Tag Archives: Schwervon!

Nan B-day Week/ Midwestern Audio Comp./ 9 Days to: COURAGE/ Schwervon! in Europe

Bring it on again!Let’s hear it for the Birthday Girl! Last Friday we had a Birthday in Schwervland. As part of the celebration, Nan and I went to go see a movie at the lovely Gleenwood Arts Theater. We were pretty psyched to discover this cozy little cinema. Good popcorn and nice affordable ticket prices (especially compared to NYC). There were some good previews for the Kansas International Film Festival, which will be happening there between Oct. 5th-11th. Unfortunately, we’ll be on tour, in Europe, but if we weren’t I’d probably be camping out at the Gleenwood that week. Anyway, we heard about the film Sleep Walk With Me from This American Life. We’re big fans of the NPR radio program. We’ve logged many hours driving from town to town listening to podcasts of this amazing show. So, when we heard that they had just released a full length film we were pretty excited to check it out. The movie was based off an actual segment from the radio show about an aspiring comedian with a severe sleep disorder. It was a nice light comedy, nothing life altering but thoroughly entertaining. One of the cool things about this movie is that it features a cameo by comedian Mark Maron. Mark Maron is the host and creator of the podcast: WTF or What The Fuck. Nan and I are HUGE fans of this podcast. I think it’s maybe the most thoroughly interesting and fulfilling show I’ve discovered in years. Mark’s interview style is so casual and sensitive he really gets people to open up and reveal their inner demons and strengths. I wish Schwervon! could sponsor or be sponsored by this show somehow…we love it THAT MUCH! Check it out!
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We’re honored to have a track on the Midwestern Audio Compilation Vol. 1, a 2 CD compilation of a local Kansas City Bands brought to you by The Midwestern Music Foundation. Other cool local acts include: Soft Reeds, The Conquerors, Deco Auto, The Quivers, Cowboy Indian Bear, Hidden Pictures, The Brannock Device, The Water MoccaSins, La Guerre, Expo ’70 and more. Looking forward to Volume 2.
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Vice Magazine produced an amazing small film about our NYC friend and fellow musician Joe Crow Ryan. Check out the Schwervon! sticker on his banjo.

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See below for confirmed dates for our tour in Europe in October and November in support of our new record COURAGE (olive juice music, loud baby sounds). If you can’t make it out, or you don’t presently reside in Europe, please feel free to share these dates with any friends you think might be interested in attending one of the shows! We sure would appreciate it!

SCHWERVON! FALL 2012 EUROPEAN TOUR
-OCTOBER
Germany
4 Berlin (Schokoladen)
5 Dresden (Ostpol)
Poloand
6 Krakow (Rozrywki 3)
Germany
7 Vienna (Rhiz)
8 Munich (Südstadt)
10 Nurnberg (k4 – w/ The Wedding Present!)
11 Mannheim (The Blau)
12 Regensburg (W1 – w/ Jenny Lund)
13 Gunzenhausen (Cayman Bar – w/ Jenny Lund)
Switzerland
14 Tobel (Komturei Tobel)
15 Zurich (Bosch Bar)
Germany
16 Wetzlar (Franzis)
17 Darmstadt (Oetinger villa)
18 Koln (Haengendegaerten)
19 Bremen (Spedition)
20 Oldenburg (Wagenburg)
21 Hannover – (TBA)
22 Hamburg (Astra Stube)
23 Offenbach (Hafen 2)France
24 Nantes (Le Stakhanov)
25 Paris (Pop in – w/ The Pirouettes)
United Kingdom
26 London (Stag’s Head – w/ David Cronenberg’s Wife, Bilkis + spinmaster plantpot)
28 Cardiff (The Moon Club)
29 Bristol (Cafe Kino)
30 Nottingham (The Chameleon)
31 Wakefield (The Hop)
-NOVEMBER
1 Manchester (The Castle)
2 Halifax (Arden Rd Social Club)
3 Glasgow (Glasgow College of Art)
4 Aberdeen (Brew Dog)
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We’ve officially logged over 10,000 miles of US touring since our move to Kansas City. But the year is not over. Thanks to everyone who has come out and made us feel welcome. And thanks to Waylon Jennings Storm Trooper for getting us there in one piece. XO, Nan and Matt

