Grooms

Prom is out TODAY

2011-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

When I was young, and still sometimes again, I would obsess over albums for days or weeks or even months at a time. I hope that we made an album like that with Prom, that at least someone can obsess over in their bedroom or dorm room or office cubicle or whatever. Here's the tracklisting with a comparison to a song off an album I/we obsessed over at some point (mostly Smiths stuff). Oh, and you can download the last track "3D Voices" off our Bandcamp.

1. Tiger Trees - Our "A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours"

2. Prom - our "Shoplifters of the World"

3. Expression Of - our "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

4. Imagining the Bodies - our "Sweet and Tender Hooligan"

5. Skating with Girl - our "Perfect Circle" (REM) or "Red Apple Falls" (Smog)

6. Psychics - our "Unhappy Birthday"

7. Aisha - our "This Night Has Opened My Eyes"

8. Into the Arms - our "Death of a Disco Dancer"

9. Sharing - our "Kicker of Elves" (GBV)

10. Don't Worry, You're Prettier - our "Sleepy Joe" (Smog)

11. 3D Voices - our "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"

Enjoy!

Favorite Smiths Lyrics Pt 1

2011-06-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

"Drink, drink, drink and be ill tonight, from the on you left behind" - "Unhappy Birthday"

"Time's tide will smother you, and I will too." - "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"

"And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder. Who said I lied to her?" - "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard this One Before"

"Leave me alone, because I'm alright, dad. Surprised to still be on my own." - "A Rush & a Push and the Land Is Ours."

"I doused our friendly venture with a hard-faced three-word gesture." - "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish"

"When you lay in awe on the bedroom floor and say 'Oh, oh, smother me mother.'" - "Rubber Ring"

"The sun shines out of our behinds" - "Hand in Glove"

"Boot the grime of this crotch, dear" - "Sheila Take a Bow"

I mean, they're all great, so it's hard to choose, really, even within songs. Plus Morrissey lifted a good fifth of them, artfully of course. But oh well. They are, and always be, good when you're lonesome.

Some Things I'm Randomly Missing about Our Friend Ariel

2011-06-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

I've been really missing our friend Ariel lately. Here's some of the things that are coming to mind right now:

His purple jeans that he got from his mom.

His random ideas for bbq's, including octopus.

His wanting to cook dinner for people a lot, including on my birthday (I wish I'd let him).

His getting me a cake for my birthdays anyway.

His absolutely winning smile.

The way he looked when he had a mustache.

His excitement over so many things.

His ability to quote Simpsons with me, specifically his impression of "It's great to be here, Krusty."

The time we let him drive, on tour, for about 10 minutes, before Emily woke up because he kept hitting the rumble strip.

His love of soda.

How tremendously caring he could be.

The time he got a bit nutty and pantsless backstage at a show in Philly.

The times he'd call me late at night when he couldn't sleep.

His support.

How much he loved helping out bands he loved.

His wide-eyed child-likeness.

I miss him.

A Brief Interview I did with Michael Azerrad, Author of Our Band Could Be Your Life

2011-05-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

We Grooms got asked by Michael Azerrad to play Husker Du songs for the 10 year reunion celebration of his book, Our Band Could Be Your Life. The book was huge and hugely inspiring for us when we read it at various points over the last ten years. Here's a quick interview I did with him regarding the book (in various ways).

Do you still get excited when the bands covered in Our Band... (or from the era in general) come out with new material? Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Mudhoney, etc., or when Mission of Burma reformed in 2004?

It is exciting when those bands come out with new material, and — quite aside from the question of whether it's any good — it's just more proof that those people are total lifers. They knew that the chances they took on their careers early on, by making uncompromising music on indie labels, would have implications for the rest of their lives. It wasn't like they were going to do this rough-and-tumble indie thing and then become an accountant or something — even the ones who had trained to become accountants (i.e., the Butthole Surfers). They were in it all the way. And when they come out with a new album, it's just more proof of their commitment and a validation of the values they embraced when they were very young. And that can be very inspiring, and not just to musicians. Our band could be your life, indeed.

And often the music is very good. I saw the Meat Puppets play SXSW this year and they were a blast. Mudhoney's latest album The Lucky Ones is one of the best of their career. Mission of Burma have been doing excellent shows and albums ever since they reformed — they've still got it. Sonic Youth still easily earns their name, musically and personally, full of imagination and curiosity. Dinosaur's post-reformation albums have been ridiculously good. Mike Watt's new album is excellent.

