GTG Records Newsletter # 37: Monster Parties, Fact or Fiction?
Hey GTG Newsletter crew. Tommy here. It’s cold. I know people like to complain about the weather almost as much as they like to complain about how people complain about the weather too much but seriously, it’s cold. Literally. I really wish I was leaving
on tour with the Hunky Newcomers to warmer, sunnier locales (eventually… they gotta go through the sub-arctic midwest first)
but that runs counter to my equal desire to be around a relatively quiet GTG House, attempting to go days without speaking, and working on various recording ideas. After a little bit of realizing that my whole immediate social circle is gone I’ll probably start getting real “introspective.” Normally I’d have no problem with branching out and hitting up all my friends I don’t see every day… but it’s cold. There’s probably a bunch of “Tommy Plural” bullshit songs about to be unleashed on the unwitting masses. Oh darn.
So anyway, the Hunky Newcomers are going on tour and they’re releasing a record! The kickoff show and release party is tonight, January 7th at the Mystery Garage in Lansing! The album is called Secret of the Booze and you can listen to and download it here. Go to the tour dates to pick up a copy of the album on a 45 rpm 12″ LP, care of our best buds at Bermuda Mohawk Productions. Seriously, go to the tour dates – the suspense of when and how they show up and play is sure to be entertaining. And the west coast dates are with our other best buds City Mouse!
Tues, 1/7: Lansing, MI – Mystery Garage w/ The Chirps, People Grinding Axes
Wed, 1/8: Normal, IL – Firehouse Pizza
Thurs, 1/9: St. Louis MO – Lemmon’s Bar
Fri, 1/10: Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge w/ Mr. and The Mrs., BUMMER, The Rackatees
Sat, 1/11: Denver, CO – Seventh Circle Music Collective w/ Black Dots
Sun, 1/12: Fort Collins, CO – Surfside Seven w/ the Convalescents
Mon, 1/13: Denver, CO – Three Kings Burlesque night
Tues, 1/14: Boulder, CO – TBA
Wed, 1/15: Albuquerque, NM – Gasworks
Thurs. 1/16: Las Cruces, NM – Trainyard w/ Bad Antics, Half Goons
Fri, 1/17: Tempe, AZ – Palo Verde Lounge
Sat, 1/18: Tijuana, Mexico – El Tigre Bar w/ City Mouse
Sun, 1/19: San Diego, CA – Bar Pink w/ City Mouse, Rebels and Traitors
Mon, 1/20: Los Angeles, CA – Redwood Bar w/ City Mouse
Tuesday, 1/21: Pomona, CA – Character’s w/ City Mouse
Wed, 1/22: San Luis Obispo – “Frankie Teardrops” Warehouse w/ City Mouse, Couches
Thurs, 1/23: Fresno, CA – Audie’s Olympic Tavern w/ City Mouse, It’ll Grow Back
Fri, 1/24: Concord, CA – The Red Hat w/ City Mouse
Sat, 1/25: Oakland, CA – Early show at Eli’s Mile High w/ City Mouse
Late show: Crockett, CA – Toot’s Tavern w/ Fifteen, City Mouse
Sun, 1/26: Berkeley, CA – 924 Gilman Street w/ City Mouse
Tues, 1/28: Sacramento – The Colony w/ City Mouse, Dead Dads
Wed, 1/29: Reno, NV – Shea’s Tavern w/ City Mouse
Thurs, 1/30: Las Vegas, NV – Dive Bar w/ City Mouse
Fri, 1/31: Tucson, AZ – The District Tavern w/ City Mouse
Saturday, 2/1: El Paso, TX – TBA
Sunday, 2/2: Lubbock/Denton/San Antonio, TX TBA
Monday, 2/3: Austin, TX – The Grand “Mutant Rock Monday”
Tuesday, 2/4: Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves
Wednesday. 2/5: Springfield, Missouri – The Outland w/ Kill Crows and Molotov Latte
Thursday, 2/6: Springfield, IL – The Tin Can Pub
Stay tuned to the Hunky Newcomers facebook for intermittent updates, most of which will surely not be helpful towards providing information about the tour but will hopefully be entertaining! The guys also shot a music video for the song “Time to Die,” (courtesy Red Lion Productions), watch it here!
In other news, Honah Lee also released a new music video for a song from their forthcoming album. They’ve got more of these in the works, and they’ll be touring again in April.
If you’re not touring, I really think playing shows in January and February really sucks. Of course, I’m running counter to that by playing a solo show at REO Town Pub on January 9th. This is also an open mic thing so come by and show me what you got after you bask in my glory. (eye roll). THEN on January 10th there will be a “Some Plurals” show at the Avenue in Lansing for the Devil’s Cut CD Release Party. Since Nich Plural will be gone on tour with the Hunky Newcomers, Hattie Plural and I are doing this set with the help of Timmy Rodriguez, and we’ll be running through some super old-school Plurals songs from our first album that we haven’t played live in years. Should be fun. The Hat Madder andNarc Out the Reds (fresh off their rippin’ new EP) will be playing at the Avenue on January 25th for the DT’s Reunion Show.
Closing out the month, there will be an acoustic Plurals show on January 29th at Crunchy’s in East Lansing. This will serve as a kick-off of sorts for the Plurals south and southwest tour that starts in February. Hat Madder will be hitting the road shortly thereafter as well, so y’all will have plenty of opportunities to catch GTG bands all over.
Finally, you can download the new Plurals and Black Sparrow Press split, starting today. Oh man! Okay, seriously, it’s cold.
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 38: 24 Is the Highest Number
Tommy Plural here! The Plurals start our winter tour of the south and southwest today, and I’ve been scrambling around trying to take care of everything so my priorities got messed up and I haven’t gotten around to the monthly round-up of GTG Records activity. Fail! So, I’m tossing this one off quick. It’s been a long winter, man… even if this is the worst tour ever I’m still happy to be escaping the shackles of ice and misery that have been cloaking the perimeters of GTG House for weeks and weeks. Wah wah, woe is me, blah blah blah. This is the appropriate moment to say “fuck you Tommy, you’re going on tour, don’t complain about bullshit like the weather.” Thanks for calling me out! Glad we got that straight. We’ll get back to the weather in a minute…
Hunky Newcomers are home from tour! They had a blast and seem to still all like each other. That’s a success right there. Vinyl copies of their album “Secret of the Booze” are available locally in Lansing now, and we’ll have mail-order set up soon enough.
