The Wrens Covering "Free Bird"

The Wrens live show is one I never tire of seeing. I've been lucky too as they've been really generous and always let me photograph many of their shows over the past couple of years, including their 20th anniversary show, as well as the show where they played The Meadowlands (best record of the 00's, hands down) in full. A Wrens live show is fun, joyful, powerful, energetic, goosebump-inducing, and often quite the laugh-riot. The band seems to share the same hilarious dry wit.

The video below is from that full play of The Meadowlands show, where they wound up partially covering "Free Bird." It's always obvious that they take performing seriously in that they want to play well, but they don't take it all too seriously. It's rather heartwarming that after 20 years they still find playing together, and for an audience, as much fun as when they started.

The Postelles Release Cover Art for Debut, Announce Tour Dates

I discovered The Postelles a couple of years ago at SXSW and fell head over heels with their uptempo modern take on surf-pop...think The Strokes playing something like Herman's Hermits. The sheer number of lead singer Daniel Balk's "oh oh oh's" will start your toes tapping and your hips swiveling in time to drummer Billy Cadden's 4/4 drum beats.

They're finally releasing their self-titled full-length debut record on 7/27 (Capitol/Astralwerks) and the cover was put out today (above). They're playing Bonnaroo, as well as headlining at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC in July, but in May they're opening for The Wrens and in June for Alberta Cross. The Wrens will hold their own but Alberta Cross? Boys, you better be ready, your opener is so good they just might steal your audience.

Give a Listen: White Night-The Postelles/Buy The Postelles

The Postelles Tour Dates (June)
(opening for The Wrens)
21 May: First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
22 May: Sonar, Baltimore, MD
(opening for Alberta Cross)
1 Jun: Great Scott, Allston, MA
2 Jun: Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
4 Jun: Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
6 Jun: Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ
---------------
10 Jun: Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN
12 Jun: Bonnaroo Sonic Stage, Manchester, TN
28 Jul: Bowery Ballroom, NY, NY (record release show)

The Wrens Announce Two New Shows for May

Full Play of "The Meadowlands"-The Wrens @Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ (12-4-09), originally uploaded by BetweenLoveandLike.

With the long-awaited followup to 2003's Meadowlands slowly coming along (no really, The Wrens are in the studio right now as we speak, no joke), it seems the band has decided to keep up the momentum from last year's various celebrations of their 20 years together and four full- releases by doing a couple more shows in May. You can hear singer/bassist Kevin Whelan's voice ring through the rafters of the First Unitarian Church in Philly on 5/21, or through the dirt and beer scum at Sonar in Baltimore on 5/22. Says they:

Maybe “national” is a stretch. Ok, even “tour” is a stretch. But with two consecutive nights’ shows booked for the first time in at least one SXSW ago, (Philadelphia, May 21st at the First Unitarian Church and Baltimore, May 22nd at Sonar), this, for us, constitutes a tour.

Even as I type this, bags are being packed, family farewells are in the offing, estate planning is under way, personal papers are being put in order, a tour bus has been arranged (SEPTA via NJ Transit), smoke-machine-repairpersons have been hired, vast amounts of road drugs have been grown, refined & processed…

[Clarifier: road drugs in our case being pretty much packaged snack foods (think: donuts) turning the dream cliché of “sex, drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll” into more like “conceiving legitimate children within the bonds of marriage, donuts & enthusiastically-performed song-craft in the rapidly-aging rock‘n’roll style”. Again, for us at least.]

But what better way to ease back into touring than a wren-breaking two-day itinerary spanning as many cities, in neighboring states, over 90 miles apart?

We sincerely hope to see you there

NYC's Bell House Hosting Strength Through Unity Benefit for Haiti on Jan. 27

Wow, what a tremendous lineup! The Bell House in NYC just announced the "Strength Through Unity: A Benefit for the Victims of the Earthquake in Haiti." The benefit is set for Wednesday, 1/27 and 100% of the proceeds will be split between the Save the Children and Partners in Health charities.

Lineup is to include...
Jimmy Fallon, Cold War Kids, Ted Leo, Eugene Mirman, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Todd Barry, and Here We Go Magic. AC Newman (New Pornographers), Rhett Miller (Old 97s), and Nicole Atkins will perform as The Seekers.

Tickets are $50 and go on sale Monday, 1/18 @ noon here.

