Umm.

HELLO THERE WIZARD KIDS!

Just wanted to let ya know that the last day you'll be able to order some sweet Whomping Willows gear and still get it in time for Christmas is Thursday December 17!

I've also reduced Let Love Grow t-shirts to just $10 US and Canada, $13 International! HOLY CRAP! I have a limited supply and this design will be retired once they all sell out! Get 'em while you still can!

All other t-shirts are $15 US and Canada, $17.50 International, which basically amounts to free shipping!

I also have an ongoing special deal for the holidays: 1 t-shirt of your choice, a Tree Hugger tote bag, a frisbee, a koozie, and THREE CDs for just $45!! It's called the Whomping Willows Starter Pack and it's a great gift for your friend who isn't into wizard rock but should be!

http://thewhompingwillows.com

Love,
Matt

Hello friends!

Usually I go a little overboard with my pre-tour blogs – this time around, I’m going to attempt to keep it brief and to the point.

Justin Finch-Fletchley and I are touring in February. It’s going to be awesome. I'm almost certain my 400^th show as the Whomping Willows will occur on Valentine’s Day in Dallas TX. We also have a couple very notable shows that you should be particularly excited about. First, we’re playing at Sonorus 2010 in Vienna VA on February 6 with like 10 other bands. It’s going to be nothing short of the best east coast wizard rock show in February, so if you live on the east coast, you should make a point to be there. www.sonorus2010.com for more information. Also, we’re playing at Carousing With Cupid in Oklahoma City on February 13. Last year, the OKC Yule Ball raised $2,000 for the HPA. Let’s beat that with an even bigger turnout! More info: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117073268950

Otherwise, we’re playing mostly house party shows. We’ll be charging a $7 admission to all house party shows and donating $1 per attendee to the HPA. You might notice that the admission fee is a bit higher this time around: Simply put, it costs more to rent a car than it used to and we aren’t playing any paid library shows, so we need to cover our travel expenses somehow. We still think $7 is a very reasonable price for an awesome wizard rock show. Especially because:

Many awesome bands will be joining us along the way! ALL of our shows will feature a third band, and sometimes we’ll have a fourth band on board. The Moaning Myrtles will be playing with us from February 5 to 7, Snidget will be playing with us from February 6 to 8, Tonks and the Aurors will be playing with us from February 8 to 10, and Fred Lives will be playing with us from 2/14 to 2/26. I Speak Tree will be playing with us again in Pittsburgh. We’re also hoping for a totally rad super awesome band to join us from 2/9 to 2/12, but we can’t say anything about that right now. Wink wink.

We need help booking some dates! Specifically:

2/12 in Kansas City

2/15 in New Orleans

2/16 in Birmingham AL

2/18 in Atlanta GA

2/24 in Delaware (WE REALLY WANT TO PLAY IN DELAWARE!!)

2/25 in New Jersey

If you're interested in hosting an awesome house party show, please contact me at thewhompingwillows@gmail.com!

Facebook event pages coming soon!

 

Much love,
Matt

Hey folks!

If you listened to the HPA conference call last night, or if you follow me on twitter, you know that JFF and I have made a pledge that all of our shows in 2010 will be fundraisers for the HPA.

Why are we doing this, you ask? Well. The HPA does a lot of outstanding things, and we fully endorse those outstanding things. The HPA requires money to operate, and since we'll be touring extensively in 2010, we feel that our constant connection to the community puts us in an ideal position to promote HPA campaigns on a person-to-person level and also provide some sort of continual stream of donations to the organization. Additionally, we really enjoyed having representatives of the HPA present at many of our shows over the fall. Local HPA chapters added an element to the shows that we couldn't provide ourselves. They enhanced the feeling of community and increased each show's sense of purpose. We always aim to put on a great show, but alas: a show is a show. A show with a sense of purpose is that much better.

Of course, this pledge brings up a major question: How are you going to ensure that every show you play is a fundraiser for the HPA?

Glad you asked! At the moment, we're planning somewhere between 130 and 150 shows for 2010. I will be personally responsible for booking roughly 96% of these shows, which means that I will be able to work fundraising into each show's structure.

The other 4% will be events we've been invited to play: Sonorus 2010, Carousing With Cupid in OKC, the Hallows and Horcruxes Ball, and Hogwarts Prom; as well as additional events we hope to be invited to play. Many of these events are already HPA fundraisers; and as we proved at Wrockstock the Third with the sketch auction, we are capable of creating fundraising opportunities for the HPA wherever we are, even at events that are raising money for other worthy causes.

Long story short, at the very least, we will always have a donation bucket for the HPA on our merch table.

We also hope to integrate more presentations by local HPA chapters into the structure of our shows, whenever humanly possible.

It's difficult to know exactly how much money we'll be able to raise at this point, but I'm setting our minimum goal at $5,000 for the year.

Love,
Matt

Hey folks!

Hey folks!

I am gearing up for a huuuuge holiday sale this year! In the spirit of the holiday season, Phase One is an honest effort to make all of my music as affordable as humanly possible! To this end, ALL of my CDs are on sale for $9 or less! This includes my latest album Demons at the Helm, which is frankly worth way more than $9 but whateva -- I want you to own it! I also have a very limited supply of a limited-edition live album I released for fall tour. It's called Punk Rock Christmas, and it features many of your favorite Whomping Willows songs performed with a full band at last year's Yule Ball in Boston. The recording is fantastic and Brian's guitar solos will BLOW YOUR MIND. Finally, I have like a dozen copies of Treestylin left and I'm selling them for just SIX DOLLARS. All of these prices include shipping!

You can participate in this ridiculously awesome sale by visiting my online store:

http://thewhompingwillows...com

Phase Two of the sale is coming soon! I'll be making all of my fall tour t-shirts, tote bags, frisbees and koozies available, as soon as I'm able to set up the page and make it look presentable. Stay tuned!

Love,
Matt