Saturday, March 3 – San Francisco, CA: Cafe du Nord NOISE POP w/Spindrift Sunday, March 4 – Santa Cruz, CA: The Blue Lagoon w/Spindrift Friday, March 9 – Las Vegas, NV: The Bunkhouse Saloon w/Spindrift Saturday, March 10 – Tucson, AZ: Solar Culture w/Spindrift Monday, March 12 – Denton, TX: Hailey's w/Spindrift Wednesday, March 14 – Houston, TX: The Mink w/Spindrift Friday, March 16 – Austin, TX: Red Seven MESS WITH TEXAS PARTY w/Les Savvy Fav, Gossip, Erase Erratta, Spindrift,
Saturday, March 17 – Austin, TX: Club DeVille w/Lions in the Street, Sunday, March 18 – Norman, OK: The Opolis w/ Spindrift Monday, March 19 – Denver, CO: Larimer Lounge Tuesday, March 20 – Salt Lake CIty, UT: Kilby Court w/Spindrift Thursday, March 22 – Boise, ID: Neurolux w/Spindrift Friday, March 23 – Portland, OR: Berbati's Pan w/Spindrift Saturday, March 24 – Seattle, WA: Chop Suey w/Spindrift Sunday, March 25 – Vancouver, BC: The Plaza Club Wednesday, March 28 – Sacramento, CA: The Blue Lamp w/Spindrift Thursday, March 29 – San Luis Obispo, CA: TBA Saturday, March 31 – Big Sur, CA: Fernwood Resort w/Spindrift
At the time of writing this paragraph we are in Sunset Sound recording our fifth studio album, third for Matador Records. Sunset Sound is definitely haunted by lots of history. Appearantly the ghost of Jim Morrison walks the secret storage rooms and echo chambers in the fifty-year old studio on the Sunset strip. A vibe and energy to this place that is totally unique and hopefully and energy that can color our new music. Even more than the vibes we have received in this sound temple was that of the energy and evp noises captured during our tracking a month earlier in Indiana. In trying to reach out to our more atmospheric side we returned to our drummers families farm/estate in rural Indiana. The natural setting and a chance to "get away from it all" that first brought us there to record "Howls from the Hills" took us back again for this creative endeavor. Instead of tracking in the barn the fall weather forced to move the operation into the nearby original inn/farmhouse that was the basis of the property. For years abandoned (his grandparents who own the land have always lived in a newer house they built on the other side of thefarm) the house was recently rebuilt to be used as a guest house project by our drummers uncle.
A totally empty, beautifully restored and warm farm house was definitely a great place to spend the next few weeks tracking the basic instruments. His uncle added some beautiful features that added to the sound and ambience. A huge greatroom with fourteen foot tall ceilings were perfect for the drum sounds. Old cuboards and closets were great isolation rooms. Even an architectual old well was built into the new kitchen floor. Instead of covering the well up with the new construction instead they covered it up with thick glass in a light at the bottom, a perfect reminder of the building past in the now modern updated kitchen, only if you did not watch "The Ring".
The location was perfect but the only problem was the constant haunting issues along the way. At first we did not think of it but as it became consistant there is hidden Evp sounds on some of the guitar sounds and buzzing bits. Even a violin noise from no where and walking when no one was upstairs. Luckily we were recording so we plan to throw some of the sounds on the final piece. I guess it will be something for the heads to trip out to. To add icing on the cake of the story we found out that the last renters of the home that were there before renovations or even Howls were recorded broke their lease do to apparitions. These guys were park rangers and one of them even pulled his gun on hand prints walking towards him in the carpet as he laid in bed… I hope the energy will come across and maybe the good vibes of our music helped this home. I always felt a good vibe even with the weird noises. I like to think as if something was there it was just trying to have it voice on the record.. like "I can play something too."
the "haunted" vaults above Sunset with tons of old reels (Zippedoodah, Disney stuff and maybe a lost Doors reel????)
Studio shot.
my favorite… basketball in the Sunset courtyard.. onthe left is Studio 1, the right Studio 3 and the photois taken from Studio 2..
If you'd prefer the real thing to watching from the comfort of your home (which might be downright uncomfortable — I mean, I don't know who you're living with), Dead Meadow are playing New Year's Eve at LA's Little Radio.
