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Letsa get the conception details covered: A couple
of songs date back from the days of Pavement:"Church
On White" and "Trojan Curfew.", "Jenny And The Ess-Dog"
Stephen says the the chords at least around for a few
other numbers, but that they've so far never seen the
light of day to anyone other than his own little digital
Roland keyboard. Stephen thinks the time could be right now to unleash
them. Recording began in February and March of last year
somewhat peculiarly enough, in the basement of the drummer,
John Moen's girlfriend's house, while she was at work.
A number of April days in the basment followed in an
effort to drag together some idea of how it might sound
as a band. Pleased (and a little surprised) by the results,
Stephen and co got a rough sounding demo to Matador
label mentor Chris Lombardi. It's something Stephen
suggests had been on the back of his mind for some time: " I probably wanted that to happen all the time, but
I didn't want it to be weird or pressure anybody into
doing it." Eventually, the tracks were recorded out of town at
Supernatural Studios, a studio more than a little popular
with regional Christian bands: " They crank out albums in like two days" Stephen lauhgs. Engineered by Jeff Saltzman, and with Stephen's girlfriend,
Heather guesting on some of the backing vocals, the
album sees Joanna Bolme on Bass, Scott Kannbergand on
guitar and John Moen on drums. Not all the songs have
seen the light of day, however, which may mark the return
of Stephen to the studio sooner than we think: "There's a couple of things we left unfinished. There's
one song that is Japanese only that's really a fun song.
There's no lyrics yet, really. I sing like Johnny Rotten
on it. " The songs on the album range in subject matter from
unconscious sex (who hasn't been there?) to Yul Brynner. Final track listing:
1. Black Book
2. Phantasies
3. Jo Jo's Jacket
4. Church on White
5. The Hook
6. Discretion Grove
7. Troubbble
8. Pink India
9. Trojan Curfew
10. Vague Space
11. Jenny and the Ess-Dog
12. Deado A pre-album single of "Discretion Grove" with two
B-sides ("Sin Taxi" and "Leisurely Poison") has been
in stores since Jan 16. Tour Dates: MARCH
Th 8 - Vancouver, BC - Richards on Richards
Fr 9 - Seattle, WA - Graceland
Sa 10 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
Mo 12 - San Francisco, CA - Filmore
Tu 13 - Los Angeles, CA - El Ray
We 14 - San Diego, CA - Cane's Bar and Grill
Th 15 - Tempe, AZ - Nita's Hideaway
Sa 17 - Austin, TX - Music Hall (SXSW)
We 21 - Dallas, TX - Trees Th 22 - Austin, TX - Mercury
Sa 24 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
Mo 26 - Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge
Tu 27 - Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle
Th 29 - Philadelphia, PA - TLA
Fr 30 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
Sa 31 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East
APRIL
Th 5 - Detroit, MI - St. Andy's
Fr 6 - Chicago, IL - Metro Sa 7 - Minneapolis, MN -
1st Ave | 
