Times are busy!  Last month’s trip to the Northwest went great, all except for the nasty flu bug that nearly everyone experienced.  Saw some great music by Musee Mecanique, Point Juncture, WA, Norfolk & Western and Velella Velella.

Next course of action is some shows in Boston and New York this weekend.  If you’re in the NY area, you should make a point of coming to the Cakeshop on Sunday night, if only to have Pontiak melt your face.

In March, we’ll be down in Austin for 3 or 4 days of South by Southwest madness, including shows for WOXY, KCMP the Current, and the Merge Records showcase.

Also of note:  mydrumlesson.com recently featured Andy in an online drum lesson.  You have to be a  member to view all of the content, but you can see parts on it free of charge on their website.

mountains from a plane:

Thanks to all who traversed the slush on Thursday night to make it out to the Talking Head. Here are some pictures. Wye Oak pictures by Scott Perryman. Thanks Scott!

Wye Oak: 

Hands & Knees:

Small Sur:

Hooray! We have a new website. Many thanks to our good pal Tim Kearley (Errant Strike, busybeingborn.com) for his web skills.

We’re back from the south. It was definitely the most successful musical outing to date, thanks to all the cool people who came to shows, put us up, fed us dinner, etc.

Next order of business: celebrate our new band name, new label, and (old) new upcoming album at the Talking Head this Thursday, then jump on a plane and take our gig out to the Northwest.

Here’s a picture of what was obviously the high point of our tour . . .

I guess there’s a lot to write about and catch up with. First things first - WE’RE ON MERGE!!! Here’s their press release about it.

Secondly, we’ve changed our name to Wye Oak. We did it because we didn’t want to be confused with this Monarch. Or this Monarch. You get the picture.

Also, we’re leaving tomorrow for a tour down to the south. Then, we go out to the Northwest at the end of the month for a few shows. Check out shows for that.

Here are some reviews from the past couple of weeks. Special thanks to my mother for her diligent readership. Without her keen eye, some of these reviews could have been passed over and lost forever.

Palebear review of If Children

Butter Team Baltimore Mix Tape vol. 2 and all kinds of other goodies.

Here’s a link to a recording of our recent quiet set at the Paper Kingdom, which saw the debut of the song “Half a Double Man” by Jenn, and the performance of several other generally unplayed older songs:

Thanks to Jeff for taping the show.

Lots of fun shows to talk about! First and foremost, we got asked up to Skidmore College on Saturday November 10th to open for Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (!) . . . needless to say, we’re really excited about that one. Ted Leo’s one of our favorites, and we’ve been listening to him since high school.

Also, we’ll be playing a couple of great shows in Baltimore later in the month. The first is at the NEW Lo-Fi Social club on Monday 11/19 with the band Oppenheimer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The second is at the Ottobar on Friday 11/23. It’s the BOOK BURNING FOR PEACE with Jason Dove and the Magic Whip, Yukon and Stay Fucked.

We had a blast playing at the art opening for April, Kathy, and Will’s show, “Life Near the Bone” last week at the G-Spot. The room was full of friends, and the music sounded great, thanks to sound man extraordinary Adam Cooke. But the highlight of the night was the best version of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freight Liner” I think I’ve ever heard, courtesy of Caleb Stine and the Brakemen, and featuring the impromptu vocal stylings of John McCauley, aka Deer Tick.

To sweeten the deal, we got to go back to the space on Sunday afternoon and sing some songs parlor style (pictured above: Noble Uncle Stine and the Monarchs ?) for a small but enthusiastic group. Also, the brunch spread was to die for.

OK OK OK It’s been a long time there’s been a news post, but by no means does that mean that there have been no news-worthy events. We’ve been playing some fun shows, both in Baltimore and out of town. We had a great time at the Idolator 1st Anniversary Party at the Knitting Factory in NYC on Monday night. Check out the pictures on the Idolator website. Also, we have studio time up in New York scheduled for late fall/early winter, hopefully to record LP #2. Come see us for our next show at the CURRENT CANYON FEST on Sunday Oct. 7th. Also, on Oct. 12th, we’ll play at an Art Opening at the G-Spot in Baltimore. Three good friends of ours, Kathy Fahey, April Wood, and Will Schaff are all showing there work. Kathy Fahey did the artwork for our album, and the other two are each accomplished in their own right. Also performing are Caleb Stine and the Brakemen. Those guys are cool too, I guess.

Exciting news! If Children will now be distributed by Morphius Records. Soon it’ll be on iTunes, in stores, all that shit. For now, you can buy it online here. Also, you can stream the whole record for free on that page, so that’s pretty cool . . . Secondly, we are now working with a booking agent at Invisible City Booking in Seattle. We’ll be doing dates around the East Coast this fall, then look out for a big ol’ Southern tour in early 2008. Check out September shows for a trip up to PA and two shows in VA, including a festival appearance.