Back to School Tour Final Recap! New Album: “Courage” drops Sept. 28th, Fall European Tour

We had a short ride from DC to Harrisonburg, VA.  We got to take a nice long walk down the main street there. Harrisonburg is a fine example of small college town that shows a renewed vigor for its downtown area. We shared the bill with our old pals Uncle Bengine and stayed with pedal steel player Jason who just happened to be dog sitting for this little fella, Luka. The venue, The Blue Nile, was also a really good Ethiopian restaurant as well. Lucky us! Along with Uncle Bengine, New Orleans math rock duo Caddywhompus rocked us out. IMG_2451

The next show was in Charleston, WV. I had a chance to catch up with my old high school friend  Stefani Andrews. An great artist in her own right Stefani helped put together a gig to accompany an awesome gallery showing of some great Charleston Underground artists friends of hers. The Gallery was called Studio 1031 and it seemed to be right in the middle of downtown Charleston. There was some pretty amazing stuff there, not the least of which was this piece entitled “Vaginalier,” which consisted of a working chandelier made out of multiple-sized speculums. You can’t see it from the picture but there were actually images of various women superimposed onto the wings of the speculums. Pretty fucking cool!
I ended up crashing on the couch in the studio that night. The light was was doing some interesting stuff in the morning so I took this eerie photo when I woke up.IMG_2455

The next day it was off the the land of Guided By Voices and Kim Deal: Dayton, OH. It was our first time in Dayton, though we’ve been building a great fondness for the state of Ohio ever since we started touring the states. Nan and I recently discovered the Cincinnati band Wussy. We are both big fans, something that happens less often than one might think. Our host and songwriting force behind Normal Torso, Aron, gave us a quick tour of Dayton including a bar where Robert Pollard is banned for life and  the cemetery where the Wright Brothers were buried. The house where we played was super cool and all the other acts: Half A Ghost, Ali King, and Normal Torso really brought it. Aron’s roommate turned out to be a really cool artist named Ben Riddlebarger. This is a pic from the basement show in Dayton which I’m glad this sweet guy named David took because I remember thinking the back wall looked really interesting.   

One of the cool things about the St. Louis show was discovering a new band – Frances with Wolves. They were dreamy experimental noise, with bursts of pop melodies that bubbled up intermittently.  What was also great about being back in STL was catching up with our friends in Sleepy Kitty – Paige and Evan. Evan is now writing (and is the Music Editor) for Eleven Magazine.  He wrote a little blurb about us and some of the other cool stuff going on in KC these days!

We finished our Back To School  Tour in the best possible way with a house show for our new KC friend and artist Rachel Sky. It just so happens that Rachel’s house is close enough to Sandstone Amphitheater that we could hear the Hall & Oates concert going on while we set up. Below is a party shot in our typical formation by Michelle of Deco Auto/Drew Black and the Dirty Electric.

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Barry Bliss asked Me (Major Matt) a handful questions about being a musician and our recent move to Kansas. Here’s a link of that exchange: http://www.olivejuicemusic.com/blog/2012/09/10/2012-interview-major-matt-mason-usa
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Our hometown release show for the new album: Courage. It’s going to be at the Riot Room in KC on Friday, September 28th. Opening acts will include: The Conquerers, The Lucky and Folkicide. Save a couple of bucks and get your advance tickets here: http://www.theriotroom.com/event/157199/
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A song off the new album was featured on this weeks KC local podcast The Mailbox hosted by KC local music mavens Michael Byars & Chris Haghairian: http://blog.midwestmusicfound.org/2012/09/10/the-mailbox-vol-66/
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We are also happy to announce we will be returning to Europe in October and November in support of our new record COURAGE (olive juice music, loud baby sounds). Please see below for confirmed dates. If you can’t make it out, or you don’t presently reside in Europe, please feel free to share this event listing with any friends you think might be interested in attending one of the shows! We sure would appreciate it! XO, Nan & Matt