2/9/14 – Dayton, OH @ Blind Bob’s Bar
2/10/14 – Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway
2/11/14 – Savannah, GA @ The Wormhole
2/12/14 – Jacksonville, FL @ Burro Bar
2/13/14 – Ocean Springs, MS @ The Squeaky Lizard
2/14/14 – Lafayette, LA @ Frankie’s
2/15/14 – Houston, TX @ Super Happy Fun Land
2/16/14 – Austin, TX @ Legendary White Swan
2/17/14 – Las Cruces, NM @ The Trainyard
2/18/14 – Tucson, AZ @ The District Tavern
2/19/14 – Tempe, AZ @ TBA
2/21/14 – San Diego, CA @ Ken Club
2/22/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Redwood Bar
2/28/14 – Tijuana, MX @ La Prisión Bar
3/1/14 – San Pedro, CA @ Harold’s
3/2/14 – La Jolla, CA @ Che Cafe
3/7/14 – Riverside, CA @ Morgan’s Tavern w/ The Hat Madder!
… there will be more, so stay updated to our
facebook and junk, we’ll mention every conceivable kind of junk there, as well as the
GTG site. The Plurals also have a
new music videofor our song “How About the Weather.” Watch it here! That should hopefully tide everyone over as they wait for us to roll into town.
Honah Lee also has a
new music video for their song “The Inevitable. These guys are releasing a new video every month this year and the results so far have been great. They’ll be touring this spring but for now they’ve got a good handful of NJ/ NY/ PA dates coming up.
Honah Lee shows:
2/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ 502 South
2/16 – NYC @ Ding Dong Lounge w/ Mikey Erg!
2/27- Dunellen, NJ @ Roxy N’ Dukes – AWESOME: The Podcast taping
If you’re out that way, you should also check out Not the Bees playing at the Legion Hall in Warren, NJ on February 22nd with Iron Chic… that’ll be a good one.
Finally, The Hat Madder will be heading out on tour towards the end of the month. They’ll be hitting a lot of ground that I know we’ve covered with The Plurals, so any of you folks in these towns should come out and check out the set. The Hat Madder are always intense and engaging and I’m very stoked that they’re hitting the road. Check it out!
The Hat Madder tour dates:
2/24 – Lansing, MI @ Mystery Garage w/ Cavalcade, Ian Graham
2/25 – West Chicago, IL @ Cairo Bar
2/26 – Omaha, NE @ Lucy’s Palace w/ Congruency
2/27 – Denver, CO @ Lion’s Lair
3/1 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder
3/2 – Portland, OR @ Tonic Lounge
3/3 – Sacramento, CA @ Press Club, Sacramento w/ Instagon, Minski Blackouts
3/4 – San Francisco, CA @ Grant and Green
3/5 – Fresno, CA w/ It’ll Grow Back
3/6 – San Pedro, CA w/ Black Sparrow Press
3/7 – Riverside, CA @ Morgan’s Tavern
3/8 – Tempe, AZ @ Tempe Tavern
3/10 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Embargo’s
3/11 – Austin, TX
3/12 – Houston, TX @ Super Happy Fun Land
3/14 – Memphis, TX @ 14th Poplar Lounge
3/15 – Louisville, KY @ Rudyard Kipling
3/16 – Cincinnati, OH @ Rakes End
That does it! I’ve gotta go do a bunch of stuff. See ya on the road!
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 39: The Joke: The Musical
GTG Mailing List! Tommy Plural here, writing from Riverside, California with updates about GTG bands and general happenings. Since I last wrote to this list I’ve successfully completed my goal that I didn’t know I had of being in all (yes, all whopping three) of the countries in North America as
The Plurals (well, Some Plurals) played a show in Tijuana last Friday. By and large it just kind of felt like being in many parts of southern California, with the exception of the “Alto” signs at the intersections and the fact that we couldn’t get water at the bar and instead they kept giving us giant 32 oz Tecates that were in huge plastic cups that we’re pretty sure are the same containers that you can get soup-to-go in at restaurants. Thankfully we had no problem getting back in to the USA after this show and we’ve been spending our time enjoying California, a state that we are very unique in referring to as being in our, at least, top three favorite states. Well, Nich Plural and I feel this way – Hattie Plural took one look at our tour schedule and said “yeah, I think I’ll just go home after Los Angeles” and then she ended up making the finals at the Globo Chem International Chess Championship in Italy, so she parted ways from us a week ago. Stepping into the drum seat for these last handful of shows has been our buddy Devito (of
Shoebox Collective fame), and Miski Dee from City Mouse has been handling some of Hattie’s vocal duties. It’s been a great time but it’ll be awesome to get back to Michigan and have the full band back together. The last round of tour dates is a mix of these Nich, Tommy, Devito plus Miski shows and then a handful of acoustic dates. To finish off what’s been a baffling winter, as soon as we get back we’re playing a
full band acoustic show at the Loft in Lansing on March 19th with Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols and Sylvain Sylvain from New York Dolls.
As soon as I finish writing this I’m gonna hop in the van as I’m playing a solo acoustic show in Long Beach tonight with my buddy Jay Levy. It might seem pointless to mention this when it’s only a few hours away, but I know that the only way you can get most people in Los Angeles to go to something is if you strike while the iron’s hot before they start thinking about how much of a drag it is to, like, drive maaaan. So, my dear Angelenos that see this, I’ll be playing a one-off solo set at Shillelagh at 9 PM tonight. The terrifying rain and frigid low-60s temperatures of the weekend are gone so come out and we’ll grab a margarita and throw rocks at the Queen Mary after the set.
The Plurals (and “Some Plurals”) Tour Dates!
3/4 – Long Beach, CA @ Shillelagh (Tommy Plural solo) w/ Jay Levy
3/5 – Fresno, CA @ Tokyo Gardens w/ the Hat Madder, It’ll Grow Back
3/6 – San Pedro, CA @ Harold’s Place w/ the Hat Madder
3/7 – Riverside, CA @ Morgan’s w/ the Hat Madder
3/8 – Pomona, CA @ VLHS w/ Divers, American Lies, Black Sparrow Press
3/13 – Albuquerque, NM @ Blackbird Buvette (Nich and Tommy acoustic)
3/15 – Denver, CO @ House show (Nich and Tommy acoustic)
3/16 – Omaha, NE @ House show (Nich and Tommy acoustic)
3/19 – Lansing, MI @ The Loft (full band acoustic!) w/ Glen Matlock and Sylvain Sylvain
3/28 – Old Town Lansing @ The Mystery Garage (real, full, rockin’ Plurals) w/ Stonecutters
You’ll notice that 3/5-3/7 are with our very own the Hat Madder, and that’s because the Hat Madder are on tour right now as well! We lined up a few SoCal dates together mostly because we want to piss off our friends and family that are snowed in back home.
