Blog Archives

January 15, 2009

Decemberists in January

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Today brings us the first taste of the Decemberists next LP, The Hazards of Love, in the form of a free song from the album titled “The Rake’s Song.” In case you might begin to think Meloy has gone off the deep end singing about garden tools, remember of course this is Colin Meloy so he’s actually using the more literary sense of the word, a man habituated to immoral conduct. Now that sounds more like it.

The Hazards of Love arrives March 24, 2009. The Decemberists will be announcing spring tour dates shortly.

December 11, 2008

The Local Beat – Second Week of December

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long winters at the showbox

The Long Winters at the Showbox, April 2007 ::: Photo by Abbey

The Long Winters “Live at the Showbox” DVD ready for order. Taken from a set of performances in the spring of 2007, Barsuk Records is releasing the limited-edition DVD and offering three free mp3′s from the performance. We were at that Showbox stand can attest to it’s worthiness. |barsuk|

The Decemberists announce next LP release date . The Hazards of Love comes out March 24, and the band has embraced the spirit of collaboration in crafting a rock opera. We eagerly await the results. |pitchfork|

Pearl Jam to re-release Ten, in four different editions. Options includes a remastered records, remastered art, additional never before released live performances from MTV unplugged and live in Madison Park (!?!) with the super deluxe option including a replica of the band’s original three song cassette demo. I can see the ten clubbers wetting their pants as I write. Bassists Ament said he wanted to “assemble the ultimate fan piece” and I’d have to say he’s pretty much succeeded. |ten club|

Carles asks: Should I move 2 Portland? He presents two videos of Starfucker as evidence for the case. Oh geez. Here we go… |hipsterrunoff|

Monotonix added to the Paramount’s New Years Eve Bill! This blog considers Monotonix a top contender for international band of the year and this addition is making me seriously consider heading out to this massive local bill, headlined by the Presidents and supported by Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, The Saturday Knights, and Vince Mira & The Roy Kay Trio, with a little comedy on the side. It’s great bill to represent the best of Seattle’s music scene in 2008. |paramount|

November 8, 2008

The Local Beat – First Week In November

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The Local Beat is back! Sort of. This is a short one.

Today’s paper, in the ‘Restaurants’ section of all places, let’s us in on progress in the new Crocodile, including news that the stage is relocating to the north wall to allow for larger crowds. |seattle pi|

The Decemberists played Philadelphia last night on their “Bridesmaid Revisited” Tour and NPR has a stream of the entire concert. |npr|

Applications for the northwest’s premier under-21 battle of the bands competition Sound Off!, are due this Monday November 10 at 5pm. The winner get’s a spot playing the EMP Sky Church during Bumbershoot 2009. |empsfm|

May 17, 2008

Decemberists to Play PDX Obama Rally Sunday!

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For our Portland Obamahead readers out there, Presidential Candidate Barack Obama will be joined by the Decemberists, tomorrow, Sunday May 18th for a Rally. Complete Details:

Join Barack Obama at a rally in Portland on Sunday, May 18th. Rally with Barack Obama

The Bowl Waterfront Park Corner of SW Columbia St. and SW Naito Pkwy. South of the Hawthorne Bridge

Sunday, May 18th, 2008 Doors Open: 12:30 p.m.

Special Guest Performance by: Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis.

For security reasons, do not bring bags and limit personal items. No signs or banners are permitted.

Oregon has a democratic primary on Tuesday and Obama is projected to win handily.

HT: Music Slut

January 15, 2008

Colin Meloy Solo Live Album Out This April

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I don’t care that it apparently means I’ve fallen into some “hipster trap,” I unabashedly love The Decemberists and their charming front-man Colin Meloy. So I was thrilled to read that Kill Rock Stars will be releasing a “Colin Meloy Sings – Live!” album on April 8th (via a Myspace Bulletin). The album will consist of 17 live tracks from Meloy’s solo tour in 2006 and some espescially witty repartee. Josh and I were lucky enough to catch one of Meloy’s performances at The Showbox in Seattle, complete with Cheryl the skull, Maya Angelou the ship, and Erick the Sheep. It was definitely one of those shows you wish you could go back and relive or re-listen to. Meloy’s voice has some lovely nuances and without the lush orchestration of a full band – you can really geek out on his lyrics, learn a few new words and be astounded by a couple rhyme-schemes. The album will include Decemberists tracks, Shirley Collins covers, and at two previously unreleased songs.

