David Bazan at ACL 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

David Bazan is on the road and most likely in a town near you in November and December as part of a US tour that kicks off on 11/1 and stretches all the way East and back. Though NYC proper doesn't have a show to call its own, you can catch Bazan performing songs from his recent Strange Negotiations LP at Maxwell's in Hoboken on 11/14. Tickets are on sale.

Full tour dates for Bazan's US trek are below, alongside video from a recent KEXP session and some recent living room shows...

Continue reading "David Bazan going back on tour (dates & videos)"

David Bazan @ Pianos in 2009 (more by Kurt Christensen)

David Bazan and band will be hitting the road this fall, with tour dates that stretch from his hometown of Seattle across North America and back to California. They'll be stopping in Brooklyn for a Friday, September 24th show at Brooklyn Bowl. The Mynabirds open that show and others. Brooklyn Bowl tickets are on sale.

A tour trailer with the song "Please, Baby, Please" (from last year's great Curse Your Branches LP) is posted with all his tour dates below...

Continue reading "David Bazan & band - 2010 tour dates (Brooklyn Bowl) "

DOWNLOAD: David Bazan - Bless This Mess (MP3)

David Bazan @ Pianos in September (more by Kurt Christensen)

[David] Bazan and band strayed from Curse Your Branches territory a few times. Covering Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me," Bazan channeled the power of The Dude, with easy going goodwill practically blasting out of the amplifiers. Old Pedro the Lion standards like "Bad Diary Days" and "When They Really Get to Know You They' Will Run" caused some confused looks on the faces of more recent fans, but "Magazine" and "Penetration," both from 2002's Control caused massive reaction- the swaggering drums and Fugazi-style over-driven guitars contrasted nicely with the quieter moments of the set.

Bazan, known for question and answer sessions at his show, didn't field too many questions last night. When asked how to make a "Brown Bitch," a drink he featured on his website years ago, he sheepishly offered up the recipe: Smirnoff Ice and Whiskey, but warned that it "didn't taste too good, and worked way too fast." [Phoenix New Times]

The above is a review from the Tempe, AZ stop on David Bazan's curent US tour with Headlights. The tour comes to NYC on Tuesday, March 23rd for a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets are still on sale.

His newest record, Curse Your Branches, came out last September. He's putting out a collection called Live At Electrical Audio on April 30th.

Recorded live in the studio at Electrical Audio in Chicago, IL on October 28, 2009.

During their first tour together, Bazan and his band spent a day in Studio A at Electrical Audio in Chicago. The band set-up and played live with no overdubs over the next 12 hours. The tracks were sent to Bazan's long time collaborator and former Pedro The Lion bandmate, TW Walsh for mixing and mastering.

"Bazan: Live at Electrical Audio" features 10 new versions of songs that have previously appeared on Pedro The Lion, Headphones and Bazan solo albums.

The art and tracklist for that, along with his Tempe, AZ set list, and a live video, are below...

Continue reading "David Bazan on tour now, releasing Live at Electrical Audio "

David Bazan @ Bowery Ballroom in October (more by Jake Forney)

David Bazan's Curse Your Branches came out last September, and he marked the occasion with solo living room shows (which stopped in Brooklyn) and a full-band tour.

Bazan has another show living room tour this January, then he'll head out for shows in March and April with Headlights. They'll play Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Tuesday, March 23rd. Tickets are on sale.

Headlights put out a new disc in 2009 too - their Wildlife came out on Polyvinyl. Two videos from that record and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "David Bazan & Headlights - 2010 tour dates & videos "

words and photos by Jake Forney

The line-up was Dave Godowsky, Say Hi, followed by David Bazan.

The bassist of Say Hi played keys and guitar in Bazan's band. Say Hi's lead vocalist and guitarist played guitar with Bazan. Bazan played bass. When asked why he was playing bass this tour, he said he just felt like playing bass. They had a practice where he only played tambourine and sang, which he said was fun, but he ultimately decided to play bass on the tour.

