Thursday, January 27, 2011

2011...


Hello dear friends! We kicked off 2010 with a post telling you all of our nutty plans for the year, so I figured one year later was a good time to play catch up - sound good? Good!

I'd like to thank all of you who followed our YouTube video series throughout 2010. It's not finished yet, as the plan was to start at the beginning of writing a new album(which turned into two albums!), and follow through until its completion. We're actually very lucky to have a couple different entities -both far more talented in the field of videography than us- taking over for our upcoming vignettes. Our last YouTube post brought us up to the end of 2010, and these will cover a lot of what's to come this spring. And of course we'll be heavily documenting our time in Minneapolis this May & June- the final stages of the project! Am I making sense? No? Then everything is as it should be, child!

Before we move on, I do just want to add that I believe we've already accomplished what we set out to do with these goofy little videos. I recently re-watched the first couple of entries from the beginning of 2010. Simply seeing the evolution of what we thought we were doing and creating back then, compared to summer 2010, or now- that's exactly what I hoped to capture- the changes in the process and our intentions. I knew the story would snake out and lose focus and there would be distractions but yet it would all twirl back around into something much more concrete and viable- and here we are. We have a finished album that we had no idea we'd be making- it's called "Preludes" and it's out 4/12/11 on Greyday Records. There will be a lot more on that emerging in the next couple of weeks- a LOT more. A month after that album hits the streets, we'll be heading to Minneapolis, MN for a month to record the album we were initially working towards- "Vexations" - due out at the end of the year, also on Greyday. We'll be recording with Josh Cain producing and Ed Ackerson engineering at his gorgeous Flowers Studio. I hate to get ahead of myself and be further self-indulgent, but "Preludes" is the best album we've recorded to date and we already can tell that "Vexations" is the best collection of songs we've ever assembled. So, fuck. This is going to be a good year!

On that note, I want to tell you that we're pretty much picking up and leaving. Road warriors, we shall be. While not recording in MPLS, we plan to be mobile as much as humanly possible throughout 2011. Jobs are being quit, houses are being sold, risks are being risked. All for rock and or roll!

And none of this craziness is possible without you awesome people who are bothering to read this nonsense. This thing we call IWTDI has become so entrenched in our lives that we have no choice but to pursue it even harder, knowing full well that the music business is a rotting, fickle bitch. If you can find it in your heart to help us pay for gas on our upcoming tour, we're selling tons of t-shirts, cd's, records, etc. for mega-cheap in our merch store (Isn't it telling that spell check just changed "merch" to "mercy"?) - and all the money we make there goes straight to the gas tank! That means the money we make at the shows can sooner buy us that $5 footlong that's just mocking us from behind the Subway counter….

Anywho! "Tour?", you say? Yes! Tour!

Firstly, we just got added, last minute, to the infamous SXSW festival in Austin, TX! Sadly, this prevents us from playing our planned U2 tribute set at Casbah here in Durham, NC on St Patrick's Day (we apologize for any inconvenience- and if there are any bands in NC who want to play some fun Irish covers in our place, please let me or Casbah know!). Instead, we'll be playing that night on the Team Clermont showcase at the Habana Calle 6 Patio. 10pm! We hope to see you there, Austin! I believe we'll be adding a couple more SXSW appearances in the coming days as well- stay tuned.

But the main enchilada is our spring tour. See below! The remainder of the west coast dates will be announced soon, as well as the few other random TBA's. If we're not hitting your province on this run, fear not- as I said, road warriorz! We look forward to seeing you all this year. Thank you so much for your support, and wish us luck!

