We’re home. We’ve recovered, more or less, from the month-long trek. Thanks so much to all the friends, both old and new, who made the tour amazing — especially Felix at Flix for bringing us over and putting up with us yet again, and the guys in Featuring Yourself for being one of the best bands we’ve ever toured with. The last week was particularly great, as we got to visit and meet the awesome people behind Cafe Riptide (the record store and home of Riptide Recordings who released the vinyl version of Mercies last year), head back to our German home-away-from-home in Stuttgart for the Flix Records anniversary show, visit our friend Benja at 100Kiloherz (the label behind our recent cassette releases) for a little acoustic session and wrap it all up with a blast of a night at EX-FEST with some awesome bands (plus a short acoustic recording on the nearby river).
So now we’re home again. What next?
RELEASES
We just released the 4-song split EP with Featuring Yourself on Highwires a few weeks back. The 7”s are nearly gone, so if you want one, grab it now.
And we’ve got big release plans for the months ahead. We’ll be hard at work on the next installment of Mercies — we’re well into the writing and song selection phases at this point — and we’re also planning a very special vinyl re-release for this Fall. Details will be announced in the coming months.
LIVE VIDEOS
We’ve been rolling through hours of tour footage — all live recordings, late nights, painful mornings, various interviews and a few near-death experiences. We’ll be posting bits and pieces as we go, starting today with these two:
“Damages” Live at the Molotow in Hamburg (April 25, 2013)
The song has evolved quite a bit since it’s “i/o” version — here’s how we do it live these days.
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” Live on Radio Hagen (107.7FM in Hagen, Germany on April 11, 2013)
Just hours after we stepped off a red-eye flight, Andrew performed a few songs at Radio Hagen. Behold the exhaustion and jet-lag!
MISTAKES WORTH MAKING VIDEO
With all this footage in our back pocket, we’re working on a video for “Mistakes Worth Making” that’ll feature a variety of live clips and general-tour snippets. Flix started to cut a few bits and pieces together, so here’s a little rough taste of what’s to come. We’ve just made it public on Vimeo so check it out.
CHICAGO
We’re back home with a full live lineup all in one city. Shows imminent, Chicago.
So, we’re two-and-a-half weeks into our three-and-a-half-week tour of Europe, smack in the middle of a lazy morning of hanging out in Dresden, Germany, and we thought it high time for an update on all fronts.
First off, the tour has been amazing thus far. We’ve played a bunch of shows throughout Germany, Switzerland, Austria and a one-off out in Slovenia. We’ve had a blast in so many places already — Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Kiel, Basel and many more — and we’re looking forward to a slew of special shows ahead (details below). We’ve also had our manager-extraordinaire, Felix, filming a whole bunch of the shows/inter-show nonsense for a live compilation (details also below).
In other news…
SPLIT RELEASE + PUNKNEWS.ORG STREAM
Our split single with Germany’s Featuring Yourself (also our tour partners for a big chunk of the trip we’re on) is now out in both Europe and the US. Maybe you caught the PunkNews.org live stream of the 4-song release last week, but if not, you can listen to one track — our “Mistakes Worth Making” — over on Soundcloud! You can also find it on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual places — or buy the instant download and/or limited 7” + download directly from Highwires.
The European version also includes our cover of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” by the way, which Andrew also performed on Radio Hagen (107.7FM) in Hagen, Germany just hours after we flew into Dusseldorf. Once we get access to a solid wifi connection, you’ll be able to behold the exhaustion and jet lag over on Vimeo.
LIVE VIDEOS
Speaking of Vimeo, we’ll be doing the same with bits and pieces of the live recordings we’ve been amassing throughout the trip. We’ve got hours and hours of footage at this point, so there’s plenty to see. Plus, we’ll be splicing footage from the trip together and setting it to “Mistakes Worth Making” (our half of the split single mentioned above) for a live-ish video to be released in June.
MIXED SIGNALS LIMITED CASSETTE RELEASE
In conjunction with our friend Benja over at 100Kiloherz, we released a super-limited version of Mixed Signals (which, if you’re unfamiliar, can be read about here) on hand-painted cassettes. Most are being sold on our trip, but we’ve held a few copies for sale via the Highwires Store.
SPECIAL SHOWS ONCOMING!
This last week of the tour includes a number of noteworthy shows. Details:
- APRIL 30th (TONIGHT): Mercies (belated) Release Party + More LPs Available in Braunschweig at Cafe Riptide — We’ll be celebrating the vinyl release of Mercies with Riptide Recordings in their home record store (and will have another batch of the silk-screened LPs on white vinyl available!).
- MAY 1st: FLIX Anniversary Show in Stuttgart — We’ll be playing with the Ataris, Featuring Yourself and others in honor of 5 years of Flix Records — our first label home in Europe. You can get tickets over at EasyTicket (search for the Ataris).
- MAY 3rd: A special acoustic set at 100Kiloherz, who we’ve worked with on various cassette releases (the Slingshot Dakota split release and the brand new Mixed Signals cassette mentioned above).
- MAY 4th: EX-FEST — we’re super stoked to be rounding out the tour with AC4, The Flatliners, Riverboat Gamblers and many more before our overnight drive back to the airport! Get tickets.
SECRET RECORDING PROJECT…
Not much to say about this now, but we’ve got a few hours booked in-studio with Rezzo from the Satellite Year on the last day of our trip to co-record a classic cover, all in the spirit of charity. Details TBA!
And that’s the update.
with love,
The Static Age
The Static Age’s new song “Mistakes Worth Making” from the forthcoming split single with Featuring Yourself (Germany), out on Highwires in the US and EU on April 19, 2013 (2-song 7” + 4-song download).
For more info, visit Highwires.com!