The indie music climate (the way music is reported on/reviewed/created/disseminated) is obviously totally different now, in 2011, than it was when it was being formed by the bands in your book. I know how I see it as different, but how do you see it as different, and do you think it's better, worse, just different? (Not really the quality of the bands that are around now versus then but the culture of indie/underground rock/music, and the way it's used in mainstream culture maybe)

The way indie music is used in mainstream culture is of course totally different. Now you hear Spoon in a Jaguar commercial. In 1984, that would have been literally unimaginable — as in, if you suggested it, you'd be considered clinically insane. The idea of authenticity being used as a marketing tool is a new and somewhat radical thing.
Then there's the whole question of what is indie. Is it a fiscal designation? A musical genre? A creative approach? It used to be much clearer. But in the end, it's just a pointless semantic debate.
Some things are easier now for indie musicians — like recording and distributing music, or lining up a tour. Some things are harder, like standing out in an exponentially more crowded field. And some things are exactly the same — why does the bass player always have to listen to Van Halen while she drives?

Did you have any opinion on the Steve Albini / Sonic Youth semi-feud (though it was really just comments Albini made) last year? For me it kind of re-awoke some of the excitement and idealism that I felt when I first discovered underground rock, the kind of thing that was at the core of your book.

Those guys go so far back, I couldn't take it too seriously. It was like a veteran comedy team doing their classic schtick. Steve has some valid points and yet it's hard to argue with the fact that Sonic Youth has, for 30 years, made exactly the music they wanted to make, stayed together all that time, and continued to make what I'm sure is quite a nice living. As long as they didn't kill any baby harp seals along the way, that sounds like the perfect career to me.

Opening up the book, you quote William Blake's "I must create my own System or be enslaved by another man’s". This quote, especially in context of the book, was always incredibly encouraging and inspiring to me. Do you think it's still possible for musicians to create their own systems? Is there any room left for those new systems? Are there any systems you'd like to see created by new musicians?

New systems can be made on any level. You can devise your own tuning for your guitar and that's a new system, and it will manifest itself in new music. Fueling your van with cooking oil is a new system with tremendous implications. Technology and imagination inspire new systems. And both of those things will be with us as long as people walk this earth.

When was the last time you listened to Let It Be?

I threw it on a few months ago, actually. It's still great. "Unsatisfied" and "Sixteen Blue" are classic songs. And just yesterday, I guest DJ'd on WNYU and played "Seen Your Video." Along with "Tiger Trees" from your fine new album Prom.

Photos from Our Mini-Tour

2011-03-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Lyrical Preview Part 3

2010-12-27T22:10:00.000-08:00

"Skating with Girl"

Girl skating, oh

girl skating, oh

to conjure you in snow

six foot ice sickle impales (in pales?)

and red rope licorice entrails (in trails?)

Girl skating, oh

to conjure you in snow.

Your stolen body asleep

My frozen boundaries can't keep

You talk in parables in streaks

to all the idiots and creeps.

Lyrical Preview Pt 2

2010-12-15T23:09:00.000-08:00

"Tiger Trees"

I saw your cursive name get drawn

Its pinking tendrils blanket my lawn

Its whipping q's spell:

"I want you to believe my name."

You're tiger tree branch and I'm the leaves

Your roaring cataracts are not believed

I've got six friends.

I wish that they could see your name

And they don't.

Our Friend Ariel's Favorite Song.

2010-12-14T21:30:00.001-08:00

He once told me and Emily that if there were one song he could play for anyone, this would be it.

For you, buddy:

Lyrical Preview Pt 1

2010-11-22T00:09:00.000-08:00

"Expression Of"

Richard thinks he ripped a hole in me, a hole in me.

Richard thinks he ripped a hole in me and one in you too.

Frightened bright wants you to feel alone.

He should stay home.

Mechanistic mutilator's dream:

A tome in chrome.

Day sun, night sun - expression of.

Day sun, night sun - the coming of.

I don't know how to wish good things for him

And I don't know what to do.

Dreaming of Skeletons

2010-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

I had this really strange dream last night where I was record hunting at Eat Records, even though they don't have records anymore and I think it's just called Eat now, and found these crazy, fancy, book versions of Skeleton$' pre-Money records. It was like they were these huge books with all this art, plus the albums on two 10" records. And then all the sudden I was on a college campus and Matt from Skeleton$ came up and was like "oh, that's cool that you found those!". And I was really excited to listen to them but then it was all a dream...

Our New Songs Are There

2010-08-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

Almost ready. Spent the day hammering out some of the tunes in the practice space at DBA and then I came home and have been working on some lyrics since.

Here are some samples:

"Phantom friends, their shadow shapes / A secret hallway on audiotape."

"Hiding in the insides / waiting just to meet eyes / Messy Mouth, come back home."

"Frightened bright wants you to feel alone / mechanistic mutilator's dream: a tome in chrome."

