News : Pela

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Pela Announces Break Up - September 21, 2009

Last Friday, Brooklyn Vegan posted a letter written by Pela announcing that the band's no longer together. We at Brassland thought we'd re-post the letter, taken from Pela's website:

Thank you, and good night.....

It is with great sadness that we write you today. Pela's collective journey has come to an end.

Over the past 2 years we've faced tremendous obstacles. We recorded an album twice, had a falling out/legal battle with our old label, fired 2 managers, had a big record deal fall through, and Billy had a hand injury followed by a foot injury.

We've worked tirelessly to get our music out of ourselves and into your ears. We worked endlessly to make the music and our live show the best we could. At the end of the day we had to start dealing with some realizations.

We will never be able to thank you enough for your support. For those of you that drove and flew hours just to see a show, we thank you. For those of you who wrote us and gave us the opportunity to get to know you, we thank you. For those of you who told us to keep soldiering on, we thank you. Words can't really describe how we're feeling about this difficult decision, but we want you to know that it's the healthiest decision we could make.

Your lovely faces are etched into our memories. Looking at the Crowd Project videos says it all.

Please keep in touch, we'll promise to do the same.

xoxo - Nate, Billy, Tom, and Eric

Pela's sole Brassland release, the EP All in Time, came out back in 2005. To hear an mp3 of "Episodes," click over to the Brassland Store.

New Pela Dates Announced - March 21, 2008

As previously reported, Pela was forced to cancel the remainder of their tour following singer/guitarist Billy McCarthy's hand injury.

Well, everyone's happy to say that Billy's surgery went well and that he and the band are now in the process of a little R & R. In May, the band will hit the road again to make up the canceled shows. See the new tour dates on our shows page (click on the "Artist" column heading in order to sort dates by Brassland artist).

Pela Cancel Tour - March 05, 2008

Pela guitarist/singer Billy McCarthy was injured at the band's February 29th show in Chicago. According to Pela's website, he fell off stage, landing on a broken pint glass and, in the process, sliced some tendons in his pinky finger. As a result, the rest of Pela's tour has been canceled as Billy undergoes surgery and recovers. Apologies to those who had bought tickets to upcoming shows. The band fully intends to make up the missed dates, and as soon as they're announced, we'll post them.

Pela News - March 20, 2006

Pela are celebrating the completion of their debut album with a residency at New York's Delancy. They will be playing the club every Monday in April.

Pela: National Tour, WOXY, and CMJ - August 31, 2005

Pela embarked on their first US tour in July traveling from Brooklyn to Chicago and back again, and recording an amazing live session for our favorite internet radio station WOXY. Unfortunately, lead singer Billy Swanson blew his voice out in Dayton, and bassist Eric Sanderson blew his knee out the next day in Cincinnati, forcing the band to cancel about half the dates. They may tour again before the year ends and are planning on recording some new tracks this winter for later release. For now, you'll have to be tided over by Pela's CMJ gig at Bowery ....continue....