NEW ALBUM WITH STEVE ALBINI!
Hey there,
We're excited to announce that we're making our next record with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio next month.
Stay tuned for more updates!
See you all soon.
-FC
Photo by Zach Barocas
RESOLUTION OF HAPPINESS // A RADICAL RESISTANCE COMPILATION
Today is the day! The Resolution of Happiness compilation is out! The nineteen song album can now be purchased on CD or as a digital download.
We're happy to be part of this effort of resistance and solidarity. Our song "Scuffle" is in good company, for sure. If you don't know about the comp, here are the details: B. From our band curated and released it on her label, Trimming The Shield Records (which has also released all of our music to date). The release 100% benefits Lambda Legal, an invaluable resource for the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities. The contributing bands are from all over the country - and there's even one artist in Berlin! The musical genres span Punk, Country, Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Post-Punk, Experimental, Indie . . . there is truly something for everyone!
The cover art was done by illustrator Karen Mooney (@moongerm) in Chicago, the graphic layout was done by Veronica Leto (@eveyinorbit) and Buick. The mastering was done by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering in Nashville.
Please go support this labor of love and intention. Happy Pride!
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
June tour dates and a new song!
Hey, all!
We're headed out to play some shows this month and want to let you know where we'll be. We're doing seven shows between the Midwest and the East coast and have some rad experiences lined up. We get to play two shows with Bright Christ, the new punk duo by Stephen Shodin and Zach Barocas (two-thirds of BELLS≥), we get to play Third Man Records in Detroit, and we get to see some people we love at every stop. We'll have copies of our new JUNEBUG 7" with us, too. Come say hi to us if we're coming to a rock show near you!
Then, on June 23rd, the Resolution of Happiness compilation comes out on Trimming The Shield Records, and we have a brand new song called "Scuffle" on it! The comp will 100% benefit Lambda Legal, so be sure to get a CD or digital copy of it. Nineteen bands and artists, all united in solidarity! It just went up for pre-order today, GET IT HERE.
We appreciate you and your continued support!
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
SHOWS:
06/14/17 --- Quenchers, Chicago IL
06/15/17 --- Third Man Records, Detroit MI
06/16/17 --- Footlight Bar, Ridgewood NY
06/18/17 --- Koto, Salem MA
06/20/17 --- The Depot, Baltimore MD
06/21/17 --- Metropolitan, Annapolis MD
06/22/17 --- Milestone, Charlotte NC
OUT NOW: JUNEBUG EP and VIDEO FOR "BERLIN"
Hello, all!
Happy day: the JUNEBUG EP is out today! We're very proud to be able to share it with you all and hope you enjoy it. It was made in the spirit of collaboration and community, and as such, will partially benefit the ACLU. For this record, we collaborated with Jesse Michaels (Operation Ivy, Classics of Love), covered a song by Nashville's own Iodine, called in a German translation, and wrote a song for some friends of ours. It's a diverse and different body of work for us.
The 7" can now be purchased from our pages, at our live shows, and at these fine retailers: Grimey's, Fond Object, The Groove, and Atomic Nashville.
And, we made a video for one of the songs on the EP, "Berlin." It was our first experience with opening up our visual medium to a large group of people in our local community. We very much enjoyed the process and are excited to share the final product with you today. Appreciation to Harvey Milk and Cleve Jones; additional appreciation to Gilbert Baker.
"Berlin" from JUNEBUG by Friendship Commanders. ℗ & © Trimming The Shield Records, 2017.
Updated tour dates are listed below, and more will be added to the June run, so be sure to check back. Can't wait to see you all!
We appreciate you and your continued support
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
SHOWS:
04/21/17 --- Siberia, New Orleans LA
04/22/17 --- Houston Underground Punk Fest #5, Houston TX
05/05/17 --- BriendsFEST // Showroom Studios, Indianapolis IN
05/06/17 --- The Mutiny, Chicago IL
06/16/17 --- TBA, Brooklyn NY
06/18/17 --- Koto, Salem MA
06/21/17 --- Metropolitan, Annapolis MD
06/22/17 --- Milestone, Charlotte NC
NEW JUNEBUG EP AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER TODAY!
