EMA UK/EU SPRING 2012

Wow.  Do you realize that “Past Life Martyred Saints” came out less than a year ago?  It’s been one crazy, long, beautiful year.

I just stopped writing for like 5 minutes trying to think about what to say.  I’ll just be quick.

This is probably our last tour on this record.  One last time in Europe, one last time in London and the UK.  We’ve got some new songs added to the live show, but this tour is quite possibly the last time that we will perform this album in its entirety.  After this I’m taking a break to work on new material.  Full dates and venues are at the bottom of this post.

COACHELLA

I had a dream right before Coachella that I was back in high school and about to fail a test.  A test about green onions.  (Science?  English? I have no clue!)  This is a recurring dream I have where I am flunking out of high school, but this time in the back of my mind i was like, BUT HOW AM I GONNA PASS HIGH SCHOOL WHEN I’M SUPPOSED TO GO PLAY COACHELLA?!?  Priorities.

How rad to get to play “CALIFORNIA” with those awesome palm trees in the background!

To answer your quick Qs: yes, I did see the hologram.  No. I did not smoke weed with Snoop Dogg.  And yes I have lots of new thoughts on spectacle, Jumbotrons and how venue affects performance.  But let’s jump from dusty outdoor tent to shiny bright museum, shall we?

NYC

After that we rolled to NYC to play the Culture Shock festival at SUNY Purchase.  In my mind I had made a subliminal wish to get to go see the Whitney Bienniale, but it seemed impossible.  Besides a general interest in checking out some of the best and brightest young things in contemporary art, my old LA friend Dawn Kasper was part of the show, having moved her entire studio into a space on the third floor.  But we did not have the time or the money to get there.  At the last minute the SUNY show came through and it was like some magical thinking shit.

Dawn Kasper straight on

I surprised Dawn in her studio and afterwards we all went out for dinner and drinks.  It seemed like a dream come true.  When she asked us to come back and play that Friday, it was just above and beyond.

We were playing at the Whitney but it felt like a punk show.  We were on the floor and we were loud.  It felt like at any second someone could come by and shut us down.  I told the audience to come in close and thrashed around amongst them; standing on a chair, bouncing on the bed, grabbing a fistfull of thumbtacks and squeezing them in my hands and across my chest.  During that whole time I felt incredibly happy.

us playing, Dawn filming.

NYC also gave us some time to practice with our latest pinch-hitter, the awesome Sarah Register who usually plays in Talk Normal (and also mastered Past Life Martyred Saints!)  I feel real lucky that it worked out to have her on board as she is awesome.  Talk Normal have a new record coming out in the fall on Joyful Noise.  Keep an ear out!  Sarah will be with us in Europe.  Bring earplugs.

Here is an awesome mix tape Sarah and I made.

EMA SPRING 2012 TOUR DATES:

05/09  LEEDS  @  Brudenell Social Club
05/10   NOTTINGHAM  @  Bodega Social Club
05/11   MANCHESTER  @ Night & Day Cafe
05/12  BRIGHTON  @  Great Escape Festival   
05/15   LONDON  @  Scala   
05/16   PARIS  @  Olympia w. Garbage
05/18   PARIS  @  Flèche D’Or   

EMA is about to head out on what is quite possibly the last Past Life Martyred Saints Tour in the US.  Never say never, but this could be the last time we go out headlining shows  focussing on this material.  (At least in the US, Euro keep an eye out!)  I’m feeling good about it.  We’ve added a new kickass drummer and switched sister Nikki to guitar.  I feel like we have grown so much in this past year it’s insane.  We are also bringing the awesome Nu Sensae along as support.  I’m really excited to share the stage with them and I think that it will make for some really fun shows.  These kids keep it real.

Here are our tour dates.  Make us feel good and get a ticket now.

03/01 – San Francisco @ Rickshaw Stop  
03/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ Natural History Museum    
03/03 – Tuscon, AZ @ The Plush Room*                              
03/06 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive   
03/08 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry    
03/09 – Madison, WI @ The Frequency   
03/10 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall     
03/11 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern   
03/13 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison    
03/14 – Montreal, QC @ Il Motore      
03/15 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall    
03/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg   
03/17 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall     
03/18 – Greensboro, NC @ Guilford College
03/20 – St Louis, MO @ The Luminary Center for the Arts
03/21 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room    
03/24 – Boise, ID @ Tree Fort Music Fest    

Nu Sensae are on for Denver thru DC.  Also, I’m sorry if we’re not making it to your part of the country on this one.  I can only be on the road for so long before I start to feel like  Henry Rollins in Get In The Van.  But I know what it’s like growing up and having to drive 6 hours to get to a show.    Makes it more fun, right?  ;)

PS we are also doing COACHELLA and BONNAROO.  Super honored to be on these.  More details soon!

Ok new song and video up just in time for Valentine’s Day!  This one is especially important to me.  The video footage was actually shot when I was a teenager, and the proceeds of this song are going to be donated to a foundation that works to combat bullying in schools.  To purchase the song and show your support, CLICK HERE.