The Hat Madder Tour Dates!
3/4 – San Francisco, CA @ Grant and Green
3/5 – Fresno, CA @ Tokyo Gardens
3/6 – San Pedro, CA @ Harold’s
3/7 – Riverside, CA @ Morgan’s Tavern
3/8 – Tempe, AZ @ Tempe Tavern
3/10 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Embargo’s
3/11 – Austin, TX @ Sam’s BBQ
3/12 – Houston, TX @ Super Happy Fun Land
3/14 – Memphis, TN @ 14th Poplar Lounge
3/15 – Louisville, KY @ Rudyard Kipling
3/16 – Cincinnati, OH @ Rakes End
3/17 – Lansing, MI @ Midtown Beer Company
After we’re all home there’s a GTG double-header in Lansing at the Avenue on March 22nd, where Frank and Earnest play on a 5 PM bill and Hunky Newcomers play on 9 PM bill. Both of these shows are in the “pop-punk” vein so everyone’s going to be really burnt out on it and we’ll need to make sure that both bands hide out for a few weeks.
Saturday 3/22: Frank and Earnest @ The Avenue (Lansing) (Early show)
Saturday 3/22: The Hunky Newcomers @ The Avenue (Late show)
Finally,
Honah Lee (set to tour in April!) have released a new music video for their song “Driftin” to continue their one-video-a-month-for-2014 thing that they’re doing it.
Check it out here!Smog, sun, and highways await.
Much love,
TommyPlural
GTG Records Newsletter # 40: Skrewballz
Hey!
It’s April 2014 and I’m writing a newsletter about
GTG Records bands! I’m Tommy Plural! I just added a bunch of people to this list that we’ve met over the course of the last few months of Plurals touring. Hey guys! Remember that specific event that we all experienced together? I cherish the memory and can’t wait to do it again! It’s really great to talk like this. So I intentionally waited a couple days this month to get the newsletter out because the internet was saturated with a bunch of bullshit on April Fool’s Day and I’m rapidly trying to not hate myself as I notice myself become more and more of a mid-twenties curmudgeon. I do myself no favors – I’ve only been listening to the Rolling Stones and Big Star the last couple weeks. But seriously –
Sticky Fingers, man… I’ve been listening to “Sway” on repeat… and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” caused Nich Plural and I to get pulled over when we were driving through Colorado in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. And then Big Star’s made the world seem like a montage of the season slowly fading into spring here in Michigan where I blearily get home from wherever it is I go at night as I’m listening to “My Life Is Right” and nodding knowingly as if my character is experiencing some development. We’ll see, I’ll probably crash and burn soon; kind of like that sentence about Big Star just did.
So anyway, the winter touring was great! The Plurals and the Hat Madder both knocked out a bunch of great shows all over the west coast and southwest and we also had the pleasure to meet up for a run of California shows that introduced new kinds of hangovers to some our party. (Insert knowing wink to Black Sparrow Press/ San Pedro crew here). It was a blast and we sincerely thank all that we met along the way. And with the conclusion of this tour The Plurals and Black Sparrow Press split 7-inch is finally available for order! Paul Silver from Jersey Beat was nice enough to write an advance review, calling the Plurals side “a great old school post-hardcore sound, with loads of bounciness,” with the Black Sparrow Press tunes recalling “a pop-punk Americana sound,” and succinctly declaring the overall music of the split “great.” You can order the record from us here, with digital downloads available here. One of our proud partners for this release is Missoula based label Minor Bird Records, who will soon have their own exclusive version of the record with alternate artwork available here, for all you collector types. Keep an eye on that! And check out their other releases – there’s some great stuff there.
But let’s cut to the chase! The best thing happening this month is
the grand return to the road of Honah Lee!! The guys have obviously been active the past year but they’ve been unable to hit the road til now and they’re polishing off a quick round of eastern midwest dates, starting tomorrow (April 4) to spread the word about their
music video series and their upcoming LP due out later this year. Yeah!!
Honah Lee Tour Dates!
4/4/14 – Newell, PA @ Newell Volunteer Fireman’s Social Club w/ The Lady and The Monsters & Latecomer
4/5/14 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Melody Inn w/ The Involuntarys, Voice of Addiction, & The Jim Jims
4/6/16 – Berkley, MI @ The Berkley Front w/ The Dewtons, Fires In Japan, & Due North
4/7/14 – Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar w/ The Plurals, The Fiction Junkies
4/9/14 – Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern w/ Lockland Breaks & Sleeves
4/10/14 – Lexington, KY @ The Green Lantern w/ Vegan Death
4/11/14 – Morgantown, WX @ 123 Pleasant Street w/ Yellow Dog Union & High Fives and Hell Yeahs
4/12/14 – Keyser, WV @ Clancy’s w/ The Meeps & The Lady and The Monsters
4/16/14 – Trenton, NJ @ Mill Hill Basement w/ Warm Needles & Costanza
4/18/14 – New Brunswick, NJ @ Paradise Lost w/ Not The Bees, The Best Lies, & Turnbucklers
Lansing folks, take note of that April 7th date. It’s not just Honah Lee’s only show in the area, but it’s also the first full band Plurals show at a public venue in Lansing in almost a year and the second show ever for Fiction Junkies, a new band featuring some GTG people and alumni (Hat Madder, ex-Josh David and the Dream Jeans/ MK Ultra Culkin). I’m super stoked to see them as their first show happened while the Plurals were on tour.
Here’s other things happening in Lansing this month!
All right! That does it! 2014 is shaping up nicely… lots of cool vinyl and tours and stuff in the works. Stay cool, or warm, whatever. You Gotta Move!
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 41: Old Swerdlow
It’s a beautiful day here in Lansing, Michigan as I,
Tommy Plural, write this, the latest monthly update for activities by bands and people involved in the Michigan ‘n New Jersey based independent record label crew known as
GTG Records. It’s kinda nice outside. I’m actually holed up indoors on my day off, waiting for a cable service provider employee to show up and hook up new internet service, which they were supposed to do at 9 AM, but then AT&T didn’t give them the circuit or something? So I wait. What’s that? You’re losing interest in my newsletter already, because I haven’t even begun to talk about the bands that I allegedly am representing and I’m just talking about weather and complaining about cable providers? Preposterous! I have a very amusing anecdote that ties this all together, it’s just… somewhere… in the… HEY, LOOK OVER THERE!!
