We had our first practice in months last night. We're all pretty excited about the new songs. I'm not sure how much recording we'll be able to do over the next two weeks, but we're really going to try and get it all done. We have new buttons which just showed up in the mail today and we're definitely going to have a stack of Dead Music II CD's available.

In other news, the show we had booked at BAR in New Haven on Dec. 27th is canceled because the entire Sunday night music series there has been canceled. It's a shame.  Rick the booking guy always treated us really well. He got some great bands to come play on Sunday nights. The shows were free, the bands got paid well and got free pizza, and everyone seemed to be happy. The sound was good too. Hopefully he'll move the series somewhere else or something.

We may be doing another New Haven show on that day, but we're still working that out. Some other things might have come up. I'll post more when I know about it.

Also, we now have a show in Bloomington, Indiana at a house at 401 S. Rogers street scheduled for January 12th.

Ok, more soon.

-Doug

We're getting ready to hit the "on" button again. The winter tour dates are just about finalized. They're all posted on this page and at www.cankickers.com.
We're planning to release or re-release a few things. For now they'll only be available at the upcoming shows, but maybe once we're done with tour we'll do mail order.

-We're going to record some new songs and release two of them on the CosmoSingles 3.1 series on Cosmodemonic Telegraph. The A-side from it will be included on an as yet untitled Cosmodemonic Telegraph compilation that will be debut at the Hygienic Rock Fix on January 30, 2010.

-The rest of the songs (maybe 4, maybe 6?) will be released as a new CD EP and if everything goes well we'll have it for sale on this upcoming tour.

-A couple of these songs will also hopefully end up on a split 7 inch with Al Scorch on Let's Pretend Records.

-We're also going to re-release a limited number (because I only found 30 or so covers in a box in my closet) of Dead Music II, our second self-released album.

-Finally, we'll have some new shirts and some new 1 inch buttons courtesy of Boneyard Buttons available at the shows.

Hope to see you all soon.

-Doug

I was being overly negative about Twitter last night. Sometimes I like to criticize things I don't really understand...it's a bad habit and I'm trying to stop it.
Our friend Mimi posted this article by Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) that makes a lot of sense when it comes to how she uses Twitter. I'm not sure I agree with all of her ideas about directly asking fans for money, but I can see where she's coming from. What interests me is being able to put on guerilla shows at the last minute, find places to eat or sleep, maybe rides, etc. That could be pretty useful, especially in a town we haven't been to before.
The DIY community has been operating like this for years. We always rely on people who come to shows for places to sleep. We've done over 700 shows and we've only had to stay in hotels a handful of times.
Of course, it works both ways. When bands come through my town and I'm home, I always make the offer for them to stay at my place, and I feed them. That's only fair, and it keeps the circle going.
It seems like Twitter, used correctly, can act as an instant message board, help build community, and make more personal connections between bands and fans.
I'm still learning more about this, but I'm starting to warm up to it.
I'll keep posting as I figure out more about it.
Thanks for all the comments.
Marko-as for Facebook...I'm still on the fence about that, too. MySpace seems more useful for bands since you can post songs, but maybe you can do that on Facebook, too. I'll look into it.
My idea of using technology was writing things on my hand and calling it a Palm Pilot. If I keep going like this I'll end up with a freaking Blackberry...

-Doug

My other half is a librarian, and she's been using Twitter for a couple of years now. She keeps telling me that it's the wave of the future and it's where the kids are at. I'm not so sure. The few times I've looked at what people are "tweeting" about, it always looks something like:

coffeedrinkingfool136 I'm drinking coffee!!
posted at 6:45 AM
mood: barely awake

coffeedrinkingfool136 RT: I'm still drinking coffee!! I just put some sugar in it!!
posted at 6:46 AM
mood: buzzed

coffeedrinkingfool136 @thedudeabides @bobgnarley hey i'm in the shower now!!
posted at 6:48 AM
mood: naked

That being said, I'm kind of curious as to why bands that I like and respect are now using Twitter to promote themselves. Our friend Erik (Mischief Brew) now has a Twitter account. Check their MySpace blog for a pretty funny little bit he wrote about it. All this technology changes so quick and it's hard to know what's worth keeping up with and what's not. I mean, none of the members of this band even had a cell phone for the first two or three tours we did. Shit, I had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to payphones to call promoters...and I was glad to do it, too.
I'm joking, of course (although I did meet an older punker on tour at one point who told me he used to have a tape recording of the sound of quarters going into a payphone...he somehow used it to scam free calls and he booked most of his band's tours that way).

The only practical application I see for something like this is to announce shows when they're booked, and I already do that with those little "status updates" on MySpace. When we're actually on the road, it does make sense to be able to send out updates about when or where we're playing, especially if something changes at the last minute.

So, I'm going to leave this account up through the next tour we're doing of the Midwest. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll become a Twitter convert.