EMA – TAKE ONE TWO

This footage comes from a South Dakota trailer park in the mid-90s, and features a small group of freaks and misfits who seem to be having the time of their lives. Dressing up, hanging out, making up funny skits, and lots of laughing. When I look back now at our fresh young faces (yes that is me with the short dark hair and cat-eye liner), I’m amazed at how simply happy we all look. This is especially remarkable as I know what was going on outside those plywood walls: getting called names, shoved into lockers, and threatening to get our asses kicked for being queer or punk or just plain weird.  But despite all that, there is a joy, strength and self-acceptance in our faces that I find inspiring and wanted to pass on.

I’m offering the proceeds of this song to  an anti-bullying non-profit called The Jamie Isaacs Foundation.  The organization was started by Jamie, a 15-yr-old girl in Long Island who was a victim of bullying for years before switching schools.  It works to bring youth advocates into schools and pass anti-bullying legislation, as well as empathic education of students and faculty.  To learn more, visit her site or check out this video.

When I first put together this video I sent it out to the people involved to get their take on it before it was released. My friends thought it was “adorable” but I didn’t hear back from the sweet boy in the turquoise teddy. I worried that it was too much, too revealing, and he wouldn’t want that footage put out into the world. Finally, I got a message back:

That was the most beautifully done video I have ever seen  I love it I love it I love it!     I could not stop bawling   I don’t think I’ve ever felt so secure as when we were all hanging out in the trailer bedroom.

Erika. Lacy. We all 3 of us went thru some pretty tough shit. But we made it through. Lets use what we learned and give it to somebody else that needs it.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. This one’s for all the weirdos out there: cherish your friends, fuck the haters and let your freak flag fly.

“Take 1, 2″ on iTunes.

EMA is coming to Australia and New Zealand as part of the awesome St Jerome’s Laneway Festival.  The lineup is fucking insane (Austra, Cults, Chairlift, Fiest, Horrors, M83, Twin Shadow, GIRLS etc, etc, etc).  I think it will probably be at least as exciting as this thrilling scene from one of my favorite childhood movies The Man From Snowy River (AU).  Wild horses!  Cute cowboys!  Dramatic and dangerous equestrian stunts!  I’m sure we can find all that and more at this festival, don’t you think?

• 01/28/2012  AU  Brisbane  St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival         
• 01/30/2012  NZ  Auckland  St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival        
• 02/03/2012  AU  Melbourne  East Brunswick Club w/ Yuck      
• 02/04/2012  AU  Melbourne  The Tote                                                
• 02/04/2012  AU  Melbourne  St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival    
• 02/05/2012  AU  Sydney  St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival            
• 02/09/2012  AU  Sydney  Oxford Arts Factory w/ Yuck              
• 02/10/2012  AU  Adelaide  St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival        
• 02/11/2012  AU  Perth  St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival                

We are also doing some sideshows with the kool kool YUCK and playing a headlining show in Melbourne.

Just to get us both pumped, here are a few more of my favorite things from “Down Under”:

Once Were Warriors (book and film)

Super creepy great song by Split Enz…“I don’t know why sometimes I get frightened…”

Midnight Oil!

Picnic At Hanging Rock

Micro-tonal instrument builder and composer Kraig Grady.  I used to perform with his Shadow Theatre of Anaphoria back when he lived in LA.  He now lives in Australia.  His music and performances are some of the most beautiful and hypnotic things I have ever seen.  If you get a chance to experience it, you must go!!!

Heavenly Creatures - Kate Winslet’s first movie about 2 girls who commit murder.  Loved this when I was a teenager…

Performance artist/noise musician Justice Yeldham-warning it ends in blood.

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What am I missing?  What AU/NZ books do I need to be reading?  Which Flying Nun bands should make up my plane-ride playlist?  Do I really need to read and download “The Thorn Birds”???

Humbled and happy by the year end luv for this track.  I wanted to share with you a kind of funny and definitively fucked-up live version from our show in Athens, Greece.  I am kind of embarrassed by my braying swear yells of protest when things initially go awry, but I feel like as soon as we start to embrace the chaos, that’s when the magic happens.

“there is no art in the absence of risk”

LIMITED EDITION 7″ – ITUNES + EUROPE/ASIA  + NORTH AMERICA/AUSTRALIA

“ANGELO” featuring Mz’Gorjis of Platnum Platnum Glam Squad

Oh my!  There are so many things I want to tell you!  About “Angelo” and Ms. Gorjis and the Black Cowboy Parade and the 17-sided die.  About CSS and MEN and the luvfest of that tour.  About why I cut off my hair.  About accidental power crystals.

Can you wait?  Just one second?  We are 2/3 through a 3 month tour and I’m a little sleepy.  I am so yawn, can I tell you in the morning???