As long promised, we’ve got a bit of release news. Come April 19th, 2013, we’ll be releasing a split single with our friends in Germany’s own Featuring Yourself. The 2-song 7”, 4-song download (the 7” comes with a download, fyi) will be available in the US and Europe via Highwires, and on our run of dates with FY this April and May.
Tracklisting:
1. The Static Age - Mistakes Worth Making (VI)
2. The Static Age - Abyss (TSA’s cover of a FY song)
3. Featuring Yourself - Ghosts
4. Featuring Yourself - Eulogy (FY’s cover of a TSA song)
* the cover songs are available only via download
To preorder a copy of the vinyl and/or download, head right over to store.highwires.com.
Hey Europe, we’re coming back this Spring. A few more dates are TBA, but here’s where we’ll be:
April 11: Dortmund, Germany @ FZW (Bierschinken Fest) w/ Baboon Show, Radio Havanna, Featuring Yourself
April 12: Kiel, Germany @ Schaubude w/ Featuring Yourself, more
April 13: Lindern, Germany @ Teestube w/ Featuring Yourself, more
April 14: Basel, Switzerland @ Sommercasino w/ Authority Zero, more
April 15: München, Germany @ Sunny Red w/ Punchers Plant, more
April 17: Ljubljana, Slovenia @ Gala Hala w/ Authority Zero, Nations Afire, more
April 18: Graz, Austria @ Musichouse w/ Authority Zero, more
April 19: Vöcklabruck, Austria @ OKH (Unity Festival) w/ Authority Zero, The Flatliners, more
April 20: Dornbirn, Austria @ Kulturcafe Schlachthaus w/ Kapnorth, more
April 21: Luzern, Switzerland @ Sedel w/ Dear Antarktika
April 22: Zürich, Switzerland @ Dynamo (Werk 21) w/ Torches To Triggers, Casually Dressed
April 23: Freiburg, Germany @ KTS w/ Idle Class
April 24: Düsseldorf, Germany @ The Tube w/ Featuring Yourself
April 25: Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow w/ Featuring Yourself
April 26: Berlin, Germany @ Tiefgrund w/ Featuring Yourself
April 30: Braunschweig, Germany @ Cafe Riptide w/ Featuring Yourself
May 2: Siegen, Germany @ Vortex w/ Featuring Yourself
May 3: Bonn, Germany @ Bla w/ Featuring Yourself
May 4: Trier, Germany @ Ex-Haus Festival w/ Riverboat Gamblers, Far From Finished
A big chunk of the tour will be with our friends in Featuring Yourself, and we’ll be releasing a split 7” with them during the tour (details on that shortly).
Believe it or not, we did a cover of the Hank Williams classic “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and it just came out on a Cargo compilation. Check it out on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and elsewhere.
In semi-related news, Christian Cambas has been hard at work conjuring up a remix of “City” from our “Mercies” EP. He’s dubbed it “Traffic Dreams,” and has posted a teaser for the track (and the accompanying video) over on YouTube.
There’s a bunch more to announce shortly, too. Stay tuned.
Unearthed from a camera phone, here’s Andrew and Adam performing “Come Swimming” from their set at the Ramones Museum in Berlin, Germany on August 6th, 2012.
PETA2 over in Germany asked Andrew to share one of his favorite vegan recipes for a new campaign. He’s never been much of a cook, but Lauren was nice enough to let him borrow her Karma Corn recipe (hence “Lauren’s Karma Corn”). So, translate from German and enjoy at will (or, hey, if you really want the recipe in English, let us know — heads up: it’s delicious).
And follow the link on the flyer to grab a couple of free TSA songs (“Eulogy” from Mercies (2012) and “Wires” from In the City of Wandering Lights (2011)).
The preorders went out this week. In addition to the vinyl itself (which has the Mercies EP on one side and silkscreened art on the other), the record also comes with a download postcard and — if you were in the first 36 orders — a handwritten portion of the lyrics from Mercies (numbered 1 - 36). Note: we may be making up another round of those handwritten cards and dropping some of them in future orders, too.
So, behold, Mercies:
There are still copies available, and you can grab them right over in the Highwires Webstore.
Our main label home for the past two releases (with the exception of “Mercies” over in Europe being on Uncle M Records) — a little endeavor that we’re directly involved in with a handful of friends both stateside and abroad — just got a website and webstore reboot, as well as a proper release schedule with plans well into 2013. You can check it out now at highwires.com.
While you’re there, visit the new Highwires webstore to order all things TSA-related (we’ll be closing up our own webstore soon and just redirecting over there).
In other news, there are plenty of things coming in the new year. We’re working on a new set of songs for the next chapter of Mercies, putting together a new, expanded touring lineup, and making some sweet plans for early 2013. Details soon.
The brand new video for “Lady Now” is hot off the presses. It’ll be making the rounds over the next week or so, but you can check it out right now, right here at The Static Age’s Vimeo Account:
The video was directed by Nick Paley and filmed during July in Washington DC. It was edited in NYC by Nick and Edward Bursch. Our leading man is Andy Kachor.
And hey, when you’re done watching that: We have a limited number of Mercies EPs coming on 12” white vinyl. Music on one side, screenprinting on the other. We won’t have them ready for shipping until early October, but you can preorder them now on our Merch page.
Four UK shows, Oberhausen (Germany) and then Frequency Fest last night — it’s been a crazy, awesome week. We’ll be spending the next two days recovering/catching up on sleep here in Vienna before heading back to the US.
Thanks so much to everyone who made this tour amazing — Felix for keeping us in line/driving; Slingshot Dakota for being our partners in crime; all the promoters, sound engineers and bartenders who worked with us each day; and every single one of you who came out to say hi. We’ll see you all again as soon as we can.
Until then…we’re going back to sleep.
-tsa
