We have new band members!! Isn't this exciting?! After about a month of auditioning we have finalized two new members:

Michael Foster on keys and vocals
Evan Blackmore on drums and percussion

Normally I would include short bios to introduce these fine young gentlemen, however details of their past are blurry as they, like us, were raised by Space Nuns and dropped on this planet some billions of light years ago. This played a very large role in bringing them into the group, not to mention their musical talents and great looks.

So we are back to five-piece and are ready for action! We will continue to write and record new songs and play regional shows until our new album is finished! Stay tuned for new pictures, new faces, and most importantly, new sounds!

Hi-way Ricky

So the Dead Beats need a drummer. Badly. We are auditioning drummers starting now! If you or anyone you know would be interested in playing drums for one of the best rock groups out there, please let us know. We are looking for someone who will be dedicated and willing to tour. We do have our own kit, so in case you play drums but don't have your own kit for some reason, that would not be a problem. Style-wise we are looking for a fairly laid-back drummer that can play 60's style rock drums, but can rock out when necessary. Think Ringo Star meets Chris Franz (Talking Heads). Spread the word!
Sincerely
Hi-way Ricky

Lisa is no longer a part of the band. Benny and Lisa are in Jookabox now, so look for them this summer and fall on tour with Moo and the crew.

So its down to three again for us.

Into the studio we go, and we shall not emerge until we are a beautiful beautiful butterfly.

Don't worry, we still love you.

Hi-way Ricky

Some of you may be thinking "what the hell is going on with the deadbeats?"

well, i am here to answer some questions.

the bad news:
We recently have had two members leave the group: Dan and Benny (the rhythm section). We will miss them dearly, but they will always be two of our very best friends, and we wish them luck in all their future endeavors.

the good news:
We are going to continue as a band exploring new territories seeking out the strange possibilities within the "freak pop" genre.
We are currently in the midst of writing and recording a brand new album tentatively scheduled to be finished by the end of the year, to be released by Standard Recording Co.
We have hired a new member: Joe Faucet, longtime friend of the deadbeats, he is multi-talented and will play violin, cello, guitars vocals, drums, etc.
During the process of recording we will be collaborating with musicians from the ever-growing community of creative talents we are involved in, all the while searching for a full-time drummer and possibly a bassist to take on tour once the album is finished.
So its onward and upward for the deadbeats! Hope that clears things up a bit for those of you who are out of the loop.
We appreciate all the support and kind words we have been given throughout the years and look forward to rocking your faces off in the future!!!

Allen B.
aka "Hi-way Ricky"

I last left you with quite a cliffhanger.  You were probably expecting meat fights, killa thugs, super group ELO jams, blizzards, mansions, etc..

Good news, they're right here:

Saturday, March 21st - Austin / Dallas, TX

This is where my camera ran out of batteries for 4 days.  Please bear with my vivid imagery.

We awoke early the next morning for a day show load-in with the most vibrant hangovers of the aught decade (2000-09).  Luckily three meals of mexican food in a row can actually heal burn wounds and cure cancer.  The first mexican meal took place at Mr. Natural, an authentic vegetarian / mexican health food store.   While pulling out of the parking lot a nice young hispanic woman stuck her head in our van window and shouted "WE NEED TO MAKE SOME MONEY!!".  I believed her, but only had hangover to offer.

The day show took place at some type of college house far away from downtown.  We played in the garage, forgot how to play all of our songs, played Coolplay / Snow Patrol / The Fray songs instead, and became immediately famous.  Then we remembered how to play our songs while eating the second meal of mexican food.

This meal took place at the Hotfreaks party at the Mohawk (my fave club in all of history).  All of our Indiana bros and sis' magically appeared around us and force fed us meat and hot bottles of Splenda water.  This wasn't a mirage, but I don't remember anything very well except seeing East Side Larry (Sean from Those Young Lions) with a wicked forehead burn and a sweet cut-off tall tee tucked into his camoflage cargo pockets.