FALL/WINTER 2011 Tour Dates:

11/07/2011 FR Paris – Olympia
11/08/2011 FR Rennes – UBU
11/09/2011 FR Tourcoing – Grande Mix
11/10/2011 FR Strasbourg – La Laiterie

• 11/11/2011  IT  Milano Salumeria Della Musica
• 11/12/2011 IT  Rome  Circolo Degli Artisti
• 11/13/2011  IT  Bologna  Locomotiv
• 11/15/2011  IT  Venezia Pop Corn di Marghera
• 11/17/2011  CH  Zurich  Stall 6
• 11/19/2011  GR  Athens  Bios
• 11/23/2011  GB  London  Heaven w/ Zola Jesus
• 11/24/2011  GB  Manchester  Academy 3 w/ Zola Jesus
• 11/25/2011  GB  Liverpool  Kazimier w/ Zola Jesus
• 11/29/2011  DK  Arhus  Voxhall
• 11/30/2011  DK  Indre ByPumpehuset
• 12/01/2011  SE  Stockholm  Debaser
• 12/03/2011  PT  Lisbon  Vodafone Mexefest

GET TICKETS HERE.

Hey all!  EMA is headed out on a fall US tour with some rad bands.  We are playing earlier on these shows, but if you’re interested you should come check ‘em out as they are the last US dates of this year.  Special attention to the SF show at the Independent, where we are headlining and Alexis Blair Penney (featured above in the Marked video) is opening.  Buy tix here.

Also, we are headlining a show during CMJ at the Bowery Ballroom.  If you wanna see us play long and late, this is the show for you!  Tix here.

Otherwise we will see you in these fine cities:

10/07 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune *
10/08 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret *
10/09 – PDX, OR @ Doug Fir *
10/11 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre *
10/12 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent - headlining
10/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex *
10/14 – San Diego. CA @ Casbah
10/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom $
10/20 – NYC @ The Bowery Ballroom – headlining
10/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer #
10/22 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall #
10/23 – Boston, MA @ Paraide Lounge #
10/24 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
10/26 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club #
10/28 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues #
10/29 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues #
10/30 – Austn, TX @ La Zona Rosa #

* = w/ Wild Beasts
$ = w/ Washed Out
# = w/ CSS and MEN

come shout out!!!

Just got back from Europe!  Whew!  Germany Switzerland UK Belgium Netherlands, all fucking amazing, and of course, Vienna, where we got to record this sweet version of “Butterfly Knife” for FM4.  (Lots of other kickass live sessions in the works too, including a version of Anteroom recorded in a Parisienne crypt!)  So we walked into this radio studio in Vienna and there are like 3 Bosendorfer grand pianos, (all sweetly and stubbornly tuned to 444) so I thought, Hey! I’ve always wanted to do a piano version of “Butterfly Knife”.  And so we did.

In any case, I’d like to take this opportunity to define “we”.  This is my band!  And here are the people you will see onstage when you see EMA:

Leif Shackelford : violin, keyboards, co-producer and main collaborative partner in crime.  He ran EASTNILE (where a majority of PLMS was produced), builds amazing recording gear and boutique guitar pedals, and is also a helluva nice guy.

Nicole Anderson aka NKA aka “Aunt Dracula”.  My li’l sis hitting the skins.  She is shy but funny, refuses facebook and photoshoots and really does not want to provide her dorky older sister with any pictures or info to put on her website.

Nicky Mao : black-clad New Yorker, an only child thrown in to a family of pink-faced gee-golly Midwesterners.  Playing tough and mysterious second guitar.  She is also a very good sport.  Check out her kick-ass solo dreampop : Hiro Kone.

So long before there was Newermind (ok not that long before.  5 years?) GOWNS performed a Nirvana set at the now deceased Il Corral in LA.  It was a “cover band” night and we told everyone that we were doing George Thorogood and then busted into Aneurysm.  Sloppy and chaotic but it was a lot of fun.  I just remembered these and thought I would post them.  Thanks to Whitman for bringing along a tape recorder or these would be lost forever, as so many great fun performances are.

I left the crowd noise and tuning in so you can get a sense of the rowdiness of the night.  People were drinking and laughing, swinging from a rope hanging from the ceiling, moshing even!  Although Ezra and Corey might hate how sloppy these songs are, listening to them now made me remember how much fun it was to play with them.

AND keeping up with the NorthWest vibe, EMA is playing MUSICFESTNORTHWEST!  (that’s MFNW to those in the know)  Which is a fuckkin killer festival in Portland.  Check out the lineup here.  We play THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH at the super sweet HOLOCENE.  Somehow we get to headline this awesome night which also features TWIN SISTER, BLOUSE, and SUN ANGLE.

and if you aren’t in the lands of grunge origin, i’m coming to Europe right after.  Check out the dates on the new EMA LIVE page.

see you soon?

and yeah that guitar was harder to break than I thought!  shoulda tried it before 5 takes 6 hours and 12 beers!  but in the end it’s good cuz it’s all we had the budget for

special shoutout to Brock and Eva from Experimental Half Hour for filming and editing!  Much love!!!