So today is my 27th birthday. How about that? Because it’s my birthday I’m going to go on one more tirade before quickly getting to the point. Who remembers the band Live? If you don’t, that’s fine, they were just one of many mid-90s “alt rock” bands that hit it big on the charts for 3-ish years and wrote a few songs that I wouldn’t fight anyone if they tried to defend, but overall were pretty mediocre. Notably, they wrote a pretty huge hit song that had the line “her placenta falls to the floor” in it, so that’s cool I guess. Anyway, for some reason I woke up yesterday with their song “Simple Creed” in my head. This song came out in the summer of 2001 and I heard it on the radio a couple times and hadn’t thought about it since then. This is just one stupid example of the way my brain is wired to not forget songs. So anyway, trying to place this song, I looked up the video on youtube yesterday andHOLY SHIT WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THIS BAND?? For the Cliff Notes version, just skip to :50 and watch it for 7 more seconds, then maybe again at 1:15 and watch for 30 seconds if you can. I have so, so many questions regarding quality control that will fall on deaf ears. There’s two soul-patches too many, the incorporation of hip-hop elements is as clunky and dated as possible, the chorus sounds like it should be in another song (mind you, the chorus is probably the best part), and singer guy (I’m pretending that I haven’t known his name – and how to pronounce it – for, oh shit… 2/3 of my life) is more terrifying than half of The Shining. And… just, :53. Ah. I’m also not sure where these circa 1998 youths are being rallied to. Live playing an uncomfortable, hot, open air show in Santa Clarita? The biggest problem is that I’ve become fascinated with this and actually just watched a live video (of Live. Ugh.) of this song. I really don’t want to join that “27 Club” thing so someone should really check on me in a day or two if things continue down this path.
But, there’s good stuff on youtube as well, like THE NEW HONAH LEE MUSIC VIDEO for their song “You Should Stay.” This was filmed at GTG House on a day off from their spring tour and it was a blast to make. Big props to Josh David for pulling off the starring role so admirably. Make sure to check out their other videos on their youtube channel. The guys are putting the finishing touches on a new LP and will be doing plenty of northeast dates this summer while we get it ready for release.
Everyone is playing semi-local shows this month, and there’s a good handful of things happening:
5/9 – Plurettes @ The Avenue (Lansing, MI) w/ The Stick Arounds
5/9 – Honah Lee @ Rock Bottom XX (Philadelphia, PA)
5/10 – Hunky Newcomers @ The Avenue w/ Jake Simmons and the Little Ghosts
5/14 – Nich Plural and Miski Dee @ Crunchy’s (East Lansing)
5/15 – The Hat Madder, Drinking Mercury @ Mac’s Bar (Lansing) w/ The High Strung
5/16 – Honah Lee @ Oddity Bar (Wilmington DE)
5/17 – Honah Lee @ the Dougout (Washington DC)
5/18 – Hunky Newcomers @ The Whistler (Chicago, IL)
5/22 – Narc Out the Reds @ Papa Pete’s (Kalamazoo, MI)
5/23 – Narc Out the Reds @ Corktown Tavern (Detroit, MI)
5/23 – Frank and Earnest @ Mac’s Bar w/ Devil’s Cut
5/24 – Narc Out the Reds, Fiction Junkies @ Mac’s Bar
5/24 – Honah Lee @ Trenton Pork Roll Festival (Trenton, NJ)
5/26 – GTG House Show (Lansing) w/ Life in Vacuum, Options, Summerpunx, GTG Horse
5/31 – Honah Lee, Molly Rhythm @ Mill Hill Basement – TASK Benefit Show
Just to make some quick highlights, in addition to regular hi-jinks, those shows include a 3 day run of Michigan shows by Narc Out the Reds (whose 2013 EP you are advised to pick up), one of those rare Drinking Mercury shows, an acoustic show by Nich Plural and Miski Dee from City Mouse (who will be touring later this summer), a performance by myself, Hattie Plural, and Loren Hunkvay doing our 60s girl group covers set as The Plurettes, and a rippin’ Memorial Day bash at GTG House that will feature a one-off GTG supergroup and some touring folks. Plenty of things to, er, keep you inside during the first real month of spring. Huh.
Well, still no cable service guy… I wonder how the rest of Live’s music videos have aged?…. Oh, no… no, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 42: Popemobile Chase
Hey!
It’s a monthly newsletter about GTG Records for the month of June in 2014! Cool. I really should have gotten this out a week ago, but I didn’t. There are many reasons, mostly uninteresting, but it just didn’t happen. A couple cool shows already happened this month – everyone check out Benny the Jet Rodriguez! These Californians are old friends of ours (one of them is in recent Plurals splitting partners Black Sparrow Press) and they just played a great show with The Plurals in Lansing last night at Midtown Brewing Company. We had laughs, we had drinks, we played music, we stayed up too late, we lied about where we went after the show, we had a great night! BTJR (as the kids have been known to abbreve. it) are on tour right now so everyone on the east coast, south, and southwest check out their dates and go see them if they’re near you.
I’m kinda slamming this newsletter out as I’m trying to take a super punk rock nap of some sort really quick here because I’m going to be heading to Toledo later tonight to play areunion set with, for lack of a better term, an old project that myself and many of my friends were in called the Cartridge Family. tCF (as we’ve seriously been known to abbrv it) is equal parts a “band” and equal parts a “performance troupe,” and is the reason why I can say I’ve done some of the more ridiculous things in my life. Things such as, “that time I was dressed in a giant turtle costume and ended up dancing at a bachelorette party” and “why some people think I’ve been banned from the city of Lansing” and “what I was doing when I and 8 other people were all misted by Ben Hassenger’s urine.” So, I’m looking forward to tonight. It’s too late to really promote it via this newsletter but videos and stuff will definitely surface I am sure.
Uh.. anyway… The Hat Madder is going on tour right now!
6/7 – White’s Bar/ Crispy Music Fest (Saginaw, MI)
6/11 – Historian Session (Youngstown, OH)
6/12 – Smiling Moose (Pittsburgh, PA)
6/13 – Goodbye Blue Monday (Brooklyn, NY)
6/14 – Mill Hill Basement (Trenton, NJ) w/ Honah Lee!
6/15 – Columbus,OH w/ Hundos
Honah Lee is also playing in Philadelphia at Kung Fu Necktie tonight (June 7th)! They’re also playing Art All Night (Trenton, NJ) on June 21st. They will be joined that day byNot the Bees! who also have some good shows coming up out east:
6/13 – Crunch House (Bridgeport, CT) w/ Gameday Regulars
6/14 – Even Flow (Bay Shore, NY) w/ Gameday Regulars
6/24 – Asbury Lanes (Asbury Park, NJ) w/ Masked Intruder, Direct Hit
The Plurals are playing at The Avenue (Lansing) on June 18th with Black Flag. This is one of our only shows this summer and we’re pushing a CD of new recordings from our upcoming album if anyone gets a ticket for us to come to this show. Black Flag is always full of surprises and from what I gather this incarnation of the band is doing more of the later Rollins-era material which is pretty intriguing to me. One of the reasons why we won’t be playing live for a bit after this is because Nich Plural is going on tour with Hunky Newcomers starting June 27th. They kick off the tour on 6/27 at the Livewire in Chicago, following that up with a stop at Firehouse Pizza in Normal, IL on June 30th before heading east for a few weeks. They’re still updating info on the tour but you can check it out here.
