Middle Brother Releases First Single from Debut Record, "Me, Me, Me"

Middle Brother, the indie-music equivalent of Blind Faith, released the first song, "Me, Me, Me," from their forthcoming debut record, which is due out March 1.

Comprised of the lead singers of Dawes (Taylor Goldsmith), Deer Tick (John McCauley), and Delta Spirit (Matt Vasquez), Middle Brother plans to tour for the record following its release.

Give a Listen: Me, Me, Me-Middle Brother

Dawes, Deer Tick, Delta Spirit Frontmen, Formerly MGV, Announce New Name, Record Date, Upcoming Tour

Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, John McCauley of Deer Tick, and Matthew Vasquez of Delta Spirit, the three frontman previously calling themselves MGV, announced a name change to Middle Brother, a record release date of 3-1-2010, and a forthcoming tour for the spring today. The self-titled debut was recorded in the fall of 2009 in Nashville, where McCauley resides.

The idea for the trio came in "mid-2009 when the three songsmiths realized, after several on-stage collaborations, that they shared a unique vision and wanted to take it one step further, into the studio." As MGV, they played out for the first time at last year's SXSW (which, sadly, I had to miss as I was commissioned to shoot a showcase).

"Someday" From the IFC Crossroads performance at SXSW 2010:



"Daydreaming"


Middle Brother Track Listing
1. Daydreaming
2. Blue Eyes
3. Thanks For Nothing
4. Middle Brother
5. Theater
6. Portland
7. Wilderness
8. Me Me Me
9. Someday
10. Blood and Guts
11. Mom and Dad
12. Million Dollar Bill

Pre-orders are being taken for the record now (here), with offers of it on CD, and special vinyl. The pre-order of vinyl gets you an extra 10” of b-sides from the Nashville recording sessions.

There is talk of tour sometime in spring 2011. In the meantime, Middle Brother will be playing a one-off show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on 12/20, the Invisible Children benefit curated by KCRW and Yours Truly, with all proceeds going towards Invisible Children’s programs to help the war-affected people of East Africa. The show will also feature an acoustic McCauley set.

Delta Spirit, Dawes, and Deer Tick Frontmen Form MG and V, Band to Debut at SXSW 2010 Next Week

A fun aspect of SXSW is that you see lots of new bands but also lots of established bands in new ways. Last year, for example, I got to see the debut performance of Tinted Windows, and though I wasn't sure how much I'd dig the Hanson kid, I have to admit, he's a pretty badass frontman for them.

It's looking like this year is going to have the same sort of thrill. MG&V, a combination of indie-band frontmen, John McCauley, Taylor Goldsmith, and Matt Vasquez, have formed a supergroup as a side project from their main bands., Deer Tick, Dawes, and Delta Spirit. It seems that when Deer Tick and Dawes were out on tour together last summer, McCauley and Goldmith started to kick around songwriting ideas. One thing led to another, and after the tour, the two wound up going to Nashville to continue their collaboration in earnest. As they were about to start recording, the two brought in Vasquez, as well as Dawes drummer (and Goldsmith's sibling), Griffin Goldsmith.

An interesting note: While McCauley didn't know Vasquez in advance, Vasquez and the other Delta Spirit members have known the Goldsmiths for years, and were helpful in giving Dawes some of their first major exposure. In our interview with Vasquez last year, he told us this about them:

And then the other opening band is a friend's band we've been promising forever that we'd take out, and finally we have the means to do it. They're this band called Dawes, they're really great. They sound just like The Band if a young Billy Joel that you could really believe in sang. And the drummer is this 18 year-old guy who plays like Levon Helm. The piano player learned bass from Rick Danko but he plays piano, and he's insane. He plays at this speakeasy in LA...they're just these crazy guys. The singer and drummer are brothers, and their dad is the only white singer in Tower of Power, so it's in the family.

An MG&V album release is slated for later this year.