When I finally came to, we were in Dallas eating mexican food again with Willie Nelson and his children (who seemed to be in-bred?).  Our club for the evening, The Cavern, was directly across the street in a Broad Ripple type area named Greenville.  This area turned into club central in a few hours, where mini-skirts and collared shirts were required.  One poor fellow who wasn't wearing a collared shirt was immediately arrested and booed publicly in the streets.

The Cookies had the best set of their lives and Fishboy headlined the show while Amo Joy played between sets.  Somehow we only made $6 each from the door, despite having a full crowd.  Our Indiana bro, Joe, met us at the club and escorted us to his parents mansion after the show for some hot-tubbin.

The next day was the only day off for the rest of the tour, so we took advantage of it by sleeping until 4pm, having a meat eating contest in the hot tub and watching movies in Dolby 1,000,000.1 surround sound.  Our deepest gratitude goes out to Joe and his parents for hosting us two years in a row (and for sending us off with groceries).

March 23rd - Little Rock, AR

We drove immediately to the art-space where the show was to take place, ACAC.  Our hosts, Dan and Casey greeted us with a mountain of Miller High Life cans and we had a great evening.  We played with a band from LA named Anavan, who poured beer all over themselves and slid all over the concrete.

After the show, Allen and Benny made sure to use all of the extra sliced ham in our grocery bag by starting a meat fight.  While a winner was never decided, there was a clear loser: Jim from Casper and the Cookies.  Jim has been a strict vegetarian since middle school.  Allen hit him directly in the face with a basketball-sized piece of sliced ham.  Somehow, the meat fight actually brought Jim and Allen closer (they are now friends on Facebook).

March 24th - Memphis, TN

This was one of the most fun shows of the entire tour.  A week prior to this date, I got an email from the club we were set to play, Murphy's, about our show being canceled in favor of a comedian.  I was livid, but somehow we worked out a back-porch style set at our friends' pad, Kerry and Matt.  They had gotten married just two days before and still didn't mind having us invade their love nest.

Rain was on the forecast, so the show was moved into their tiny living room and we set up an acoustic set full of oldies and newbies.  It was quite fun and different.  It made me feel like a real musician.  After both Deadbeats and Cookies sets, we all joined in for a super group / power medley of ELO songs that mad everyone in the city vomit at once.  We fried the vomit and ate it for breakfast the next day as falafel.

March 25th - St. Louis, MO

St. Louis always seems to offer up interesting surprises.  Last time, we played with the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and I somehow won a talent contest by doing a backflip.  This time we played with Themselves (Dose One / Jel) and ended up at an underground speakeasy full of gypsies.  My wonderful fiance even surprised me by driving to St. Louis to see me.

We bid Casper & the Cookies farewell after watching Jason smash his hand while surfing on a guitar amp case and sang happy birthday to the club owner (who is also named Crotch).  Many thanks to Mike, Jimmy and Jerry for always taking such good care of us.

It turns out that our friend Amanda Lynn is the queen of the St. Louis underground.  She led the band through a manhole under the arch that was a portal to a gypsy speakeasy in the year 1921.  There was a butler force feeding everyone hash cake and steemed corn and a gypsy band that smoked marijauna cigarettes dipped in stem cells.  They played another set that was actually recorded by Rick Rubin and is being released by Interscope as a live album.

Somehow the portal closed and left everyone naked in a suburban child's playroom.  That's where I picked them up.  Seriously.

March 26th - Kansas City, MO

I finally got my camera recharged just in time to greet the famous bearded Eagan brothers (AKA Sloppy Bros):



Sean and Justin have been with us through every high and low point.  They probably don't like our music, but they are forced to always do everything possible to accomodate us.  Kind of like how you don't actually hate your parents when you're 13, but they always piss you off.  Not really like that, though.

Sean lived in my basement when I was 19.  He ate beans for dinner and somehow found enough money in the couch cushions for a small bottle of gin every night.  One time we glued coins to the kitchen floor and then videotaped him "finding" them.  He actually pried the coins from the floor and still bought gin.

That basement is where this band began in 2003.  That's fucked.

Every time we visit KC something completely epic happens to top the last time.  This trip wasn't completely epic, but it was really fun.

