I’m spinning records at Amoeba in San Francisco this Saturday, April 18 from 4-5pm for Record Store Day (that better be a national holiday). I’m right between Kelley Stoltz and Aesop Rock! Wow, that is cool.

Other than pulling clovers in my garden (please don’t second Isa and tell me they have a right to be there), I’ve been in heavy rehearsals for the next tour. I will miss being on stage alone with my ’52 Gibson but there is SO MUCH power playing in a quintet. All that low end, distortion, brutal drums and swirling counterpoint… Yeah, I’ll enjoy that too.

It’s cold and rainy in northern Indiana on our day off. Happy that Brandon, tour manager of no equal, pricelined the shit out of a Marriott, and we are sprawled out in semi-luxury. The tour has been a revelation to me: I’ve been deeply inspired watching Darnielle play and sing up close again, and thrilled to be spending so much time with both JD and Brandon.

In an hour or so we’ll follow Veg Out and hit Taj Indian. Next stop is Portage Theater in Chicago, and if I don’t see you then there are a few more shows to come. I really don’t want this tour to end.

I’ve been playing songs from the upcoming album on this trip. Here’s the album-version of "Fetal Horses" for you to download. Romanian Names is out on Dead Oceans May 19.

Download: "Fetal Horses"

We just posted our record release show in San Francisco!!! It’s at the Rickshaw on May 19 with one of our favorite bands (they’ll be announced soon). Tickets are here. We’ll be doing a free show at Easy Street in Seattle as well.  Tons of shows will be showing up in the next couple of weeks.

The line up for the May tour is:
JV: Guitar, Vocals
Ian Bjornstad: Wurlitzer, Moog
Matthias Bossi: Drums
Sylvain Carton: Guitar
James Riotto: Bass

I am super excited about this band. See you out there!!!

Three recent slide shows:

John and Isabelle in France
Isa and I spent three weeks in FR, mostly in the absurdly beautiful Mediterranean town of Collioure and this sleepy place called Paris. It’s the first time I’ve shot photos off tour.

Spring 2008 EU Slide Show
Europe is cool. EUROPE IS FUCKING COOL!!!

Spring 2008 US Slide Show
After supporting Malkmus and the JIcks in the East, we set out to claim some of those student activity fees.

We toured with St. Vincent once. It was wonderful. Elizabeth Weinberg took some nice photos. Looking through them made me want to tour again. I might have posted them before, I can’t remember.

I just posted the Sasquatch Festival show. Tons of new stuff coming at some point but I’m too obsessed with my iPhone to get it together.

In the fall of 2007 I played shows with Bishop Allen and Bowerbirds. I was already in love with both bands. By the end of the tour I had fallen hard for their label, Dead Oceans. I had known Phil for a few years and I deeply respected his taste in music. When he joined the Secretly Canadian / Jagjaguwar family, I started to pay close attention. I am honored to be in the game with these people! They are passionate, aware, loyal and SERIOUS.

God DAMN! That Magik show was unreal, being in the center of all those strings, and horns, and woodwinds… and the choir. FUCK! They all played with so much style and power. Well we’re sure to bring it back, how could we not? Thanks for coming to this show. To those that couldn’t make it, we’ll have some audio and video stuff to post soon.
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The super bowl was amazing!!!!

I discovered today that the chords of "Fool On The Hill" line up exactly with tuning a guitar, starting from the top E down. In other words…I’m still recording! And besides the Beatles, there’s so many other ways to fill those breaks and gaps in between thinking and writing. (Sometimes those breaks last a week.)
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I’ve been really inspired by the Dr Ebbet vinyl transfers of the Beatles catalog. They should be very easy to find out there…and man these records should be WAY out of copyright.

John Vanderslice performing w/ Magik*Magik Orchestra
January 30, 2009 | Great American Music Hall
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I’ll be playing new and old songs, backed by Magik*Magik, Tiny Telephone’s house orchestra. Ticket link will be posted soon!!!

I’ll be playing with Michael Showalter this Saturday, Oct 18 in NYC!!!! We’re opening the new 92Y Tribeca. Buy Tickets. Lil Wayne dance party to follow.

I saw Spoon play the Fillmore three times this week. God damn, those shows were so mind-blowing, they inspired, intimidated and confounded me all at once. They made me want to turn my guitar up, to start over, to play rock and roll, to dub shit out, to go on tour tomorrow.