Locus; and James, Lindsey, Jamie, the Testers crew, and all of the familiar faces at the First National.  Thank you, also, to the great bands that we got to meet and play alongside: Test Audiences, Sons of Guns, Sleeping in Gethsemane, March of the Black Queen, Bart Budwig, Rhythm (something), In The Shadow Of The Mountain, The Universal, To Russia, Warbonnet, and, of course, the mighty Finn Riggins.

We had a great time enjoying the hospitality of others, and there was a great deal to go around.  The folks in Moscow are pretty much the sweetest ever, but that’s not to say that we didn’t appreciate the rest of the people on the trip.  Each night was great, from hanging out, to the show, to more hanging out.  And it’s always good to hang out with the Finn folks, because they’re like family, and we have a great time around them.  We got a little crazy in the hotel pool after the last show (but, by the looks of the multiple piles of bloody towels strewn across the area, not as crazy as the people who were in before us) but the desk clerk didn’t seem to mind, and somehow Gary ended up with cheese in his pocket and his wallet.

So, now that we’re back from tour, what do we have going on?  Well, since you asked, we have a show this week in San Francisco at one of our favorite spots, the Bottom of the Hill.  On Wednesday, April 29th, we will be opening for Fake Problems and William Elliott Whitmore, and we are pretty excited.  We have been writing some new material, and we’re itching to perform it, so we’ll be debuting another new song at the show.  Be sure to get there early, as we go on first.

We have a number of shows lined up for the coming months.  Here’s what we have, so far:

05.22.09 at the Sun Valley Brewery in Sun Valley, ID (with Finn Riggins and Tartufi)
05.23.09 at the Deb-Da-Doo Ranch Fest in Hailey, ID (with Finn Riggins, Tartufi, and a bunch of bands)
06.08.09 at the Elbo Room in San Francisco, CA (with Mr. Gnome and others TBA)
06.19.09 at the Radio Room in San Diego, CA (with Writer and others TBA)
06.20.09 at the ??? (venue TBA) ??? in Fresno, CA (with the Fay Wrays…we’re pretty sure)
06.21.09 at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay, CA (acoustic set with another band TBA)
07.04.09 at El Rio in San Francisco, CA (for the always-awesome 4th of July blowout)

As you can see, details are still being worked out for several of the shows (except for the 4th of July, as that one is already set, but we’re going to wait a bit to unveil the bands), so keep an eye out for more news as it arrives.

Before I head out, I want to mention a couple of things that have recently been completed by some friends of ours.  First, our friend Taylor has posted a mini-documentary on YouTube as part of his work at the New School (awesomely, it features tracks my LRL and Dame Satan).  You can check it out here.  Second, our friends Adam (for the keen ears, he’s the second banjo on the first acoustic EP) and Sean (he’s the guy who helps us with this site…for now) have finished up “Streak to Win,” the documentary on Hamilton College’s very own Varsity Streaking Team.  Check that out here.  It features gripping performances by many of our friends, and Mark even makes an appearance (alongside the always-nude Bort).  Lastly, we don’t know the guys, but Red Fang is pretty sweet and so is their video for “Prehistoric Dog.”  Check it out.

Back in business.

The van will be back home, safe and sound, tomorrow, and we will be hitting the road to play the remainder of the tour.  Our first show will be in La Grand, Oregon, and we’re psyched to be able to get out and play.

(Attention thieves in Oregon, Montana, and Idaho: get your stealin’ shoes on.)

More tour news.

Unfortunately, it’s bad news.  We have had to cancel the Clarkston, Washington date, as well.  It doesn’t look like the van will be ready in time for us to make the show.  The repairs are coming along as quickly as they can, but there was quite a lot to do, and the garage can make no guarantees.

Here’s where we stand: if the van is not back in our possession by Friday, we will (in all likelihood) have to cancel La Grande, Spokane, and Missoula.  (Getting the van back on Monday does not give us time to make the drive to Montana.)  We may end up having to cancel the whole tour.  We do not want to do this, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed and remain hopeful.  Once again, we apologize to everyone who had some stake in this trip.  We appreciate the support and we will make it up to you soon.

IMPORTANT - Tour update.

We are very sorry to announce that several, if not all, of the shows that have been booked for our impending Northwestern tour have been canceled.  Some time between 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night and 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning, our van had several major parts stolen, including the gas tank.  Seriously.  What began as an attempt (either partial or complete) to siphon our gas ended with one or more people tearing up the passenger-side running board, crawling under our van, and removing crucial pieces of equipment.  As a result, it is in the shop, awaiting parts and repairs.  Luckily, we have insurance, but we still need to handle the deductible.  More pressing than the financial impact, however, is the total lack of a tour-ready (and capable) vehicle.  We have been told that the van will be in the shop until Thursday or Friday of next week, at the earliest.  The estimate of the damages is still ongoing, which means it won’t be finished until at least Monday.  Parts are being ordered as they are determined necessary.

Here’s where we stand at the moment: Seattle, Olympia, Bellingham, and Vancouver have all been canceled.  We would like to thank everyone who worked to put these shows together, and the bands with whom we were scheduled to play, and we would like to apologize to everyone who was looking forward to our involvement in these shows.  We’ve never had to do this before, and it sucks.  As soon as we can make it back to those towns, we certainly will.

If the van is indeed ready by Friday of next week, we will be picking up the tour in Clarkston, as scheduled.  If the van is not ready, we are not sure what we are going to do.  The folks at the garage are pretty cool and they understand our need to get on the road to salvage what we can of this trip.  That being said, there is a distinct possibility that the whole thing will have to be scrapped.  Please keep an eye on this page and our MySpace page for up-to-date show information.

