Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Bomb The Music Industry! Announces This Year's Pick Up The Phone Tour feat. The Sidekicks in Conjunction w/ 1-800-SUICIDE

Bomb The Music Industry!
Announces This Year's Pick Up The Phone Tour feat. The Sidekicks in Conjunction w/ 1-800-SUICIDE
New Album, "Vacation," Out July 26th on Ernest Jenning / Really Records!



New York-based independent-punk band Bomb The Music Industry! has announced plans to set out on a full US tour this summer immediately following the release of their new album "Vacation" out July 26th on Ernest Jenning Record Co. / Really Records.

In support of the new album and tour, non-profit suicide prevention organization 1-800-SUICIDE (The Kristin Brooks Hope Center) has joined the band in a full fledged effort to bring awareness to the problems of depression and suicide across our country and around the world. This year's Pick Up The Phone Tour (http://pickupthephonetour.org), will see both Bomb The Music Industry! and The Sidekicks, as well as 1-800-SUICIDE team members addressing the issues of suicide and depression at every show and handing out merch such as stickers, pamphlets, wristbands and other information to those interested in learning more.

In addition, both the band and 1-800-SUICIDE have gotten together to premiere the new Bomb The Music Industry! single, "Savers," which fans can download here.

Pick Up The Phone Tour Dates feat. Bomb The Music Industry! and The Sidekicks:
7/28/2011 - Plaistow, NH Vic Geary Center
7/29/2011 - Montreal, QC Death House
7/30/2011 - Ottawa, ON Legion Hall
7/31/2011 - Toronto, ON Sneaky Dee's
8/1/2011 - London, ON Dude Ranch
8/2/2011 - Lansing, MI Mac's
8/3/2011 - Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen
8/4/2011 - La Crosse, WI Polka Place
8/5/2011 - Minneapolis, MN Dingus House
8/6/2011 - Lincoln, NE Mad Ave
8/7/2011 - Denver, CO M - Y Crawlspace
8/9/2011 - Sheridan, WY American Legion
8/10/2011 - Missoula, MT ZAAC
8/11/2011 - Longview, OR TBA
8/12/2011 - Seattle, WA Healthy times fun club
8/13/2011 - Portland, OR Backspace
8/15/2011 - San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
8/16/2011 - Cupertino, CA Homestead Lanes
8/17/2011 - Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst Atrium
8/18/2011 - Pomona, CA Aladdin Jr.
8/19/2011 - Los Angeles, CA TBA
8/20/2011 - San Diego, CA Che Cafe
8/21/2011 - Phoenix, AZ Trunk Space
8/22/2011 - Flagstaff, AZ TBA
8/23/2011 - Albuquerque, NM TBA
8/24/2011 - Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory
8/25/2011 - Lawrence, KS TBA
8/26/2011 - University City, MO Cicero's
8/27/2011 - Indianapolis, IN Vibes
8/28/2011 - Cincinnati, OH Baba Budan's
8/29/2011 - Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
8/30/2011 - Pittsburgh, PA 222 Ormsby
8/31/2011 - Baltimore, MD Charm City Art Space




"Vacation" Track List
1. Campaign For A Better Next Weekend
2. Vocal Coach
3. Everybody That You Love
4. Sponge Board Baby Waves
5. The Shit That You Hate
6. Hurricane Waves
7. Sick, Later
8. Why, Oh Why, Oh Why (Oh Oh Oh Oh)

9. Savers
10. Can't Complain
11. Everyone That Loves You
12. Sunny Place Shady People
13. Felt Just Like Vacation


If there's still a few scattered embers of the fire of '80s punk, hardcore and the birth of D.I.Y., they are burning inside Bomb the Music Industry! Formed by Jeff Rosenstock as a bedroom project reaction to the serious business machinations of his former band, BTMI!was never supposed to sell over 10,000 records or tour the world. They weren't supposed to headline festivals or drive their van over 300,000 miles. At the core of the band is the kind of reverse-careerist leaning that's more at home in a vicious thrash-crust-death-horror-rap-band. Instead, it's dressed up like Elvis Costello or Rivers Cuomo, a self-deprecating bunch of punks playing smart-ass pop songs. Oh, and giving it all away for free on the internet.

Since 2004, Rosenstock and a rotating cast of guitarists, keyboardists, drummers, bassists, mandolin players, horn players, and assorted weirdos have been writing and recording music under the Bomb the Music Industry! banner. And every single song has been released by Rosenstock's own Pay What You Can online-only label, Quote Unquote Records. It's a choice that predated Radioheador Nine Inch Nails, and it didn't stop the band from selling thousands of physical records, endearing them to a fan base who recognized that BTMI! were a band that actually respected and trusted them. That Scrambles, the band's last record, has been downloaded over 60,000 times, isn't half-bad, either.

When you look at BTMI!'s history through that lens, it makes sense that Vacation, their latest full-length, will be a split release from Brooklyn indie Ernest Jenning Record Co. (also home to two of Rosenstock's other bands - Pegasuses-XL and Kudrow) as well as the first release Rosenstock's own label, the freshly-minted Really Records (also manned by Dave Garwacke, founder of If You Make It.) A further step away from the band's entrenched punk origins, Vacation will resonate with fans of bands like Titus Andronicus or The Thermals, ethically punk bands who take the genre and run in a totally new direction with it. For Rosenstock and BTMI!, that means thrashing My Aim Is True-style jams through the hive-mind of a group of musicians raised on The Blue Album and old Superchunk. It's punk for guys and girls who love Merge Records today as much as they loved Fat Wreck Chords in high school. It's music that's not ashamed of its past, but isn't interested in reliving it.

Thematically, the band have been moving away from the dark introspection of their past material, with Rosenstock penning many of Vacation's songs while on a free vacation in Belize, hanging out on the beach and, for once, writing songs from a positive, grounded headspace. The optimistic tone of the record suits the band's loose, fun style, and as a result, Vacation has the very real feeling of a band coming in to their own, discovering what they do best and truly being comfortable in their own skin.

Recorded by Rosenstock and guitarist Tom Malinowski at their homespun recording spaces, the record also features contributions from across the country, with friends in bands like Fake Problems, Bayside, Andrew Jackson Jihad, and Good Luck adding to tracks from their own homes, or when they would tour into BTMI!'s homebase of New York City. It's easily the biggest and best sounding record of the band's career, and marks the first time they've enlisted someone outside the band to mix and master, ensuring the final product is seriously massive.

Vacation will still be available online, for free, as well as on vinyl and CD through Ernest Jenning Record Co. and Really Records. The band plans to tour like crazy once its released, adding a few more thousand miles to their worn-in van, and spreading the gospel of grown-up punks truly doing it themselves.

* Pre-order "Vacation" from Really Records here and Ernest Jenning here.


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