The venue we arrived at was called The Pistol.  It's a pretty amazing renovated loft in an old textiles building in a very old part of downtown with a gigantic pistol hanging at the entrance.  Justin told different people different themes for the show and people came dressed in amazing costumes.  Kansas City is a true artist haven.  New York tries to be KC.

The first band was a 25 minute art-drone and then came I Love You:



I Love You used to be a full band, but then Justin (pictured above) turned it into more of a solo venture.  It's still just as interesting, but not nearly accessable.  His quote says it all:

"I realized that people would rather watch me do bicycle kicks upside down with my head in a drum than play guitar."

He's probably right.  He's also fucking nuts.  In a good way.



The show went pretty late and I had to run up and down the back stairwell a few separate times to keep warm.  I went to bed before everyone else and was awakened to meet Justin's roomate who had spent the night in jail.  It turns out that shoplifting sushi from Whole Foods is not legal after all.  She is a make up artist for porn stars.

The next day we watched "The Animal" with Rob Schnieder and got the oil changed in the van (which somehow cost $50?) before heading to Lawrence, KS.

March 27th - Lawrence, KS

Lawrence is another one of those gorgeous college town wonderlands where nothing bad happens and everyone pays to go to concerts.  We've had some great shows there before, but we've never had an ice storm and a basketball game loss on the same night.

Lawrence is where KU is located.  KU is a huge basketball team that won the entire NCAA tourney last year.  This year they were favored to make it to the final four until this night.  They got beat.  They got beat and then no one came out.  There was also an ice storm.  It was a dark day at the Replay Lounge. not too dark for I Love You to cut his face open during his set, though:



We did get to hang out with Jeff from Drakkar Sauna (who are playing at Local's Only in Indy on Thurs. May 14th) and ened up staying with the sound bro, Seth.  Turns out that Seth is a fan / bro of Harley Poe and also had Prizzy Prizzy Please stay a few weeks prior.  Small world.

The next morning we woke up and got breakfast.  When I got back in the van to leave, it wouldn't start.  THE FUCKING STARTER WAS FUCKED.  Again.

March 28th - Des Moines, IA

I was furious.  Also, there was still an ice storm taking place to make things comfortable.  We used the last tow on Lisa's AAA card to get Terry to the only auto spot open on Saturday.  They said they might be able to get it looked at by Sunday.  That always hurts to hear.  I tried to bribe them with weed-food and tabloid magazines, but nothing seemed to be working.  Lisa and I went and sulked at a grocery store for an hour while John, Allen and Benny befriended an old skinhead.

When we went back to check on the van, it was fixed!  AND it only cost $20.  Boy does that feel good.  We then hit the road and headed straight into a blizzard.

We were trying to get to Des Moines early to meet Justin Eagan and his girlfriend, Amanda.  Amanda grew up in Des Moines and was planning on showing us around town.  Since it took a few extra hours, we had to load straight into the club, Vaudeville Mews.  We've had some of the worst luck in Des Moines, but this night changed my mind completely.

Somehow we ended up on a bill that included a very nice band of late 30-something book club friends, Mad Happy, and a hip hop crew of total thug rappers from Omaha:



These bros were total thugs.  All their songs were about thuggin hard and deep.  At one point, Shawty (picturedabove), yelled "who's got the muthafuckin BLOW, I don't give a fuck!".  He also told Mike Ill from Mad Happy: "It's cool you're, like, into peace and shit.  I'm a killa by nature, but it's cool you into peace."

Here's their hit single, Put it in tha Trunk:

We booked it out during the last DJ's set and made our way to Amanda's parent's house in the suburbs.  I ate 1000 cheese cubes and fell asleep while Benny and Allen wrestled naked next to my head and Justin tried on every one of Amanda's father's collectible war helmets.

March 29th - Minneapolis, MN

This morning we were awakened to the smell of sweet meats and BBQ.  After indulging a pulled pork feast, we took family photos and headed to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis is one of those cities you always hear is "so cool bro".  It is.  The downtown is super clean, super hip and everyone is good looking.  We didn't quite know what to do and headed straight to the Nomad, our club for the evening.

