Scamper REUNITED. For ONE NIGHT ONLY. Because Harris is splitting up.

I can't believe I totally haven't posted about this yet.

You all remember last year, when Scamper, the powerpop band from Boston oh-so near and dear to my heart, called it quits, right? Because, like, I totally spent forever being upset about it.

Back in February, true to their style, those boys decided to be their own rumour mongers, dropping hints here and there of "something big" on the horizon. Could it be anything other than a reunion show?

Well, no, it couldn't. Well, actually, it could - it's more of a reunion set than a reunion show. Pals and fellow Bostonian band Harris, who were nice enough to play Scamper's last show, have also called it a day. So, essentially, they're getting back together to dance on Harris' grave before retuning to retirement and their respective new gigs, which is what any good friend should do.



The show is slated for 18th April at the Middle East down. All other details are on the poster above or at the venue's site. You can get tickets here.

ohboyohboyohboy.


ETA: Man, I should totally proofread my titles before I post so I don't wind up with things like "Because Harris splitting up." WHERE DID THE VERB GO??

Oh, sadness : The Long Blondes are "calling it a day." Also releasing a bunch of b-sides.

We have decided to call it a day.

The main reason for this is that I suffered from a stroke in June and unfortunately I do not know when / if I will be well enough to play guitar again.

On behalf of the band I'd like to say a big thank you to anyone who ever came to one of our shows, bought one of our records or danced to one of our songs in a club. Thank you, if it wasn't for you the whole thing would have been pointless.

Finally on a personal note, thanks for all your well wishing messages.

Dorian xxx

Um. I'm pretty sure that means the entire band is splitting up, though maybe Dorian's just leaving and they've decided they're not really the Long Blondes without him anymore....?

I hope the poor guy gets better.

Also, GRR! Seriously, 2008? Epic fail on the "bands staying together" front.



In other news, the Long Blondes are releasing "Singles" today, which is a compilation of their pre-Rough Trade singles, A-sides, B-sides, and bonus tracks. (Get it? "Couples" and "Singles"? Clever clever.) It includes the following tracks:

"New Idols"
"Long Blonde"
"Autonomy Boy"
"Giddy Stratospheres"
"Polly"
"Darts"
"Appropriation (By Any Other Name)"
"My Heart Is Out Of Bounds"
"Lust In The Movies"
"Separated By Motorways" (alternative version)
"Big Infatuation"
"Peterborough"

You can buy it here.

The Long Blondes - "Fulwood Babylon"

Oh, sadness, part four : Georgie James is "done."

From their website:

After three years, Georgie James is calling it a day. We're proud of the album we made and everything else that we were able to do during our time together. We are both working on our respective solo projects (John's can be found at www.myspace.com/titletracksdc and Laura's at www.myspace.com/lauraburhenn) and hope to have albums out early next year. Thanks to everyone that helped our band over these past few years. And thanks to those who've listened to the music and come out to the shows. It is greatly appreciated. See you around soon. - John and Laura/Georgie James

Uhhhhh that makes me really sad, because Georgie James' debut (and sole) record, Places, has been one of my favourites during the past six months or so.

Also, they participated in NPR's Project Song challenge late last year, wherein they wrote and recorded a song in two days, and the video for the new song, "Monument," is up for an Emmy award for "Best Approach To News & Documentary Programming." So, go them! I'm still sad, though. You can watch the video over here.

If that's not enough to placate your saddened little heart, here's an interview and some acoustic tracks from they did for Rainydawg Radio back in April.

sniff.

Oh, sadness, part 3 continued : Milburn's last two tracks.

Milburn's let loose those last two tracks to which they referred in their parting letter.

Milburn - The District Line [link]
Milburn - Stay At Home [link]

Oh, sadness, part 3 (of what looks like it's going to be 6,382,487, the rate we're going) : Milburn

News from that other Sheffield-based band that I like, Milburn, is that, after just a few short years together, they're calling it quits. Grr!

From the boys:

It may not come as a great surprise to many of you but unfortunately after much consideration we’ve decided that Milburn has run it’s course.

There’s been no malice or falling out between us and we still remain friends and supporters of each other as we move on and explore new musical horizons.