The Wrens Playing All-Request and All-New Nights for Maxwells' December Shows

As we announced earlier this month, one of our favorite bands, The Wrens is playing two shows in Hoboken, NJ in early December. News out today shows that while they may smell of Ben Gay and moth balls (Hi Charles! Hi Kevin!), they aren't curmudgeonly stuck in their ways after 20 years, they're letting the audience run the show (literally) for the Thursday, 12/3 show. The Friday, 12/4 show, they'll be playing all new tracks. Audience members are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite aging grape...or a bird who plays an instrument...or they just come as themselves.

Opening bands for each night will be "friends from days of yore." As these guys are known and liked by everyone from The Henry Clay People to Mates of State to The Hold Steady, one can only imagine who said openers will be.

For the Thursday, 12/3 show, you make the play, armchair Quarterflash. You write the set list. Yep, whatever obscure ditty from our vast catalog of 3.5 albums in 20.5 years that we normally wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot Kevin, you vote ‘em in, and we’ll…probably make you regret it.

Nope, you don’t have to be going to the show. How would we even know? And yes, you can vote more than once. Why would we care? The New Math that will be used to calculate your vote and compute our oldies set, exists where the plane of imaginary numbers is bisected by the tangent of nano-technology and will weed out your shabby attempts at rigging the system.

So tell us what songs to play and whichever get the most votes, go in the set. To do that, go to our contact / email the band page, drop us a message with a tune or two or even a whole set that, given an infinite space-time and a merciful god, you’d wanna hear us try to play. Maybe put ‘Play Drunk’ in the subject line since we’ll probably have to that night.

Voting will end…let’s say, a little over a week from now, October 3rd. Gives us two months to get it together.

As for Friday, 12/4, come dressed as your favorite wren. Balding, middle-aged Paunch Men are automatically disqualified per competition guidelines. Bird costumes, encouraged.

Kidding.

For that show, we’re doing all new songs. Or as many as we can muster.

Oh yeah, we’ll have some as-yet-to-be confirmed friends’ bands from the days of yore playing both shows as well. (Wrens website)

Sound and Vision: My Talk with Charles Bissell and Kevin Whelan of The Wrens

Ever since seeing them at SXSW this year, my fingers have found themselves choosing The Wrens on my Ipod pretty consistently. Their live show was a total force of nature, a tsunami of hooks and energy, that left me slackjawed and thrilled; it had been a long time since I had a band knock me on my backside like that. Their history is one of music-industry legend, similar in some respect to YHF-era Wilco, so although they've been around some 20 years now, they've only put out three full-length records and a few EPs. But those few are mind-bendingly good. The last one, 2003's Meadowlands, is comprised of 13 songs that are catchy and hang together perfectly, creating an emotional opus that's an embodiment of the phrase, "That which does not kill you makes you stronger." The Wrens may be the Halley's Coment of indie rock-JD Salinger's next book may come out before their next record-but somehow, it's ok because you know what you'll hear will be truly worth the wait.



I knew I definitely wanted to get an interview with The Wrens on camera. They rarely do video, but after almost hyperventilating from laughter reading this, I was pretty sure that getting at least two of them together on camera would be hilarious. It took awhile coordinating schedules and whatnot, but we finally met up in a great little Irish bar in NYC. In a dark little corner (so forgive the lack of lighting), over pints of Guinness, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Kevin Whelan and guitarist/vocalist Charles Bissell talked to BL&L about influences, collaborations, 20 years as a band, and how they made it together that long. That is, when they weren't cracking jokes...And I know it seems like a whole lot to watch, but I totally promise you, it's worth it.

**1/7: A 23 year-old bass guitar, Liberace, and Charles Bissell Kennedy**

References: Liberace, the Mummers

Give a Listen: North to Nothing-The Wrens (from Abbot 1135)

**2/7: Beginning as a cover band, their 20th anniversary, and mammoth Bissell fingers**


Give a Listen: Z (2007 demo)-The Wrens

**3/7: Song backstories, writing, author recommendations, and the Guinness kicking in**

References: Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Kenneth Patchen

Give a Listen: Life Stories of the Union-The Wrens, Brightest New Year-The Wrens

**4/7: More about songs, the power of Jameson, and Kevin calls out Bon Jovi for a street fight**

References: Maxwells

Give a Listen: This is Not What You Had Planned-The Wrens

**5/7: Changing band dynamics, crazy drummers, and making records opposed to songs**


Give a Listen: This Machine-The Wrens (from Abbot 1135)