A member of one of the other bands was there early and told us about the city a bit.  We found some nice veggie food and had a pretty great set.  We played with some great bands and had a great crowd.  Great.

Afterword, Eileen from the Ex Lovers took us back to her mansion that was built in the year 1615.  It was gorgeous and there were enough beds for everyone.  Eileen went to a house show and ran over a hipster in her station wagon.

March 30th - Ames, IA

This was a very memorable tour date for several reasons.

1.  We played a small art space where everyone was receptive to the weirdest shit we could throw out.

2.  I almost bought the "God Storm" version of Risk for $50.

3.  We stayed up almost all night partying with an interesting cast of characters.

We met Hannah, our hostess, at the show as she played in the second band.  She and her boyfriend lived in a small hippee apartment and had a ton of people over after the show.  Every booze and every drug...ever.  We met our second jailbird, Distance, who had started a fight at Culver's over animal rights and twisted her ankle.

I tried to go to bed early, but John and Benny partied the whole night through:

March 31st - Daytrotter Session

Daytrotter is a super sweet blog-type web entity that records hip bands every day and then writes amazing blurbs and draws amazing portraits of them.

They record and mix several bands a day, all live.  You just have to go in and bang it out:

We recorded 4 new songs.  The session should be up sometime in the next few months.  Neat!

April 1st - Champaign, IL

We scooted to Champaign the previous night to take a breather and had a pretty easy night.  The next morning, I got up early and had more mexican food with my cuz Ryan and his wife, Jodi.

They live in a gorgeous house in downtown Champaign.  Ryan plays in the band Elsinore.  They're going to make it big.  We played with them this night and met up with Everything, Now!, who we rounded out the tour with.

We played a super creepy set and between the two Indiana bands, we stunk up the entire club.  We also had our Lobster-scented fog machine turned all the way up.  It smelled like someone took a shit inside of Davey Jones' locker.

That night, Lisa tried to get Dave Carter to wash his feet.  There were too many cooks in the kitchen and it ended badly:

April 2nd - Madison, WI

The next day we headed straight for Madison and met up with Shane from Screamin Cyn Cyn and the Pons:

Shane played as his solo project, Shane Shane, and captivated the entire crowd with the most entertaining 10 minute set in history.  He remixed the Venga Boys classic late 90's hit "Boom" (boom boom boom boom, I want you in my room..) and had entire song about being a "Fag".  He had headpieces for every song.

We also played with Kitty Rhombus, who covered several Chris Isaak songs and let us stay at their house.  I slept in the wizard's room with one hand in a barrell of pudding while he played putt putt.

April 3rd - Chicago, IL

Somehow Chicago neglects to see us for who we are, or does it?  It treats us like royalty and makes sure to burp us after feeding us.

We got up early in order to get to the city early and hang with my bro, Pat.  We watched him change for 3 hours and loaded into Subterranean early to meet the Belle Ends:

We have all played either in the Belle Ends, or in other bands with members of the Belle Ends at one point in our careers, so it's safe to say we know them.  What we didn't know was how FUCKING INCREDIBLE they've become.  What a treat.  Truly talented musicians that are doing something completely original and accessible.

Before the show, we met my family for dinner and had one of the best meals / mood lifters I could ask for.  I was jazzed.

When we got back to the club, Everything, Now! was onstage playing for a full crowd already.  The Belle Ends were up next:

At this point, the energy in the crowd and on stage was getting vibrant.  I love it when I can't see the end of the crowd from my vantage point on stage.  I would venture to say that this is the feeling that drives me most.  It's addictive.

Both us and Yourself and the Air, a fantastic Chicago band, had super high energy and great sets.  Then we headed to Tricky Ol' Puss' for the after party.

My ultra-bro, Shea, was in the most elevated form of "Rip Roarin" possible and almost got into a sports fight:

Allen turned into Highway Ricky just as I watch a parade of 30 Eastern-Europeans walk through the door and onto the dance floor.  Shea threw a 40 and some chick's head and AJ kicked a hole in his own wall.