Not everyone in the music media understood us but you the fans did and over the last 2-3 years we’ve shared some amazing experiences that we’ll never forget and we feel very privileged to have done so.

We want to sincerely thank everyone of you that supported us along the way. It’s been overwhelming.

For this reason we’d like to play one last gig. There’s also a few songs left over from the second album that we’re going to make available. The songs are "District Line" and "Stay At Home" and we’ll post details on how to get them as soon as possible.

The gig will take place on 24th May at Sheffield Academy.

Thanks again,
Love as always

Tom, Joe, Greeny and Louis

I came across this news a few days ago, maybe last week, and had sort of filed it into the back of my mind, as "write about this at a later date."

Then, two days ago, I was working on my commentary for that Fall '06 playlist I keep meaning to post, listening to "Storm in a Teacup," and all of a sudden, I was really devastated. Here's the thing about Milburn: I like them, but I've never seen them live, I've never met them, I've never actually bought their records (not for lack of trying; also I was a tad disappointed that their debut, Well Well Well, made them sound a bunch like the Arctic Monkeys). Hell, I didn't even know they'd released a second record last fall. That's mainly because I was listening and paying attention to Milburn while I was living in Paris, and after I'd moved back, they sort of disappeared. So whereas I've been listening to all the big anthems of fall 2006 since then ("Days Go," anyone?), Milburn's been sort of tucked away, waiting to be rediscovered, waiting for the emotion to pour out again.

And now I sit here and listen to "The Genius and the Tramp," and it sounds so simple, so pretty, and so sad.

So where did you go? What did you know?
You can't hide your head in the clouds forever.
What did we say about drifting away?
'It won't happen to us 'cause we're too clever.'
I guess we weren't that clever.

What did we say about drifting away? I guess we weren't that clever, after all.

Milburn - "Cheshire Cat Smile"
Milburn - "Lipstick Lickin'"
Milburn - "Rudiments"
Milburn - "What About Next Time?"
Head to their 'Space to hear "The Genius and the Tramp."


Milburn's last show will be 24 May at the Academy, Sheffield, UK.

Oh, sadness, part 2: WAS Edition.

It's sort of no secret around here that I love/adore/want to have babies with the gents of We Are Scientists (okay, maybe not that last bit...but you get the idea). I mean, just look at the blog title.

But alas, alack!

I was sort of excited when I got this bulletin from the boys yesterday:

BRAIN THRUST MASTERY!!!

This November and December, our neediest fans in the UK will be invited to reap the rewards of our latest philanthropic effort: BRAIN THRUST MASTERY, a free seminar design to help students take control of their lives, which are, let's face it, likely crashing and burning as we speak. These limited engagements feature instruction in such proven techniques as "Mind Sound (TM)," "Time Vision Performance (TM)," and "Emotional Intuition Transfer (TM)."

Take instantaneous control of your physical, academic, sexual, medical, psychological, historical, emotional, intellectual, financial, theoretical, and automotive destiny with BRAIN THRUST MASTERY!!!



November
Wed, 7 - Heriot Watt Student Association, Edinburgh
Thurs, 8 - Leeds College of Music
Mon, 12 - Keele University Student's Union, Staffordshire
Thurs, 22 - Bournemouth University Student's Union
Sat, 24 - Cardiff Student's Union


December
Thurs, 6 - Strathclyde Student's Union, Glasgow
Mon, 10 - Northumbria Student's Union, Newcastle
Fri, 14 - LSE Student's Union, London

These dates, are, of course, on top of our already impossibly arduous touring schedule, which will see us tooling around the UK - playing actual music - throughout November and December. Those dates are listed elsewhere, because if you think we're going to type all of those out now, you're out of your fucking mind.

Okay, so I can't go to any of those dates 'cause they're in the UK. But it sounds like a typically good We Are Scientists time, so anybody who can make those should really go.


Unfortunately, one of my friends passed this news on to me this morning:

We Are Scientist drummer 'relinquishes his duties'

Michael Tapper quits band ahead of UK tour
1 hour ago

We Are Scientists' drummer Michael Tapper has quit the band.

The sticksman has departed the group and will not accompany them on their forthcoming tour.

According to the band, the split is amicable and they issued the following statement to NME.COM: "Michael Tapper has relinquished his duties as drummer of We Are Scientists in order to pursue other things."

