JM and Thor Lecture Series Apr 22 and 24
Well, not exactly, but sort of. Two special events – click "read more" for the details:1) I’m giving a talk called "The Caracaras: Distribution and Ecology of the ‘False’ Falcons" at a meeting of the Texas Ornithological Society in Austin.
Yellow Bike Benefit May 21st Austin
We’re happy to announce a special all-ages benefit show for Austin’s own Yellow Bike Project on May 21st at Red 7, a cozy and awesome "punk/hardcore/metal" venue downtown. YBP are an all-volunteer outfit that operates a stellar community bike shop, rehabs old bikes, and educates people of all ages about the benefits of human-powered transportation. SW [...]
Sirius/XM Loft Session to air
We taped an in-studio set for Sirius 29/XM 50′s The Loft back in…September or October, I think the same day we did the Tiny Desk Concert for NPR. It’s set to air this week, at the following times (EST): Monday 3/16 12pm, Wednesday 3/18 2pm, Friday 3/20 3am, Saturday 3/21 12pm, Monday 3/23 1am, Monday 3/20 2am.
Redbud Alerts
I just came back from a few days in west Texas to find that the redbud tree in my front yard has decided it’s spring, which means the industry boondoggle known as SXSW is just around the corner. As usual, we’re playing a couple of shows, though keeping it a bit low-key this year as [...]
HNY & RIP Poquita
2008 was an intense year for all of us, from the Rook recordings (which now seem like part of another life) through the many tours that followed, and we’re taking a little time now to rest, write, and mend the leaks in the rest of our lives that appear when you’re gone for too long. [...]
NPR Tiny Desk Concert (Updated)
We will be playing one of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts tomorrow, October 16th, at 4:30PM. This means that we’ll be huddled around Bob Boilen’s desk, playing a few acoustic versions of songs from Rook. It’s good to be on the road in America again, especially since this probably marks the end of this year’s major touring in the USA. The fall colors are beautiful here in the northeast. UPDATED: NPR has this performance archived here.
September Europe/UK (photos by Kevin)
Some photos from the Sept. Europe tour – photos by Kevin Schneider.
Robin Woods, MBE
Congratulations go to my dear friend Robin Woods, who is almost single-handedly responsible for my interest in birds (and especially in the odd, charming predator known as the Johnny Rook). On September 10, while SW was playing in Amsterdam, Robin was awarded the honor of an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his decades of work on behalf of the islands’ wildlife.
July tour in photos by Kevin
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
KEXP On-air Performance 7/24 1:30PM
Attention nor’westers: If you’re in Seattle (or on the internet anywhere), you can hear us play a scaled-down set live on on KEXP 90.3 at 1:30 PM tomorrow. And then come on down to the show at Nectar Lounge in the evening for the whole shebang.
Update from Johnny Rook
photo by coldengrey I’m writing from cool, foggy San Francisco, where we’re in the midst of our west coast dates with the lovely and gracious men and women of team Coldplay. In LA at the Forum they housed us in the Lakers’ old locker room – suffice it to say that the natural reverb in the [...]
East Coast Tour (June)
We’re packing our last bags tonight for our second round of touring in the USA – this time, headlining on the east coast/midwest (dates on the shows page). We’ll have some more details from the road, but in the meantime we’ve been honored to work with many excellent musicians at the showcases and on the tour with Clinic. A special shout-out is due here to our masked brethren – suffice it so say that you haven’t lived until you’ve crammed a bemused and amiable bunch of Liverpudlians into the back of your pickup truck and driven them to the barbecue joint in Austin.
SW Presents Rook Live May 5th (NYC) & May 29th (Austin)
On Monday, May 5th and Thursday, May 29th, Shearwater will premiere Rook in special concerts at the beautiful Florence Gould Concert Hall at Manhattan’s French Institute and The Parish in Austin, Texas. For both shows, we will be joined by a string quartet, woodwinds, trumpets, and a harpist, and will play our new album in its entirety, along with a set of older songs.
R.I.P. Zoe
Last year, Soundcheck magazine lured me into an interview by promising that I could meet writer Emily Strong’s pet Eclectus parrot, Zoe. Eclectus parrots are bright and beautiful, and males and females are so different in appearance that they were once thought to be different species. They are also increasingly uncommon on their home turf in and around Irian Jaya (New Guinea), where they live in (alas) mature tropical forests. Like most large parrots, they can live a really long time, 40-50 years or more.
Bill C tour w/ JM and Thor Ends, Sort Of
Bill Callahan’s “Mouth of the South” tour of the southeastern and southwestern US finally came to an end – after a two-week sabbatical – last Saturday with a spur-of-the-moment show at the Mohawk in Austin. As on the rest of the tour, Jonathan opened the evening solo and then, along with Thor, backed Bill for [...]
Shearwater at SXSW
It’s that time again. Multiple SW appearances this year, in which we’ll be previewing several songs from ‘Rook’. We’re honored to be joined by our longtime friends Scott Brackett (trumpet/etc) and Elaine Barber (harp), both of whom are also featured on the new album.
See you there!
Shows:
Wed 12th:
4pm Mohawk – Austinist/Gothamist day party (free)
1am Club DeVille – Official SXSW Showcase spons. by Brooklyn Vegan
Fri 14th:
6pm French Legation – Other Music day party (free)
Sat 15th:
Rook Recording
It’s all over but the shouting for Shearwater’s new album, Rook. We recorded it in November at the Echo Lab in Argyle, Texas, among barred owls, pet donkeys, coyotes, and the ominous sounds of gas wells being drilled across the railroad tracks; rural north Texas retreats as Dallas approaches.
Free show for UT Austin students at Cactus Cafe this thursday
Just to be clear (unlike the picture above), the upcoming Cactus Cafe show this week is for UT students only. We just found that out, so spread the word amongst the un-enrolled (like us).
This UT event listing says doors are at 7:30 PM; we start at 8:00. Directions at the UT site.
Kitten Fixes Everything
Improved by a factor of kitten X 5, this is the new Shearwater website. If you find any holes in the boat, or the seats are uncomfortable, please tell us.
If you have a newsreader, you can subscribe to an RSS feed of this content so you never have to look at the splash pictures again.
Expect more news, more often, and more coffee to give that half-and-half some flavor.
Kim has a milks in her ear
PURRFECT PITCH?
Hello Matador, hello double album, hello tours
Big news: We are signing to Matador Records.
They’re re-releasing Palo Santo in an expanded, partly re-recorded, fully remastered, breathtakingly repackaged, and just totally superior edition on April 10th. This was our idea, not theirs, and we’re proud to say that this is Palo Santo as we always hoped it would be. It also comes with a bonus disc of outtakes, intakes, demos, and covers. There’s a double-vinyl version,too, which has a special extra track.
sweat with us this summer
The revised and expanded edition of Palo Santo was released last month on CD and what feels like 2 pounds of vinyl. If you’d like to sample some songs from the new version (and compare them to the original demos), go here.
Also, Howard’s flickr page has some lovely / funny photos from the Xiu Xiu / Casiotone tour. Howard wields a mean Holga.