At this point it was about 6am and I could barley stand up.  I went and laid on AJ's bed to fall asleep and listened to two more hours worth of complete destruction.  The only thing I could hear was glass breaking and cans being crushed.  It sounded like a good old fashioned ran-sacking and then Shea finally got tired.  Allen, Lisa and AJ went up on the roof to watch the sun come up:

April 4th - Milwaukee, WI

I got up the next morning to take a shower and Allen came puking into the bathroom.  He just let it all out.  Hearing someone violently puke is so funny.

I filled up on mexican pastries and drove us to Milwaukee.  At this point I was more than ready to go home.  We played a fun set,  saw Lindsey and Jeff Bedel and then drove through the night to get home.  I don't rememberthe drive and it probably didn't happen, but I woke up in my bed.

Thank you to everyone forever and ever amen.

Ahhhhh!  The smell of spring-time in Indiana!  Invigorating!

Almost as pleasant as the smell of our van after 4 weeks of touring.

Almost as beautiful as 4 weeks worth of glitter and lobster-scented fog juice.

Almost as wonderous as 4 weeks worth of  house shows, money machines, roosters, snakes, Baby oil, Panama City Beach, SXSW, and neti pots.

Welcome to the Smoke n Mirrors tour:

March 10th - Bloomington, IN

Bloomington is the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Edition of Indiana.   It's easy on the eyes, progressive, probably undernourished and definitely over partied.   Its underbelly is the "indie"est part of Indiana, yet everyone still has money to spend on clothes and food and concerts because they don't live in the real world.  It is fantasy.  I love it so.

For years, us Muncie kids always looked up to Bloomington for all of its bohemian splendor.  Now, weirdoes like us can invade the town and make a bit of a splash.  That's what we did.  We started the first leg of the tour with the pumped up version of Jookabox and debuted a few brand new songs from our upcoming record.  We poured glitter all over ourselves, not realizing that it would be in our arm hair and stuck to our faces the entire trip.

We saw old friends and made new ones.   We played the holy grail of clubs:  The Bluebird.  We were harrassed by some chick who claimed we relied to heavily on our subject matter.  I don't even know what that means.  We slept under kitchen tables at Capt. Awesome's house:



March 11th - Nashville, TN

We arrived at The End (venue) to find our best new "I can't get outta my truck, but I'll yell weird comments at you while you're loading and not have anything to do with anything but keep my truck running for hours in front of the club" buddy.  We met our new band friends, Darla Farmer (who is playing with us in Muncie on May 8th) and ate the first of 1000 meals of mexican food.

We got our picture taken in the women's bathroom and got a real nice write-up out of it:

Everthus the Deadbeats with Grampall Jookabox at The End

March 12th - Knoxville

Here's where things started getting juicy.  We arrived at our house venue to find DL of the incredi-band I Need Sleep, making pizzas and tapping kegs for us.  He lived in a gorgeous house with 25 fish tanks.  He also has the most dapper/neon band mates that play every instrument and take off their shirts and smash into everything, ever.  DL:

It was here that Allen discovered the mystical healing powers of the Neti Pot.  Here he is demonstrating the most effective way to clear your sinuses in both video and photo slide show:

It was also here that our gorgeous van, Terry, died for the second time.  It turned out that we got a bad starter and had to sit in the mechanic's office for a few hours the next day.

March 13th - Athens, GA

Athens has long been revered for its amazing contribution to the national music scene, yet we had to find out the hard way that the scene is somewhat oversupplied with amazing bands to function the way it used to.  In fact, it seems like everyone that lives in Athens is in one band, Dark Meat.

Last summer we saw the 30 piece band play to about 2000 people at a festival, and this year we played with them at a very small club called Rye Bar.  They actually only have 8 or 9 current members, yet still hold the "craziest dudes you know" trophy.  Their singer punched a hole in our friend's ceiling in Bloomington once.  They also told us stories about stealing 100 pairs of high quality headphones and cases of tea from SXSW.  They are awesome.

