The van is dead; long live the van. It is destined for an afterlife of disseminated scrap. All cassettes were retrieved before abandonment, though we thought twice about actually claiming the dijeridu cassette, which may or may not have caused all of this trouble to begin with.

And, as previously feared, the tour is therefore over. There was a faint hope of renting another vehicle to finish the remaining mini-tour dates: Urbana and Indianapolis. That hope faded with the quote of a fee for dropping the rental off in Ann Arbor (apparently rentals that are driven away from Indiana are never returned – go figure?).

So we have fitfully rested in Marion while we wait to be picked up. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. We’ll let you know when we have the heart to try this again. For now, we’ll return to Michigan to nurse wounded rock ‘n’ roll spirits.

Sequence of events:

• Left Michigan in high spirits; van came with instructions from Ed (not joining us for the tour) that it had to be started in sequence with a particular Pantera song. Cassette was provided. Van was successfully started and driven across the Indiana border.
• Played a thrift-store cassette of dijeridu and drumming, a self-purported Shamanic journey tape. This may have corrupted the van’s aura. Loud noise ensued; van stopped running. Much smoke.
• We were broken down just off the exit to Marion, Indiana. Joel has a buddy in this town who drove us into town, following the towed van.

So, the Bloomington show happened without us. I got word that we were given a round of applause in Bloomington for still being alive. Thanks, Bloomington. It’s appreciated.

Nevertheless, we did rock last night. A place called Beatnik’s in Marion let us play a show to 3 or 4 people. Joel’s buddy let us sleep at his place. Now we await word on the van to see if we’ll make the remaining shows. If the van is dead, we may rent a vehicle, if resources allow. Believe with us, friends. This has been a surreal/fun/sad kind of trip so far.

Bringing our songs to these shows:

July 29 – Bloomington, Ind. @ The Bishop
July 30 – Champaign, Ill. @ Gepetto’s Workshop
July 31 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ Vollrath
Aug. 1 – Kalamazoo, Mich. @ The Strutt

UPDATE: 7/28/10 – Watch for a possible last-minute show on Aug. 1, somewhere in Michigan.

Friends, family, well-wishers, pre-orderers, wishy-washiers, etc. TROUBLE HOUSE arrives this week. But why should you wait for we amateurs with no disc distribution deal to clod over to your favorite local record store and put TH on consignment? (We will do that, by the way) Why should you wait for iTunes, Amazon and other hegemonic music superpowers to load our blood, sweat and tears onto their monolithic servers? You shouldn’t wait! Hear it now, before it goes on sale. Hear it free from the iTunes-constrained 30 second samples. Hear it in its entirety, and then spread the word.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: 7/16/10 – TROUBLE HOUSE is now available for download on Bandcamp; a perfectly awesome purchase option!

Well, alright. After many overly optimistic projections, delays and put-off promises, here’s something tangible. Trouble House, the seemingly perpetually forthcoming album, is one minor art decision away from being sent off for pressing. A year and a half of hard, careful work will come to fruition in just a few short weeks. And to show we mean business, we’ll be offering pre-orders at each of our upcoming shows in Jackson, Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids. Here’s what’s on tap:

1. I’ve Never Been To New York
2. Born An Idiot
3. Rock And Roll, A Lady
4. S.U.
5. All I Get Is This
6. [untitled]
7. I’ve Got A Feeling
8. Your Letters

All in all, 37 minutes of slightly new territory for us, as you may know if you’ve been to a show lately, since most of these tunes have made it into a set, or if you picked up the “I’ve Got A Feeling” single. This is a louder, more dense Fields of Industry, thanks to help from some of Michigan’s finest, and we’re all very proud.

But, enough! The important thing is to get it out so you, friend, can put it in your ears. And it’s just a few short weeks away. When that magic date is determined, rest assured we’ll let you know.

***UPDATE 6/10/10***

Trouble House is now slated for release on July 1, 2010. CDs will be on hand at shows after that date, and eventually at stores to be announced later. You’ll also be able to download it at your preferred digital store.

In the meantime, get your order in at any of these upcoming shows, and we’ll have it in the mail to you as soon as we get it:

Jackson Symphony Orchestra Space :  Jackson, MI : 6/4 (tomorrow!) 7pm

Elbow Room : Ypsilanti, MI : 6/12

Mulligans : Grand Rapids, MI : 6/18

See you there.

We’re playing the Elbow with two fantastic pop bands: 1959 Hat Co. (Toledo) & Santa Monica Swim & Dive Club (Ypsilanti). I’m still wrapping my head around the super tunes they have up on their myspaces.

Psyched for this show! A benefit for the Litribune.

Founder’s
235 Grandville Ave. SW
Grand Rapids, MI
9:00 PM / $5
FB event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=285667231870

w/
Fainting Generals
Petals Rang The Bell

Belated notice here, but come if you can. We’ll be doing a quieter-than-usual set at Scene Metrospace w/ the great Stargrazer and the also great White Pines.

Fields of Industry
White Pines
Stargrazer
1/22/10 – 9pm – $5 – 110 Charles, East Lansing, MI

FB event page here.

Also coming up quickly, I’ll be doing a solo set, in-studio at the Impact 89 FM’s local music show, The Basement.

Joshua Barton
1/28/10 – 9pm
Impact 89 FM – WDBM – East Lansing
88.9 FM in the East Lansing area
or here: http://www.impact89fm.org

Our buddy and Fields of Industry alum Graham Mason made this awesome skeleton art for the very-soon-to-be-released single of Ive Got A Feeling. Were hard at work to bring it to Mittenfest in all of its handmade goodness. CD-Rs aaannnd cassettes.

We’ve been working hard to wrap up a single from the forthcoming release in time to debut it on CD-R and cassette (yes, cassette!) at Mittenfest IV. The single, “I’ve Got A Feeling,” will be a self-issued Arts vs Entertainment release. More details, including cover art, will be coming in the next several days. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here’s a little taste.
Download audio file (Ive-Got-A-Feeling-clip.mp3)