IWTDI SPRING TOUR 2011
MAR 17 - HABANA CALLE 6 PATIO (EASY TIGER) (SXSW- TEAM CLERMONT SHOWCASE), AUSTIN, TX
MAR 24 - TIR NA NOG, RALEIGH, NC
MAR 25 - NORTH RIVER TAVERN, SANDY SPRINGS, GA
MAR 26 - THE INDEPENDENT, AUBURN, AL
MAR 27 - SIBERIA, NEW ORLEANS, LA
MAR 28 - MANGO'S CAFE, HOUSTON, TX
MAR 29 - EMO'S, AUSTIN, TX
MAR 30 - TBA, NEW MEXICO
MAR 31 - TBA, ARIZONA
APR 01 - SODA BAR, SAN DIEGO, CA
APR 02 - HEMLOCK TAVERN, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
APR 03 - (DAY OFF)
APR 04 - BILLY O'S, VENTURA, CA
APR 05 - THE BLUE CAFE UNDERGROUND, LONG BEACH, CA
APR 06 - EL RIO, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
APR 07 - JOHNNY B'S, MEDFORD, OR
APR 08 - TBA, ASTORIA, OR
APR 09 - MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS, PORTLAND, OR
APR 10 - TBA, IDAHO
APR 11 - BURT'S TIKI LOUNGE, SALT LAKE CITY, UT
APR 12 - ROCK N SOUL CAFE, BOULDER, COLORADO
APR 13 - SLOWDOWN, OMAHA, NE
APR 14 - VAUDEVILLE MEWS, DES MOINES, IA
APR 15 - THE BEAT, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
APR 16 - RECORD STORE DAY ACOUSTIC SHOW, DAVE'S RECORDS, CHICAGO, IL
APR 16 - ELBO ROOM, CHICAGO, IL
APR 17 - LEMMON'S, ST LOUIS, MO
APR 18 - SOUTHGATE HOUSE, NEWPORT, KY
APR 21 - SESSIONS AT STUDIO B BROADCAST, RALEIGH, NC
APR 22 - LOCAL 506, CHAPEL HILL, NC ---> ALBUM RELEASE SHOW!!!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

CELEBRATE RACHEL TURNING 21 WITH US!

On Saturday, February 12th, 2011 our very own Rachel Hirsh will finally be old enough to get in to all of the shows she plays!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we've put together our main Triangle-area show for the winter/spring on her big day at the new/awesome Motorco Music Hall in Durham! Since it's the birthday that means she can finally legally hang out with us at the bars, there will of course be some drink specials... and other goodies for all you fine people(who are of age)!

We've put together an amazing bill featuring some of our favorite bands from NC: first up is WESLEY WOLFE, playing with his full backing band, followed by a rare Triangle appearance by THE SAMMIES from Charlotte, then a special secret guest band who we'll announce a little later, and finally a big headlining set by the birthday girl and the rest of I WAS TOTALLY DESTROYING IT!

DOORS: 8pm
WESLEY WOLFE: 9:00-9:30
THE SAMMIES: 9:50-10:25
(SPECIAL SECRET GUEST BAND) 10:45-11:20
I WAS TOTALLY DESTROYING IT: 11:40

ADMISSION: $5
(ALL AGES!)

Check out the Facebook event and let us know if you'll be able to attend:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=183320745020194

Thanks for reading - we hope to see you there!
Love,
I Was Totally Destroying It

Friday, December 24, 2010

Joe's best of 2010

Greetings, all! Joe the bass player here, making a once-in-a-while posting here on the IWTDI blog! And it's all in the name of hopefully turning some of you fine folks on to some of the new records I enjoyed this year. While I can't agree with John that 2009 was a musical wasteland (some of my favorites from the decade came out last year) I definitely echo his sentiments that 2010 was one of the best years for new records in a very long time. I've got my top fifteen for you here, narrowed down from no fewer than forty outstanding releases I picked up and spun into oblivion over the past 12 months. There is some overlap between my list and John's, but any record from which he posted a song I have posted a different one, so listen away!

But first, a few notables that won't be on the master list below:
Honorable mentions: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks, Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me, The National - High Violet, The Damned Things - Ironiclast, Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Best split album: Balance and Composure/Tigers Jaw
Best live show: Autolux
Best free offering: Girl Talk - All Day
Best hidden gem: Museum Mouth - Tears In My Beer
Best soundtrack: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network
Best reissue: Weezer - Pinkerton (Deluxe Edition)
Best local release: Free Electric State - Caress

Joe's top 15 records of 2010 located after the jump:

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

SECOND HALF OF 2010 VIDEO UPDATE!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

JOHN'S BEST OF 2010!

