Sebadoh announces Feb. tour dates / Lou Barlow on WTF with Marc Maron!

Sebadoh announces a run of American tour dates in February and do not miss Lou Barlow's appearance on WTF with Marc Maron!

Their first LP in 14 years, Defend Yourself, is out now on Joyful Noise Recordings and is streaming in its entirety at Bandcamp.
 

TOUR DATES:
February 5, 2014 - Baltimore, MD @ OttoBar
February 6, 2014 - Chapel Hill, NC  @ Local 506
February 7, 2014 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
February 8, 2014 - Orlando, FL @ The Social
February 9, 2014 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
February 10, 2014 - Birmingham, AL @ The BottleTree
February 11, 2014 - New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
February 13, 2014 - Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald's Downstairs
February 14, 2014 - Austin, TX @ Red 7
February 15, 2014 - Denton, TX @ Dan's Silverleaf
February 17, 2014 - Nashville, TN @ High Watt
February 18, 2014 - Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
February 19, 2014 - Asheville, NC  @ The Mothlight
February 20, 2014 - Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
February 21, 2014 - Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub
February 22, 2014 - Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
February 24, 2014 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
February 25, 2014 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade

WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING ABOUT DEFEND YOURSELF:

"Even as Barlow offers up clear-eyed postmortems of a wrecked marriage, Defend Yourself exudes the live-wire energy of a vital band brought back from the brink." NPR

"A private project became a public one, and this is its legitimate new chapter."
The New York Times

"...great, gritty new songs and refreshing upgrades to their idiosyncratic aesthetic." Exclaim!

"Fuck yeah, we still need indie-rock bands!" SPIN

"So, yeah, it’s not surprising that a band has changed after 14 years without a record, but the changes here, the subtlety of them, are bracing and make Defend Yourself not just a welcome return, but a shot in the arm for the band, the listeners, and indie rock at large." Pop Matters

"...his muse hasn’t run out of ways to torture him yet." Pitchfork

"That a band can successfully experiment after such an extended break is a testament to their self-preservation." FILTER

"Luckily for everyone - from the peach-fuzz hipsters who claim to have witnessed the original incarnation of the band in the flesh, to those who actually did - Defend Yourself is virtually filler-less, unlike so many filler-hiding-behind-one-good-song returns." MAGNET

"It harks back to the classic sounds of Sebadoh - tender Barlow ballads, balls to the wall Loewenstein rockers - essentially the yin and yang that endeared the band to so many fans throughout the 90's, with the artistic growth you'd expect from a band 14 years removed from their last album." Under The Radar

"A band maintaining the same sound after 14 years is not usually a positive. With Sebadoh, it's a gift."eMusic

Indie rock pioneers Sebadoh have announced the release of their first new LP in 14 years, entitled “Defend Yourself.” The longtime project of Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein, and Bob D'Amico, will release their new full-length album on September 17th via Joyful Noise Recordings (in North America) and Domino Records (in UK / Europe).

Ending a substantial hiatus for the band, “Defend Yourself” is more of an organic reformation than a comeback album. In the words of Lou Barlow, “We were always going to make another record. There was never any point where we looked at each other and said, ‘That’s it. We’re done.’ We never actually quit at all-- we’ve been making music this whole time.”

Barlow, Loewenstein, and D’Amico haven’t wasted their musical talent over the last several years (as evidenced by solo albums, Dinosaur Jr., Fiery Furnaces, Folk Implosion, etc.), however, the Sebadoh name hasn’t surfaced since 1999. Historically speaking, Sebadoh albums have paralleled momentous experiences in Barlow’s life-- and this recording is no different. “Defend Yourself” is saturated with songs of heartache relating to the divorce from his wife and partner of 25 years. According to Barlow, “Your greatest victories and your most crushing defeats have a tendency to give birth to one other.”

The new album also marks a return to the self-recorded DIY ethos of early Sebadoh albums (“Sebadoh III”, “Bakesale,” etc.). A handful of sour experiences with major labels led Sebadoh to self-record and self-produce their new album. “We did ‘Defend Yourself’ the only way it could have been done: on the cheap and all by ourselves,” Barlow states. Though this is hardly the band’s first experience with home recording, technological advances beyond the 4-track cassette have allowed “Defend Yourself” to easily rank among Sebadoh’s most sonically-engaging albums to date