Their bass player, Ben, is a business partner with Mercer, pictured below peeing:

Ben and Mercer bicker like an unhappily married couple.  They are adorable.  Mercer owns an internet auction/music venue/record space called the Money Machine and plays in the band Quiet Hooves.  That's where we stayed. He stayed up all night drinking coffee.

March 14th - Valdosta, GA

This date was supposed to be in Tallahassee, FL, but the venue we were booked was taken over by new management, who dropped our show.  In a scramble, the date was picked up in a southern Georgia college town named Valdosta.

It was here that we picked up with our eternal lovers, Casper & the Cookies, who are the most amazing friends we could ask to tour with besides our life long sexual partners, Jookabox.  For the next 4 shows we traveled as a 3 band power dance package.

This first show was at an old plantation house converted into a pizza house / strip club / concert venue called Vito's Rock n Roll Pizzeria:

I ate 3 XL cheese pizzas and two servings of french fries and then took 2,000,000 shits.  The PA was jacked up and we had to actually use our own dinky mixer.  Moose and Allen practiced being strippers and we all put on too much make up:

We then met two women who would take us in for the night.  They lived in military housing and their husbands were in Iraq.  Their house didn't show up on our GPS because it was in an alternate universe.  It was very clean and they had two kittens who climbed all over us while we slept.

March 15th - Panama City

I expected Panama City Beach to be fun, instead it was fucking rad!  Not because of the sweet beach parties, because of the sweet tourist traps.  We ate at one such trap named Dirty Dick's.  I bought a 4x tshirt and Benny caught his own lobster and had it slaughtered right then and there:

Then we went to the beach, which looked like MTV told us it looks like:

People were making out everywhere and sluts were magnetically attracted to Benny's beard.

All this promiscuity got us pretty randy, so we had to dance on the street in front of the venue when we got to downtown Panama City:

Downtown Panama City is actually very quaint and quiet.  The perfect setting for a nice art-space show on a Sunday night.  We secured a PA at the very last minute and the Cookies got crazy:

We met some of Benny's family members and took a group photo in the rain after the show:

We got permission to stay at Kay Cookie's boss' beach house about an hour east and I drove through pea soup fog and got so dizzy that I ran into a fire hydrant that sprayed vitamin water (Revive flavor).

March 16th - New Orleans

This is the tour date I was most excited for as I've never been to New Orleans before and have heard such wonderful things.  Good news, they were all accurate.  On the way in, we noticed that parts of the city were still decrepit and run down from the storm (which hit in 2005, 4 years ago).  Our venue, The Dragon's Den, was located in the French Quarter and showed no signs of damage or economic impact.  Each bar had a corresponding tacky gift shop, which was a welcome sight.  Also, we exercised our right to drink beer on the street after meeting up with our Indiana friends and roommates Corey, Brad, Dave and Joe:

We also had an interesting guest.  The uber-mysterious and terrifying Jandek had played a show at a local college earlier in the evening and then visited our show with some friends of Casper & the Cookies.  This is where Sweets (drummer for Jookabox) invented the brand new indie-mega-trend, the Bronnet.  It's basically a bonnet worn by bros:

That night we stayed with our promoter friend, Jay, who lived in a sketchy part of town and owned a Rooster.  The rooster only crowed about 8 times throughout the night, so even if I fell asleep, I wouldn't stay asleep long.  Everyone else went to the strip clubs on Bourbon street and rung in St. Patrick's Day the American way.  Allen slept in the van and woke up on the gank:

We made our way back to Bourbon St. for the St. Pat's parade and did some Bro-ga (yoga+ bro) on the waterfront:

Allen tried to catch some pigeons:

We met some fellow Hoosiers:

and a Voodoo museum guide that threw a snake at Lisa:

Benny and John found a swimming pool on the roof of a Voodoo Museum Strip Club that had a gift shop and got some sun and board shorts.

March 17th - Mobile, AL

Mobile is a nice little city.  We didn't get in until showtime and ended up at a great club names Alabama Music Box.  We anticipated a nice crowd since it was St. Patrick's Day and ended up playing with the local heroes, Super Nice Bros.