In my opinion, 2010 was the best year for new music since sometime in the late 90's. A bold statement, I know, but I've spent the past decade struggling to get excited about lots of new artists and instead enjoyed discovering great albums from years past- 2010 changed that. In 2009 I struggled to find 10 albums worthy of a top 10- this year I struggled to narrow down my list to a top 30. So that's what you get- my top 30 albums of 2010. The first 5 or so are so good that any one of them could occupy the #1 spot and I'd be just as happy- man, it was a tough call! I thought The Joy Formidable was going to take #1, but Kanye swooped in at the last minute and won out. Not like the world needs another best-of list with Yeezy at the top, but wow, what an album/artist. Love that dude.

Amid the great new discoveries, there were a handful of albums that disappointed me a bit. I never thought there would be a year where two of my top 10 favorite bands of all time would release new albums that wouldn't make my list- but this year Superchunk & Spoon did just that. If you know me, you know Superchunk has been a top 3 favorite band of mine for about 15 years. "Majesty Shredding" is by far my least favorite Superchunk album since their self-titled debut(because, uh, I think every other one of their albums are damn near perfect. If all the rest are 9's or 10's, this one is a 5 or 6). And the Spoon album is my least favorite by that band, period(I was hooked since "Telephono"). I guess I'm extra hard on them because their previous output was so fantastic, which is unfair- maybe these albums ARE better than half the stuff on my list, but they just didn't excite me at all, which is a bummer. Both bands still make great music though(how "February Punk"- a Superchunk B-side from the "Majesty Shredding" sessions didn't make it on the album and wasn't the lead single- I'll never know!!).

Special mentions: Aziz Ansari wins best comedy album, hands down. And for best music and art collaboration in a new media format: iamamiwhoami. If you don't know what this is, go here and watch all the videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/iamamiwhoami#p/u/13/oPFM3DUVT-8

Oh, and two of the best albums I heard in 2010 won't be released until 2010- so you have Des Ark and Hammer No More The Fingers to look forward to….

Okay, read on for maybe a brief, shitty description(I'm not doing this to express myself through criticism- I hate writing about music! I'm doing this to hopefully turn a couple of people on to great music they may have missed) and a song from each release…

Monday, October 11, 2010

PERFORMER MAGAZINE!


IWTDI is honored to be featured in the latest issue of Performer Magazine!

The magazine is available for free nationwide, but you can also read the article here, or download the PDF of the issue here.

It's a really informative story on the history of the band and our personal relationships, etc. Check it out!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

MOTORCO MUSIC HALL!

We have a string of shows coming up in early October, including:

-10/3 @ Greene Street Club in Greensboro, NC
-10/7 @ 37th & Zen in Norfolk, VA
-10/8 @ Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte, NC
-10/13 @ Live Nightclub in Greenville, NC

BUT! The main event will be our headlining performance at the brand new Motorco Music Hall in Durham, NC on Wednesday October 6th. We'll be joined by NC-native Ben Flanagan(formerly of io, The Actual, & Vecordia) and his new band, The Trophy Fire. This will be The Trophy Fire's first NC appearance, as they have been based in San Francisco for the past 4 years. Also joining us from the bay area are The Hot Toddies, an awesome all-female indie folk/rock group on Asian Man Records. And opening the night will be the debut performance from Durham's own Violent Dreams - featuring Geoff Register, formerly of Sleepsound, io & Vecordia.

This show will be ALL AGES, plus if you're looking to save a little money- show up between 8 and 9:15pm to GET IN FOR FREE! Show up after 9:15 and it's $5, which will go to support the touring bands!

The schedule will run something like this, but don't be late, because we tend to be prompt and might even run a little ahead of this:
Violent Dreams 9pm
The Hot Toddies 10pm
The Trophy Fire 10:50
I Was Totally Destroying It 11:45pm

IWTDI will play a full headlining set- featuring rare old stuff, plus a BIG handful of NEW songs we'll be playing for the first time! Come let us know what you think!!! We aren't planning many other shows for quite a while....don't miss this one!

All details can be found at http://motorcomusic.com/