Nobody has any money in January so this one's on us. All of the below shows are free entry and will feature Talons, Shoes And Socks Off and a revolving cast of some of our favourite other bands. Enjoy...

21.01 - Leeds, Nation of Shopkeeper's (w/ Shapes)
22.01 - Birmingham, The Flapper (w/ Greatest Hits)
25.01 - London, Old Blue Last (w/ Tall Ships)
26.01 - Brighton, The Hobgonlin (w/ Hold Your Horse Is)

Talons threw a Christmas party in Hereford this weekend to celebrate the end of a wonderful year for them. Their most recent single was called Bethlehem and this is how they dressed for the occasion. Incredible scenes.



PS. Look who won the Old Age Hipster label of the year award. Clue: It wasn't Kanye West.

You've probably heard by now, but it's almost Christmas. Our annual label tour is done, I had my first turkey dinner of the year (albeit in a service station somewhere in the East Midlands) and I've even started to think about buying some presents. This all means one thing... IT'S PARTY TIME!!

To celebrate our biggest and best year yet, Big Scary Monsters Records is throwing a little festive get-together and you're all invited.

It takes place at Catch (22 Kingsland Rd, Shoreditch, London) on 23rd December. There'll be no live bands, but expect special guest DJ sets from a whole bunch of them along with a cast of musically-appreciative friends. So, off the top of my head, I think it's safe to assume you'll hear music from the likes of...

Adebisi Shank, Alkaline Trio, Andrew WK, At The Drive-In, Bear vs Shark, Biffy Clyro, Blakfish, Blink 182, The Blood Brothers, Brand New, Colour, Coolio, Copy Haho, Deftones, Finch, The Get Up Kids, Glassjaw, Hot Action Cop, Jimmy Eat World, Joe Esposito, Journey, Jurassic 5, Limp Bizkit, Maps And Atlases, Dean Martin, Meet Me In St Louis, Minus The Bear, Modest Mouse, Papa Roach, The Pogues, Cliff Richard, Rival Schools, Saves The Day, Shakin' Stevens, Talons, Tellison, Tubelord, Weezer, Wizzard and many more.

As well as the awesome music on offer, we'll also be giving away a bunch of free CDs and hopefully a few drinks to those of you who have been well behaved this year.

Happy Christmas!

Due to overwhelming public demand we've decided to bring Christmas forward a week. As of today, you can now buy Kevin Devine's 'Splitting Up Christmas' and ALL NINE b-sides as a digital bundle for just £5!

The 10 MP3s are available exclusively via bsmrocks.com, are all ripped at 320kbps and will only be on sale until 31st December 2009. They'll be down before your decorations.

Click here to purchase the tracks. The download link and password will be emailed to you shortly after. Check out the full tracklisting here

The X-Factor is over and will probably already be forgotten by the time you read this. Apart from the now annual Christmas number one single it will predictably spawn, we're free from its evil grip for a few precious months! However, reminding us that not everything about the festive season is Simon Cowell endorsed, Kevin Devine is here to bring some genuine yuletide cheer with a free MP3 shaped gift.

Recently released as a strictly limited edition CD single on his hugely successful UK tour, 'Splitting Up Christmas' can now be downloaded for free RIGHT HERE

Of the 225 'Splitting Up Christmas' CDs available during the tour (25 copies per night, each with a different b-side), only 7 copies now remain. Pick one up, along with signed copies of Kevin's album and the xmas tour poster, from our Boot Sale Music webstore.

Having released his 5th studio album, 'Brothers Blood' and played over 200 shows in 2009, including UK tours with Brand New and Manchester Orchestra, and a month-long US stint with The Get Up Kids, 2010 is looking equally busy with an Australian tour and appearances at the Coachella and Bamboozle festivals already in the diary, and further European dates to be confirmed.

Iiiiiiitttttt'sssssssss Chriiiiistmas! Well, not quite, but our lovely annual tour starts today, so it's close enough!

Kevin Devine and Shoes And Socks Off will be heading up and down the country over the next 10 days, taking in Manchester, Oxford, Cardiff, Southampton, Birmingham, Kingston (for a very newly confirmed house show), London, Leeds, Glasgow and Norwich. I'll be tagging along with a load of BSM merch and hopefully a few mince pies. Hope to see lots of you out there!

Remember, Kevin's new single, 'Splitting Up Christmas', is released on 9 different CDs (one for each night - not including Kingston!) and each is limited to just 25 copies, with a different b-side to the last. They're all giftwrapped and sitting on my floor waiting to be signed. For the moment they're only available at the gigs, but if there are any left at the end of the tour, you might find a few sneak onto our Boot Sale Music website. Keep em peeled!