Follow us at twitter.com/cankickers

-Doug

In case you're wondering why there are all these weird "TBA" dates posted on our schedule, it's because I'm in the middle of booking a Midwest tour for January 2010. I post our tentative route on the off chance that someone will write and offer us something in a place where we have nothing yet. The trip is still in the planning stages, but I'm pretty excited about the shows that are already confirmed. We haven't been able to hit the Midwest much recently, so it'll be good to see people we haven't seen in a while and also to play some new spots.

The three of us live in different states right now (actually I live in a different time zone than Dan and Dan...first time that's ever happened...) but we're planning to get together and practice our tails off and get a bunch of new songs together at the end of December. We'll be doing a couple of shows in the Northeast to get ready for the Midwest trip and to test out the new songs. If all goes as planned we'll be recording a new 7 inch in Chicago while we're on tour and it should be out sometime early next year.

I'll be constantly updating the tour dates for the next few weeks, and when the dates are finalized I'll post another blog or send out a bulletin to let you all know about it. See you soon...

-Doug

The Can Kickers will be playing one final show before taking a break from playing live for a while. It will be at Red Fire Farm at 7 Carver Street in Granby, MA 01033 as part of the Tomato Festival. The festival runs from Noon-5PM. Can Kickers go on at 1 PM. For more info go to www.redfirefarm.com.

The reason for the break from live shows is that once again we have band members moving to various parts of the country. The good news is we are already tentatively planning a Midwest tour for December 2009 or January 2010. We will also most likely do some shows in the Northeast around Christmas.

It's been a while since we've been to the Midwest, and we may need some help getting shows out that way. If you can help out with a show in any of these cities, or any other cities that may be nearby, please email us at cankickers@hotmail.com. Thanks! Have a good Fall.

Possible cities for a Midwest tour this winter:

Chicago
Minneapolis
Winona, Minnesota
Iowa City
Des Moines
Athens, Ohio
Oberlin, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Lincoln, Nebraska
Kirksville, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Bloomington, Indiana
Madison, Wisconsin
Frankfort, Kentucky

Here's an article about the Can Kickers that was just published in the Philadelphia Examiner:

Philadelphia Examiner Article by James Carlson

So we still can't do much of anything for the rest of the summer and into the fall, but we're already starting to make some tentative tour plans for the winter. I'll post more info soon.

-Doug

Our schedule for the rest of the summer is set. There are only 4 shows listed right now, and it's probably going to stay that way. We're all pretty busy outside of the band and it keeps getting harder to get together to play live. We still love playing when we get the chance, though. Yep. That's all. Hope to see you all soon.

PS. I just finished reading Juliana Hatfield's memoir "When I Grow Up." I've never really been into her music, but she's a decent writer and I could relate to her stories about the ups and downs of touring with a band. We've played some of the same places she talks about, and she really captures the boredom and frustration (as well as the good things) that happen while you're on tour. She also drops names of famous people that she's met just as much as I do! Ha. Although she's actually met people who you might have heard of.
Check it out. I got a copy from the local library.

-Doug

Also add this show in Greenville, NC to that last post. Someone hasn't had their coffee yet this morning....

Saturday, May 2nd- GREENVILLE, NC @ Spazzatorium Galleria 920 Dickinson Ave
Greenville, North Carolina 27858 w/Tavo Carbone Band, Johnny Corndawg, and Smallpox and the New Vaccine 10:30 PM All Ages

We're doing a few shows in Connecticut and Boston this weekend, and then in North Carolina next weekend. Almost all of them are either free or by donation, so you only pay what you can afford. Our prices are so low, you'd be crazy NOT to come.
We "guarantee" you'll have a good time. Come on down!

APRIL 2009

Friday, April 24th- GROTON, CT @ Time Out Cafe 924 Route 12 9:30 PM 21+ Free

Saturday, April 25th- MERIDEN, CT @ Daffodil Festival in Hubbard Park. Food Tent Stage 2-3 PM. Free, All Ages. Go to www.daffodilfest.com for complete info.

Saturday, April 25th- HARTFORD, CT @ The Whitney House South Whitney Street. w/Trillion Gallons of Gas, Hand Grenade Serenade 8 PM All Ages

Sunday, April 26th- SOMERVILLE, MA @ PA's Lounge 3 PM Matinee Show (Ages 18+) w/Robert Blake and Bread and Roses. Club is at 345 Somerville Ave. Call 617-776-1557 for more info

MAY 2009

Friday, May 1st- GREENSBORO, NC @ House Show 601 S. Chapman Street All Ages, 8 PM w/The Levees and Teh Vodak

Saturday, May 2nd- SAXAPAHAW, NC @ Saxapahaw River Mill Farmer's Market 6-8 PM.  All Ages www.rivermillvillage.com for more info