Rounding things out:
6/13 – Cat Midway @ SchwondSoundSted (Port Huron, MI)
6/13 – The Need You Nows @ The Avenue (Lansing, MI) w/ Smashing Blumkins
6/27 – Thee Fiction Junkies @ Midtown Brewing Company (Lansing)
6/28 – Calliope, Cave Needles (RELEASE PARTY), Fisherking @ The Avenue
That last listed date is worthy of note because we are releasing the CD version of the Cave Needles debut album (RTA Art Collective put out the cassete and Warm Ratio/ Disposable America is doing the vinyl). Cave Needles features some longtime GTG band people and former members of Homelife and Nightlights, and their record is some cool spacey poppy rock goodness. Also, I recorded and mixed it so you know I’m unbiased.
Anyway, that’s it. I’m falling asleep at the keyboard. In a few hours I’ll be dressed up as a dinosaur and throwing watermelon at people. I think.
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 43: Senator Tankerbell Speaks
Greetings,
Assuming we all made it with our limbs intact after the fourth of July, it’s a pleasure as always for me, Tommy Plural, to write you news about GTG Records artists and activities for the month of July 2014. Yep, it’s positively invigorating to sit at the computer and stare at the screen in between sentences for far too long than could possibly be healthy. So a big reason why I started this newsletter nearly four years ago was because I anticipated that we would all get sick of Facebook and that keeping news in the e-mail inbox would ensure longer-lasting connections with people that are interested in our music. I didn’t really call that one right, in fact I’m logged into Facebook so many times a day because it’s a primary form of communication and promotion with music pages. I reject a lot of the aspects of social media but still participate in and facilitate it as a whole. Ugh. I think my friends now know that I just need to rant about social media and smart phones and how they’re destroying the ways we think and communicate merely to get it out of my system so I can go back to messaging people about shows. Anyway, so that stupid “trending” thing that happens on Facebook now let me know this morning that Pink Floyd is releasing a new album and Garth Brooks is going on tour. Thank you Facebook! You’re so good at targeting me and letting me know what you think is important. Let me buy you a coke. And while we do that I’ll tell you about music news that is way more culturally relevant. Not that I’m biased or anything. Ha!
First up on the docket, we very recently have released the
CD of the debut album from Cave Needles. This is a relatively new band featuring a couple guys that have been part of various GTG bands as well as some new blood that we’re so desperately in need of. Desperately. The record is dreamy and catchy with plenty of atmosphere yet it flies by as an engaging listen – “
languid, bleary-eyed mood-pop” according to the folks at Half Cloth. You can stream the record
here (as well as on
Spotify and for sale on
iTunes) and it’s also available as an LP and cassette from other labels but I’m of course going to push that antiquated format known as the
CD as that’s the one that we’re directly involved with. It’s available from us! Everyone that contributed to this release is good people though so any way you get it is fine by me.
And check out their music video while you’re at it too.
And speaking of music videos,
Honah Lee have been releasing a new video every month and this month’s video, “I Should Go” is positively educational and I personally took notes to dispense as advice to every band on the GTG roster. So get ready for a glorious future and
check out Honah Lee’s new music video for “I Should Go.”
If you’re starting to think that all GTG is up to this summer is getting pasty while hanging out in recording studios, get that negative attitude checked at the door, man, because
The Hunky Newcomers are on tour right now!
7/7 @ Dino’s Bar (Nashville, TN)
7/8 @ Mecca Lounge (Johnson City, TN)
7/9 @ Milestone Club (Charlotte, NC)
7/10 @ Sidebar (Baltimore, MD)
7/11 @ 1984 (Wilmington, DE)
7/12 @ Mill Hill Basement (Trenton, NJ)
7/13 @ Soul Sounds (Long Island, NY)
These are mostly all brand new locales for these degenerates so show ’em some love if you’re around these parts. We tossed off a
new EP of Hunky songs (very literally in the case of one of the songs) before they left and they’re also doing some merch bundles of T-Shirts and downloads of the new stuff.
Check it out!
In other live show news, we have…
7/8 – Cave Needles @ Take Hold (Grand Rapids, MI) w/ listener,
68
7/11 – Plurals Acoustic @ Mac’s Bar (Lansing, MI) w/ Bluffing the Ghosts
7/11 – Honah Lee @ Asbury Lanes (Asbury Park, NJ) w/ Old Man Markley and The Scandals
7/12 – Cat Midway @ Trumbullplex (Detroit, MI)
7/12 – Honah Lee @ Mill Hill Basement (Trenton, NJ_ w/ Hunky Newcomers, Rutabaga Suicude, Ray Strife, and Maya’s Ruin
7/23 – Cave Needles @ Mulligans (Grand Rapids, MI) w/
Aspiga, Brandon Proach
7/24 – Hat Madder, Narc Out the Reds, Cave Needles, Fiction Junkies @ Mystery Garage (Old Town, Lansing) w/ When Particles Collide, Adam Balbo
7/25 – Hat Madder @ Old Miami (Hamtramck, MI) w/ When Particles Collide
8/1 – City Mouse @ Mac’s Bar (Lansing) w/ Decades, Jake Simmons, Real Ghosts
Yep, once again our own Nich Plural will be playing bass for City Mouse on tour starting 7/17. They’re going coast to coast; check out the full dates here.
There’s plenty coming up as well – Not the Bees have a forthcoming 7″ coming out via some other labels, The Plurals will be playing some midwest dates in August, Frank and Earnest are releasing a new CD in September, and on and on and on. Also, I’m going to be in California for a little bit later this month, so hit me up, Pacific Coast Pals.
I Should Go,
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 44: Books For Seniors
Holy hello, it’s Tommy Plural with a quick round-up of
GTG Records news for August 2014. This has to be quick because I’m leaving for a, er, quick midwest tour with
The Plurals in like two hours. We’re playing 5 shows in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois with our twisted sister band
City Mouse. But I’m having to cram all of my getting ready to leave stuff in really quick (again) because I was just on a non-musical west coast road-trip – as an aside, thank you much to the boys in
Black Sparrow Press for being fabulous hosts in the land of San Pedro and everyone should grab their
new 7-inch (of course) and their
older stuff too – and then I got home at the last minute in order to be a groomsman and musical performer person at the wedding of a very dear friend and one of the original GTG associates. For privacy reasons I won’t reveal the full name but it starts with “Timmy” and ends with “Rodriguez” and I have to say that the wedding was a great time and much congratulations are in order to the newlyweds. So anyway, it’s been a busy and fun couple weeks and now I gotta leave and I’m so excited to be on the road!