**6/7: Thoughts on licensing, connections to Okkervil River, and love for KEXP**

References: WKEXP

Give a Listen: It Ends with a Fall-Charles Bissell covering Will Sheff, Black Boys On Mopeds-Charles Bissell (live, Maxwells, 9/26/04)

**7/7: Brainiac and Tim Taylor's influences, next tours, and why they consider themselves lucky**

References: Brainiac

Give a Listen: Vincent Come Down-Brainiac

Okkervil River to do Six Dates with Wilco and Austin City Limits Performance

While I've heard of Okkervil River, I can't say I've heard them much. I'd heard comparisons of them to Conner Oberst and as Oberst is like nails on a chalkboard to me, I wasn't going to willingly subject my tender eardrums to that.

But in the midst of doing some research on the Wrens for our interview this weekend, I'm kicking myself for not doing my own due diligence. (For those that don't know, Wrens guitarist/singer Charles Bissel has a few ties to Will Sheff and company. And yes I plan to ask Bissel about it all.) I love any band that can effectively tie two great tastes together, and in OR's case, it's a dynamic combination of punk and folk. How they meld each of these styles both collectively and individually throughout a single record is really something. Lead singer Will Sheff's voice is one that, depending on the song, can cut right to the center of your core (in a good way not in a whiny Oberst way).

Recently back from the land down under, the River's lovely and passionate sounds will be wafting through the ears of western US and Canada this summer. Tour includes six dates with Wilco.

June 14: Bonnaroo- The Other Tent, Manchester, TN
June 25: Wiltern Theatre w/ Wilco, Los Angeles, CA
June 26: The Mountain Winery w/ Wilco, Saratoga, CA
June 27: Greek Theatre w/ Wilco, Berkeley, CA
June 28: Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena w/Wilco, Stateline, NV
June 30: Britt Pavilion w/ Wilco, Jacksonville, OR
July 03: Red Rocks Amphitheatre w/ Wilco, Morrison, CO
July 10: Ottawa Bluesfest, Ottawa, ON
July 11: Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, MB

They'll also be recording an Austin City Limits performance on June 18.

Give a Listen: For Real-Okkervil River

New Wrens Mp3...Of Sorts

If you're kind of a music dork (or a full on one as I am), you probably have a top-5 list of your favorite bands of all time. Had I ever written mine down, I could have laminated it, that's how often it changed. But then I discovered The Wrens this year at SXSW, and some shuffling had to occur as they blew me completely away. Do a Google search to learn more about the in's and out's of their career trajectory, but for a few reasons, The Wrens have really not released anything since 2003 with the mindblowingly good record, The Meadowlands.

As there are substantive rumors that 2009 will finally be the year they finally release a new record, Magnet magazine has been doing a "Wrens Watch" since January with assorted updates and a mp3 or two of new song demos. Today, they posted a new one entitled 'Z'.

My thoughts? While I'm happy to see something, anything new from them (let's just say if my copy of "Meadowlands" was an LP I'd have warped it by now from playing it so much), this "Z" is like 1:34 of instant mashed potatoes-sure I'll eat them if offered, cause mashed potatoes are not something I let myself often eat. But I can assure you the whole time I'm thinking, "Man, I like the fact I'm getting to have these mashed potatoes, but I so wish I had the real stuff with all the butter and cream." Instant mashed potatoes look like the real stuff but they just lack, which is sorta what I feel about this track. So guys, we've waited this long, why not wait until you can put out the real stuff with all butter and heavy cream, ok?

Give a Listen: Z-The Wrens

For Your Listening Pleasure: The Wrens on KEXP

One of the bands that I saw for the first time at SXSW was The Wrens. I'd never heard of them but I had heard about them-one of my SX travel mates has raved about these guys for years now. They've had a bit of a storied past but let me put it to you this way: I see a lot of shows and the show I caught them at in Austin was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Hands down. And it was noon on a friggin Friday.

I'll be posting more about that show here shortly but in the meantime, I wanted to share a treat I was just given, a podcast of acoustic Wrens from roughly 2007 2003 on KEXP.

Great wordplay, killer hooks, and a bombastic surge of power with underlying melody. Fuck The Shins man, it's The Wrens who will change your life.



Oh, and here's video from the radio session one of their KEXP visits as well...