This Thursday!

The AU 6th Birthday Party Tour comes to Masons Bar, Derry on Thursday 9th July 2009.

Celebrating 6 years of publication, AU have invited two of Ireland's top bands to kick off the festivities in style!

Returning to Derry after their triumphant album launch show in April, will be the all conquering And So I Watch You From Afar.

Returning to their home country on the back of a major European tour in support of American rock band Clutch, 'ASIWYFA' are on point to lay waste to all before them! Showcasing new tunes as well as playing material from their hugely successful debut long player - this will be one performance you can't afford to miss

Joining ASIWYFA as co-headliners will be Adebisi Shank. Firm faves on the Derry scene, these Wexford-based instru-punk nutters are a must-see event all of their own!

It's been said before and it will no doubt be said again, but if you've yet to experience the good-time carnage that Adebisi bring to the party - then you are missing out!

Joining that two-headed jauggernaut on the night will be Derry-based melodic hardcore outfit Spectator. Dealing in pummelling riffs reminiscent of mid-90s Helmet, Spectator take the blueprint for lost art of the hard-rocking guitar band and update it for the 21st Century.

Rounding off the bill will be Cork-based post-punkers Elk.

"bashing and bruising itself on the obtuse angles of post punk, the sugary sweet synthetic sing/shout along melodies of modern day indie-pop and the fast, trashy convulsions of hardcore – like Gang of Four, Wolf Parade and Melt Banana sucking down on the same slab of Red Bull. In a word frantic!” (Cork Independent)

Smalltown America DJs will be on hand to spin the tunes before, between and after the bands - OH WHAT A NIGHT!

Doors are at 8pm, Admission is only £5

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About And So I Watch You From Afar But Were Afraid To Ask

The latest from ASIWYFA HQ...

Well, here we are at the end of an epic months touring, we've had more people at the shows this time round than we've ever had before, we've had 7 sold out nights, we've sold almost all our merch and we haven't killed each other. these all add up to make this a very positive time in camp ASIWYFA. Check out Tony's tour diaries for full reports.

Anyway then, no time to be hanging around, here's whats coming up in our ever busier diary -

Clutch Tour - June (UK & EU)

First off.... AWESOME!!! WE'RE GOING ON TOUR WITH CLUTCH!!!!! These guys know how to rock, and we're honored to be joining them on their UK and European leg of this tour. If you're near by please come down and give us hand wrecking the joint. If you're in Europe and are coming down to the show please come and say hello on the night, we've had so much amazing response from mainland Europe to our music and we'd love to meet you all and thank you for the kind words and support.

AU Mag Tour - July (IRE)

Once we're back from Europe we have 3 days off then back to business, AU Mag Irish tour with the mighty Adebisi Shank, both bands have been threatening to tour together for a while now, and a lot of people have been asking if it would ever happen, so here it is. Big shout out to AU mag who are really stepping up to the plate on this one, boarder shmoarder, this tour will melt faces, full stop.

ASIWYFA Headline Tour - Sept/Oct (UK)

We will be heading out for another long one in the UK in Sept and Oct, we're still to announce details on this, so watch this space. Needless to say we'll be playing as many places as we can, bring your hard hat.

This Will Destroy You Tour - Oct (UK)

We're also over the moon to announce we'll be heading off on tour with Texas noise merchants This Will Destroy You in October. Have a nosey on our myspace dates to see where we're playing, and get your tickets now as we hear some of the shows have sold out already.

FESTIVALS

Oxegen: We'll be playing this year's Oxegen festival on the IMRO stage, we're on around 11pm, I think theres some band called Kings of ... something playing on another stage but we ain't heard of them so come see us....ok.

Pukklepop: We jet to Belgium on 21st August to join with the likes of The Jesus Lizard, Faith No More, Placebo, Squarepusher, My Bloody Valentine and a heap more at this years Pukklepop Festival. We get to share the same stage as The Jesus Lizard, nuff said, you know how we feel about this one.

Nova Rock: We do this bad boy during the Clutch tour next month, great slot on the big outdoor stage a few slots below Machine Head! If our teenage selves could see us now. Though we do get to drive from Leeds to Vienna for this one, 2000km, yey, but we get to play with Metalica, Slipknot and Mastadon so it kinda evens out. RAWK.

Truck: We're playing the Sunday at Truck this year, we can't wait, it's top to tail awesome bands, and we get to hang out with a lot of the good folks we've met on tour over the past year, awwww.

Aeon: We headline the Saturday night at this year's Aeon Festival in Devon, it's up for Best Small Festival, Best Grassroots Festival, Best Line Up and Best Loos in this year's UK festival awards. It's 100% independent, it's awesome and this years theme is Sci-Fi.... brilliant.

Glasgowbury: The greatest festival on earth, if you've never been, go. If you have you know what I'm talking about.