December 15, 2007

The Decemberists To Play Four Northwest Shows in January

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While they won’t be “the long” or “the short” shows we’d bought tickets for this fall, The Decemberists will be back in the Pacific Northwest for four dates in late January. The band will be playing January 22nd & 23rd at The Crystal Ballroom in Portland and the 30th & 31st at The Moore Theatre in Seattle. They’re promised to be “good ol fashioned Decemberists shows” and that is just dandy with me.

November 1, 2007

Decemberists Cancel the remainder of the Long and Short of It Tour

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From their mailing list:

With much regret The Decemberists have cancelled the remainder of “The Long and Short of It” tour.

One of our band members has been ill for a while but we thought all would be well in time for these tour dates. After a couple shows, though, it has become clear that the illness is much worse than we had initially realized. We need to return home so our friend can mend.

It saddens us to disappoint our fans. We hope everybody understands it is only because of an extreme situation that we had to cancel a tour we’ve all been excited about doing since the idea was originally hatched.

Our deepest apologies but at this time no plans are being made to reschedule the dates. Ticket holders should seek refunds at point of purchase.

Yours,

The Decemberists

That’s too bad, I was stoked about this hitting our town. If they reschedule, I’m there. 

August 23, 2007

Further Proof The Decemberists are Geniuses

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Even when simply annoucning a tour The Decemberists prove they are way more clever and considerate than you are. Like I need another reason to love Colin Meloy and his crew even more.  A myspace bulletin from the band:

“We’re embarking on a national US tour in which we’ll be performing at least 2 nights in every city (we beg forgiveness in advance if your city-of-call is not listed below, but if we kept this up everywhere, the tour would stretch on to eternity. Eternity!). But here’s the rub: both nights will feature two totally different setlists. The first night, “The Long of It”, will find us performing every song from our humble repertoire that is longer than 8 minutes; the following night, “The Short of It”, will find us playing a setlist entirely built of those more sprightly numbers whose adherence to brevity keeps them on the more radio-friendly side of that selfsame 8 minute mark.

Why are we doing this? Easy: we’re planning on slipping away from the glare of the public spotlight for a spell so as we can make more songs and more records and things by which you might be further entertained in the future, and we wanted to make this last-tour-for-a-bit kind of special. Plus, we’ve discovered that once you take a hankering to writing really long songs, which are certainly fun in their own right, it leaves precious little room on the setlist for those neglected songs being cat-called from the back of the theater. In short, we are making as grand attempt as we can muster to entertain you, gentle Myspace Friend and Decemberists Concert-Goer.”

I am buying my two-day pass ASAP. Added bonus? Laura Veirs will be opening all dates. The nitty gritty details, including dates are below the jump.  

(more…)

February 1, 2007

todays local news items

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Seattlest interviews The Trucks. The Trucks will be playing in town this Friday at Easy Street at 6pm and at Jules Maes Saloon at 9pm. These girls just want you to dance and have fun!

A new Decemberists video. O’Valencia! Enjoy.

Tapes n’ Tapes announce tour. They’ll be at Neumos on May 5. Full tour dates are over at fellow local music blogger Kingblind.

The Weekly talks with Menomena. They have a Pitchfork love fest.

January 23, 2007

A couple of nw news items

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Menomena will be performing their CD release party with a 25-person choir. That link has some rehearsal footage. The KEXP blog points to a podcast interview with Menomena.

The Decemberists had their best year yet. Billboard talks about their new tour and tells us what exactly one of the hottest indie bands in the the country makes on a tour. Some  interesting business numbers indeed:

Following the release of “The Crane Wife,” the Decemberists took to the road in November and December, performing in ballrooms and theaters. Eighteen shows reported to Billboard Boxscore grossed $695,763 and drew nearly 32,000 in attendance. That’s a significant jump from 2005, when the act grossed $361,570 for 22 reported gigs, according to Boxscore.

Along with growing box-office numbers, the Decemberists have seen an increase in album sales — “The Crane Wife” has already moved 9,000 more units than 2005′s “Picaresque,” the band’s last for indie Kill Rock Stars.

A few great shows are also going on sale this weekend at the Showbox (Sorry! they’re all Ticketmaster links now!): Bright Eyes on March 11 The Long Winters on April 14 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists on April 17