popwreckoning

Death Cab For Cutie have announced a fall tour to start September 30th in Cincinnati and go through the end of October. Support includes Telekinesis, The Hold Steady, Explosions In The Sky, and The Head And The Heart. Furthermore, DCFC will also be among the headline acts appearing at Sunrise, Florida’s annual Langerado Music Festival on October 8^th and San Francisco’s Treasure Island Music Festival on October 16^th. Below is a complete list of tour dates. For more information please visit www.deathcabforcutie.com.

AUGUST

1                      Boston, MA                           Bank of America Pavilion

2                      Brooklyn, NY                        Williamsburg Waterfront

5                      Philadelphia, PA                  Mann Center for Performing Arts

6                      Pittsburgh, PA                      Stage AE

7                      Columbia, MD                      Merriweather Post Pavilion

8                      Cary, NC                                Koka Booth Amphitheatre

10                    Nashville, TN                       Bridgestone Arena

11                    Alpharetta, GA                     Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

12                    New Orleans, LA                 Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena

13                    Grand Prairie, TX                 Verizon Theater

15                    Phoenix, AZ                          Comerica Theatre

16                    La Jolla, CA                           RIMAC Arena

18, 19              Los Angeles, CA                  Greek Theater

20                    Las Vegas, NV                      The Pool

22                    West Valley City, UT          Maverik Center

23                    Morrison, CO                        Red Rocks Amphitheatre

25                    Chicago, IL                            UIC Pavilion

26                    St. Paul, MN                          Roy Wilkins Auditorium

SEPTEMBER

30                    Cincinnati, OH                     PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music

OCTOBER

1                      Champaign, IL                      University of Illinois-Assembly

2                      St. Louis, MO                        The Pageant

5                      Memphis, TN                       Mud Island Ampitheatre

6                      Birmingham, AL                  Alabama Theatre

7                      Jacksonville, FL                    Florida Theatre

8                      Sunrise, FL                            Langerado Music Festival

10                    Houston, TX                         Verizon Wireless Theatre

11                    Austin, TX                             Austin Music Hall

15                    Santa Barbara, CA                Santa Barbara Bowl

16                    San Francisco, CA                Treasure Island Music Festival

18                    Boise, ID                                Taco Bell Arena

20                    Portland, OR                         Portland Memorial Coliseum

21                    Vancouver, BC                     Rogers Arena

22                    Seattle, WA                           Key Arena at Seattle Center

Sure, you’ve all heard of English folk band Mumford and Sons, especially in light of their Grammy nomination. But have you heard of Stornoway? No? You soon will.

Named after a coastal town in Scotland far away from their hometown of Oxford, England, Stornoway, like Mumford and Sons, has four principal members and play folk pop. But Stornoway also have a violinist, Rahul Satija, as well as a trumpeter, Adam Briggs, brother of main songwriter and lead singer Brian Briggs. Having compared Mumford’s Sigh No More against Stornoway‘s debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill released on 4AD, I think Stornoway has the upper hand in terms of song preciousness; that is, their album cuts you deeper emotionally, bringing out feelings you never thought you had. So I’m not embarrassed to admit seeing them live practically reduced me to tears.

Sunday night’s show at the smaller of the two Black Cat stages, Backstage, was also the last date on the tour with Franz Nicolay and Major General as support. This year, the famously cool and mustachioed Nicolay left the Hold Steady in favor of a solo career and also released a new album, Luck and Courage. Nicolay’s material runs the gamut from emotional folk to more up-tempo numbers. “Dead Sailors,” introduced by an enthused Nicolay as “this is a tango!” did not disappoint, nor did the dramatic “Have Mercy” or the set closer “Jeff Penalty,” a song he explained was about “a friend who got his dream job in the end.” The song could be about Nicolay himself, as he and his three-piece backing band were having a ball onstage. They even said we were the best crowd they played to on this tour. Excellent.

Beyond the music, Nicolay is hilarious and has great rapport with an audience, making us chuckle, warning us “no texting in the front row!” and how their set would feature accordion solos, advising those of weak heart and constitution to leave the premises if they could not handle his squeeze-box shenanigans. But I have to say, after only hearing a couple songs on his MySpace like “This is Not a Pipe” and a humorous collaboration he did with Dresden Dolls, “New England,” I was not prepared for as a spirited set as he delivered. This might be heresy to some, but I think I like Nicolay’s solo stuff better than the Hold Steady.