Hey, friends!
We're excited to announce that our new EP, JUNEBUG, can now be pre-ordered! It will be released on April 15th, Record Store Day, and will only be available on 7" vinyl with digital download. You'll be able to get it at Grimey's in Nashville, at our live shows, and online. Pre-ordered records will ship on Monday, April 18th. One song from the EP will be yours as soon as you pre-order your copy. We hope you enjoy it!
This record is meaningful to us because each song was inspired by or contributed to by people outside of our band. "Fighting Shape" was inspired by our comrades in BELLS≥ and is dedicated to them. "Tragedy Chaser" was co-written by Jesse Michaels (Operation Ivy, Classics of Love). "Berlin" features a German translation by N. A. Huebsch Jr., and "Swan Dive" was written by Jay Joyce and originally performed by his band, Iodine. In the spirit of community and collaboration, one dollar of every copy sold will be given to the ACLU.
Some incomplete tour dates are listed below. Our show in Nashville on March 24th will be the last local one for a while. We look forward to playing with friends in town and then touring throughout the rest of the year.
Finally, B. is curating and releasing a compilation called Resolution of Happiness this year. The call for original music submissions is open now and will close on April 23rd. If you'd like to know more about the project, read about it here. All proceeds will go to Lambda Legal.
Thank you so much for your continued support!
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
SHOWS:
03/24/17 --- Resolute Fest/The Cobra, Nashville TN
04/22/17 --- Houston Underground Punk Fest #5, Houston TX
05/05/17 --- Burlington Bar, Chicago IL
06/16/17 --- St. Vitus Bar, Brooklyn NY
NEW YEAR // NEW MUSIC
Happy 2017!
How are you faring with this new administration, friends? We're horrified on a daily basis (sometimes it's hourly), but are doing our level best to contribute to the resistance. It's an ongoing education, to be sure. Trying to keep the PMA alive is a full time job.
In positive news, we will be releasing our first 7" record on Record Store Day (April 15th), a collection of four songs that were all inspired by or contributed to by outside people. The record is called JUNEBUG and it will be available here, on our site, bandcamp, at our live shows, and in select retail stores. One dollar of every copy sold will be given to the ACLU.
We had the great pleasure of collaborating with friends a few weeks ago. The project is called East Fowlkes Sextet, and we are: Zach Barocas, Kevin McKendree, Jerry Roe, Buick Audra, Yates McKendree, and Steve Mackey. We wrote and recorded four instrumental pieces in four days at the Rock House in Franklin TN. Release information to come!
Spring tour dates are being finalized right now, but we can tell you we'll be headed Southwest first this year. Our first show of the year is a local one, this Friday night at the End in Nashville. Details below.
Persist, resist, and keep hope alive. We are with you, thank you for being with us.
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
SHOWS:
02/24/17 --- The End, Nashville TN
03/24/17 --- Resolute Fest/The Cobra, Nashville TN
04/22/17 --- Houston Underground Punk Fest #5, Houston TX
Introducing our 2016 Halloween single: "Swan Dive"!
It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Our Halloween single is out today, and this one is very special to us. This year, we chose to cover a song by a band that was once part of Nashville's Rock scene. Iodine, in our opinion, made some of the finest music to ever come out of this town, and we wanted to pay tribute to them by doing their song, "Swan Dive."
As usual, the single will completely benefit a charity, but this time the money will go to MusiCares, a wonderful organization dedicated to being of service to musicians in need. The money will be donated in loving and respectful memory of Chris Feinstein, bassist for Iodine. We had the privilege of playing his bass and guitar on our recording of "Swan Dive," thanks to the generosity of his family.
In other news, we JUST completed our first tour out West (last night!) and we had the best time. Thanks to all who contributed to the experience.
