thursday, july 2nd
the church
adam franklin (swervedriver)
@ showcase live, foxborough
sunday, july 5th
city breathing
deep sea diver
adam rich
steve pardo & lindley cameron
@ the middle east upstairs
saturday, july 11th
the luxury
the click five
midatlantic
aloud
@ the paradise
sunday, july 12th
the dead weather
screaming females
@ the house of blues
saturday, july 18th
butterflies
travels
@ pa's lounge
sunday, july 19th
grand duchy (w/frank black)
the bunnies
van elk (w/valerie mistle thrush)
@ the middle east downstairs
sunday, july 19th
lymbyc systym
coralcola
the cush
the pandas
@ the middle east upstairs
monday, july 20th
you can be a wesley (cd release!)
casper & the cookies
everything, now!
magic magic
@ the middle east upstairs
monday, july 20th
green day
the bravery
@ the garden
tuesday, july 21st
mark eitzel & marc capelle
performing american music club songs
@ the lizard lounge
friday, july 24th
varsity drag (cd release!)
the grownup noise
winterpills
brendan boogie & the best intentions
@ the middle east upstairs
sunday, july 26th
pete yorn
@ the house of blues
tuesday, july 28th
cass mccombs
jennifer o'connor & band
mike bones
@ tt the bears
wednesday, july 29th
foreign born
the veils
faces on film
@ tt the bears
thursday, july 30th
justin ripley & his band
@ pa's lounge
friday, july 31st
destroyer (dan bejar)
iran
wooden wand
@ the paradise
friday, july 31st
depeche mode
peter bjorn & john
@ great woods
saturday, august 1st
alasdair roberts
@ lorem ipsum books, inman square
saturday, august 1st
wheat (cd release show!)
the xyz affair
@ great scott
sunday, august 2nd
soft power (featuring mary timony)
gramercy arms (featuring dave derby)
@ tt the bears
monday, august 3rd
billy bragg
@ the berklee performance center
monday, august 3rd
tinted windows
(james iha, adam schlesinger,
taylor hanson, & bun e. carlos)
@ the paradise
monday, august 3rd
coldplay
elbow
kitty daisy & lewis
@ the comcast center
wednesday, august 5th
the rural alberta advantage
joshua english (ex-six going on seven)
with lisa molinaro
baby teeth
@ the middle east upstairs
wednesday, august 5th
arctic monkeys
modey lemon
@ the paradise
wednesday, august 5th
joe pernice (solo show & book tour)
@ the brattle theatre (2 shows)
wednesday and thursday
august 5th and 6th
paul mccartney
@ fenway park
friday, august 7th
the electric prunes
love
sky saxon (of the seeds)
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, august 8th
blondie
pat benatar
@ the b.o.a. pavilion
wednesday, august 12th
the warlocks
@ great scott
wednesday, august 12th
the pretenders
cat power
juliette lewis
@ the bank of american pavilion
thursday, august 13th
bat for lashes
@ the paradise
friday, august 14th
six finger satellite
@ tt the bears
sunday, august 16th
the decemberists
heartless bastards
@ mountain park, holyoke
sunday, august 16th
trashcan sinatras
@ tt the bears
monday, august 17th
the breeders
@ the paradise
friday, august 21st
choo choo la rouge (cd release!)
the big disappointments
impossible hair
the operators
@ pa's lounge
saturday & sunday
august 22nd & 23rd
bruce springsteen & the e street band
@ the comcast center / great woods
saturday, august 29th
caspain
actors & actresses
irepress
arms & sleepers
@ tt the bears
sunday, august 30th
the flaming lips
explosions in the sky
stardeath and white dwarfs
@ the boa pavilion
thursday, september 3rd
kay hanley (letters to cleo)
antisocialites
ingenue
@ tt the bears
saturday, september 5th
the pains of being pure at heart
cymbals eat guitars
depreciation guild
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, september 5th
pet shop boys
@ the house of blues
thursday, september 10th
autolux
sleepy sun
@ the paradise
thursday, september 10th
dirty three
@ the i.c.a. boston
friday, september 11th
kings of leon
glasvegas
@ the comcast center / great woods
saturday, september 12th
the cult
performing 'love' in its entirety
@ the house of blues
sunday, september 13th
down
melvins
@ the house of blues
tuesday, september 15th
the horrors
@ the paradise
saturday & sunday
september 19th & 20th
boston lebowski fest
with movie screening & bowling
@ the house of blues & kings
sunday, september 20th
u2
snow patrol
@ gillette stadium
tuesday, september 22nd
son volt
@ the paradise
friday, september 25th
township
the lights out (cd release!)
reverse
gravehaven
@ tt the bears
friday, september 25th
charlatans uk
hatcham social
@ the paradise
saturday, september 26th
kmfdm
@ the house of blues
sunday, september 20th
maximo park
@ the paradise
monday, september 28th
sunny day real estate
@ the house of blues
wednesday, september 30th
mono
maserati
@ the middle east downstairs
sunday, october 4th
the "loud & rich" tour
richard thompson &
loudon wainwright iii
performing solo & together
@ the sanders theatre, harvard
wednesday, october 7th
bob mould
@ the paradise
saturday, october 10th
the psychedelic furs
happy monday
@ the house of blues
wednesday, october 14th
loney dear
asobi seksu
@ great scott
wednesday, october 21st
mum
@ the somerville theatre
saturday, october 31st
pinback
@ the paradise
friday, november 13th
janeane garofalo
rob riggle
two shows @ the wilbur theatre
visit tourfilter for more shows
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Monday, June 09, 2008
Interview + Giveaway: Mission of Burma
 The men from Mission of Burma are halfway through a hectic couple of weeks, as they've just returned from a short European tour with Shellac to treat Boston and New York fans to some very special performances. Over two nights in each city, the seminal Boston band will perform the entirety of their 1981 debut EP, "Signals, Calls, and Marches", along with their 1982 full-lengther, "vs.". Each set will be fleshed out with some rarities, and guitarist Roger Miller provides more details on that in the interview responses below, which he and bassist Clint Conley were kind enough to provide during a long drive through Spain a few days back. Thanks to Fenway Recordings, I've got a pair of tickets for each Boston show (Thursday and Friday at the Paradise) to give away. Details after the interview... Q: So how did the idea of running through each album over two nights come about? Obviously the recent Matador reissues played a part, but were you all into the idea initially, or was anyone resistant?