The set was heavy with songs from the new album, Curse Your Branches. However, he played old favorites like "Magazine", "I Do", and a Headphones song "I Never Wanted You". He played an encore, which he said is something he normally doesn't do, but he "felt like playing some more fucking music." The encore consisted of him on guitar, alone except for Say Hi's bassist, who was onstage just to harmonize. He played "Priests and Paramedics", a cover of Dylan's "The Man In Me", and closed with "Harmless Sparks". The rest of the band returned to the stage at the end of this song to provide harmonies.

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David Bazan & Say Hi are still on tour. The NYC show was last Sunday (10/18). Opener Dave Godowsky has since played a set at the BrooklynVegan / Bowery Prsents show upstairs at Pianos on Saturday (10/24). More pictures from Bowery below...

Continue reading "David Bazan, Say Hi & Dave Godowsky @ Bowery Ballroom in NYC - pics "

photos by Kurt Christensen

" [On Tuesday I] had the opportunity to attend an invite-only show at Pianos on Manhattan's Lower East Side. In a small room packed mostly with music journalists and other industry types, Bazan and his band blasted through a 10-song set in just under an hour, still making time for his typical practice of Q&A.

The entire set was drawn from the new record, he played almost the entire album, with the exception of "Harmless Sparks" and the addition of "Cold Beer and Cigarettes" and "How I Remember" from the "Fewer Moving Parts" EP. I have had the opportunity to see Bazan many times in concerts in a variety of venues, and I can honestly say that I've never heard him and his band sound as polished and tight as they did [Tuesday at Pianos." [Patrol Mag]

More pictures and the setlist below...

Continue reading "David Bazan & band @ Pianos in NYC - pics & setlist"

DOWNLOAD: David Bazan - Bless This Mess (MP3)

David Bazan of Pedro the Lion will set out on a five-week North American tour this October in support of his first full-length solo record, Curse Your Branches, out September 1st on Barsuk Records. "Bless This Mess," an upbeat, organ-heavy track loaded with Bazan's trademark images and religious tangles, is above. His tour comes to NYC on October 18th for a show at the Bowery Ballroom. Opening for Bazan on that date and others will be Seattle's Say Hi. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 7th at noon.

This tour will be his first with a band since Pedro the Lion's last gig in 2005.

Joining Bazan on tour will be: Eric Elbogen: guitar (Say Hi), Andy Fitts: keyboards + guitar (Aqueduct), Casey Foubert: drums (Richard Swift, Sufjan Stevens), Blake Wescott: guitar (long-time Bazan collaborator).

Bazan spent the spring on a three-month-long tour of houses & apartments...

For the past couple weeks (and through the end of April), Dave Bazan has been going across the states playing intimate house shows. Most of them, if not all, are pretty much sold out as they are limited to only 35-40 folks.

Recently he played a super casual intimate house show (actually it was more like an office show) in Troutdale, OR. If you've ever been to any of Dave's shows (even when he was in Pedro the Lion), you know he opens up a question and answer period at various points in his set.

A majority of the questions focused on his personal life and his songs from Control, including the meaning of "Priests and Paramedics", how he had to explain to his wife about the song "Options", and that one song his wife forbade him to perform for a few years.

On the light side, he talked about the bain of Pitchfork, good movies and music of late, the process of his songwriting, how he liked the sound of the trains that passed by during his set, his first band 'Coolidge' with Damien Jurado and his new album Curse Your Branches. [Three Imaginary Girls]

Bazan spoke about some of the same topics in a 2006 BrooklynVegan interview. Check out videos from some of his house shows, with album art, tracklist and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "David Bazan - solo LP (MP3) & tour dates w/ Say Hi (Bowery)"

DOWNLOAD: David Bazan - Cold Beer and Cigrarettes (MP3)

David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) is releasing a new solo album on Barsuk in 2008. Before that he'll spend most of the Fall touring. That will bring him to Mercury Lounge in NYC on October 29th, and Southpaw in Brooklyn one day later. Some dates (not NYC) are now on pre-sale.

For some more MP3s, check out David's recent Daytrotter session, and - like Marissa Nadler, the Radiohead cover he did for Stereogum. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "David Bazan - 2007 Tour Dates, MP3s"