Recording Update & Glasslands Show
Current mood: devious
We're writing and recording a ton right now. Should have some new tracks ready to post soon.
Also, added a show @ Glasslands Gallery July 11th w/ our friends Quinn Walker and Suckers . Just can't get enough of those guys lately. It's a video release party, hopefully they'll be showing it on the big screen.
La Blogoteque, SXSW recap, NYC shows
Current mood: blustery
Hey Everyone,
We are home! Many strange twists and turns in the road have led us back to our beloved Brooklyn. Thanks to everyone who signed our mailing list - welcome to ye ol Hopewell newsletter.
As always, SXSW was a blast. We played many awesome shows with tons of great bands. Stand outs were definitely Tall Firs at the Lonestar Inn, Puddin’ Tang and the Stalkers at the NYNT day party, and Witch at Tee Pee Records showcase. Check out SL Weekly’s account of the Tee Pee set - pretty accurate down to the description of Jason looking "like a tampon". There was a nice mention and picture in Vanity Fair’s blog about the festival and Hopewell’s footwear even wound up on a site devoted to Boots.
Also - before we left - 2 fifths of us ran around the city recording songs for La Blogotheque/One Take New York. Click here to watch us plead with Yoko for her love, perform "Monolith" under extreme weather conditions and even debut a new song in a pay toilet. Good times.
And so, we’ve been in the studio all winter. We have a new set, some new songs, and a Cakeshop show April 18th. We are joined by some of our favorite bands: Suckers, Land Of Tomorrow and It Lives. Come let us treat you right, Spring will spring us right into each others open arms.
4/18 - Cakeshop - w/ Suckers, Land of Tomorrow & It Lives Also, last minute show added... 4/03 - Glasslands - early set. semi-acoustic - Gangi CD Release Party. This Thursday!
In Full Bloom Vid, SXSW, Uncensored Interview
Current mood: aroused
Category: Music
Party faithful! Greetings from Brooklyn.
We are excited to announce that we are going into the studio next week to begin what will likely wind up being our next record. If recent rehearsals are any indication, Hopewell listeners should be prepared for deep weirdness...long passages of Rich yodelling over samples of car horns etc. As a primer we have posted our recent performance from Woodstock Radio's "Last Rays Of The Sun" (hosted by none other than Jonathan Donahue) on our site. Sit back, smoke banana peels, do some kundalini yoga because it's a semi-improvisational journey into the heart of upstate darkness.
In the meantime please check out our self-made and home-edited video for In Full Bloom, featuring the band at the height of boredom, cooped up in a small hotel room somewhere near the Canadian border. Our good friend Kengo Mikami describes it thus: "it penetrates slow and deep into the quiet and special places where people have forgotten..."
Also, want to hear Jay Green wax poetic about pornography? Or Hopewell attempt to discuss politics? Visit Uncensored Interview. No offence to anyone we happened to insult.
Finally, we are changing our trusty steed's fluids, picking burrs from his mane, rotating his horseshoes in preparation for another journey to Austin, TX. Expect a number of performances at and around the SXSW music conference. Our showcase will be on March 12 with Witch & Earthless. Tour dates are forthcoming. If the winds of fortune blow in our favor, we will cross your path as we flee the North in pursuit of Spring.
We sincerely appreciate all of your support and emails and offers of couches and coffee in the morning etc. At the risk of seeming nostalgic and sappy we've decided to make this post a little "year in review” montage...enjoy!
Early 07 west coast acoustic jaunt: while NYC struggled under buckets of snow, some of us were in the Joshua Tree desert watching/meeting Spindrift for the first time and softly rocking folks in “intimate” venues. We managed to play on a few internet radio programs as well. Check out some dubbed out versions of Square Peg Teeth, Synthetic Symphony and Calcutta from Dublab.
Jason relaxes in the desert...
SXSW 2007: the band tumbles into the van and heads south with Black Moth Super Rainbow, freaking out and being freaked out by our southern neighbors. Many incredibly strange things happened in Austin, our dear friend Damien Drake and crew followed us down shooting footage for their proposed rock documentary. Hopefully a lot of that footage will never see the light of day. Some of it became the fodder for the All Angels Road video..Check it out.
Lyndon tuning up SXSW 07
Immediately upon getting off stage at the Birds Barbershop show in Austin, Rich joins the children in the inflatable playpen and then goes for the free mohawk.
We released Beautiful Targets on Tee Pee Records. The record release party at Death By Audio was a smashing success. The album was also released in Japan on Star Mole Records (a double disc! Including rare outtakes from our Tarbox Road sessions) and later on Everlasting Records in Spain. Haven't gotten a copy of it yet? Want to buy the double disc? Need a Hopewell T-shirt or postcards or back patches? Visit our handy webstore.
Hopewell heads to the UK. We did a small tour that included what would have been the Truck Festival with our good friends Goldrush, brother Justin's The Silent League, the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Garth Hudson! Sitting in the van listening to Tyson talk keyboard gear with Garth Hudson was perhaps the pinnacle of 2007.
As soon as we got back to domestic shores we hit the road with Adam Franklin of Swervedriver fame. Adam taught us that it is not the amount of guitar pedals you have, but how you stomp on them that makes all the difference...
CMJ 2007 This years CMJ was it's usual hustle and bustle. We happily played the Fanatic Promotions showcase and had a little informal party of our own at Glasslands with our friends Grand Mal,Ludlow Lions and Puddin' Tang.
Halloween! Hopewell played with the Giraffes and Goes Cube down the street from Lyndon and Jason's house at the Polish disco Europa. Watch us stagger through a baffling rendition of Calcutta in full costume here.
