Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Walkmen 2007 Tour

I initially got turned on to The Walkmen back in my John Frusciante binge of 2004. John was releasing 6 solo albums in 6 months and I was consuming his riffs faster than Pete Doherty on a bag of China White. In the afterglow of my sonic buzz I would traverse the Internet wild for all things John Frusciante. Inevitably I ended up at Record Collection, home of Frusciante and his project Ataxia, as well as MURS, Hot Hot Heat, Polyphonic Spree and Jason Schwartzman from Rushmore and Phantom Planet track "California" (title song for recently canceled The OC) fame.

Without getting too far off track - although an OC reference remains on track due to the fact that three tracks off of Bows + Arrows were featured in '04 - I was formally introduced to The Walkmen in late 2004 via Bows + Arrows. It was an auspicious beginning, because I bought it based purely on the band name and the cover of the album, not to mention the fact that it was on the same label as John. Looking back the album cover wasn't anything special, but for whatever reason, I loved the name The Walkmen enough to give them a shot. The album turned out to be stellar, and, looking back, one of my favorites from 2004. I have only ever gone for an album based on cover art one other time, for The Music's The Music, and that move was rewarded as well.

With a lukewarm reception to their re-make of Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats late last year, and, earlier, a solid follow-up effort to Bows + Arrows in A Hundred Miles Off in the rearviewmirror, The Walkmen are road testing some of the new stuff on 11 dates in March. Lucky for us, one of those dates is in DC, at the Rock 'N Roll Hotel. We caught them when they rocked the 9:30 Club in May of last year and it was fantastic.

Tour Dates
Mar 9 Ottobar Baltimore, Maryland
Mar 10 Little Brother's Columbus, Ohio
Mar 11 Schuba's Chicago, Illinois
Mar 12 Southgate House Newport, Kentucky
Mar 13 Headliners Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 18 The Parish @ HOB New Orleans, Louisiana
Mar 19 Beta Bar Tallahassee, Florida
Mar 20 40 Watt Athens, Georgia
Mar 21 Grey Eagle Asheville, North Carolina
Mar 22 Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Mar 23 Rock and Roll Hotel Washington, DC

   

MP3: The Walkmen - "Don't Get Me Down (Come On Over Here)"

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