Not to toot our own horn too much but it’s been a bit of a bumper crop for Matador press in the music magazines this month. First and foremost we’d like to congratulate CHAN MARSHALL on being ‘WOMAN OF THE YEAR’ in Uncut. That’s right, she beat off stiff competition from Girls Aloud and the Sugarbabes to achieve what is, quite frankly, the highest accolade to be bestowed on a woman since Cilla Black was awarded an OBE. It’s also no mean feat that her counterpart as ‘Man Of The Year’ is her favourite man, Bob Dylan and the legendary Neil Young is ‘Hero of the Year’, she’s in good company!
Accompanied by a 3 page feature with some spectacular photos by Pieter Van Hattem (some of which you can see here) CAT POWER’s “The Greatest” also ranks at number 14 in the end of year polls, which coming out at least a month before everyone elses, shows Uncut as a forerunner of good taste. The list features no fewer than three Matador artists in the top 30. Yo La Tengo are number 27 with their masterpiece “I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass”and the magazine calls Ira Kaplan “a truly innovative guitarist”. High praise indeed but not quite as great as To Hell With fanzine’s Bush Hall show review a few months back where they describe Ira as being “the best guitarist I’ve ever seen in the flesh. That might be a bold claim, but one I’d stay firm on, such is the power, spontaneity and energy of his guitar playing. It’s a dazzling sight.” And that’s from a new convert to the band’s awesomeness, long may they bring new followers into the fold!
For the full Uncut list you can try various blogs etc but this is one of my favourites (by Beggars’ own Annette Lee!).
Not forgetting one of the other great UK publications, Mojo features Dead Meadow in the Buried Treasure section. Ok, it’s not technically a Matador release as it’s a reissue of their first album originally on Tolotta and now available again through Xemu, but we’re not picky. We *heart* Dead Meadow. The article is written enthusiastically by number one Dead Meadow fan Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals and it is a WHOLE PAGE, which in these days of cutting space and copious advertising, is excellent coverage.
In addition to their upcoming US dates supporting Wolfmother, Dead Meadow have been confirmed as participants alongside Spoon, Peaches, Prefuse 73 and Negative Approach (!!!!) at the inaugural FunFunFun fest, taking place at Austin's Waterloo Park, Friday, December 1st.
November 21, Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
November 22, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY
November 24, Majestic Theatre, Detroit, MI
November 25, Rivera Theater, Chicago, IL
November 26, Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, MO
November 28, Meridian, Houston, TX
November 29, Gypsy Ballroom, Dallas, TX
(Silversun Pickups play 1st on all dates, Dead Meadow 2nd)
Washington DC’s…rather, one of the Planet’s great live bands returns to the left coast :
August 19, Alex’s Bar, Long Beach
August 20, Fuck Yeah Fest, Echo Park, CA (also appearing, The Ponys, Icarus Line, Gris Gris and a ton more)
If you’re not the traveling sort, you can enjoy the Rhino podcast performance/interview with Dead Meadow’s Jason Simon and Stephen McCarthy here.
DM bassist Steve Kille has a new project, Rumpville, described as “children’s books for adults”. That sounds way more appealing than a Dan Zanes CD, but if you’re a child and you’d like to disagree, please feel free to write in (with your parents’ permission, of course).
during our tracking a month earlier in Indiana. In trying to reach out to our more atmospheric side we returned to our drummers families farm/estate in rural Indiana. The natural setting and a chance to "get away from it all" that first brought us there to record "Howls from the Hills" took us back again for this creative endeavor. Instead of tracking in the barn the fall weather forced to move the operation into the nearby original inn/farmhouse that was the basis of the property. For years abandoned (his grandparents who own the land have always lived in a newer house they built on the other side of thefarm) the house was recently rebuilt to be used as a guest house project by our drummers uncle. 
reat place to spend the next few weeks tracking the basic instruments. His uncle added some beautiful features that added to the sound and ambience. A huge greatroom with fourteen foot tall ceilings were perfect for the drum sounds. Old cuboards and closets were great isolation rooms. Even an architectual old well was built into the new kitchen floor. Instead of covering the well up with the new construction instead they covered it up with thick glass in a light at the bottom, a perfect reminder of the building past in the now modern updated kitchen, only if you did not watch "The Ring".