"Girl skating, oh, to conjure you in snow."

"A broken mouth I can't explain / a blurry crest with no name / your hooded head in the rain /

anonymous wrecks, snapping new necks."

There will also be our first ever instrumental, called "Psychics." It's acoustic.

ICP on a Target Commercial

2010-07-27T23:54:00.001-07:00

Say what you will (totally accurately) say about Insane Clown Posse and their massive coven:

It's retarded as fuck.

It's misogynistic as balls.

It's dopey as shit.

It's anti-intellectual as ass.

All true.

But here's what it's not, which indie culture is: completely co-opted. This is strange, since there are probably way more kids out there who are into it than whatever indie band is used to sell things at Urban Outfitters. I'm not sure it's even by their own choosing, so I have no idea if it's worthy of respect or not. But it is interesting. And kinda sad.

Our New Album

2010-07-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

So I think we're about done writing our new album. What will it sound like? Your guess is as good as mine. This is the first time that all the songs are basically in one tuning on the guitar (with some slight variations on two jams) which will be kinda nice in a lot of ways. Some of the songs:

3D Voices

Tiger Trees

Aisha

Joyride

Psychics

Skating with Girl

Sharing

Richard, Stay Home

Into the Arms

Surf Something

Dreaming of Police

Moving Shit around at Death by Audio

2010-07-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

We're currently moving things around in the pedal factory at DBA, where I make pedals most days. We just got a new room with lots more space, so our solder and paint fumes won't be as gnarly, and my latent attraction to my coworkers, Oli and Matt, will be easier to keep at bay.

It's funny how harshly entropy attacks a place of business, even when you're really working hard. Things become a mess and you don't really realize it until you clean them up, at which point you find all manner of things, like children's bones and Frog and Toad books.

My favorite pedal that we make is the Octave Clang. The guy in this vid doesn't quite use it like I do.

Some Classy Pictures from Our Last Trip Out.

2010-07-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

New Video!

2010-06-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

http://themusicslut.com/2010/06/tms-video-premiere-grooms-acid-king-of-hell-guitar-feelings-contest-grooms-vinyl-album/

Video courtesy of Matt Conboy and Vanessa Carr.

Grooms "Acid King of Hell (Guitar Feelings)" from kay kanine on Vimeo.

Rejoicer on Vinly NOW

2010-06-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Kanine Recs. Different art than the CD of Rejoicer and even comes with lyrics and a download card! Will be in stores and online shortly. In the meantime (or in the post-time, if you still wanna), you can buy directly through us for $15. You can get shirts too and CDs too! Write us at groomstheband@gmail.com to procure a copy. Oh, and the bottom pic is what we almost went with...

Ready to Cry

2010-06-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

Which is prettier?

One Hundred Things to Try and Sound Like besides Animal Collective's Last Three Albums

2010-05-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

1. Their first 5 albums.

2. If Charles Mingus were in the Beatles pre-Revolver.

3. If Charles Mingus were in the Beatles from Revolver on.

4. "I Talk to the Wind" by King Crimson

5. The first side of Low.

6. The second side of Low.

7. Your parents' best impression of their last 3 albums.

8. Charles Ives auditioning for Can.

9. The sense of embarrassment you (understandably) feel when you've poured yourself what you thought was vodka, but was, in fact, white vinegar.

10. Marital sex, conact-mic'd and run through a Digiverb pedal.

11. Guitars strung with human ligaments.

12. Muslim sacred music.

13. The Trees Community.

14. Kira Sedgwick trying, through song, to win back Kevin Bacon.

15. John Cage's "Dream".

16. William Baines.

17. Joan of Arc.

18. Joan of Arc.

19. Skeleton$.

20. How Joan of Arc felt.

21. Nudity.

22. The Cocker Spaniels.

23. The Geddy Address.

24. Mountains of hate eroded into hills of ambivalence.

25. Hills of ambivalence eroded into plains of apathy.

26. Plains of apathy eroded into valleys of love.

27. Plastic Ono Band.

28. Plastic Ono Band.

29. Going on Nicorette at age eleven.

30. Running out of Nicorette at age eleven.

31. Meeting someone on the internet.

32. The soundtrack to John Mayer and Gary Busey's buddy-cop romp.

33. Doctor Came at Dawn/Red Apple Falls

34. Wild Love.

35. "Obscured" by Smashing Pumpkins.

36. Rachel's

37. The score for The Mosquito Coast.

38. A dirty bedroom.

39. Sharon Van Etten singing in Sisters.

40. Staten Island's answer to Penderecki.

41. "Long Long Long".