Not only were these bros nice, they put on a hell of a show.  The lead singer covered himself in baby oil and proceeded to attempt a baby oil slip n slide in the middle of the crowd:

We also stayed in a historic district where the Super Nice Bros lived and slept on a bed of dog hair.  One more day before Austin.

March 18th - Lafayette, LA

Last year played in Lafayette at a venue called Artmosphere.  This year we were directly across the street at the Blue Moon Saloon.

Not only is the Blue Moon an amazing open air venue, but it is also attached to a guest house where the bands are allowed to stay for free.  Amazing.

The Blue Moon has a crazy neighbor who calls the cops anytime the show goes past 11:00, so we had to start pretty early.  Despite the early start, people started showing up right away and in massive crowds.  We ended up having a sold out crowd of about 200 and had an excellent night.  The headliner was a fantastic local band named the Givers fronted by a Tina Weymouth babe and a dude babe.   Benny and John went to a ghetto afterparty and were forced to dance to Sisqo's Thong Song while eating Taco Bell until the sun came up.

March 19th - 20th - Austin, TX

We woke up at the ass crack of dawn to get to Austin early so we wouldn't miss any action.  I woke Jason Casper up by taking a picture of him with full flash:

This day held the longest drive of the tour (6.5 hours), which I tried to pound out by myself but failed miserably once my ass started getting sore.

We went immediately to our old Muncie bros, Know More Robots, killer college pad and then headed directly downtown for some tacos.

Dodge from My Old Kentucky Blog was throwing a killer day party for which we had obtained "no wait list" list status.  It feels good to feel important for a few minutes every once in a while.  The tacos and free beer were gone, but Dodge was good and drunk and quenched our thirst with a few drink tickets.

Dark Meat was playing when we walked in and ended up talking with them again for a while.  We later saw them all leaving with cases of sweet tea and arm fulls of free swag while watching a gorgeous band from Australia named The Grates.

That night Benny and John split off and somehow made it backstage to every show in Austin.  The Black Lips and Dirty Projectors asked them to be in their bands and a few other bands (Brian Jonestown Massacre, King Khan & the Shrines, Metallica) asked them to go on tour with them.

The rest of us went to see the best band in history, Akron/Family, at the Secretly Canadian Party and I met up with some family friends who bought me too many Lone Star tall boys.

The next morning we had to be up early to load into the Standard Recording showcase.  There were 15 people sleeping in the same living room, commune style:

People started showing up as soon as the party started and it stayed packed all day long:

because Standard Kevin is the ultimate party dude:

We played with our Indiana bros (Amo Joy, Kentucky Nightmare) and some new friends (Of Great and Mortal Men, Maps + Atlases, Daniel Martin Moore), and had a full house for our set.

I blindfolded myself with tinsel and dangled above the sound board during the show and then Lisa collapsed and everyone passed her to the keg, where she woke up doing a keg stand.

After the show Moose, Sweets and I went to the pool with Marcus to dip our ankles, share another lone star and reflect upon our sweet lives in Indiana.  We decided that both we and Muncie are great, and that Muncie is the center of the universe.  By living there we basically lived on the sun and are no longer influenced by concepts such as physics or sports.

That night we went down to 6th street and just hung out at the local bohemian watering hole (where these people were frenching pretty hard):

Many friends came to reminisce and Joel got me hammered.  We decided that the only proper way to end our stay was at the hot tub.

I've never been drunk in a hot tub before and it sounds like the best thing in the world, but it's actually awful.  As soon as you get in, the heat sucks any moisture you may still contain out of your skin and you immediately become the most hungover you ever have been in your life ever.  It sucks.  Joel tried to see how long he could hold his breath under the hot tub water and I passed out.

Next thing I knew, some short hispanic woman was yelling "WE NEED TO MAKE SOME MONEY" in my face.

Stayed tuned for Volume 2, where this cliffhanger takes us through the Midwest and finds us playing with Natural Born Killers, staying with two jail birds, recording for Daytrotter, rip roarin in mansion after mansion, driving through blizzards, and playing under water.

