Exclusive Mp3 & Interview with Now, Now Every Children
Posted on April 27, 2009 at 1:08 pm | No Comments
As detailed earlier, I’m pretty well thrilled to play a part in bringing Minneapolis’ Now, Now Every Children to town for the very first time this Friday, May 1st. After a couple of promising EPs, the duo (and touring trio) delivered a stunning debut album titled “Cars” in February, and I obsessed enough over it to make it my mission to see them play live. That’ll happen in just a few days at TT the Bears, where the band will be joined by a couple of my local faves (The Hush Now & You Can Be A Wesley) and my Vermont-based pals Let’s Whisper. Tickets can be had right here, or at TTs to skip the service charge.
NNEC’s Cacie Dalager and Bradley Hale are back home in Minneapolis after finishing up their first European tour, getting ready to head out for a string of dates that kicks off with an all-ages Abbey Pub gig in Chicago on Wednesday and includes Friday’s Cambridge show along with The Bamboozle fest in NJ on Sunday and a stop at NYC’s Mercury Lounge a few days later.
Cacie took some time to answer some quick email questions, and their label (Afternoon Records) graciously gave me permission to share my very favorite song from “Cars”. Here you go, but grab the Mp3 soon, since I’ll only be sharing it up until the TTs show on Friday night…
an email interview with…
Cacie Dalager of Now, Now Every Children
Bradley’s Almanac: So you recently finished up your first-ever trip overseas. How did the shows go overall? Was it everyone’s first time over there? What people/places/happenings stand out as highlights? (You can cover what is probably the lowlight in the next question).
Cacie: The shows went really really well! They’ve been more fun than the majority of our US shows so far. Yep, that was the first time for all of us. I think one of our favorite moments was seeing the Eiffel Tower. We totally weren’t even that into seeing it, but when we got there we literally all started peeing ourselves. And we had kind of been wanting to see it sparkle (did you know it sparkles?) but we went there at like 1am thinking we’d missed our chance. But then it did and we all started running around and screaming like maniacs. There are videos of it. It was so ridiculous, but super awesome. It was also really nice to meet everyone at our german label Tapete Records. They are seriously some of the coolest people I’ve ever met. We also just made some really great friends over there. I think the whole trip was a highlight haha.
BA: So I was pretty bummed to see your April 9th Twitter message say “DENIED ACCESS TO THE UK”. Can you share a bit about what happened? Were you able to take advantage of your downtime stuck in France?
Cacie: Yeah, it was a tottaaallllllll bummer. I can’t even explain how bummed we were. I hate to be the punk kid who says “they just didn’t like us”, but no joke they just didn’t like us. They stopped us initially for the wrong reason saying we needed a work permit. But you actually don’t need a work permit unless you’re going to be there for over three months. What ended up happening was we needed to be on a list of some sort saying we could be playing over there. It was super technical and stupid. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they weren’t so rude about it you know? They said unless we were as known as Frank Sinatra. It was so ridiculous. So we were detained for 4 and a half hours in a detainment room. And got our fingerprints taken and our stuff searched and things of that awesome nature. But whatever, we know what to do now. So HOPEFULLY they’ll let us in next time. France was still pretty fun. Our friend Charley came from the UK to keep us company since we didn’t make it in. So we just hung out with her and went running back to the Eiffel Tower to make ourselves feel better. We also went to a super dumb amusement park. But I’d like to pretend that never happened haha.
BA: So “Cars” has been out for a few months, but is seeing a bit of a re-release in July. Got any solid plans for a national tour? How about taking another crack at the UK?
Cacie: I’m hoping we’ll do a pretty extensive tour this summer. But I really don’t know what’s going on yet. We’ll see what happens when we get back from this next little tour to Bamboozle. Dude of course! We’ll plow through those suckers like red rover.
BA: Is it too early to talk about a second album? Any super-new songs in the works, or are you just focusing on playing the “Cars” stuff live?
Cacie: Nope definitely not too early. Of course! We’ve been working on one all night actually haha. It’s good to focus on what you have and get good at it, but it’s also good to keep the creative juices flowing. I can’t wait to start demoing again.
BA: You guys are technically a duo, although you tour as a trio… can you talk a bit about making that decision, and if adding someone has made you debate remaining a duo when you record again? Do you find the duo thing more liberating or at all restrictive?
Cacie: When you go through lineup changes (as we have many times) it’s kind of confusing to the kids who listen to you. Because then they’re like “oh dude where’s so and so?”. It’s hard to explain what happened over and over. Especially if it’s something that you can’t really talk about. It’s mainly just to keep things simple. I think Brad and I will always record as a duo. We know how each other’s brains work. I think it’s the best match for our situation.