We are playing our only Nashville show of 2016 on October 28th with our friends in He is Legend and Look What I Did. Hope to see some of you local pals there! Then we're off to FEST, which we play on October 30th.
THEN, we have a week long tour of the Mid-West in November! Dates below. We love this life. Happy Halloween.
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
SHOWS:
10/28/16 --- The End, Nashville TN
10/30/16 --- THE FEST / Palomino, Gainesville FL
11/13/16 --- The Tank Room, Kansas City MO
11/14/16 --- The Island, Moline IL
11/15/16 --- Gabe's, Iowa City IA
11/16/16 --- Seward Cafe, Minneapolis MN
11/17/16 --- False Floor, Madison WI
11/18/16 --- The Old Miami, Detroit MI
11/19/16 --- Annabell's, Akron OH
11/20/16 --- Burlington Bar, Chicago IL
Watch the new video for "NMA" today!
Hello!
We're so excited to share our second video with you all, "NMA," featuring Muay Thai fighter Sara Schuster. Like the video for "Animals of Pride," we made it ourselves. We hope you enjoy it!
If you missed it, we released a new song two weeks ago on Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly. It's called "Fighting Shape."
Yours in friendship and PMA,
FC
TOUR DATES, VINYL, AND PMA!
Hey pals!
We're heading back out on the road this month and into August. We're thrilled to be doing seven dates with BELLS≥ from Brooklyn and the EFFECTS from DC, as well as a few shows on our own. Other great bands on the shows include VAPERS, Drew O'Doherty, Billy Bouchard, Callowhill, Day of the Locust, and J. Robbins. Please check out the complete list of dates at the very bottom of this message and see if we're coming to your town!
The vinyl copies of DAVE came in and they're so rad. Vinyl comes with a digital download of the album, too. Grab one while they last!
The letters that B. wears on her stage suit stand for "Positive Mental Attitude." She made a few PMA bracelets for people who requested them, so we decided to sell them as band merch. Part of the proceeds benefit the health funds for HR and Dr. Know of Bad Brains, longtime champions of PMA. We'd love to send one to you and spread the positivity! Buy here.
Also, if you haven't watched the video for "Animals of Pride" yet, check it out. Our second video, for "NMA," is in the works now.
Can't wait to see you all out there.
Yours in friendship and rock,
Jerry and B.
SHOWS:
07/28/16 --- Odditorium, Asheville NC
07/29/16 --- En Su Boca, Richmond VA
07/30/16 --- Boneyard, Atlantic City NJ
08/01/16 --- O'Brien's, Allston MA*
08/02/16 --- Bug Jar, Rochester NY*
08/03/16 --- St. Vitus Bar, Brooklyn NY*
08/04/16 --- The Citizen, Jersey City NJ*
08/05/16 --- PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia PA*
08/06/16 --- In It Together Fest @ St. Stephen's, Washington DC*
08/07/16 --- Windup Space, Baltimore MD*
* = w/ BELLS≥ and the EFFECTS
NEW VIDEO FOR "ANIMALS OF PRIDE!"
Happy Friday!
We're dropping a line to let you know that our first music video is now up. We shot the video for "Animals of Pride" ourselves, using only our phones. The footage is from five different cemeteries in Nashville and Franklin, TN. It was shot in one weekend, and edited by us over the following week. We absolutely loved the process and hope it connects with you.
The shows for the rest of this month are below, and we'll be doing some touring throughout the Spring and Summer, including a tour in August with BELLS≥ (Brooklyn) and the EFFECTS (DC) . . . and J. Robbins will also be playing one of the shows! Confirmations are still pending, but you can be sure we'll be blasting those dates far and wide as soon as they're locked down.
Be good to one another. We'll talk soon.
Yours in friendship and rock,
Jerry and B.
SHOWS:
04/17/16 --- MurderHut, Murfreesboro TN
04/25/16 --- Haymarket Whiskey Bar, Louisville KY