Hey! There you are!
Guess who’s been writing 6 new songs for you?
We will be debuting them all on tour in March. We will be touring with Grampall Jookabox, Casper and the Cookies and Everything, Now!
We will be doing the Austin shuffle and be topless on the beach in Panama City during Spring Break.
If you have extra SXSW showcase slots and need a band of disco
balls, you know who to ring. If you are a promoter in Minneapolis, you
will fucking love us:
transpantherbooking@gmail.com
Here are a few tour dates:
3/11 - Nashville, TN - The End w/ Darla Farmer

3/12 - Knoxville, TN - House Show w/ I Need Sleep

3/13 - Athens, GA - Party Show w/ Quiet Hooves

3/14 - Tallahassee, FL - Engine Room

3/15 - Panama City, FL - Gallery Above

3/16 - New Orleans, LA - Dragon’s Den

3/17 - Mobile, AL - Music Box

3/18 - Lafayette, LA - Party Show w/ Brass Bed

3/19 - SXSW (HOOK IT UP)

3/20 - Standard Recording Showcase

3/21 - Dallas, TX - The Cavern w/ Fishboy

3/22 - Denton, TX - Party Show w/ Fishboy

3/23 - Little Rock, AR - ACAC

3/24 - Memphis, TN - Murphy’s

3/25 - St. Louis, MO - Firebird

3/26 - KCMO - The Emerald w/ I Love You

3/27 - TBA

3/28 - TBA

3/29 - TBA - Minneapolis

3/30 - TBA - Minneapolis

3/31 - Daytrotter Session

4/1 - TBA

4/2 - TBA

4/3 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean w/ Yourself and the Air / EN!

4/4 - Milwaukee, WI - Stonefly Brewery w/ EN!
Tickets for the Chicago show GO ON SALE THIS SATURDAY at..
THE SUBTERRANEAN WEBSITE
They will be $7 Advance and $10 on Day of Show. I am making this a massive party, so just commit already.

We here at Deadbeats Central Intelligence Kapital (D.I.C.K.) have always held the general "let's be as mysterious as possible" rule, and our "if they don't get IT, they're just not indie enough" credo has become a little out-dated.

In light of this phenomena, we've decided to make a few resolutions for 2009:

1.  Be a little less mysterious*

* = except John Kill (he will always be the most mysterious and mystical person you know... i.e. Crystals, wigs, muslim garb, weed)

Benny and Lisa don't know it yet, but i rigged their entire house with webcams so that the whole world can see all of the dance parties, murder toilets, shrink wrapping, mystical tent rooms, yoga, raw food eating, internet shopping, and Castle Oldchair they could ever need.

2.  Always tell the truth*

* = except when high on booze or drunk on weed

3.  Blog more.

Most people think blogging is SO 2006, well... since we're mysterious, we don't have to follow any rules.  Especially internet rules.

4.  Eat healthier.

The only way we can eat healthier on tour is if you buy more CD's.  So this resolution is actually dependent on you.  Don't fuck this up for us.

5.  Be nicer.*

* = except Benny.  The dude is a GD saint.  He saved his mom from getting stabbed by a robber by running him over with his car repeatedly, last week.

6.  Write a killer new record.

We started writing a new record.  Yeah, it's great.  You may have heard some of the new songs if you came to one of our shows this fall.  Expect familiar subjects such as crystals, zodiac women and schizophrenics, and then expect us to get totally indie on you and break out a song about the devolution of man and the rise of cows and birds.

Not sure if we'll be able to release it this year, but we'll probably start recording.  We now understand what it takes....which brings me to my next resolution:

7.  Get rich.*

* = except me, I'm pretty much as rich as I can be with only three bank accounts.

We'll be touring again in March with Grampall Jookabox and Casper & the Cookies and tons more new material.  I'm in the midst of turning my drumset into a disco ball (seriously). 

SXSW, Southeast, Midwest.  West Coast in the fall.

Also be on the lookout for a new video opus from, and starring, your favorite deadbeats and friends: MURDER TOILET

I won't get into specifics, but if you're a virgin and haven't been sacrificed to save humanity from a ravenous toilet, beware.