BA: And lastly, an entirely selfish question… you play “Have You Tried” live, right? Just checkin’.
Cacie: Haha, yep! We do. It’s one of my favorites to play. I don’t think we’re playing it much on our next tour though. We’ll see.
Thanks to Cacie for the answers, and here’s hoping that song does indeed make it into their setlist on Friday night at TTs. Do join us, won’t you?
May 1st: The ‘Nac Presents: 4 great bands @ TTs
Posted on April 22, 2009 at 9:15 am | No Comments
This Friday night, the very first day of May, I’m genuinely proud to have pulled together a pretty amazing four-band lineup at TT the Bears in Cambridge, Mass. — From Minneapolis, and making their Boston-area debut, the wonderful Now, Now Every Children. One of Boston’s best new bands, The Hush Now. Truly great local quartet You Can Be A Wesley. And opening the evening, from the northern confines of Burlington, Vermont, gentle-pop duo Let’s Whisper. If you live in the Boston area, and you’ve ever downloaded anything from the ‘Nac, your presence at this party is requested required. And here are some words (and more importantly, some songs) to convince you…
Y’see, I don’t do these “Bradley’s Almanac presents…” rock shows very often, because of the simple reason that I can only sincerely put my time & effort behind a show if I’m a genuine fan of all the bands involved. In fact, I’ve only done one of these before, when Film School, the Broken River Prophet, and the Douglas Fir played TTs almost a year ago. It was a total blast, but a severe lack of free time and the right alignment of (rock) stars has kept me from doing another, until now. And the reason behind it is pretty straightforward — I just want to see these bands play their songs for me. And for you.
I fell in love with Now, Now Every Children almost instantaneously upon hearing their debut disc, “Cars” a couple months back. Just a few songs in and I was utterly and completely hooked, and hard. The pairing of guitarist/keyboard player Cacie Dalager’s mesmerizing voice with the sounds that she and drummer Brad Hale put together hit me in that sweet spot that so rarely happens… it didn’t need time to sink in or grow on me — I just adored them from the get go. So much so that I immediately searched online for any prospect of a Boston-area date. Nope, nothing.
Instead of resigning myself to missing out, or just waiting impatiently, I did something that still surprises me: I made it happen. A couple weeks planning and a couple dozen emails later, and they’re coming. How ’bout that? Sometimes this little website sure comes in handy. I cannot adequately explain my compulsion to see them perform “Have You Tried” in person. Here’s the second single from “Cars”, which gets a national re-release in July (and which the duo, who tour as a trio, will have with them when the come to town next week)…
Filling out the rest of the bill was pretty easy… I had a very short list and they all accepted the invite. After being rightly blown away by The Hush Now‘s meticulously crafted, hook-filled debut full-length (available for free), and catching their very first show at the disc’s release party in February, I knew I wanted to see them again soon. Here’s one of my faves from the album…
I happened upon You Can Be A Wesley last summer when they opened for Grand Archives at Allston’s Great Scott, and have been patiently awaiting the release of their first album ever since. A taste of it arrived a few weeks back with new Mp3 and video for the catchy-as-hell “Creatures“…
A finally, to round out this special lineup, I thought I’d ask an out-of-town opener who could ease us gently into the evening, someone worth arriving early for, and the answer was obvious — my northern friends Colin and Dana, performing as Let’s Whisper. These two songwriters, who both alternate and share vocals, have played here many times as 2/5ths of the Smittens, but this will mark their first trip for their bedroom pop duo, and I’m so very psyched. They’ve got a brand new track on an Eardrums compilation, so go grab that, and check out this one from their out-of-print “Make Me Smile” EP on London’s WeePOP! Records…
I’m a bit humbled that TTs has entrusted me with booking an entire Friday night, so I’m on a mission to pack the place, and I’m looking at this thing more as a party with some great bands than your regular rock show. With friends and free stuff (I’ve been collecting cool giveaway items and have tons of promos piling up), and my own between-band playlists of my favorite songs of the year so far. You may even spot me behind some drums at some point, alongside some other special on-stage guests.
Tickets for the Friday night, May 1st show at TT the Bears can be purchased at the club in the evenings, or right here on Ticketweb. Doors are at 8:30pm, and Let’s Whisper will start shortly after (no fashionable lateness allowed!). Have I done my job to convince you? Then add your name to the Facebook event page, and if you’re a regular reader that I’ve never met (hell, even if we have), feel free to track me down at the show and say hello. I’ll be the guy with the biggest smile on his face.