Franz Nicolay and Major General Set List:
The Ballad of Hollis Wadsworth Mason Jr.
Dead Sailors
Have Mercy
This is Not a Pipe
Rock Rinse (what it looks like on the handwritten set list)
Z is for Zachariah
Luck and Courage
Felix and Adelita
Frankie
Jeff Penalty

But the breathless crowd assembled was waiting for Stornoway to appear. The Black Cat gig, like most gigs at the venue, was an all-ages show, which meant quite a few youngsters had come far away for it: a mother, daughter and friends from Wilmington, Delaware, drove nearly 3 hours for this – talk about dedication. The show began with a plaintive violin solo by Satija before the band came out to thunderous applause and launched into “The Coldharbour Road,” a song in which Briggs draws metaphors for himself and the woman he loved, like the relationship between a seabird and the cold, unfeeling ocean, and the mind of a man that a memory of a woman once lived in. This is deep, deep stuff and definitely stuff that touches my heart. The recording features what can only be described industrial clanking, which in the live setting is achieved by extra band members hitting on, amazingly, an antique TV set and a beer keg. Briggs’s voice and his band members’ harmonies were spot on and gorgeous. It set the stage for a monumental evening.

Before the show, Briggs described “Fuel Up” (my favorite song on Beachcomber’s Windowsill) to me as a song about the pains of growing up. The words of the chorus are so simple yet powerful: “so fuel up your mind and fire up your heart and drive on / drive on, drive on / and when your days are darker / put your foot down harder / drive on, drive on.” It seems to say, life goes on and so do we, so soldier on for there are brighter days ahead. Just as I do every time I hear the song on my headphones, I could feel tears pricking my eyes hearing this live. I don’t cry at gigs; I just don’t. But the beauty of Stornoway‘s music was so moving, I couldn’t help myself.

I don’t want you to think that all this band does are slow ballads. Songs like “Watching Birds” (a song which makes total sense now that I know Briggs got his degree in zoology and studied birds at university) and a particularly joyous version of “We Are the Battery Human,” featuring keyboardist Jonathan Ouin playing a banjo emblazoned with a rainbow-colored nautilus and done completely unmiked and acoustically, were so energetic. They got the audience stamping their feet and clapping their hands to the beat. This was an unforgettable evening that tugged at the heartstrings as well as made the heart sing. I was so glad I was there to experience it.

Stornoway Set List:
The Coldharbour Road
Boats and Trains
Beachcomber’s Windowsill
Fuel Up
I Saw You Blink
On the Rocks
November Song (acoustic)
Watching Birds
Long Distance Lullaby
Zorbing
//
End of the Movie (acoustic)
We Are the Battery Human (acoustic)

Tour Dates
Dec 08 – Biltmore Cabaret / Vancouver^
Dec 09 – Crocodile / Seattle^
Dec 10 – Doug Fir / Portland^
Dec 12 – Independent / San Francisco^
Dec 13 – Troubadour / Los Angeles^
^with the Head and the Heart

Stornoway: website | myspace
Franz Nicolay and Major General: website | myspace

Athens, GA’s Twin Tigers have been on the road supporting their recently released Gray Waves. The band has been touring with The Hold Steady, but just released dates with Interpol.

You can download their Automatic EP for free here.

Tour Dates:
May 22 – The Social – Orlando, FL*
May 23 – The Social – Orlando, FL*
May 25 – Live Wire Music Hall – Savannah, GA*
May 26 – 40 Watt Club – Athens, GA8
May 27 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA *
Jun 19 – Taste of Randolph Street Fest – Chicago, IL
Jun 21 – Water Street Music Hall – Rochester, NY^
Jun 22 – Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY^
Jun 23 – Mr Small’s Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA^
Jun 25 – Crocodile Rock Cafe – Allentown, PA^
Jun 28 – People’s Court – Des Moines, IA^
July 1 – Bogart’s – Cincinnati, OH^
July 2 – House of Blues Cleveland – Cleveland, OH^
July 5 – Blue Note, Columbia, MO^
July 8 – 40 Watt Club – Athens, GA^
July 10 – The Music Farm – Charleston, SC^
July 14 – Ram’s Head Live – Baltimore, MD^
July 20 – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel – Providence, RI^
July 21 – Toad’s Place – New Haven, CT^
July 23 – Northern Lights – Clifton Park, NY^
July 24 – Chameleon – Lancaster, PA^
* w/ The Hold Steady
^ w/ Interpol
More dates to be announced soon!

Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn’s always had a bit of a soft spot for sentimental, almost cheesy stuff. Teenage love, characters who like to hang out and listen to records and go to concerts and parties are big concerns in his songs. The Hold Steady’s latest album, Heaven Is Whenever, seems to revel mostly in this territory. Gone are the druggies and hoodrats and ‘killer parties’ of previous discs, instead, at the heart of Heaven Is Whenever, it’s the salvation that kids find in rock n’ roll music that Finn seems predominantly concerned with. The result is The Hold Steady’s most harmless album, but in some ways also their warmest, as though Finn wrote the album more interested in himself connecting directly with adolescents than telling compelling tales likely derived from his own adolescence. “I know what you’re going through/I had to go through that too,” he sings in “Soft In The Center,” addressing kids directly like some kind of indie-rock father figure.

