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Black Tambourine add chickfactor show at Maxwell's, releasing EP of Ramones covers

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Black Tambourine – What’s Your Game? (MP3)

Black Tambourine back in the day…
Black Tambourine

The first night of chickfactor 2012: for the love of pop, which features sets from reunited Black Tambourine and Small Factory, sold out pretty quick, so Black Tambourine have added another show at Maxwells on Monday April 9 for those who didn’t get tickets. It’s with Fan Modine and Rose Melberg (Tiger Trap/Softies/Go Sailor) and tickets are still on sale and still available.

To commemorate chickfactor‘s 20th birthday, Black Tambourine have also recorded an EP of Ramones covers which will be released as a double 7″ on Slumberland on May 15. Says the Slumberland press release:

It took a pretty special occasion to bring Black Tambourine out of retirement, even temporarily, and the 20th birthday of BT singer Pam Berry’s Chickfactor magazine is definitely such an occasion. When the band were discussing the rather complicated logistics (members scattered across two continents) for the reunion shows, the thought of maybe doing some new recordings came to mind. The band quickly agreed that a tribute to one their favorite bands would be a fun project, and of course the Ramones jumped to the top of the list.

After choosing which songs to work on, the band recorded using the same methodology as they did for the bonus tracks on their self-titled 2010 compilation LP. The gentlemen in the band convened in Maryland to lay down the music, the rough mixes were sent to Pam in London so she could add her inimitable vocals, and then the resulting recordings were sent back to Maryland for Archie to mix.

The final result is OneTwoThreeFour, a double 7″ and download EP featuring Black Tambourine’s versions of four of their most-loved Ramones tunes.

You can download Black Tambourine’s cover of “What’s Your Game” (from the Ramones’ 1977’s LP Leave Home) which features backing vocals from the Rinettes (aka Linda Smith, Rose Melberg, Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls and Jenny Robbins from Honeymoon Diary). You can also stream it below.

In other chickfactor news, in addition to the Maxwell’s show, the 20th anniversary party has added a show in Portland on May 30 at the Bunk Bar, with Barbara Manning, Joe Pernice, The Softies and Selector Dub Narcotic (Calvin Johnson in DJ mode).

Speaking of Joe Pernice, he’ll appear in NYC at City Winery as part of John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders with Meg Baird (Espers), Bhi Bhiman, Sloane Crosley, A.M.Homes, Eugene Mirman, and Sondre Lerche on March 10th. Tickets are on sale.

Though the first night of the 3-day Bell House fest is sold out, you can still get tickets to the May 11 show (Legendary Jim Ruiz, Aislers Set, Pipas, Bridget St John) and the May 12 show (The Pines, The Softies, Stevie Jackson, Honeybunch).

There’s also chickfactor shows in Arlington, VA’s Artsphere on April 6 (Stevie Jackson, Frankie Rose, Honebunch, Dot Dash) and April 7 (Black Tambourine, Lilys, Fan Modine, Lorelei).

Click through for the stream of Black Tambourine’s Ramones cover, plus cover art to the new EP…

Black Tambourine OneTwoThreeFour

Black Tambourine — 2012 Tour Dates
04/07 Arlington, VA Artisphere (tickets: http://goo.gl/GbYxk) *
04/09 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s #
04/10 Brooklyn, NY Bell House (SOLD OUT) %
* = w/ Lilys, Lorelei, Fan Modine
# = w/ Fan Modine, Rose Melberg