Stuff a stocking with "Christmas In Love"!

Little Elves and Big Elves -

On November 18th of this year, our beloved record label, Emergency Umbrella, will release our third record of 2008: Christmas In Love

Obviously we are crazy lucky to have a record label that will let us release an EP, our first full-length, and a Christmas record, all in one year (collect them all!), but more than anything, we're just happy that we got to check this project off of our Wish List.

Since Eric had recorded a few Christmas song demos over the last couple of years, and the holiday "concept" had popped up in an album song or two, a Christmas EP seemed like an inevitability.

Eric spent the better part of two weeks holed up in his basement studio with the AC cranked down to a wintry 35˚F, a fire burning in an old Crate cabinet, and a gallon of hot cocoa bubbling over the edges of his Grandma's old CrockPot. His only human contact was Steve hanging around to make sure he was keeping up with his personal hygiene, and to help rewrite all the not-quite-Christmasy-enough parts (read: sucky parts) [Ed. note: (read: drunkenly fumble with sleighbells)]. Kiley also stopped by to record all the piano parts that actually required being good at playing piano.

By the time the EP was done what rose from the cold was a cover, a re-recorded old song, a re-arranged old song, a re-written old song, an entirely new song, and an intro for good measure. Exhausted? You betcha!

So, the GAH & Emergency Umbrella present... Christmas In Love... available in stores on Nov. 18th.

1. A Banner Year
2. On The Rooftop
3. Home For The Holidays
4. Here Comes Santa Claus
5. Don't Want Another Christmas (Like Last Christmas)
6. Christmas In Love

You can preorder a copy for yourself (and all your friends - stocking stuffers!) right now at Insound.com or Amazon.com, OR you can come out to any of our shows between now and the 18th and buy a copy straight from us. Cut out the middleman! After the 18th it will be available at stores around town, at our shows, and at numerous online retailers. Bingo!

Speaking of shows, 'Here We Go A-Tourin''...

11/7 - Champaign-Urbana, IL @ Courtyard Cafe w/Headlights
11/8 - Richmond, IN @ Earlham College w/ Wax Fang, Birdnames
11/14 - Columbia, MO @ Mojo's for The Bluebird Music & Arts Fest w/ Bald Eagle, Elsinore, more
11/15 - St. Louis, MO @ The Billiken Club w/ Bound Stems, Yea Big + Kid Static
11/29 - St. Louis, MO @ 3rd Deg. Glass Factory for the Rock 'N Roll Craft Show
12/3 - Columbia, MO @ Mojo's w/TBA
12/4 - Springfield, MO @ TBA w/ Sweetwater Abilene & TBA
12/5 - Tulsa, OK @ TBA w/ El Paso Hot Button
12/6 - Stillwater, OK @ Eskimo Joe's w/Mayola & El Paso Hot Button
12/7 - Oklahoma City, OK @ TBA w/ El Paso Hot Button
12/8 - Dallas, TX @ Good Records - FREE In Store Performance
12/8 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada w/ Cocky Americans
12/9 - Austin, TX @ Lambert's w/ The Lemurs, The Ovenbirds
12/10 - Houston, TX @ Rudyard's w/ Motion Turns It On, Spain Colored Orange
12/11 - TBA - Help!
12/12 - TBA - Help!
12/13 - TBA - Help!
12/19 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway w/ The Hibernauts, Target Market, Cold Bear Sc0ut

Thanks for helping us spread that holiday cheer around like frosting on a sugar cookie. We love Christmas, and we love you all.

Cheers,
GAH

apples and bonanza

aloha.
here we are, enjoying a break on this tour, recovering from SXSW madness. if i see one more pair of black skinny jeans, i swear...

we are in austin for one last night before heading on to houston to play the first of a couple shows with So Many Dynamos. our shows up to this point have been pretty great. we started the tour playing a few shows with our labelmates Bald Eagle and Witch's Hat. they bring it. it should be noted that they've also got some ringers on the basketball court. and i've got blisters. go figure.

bless our friends in stillwater, oklahoma. one of our favorite places to play.

