Summer Tour 2011!

2 months and one week out on the road. 2 months and one week of what seemed like endless winter. I got used to it after a while. I started enjoying the bleak landscapes always outside the window. Home in Florida right now though and the sun is shining.
Pope broke his foot and ankle in Texas. He fell 20 feet off a latter while adjusting a par can. When Mike took the shoe and sock off his foot to have a look it was nothing short of grotesque already and the swelling had only just begun. Pope's still there in Texas where we left him at some kind of rehabilitation center or hospice. That was at the beginning of the two months, which by the end seemed like a lifetime ago or only yesterday. Had Pope only just left us or had we always been without Pope?
We were there in Madison as everything started happening, blocks from the capital, staying at the fabulous Edgewater Hotel and recording at Smart Studios. Smart's officially closed to the public, up for sale, was thankful that we got in there and have a chance to record something before it was really gone for good. We recorded two new original songs, one called "Russian Spies" the other called "Occult Enemies" while we were there. We also recorded a cover of the theme song for the TV show "One Tree Hill". It airs May 3rd. The two originals are going to be a 7" on Sabot Productions that will hopefully be out in time for summer. I'll keep you posted.
As always I'll be giving away two tickets per show via twitter each day on all of the upcoming tours. So if you want a chance to win follow me, @tommygabel.

Total Clarity

On May 24th Fat Wreck Chords is releasing "Total Clarity", a collection of demos and unreleased songs (and some demos that got leaked, wink, wink) we recorded when preparing to make the album "Searching For A Former Clarity". Check the cover art by Steak Mtn. Here's the track listing...

1. Miami
2. The Shaker
3. Justin
4. Exhaustion & Disgust
5. Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners
6. The Energizer
7. Violence
8. The Mover
9. How Low
10. Joy
11. Holy Shit
12. Lost And Searching In America
13. Problems
14. Money Changes Everything
15. Total Clarity

Sneak Peek

Grabbed a copy of the vinyl for Ben Nichols' "The Last Pale Light In The West" while I was in the Sabot office yesterday. Orange vinyl. Looks amazing. Reminds me of playing on the Revival Tour and what a fun time that was. This is a great record, Ben really captured something. I'm not sure when Jordan is announcing a pre-sale but definitely worth grabbing a copy when it's out.

Steve Ignorant Interview For Big Cheese Magazine UK

Home For The Night

Why are the pictures hung on the wall so high?

An Evening With The Gabels

So me and my wife are doing this thing. Everyone's invited...

All Apologies

An apology is long over due, to everyone who bought tickets to come out and see us at any of the tour dates we had to cancel this past October and November, we're sorry. Canceling tour dates is the last thing that we ever want to do, especially when the dates have us going to some of our favorite places in the world, but this past October a culmination of circumstances were engulfing us and we had to take some time off from touring to go home and sort things out.

On a related note, after almost a five year relationship we are leaving Sire/Warner. We have nothing but gratitude towards all the people we worked with at the label and feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to make the records we made while with the label.

We'll be getting back out on the road starting with a handful of radio station festival shows early this December. Our friend Jay Weinberg will be sitting behind the drum kit for us, which we're very excited about. In January we're going to be heading out with Fences and Cheap Girls for a couple weeks before joining the Dropkick Murphy's in their month long celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Specifics about all the shows should be up on the website shortly if they aren't already. At some point this new year we also hope to reschedule the Australia, Europe and the U.K. canceled tour dates.

Again, our sincerest apologies to all our fans for the cancellations.