Here’s the Plurals tour dates:
8/4 Milwaukee, WI @ Ground Zero (all ages) w/ City Mouse
8/5 Madison, WI @ The Wisco w/ City Mouse
8/6 Minneapolis, MN @ The Hexagon w/ City Mouse, Nato Coles and the Blue Diamond Band
8/7 Iowa City, IA @ Public Space 1 w/ City Mouse, Rational Anthem
8/8 Normal, IL @ Firehouse Pizza w/ City Mouse
City Mouse continues the tour after this, hitting up the rest of the western US before looping back up to the northeast. Check out their full dates
here.
Moving along, the
Cave Needles CD is out now! You can pick it up and check out these space cadets live:
8/10 Fat Guy Fest (Kalamazoo, MI)
8/16 Founders Brewery (Grand Rapids, MI)
8/29 Midtown Brewing Company (Lansing, MI)
8/31 Michigan on Mute Fest (Riverview, MI)
The Fiction Junkies are playing at GTG House on 8/17 with Red Teeth (reunion show!) and Trophy Lungs, and they are also playing at the free show 8/29 at MBC with Cave Needles. In between these two shows these Junkies of Fiction (ugh, I’ve gotta work on my “hip” “alternative” “names”) will be knocking out a few songs in the GTG House studio for release later this year.
Out east,
Honah Lee has released a new video for their song “Time Flies.” This video features the work of some very talented street artists from
Sage Coalition, which is all pretty dang impressive to me. The song is neat too. Honah Lee drummer guy Tony Goggles has also just had the premier for his full-length slasher film
Sodomaniac. If you go to that there hyperlinked text you can find out more about it and when they’ll be showing the film.
Up the way a little bit, Not the Bees are playing at Court Tavern (New Brunswick, NJ) on August 7th. This show is a benefit for the American Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals, and we like animals and you should too so anyone in that area should come check out this show.
The new Frank and Earnest album “Modern Country” is coming out on CD on September 6th at Mac’s Bar in Lansing, MI! It took forever, and you may be pleased with the results!
Finally, the new full-length Plurals album is done and being mixed. You’ll hear this thing before the end of the year! Promise!!
Where are my pants?!?! I gotta run!!
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 45: Teardrop Awards
Happy September everybody, it’s Tommy Plural from GTG Records with a monthly update of news, activities, conspiracy theories, and newly-unearthed paradigm shifting information relating to
GTG Records and our affiliated bands. I write you on a mild late summer Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan, poring over my surely outdated laptop keyboard as the sixth(?) cup of coffee today begins to ooze from my pores. Ew. I often like to begin a newsletter with an anecdote of some kind, and it seems like I could relate a whacky Labor Day weekend story this month, but I don’t really have a whacky Labor Day story. I saw like 20 different dogs this weekend. That’s… a little kooky? Dog days of summer? Ugh. I’ve gotta move on.
So I’m excited for the shows happening this month. None of our bands are touring at the moment but there’s a good selection of shows happening in the upper-midwest and the mid-north-east coast. Most prominently, Frank and Earnest are releasing a new CD called Modern Country on September 6th. The band has been doing a fair amount of pre-release activity, and if you pre-order a copy of the CD from the GTG website this week we’ll ship it to you free and send you a download of an exclusive new song. Click on that text, it’ll take you where you need to go. That offer is only valid until Saturday (9/6!), after that it becomes a boring old standard shipping CD and you’ll never know just how incredible the bonus music we were going to offer you was. In quick summary, this CD has 10 songs, the band’s been working on it for awhile, and if you liked any of their old stuff – or are interested in checking out melodic, sincere-but-fun punk-influenced pop/rock – you’ll be happy with this release. There’s more information about the record and band here, and follow this link to check out one of the album’s highlights. Don’t miss the release party this Saturday, September 6th, at Mac’s Bar in Lansing, MI.
In other news,
The Fiction Junkies just recorded their debut EP last weekend. I’m listening to it right now, and we can’t wait to get this out, hopefully in the early fall. This band (ex-Josh David and the Dream Jeans/Jackpine Snag/ current Hat Madder affiliate, etc) is definitely one to watch and be excited about and you’ll all be hearing more about them in the future. Turning east,
City Mouse are wrapping up a summer tour this week with shows in Baltimore at the Sidebar on September 4th and in Wilmington at Oddity Bar on September 5th. Nich Plural has been playing with City Mouse and
if he ever updated his blog he’d have some stories to tell. But he’s back, so that means
The Plurals are playing some cool shows this month. Actually, lots of us are…
9/5 – The Hat Madder @ Broad Museum (East Lansing, MI) – Cheap Girls LP release party
9/5 – Honah Lee @ Oddity Bar (Wilmington, DE) w/ City Mouse
9/6 – Frank and Earnest @ Mac’s Bar (Lansing, MI) CD RELEASE
9/6 – Not the Bees @ American Legion Hall (Warren, NJ)
9/16 – Honah Lee @ The Fire (Philadelphia, PA)
9/18 – Hunky Newcomers, Narc Out the Reds @ GTG House (Lansing)
9/19 – Ben Hassenger @ Midtown Brewing Company (Lansing)
9/20 – The Plurals @ Merlot Mansion (Marquette, MI)
9/21 – Isaac Vander Schuur @ GTG House w/ Ian Graham, Bobby Meader
9/25 – The Plurals @ Shakespeare’s Pub (Kalamazoo, MI) w/ Two Houses
9/26 – The Plurals @ MBC (Lansing) w/ Two Houses, MUDWEST
9/26 – Honah Lee, Not the Bees @ Mill Hill Basement (Trenton, NJ)
9/27 – The Plurals @ Melody Inn Punk Rock Night (Indianapolis, IN)
9/27 – Honah Lee @ No Quarter (Brooklyn, NY)
9/27 – Jackpine Snag EP Release Party @ The Mystery Garage (Lansing)
and, a little down the line, but…
10/18 – GTG Fest 2014 @ The Avenue
10/19 – GTG Fest 2014 @ The Mystery Garage
The Plurals also want to play somewhere in Grand Rapids on September 19th or 21st, e-mail me back if you have a lead on a show we could jump on or something.