this morning we said goodbye to Emergency Umbrella Records' jigga Billy Schuh, who is also the Optimus Prime of The Foundry Field Recordings. billy has been accompanying us for the last week+. he's unanimously our new favorite person, although for me it was a tough choice between him and Taylor Swift. seriously, the country version of that song (NOT the top 40 version) is kinda classic country and western. in a good way. but the pop version sucks with the different drumbeat, etc. everybody ruins everything.

in addition to the club shows, we played a house show in wichita that was fantastic due mostly to the kindness of the people putting it on. they housed all 3 EU bands and provided food and sodas for all. it was wonderful.

most of the trip so far has been spent battling sickness. i started it and the rest of the band followed suit. our first SXSW show came on the heels of our low point. the ol' throat wasn't feeling so hot at that point, but some Throat Coat and a little whiskey propelled me right along.

got to spend a lot of time with our dearests in Headlights. played some shows together and then got to watch them kill during some of their ELEVEN! SXSW shows. they have infinite amounts of fun playing. i could watch them always.

saw our friends T.J. and Nick from Aloha rock the Polyvinyl party. they both worked on our record and it was nice to see them again in a less crazed environment. that first song on the new Aloha EP is so effing good.

Colourmusic rips.

Nice to see Jon Hardy and the Public. love that record. and they always sound great.

Saw our friends in Two Cow Garage. can't wait to play with them again. lordy.

some other bands we were able to enjoy at SXSW:
Dizzee Rascal
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Tilly & the Wall
The Constantines
Portastatic
WHY?
The Weakerthans
Portugal The Man
Rogue Wave
Black Diamond Heavies
Cloud Cult
Mahjongg (which was crazy-good)
Yeasayer
David Bazan

sorry, we have 7 members and we all like different ish. that's the small list.

all right, gotta do laundry while i can.

we miss you.

-EE and GAH

p.s. google new pics of ryan cabrera. it will blow your mind. what a jag.

Weekend In Review + DOWNLOAD: "The Book of Matches"

Thanks again to everyone who made it out to our shows over the weekend. It was simply fantastic to get back to Columbia and Champaign again. Oh how we've missed you.

On the bill Friday night at Mojo's in Columbia, MO was our longtime friend, Lucas Oswald (Minus Story, Never Perfect Intentions). He is playing guitar in Will Reeves', of Bockman, new project Penny Marvel. They were awesome!

Also that night, we got a chance to play with Evangelicals from Norman, OK. They were really cool and it will be a treat to join them and Headlights again on March 11th at The Cavern in Dallas, TX.

Hanging out with Nina and Jaret from Emergency Umbrella was also super-great. With how much we talk on the phone and email, it was very nice to share a beer and escape the stress of finishing this record, even if just for one night. They started making plans for a crazy label barbecue in Austin during SXSW. So excited!

Saturday night, after a long drive crammed into Steve's car and Ryan's truck (we need a VAN!), we arrived at The Highdive in Champaign, IL. We were a tad bit worried about how the night would go, since Cowboy Monkey stopped doing music, and weekend shows at The Highdive are now early shows (7pm-10pm), but our worries quickly melted away as we loaded our gear up onto the big stage and got out of the rainy cold outside.

Sharing the bill with us that night was Tunnels, who we had not played with before but featured Stephen Ucherek of The Living Blue, and Cameron McGill & What Army, who we have played with twice in Champaign and just released his third full-length album, Hold on Beauty. Both bands played great sets and as usual, the Champaign crowd was wonderful to play for. There was a myspace message for us today from someone who was there on Saturday who shot part of our set on video. Hopefully he uploads it soon.

It was a fantastic show in our home away from home that was topped off by a WONDERFUL sit-down late dinner with some of our favorite friends CU friends, Ryan and Dave of Elsinore, Jodi, Mike, and Rachel at Seven Saints. The benefit of playing a show that's over by 10pm is that you can EAT at a good restaurant and relax when you are done. So nice to be eating asian wasabi sliders instead of loading the truck at 2am in the rain!


Oh and by the way, we are hoping to have the new EP for sale at shows starting March 6th @ The Bluebird. Cross your fingers that we get them back from the pressing plant in time.

+++++
DOWNLOAD ALERT!

The kind folks over at Largehearted Boy have been kind enough to post a FREE download of "The Book of Matches"! Please support their site and let them know how much you love them.