final shows of 2009

we leave today to play our final shows of 2009. it's been a fine year for us and 2010 is looking to be so so much better with our record coming out soon and a bunch of touring ahead. you can catch us this week with two really cool bands: Hammer No More the Fingers from Durham, NC and Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun from Atlanta, GA.

Thursday, December 10, 2009 @ Tir Na Nog in Raleigh, NC

Friday, December 11, 2009 @ The Star Bar in Atlanta, GA

Saturday, December 12, 2009 @ The Caledonia Lounge in Athens, GA

follow me here to RSVP to this Caledonia show on facebook

in other stuff, it always feels good to get praise from people who have perpetual good taste and tirelessly aim to find good music out there. exhibit a: Dan Goldin who runs the site explodinginsound. VISIT HIS SITE for it is good. he recently said this:

Since the very first note I ever heard Gift Horse play, I knew I was a fan for life. The Athens, Georgia quartet offers an unbelievable mix of 90’s indie rock, grunge, and shoegaze for a sound that honors its influences, but roars with originality. The band’s style can be equally attributed to a love for My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr., with wall of sound blasts of noise riding side by side with carefully constructed melodies and honest hazy vocals. With an exciting year that saw the band storming SXSW to wide-spread praise and touring with the Meat Puppets and Dead Confederate coming to an end, Gift Horse prepare for an even bigger 2010. Their debut album will be released in February, while preparing to head out on a full scale national tour shortly after.

this weeks Flagpole (December 9, 2009) has a feature about the December 12th Caledonia show on page 34, although THE DATE IS WRONG! its Saturday, December 12th, not Monday December 14th. also there is this from the Flagpole:

This isn't the first time Gift Horse has gotten a mention in this column, but I am excited as the release date for the band's new release inches closer. If you are into local act Dead Confederate, you'll find some common ground here, with reverb-drenched guitars that seem to descend from outer space and envelope the room. The vocals are much more atmospheric than DC, though, offering a deeper, darker undertone. These guys have grown by leaps and bounds over the past year, and their live show is super tight and impressive.

also be sure to pick up a copy of the December 2009 Performer magazine (it has Atlas Sound on the front) and flip to page 50. there is a cool article about the emerging psyche-rock scene in Athens and it features us and our good friends Bambara and A.Armada. its at various locations around Athens (and all over the southeast) but if you follow the link above you can read the article courtesy of our boys Bambara who took the time to blow up the PDF.

lets see...anything else? nope!

nyc and back vol. II

Ok so we went back to n.y.c. and even though i said i was going to take pictures this time...I didn't. So here goes my best attempt at recounting:

Headed up to Chapel Hill last Tuesday to play The Cave with Juanita and The Rabbit, a blues-metal two piece from San Francisco. They rocked ass with such classics as We Live in a Motherfucking Van and a cover of Motorhead's Orgasmatron. And yes, they really do live in a motherfucking van and it is quite possibly the baddest van in these United States. Thanks to all who came out to see us: Mimi from The Pneurotics, Joe from Hammer No More The Fingers (looking forward to playing with those guys, stay tuned), James the Chapel Hill photographer, and our pals from Athens' very own Pride Parade, who were also playing Chapel Hill that night. Killer show and a really cool venue.

From there it was on to Philadelphia PA to play at The Fire, a cool little joint in Fishtown/Northern Liberties of Philly. Once again we were with our new pals Juanita and The Rabbit and their killer van. Thanks to all of the staff of The Fire for letting us post up in their great little apartment and teaching us how to play dominos. They do in fact have fine cheesesteak sandies in that town and even better breakfast joints, but thats neither here nor there.

We rolled in to New York on Thursday to play a show at Manhattan's Cake Shop with two really great stoner/sludge type bands from the city: Heavy Hands and our pals Ancient Sky. Another stellar lineup and a grand show.

Friday we hung out in Manhattan and went to go see Pride Parade kill a 1 a.m. set at Arleen's Grocery. The beer flowed like wine...

Saturday we headed out to Brooklyn to play our final set of the week at the Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg. It was a great little room with a cool atmosphere. Thanks to our old homeboy Hunt a.k.a. "HDHR" for letting us post up at this brownstone Brooklyn Great Gatsby house that he may or may not have legally had access to. Either way, we played the grand piano, slept like kings, got up late, drove 16 hours to Athens and got into town about 5 a.m. Monday morning.

Along with HDHR thanks so much to all our other pals who were so hospitable to us on this recent trip. See ya.