Forfey Farm: This will be our last NI appearance for a while, every year this festival is amazing, the vibe is unbeatable, the people are incredible, and it's cheap as chips. We're gonna be doing a day time slot this year, it's gonna be great.

EP and Single - SOLD OUT

We're both happy and sad to announce that we're all sold out of our debut EP "This is Our Machine and Nothing Can Stop it", we had 2,500 pressed up and they're all gone now. We've no plans to re-press this anytime soon, so if you have a copy hold on to it.... or get it up on ebay. We've also sold out of our debut vinyl pressing of double A side single "Set Guitars to Kill/A Little Solidarity Goes A Long Way".

Writing

We're taking a week off after this tour to head to a little house in Sligo, literally in the middle of no where, to get down to some of what we love most, writing some new music. It'll be our second time down there in the past few months and it's such a great place to relax and be away from any distractions. After our last jaunt we came back with 6 new tracks, one of which we've been playing on this tour called "S is for Salamander". We hope it will be a productive and relaxing time, tea cups and cigarettes at the ready boys.

Recording

We will be doing a bit of recording in July, we haven't decided exactly what form these songs will come out as but watch this space, we'll have new music for you very soon, and it's really good.

Album 2 - the plans

We will be recording the new album after the summer at some point, we will announce all the details of this soon, but we have a bunch of tracks we already think out-do anything on the last record, and we can't wait to get them out and to you guys.

JAPAN

We've just heard news from Japan that the record is doing really well over there, if this continues we hope to get out for a tour some time before Xmas, fingers and toes crossed.

THANKYOU

Before we go we just want to say a massive thank you to everybody who's making this possible, to all the people who are coming to our shows, to all the people who are buying our music, to anyone who is spreading the word about our band, to our label for be so supportive and believing in us, to our families and friends who never get to see us any more and still tirelessly support us, to all the promoters, writers, photographers etc who push this band, to the amazing people we meet everyday who give us beds, food and generally treat us with kindness, you are what makes all this possible and we're forever grateful.

The Weather Underground - Episode One

The Weather Underground 001 - Part One from Smalltown America on Vimeo.


The Weather Underground 001 - Part Two from Smalltown America on Vimeo.

And Snow I Watch You From Afar

Hiding from today's wintery onslaught, And So I Watch You From Afar have reported in on their news via their Myspace blog - go sign up.

ALBUM LAUNCH
We're happy to announce we're releasing our debut album on the 13th April in the UK. We're launching the album on the 4th April 09 at the Mandela Hall in Belfast where you'll be able to get your hands on a copy before the release. We'll be joined by Lowly Knights, Adebisi Shank, Pocket Billiards and more TBC.

SINGLE
Our double A-side single (Set Guitars to Kill/A Little Solidarity Goes A Long Way) comes out on the 9th March. It will be released in vinyl format and it looks great. These will be available at our shows, on our myspace and online through Smalltown America and all good online stores.

TOURING
We're touring in Feb with LaFaro, check the dates and get down to a show. We're also doing a Barfly tour in April with the new album. Mid April we'll be doing some more launches in the South of Ireland and then head off again at the start of May with Maybeshewill in Scotland and England.

VIDEOS
We have two videos in production at the mo for both our singles, watch this space.

TEE SHIRTS
We now have tee shirts on sale through our Myspace, be quick and bag yerselves one.

Public Service Blogcast Episode 9

9 fresh new gems plus the lowdown on yet another festival - A Little Solidarity takes place across Belfast between Thursday 13th and Saturday 15th November with an astounding line-up including STA's own Fighting With Wire and newbies-slash-Solidarity curators And So I Watch You From Afar. With weekend passes costing a mere £12 how can you refuse? Press Play for more info.

Public Service Blogcast Episode 9
38 minutes 42 seconds
Recorded 13/11/08
Tracklisting
00.29 Small Leaks Sink Ships - Gutter Of Disneyland (from Until The World Is Happy; Wake Up You Sleepyhead Sun album - No Sleep Records)
07.55 Fighting With Wire - Photographs (B-side from Sugar single - Smalltown America)
11.38 Adebisi Shank - Snakehips (from forthcoming self-titled album - The Richter Collective Records)
14.30 Ponytail - Beg Waves (from Ice Cream Spiritual album - We Are Free Records)
18.33 I Hate Kate - Bed of Black Roses (from Embrace The Curse album - Glassnote Records)
22.35 The Limousines - New Year's Resolution (previously unreleased)
27.46 Anopechi - We Flew From Boats (from Killing A Snake In A Dream EP - Allhollowmass Records)
31.30 Cut The Blue Wire - Get Out Of The Road (from Revert, Restart, Reset mini-album - Alcopop! Records)
33.53 Cossacks!! - We Gotta Power, OK!! (previously unreleased)

If you have any feedback or want to get a track played, get in touch - email blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk