Indie Rock
Interview: Valencia
We recently had the chance to chat with Brendan Walter, guitarist of Valencia, discussing the band’s new tour, their most recent album Dancing With a Ghost, their return to I Surrender, and their plans for the rest of the year. Check out the interview after the break.
Valencia: We’re doing great!
LitS: You guys just began a tour with A Rocket To The Moon, Anarbor, Runner Runner, and Go Radio. How excited are you?
Valencia: So excited. Everything has been going swimmingly and the shows have been insane (all sold our so far – 1 week in). We couldn’t ask for a better tour.
LitS: Which shows are you looking forward to most on this tour?
Valencia: I’m really looking forward to the Anaheim show. Chain Reaction is always such a crazy place to play. Kids are just so excited to see and experience music there and all of the positive vibes really make for a good time. (more…)
Stream LCD Soundsystem’s Final Show
LCD Soundsystem will play their last farewell show at Madison Square Garden on April 2. It sold out pretty quickly, but people will not have to worry about seeing the show. There will be a live stream on Pitchfork. It’s going to be a one-time broadcast, so make sure not to miss it.
New Bon Iver LP
Singer-songwriter Bon Iver has recently kept himself busy, but he has finally put out some news about his new album, which is scheduled to come out sometime in June. In an article with Rolling Stone, he talked about how he forgot how to write songs and had to relearn everything he knew for the new, yet-to-be-titled album. However, he feels he has adapted, and things will be much different than his first LP, For Emma, Forever Ago. You can read the article from Rolling Stone here.
Arctic Monkeys and The Vaccines Tour
The Vaccines will be supporting Arctic Monkeys in a North American tour starting on May 17. The Vaccines have recently just released their first studio album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, on March 14. Arctic Monkeys will be releasing their fourth studio album, Suck It And See, on June 6. Read more for the tour dates.
5/17 Washington, DC 930 Club
5/18 Philadelphia, PA Knitting Factory
5/19 Boston, MA House Of Blues
5/21 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
5/22 Montreal, QC L’Olympia
5/24 New York, NY Summer Stage
5/26 Detroit, MI Clutch Cargoes
5/27 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
5/28 Minneapolis, MN First Ave
5/30 Denver, CO The Ogden Theatre
5/31 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
6/3 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
Interview: Surrogate
I just recently had an interview with Daniel, from the band Surrogate. They talked about releasing the new Diamonds and Pearls EP, fun concert stories, the band’s future, and more. Check out the interview below.
LitS: How did you guys all meet?
Surrogate: We all live in Chico, which is a small college town in Northern California, and we basically knew each other from just being in bands and playing shows together over the years. Chris Keene and Jordan used to play in a band called Number One Gun, and when that band parted ways, they started working on some music together and started playing around Chico with Daniel Martin on keys and a couple of our other friends, Trevor, who was also in Number One Gun on bass, and Chris Armstrong who was in a band called Sherwood on guitar. This was 2006 or so. When Trevor had to split to go out on tour with another band, I took over on bass, in the early part of 2007, a couple months before Love is For the Rich came out. Michael took over for Chris A. right before the next record, Popular Mechanics came out in 2009 and we’ve all been playing together ever since.
LitS: What genre would you guys consider yourselves to be and what bands influences your music?
Surrogate: I tend to tell people that Surrogate is a melodic indie pop band, which is something of a cop out, the usual platitudes. But it gets the point across. You can’t really say that youre an “indie” band anymore, because that really doesn’t mean anything. And “indie rock” at least to old folks like me sort of recalls bands like Fugazi or The Dismemberment Plan or bands that were more on the loud side. So melodic indie pop seems to work, at least in so far as it lets people know that we’re definitely not yelling, or playing crazy riffs, but we’re not Ke$ha or some overly tuned radio garbage.
We all have pretty disparate tastes in music, but the Surrogate sound, at least as much as you can call it a general “sound” would definitely seem to fit pretty squarely in that pantheon of post-shoegaze bands like Pedro the Lion, Starflyer 59, Rogue Wave or even Death Cab for Cutie. We’re all constantly trying to dig new music, though, so it’s sort of a constant evolution. (more…)
Foo Fighters Garage Tour Contest
Foo Fighters will be playing songs from their new album, Wasting Light, in the garages of eight fans in eight North American cities. If you want to enter the contest, one must explain in 25 words or less why they (and 50 of their friends) deserve to win. You can enter the contest and see the detailed instructions here. Wasting Light, Foo Fighters’ seventh studio album, is coming out on April 12.
I Can Make A Mess Album Art and Pre-Order
I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business has officially released the album art for Gold Rush and put up the new album up for pre-order. Gold Rush is coming out on May 5 and you can pre-order a digital or physical copy of the album here.
Third Eye Blind Announce 2011 Tour Dates
Pop-rock band Third Eye Blind has announced tour dates for April-July 2011. Their most recent album, Ursa Major, was released in August of 2009. Rumor has it that the follow-up to Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, will be released sometime this year. If so, these tour dates could be in support of the new record.
Check out the tour dates below.
Third Eye Blind 2011 Tour Dates:
April 29th – Hampton Beach Casino – Hampton, NH
May 1st – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel – Providence, RI
May 3rd – Calvin Theatre – Northampton, MA
May 4th – The Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
May 5th – Sound Academy – Toronto, ON
May 6th – Palace Theater – Greensburg, PA
May 7th – Lincoln Theatre – Raleigh, NC
May 10th – Neighborhood Theatre – Charlotte, NC
May 14th – Western Connecticut State – Danbury, CT
May 21st – Addison Circle Park – Addison, TX
May 22nd – Vinoy Park – St. Petersburg, FL
May 28th – Mountain Creek – Vernon, NJ
June 10th – Fairfax Government Center – Fairfax, VA
July 1st – Summerfest – Milwaukee, WI
July 4th – Sill’s Parade Field – Garrison, HI
July 8th – Clays Park Main Stage – North Lawerence, OH
The Dangerous Summer Play New Song and Cover
On March 15, The Dangerous Summer played a show The Studio at Webster Hall in New York, premiering a brand new song called “Everyone Left” and playing a cover of Bush‘s “Glycerine”. “Everyone Left” will be included on the band’s forthcoming album, set to be released later this year, and is the same song that was demoed on the band’s Tumblr back in October.
Check out the videos below.
The Dangerous Summer – “Everyone Left”:
The Dangerous Summer – “Glycerine (Bush Cover)”:
Death Cab For Cutie Album Finished, Details Announced
Chris Walla, the guitarist and producer of Death Cab For Cutie, has announced via his Twitter account that the band’s new album, Codes and Keys, is finished.Codes and Keys will be released on May 31, 2011.
You can check out the tracklisting below.
Codes and Keys Tracklisting:
1. “Home Is a Fire”
2. “Codes and Keys”
3. “Some Boys”
4. “Doors Unlocked and Open”
5. “You Are a Tourist”
6. “Unobstructed Views”
7. “Monday Morning”
8. “Portable Television”
9. “Underneath the Sycamore”
10. “St “Peter’s Cathedral”
11. “Stay Young, Go Dancing”
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