October 23, 2013
People Get Ready tour, work on LP #2 with Deerhoof's Greg Saunier
While you may be staring into the last dregs of 2013 and trying to distract yourself from impending seasonal depression, other people are looking forward to an amazing 2014. What kind of people you ask... Wait, before we get to that: Are you okay? We mean, really, what's wrong with you? Oh, wait a sec, our therapist recently reminded us not to judge. We apologize for being so snappy. And let us get around to a few announcements that might just lift your spirits. For starters: People Get Ready (those people!) have just announced a bunch of new tour dates including their first ever appearances in the southeast and on the west coast of the USA. And yes, this band could be your life, or change your life, or at least help you have a good weekend. (Were looking at you, North Carolinians and west coasters! And you Michael! Shout out to you!)
Anyway, this is kind of a big deal because the touring includes three re-stagings of their acclaimed performance-slash-dance-slash-hard-to-categorize show Specific Ocean, that premiered last year at New York Live Arts. NPRs omnipresent music critic Bob Boilen has strongly advised that you go, and what with PGRs upcoming dates, the excuse of living thousands of miles away from New York wont get you off the hook anymore.
TOUR DATES FOR WHAT REMAINS OF 2013
Oct 25 - Asheville, NC @ Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Festival
Nov 15 - Durham, NC @ Duke University's Reynolds Industries Theatre *
Nov 16 - Durham, NC @ Duke University's Reynolds Industries Theatre *
Dec 6 - Los Angeles, CA @ Guerin Pavillion, Skirball Center *
Dec 7 - San Francisco, CA @ Neck of the Woods
Dec 9 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Dec 11 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Dec 12 - Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
*special re-staging of Specific Ocean.
Hopefully you're already tangled up in scheduling those sweet, sweet tour dates into your calendar, so let us apologize (again!) for interrupting that process to bring you some more big news, this time the amazing, looking-forward-to-2014 part of our news update: On top of all this touring, People are Getting Ready are assembling their sophomore album.
Goooaaaaaaaalllllllls! But before we dig into the details let us all take a moment to appreciate the fact that these folks never seem to take a break.
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That was an awesome break people. Now get ready for more detail.
The band have been working on the album we've started referring to as PGR's 2nd album titled TBD during a series of residencies at New York's Clocktower Gallery, a university in Arizona, and at Denniston Hill, an arts center in upstate New York. Lucky for us, PGR have made a sweet teaser with some clips from the recording process. Watch the video below for a look into the studio. Spoiler: its pretty cool.
The album is being made with the help of Deerhoof's Greg Saunier, who makes a tops-optional appearance in the above video, and we all know his musical credentials are more than you can shake a (drum)stick at. (Thats enough puns for today, yikes.) Continuing on the subject of outside musicians, a few tracks also feature special guest appearances by Delicate Steve's guitarist Steve Marion, whose day in the studio overlapped with some heavy-duty construction in the building. No worries, fidelity fiends, it seems his guitar shredding is so mesmerizing that the mics couldnt be bothered to pick up the roar of power tools.
What else can we expect from the new LP? Apparently PGR took a more fluid approach to the arrangements this time around, experimenting with space, microphone movement, and the dimensionality of their instruments. According to the band: We spent a lot of time getting weird sounds wed never heard before. Why track a single guitar when you can have a second guitar, tuned to a special tuning, propped up against the amp and resonating through another amp? Magic!
Sounds magic to us. We're left wondering if the band's patented "funky Twin Peaks sound" from their self-titled debut will give way to a "skanking David Copperfield sound" on PGR's 2nd album titled TBD. Only time -- and whoever we hire to do publicity on the record -- will tell.
Buy your tickets, and stayed tuned for more news about the album. Until then, enjoy these photos from the bands trip to Arizona.
Wed give you more context on the second pic but we dont have any. (Probably better that way.)
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