A permanent replacement is yet to be named.

Meanwhile, the band kick off their UK tour next week (November 7), playing a series of university venues.

As previously reported, at some dates the band will support themselves, offering self-improvement seminars to fans.

The band will play:

Edinburgh University Student Union (November 7)*
Leeds University Student Union (8)*
Keele University Student Union (12)*
Bournemouth University Student Union (22)*
Cardiff University Student Union (24)*
Glasgow University Student Union (December 6)*
Newcastle University Student Union (10)*
London University Student Union (14)*

* Brain Thrust Mastery session

From NME.

Okay, wtf? HEY ALL OF MY FAVOURITE BANDS WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST GO BREAK UP RIGHT NOW??? Hrmph!

Well. I suppose it could be worse. They're still We Are Scientists. They'll just need a new drummer, as sad as it is to see Tapper (from whom I've never got an overly-friendly vibe, actually, but that's just me) leave. But Tapper! Where else are you going to find a drummer with a name like TAPPER??

Here are the rest of those UK dates:

3 November 2007 Empire Middlesborough
5 November 2007 53 Degrees Preston
6 November 2007 Civic Whitehaven
7 November 2007 University - Potter Row Edinburgh+
8 November 2007 Met University Leeds+
10 November 2007 University Guilford
11 November 2007 University Leicester
12 November 2007 University Keel+
13 November 2007 UEA Norwich
15 November 2007 Cresset Peterborough
16 November 2007 University - Sub Bar Derby
17 November 2007 University Plymouth
18 November 2007 University Southampton
20 November 2007 University Swansea
21 November 2007 Exeter Westpoint Arena Exeter*
22 November 2007 Bournemouth BIC Bournemouth*+
24 November 2007 Cardiff CIA Cardiff*+
25 November 2007 Brooks University Oxford
26 November 2007 Birmingham NIA Birmingham*
28 November 2007 Nottingham Arena Nottingham*
29 November 2007 University Bangor
30 November 2007 Manchester Evening News Arena Manchester*
1 December 2007 Skegness Weekender Skegness
2 December 2007 University Warwick
3 December 2007 Sheffield Hallam FM Arena Sheffield*
4 December 2007 Hull Arena Hull*
6 December 2007 SECC Glasgow*+
7 December 2007 Fat Sam’s Dundee
8 December 2007 AECC Aberdeen*
9 December 2007 Ironworks Inverness
10 December 2007 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena Newcastle*+
13 December 2007 Roadmender Northampton
14 December 2007 London Earl's Court London*
*supporting Kaiser Chiefs
+Brain Thrust Mastery date

Oh, sadness.

I'm not sure if any of you who bother reading this are familiar with Scamper, but they're one of my favouritest bands out there. I discovered them in late 2005 when they opened for OK Go and Juliette and the Licks. Their record, Leave Your Glasses On, makes me ridiculously happy; the Boulevards EP makes me a little sad and angry, but I still love it anyway. Lovely powerpop.

Unfortunately, the news from Scamperland is that the band is now on "indefinite hiatus", which, oh Jesus, makes me sad. I've only seen them live twice (including aforementioned October '05 show), and the last time was June '06 in New York (for which I made a rather sweet t-shirt, and now my boobs is on the internets). While I was swanning about in Paris for a year, these guys opened for OK Go (again) and Nada Surf. Grr.

I'm not particularly surprised by this news, though- the band itself hasn't been playing a lot of shows, guitarist Nate Rogers has been playing quite a few solo shows, and while they were supposedly working on new record material, it seemed more like they were taking a break. That doesn't make the news less sucky. LYGO is one of the few albums that makes me instantly happy.

I'm happy to learn that both bassist Brendan (who apparently was NOT involved with Letters to Cleo, I was just misinformed or not paying attention or both) and Nate will be going solo, or starting their own bands, which is great. I've wanted to go to one of Nate's solo shows for a while (Nate seems a to have a thing for nostalgia-soaked songs about ex-lovers, and as the sort of person who would rather listen to and cry over all the old songs that remind me of an ex instead of listening to something happier, I sort of relate), but distance has sort of made that an impossibility.

Gah. I am still so sad, though. :(