Ghost Towns of the West are playing a benefit show for the National Stuttering Association at CAUSE (Lyndale & Lake in Minneapolis) on Friday, March 16th.
Details are here: http://www.facebook.com/events/241229069294007/
They also have two additional shows coming up at Amsterdam in St. Paul (3/14 and 3/24).
GHOST TOWNS OF THE WEST TO RELEASE 7” VINYL
Ghost Towns of the West continue their quest to celebrate honesty in rock-and-roll with the release of a seven-inch single on November 22, 2011. Produced by Ed Ackerson at Flowers Studio, the seven-inch features the tracks “Robust” and “Mr. Loewe.”
The record’s A-side, “Robust,” lives up to its name. The track, with its driving beat, primal distortion, strong vocals, and sensitive keyboard melodies, strains against its potent three-minute, thirty-second package. On the record’s reverse, the dastardly “Mr. Loewe” emerges as a subversive anthem easily appreciated by anyone yearning to tell off that self-important, know-what’s-best-for-me-know-it-all in their life.
This is the band’s second record, and comes fully gestated a mere eight months after the release of their self-titled EP. All songs were written and performed by the members and denizens of the band: Dan Crowe (guitars/vocals), Ryan Jansen (keyboards/sax), Andrew Dwyer (bass/vocals), Joel Korte (guitars/vocals), and Ryan Harding (drums/vocals). “Robust” features guest-vocalist Danielle Wagner.
Ghost Towns of the West plans to celebrate this modest achievement with a celebratory gathering / rock show at Fineline Music Café on November 26, 2011. The event will also feature Chiefs of the North, Little Man, and Stereo Pirates.
Go to www.chaseblissrecords.com for pre-order info (hint: limited edition white vinyl). More info to come.
Ghost Towns of the West are taking a little jaunt through the Midwest, starting tonight with a “Mini-Tour Kickoff” at the Triple Rock Social Club. From there we’ll be heading to Milwaukee on Thursday night (YNOT3), Madison on Friday (we don’t have a real gig so we’re playing acoustically in the street), and Saturday night in Chicago (Livewire Lounge).
Dan Crowe promises to be tweeting regularly from @GhostTowns.
A little over 2 years ago, Ghost Towns of the West took the stage at Tiffany’s Bar after midnight and played their first rock show. Fortunately, most of who attended were too drunk to remember much of the performance, but it was a great night. We’ve worked really hard in these 2 years and feel like we’ve grown musically and in our relationships with one another, which is essentially the mission statement of this thing. We’re playing at Tiff’s again on Saturday w/ The Blend (who also played at that first show) along with Young & Tender and Matt Latterell.
PHOTO: This is actually a picture from the Jones Korte set earlier in the night… I couldn’t find any pictures of the actual Ghost Towns of the West set. This photo is great though, you can clearly see Jake Miller trying to sell CDs for us :)
Brand new Ghost Towns of the West shirts available at our EP Release show this Saturday at the Fineline.
These were designed and silk screened by the loving hands of Blake Wiehle, a talented local artist.
They are super soft, tri-blend, American Apparel shown here with Jansen (keyboards, saxophone, vocals) and Kelly (beautiful, smart, witty).
Event link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=197077700321537
In the wake of the tremendous success of the film “The King’s Speech,” Ghost Towns of the West has decided to offer a free download of our song, “I’ll Get By” off of our forthcoming EP (click “Releases” on the right of this page if you’d like to buy the full EP). It is a bit of an autobiographical experience of my (Joel) experience with stuttering.
Here is the download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?a2n9h8s7mzoj62i
Lyrics below:
“I’ll Get By”
I was painting a blue/grey cloud
And it’s following me around
I know there’s something wrong with me
It’s not hard for little boys to believe
I was watching it on a movie screen
I close my eyes until the end of the scene
Living in this darkness, in this fear
Dear God, when can I get out of here
I can’t be anybody else
I don’t know the reason
For no prescription, no disease
If no one knows the reason why
I’ll get by
So I fly to New York to get fixed
Maybe I can learn to be different
…
But maybe there was nothing wrong with me
Maybe this is how I’m supposed to be
I can’t be anybody else
I don’t know the reason
For no prescription, no disease
If no one knows the reason why
I’ll get by
GHOST TOWNS OF THE WEST EP PRE-ORDER NOW LIVE!!
