Like we said in the video we posted to our socials earlier today, we made a wee/cheeky/chill/fire acoustic recording of Lobes. We did it a couple of weeks ago thinking we’d use it to promote the North American tour, somehow, but never came up with a very clever way to do that. There was an idea where you would send in proof of ticket purchase. QR codes were considered. Eh. “Nah,” we thought. How can we punish our poor Turkish fans for not coming to any US shows? Where’s the justice in that? (Are any Turkish fans reading this?)
So here’s the first one, “Less From You.” If you’re a big Lobes fan, you’ll have realized that’s not the first song on the album. And you’re right: it’s the 9th. We are breaking all the rules here. Well, not all of them, but frighteningly large number. Maybe this will help you realize how short our time here is, and that “the only life path is the one behind you,” to quote David Fincher’s The Killer movie. In the future — in the coming days — who knows what order the songs of Lobes will arrive in??? You certainly don’t. Maybe this will help you to relax. Maybe this will help drive you over the edge into full-tilt madness. We are not responsible for these outcomes, as our subscriber agreement makes painstakingly clear.
Incidentally, do you know where we filmed that video? In our Columbus, OH, airbnb! Nice spot, eh? As discussed in our last post, there was a fire pit in the back yard. True to our word, we got some fire wood (credit for Keith Carne for fetching that wood while Keith Murray and I drank terrible margaritas at a bar near the university) and had a little pit party with Sean and Zeno, our marvelous support act on this segment of the tour.
After pit partying, we went to see The Killer, David Fincher’s new Netflix movie, in a theater. It was pretty good! Better than almost every other Netflix movie. Keith M. says he thinks maybe Roma is better, but he’d watch The Killer again before he’d watch Roma. Keith C. says The Irishman is better. Keith M. says he’d watch The Killer a thousand more times before he’d watch The Irishman again. I like Marriage Story more than The Killer, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs even more than that. I haven’t seen Roma; The Irishman, to me, is mid.
We all agree that Hubie Halloween deserves to be in the conversation.
Couple more things you might like to know:
Keith Carne says The Sphere, the big round thing in Las Vegas where U2 played, lost $100 million in its first quarter of operations.
We’re back at The Empty Bottle in Chicago this evening. Great spot. We’ve played it before and it’s a whole bog of fun. Imagine a bog packed thick with fun instead of mud, and you’re imagining The Empty Bottle. (NB: The Empty Bottle isn’t wet or muddy, or dank, or at all like a bog. We’re talking, in our metaphor, about a bog that’s nothing like a bog.)
Sean McVerry, our excellent current tour support (he’s with us through Portland, and returns for Philly and NYC), has a new video out with his project TELECOMS. It’s a fun watch; you should put it in your eyes:
Okay, time to load into the Bottle. Hasta mañana.
👨🏻🏫👨🏻✈️🧑🏽🎤
Well, as always, I love this. I was thinking of the wonderful acoustic version of Parachute that you shared when Lobes was released and wondering if you would record a new version of it, and then I remembered we’d also heard an acoustic version of Less From You back before Christmas, so I went back to have a listen to that one and I have to say it’s equally good but I love how the two versions are subtly different.
Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. Thanks so much for doing this. It’s a brilliant idea.
Bravo 👏 Thanks for doing this. Can’t wait to hear Human Resources. Will this be available to purchase once you have released each track? 🙏🏻