Again, our apologies to everyone involved, from bookers and bands to friends and family.  We were looking forward to this trip and the circumstances that are preventing us from making it are completely ridiculous.  (Really, who steals a gas tank?)  We will be planning (and making, come Hell or high water) another trip to the Northwest soon, so keep an eye out.

Goodnight.

Have you seen me?

Last seen on March 18th, 2008. Current whereabouts are unknown.

Generic update title.

Ghost Mansion shows are officially back and better than ever.  That is, unless you’re our downstairs neighbor, and you’re drunk and/or pissed about not getting invited (nevermind all of the invites that you ignored for all of the previous shows).  On a Friday in late February, the house played host to Last of the Blacksmiths, Seattle’s The Whore Moans and Yonderlow, and Low Red Land (better known as “us”).  We were the only band to keep it real, going entirely acoustic, but everyone played great sets, and it was good to get a couple of touring bands in front of the GM crowd.  Morgan Bi-Rite made a ton of great food, Geoff made some girl dance with him as his prize for beating her friend at Connect Four, and Joel sealed an implicit deal for a t-shirt that he still won’t shut up about.  All in all, it was a great evening.  Some videos have already been uploaded to YouTube, with more forthcoming.  Check out this version of “You’re Alive.”

We followed up the acoustic show with an electric banger at Slim’s.  We were invited to play the show by Johnny Gutenberger, bassist for Two Sheds.  Johnny also played, and now plays again, in a band called Far.  Officially reunited, they’ve been playing a few shows here and there, and they decided to visit San Francisco.  We had a great time playing, and everyone at Slim’s was once awesome.  Thanks to everyone who came out to the show and pretended to look over our merchandise while they waited to buy a Far hoodie.  Mike took a bunch of video from the night, including this clip of a brand-new song.  Here it is.

In other content-on-the-web news, our song, “Dog’s Hymn,” recently appeared on the web via Spin.com.  We were selected as one of eight bands in the latest installment of Spin’s ongoing Emerging Artists’ Showcase, which is pretty cool.  Apparently they picked us because “[we stir] indie rock’s dull roots, layering sounds from a Chinese menu of influences without losing focus.”  Yeah, “what?” is right.  Oh, also we know Interactive Director Pete Gaston, so…yeah.  Anyway, head here to download “Dog’s Hymn” and check out some other sweet bands.

In Low Red Land-related news, Total Hound played their first show at the Hemlock and it was a resounding success.  Thanks to everyone who came out to support us in our infancy.  Recordings will be surfacing soon.

Since we last checked in, Gary got a whole year older, and the night was celebrated by some hanging out, some turkey chili, some cake, and some hard bargains.  The only thing missing was the gift you didn’t send him.  That’s pretty rough.  The guy does so much for you, and this is how you repay him?  On his birthday, even?  Sheesh.

Well, San Francisco, you’ve got your chance to make it up to him.  We have a show coming up, so feel free to rectify your grievous error by bringing yourself, your friends, and your gift to the Bottom of the Hill on Thursday, March 19th.  We’re playing with The Dont’s and The Chop, and we’re on second.  It should be a fun night.  Don’t blow it.

For the rest of you (or just you Northwesterners), you can bring out your gifts and your dead to one of the shows listed to your right.  We’ll be leaving in the wee hours of Saturday morning to head to Seattle to begin our two-ish week tour of the left corner states.  We’re excited to see some of our friends and play some new places.  We’re especially excited to finish out the trip with three shows with Finn Riggins.  They’re the best.  We still have a couple of gaps, so if you have a house or know somebody who throws shows, please let us know.  We’ll play anywhere.

For those of you visiting Austin for South by Southwest this year, please be sure to check out our friends Birds & Batteries, Or, the Whale, and Appomattox.  They’re playing amongst the billion bands that flood that place every year, but they’re well worth your time and you should definitely seek them out.  If you’re east of Austin, check Scouts Honor’s tour schedule.  They’re done after this trip, so if you can, make it out and pay your respects to some of the coolest dudes we know, and definitely one of the bands we’ll miss the most.  We wish all of our friends safe travels and good shows.

That’s it for now.  The next update will likely happen on tour.  Keep an eye out, and take it easy.

Happy Friday the 13th!

We’ve got a valentine for Oakland, and it’s in the form of us playing a house show with our buddies in Yonderlow and some other bands.  If anyone who reads our site lives in Oakland, you should email us for information on the show.  It probably beats whatever you have planned for Valentine’s Day.

That is, of course, if Neil and I don’t die at the hands of Jason tonight.  We’re going to a midnight showing of the “Friday the 13th” remake, which would be totally brutal if that didn’t mean we were actually seeing the movie on Saturday the 14th.

A quick update.

Both of our albums are now available at Amoeba Records in beautiful, currently-unseasonably warm and sunny San Francisco.  And, no, they’re not just in the used bin.

Last spring, while we were in Seattle, we were tracked down by Jack Lipke and Evan the Bug of American Field Recordings fame.  They did a piece on us, and it recently posted to YouTube.  Check it out here.  We’re after the “funny” emcee, so you might as well skip to the good stuff, with the good stuff being us.  It’s got us hanging out at some dude’s house, wielding swords and being jabronis, and playing “Gunfighter’s Afternoon” and “Better Angels” at the Comet Tavern (nevermind how they have the song listed).  Our hair, I might add, is very, very short (individually and collectively).  As they say several times in the information, make sure to watch it in high quality.

Wasn’t this a worthwhile read?