The EP Release Show isn’t until Saturday, March 26th at The Fineline but…..
If you pre-order the EP for $7 you get all this: The physical EP mailed to you, a ticket worth $3 off the $6 cover for the EP release show happening next month, and a sticker… everything mailed to you ON FRIDAY, MARCH 18TH (1 week BEFORE the release show) via USPS First Class (Shipping is free).
Go to www.chaseblissrecords.com to order, or just click the “home” link on the right side of this page.
We posted this on facebook last week, but also wanted to make sure it got up on the Chase Bliss Records news section too.
I (Joel) also wanted to write a little about the history of the song, “Pilot’s License.”
Back in middle school and high school, our good friend Kiel Harell was the first person that I remember (besides John Krueger) who was starting to get interested in recording music. I started getting interested in it a few years after Kiel. At some point in high school, Kiel Harell (along with some collaboration with Sam Vogel) were working on this song, with the working title “Pilot’s License.” At that point, there weren’t any lyrics or anything, the song was just called Pilot’s License. I instantly loved the song, and I never forgot about it. It seems like the song would come up in random conversations from time to time with Kiel during our college years as well… but Kiel and I never forgot about that song. Flash forward to March 13th 2007, about a month after my brother died. I found this message I wrote to Kiel on facebook:
“
Kiel,
Strange as it sounds… I’ve been playing pilot’s license a lot lately…. it just feels right. I’ve been writing lyrics that kind of go with this idea that you get your pilot’s license when you die… let me know what you think, it’s still a work in progress but it feels good to me. I’m taking some time off this summer before I start work to put in some heavy time on the album I’ve been working on for years. I’ve got so many unfinished songs on my computer. Will you be home at all this summer? maybe we can work on pilot’s license. let me know.
Joel
“
Kiel responded with this:
“
Joel,
I was trying to figure out the lead part in that song again the other day. I want you to write lyrics to it. Go ahead and work on it as much as you want. I will be in Montreal for the first half of June I think but I’ll be in the Midwest after that until the beginning of august.
It would be great to sit down and work on some music together. Pilot’s License has kind of haunted me because it has been unfinished for so many years and I think it’s time you (we!) complete it. I would also love to hear what you are putting together for the album and will help with it in any way you see fit.
It’s nice to hear from you buddy,
kiel.
“
Later, that summer, we got together and worked out the basic structure and performed at “Late Night Sessions” (my annual recording getaway I do every year with friends). Judah Birkeland also sang a vocal part during that recording that I loved, and I use that melody on the song now as well.
Anyway, when Ghost Towns of the West formed, we decided to play this song, and with Kiel’s blessing, the band further collaborated on it to how the song sounds today when we play it live, and in the recording.
And that, is the story of Pilot’s License. It’s not just the song that I love, but a whole history of a friendship tied into it… as well as a tribute to my brother. We’re really happy with how the song/video turned and we hope you like it too :)
Love,
Joel
Hey everybody,
Very happy to share 3 of the tracks from our forthcoming EP (just click the title of this post). We’re releasing the record on Saturday, March 26th at the Fineline. Sexy Delicious, Chiefs of the North, and Red Daughters are also on the bill.
…more to come
I wanted to make a few posts talking about the Ghost Towns of the West EP we recorded at Flowers Studio with Ed Ackerson. We recorded 6 full songs in 3 days, it was crazy in a wonderful way... and one of the coolest experiences of our lives.
BUT, I’ll talk about all THAT some other time… I wanted to point out one interesting bit of info for any gearheads out there. I’ve been wanting to build a REDD.47 microphone preamp for about the last year… and I mentioned this to Ed and learned he was interested in procuring one, so that gave me the kick in the butt to get the thing done. As always, the project took longer than I anticipated, but I finished it the day before our recording session. It looks beautiful and sounds beautiful. We recorded most all of our vocals through it and a Wunder CM7 (U47) Mic. For all the Beatle aficionados out there, the U47 and REDD.47 were the mic/preamp combination used for a lot of stuff at Abbey Road… and Ghost Towns of the West are the first (of many, presumably) to use this combo at Flowers. I think that’s cool!
Here’s a picture of the REDD.47 (with the top off) that now very happily resides at Flowers.
Joel