42. Siamese Dream with a better drum sound.

43. Illumination by the Pastels.

44. Eureka by Jim O'Rourke.

45. TNT by Tortoise.

46. Drum's Not Dead without drums.

47. Very early Centro-matic.

48. My cat's early morning squeaks.

49. Mellow Gold and old Beck b-sides.

50. Johnny Cash and Donovan, together at last.

51. The weirder Smiths moments.

52. The sadder Solex moments.

53. "Torture Day" version with Cynthia Dall.

54. Cynthia Dall.

55. This Heat.

56. The Ex.

57. Fuck.

58. Bone Machine.

59. Xiu Xiu

60. Murmur.

61. Fables of the Reconstruction.

62. Automatic for the People.

63. Q Lazarus' "Goodbye Horses".

64. Portishead's Third.

65. In a Silent Way.

66. Bedhead.

67. The Dirty Three

68. The Fugs.

69. Calexico's darker moments.

70. Kyp Malone and Daniel Johnston with lots of helium and machine guns.

71. Unemployment.

72. Mission of Burma's more introspective moments.

73. Karate.

74. Karate.

75. Macha Loved Bedhead.

76. A literally insane kitten.

77. Millennial fear.

78. Laughing until it hurts.

79. Kissing.

80. Michael Jackson fronting U2.

81. Pregnancy, after trying for 20 years.

82. How purple everything gets when the sun is going down in the summer, in certain parts of Texas.

83. Sticking things like screws, needles, coils, and glass flecks inside your skin.

84. Swans.

85. The world, if the ending of Lost hadn't been so terribly disappointing.

86. The first taste of meat after not eating it for 10 years.

87. Staying up all night for good reasons.

88. Staying up all night for bad reasons.

89. Sleeping all day.

90. How you'd feel if you ingested nothing but sugary soda for a week.

91. Being cloned.

92. Flattop Tony and the Purple Canoes.

93. Honesty in Motion.

94. Wetness.

95. Songs original to David Lynch movies/shows / Angelo Badalamenti's scores thereto.

96. Drum circles where the drums are compressed to sound like Ringo's.

97. Ponytail.

98. Church bells.

99. Life in the fast lane.

100. The way Animal Collective's most recent 3 albums sounds to your pets.

This is in no way saying anything nasty about AC and their tunes.

Wake up in the Morning, Feeling like Keith Richards

2010-05-28T00:21:00.000-07:00

Getting tired of spoiled poseurs using hip, classic samples for their limp "songs".

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Endtroducing and Preemptive Strike to listen to!

Fanning Dakota

2010-05-21T01:49:00.000-07:00

There was a band who played at DBA tonight that I caught some of while taking a break from fuzz (and on my way to pick up some ice cream) called Slingshot Dakota. When I walked in the room, they were covering "Waiting Room" with just drums and synth, girl and boy vocals. Then, before launching into their next tune, the drummer said something like, "Hey, so if this song goes out to those in the audience that have been the victims of assault and sexual violence. If that's you, please speak to someone about it, don't keep it in. And the rest of us should all open our arms for our friends who have been victims, so they can come forward." Indie/punk/whatever rock is so annoyingly apolitical these days that it almost seemed like this drummer fellow was joking at first, and that really bothers me. Not that we always have to say something like this every time we play a show, but seriously, how awesome is it for a band to put themselves out there like that? I miss it.

A Pretty In-Depth Interview

2010-04-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here.

Smog Cover - Bloodflow

2010-04-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

You can listen to a cover we did of Smog's "Bloodflow" here. Smog is one of Emily and Travis' favorites of all time. Jim might come around on the next tour.

Others we'd like to do sometime:

One Less Star

Confederate Bills and Pinball Slugs

Bad Investment

Red Apples

Above is a picture of a Smog shirt Matt from Sisters got me on their last tour. Never seen it before.

Joyride Lyrics

2010-03-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

We have a new song we've started playing live. It's called "Joyride". Here are the lyrics:

Car windows: broken glass

country lanes blind past

and I feel so fast

You crash your hood

I melt

caution expelled

I feel so felt

On a joyride

A nice boy

made unsafe

by your tongues and blades

seduction and haze

My father's sedan

boyhood and boy

girlhood decoy

adult toy destroyed

On a joyride.

I don't like this music, Lord

I don't like its face

I don't like the chords they turn to waste

You weren't kidding when you said baptism

I did not believe

Car off the dock into the sea

on a joyride.

WOXXXXY!!!!!

2010-03-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

WHAT THE HELL?!

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/03/shocking-shutdown-woxy-goes-off-the-air/1

Fuck you, Future Sounds!

