Feb/March Tour with The French Kicks and A.C. Newman Just Announced!

We're excited to announce some new tour dates for the late winter. We'll be rocking up the West Coast with The French Kicks, who are awesome band and very cool dudes.

We're very, very excited to have been asked to open for A.C. (Carl) Newman, lead singer and songwriter of one of our favorite bands, The New Pornographers. Carl's got a new solo record out in January, and we'll be joining him in mid-March for about two weeks of shows along the East Coast, through the South and then up through the Midwest.

Here are the dates:

02/23/09 San Diego, CA Casbah
02/24/09 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour French Kicks
02/27/09 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge AA Bondy, French Kicks
03/17/09 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's AC Newman
03/18/09 Washington, DC Black Cat AC Newman
03/19/09 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle AC Newman
03/20/09 Atlanta, GA The Earl AC Newman
03/21/09 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge AC Newman
03/22/09 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill AC Newman
03/24/09 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar AC Newman
03/25/09 Chicago, IL Logan Square AC Newman
03/26/09 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room AC Newman
03/27/09 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop AC Newman
03/28/09 Pittsburgh, PA Andy Warhol Museum AC Newman

Daytrotter Session Available Now!

In mid-September, in the midst of our first tour for Now or Heaven, we stopped at one of our favorite places in the country -- Futureappletree Studio in Rock Island, IL, home of Daytrotter. We re-arranged four songs from the new record and recorded them live, straight to tape -- no overdubs, no fixes, warts and all. The session just went up today, so head here to check it out.

Special thanks to Daytrotter's Sean Moeller for being such a good dude.

CMJ!

We're taking a redeye out of Long Beach tonight to head to the Big Apple, where the always hectic but pretty fun CMJ Music Conference is underway. We will play 4 shows and do 1 radio appearance in 3 days. Again, hectic -- but fun!

If you're in the tri-state area (I think that's what it's called -- NJ, CT, and NY, right?), come out and see us. Here is the schedule:

KCRW/Paste Magazine Showcase
Thursday, October 23, 11PM @ Red Bull Lounge
40 Thompson St (between Grand and Broome)

Team Clermont CMJ Party
Friday, October 24, 5PM @ Arlene's Grocery
95 Stanton St (between Ludlow and Orchard)

Bowery Presents CMJ Party (this will stripped down acoustic style!)
Saturday, October 25, 5PM @ Piano's (Upstairs)
158 Ludlow

Merge Records CMJ Showcase
Saturday, October 25, 11PM @ Mercury Lounge
217 E Houston (Corner Ave A & Houston)

And finally, I believe we will be playing live on the air on WFUV, a New York radio station. I think you can stream it here. This will be around noon on Friday, October 24.

I lied about "finally." One more thing -- we FINALLY have a WEBSITE. A real deal, functioning website. Check it out here.

Hope to see you all soon!

Morning Becomes Eclectic -- Tuesday, Oct 7!

We're psyched to be returning to Santa Monica for our second appearance on Morning Becomes Eclectic on Los Angeles' very own KCRW. We'll be on this morning (Tues, Oct 7) at 11:15AM sharp Pacific Time.

We'll be playing 8 songs off the new joint, Now or Heaven, live in the studio. We'll chat a bit with Nic Harcourt too.

If you live in the Southland -- as we call it here in LA -- you can tune in, as you probably already know, at 89.9 FM.

If not, don't fret -- you can still hear us! Courtesy of the internet. You can stream the program live by clicking here!

I'm sure you're all aware of the different time zones, and I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence, but just to be safe -- 11:15AM Pacific means 12:15PM Mountain, 1:15PM Central, and 2:15PM for those of you way out there on the east coast.

Hope everyone is well, don't forget to vote, and don't forget to tune in tomorrow!

America the Beautiful

The tour starts tomorrow! We'll start with a nice 11 hour drive through the glorious west, most likely spending tomorrow night in yet to be determined town in Utah. Then Tuesday finds is in Denver for the very first show of the tour! I gotta say, we're all pretty darned excited. For the first few shows we'll be sharing the stage with Centro-Matic, and excellent band that we're thrilled to be playing with.

Also, for any trusty blog readers who might be in Los Angeles, please not that our October 4 show at Spaceland has been canceled and re-scheduled for November 7, where we will be rocking out with Heartless Bastards.

We'll try to be a bit better about posting updates on the tour as we roll along. In the meantime, check these dates below one more time and try to come out and see us!

9/09 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
9/10 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Jr.
9/11 Iowa City, IO @ The Picador
9/12 Madison, WI @ Orpheum Stage Door
9/13 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar
9/15 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
9/16 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
9/17 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
9/21 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
9/22 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
9/23 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
9/24 Washington, DC @ Rock n Roll Hotel
9/25 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
9/26 Mt Pleasant, SC @ Village Tavern
9/28 Nashville, TN @ The Basement
9/29 Memphis, TN @ HI Tone
9/30 Denton, TX @ Dan's Silverleaf
10/1 Austin, TX @ Mohawk

A New Jam!

Hey buddies,

We just posted a new track from the new record on our MySpace page. Isn't MySpace the best? Click this here to check it out. The song is called "Gwen, Now and Then."

Don't forget, we're hitting the road real soon. Come out and see us! We are fucking pumped. It's gonna be a rocking good time.