O da abo,
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 46: It’s the Fairsley Difference!
Happy October 2014, this is Tommy Plural with a monthly update of GTG Records news and activity and activities and news.
True story: I ended up being the de facto DJ for my cousin’s wedding (the first wedding in the family in 34 years… I guess that’s what happens when an entire generation of a family is just a bunch of dudes) over the weekend (excuse 1 of 17 as to why I did not get this newsletter out earlier), which basically consisted of playing things in my iTunes at the appropriate moments. I noticed when I was sitting in my makeshift “DJ area” that when things were quiet there was a very slight beeping/ buzz that would come out the speakers at roughly the rate of a cricket’s chirp. Now, despite the fact that I fake my way around a (admittedly minimal) recording studio, my knowledge of things like electrical circuitry and computer hardware is, well, lacking. Anyway, the wedding thing went off just fine, but today when I woke up and turned on my laptop it promptly died and I couldn’t get it to hold a charge. The power supply, on closer inspection, was making a very quiet beep… at about the frequency of a cricket’s chirp. Thankfully my laptop was not the only one in the house so I looked up what the deal was and my power supply is totally dead and the buzz coming out of the speakers at the wedding (which only happened when my laptop was actually plugged in) was the circuit (somehow, I don’t fucking know, it’s magic) basically amplifying that it was about to die. I’ve barely used my laptop in the days since the wedding so, long story short, my computer almost completely died while it was being used as the source for emotional cues at one of the most significant events in my family for decades, and I wasn’t even aware of it. I would have just been sitting there looking like a complete idiot if the bridal march just unceremoniously died during the ceremony and… well, I was already planning on being on tour during Thanksgiving this year, but I might be finding excuses for next year too.
Anyway, now that no one is interested at all in what I have to say, the takeaway from all of that (besides me being a fool that gets by on dumb luck) is that I have to fire this newsletter out before my girlfriend needs to take her laptop to school. So let’s get to it!
GTG Fest 2014 is October 18 and 19 in Lansing. It’s gonna be insane!
Follow this link for facebook info. It’s gonna be nuts! We’re having a raffle and there will be a least 3 brand new GTG releases available at the shows, one of which being the
debut EP by The Fiction Junkies, another being an acoustic-driven compilation, and the other being the first all-new material from the very recently reactivated GTG OG band
The Break-Ups in… well, a few years. I don’t even know, and I’m not going to spend several minutes fact checking something that only I would really care about when I gotta get moving. Integrity! But in all seriousness, GTG Fest is a labor of love and I’m always really excited to get old and new friends together and share all the music and act like jackasses. To say it’s the single most important show of the year, to me, isn’t really exaggerating anything. Hope everyone that wants to can make it out!
So here’s a roundup of all the GTG shows happening this month….
10/10 – Frank and Earnest @ Firehouse Pizza (Normal, IL)
10/11 – Frank and Earnest @ Brass Rail (Fort Wayne, IN) w/ Cheap Girls
10/15 – Tommy Plural and Ben Hassenger @ Crunchy’s (East Lansing, MI)
10/16 – GTG Fest Preview on The Impact 88.9 WDBM at 8:00 PM
10/18 – GTG Fest 2014 @ The Avenue w/ The Plurals, Red Teeth, Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine, Inflatable Best Friend, Fiction Junkies, Frank and Earnest, Cat Midway, Mad Moon (Jessi Spreitzer), Real Ghosts, Calliope, Miski Dee, and Lights Out
10/19 – GTG Fest 2014 @ The Mystery Garage w/ The Hat Madder, Couches, Hunky Newcomers, Narc Out the Reds, The Break-Ups, Summerpunx, So Long Naota, Mudwest, Distorted Waltz, Stereo Artifacts, and Lovey Dovey
10/19 – Honah Lee @ Brighton Bar (Long Branch, NJ)
10/21 – Not the Bees @ Asbury Lanes (Asbury Park, NJ) w/ Direct Hit, Red City Radio
10/22 – Lee Corey Oswald @ GTG House
10/24 – Frank and Earnest @ Buzzbin (Canton, OH)
10/24 – Honah Lee @ Northstar Bar (Philadelphia, PA)
10/25 – Frank and Earnest @ Cafe Bourbon St (Colombus, OH)
10/30 – Honah Lee @ Roxy N Dukes (Dunellen, NJ)
10/31 – Honah Lee @ Trenton Social (Trenton, NJ)
Pointing out a couple things: we’ve got the first
out-of-state Frank and Earnest shows since, I believe, 2011, and really the most shows in a single month for them since about then as well. All the east coast folks lamenting missing GTG Fest have the chance to catch some great shows with
Not the Bees (set for hibernation, come this winter) and
Honah Lee both being a part of some great bills.
Honah Lee will be touring in November, check out the dates here. The Plurals are joining them for the second half! Both Honah Lee and The Plurals have juuuust wrapped up making new albums. I just got a copy of the new Honah Lee and I can’t wait to get this thing out on a platter of vinyl early next year. Honah Lee will be releasing a DVD of music videos in November as they’ve been putting out new videos every month this year… including the
just-released “Hey Angel.” YEAH!!!
So… I think that covers the bases. I’m satisfied. Are you satisfied? Couldn’t resist. Ha. Ha ha.
tommyplural
GTG Records Newsletter # 47: Dudes Arguing
‘Ey,
Tommy Plural, from The Plurals and GTG Records, writing on a gloomy November day from Lansing, Michigan to update my favorite people (that includes you) about happenings in the GTG Records community. These monthly newsletters are something that I personally hold in a high regard, which is why I’m hesitant to admit that for months I haven’t looked at the mailing list sign up sheet that we put out at Plurals shows. My hesitation is perhaps outweighed by my stupidity as I did not need to mention this in the newsletter because, as I’m sure we all assume, I send the same thing to everyone on the mailing list. I really hope I didn’t crush anyone’s spirit with that little admission. Above all, I hope this just demonstrates my honesty; I am human just like you, and I forget to update the contacts, but I just did, so welcome aboard to the new people.