Always possible things could turn around, but in the meantime, proud to be one of the last bands to play for them.

http://woxy.com/music/loungeacts/index.php?id=414

SXSW

2010-03-10T01:22:00.000-08:00

Us at South by Southwest -

Wednesday March 17th, 12:30 pm at Music Gym w/ Class Actress, Ume, Male Bonding, and lots more.

Wednesday March 17th, 8pm at Wave Rooftop. Kanine Records party with Surfer Blood and lots more.

Wednesday March 17th, 9:15 at Longbranch Inn w/ Sisters, JEFF The Brotherhood, and lots more.

Yes, we're aware the festival is more than one day long. If you'd like us to play some other show let us know.

Violence Doubled.

2010-03-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

"Life and Limb" by Fugazi is creepy and catchy like nationalism. I miss Fugazi. Underground

music is an amoral void now.

Dressed...and Confessed

2010-03-06T15:59:00.001-08:00

BIBLEMAN.

Fag Feels Good at Market Hotel

2010-03-03T00:29:00.001-08:00

Bloodface

2010-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

Not like hemo-poseurs Wilkes-Krier and Coyne. Real.

$PERM.

2010-02-27T13:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.spermbank.com/

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A California Cryobank Sperm Donor?

After Emily brought up how sperm worked on our trip to DC the other night, this seemed appropriate. Safe to say none of us have what it takes.

Just look at the guys who DO!

RIP David Berman?

2010-02-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

I had a dream last night that I found out my buddy, THE Silver Joo, David Berman, had died in 2009, and I was just finding out now. In the dream I dedicated our show tonight (at Market Hotel) to him, and it was really sad. I think I'll still do that, but he's not dead, thankfully.

2010-02-26T17:26:00.001-08:00

Testing a post from my phone...

Sistah Sistah

2010-02-26T16:44:00.001-08:00

As opposed to the kind of singer-songwriter-y thinness of not-just-simple-but-really-just-boring music, or the big stew of trendy textures that don't turn into anything worth listening to of other music, Sisters, some friends of ours have a new album that's just good songs recorded really, really well. Not sure what it's going to be called yet, but it'll hopefully be called one of these:

Matt
Aaron
Matt & Kim & Aaron
Infinite Fatwa
Reggae Thyme!

Julianna Barwick

2010-01-29T13:01:00.000-08:00

Just listened to Florine by Ms. Barwick and couldn't be more thrilled to play this firehouse show with her tomorrow night.

If you haven't heard it, hear it. Come hug us tomorrow night, too.

Our Show This Weekend

2010-01-28T01:06:00.000-08:00

We were going to play a show at St. James Church, but due to some insane posse of clowns, we can't.

Instead we're playing at an antique firehouse at 87 Lafayette St. between Walker and Canal. It'll be beyond dope. Help us, especially if you're a Christian, and beyond that, especially if you're Catholic, show the people who don't give a shit about common sense, freedom, or facts, that fun can be had in all kinds of places by coming out.

Regarding the events that took place at St. James on January 15th, here's my favorite summary so far (from a commenter on Brooklyn Vegan, no less):

Ariel is just the scapegoat for a perhaps bad, perhaps desperate, and perhaps very much well intended choice made by the proprietors of the St. James church in order to save it from closing. Be assured that they were paid very well for use of their space (which in turn supports the church and the local community), were well aware that the plan was to fill the church to capacity (600), and that alcohol was to be served. The show was over before 1, and Ariel and his crew stayed until the early hours of the morning cleaning the church and bleaching the floors. The place was spotless afterwards. There is no problem here, it’s a business transaction, plain and simple, that the proprietors not only agreed to, but sought out themselves. Now they're facing mounting pressure (with an angry mob suggesting the bishop step down from his position) from the Catholic community and Ariel is the fall guy. It's all his fault, right.

It wasn’t in bad taste to host a show here. It wasn't in the interest of self-promotion. It was driven by the desire to provide kids with a different DIY show experience, in an interesting space not previously made available. Ariel has booked shows under the high line, in a boat that sailed through the NY harbor, and in the basement of Damon Dash's offices in Tribeca - where Mos Def freestyled over Javelin to a crowd of 100 people. Give him a break. He's trying to set up cool shows for the community and you all just turn your back on him at the slightest indication of a controversy.

Ariel was in the process of meeting with the local community board, and most of the neighborhood was EXCITED to have him host shows at the church, because if he did not, the church was likely going to close it’s doors forever. And bulldozed to the ground. Probably for some shitty new glass condos. Why aren’t you guys getting angry over the real issues here? If there was this kind of anger and protest against regional landmarks vanishing from the New York landscape due to unrealistic rents with no protection from the city, then maybe we’d get MORE ARTISTS AND LESS CONDOS.