SCHWERVON! FALL 2012 EUROPEAN TOUR
OCTOBER
-Germany
4 Berlin (Schokoladen)
5 Dresden (Ostpol)
6 Krakow (Rozrywki 3)
7 Vienna (Rhiz)
8 Munich (Südstadt)
10 Nurnberg (k4 – w/ The Wedding Present!)
11 Mannheim (The Blau)
12 Regensburg (W1 – w/ Jenny Lund)
13 Gunzenhausen (Cayman Bar – w/ Jenny Lund)
-Switzerland
14 Tobel (Komturei Tobel)
15 Zurich (Bosch Bar)
-Germany
16 Wetzlar (Franzis)
17 Darmstadt (Oetinger villa)
18 Koln (Haengendegaerten)
19 Bremen (Spedition)
20 Oldenburg (Wagenburg)
21 Hannover – (TBA)
22 Hamburg (Astra Stube)
23 Offenbach (Hafen 2)
-France
24 Nantes (Le Stakhanov)
25 Paris (Pop in – w/ The Pirouettes)
-United Kingdom
26 London (Stag’s Head – w/ David Cronenberg’s Wife, Bilkis + spinmaster plantpot)
28 Cardiff (The Moon Club)
29 Bristol (Cafe Kino)
30 Nottingham (The Chameleon)
31 Wakefield (The Hop)
NOVEMBER
1 Manchester (The Castle)
2 Halifax (Arden Rd Social Club)
3 Glasgow (Glasgow College of Art)
4 Aberdeen (Brew Dog)
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“Back To School Tour” Road Report: What a Week!, NYC, New Brunswick, & DC

Brooklyn grafitti.
You ever have one of those weeks that felt like a year? I think we just had one. After a steamy Pittsburgh show we headed back to NYC for a couple of nights that pretty much ran the full gamut of emotions for us.Brooklyn
The first NY show was at The Bell House opening for The Vaselines. Frances sang her backing vocal on Truth Teller for the first time ever, live,  and we got to meet Michael Azerrad who wrote one of my favorite band bio books of all time: This Band Could Be Your Life.  The night was pretty magical.  Check out some pics from the show here: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2012/0/the_vaselines_a_1.html

The next night we cut loose at the BTP in Bushwick. It was really fun to share a bill again with our NYC scene buddies Phoebe Kreutz + Kung Fu Crimewave. Also nice to see Dan Penta’s new duo project with Brian Speaker. It was heartwarming to see some old familiar faces and a few new ones as well. Thanks to everyone who represented and a special thanks to Sammy at Scapegrace for the crash pad and The Purple Organ for hosting the lovely Labor Day Weekend gathering. It was hard for Nan and I to leave our ny friends this time around…but really great to have such good catch up time with them.DC Metro
With our friend batteries thoroughly charged, our next stop was the Paradise Lost House in New Brunswick, NJ. Greg from the band A Fucking Elephant was nice enough to hook us up with this cool basement venue. It was a pretty early show due to noise ordinances. The first band, Bodega Satellite super rocked it in a very Sebadohish way. Following that were the Timid Roosevelts who kind of reminded me of a bit of throw back to the late 80’s, 4AD dream pop, a la Cocteau Twins with some nice DIY temperament. They had fun T-shirts too. And closing up the night were some nice tight fresh sounds from locals Zero For Conduct (enjoyed their CD very much in the car today). All the elements a great house show should have, minus the puke in the bathtub!
To The White HouseNext stop was DC where we got our asses thoroughly washed by some of the heaviest rain I’d seen in a long time. This put a slight damper (ouch) on the show, so to speak. But our soggy spirits prevailed with a nice triple bill that included locals Southern Problems and Brooklyn dream pop trio Shy Hunters. We had a day off in DC for Labor day so we thought we’d drop by B&M’s place for brunch. They didn’t have to bring out the police escort for us.
The White HouseAnd just because no Schwervon! blog post would feel complete without a cute picture of a cat…here’s a shot of Pants. He belongs to our friend, Sarah, who was nice enough to let us crash at her place for 2 days in DC. She left early for her med school class today, and we discovered that our shoes were missing. Due to the heavy rains a couple nights ago, we left them outside her apartment in the hallway.  They were Nan’s favorite boots and my new “show shoes”. We left a note asking for whoever took them to return them and were feeling pretty crappy about the whole thing when we got a knock on the door and a very nice maintenance man said “These are your shoes? Don’t leave them in the hall… I thought they were trash!” Ok then, thank you guardian shoe angels. Now we can go tear it up in Harrisonburg, VA!!!
IMG_2439WE’RE IN THE HOME STRETCH FOLKS! COME ON OUT  & GET SCHOOLED
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