"...an expansive, at times cinematic album... It’s difficult not loving an Americana band who knows its Outsiders and its Sun City Girls." - Stereogum
"sweet-tempered country-rock is far more slippery than it might first appear, buffered as it is by rich Jayhawks vocal harmonies, Benson's quicksilver guitar leads, and frequent detours that can occasionally conjure images of a roadhouse Bad Seeds... unexpected instrumental flourishes serve well to illuminate the intimate psychic geography that Gleason ambitiously maps out in his lyrics....7.5" - Pitchfork
New Jersey's Roadside Graves will release their new LP We Can Take Care of Ourselves on July 19, 2011 via Autumn Tone Records. The album is inspired by a story dear to the band, S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Pre-order available soon via autumntone.com.
Roadside Graves Summer 2011 Tour Dates:
06.10 • Metuchen, NJ - Raconteur Books
06.17 • Highland Park, NJ - Nighthawk Books
06.18 • New York, NY - Pianos
06.23 • Philadelphia, PA - M Room
06.25 • Chapel Hill, NC - The Nightlight
06.26 • Nashville, TN - The Basement
06.27 • Baltimore, MD - Joe Squared
06.29 • Rochester, NY - The Bug Jar
06.30 • Burlington, VT - Skinny Pancake
07.01 • Cambridge, MA - The Lizard Lounge
"My wife and I are both teachers, but we rarely talk about teaching beyond a good day versus a bad day. After a few years together and a few hundred dinners I realized the one exception was when she taught S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. During her Outsiders unit, our dinners were always punctuated with tales of students who hated reading suddenly being transformed and bright eyed at the prospect of reading a novel that related authentically to them without being dull.
We were careful to not retell the plot in song as bad broadway; rather we focused on making more nuanced allusions to characters, themes, feelings, and settings. We tried to emphasize the sensitive, frightened sides of the characters, instead of showcasing their thick skin and greaser toughness. Musically and sonically, we avoided a retro sound and kept it thick and modern, with only occasional glimpses of melodies and tones that might have pumped out of their radios at night.
NEW MP3: Roadside Graves - "Love Me More" via Stereogum
The album was recorded in various states of physical distress for the band — a broken thumb, a break out of hives, fever, and coughing fits all graced our time recording and mixing at Strange Weather in Brooklyn with our handsome engineer Daniel Schlett. Some tracks were recorded by Rich Zilg and his mobile studio in a basement in NJ where a heavily-medicated Jeremy did some overdubs while recovering from an appendectomy. In the end, we cooked up eleven songs, ranging from anthems, pop songs, and ballads to a dark synthesizer instrumental to little folk ditties.
Our hope is that the listener, if so moved, can easily tie the songs to particular characters and events of the novel, but that familiarity with the story is not a prerequisite for enjoying the music or personally relating to the songs. Perhaps it will even inspire some people to read the book, or revisit it. Maybe some teachers will use it, kids will hear it, and we can contribute, in our small New Jersey way, to the legacy of one of the greatest stories about pals and trouble ever written."
- John Gleason, Roadside Graves
We Can Take Care of Ourselves closely follows the release of the group's critically-acclaimed prior works You Won't Be Happy With Me (2010) My Son's Home (2009) and No One Will Know Where You've Been (2007).
Roadside Graves were born and bred in the small shaky town of Metuchen, NJ. They grew up together, watched their friends and families rise and fall. There is an intimate camaraderie among the seven friends who make up the band- they sing and play as though they’re sitting in the kitchens and basements of their youth. The music is festive; it eulogizes and celebrates. The sound is organic, driving, full, and unique.
Autumn Tone Records, independently owned and operated, was founded by Justin Gage, who also writes the popular music blog An Aquarium Drunkard, and hosts the weekly Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Other Autumn Tone releases include J Tillman (of Fleet Foxes), Futurebirds, Le Switch, The Henry Clay People, Happy Hollows, Blair, Daniel Hutchens, and more.
Roadside Graves - Liv Tyler video via Stereogum
Roadside Graves are quickly securing their spot amongst the ranks of Titus Andronicus, Gaslight Anthem, and The Boss himself as one of New Jersey's hardest-working rock 'n roll bands. In the last few years, the band has shared the stage with bands as diverse as These United States, Lucero, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Local Natives, Vivian Girls, The Sadies, Megafaun, Warpaint, Mercury Rev, and even Andrew WK, Jello Biafra, and the Bad Brains.
Previous Press for Roadside Graves:
"...straight-up rock ‘n’ roll with better lyrics and more hardworking energy than most smart, straight-up rock ‘n’ roll bands." – Stereogum
"well-stocked with stirring narratives and sketches that just happen to be almost unremittingly obsessed with the crypt… Perhaps most admirably of all, the Roadside Graves excel at the brave and difficult paradox of suffusing death with life, injecting vivacity and humor into their reflections on mortality...7.0" – Pitchfork, review of My Son's Home
“Alt-country rascals Roadside Graves got heavy metal with a jam about “dirt on my lip and blood in my eye” after the singer split his face open with his mic and bled everywhere. I should have taken video because I can’t find anything that comes close to the level of musicianship these tatted-up guys guys now display.” - Paste Magazine
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