And more importantly, the church never would have needed the cash to begin with.

Less Antagonism More Christ

2010-01-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

What the hell?

This is utter insanity. There should be no problem with a church choosing to open its doors and give kids a pretty-fucking-safe place to go for the night. No one should be getting in trouble, or offended. Not the promoters or the people at the church that let the promoters promote. This isn't a matter of respect or disrespect. It's a matter of context, facts, fun, reaching out, and remembering who it is you claim to follow. I say all of this as a committed believing person.

Bad vibes are from hell. Not rock music.

Smog Sunday

2009-12-27T19:46:00.000-08:00

"Back in School" by Smog -

(if someone wants to throw this one up on Youtube, let me know...)

I saw you standing there
With your hand in his hair
And his hand in
Your back pocket
I couldnt help but stare

I wanted to tell you
That I was back in school
But in the dark of the club
I knew it wouldnt carry much weight
Well, I'm trying to learn your language
I'm trying to learn your language

I came to your party empty-handed
I came to your party, uninvited
I came to your party, a headstart on the drinking

I wanted to tell you
That I was back in school
But in the chit-chat, chit-chat chit-back...
Well, I'm trying to learn your language
It's like a fly learning how to bark
I'm trying to learn your language
It's like a fly learning how to bark

That smile on your face
That smile on your face
That smile on your face
I tried to erase
That smile on your face

But a kiss was not the answer
A kiss was not the answer
A drunken kiss was not the answer

Waits Wednesday

2009-12-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Tom Waits' "Soldier's Things" -

Davenports and kettle drums
and swallow tail coats
table cloths and patent leather shoes
bathing suits and bowling balls
and clarinets and rings
and all this radio really
needs is a fuse
a tinker, a tailor
a soldier's things
his rifle, his boots full of rocks
and this one is for bravery
and this one is for me
and everything's a dollar
in this box

Cuff links and hub caps
trophies and paperbacks
it's good transportation
but the brakes aren't so hot
neck tie and boxing gloves
this jackknife is rusted
you can pound that dent out
on the hood
a tinker, a tailor
a soldier's things
his rifle, his boots full of rocks
oh and this one is for bravery
and this one is for me
and everything's a dollar
in this box

New York - My Kinda Town!

2009-12-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, is it good to be back. Our tour was amazing. We met cool people, got kicked out of houses we were staying at, saw doomsday blockbuster movies, ate hot dogs, with meat and without, cut our fingers, watched Los Angeles be unable to handle rain without the power going out, lost red hats and found them again, stayed with our parents, got in car wrecks...

We found used copies of Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever and Soundgarden's Down on the Upside and listened to those fellas insane amounts, for the first time in years. "Switch Opens" by SG and "Face in the Crowd" by TP are SO GOOD. Yeah.

Lyrics and New Songs

2009-11-20T22:59:00.000-08:00

Here are the lyrics to one of our songs on Rejoicer, called "Kier".

And spent 2003 missing virginity

crying in Austin's arms to Kevin's alarm

interlocking healing limbs

new pseudonyms

sleepwalking and sicknessing

self-witnessing

to be held just like a kitchen knife, Kier

to unveil and split new seams

things are hatching and opening up

newborn muscles, crisp like leaves

black hole believes, comes back to me

my closest friends: the living dead

drumlessly march over me

lawlessly going home.

We also have lots of new songs coming down the pipeline.

Here's a line from what I think of as our "Everybody Hurts":

Sing under blankets, nestled in the filament, halle.

Here's one from a song about the utter lusciousness of fall:

The gift outside is forming angles and makes self known in shaking trees.

On resurrection, via surf:

Imagining the bodies, rotted and rising.

Some others:

Froze cassettes, cold effects.

You were born in country lanes. I was born to learn your name.

There's something wrong with you. Your skull's see-through.

You do not walk around, because these are walls that you respect.

We're going to start recording a new album or EP or something early next year. Some of these will be on there. Maybe all.

Taking Time to Make a List

2009-11-19T14:17:00.000-08:00

We've played three shows thus far on our tour. Four if you count a radio show. We're currently at various exegetical stations, in various states/nation-states.

These are the ten best albums of the 80s. You might not be terribly surprised by the selections. Sometimes when I can't fall asleep, I make this list in my head. This happens fairly frequently.

No order:

REM - Murmurs

Mission of Burma - Vs.

Joy Division - Closer

Tom Waits - Swordfish Trombones

The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come

This Heat - Deceit

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

Public Image Ltd. - Second Edition

The Cure - Pornography

You'll notice there are only 9. I never make it there without falling asleep.