Clint Conley: The idea first arose when we were asked to do "vs" at the Pitchfork Fest. That seemed quite an honor, and an idea totally worth stealing and repeating. Seemed to me we were of like-mind on the matter.
Roger Miller: I can't recall exactly, but I think (MoB manager and Fenway Recordings head honcho) Mark Kates suggested it. It's that "Don't Look Back" idea that the ATP festival started, where bands perform their classic albums. It just kind of made sense given the reissues. We certainly would not have done this except that the reissues are coming out. Last fall we hardly performed any of the old stuff, because we were focusing on the new ideas.
Q: If you've had time to run through the seldom-played songs already, are there any that have surprised you (either in a 'Why weren't we playing this one all along?' sort of way, or a 'Uh oh, we're in trouble with this one' kind of way, or anywhere in between)?
CC: There were several songs that required some skullwork to reconstruct, and there are still some transitions, and odd corners, that I am not totally convinced we've got "right." Overall, the recall of songs from almost 30 years ago (!) has been eerily easy. And yes, some of the songs we haven't been playing seem pretty decent, if I say so myself.
RM: Mostly they fell into place pretty quickly. Some were surprising to find how they were structured - they were pretty much all fun to revisit. The most surprising one for me was "Train of Thought", which didn't do much for me "back in the day" but I find quite bracing now. We've run through twelve "resuscitates" (songs we haven't played since 1983), and we're hoping we'll have them together by the time of the shows! We're in Spain right now, and we go over them in soundchecks and incorporate a couple in every show, so we should be OK by the Paradise shows. We just listened to these songs in the van, and found that there were quite a number of little sections we didn't realize were there.
Q: With the albums being relatively short compared to the usual length of your live sets (and one actually being an EP), how are you planning to fill out the rest of each night? And do you plan on sticking to the original "Signals..." track order, or the remastered sequence with the two additional songs? (no worries if you're hoping to keep any of that a surprise, of course).
CC: We are still working out the details of how to present the records/shows. Suffice to say we will be expanding beyond , say, the 6 song "Signals," doing other songs from that period that may or may not have shown up on other releases, such on Taang or Horrible Truth. Same with 'vs'.
RM (from notes he wrote earlier): For the 'Signals...' show, we will play some songs from early on that are not on 'Signals...', but were of that era. We will then play the 4 songs from the Acad/Max session (including the 2 that were just released), then play 'Signals...' start to finish, then play encores, and make sure everyone is happy.
For the 'vs.' Show: We will play the 4 "bonus tracks", 'vs.' start to finish, then play encores, and make sure everyone is happy.
Q: You guys have been playing some new stuff recently, so what does the future hold for MoB? Back to the studio for a follow-up to "The Obliterati"? Any other special plans ahead?
CC: We almost never know what we are going to do. If there is a plan, no one's told me.
RM: We're not so good at planning. We do have new material, and once this reissues thing has passed, I'm sure we'll work on more new songs. The only truth to be told is that so far, whenever we've had enough new songs to make an album, we've made one. That may or may not hold true in the future.
Q: I believe you're answering these questions while driving around Europe on a short tour. So what exactly is helping pass the time while on the road? (what music, books, games, etc.?)
CC: We are at this moment following the luxurious Shellac tour van across the high, dry plains of Spain, on our way north to Gijon, a beach town on the Gulf of Vizcaya (Atlantic Ocean). Spain is beautiful to the point of flabbergasm. I was reading Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia" until it got stolen yesterday along with my laptop in Madrid.
RM: Gazing at the scenery is quite nice. I was in Barcelona with Alloy Orchestra some years ago, but otherwise, this trip is all new stuff to me. Babbling to each other, occasionally listening to music. Listening to Public Enemy (who MoB will play with at P4K in July - ed) coming into Madrid was kind of interesting. I have my laptop with me and writing the Tour Blog for the Burma MySpace site is my little "side project" on this trip. It's hard to say what we do to keep amused - it just happens. One thing's for sure: Roger's road blogging kept me amused (especially the Burma vs. Shellac scores). Damn shame about Clint's laptop, huh? Add MoB to the long list of victimized touring bands, but hey, at least it wasn't their instruments. Much thanks to Roger and Clint for taking the time to answer those questions. As I said, I'm glad to be able to give away a pair of tickets to each show, so if you're game, send me an email at giveaways -at- bradleysalmanac -dot- com titled "MoB Thursday" or "MoB Friday", depending on which one you want to try for (no double-dippin'). Make sure I get it before 10AM on Wednesday, and I'll randomly pick one winner for each show who will end up on the guest list with a +1 spot for a friend. And to get yourself in the mood, I should mention that I uploaded my January recording of MoB's amazing appearance at Great Scott to the Live Music Archive. Have at it. Labels: giveaways, interviews
posted by brad at 12:44 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |
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the wooden birds
a few songs live at tt's
on saturday, april 18th, 2009

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