“…The Octagon re-imagines tight British pop (The Jam and The Libertines both come to mind) as smart, vivacious New York punk.” – Time Out New York
THE OCTAGON ON TOUR
01/05 Philadelphia, PA @ The Fire
01/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Metro Gallery
01/07 Washington, DC @ The Black Cat
01/08 Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
01/09 Richmond, VA @ Plaza Bowl
01/10 Ashville, NC @ Bobo Gallery
01/11 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
01/12 Nashville, TN @ The Basement
01/13 Little Rock, AR @ Whitewater Tavern
01/14 St. Louis, MO @ Antartica
01/15 Champaign, IL @ Mike and Molly’s
01/16 Chicago, IL @ Elbo Room
01/17 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
01/18 Columbus, OH @ The Carabar
01/22 Brooklyn, NY @ Bruar Falls
The Octagon’s Will Glass and Zachary Mexico met as kids in boarding when Glass made fun of Mexico’s Green Day t-shirt. The guys huddled together in dorm rooms, late at night, drinking from warm 40’s of St. Ides and handles of Captain Morgan, listening to Motown, Astral Weeks, Guided by Voices, Dead Kennedys, and The Grateful Dead. Eventually landing in NYC, Glass and Mexico met up with bass player The Bunny, forming The Octagon and touring behind two albums.
Other pursuits came calling and Mexico relocated to China - where he still spends part of the year - to write his first book, “China Underground” (Soft Skull Press, 2009) which became a bestseller in Singapore. Glass went on the road as the touring drummer for Dirty Projectors and The Bunny languished in Williamsburg, spending his days begging for money outside the Bedford Avenue L stop to support his gourmet sandwich habit.
And then, in the dark winter days of February 2009, the members of The Octagon found themselves back together and working on a new batch of songs in their dimly lit practice space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Led by the lo-fi recording expertise of Glass, the band spent three days laying down thirty tunes to analog cassette tape on two Tascam four-track recorders. The result is Warm Love and Cool Dreams Forever, an album full of Mexico’s warm Fender Mustang, Bunny’s full bass tones, and the clean and crisp jazz-inflected drumming of Glass.
The songs are concise bursts of energy – short and to the point -- showing off the band’s gift for penning simple, catchy melodies mixed with sonic and structural experimentation. It’s a cool enough sound to be represented on a boarding school kid’s t-shirt... and catchy enough for another one to make fun of him for.
THE OCTAGON
WARM LOVE AND COOL DREAMS FOREVER
SERIOUS BUSINESS RECORDS
RELEASE DATE: JANURY 5th, 2010
Visit The Octagon's Myspace.
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