Some bands that start with S (I think this is the most quality letter in the musical alphabet):

Smog

Salena

Smashing Pumpkins

Smiths

Shonen Knife

Suckers

Sisters

Spell Master

Sun Ra (not a band, but still counts)

Slint

Snow (Informer)

Swans

Sean "Puffy" Combs

Surfer Blood

Skeletons

Sonic Youth

Silver Jews

Storm and Stress

Slowdive

Silkworm

(exo) Skill

Saints

Skywave

Sade

Slasher Risk

Supertramp

Supergrass

Shining

George Straight

Tour Dates!

2009-11-11T11:26:00.001-08:00

Nov 8 2009

3:00P

Vassar College w/Grass Widow Poughkeepsie, New York

Nov 15 2009

8:00P

Contemporary Space 13 Cincinnati, Ohio

Nov 16 2009

8:00P

Bishop Bar Bloomington, Indiana

Nov 17 2009

8:00P

Record Bar Kansas City, Missouri

Nov 24 2009

8:00P

Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, Iowa

Nov 25 2009

6:00P

WRDP Radio Show at 6pm Chicago, Illinois

Nov 25 2009

8:00P

Ronny’s Chicago, Illinois

Nov 28 2009

8:00P

Project Lodge Madison, Wisconsin

Nov 29 2009

8:00P

Tower 2012 Cleveland, Ohio

Dec 1 2009

8:00P

TBA w/Heavy Cream Nashville, Tennessee

Dec 2 2009

8:00P

Maxine’s Hot Springs, Arkansas

Dec 3 2009

8:00P

Conservatory Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Dec 4 2009

8:00P

Blue Lounge Wichita, Kansas

Dec 5 2009

8:00P

Handsome Kitten Dallas, Texas

Dec 6 2009

8:00P

Mohawk Austin, Texas

Dec 9 2009

8:00P

TBA Tucson, Arizona

Dec 10 2009

8:00P

Silverlake Lounge Los Angeles, California

Dec 11 2009

8:00P

Che Cafe San Diego, California

Dec 15 2009

8:00P

The Hemlock w/ Tempo No Tempo San Francisco, California

'Tween Peaks, a Climax.

2009-10-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

This will make you laugh and/or cry.

This is so much different than the time that Grooms sat at the Rhodes with David Lynch. I wonder what gives.

Angelo, taking dictation from my heart...

CMJ Time

2009-10-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

We're playing a bunch at CMJ this year. Also playing the Black Cat in DC tomorrow night (10/19).

It goes like this:

10/19- Washington DC - Black Cat

10/20 - Cake Shop at 3:45 AND THEN Death by Audio at 11pm

10/21 - Force Field PR party at Pianos at 2:15pm

10/23 - IN Tandem party at Littlefield at 8pm

10/24 - After the Jump party at Brooklyn Bowl at 2pm.

Songs to listen to before and after the shows:

"Lawn of the Limp" by Tortoise and the Ex

"Forget" by Mission of Burma

"Soldier's Things" by Tom Waits

"A Reminder" by Radiohead.

Dreamsuck Vid

2009-10-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

May your eyes implode.

Heavy Days

2009-10-16T08:45:00.001-07:00

Release: Part E

2009-10-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

Playing Tuesday and Wednesday in Nashville and Knoxville, respectively, and then...

Day In / Day Out

2009-10-09T00:49:00.000-07:00

Rejoicer will be available digitally on Itunes a week early: October 13, 2009.

"To rock and roll is to have sex."

Songs:

"Agnus Dei" - Rufus Wainwright

"Headlights" - Cat Power

Enough Compassion Not to Screw / I Could've with Two Fingers

2009-10-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

In honor of fall weather, a couple more albums quite useful for kicking August and all its sweat and sorrow in the teeth:

Doctor Came at Dawn and Red Apple Falls.

Both by Smog. For watching things like relationships die along with the leaves.

Pre-order My Heart

2009-09-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Our album, Rejoicer, which comes out October 20th, is now available for pre-order here, from the good people at Insound.

I Can Hear Voices in the Water

2009-09-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Scrupulosity is a form of OCD that focuses on guilt and guilty feelings, on a consuming sense of not being good enough and needing to do increasingly ridiculous things to right yourself, and an equally increasing and equally consuming sense that you will never be able to right yourself. It informs the lyrics of 72% of our songs.

For some reason, Cat Power's albums, from Dear Sir through The Covers Record (but not really anything after that) provide the perfect musical backdrop for going through this and hopefully coming out of it, or at least learning to deal with it.

And fall is now a reality. Goosebumps. An amazing album for fall - Illumination by The Pastels. Autumnal standouts: "Cycle" and "Viaduct".