Insert glistening, white-toothed, political smile
It’s election day! You should really get out and vote as your voice counts in the decisions made by our political leaders. Or maybe things will happen regardless of who’s in office and the system is more of a ritual than an actual viable process. The candidate and proposals that you support may indeed be the correct or incorrect options to further our society in a positive trajectory, or maybe they won’t. Whatever you “elect” to do, friend. Hopefully I’ve got your support and you’ll check out some of these musical happenings…
Honah Lee released a new video for “Sobered, So Bored” a couple days ago. It’s a good one. Their full-length album
33 on 45 has been sent off to the pressing plant and will be joining your vinyl collection in the first few months of 2015, so stay tuned! They’ll be releasing a
DVD of all their music videos they’ve put out (one a month for the whole year of 2014!) at a
Thanksgiving Eve show in Trenton, NJ on the 26th. This show is just part of a
midwest and east coast tour that Honah Lee are undertaking, to be joined halfway through by The Plurals. I’m really excited to do this tour… we’ve done some weekend things the last few months but haven’t been out on a tour proper since February. There’s no band I’d rather do it with than our bestest buds in Honah Lee. Here’s the full dates:
HONAH LEE TOUR DATES:
11/7 @ Walsh’s Tavern (Warminster, PA)
11/8 @ Oddity Bar (Wilmington, DE)
11/13@ Gooski’s (Pittsburgh, PA)
11/14 @ Hole In The Wall (Dayton, OH)
11/15 @ The Melody Inn (Indianapolis, IN)
11/16 @ Cobra Lounge (Chicago, IL)
HONAH LEE / THE PLURALS TOUR DATES:
11/17 @ The Mystery Garage (Lansing) w/ Hat Madder
11/19 @ Shakespeare’s Pub (Kalamazoo, MI)
11/20 @ Fickle (Cincinnati, OH)
11/21 @ The Green Lantern (Lexington, KY)
11/22 @ 123 Pleasant St (Morgantown, WV)
11/23 @ The Pinch (Washington, DC)
11/24 @ Kung Fu Necktie (Philadelphia, PA)
11/26 @ Milll Hill Basement (Trenton, NJ)
11/28 @ The Gutter (Brooklyn, NY)
11/29 @ Blind Bob’s (Dayton, OH) PLURALS ONLY
While I am certainly excited for these tour dates, there’s still a few other things happening around Michigan this month that we should all know about:
11/7 – The Plurals @ Rubble’s (Mt. Pleasant, MI)
11/14 – Frank and Earnest @ MBC (Lansing) w/ Mad Moon, Jake Downs
11/20 – The Hunky Newcomers @ Mac’s Bar (Lansing) w/ Masked Intruder
11/22 – Cat Midway @ Wesley Foundation/ WMU (Kalamazoo) w/ Kevin Barnes
12/2 – Divided Heaven @ GTG House w/ The Plurals Acoustic, more
Rounding up quickly: The Plurals new album is all done and we’re just sorting out the release specifics. The Hat Madder will be cutting a new EP this winter. Narc Out the Reds will be releasing a 10″ single very soon. The Plurals are planning on heading to the southeast in February before more extensive touring in the spring of next year. The Hunky Newcomers will also be touring next spring. There will be more, more, more….
Finally, one last thank you to everyone that made GTG Fest 2014 so outstanding. There might be words that express my gratitude, but I don’t know ’em!
See ya!
TommyPlural
GTG Records Newsletter # 48: Supermodel Hotline
Holy Bejeezus, another year is almost down and it’s time for another update on the Lansing, MI-based DIY record label GTG Records from Tommy Plural (from The Plurals)!
We just got home from a two week midwest and east coast tour with our dear friends and label-mates
Honah Lee! It was an absolute blast and a great way to spend Thanksgiving. Among lots of regular tour highlights we had our first shows in Lexington, Morgantown, and Washington DC, and some of our best shows in New York and New Jersey. Pat yourselves on the back for making these shows great for us and much gratitude (no schmatitude) to everyone that helped make it happen.
Honah Lee released a new DVD on this tour! It has all of the music videos they released this year, which is one for every month –
they’re all up on youtube but the DVD quality is way better and, y’know, a DVD.
Order it here. The latest, and final, video of their 2014 series was released on December 1 and it’s called
“Sober X-Mas.” A truly harrowing account of holiday fear. The guys are taking a couple weeks off but will be back in
2015 with a brand new album on vinyl called 33 On 45. We have the test pressings in and we can’t wait to get this thing out!
Speaking of not, uh, wanting to wait to get things out,
The Plurals released a new EP a couple days ago without any warning. Yep, our new full-length is done and while we’re sorting out the release and other lame junk we wanted to put something else out so we quickly recorded some new songs right before we went on tour. It’s pretty much a digital thing although we do have some CDs available for people that really want them; you can get them at one of the Lansing GTG shows coming up this month (or e-mail me back if you’re not local and want it somehow). The EP has 6 songs and is called
“Chazzwazzers” – download and listen to it here. You can donate if you want or just download it, it’s really supposed to just be kind of a fun thing. Whoo.
Speaking of shows… there’s not a ton going on this month, but the ones that are happening are all pretty quality. First up is the 10th annual
Punks vs Pokes show (country bands and punk bands coming together and covering songs from each other’s respective genres) on
December 12th which, in addition to show organizers Flatfoot and local twangy rapscallions The Devil’s Cut will feature GTG’s own
The Fiction Junkies and
Hunky Newcomers. Paul Dubya and the Oak River Bridge Boys Band also prank called their way onto opening up the show so that’ll be worth… something. We also have a little Michigan 3 day run from
Narc Out the Reds that will include a mini-GTG Fest of sorts at
The Mystery Garage on December 19th. In addition to Narc Out,
“GTG Winterreise“ will also feature
The Break-Ups, The Stick Arounds, Mud Suns, the Free Life, and Lovey Dovey.
On a bittersweet note,
December 20th will be the last show for Not the Bees! Our beloved north Jersey basement punks are going their separate ways for the time being and they’re saying goodbye with a show at the Warren Legion Hall in Warren, NJ. Not the Bees! were always a pleasure to share the stage with and I’m very proud to have partnered with them on the 2012 EP
Another Hour to Burn. I’m really wishing I could be a part of the farewell show so I’m hoping all of our east coast GTG contingent will make it out. Can’t wait to hear what these boys buzz about in the future.
So, rounding up…
12/12/2014 – Punks vs Pokes @ Mac’s Bar (Lansing)
12/18/2014 – Narc Out the Reds @ Louie’s (Kalamazoo, MI)
12/19/2014 – GTG Winterreise @ The Mystery Garage (Lansing) w/ Narc Out the Reds, The Break-Ups, more
12/20/2014 – Narc Out the Reds @ Old Miami (Detroit, MI)
12/20/2014 – Not the Bees @ Warren Legion Hall (Warren, NJ) LAST SHOW
On a final note… Snohawk is coming! If you have any vaguely holiday themed music of your own that you think would work on our demented holiday series… get it to me by the 15th of December. We’ll be posting it around that one holiday thing that happens on the… 24th? 25th? Somewhere in there.
Piece and luh-huhv,
Tommy Plural
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