And, finally, just a reminder that you can pre-order the new record, Now or Heaven, at the website of our fantastical label, Merge Records. Click here to secure your copy today!

Love,
The Broken West

Three Weeks and Counting!

We're now three weeks out from the release of our second LP, Now or Heaven, and we're getting very excited. We just posted tour dates for our first tour for the new record -- check 'em out:

9/09 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
9/10 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Jr.
9/11 Iowa City, IO @ The Picador
9/12 Madison, WI @ Orpheum Stage Door
9/13 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar
9/15 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
9/16 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
9/17 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
9/21 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
9/22 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
9/23 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
9/24 Washington, DC @ Rock n Roll Hotel
9/25 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
9/26 Mt Pleasant, SC @ Village Tavern
9/28 Nashville, TN @ The Basement
9/29 Memphis, TN @ HI Tone
9/30 Denton, TX @ Dan's Silverleaf
10/1 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10/4 Los Angeles, Ca @ Spaceland


We're most likely coming near your hometown, so come out and see us.

Also, you can stream and preorder Now or Heaven from Merge Records by clicking here.

Hope to see you all soon!

New Record! NOW OR HEAVEN -- Out Sept 9 on MERGE RECORDS

Hi all. It's been a long, long time since we've updated the olde blog. We just returned from a quick jaunt up the West Coast, culminating in an appearance at the Sled Island Festival in Calgary. The tour was a ton of fun -- no doubt the fun quotient was augmented a great deal by the presence of sound man/TBW best friend/recording engineer Anthony Caruso. We should be able to post some photos from the tour in a few days.

Meanwhile, Merge Records will drop our second record, Now or Heaven, on September 9 here in North America. We're pumped.

Hope you're all well.

Love,
The Broken West

Obama For Your Mama

We here at The Broken West HQ (or more specifically, me, Ross) rarely -- if ever -- get all political on your ass. Generally speaking, we're too busy writing songs, jamming out, drinking beers, and eating tacos to take time to be all preachy. But now's the time to speak out. I urge ALL of you who read this blog (and, admittedly, "ALL", I know really just means my mom and maybe a couple of other dudes) to step up and be on the right side of history -- and by "the right side of history", I mean supporting Barack Obama. Now, if the handful of you who do read this blog happen to live in VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, D.C., WISCONSIN, HAWAII, RHODE ISLAND or TEEEEEXXXXASSS or OOOOHHHHIIIIOOOO AND you're a DEMOCRAT, get out there and vote for Mr. Obama.

I am and always have been a HUGE political junkie, which means I'm fascinated by and deeply cynical of nearly all presidential candidates. Until Obama. Never in my life have I been as inspired by a political figure. Bill Clinton is, admittedly, a fantastic politician, and his tenure in office really seems like the salad days compared to recent times. However, he is ultimately a huge douchebag and a phony -- as good of a speaker as he is, I always sensed the bullshit right below the surface. (This Frank Rich piece from the NY Times this weekend is worth reading to get a sense of how far the Clintons will go -- just how much they're willing to destroy -- to ensure victory.)

There's none of that with Barack. I damn near welled up with tears watching his speech after he won the Iowa caucuses. I'm no historian, but it seems there have been 3 truly transformative Presidents in the last 70 years (regardless of how you feel about their politics): FDR, JFK, and Reagan. Which is to say, these were leaders who seemed to transcend the humdrum of political machinery and give people a sense of hope and optimism about America. I believe Obama could and will join their ranks. (Interestingly, these guys seem to come ever 20 years or so.)

I really feel in my gut that Obama is, to quote Sam Elliott in The Big Lebowski, the man for his time and place. I truly believe he's the only person who can make the changes we need to get our country back on track, to begin to reverse the myriad bad decisions Bush has made over the last 8 years. That's why I'm writing this.

Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, and no matter where you live, take a good, hard look at this man. Guys like him don't come around very often.

Teddy Headphones interview with The Broken West

From Crackle: Teddy Headphones interview with The Broken West

Day Five, and sadly, our last day

Sorry we forgot to post the last two days. We've been having a ball, and we've recorded what they in the buz call "basic tracks" for six songs, and they're sounding good. Thom Monahan is a Zen audio master and he's taught us a great deal in the few days we've been up here. Unfortunately, the heater in the studio broke, so we're going to have to end this session earlier than planned -- we were supposed to record until Wednesday, but we're leaving tomorrow morning. Here are some pics. Talk soon.

Day Two!!!

Here are some more pictures. I can't figure out how to place the pictures in the middle of the post and then do captions. We spent all of yesterday getting some killer drum sounds. We should start recording today. Above you will find Danny's guitar station, Brian in his sleeping quarters/the piano room, Robbie banging on the kit, and Danny dressed as a druid. It's mighty cold here in Sacramento, but we're having a ball.

3, 2, 1...and we're off.

Today marks our first day of tracking for our new, untitled record. We're at a studio in Sacramento with the trusty and talented Thom Monahan producing. The day has been great so far -- this place is like Disneyland. Which is to say, there are a crazy number of amps, synths, guitars, pedals, pianos, organs, etc. to play with. We went to Safeway earlier today and stocked up on provisions, as we're staying here too. More to come...we'll try to post everyday.