We had a short ride from DC to Harrisonburg, VA. We got to take a nice long walk down the main street there. Harrisonburg is a fine example of small college town that shows a renewed vigor for its downtown area. We shared the bill with our old pals Uncle Bengine and stayed with pedal steel player Jason who just happened to be dog sitting for this little fella, Luka. The venue, The Blue Nile, was also a really good Ethiopian restaurant as well. Lucky us! Along with Uncle Bengine, New Orleans math rock duo Caddywhompus rocked us out. 
The next show was in Charleston, WV. I had a chance to catch up with my old high school friend Stefani Andrews. An great artist in her own right Stefani helped put together a gig to accompany an awesome gallery showing of some great Charleston Underground artists friends of hers. The Gallery was called Studio 1031 and it seemed to be right in the middle of downtown Charleston. There was some pretty amazing stuff there, not the least of which was this piece entitled “Vaginalier,” which consisted of a working chandelier made out of multiple-sized speculums. You can’t see it from the picture but there were actually images of various women superimposed onto the wings of the speculums. Pretty fucking cool!
I ended up crashing on the couch in the studio that night. The light was was doing some interesting stuff in the morning so I took this eerie photo when I woke up.
The next day it was off the the land of Guided By Voices and Kim Deal: Dayton, OH. It was our first time in Dayton, though we’ve been building a great fondness for the state of Ohio ever since we started touring the states. Nan and I recently discovered the Cincinnati band Wussy. We are both big fans, something that happens less often than one might think. Our host and songwriting force behind Normal Torso, Aron, gave us a quick tour of Dayton including a bar where Robert Pollard is banned for life and the cemetery where the Wright Brothers were buried. The house where we played was super cool and all the other acts: Half A Ghost, Ali King, and Normal Torso really brought it. Aron’s roommate turned out to be a really cool artist named Ben Riddlebarger. This is a pic from the basement show in Dayton which I’m glad this sweet guy named David took because I remember thinking the back wall looked really interesting. 
One of the cool things about the St. Louis show was discovering a new band – Frances with Wolves. They were dreamy experimental noise, with bursts of pop melodies that bubbled up intermittently. What was also great about being back in STL was catching up with our friends in Sleepy Kitty – Paige and Evan. Evan is now writing (and is the Music Editor) for Eleven Magazine. He wrote a little blurb about us and some of the other cool stuff going on in KC these days!
We finished our Back To School Tour in the best possible way with a house show for our new KC friend and artist Rachel Sky. It just so happens that Rachel’s house is close enough to Sandstone Amphitheater that we could hear the Hall & Oates concert going on while we set up. Below is a party shot in our typical formation by Michelle of Deco Auto/Drew Black and the Dirty Electric.
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Barry Bliss asked Me (Major Matt) a handful questions about being a musician and our recent move to Kansas. Here’s a link of that exchange: http://www.olivejuicemusic.com/blog/2012/09/10/2012-interview-major-matt-mason-usa
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Our hometown release show for the new album: Courage. It’s going to be at the Riot Room in KC on Friday, September 28th. Opening acts will include: The Conquerers, The Lucky and Folkicide. Save a couple of bucks and get your advance tickets here: http://www.theriotroom.com/event/157199/
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A song off the new album was featured on this weeks KC local podcast The Mailbox hosted by KC local music mavens Michael Byars & Chris Haghairian: http://blog.midwestmusicfound.org/2012/09/10/the-mailbox-vol-66/
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We are also happy to announce we will be returning to Europe in October and November in support of our new record COURAGE (olive juice music, loud baby sounds). Please see below for confirmed dates. If you can’t make it out, or you don’t presently reside in Europe, please feel free to share this event listing with any friends you think might be interested in attending one of the shows! We sure would appreciate it! XO, Nan & Matt
SCHWERVON! FALL 2012 EUROPEAN TOUR
OCTOBER
-Germany
4 Berlin (Schokoladen)
5 Dresden (Ostpol)
6 Krakow (Rozrywki 3)
7 Vienna (Rhiz)
8 Munich (Südstadt)
10 Nurnberg (k4 – w/ The Wedding Present!)
11 Mannheim (The Blau)
12 Regensburg (W1 – w/ Jenny Lund)
13 Gunzenhausen (Cayman Bar – w/ Jenny Lund)
-Switzerland
14 Tobel (Komturei Tobel)
15 Zurich (Bosch Bar)
-Germany
16 Wetzlar (Franzis)
17 Darmstadt (Oetinger villa)
18 Koln (Haengendegaerten)
19 Bremen (Spedition)
20 Oldenburg (Wagenburg)
21 Hannover – (TBA)
22 Hamburg (Astra Stube)
23 Offenbach (Hafen 2)
-France
24 Nantes (Le Stakhanov)
25 Paris (Pop in – w/ The Pirouettes)
-United Kingdom
26 London (Stag’s Head – w/ David Cronenberg’s Wife, Bilkis + spinmaster plantpot)
28 Cardiff (The Moon Club)
29 Bristol (Cafe Kino)
30 Nottingham (The Chameleon)
31 Wakefield (The Hop)
NOVEMBER
1 Manchester (The Castle)
2 Halifax (Arden Rd Social Club)
3 Glasgow (Glasgow College of Art)
4 Aberdeen (Brew Dog)
FB Event Link
Schwervon! 