We've just added two brand new t-shirts to the online shop. The first is a limited edition BSM Christmas Tour 09 design, available in white or black, with lovely, festive red and green print. It'll be available at all of the shows starting next week, with orders being shipped out the week commencing Dec 14th, in time for Christmas.



The second new shirt is an exclusive Mutiny On The Bounty design, unavailable anywhere else. Red print on black, these are in stock now and available to order straight away. If you're coming to any of the xmas tour dates and would like to buy one there, get in touch and I'll be sure to bring one in your size.

We're delighted to announce that on December 14th we'll be releasing the new Shoes And Socks Off album, 'Where The Skyline Is Fortified With Windows And Doors'. It's the third SASO record in the space of 12 months and shows yet another step forward for Tobias Hayes, the former Meet Me In St Louis man, as he adapts to life as a solo artist.

'Skyline' is available to buy on limited edition CD (for £5) and cheap digital bundle (£3), as well as in a package deal with the two previous albums for just £12.

As per usual, three tracks are available to download for free from the Friend of The Family

Shoes And Socks Off heads out on the BSM Christmas Tour from 30th November, supporting Kevin Devine. Dates are below.

To celebrate Kevin Devine's forthcoming appearance on the annual BSM Christmas Tour - and, of course, the fast-approaching festive season - we're re-releasing 'Splitting Up Christmas', a song originally taken from Kevin's 2003 album, 'Make The Clocks Move'. The single will be available as a free MP3 download and no less than nine different CD versions!

Each CD will be limited to just 25 copies, available for one night only and feature a different b-side, hand-numbered and signed by Kevin. Here's how it breaks down...

30.11 - Manchester (b-side: 'Joey' - Concrete Blonde cover)
01.12 - Oxford (b-side: 'Harvest Moon' - Neil Young cover)
02.12 - Cardiff (b-side: 'The Longer I Lay Here' - Pedro The Lion cover)
03.12 - Southampton (b-side: 'You'll Only End Up Joining Them' - acoustic version)
04.12 - Birmingham (b-side: 'Holland 1945' - Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
06.12 - London (b-side: 'Lord, I Know We Don't Talk' - live at Old Blue Last)
07.12 - Leeds (b-side: 'Write Your Story Now' - live at Old Blue Last)
08.12 - Glasgow (b-side: 'Whatever (Some Folk Song In C)' - Elliott Smith cover)
09.12 - Norwich (b-side: 'Wolf's Mouth' - alternative version)

Tickets for the tour are available now here. Shoes And Socks Off supports on all dates.

Now in it's 6th year, the BSM Christmas Tour is back, bigger and festiver(?) than ever as we're delighted to announce that this year will feature our favourite Brooklynite Kevin Devine alongside Shoes And Socks Off and a cast of wonderful support acts!

Get along to the below venues to enjoy the music, an array of tacky decorations and maybe a drunken Santa or two...

30.11 – Manchester, Deaf Institute
01.12 – Oxford, Academy 2
02.12 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
03.12 – Southampton, Hamptons
04.12 – Birmingham, Academy 3
06.12 – London, The Borderline
07.12 – Leeds, The Cockpit
08.12 – Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
09.12 – Norwich, Arts Centre

Check back soon for some more very exciting, Christmassy news.

Calories have been a regular on the BSM stereo ever since the first recordings from their debut album surfaced a little over a year ago. So it gives us incredible pleasure to announce that their new, 4 track EP, 'Lets Pretend That We're Older', will be released on November 9th through... us! Hi.

To celebrate this news, we're giving away the title track from the CD absolutely free. All you need to do is click here, save it, and love it!

The band will be selling the new EP at their forthcoming shows (as well as via this website from next week), packaged in a limited edition denim sleeve! The live dates are...

27.10 - London, The Scala (w/ Dananananaykroyd)
28.10 - Brighton, Audio (w/ Dananananaykroyd)
04.11 - York, City Screen (w/ Youves)
05.11 - Nottingham, The Bodega (w/ Youves)
06.11 - Brighton, The Freebutt (w/ Youves)
07.11 - Southampton, Lennons (w/ Youves)
08.11 - Reading, Oakford Social Club (w/ Youves)
09.11 - Birmingham, The Flapper (w/ Youves)
10.11 - London, The Barfly (w/ Youves)