Shivering

2009-09-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

It seems they're now playing "Dreamsucker" on WOXY. There will be a video for that one very soon.

Had a dream last night that Low were playing live, and they had songs that were nothing like their actual songs, and the members of the band were very different looking, and there were like 12 of them for some reason. In a way, I now feel like I've seen them live.

Tour dates for November will be up super soon. We already have a bunch planned for October...

Some songs:

Low - "In Metal" / "July"

Mogwai - "Mogwai Fear Satan"

Let's Hear It for the Boys

2009-09-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

It seems like a commitment to feminist ideals and goals, at least some of them, used to be a very big component of the underground rock ethos, and that now it's not.

Maybe it never was? Maybe it was just something that was paid lip service by people in the 80s and 90s for some kind of cred. I hope that's not the case, but either way, it was an important thing for young kids to hear as they were just discovering music that they could really care about. It pointed important arrows in important directions. It was a good reminder to reexamine values and behaviors that we mindlessly carry on with.

That all seems so barely there now. Not to say that underground music has to be inherently political or socially volatile in any way. Not that the underground was even ever easily defined. But things don't always have to be a party. And there will probably always be things to undercut. Let's keep busy.

Songs to listen to:

Smog - "All Your Women Things"

Belle & Sebastian - "Women's Realm"

Grooms/Brides

2009-09-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

Going to go out on a limb here, a very sturdy, well attached limb. The one VALUE central to Christianity is loving people as they are.

How the fuck churchgoers all o'er ignore this, or allow their brains to warp in on themselves until they somehow think standing up against legalizing gay marriage is some sort of moral showcase is beyond me.

This is, of course, well-trodden territory, but whatever. This bullshit has yet to die, and I guess until it does, we'll have to keep saying some of the same things over and over again.

Some songs:

Joan of Arc - As Black Pants Make Cat Hairs Appear / Knife Fights Every Night

Leonard Cohen - Joan of Arc

Wicked Game Available

2009-09-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/the-gum-drop-cvi-hear-new-grooms-win-10-limitededition-rock-tees_090231.html

Maybe try listening to the original and our cover at the same time?

Wicked Face, Game Book.

2009-09-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we recorded a cover. This is the first cover we've ever recorded. It's a cover of "Wicked Game" by the one and only Chris Isaak.

You can watch the sextacular video for the original here, if you've never seen it somehow.

So, if you want to hear that cover that we did, sign up on the Stereogum mailing list. In a few days, you'll get an email regarding it and you can be in a super special club of people that heard it first.

Also, you can now be our (Grooms') friend on Facebook. Facebook is the new AOL.

Last thought: forgot to mention that when 19, skipped a math test to drive to Dallas and see Fuck live with my mom and friend Chris. My mom thought they were great and they were super nice fellows. Handsome as could be too.

Literally the best song of all time: The Beatles - "Long Long Long".

Fuck

2009-09-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Fuck is a great band. In the mid-90s they met in a holding cell in an Oakland prison and started writing some gorgeous songs with names like "My Bestest Friend," "Wrongy Wrong," "Drinking Artist". They could straddle (they have a song called "Straddle" too) the line between heavy guitar fuzz and soft sad quietness in ways that are quite literally impossible, but they could also be total goofballs ("Twist Off"). All four members sing, and they all sing completely uniquely while also managing to sound somewhat like each other. They always seem to do whatever they want and always do it well.

You can go here to listen to some of their songs, but they're really all worth hearing. My ears would be poorer ears had they not heard the Fuck catalogue.

Here are some pictures from our show under train tracks on Saturday.

We Talk to People

2009-09-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/blogs/music/2009-09-04/the-grooms-interview/

Semi-lengthy interview w/ Interview.

Some musical suggestions for while you're reading:

Cranberries: Linger

Cynthia Dall: Holland

Rejoicing in the Pictures

2009-09-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

So the pictures that are up are some of the art for our album that's out 10-20, Rejoicer. It features, among other things, a boy's face covered in blackberries, mashed with love and into love. It makes good paint.

In many ways, fall is the only season that matters. Fall is for rejoicing.

Songs:

Cat Power - "King Rides By"

Beasts of Bourbon - "Psycho"

To Be Held Just Like a Kitchen Knife

2009-09-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can't read things that are good, because you're not in the right place. Sometimes Kierkegaard, one of my favorites, showcases a severity that beats on my Pure-O OCD in just the wrong way, and my mind starts wandering down back alleys.

We played a show the other night under train tracks in Chelsea. New frontiers, warm feelings.

Some songs:
"Somethings I Just Don't Want to Know" - Dirty Three
"Open the Light" - Boards of Canada
"Brother" - Beck

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