The approach, however, is double-edged: there’s nothing here as remotely intense and hard hitting as something like “Cattle and the Creeping Things” or exciting as “Chips Ahoy!” Finn’s host of kookie characters are still around, but he doesn’t name them directly, and the exquisite details he’s always been so gifted at relating are largely absent. It’s not so much that the album is lyrically weak, as it is simply not as incredibly strong as other Hold Steady albums. On the other hand, on songs like “We Can Get Together” Finn still unleashes showstopping lines like, “Heaven is whenever/We can get together/And listen to your records.” And in the same song, the displacement of the line: “He wasn’t just the drummer/He was the singer’s younger brother/I still spin that single/But it don’t sound that simple anymore,” gives it an ominous weight as you wonder what happened to the drummer, and why did it affect Finn so much to think that he was “someone’s younger brother?”

Musically, Heaven Is Whenever might be The Hold Steady’s strongest and most consistent album. The choruses are bigger and better than ever, especially in “Soft In The Center” and “Rock Problems,” and then embellishments like the killer harmonic guitar solo in the latter track and the gorgeous slow-dance waltz that closes “We Can Get Together” top things off wonderfully. The Hold Steady are still writing songs with three or four big chords, but they’ve managed to use them well throughout the album.

Depending on what the person listening likes most about The Hold Steady, Heaven Is Whenever could be either their favorite or least favorite album. Even for those who might think that the songs lack the punchiness of an earlier, more street-wise Hold Steady, they lack none of the band’s big heart.

Track Listing:
1. The Sweet Part of the City
2. Soft in the Center
3. The Weekenders
4. The Smidge
5. Rock Problems
6. We Can Get Together
7. Hurricane J
8. Barely Breathing
9. Our Whole Lives
10. A Slight Discomfort

Twin Tigers, psychedelic rockers from Georgia, will be on tour this month, playing alongside Gift Horse and the Hold Steady as well as headlining their own gigs.

Here’s your chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to see them at DC’s New Orleans-themed Red and Black Bar tomorrow night (Thursday May 06). The contest will end at 12 p.m. CDT Thursday. Winners’ tickets will be at the door when you arrive at the show. Please make sure you include your full name and email in your comments, otherwise we won’t be able to get in touch to tell you you’ve won. Note: you must be 21 or older to win and attend the gig (the venue’s rules, not ours). Winners will also receive a copy of Twin Tigers‘ album released in March, Gray Waves.

Winning is simple. Just comment in this article the answer to the following question: What famous music town in Georgia are Twin Tigers from?

Then show up at the Red and Black and have fun watching a couple great bands on us.

Tour Dates
May 05 – Garfield Artworks / Pittsburgh
May 06 – Red and Black / Washington, DC#
May 07 – Alley Katz / Richmond#
May 21 – Local 662 / St. Petersburg, FL
May 22-23 – Social / Orlando, FL*
May 25 – Live Wire Music Hall / Savannah, GA*
May 26 – 40 Watt Club / Athens, GA*
May 27 – Variety Playhouse / Atlanta
# with Gift Horse
* with the Hold Steady

Twin Tigers: myspace | @ the Granada

The Hold Steady is preparing for a spring tour of America. In addition to the headlining tour, the band also has scheduled appearances at the Sasquatch Festival in Washington State and Summerfest in Milwaukee.

The band is set to release their next album, Heaven is Whenever, on May 4 in America on Vagrant Records. The album was produced by Dean Baltulonis, who engineered the band’s debut Almost Killed Me and produced their second album, Separation Sunday.

Tour Dates
Apr 02 – LIFE The Place to Be / Ardsley, NY*
Apr 03 – Toad’s Place / New Haven*
Apr 05 – Higher Ground / Burlington, VT*
Apr 06 – Pearl Street / Northampton, MA*
Apr 07 – Linda Norris Auditorium / Albany*
Apr 08 – Bearsville Theater / Woodstock, NY*
Apr 09 – Eleanor Rigby’s / Jermyn, PA*
Apr 10 – Wescott Theater / Syracuse*
Apr 12 – Club at Water Street Music Hall / Rochester*
Apr 13 – Beachland Ballroom / Cleveland*
Apr 14 – Diesel Club Lounge / Pittsburgh*
Apr 15 – 123 Pleasant St. / Morgantown, WV*
Apr 16 – Appalachian Brewing Company / Harrisburg, PA*
May 04 – Belly Up Tavern / Solana Beach, CA#
May 05 – El Rey / Los Angeles#
May 06 – Fillmore / San Francisco#
May 29 – Sasquatch Festival / George, WA
Jul 01 – Summerfest / Milwaukee

Photo: Mary Chang

The Hold Steady: website | myspace | @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater | Rothbury: Day 4 | @ 9:30 Club