Spindrift Tour. We hit the chilly trail with LA's psychedelic cowboys Spindrift. There's nothing like seeing a sun burned cowboy haul amps in Minneapolis in November. This is one of our favorite bands of the year, if you haven't already checked out their feature length film and awesome soundtrack go here.
By the end of the year we were worn out and let video direct B.A.Maile talk us into flying around in paper airplanes and donning paper mache heads. The result was the the HR Puff N Stuff inspired video for Echo & His Brother. Check it out!
CMJ, Videos, New Galore!
Current mood: cracked open
Greetings people of earth! It is CMJ time again here in New York City...Hopewell will be making a couple of appearances: our official showcase at the Annex, sponsored by Fanatic Promotions (9pm Orchard Street Oct. 20th) and our informal party @ Glasslands Gallery (11ish, Kent Street, Oct. 19th). We welcome you with open arms at either event.
Also of note: the little world of capitolism has trickled down into Hopewell inc. Ever wonder where you can get that obscure UK 10"? How about the Japanese version of Beautiful Targets complete with bonus CD and outlandish packaging? Wonder no more, our official merch store is up and running. Go HERE .
We've recently added a couple new songs (the anthems!) and a ton of new pictures from recent tours on our Myspace page . Feel free to visit us and leave us clever comments about some of the more compromising situations we have gotten ourselves into. Truck Festival with Garth Hudson and the BJM, Adam Franklin east coast tours, our sweaty record release party etc.
Haven't seen the All Angels Road video yet? You are missing out. Also check out a neat little mini documentary that appeared on MSG tv recently. There's some groovy footage of us making Beautiful Targets upstate. We we will post the Monolith and the upcoming Echo & His Brother video soon. Stay tuned...
Lastly, at the end of October we will be heading north to our old haunts in the Catskills to perform live on WDST Woodstock radio. Our old pal Jonathan Donahue is hosting a show and invited us to stretch out and perform what ever we want for 25 minutes on the air. The only "rules" being that we don't play a straight up rock set, we are REALLY psyched about this and have an extremely strange piece of music loosely composed. Tune in!
upcoming shows:
10/19 - Glasslands w/ Ludlow Lions, Grand Mal & Puddin' Tang
First video off of Beautiful Targets shot and directed by resident madman Damien Drake (mostly on Super 8mm). It's compiled from footage he took with us while on our 2007 SXSW tour (with shows down through Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Texas etc..). Enjoy
Beautiful Targets Release Party Thursday!
Category: Music
New York!
This is it. Our record release party. It's going to be a good old fashioned psychedelic soul party here in Brooklyn. This time we have decided to avoid the same old rock clubs and do our thing at Glasslands Gallery which, if you live on this side of the east river, you know is the spot where the most legendary parties of the summer have gone down. This Thursday will prove to be no exception, New York Night Train presents an evening of audio visuals that will be talked about for ages. Join us! It's cheap, it's close to home, & the vibe will be informal and fun.
Afterwards, the party will move to Savalas where New York Night Trains soul proprietor Jonathan Toubin, Jason from ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Derek from Awesome Color and Jason Hopewell will be spinning their finest. Don't miss it..
Thursday, August 2nd, +21 8pm doors, $6 Glasslands Gallery - 289 Kent Ave. (b/w s. 1st & s. 2nd), Brooklyn
Line up: Alana Amram & The Rough Gems Grand Mal Hopewell Tomorrow's Friend
That's right friends, the glorious day has finally arrived. We can barely contain our excitement. We have bled, sweated & wept over this one and now it's finally available. Please please please support independant music and visit the venerable Tee Pee Records and order a copy today. The links to buy direct are below. To sweeten the pot we have screen printed 50 limited addition patches with our logo. The first 50 folks to order the CD will receive a patch. Perfect for the back of yr denim jacket, to be worn near a lava lamp, or down by the local railroad tracks at 4am...Our dear friend Sara G gave us a crash course in the art of screen printing and Hopewell members we put on the assembly line...
We are off to the UK but when we return our the official record release party will be held at Brooklyn's infamous warehouse party spot; Glasslands Gallery . Come see Hopewell and friends overwhelm the PA system, we are pulling out all the stops for this one. Sponsored by New York Night Train, soul proprietor Jonathan Toubin and Jason Hopewell will be DJing the psychedelic soul party after the bands and into the wee hours...be square, or be there!
Beautiful Targets out in Japan! New Website!
Current mood: savage
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
There's so much to tell we don't know where to begin.. First of all, preemptively celebrating the domestic release of our new record we have a brand new website up. Check it out in all it's splendor: there's video, some of the new record streaming, loads of new content & an all new design. Beautiful Targets is out in Japan! It will be in stores in the US & UK on July 17th, but if you happen to be browsing record shops in Tokyo, pick it up! Star Mole Records has released a DOUBLE CD that bundles the new album with an enhanced version of The Notbirds EP. The package includes bonus tracks and live footage of us at the Bowery Ballroom. If you are in New York City (and you should be) come out and see us play with our upstate friends at the Annex in the Lower East Side. Last months foray into the Catskill Mountains worked out so well that we've set up a Hudson Valley Review featuring some family members (The Silent League) and some folks that were formative inspirations in the early days: Agitpop & The Harmony Rockets (members of Mercury Rev). Agitpop hasn't played in NYC in some time so this is not to be missed! The after party will be at NYNT's Motorcity weekly shin dig. There will be guest DJ's and general mayhem until the wee hours... Lastly, our trip to the UK is full steam ahead, we will be playing the Truck Festival in Oxford and some shows in London at the end of July. More details soon... Stay tuned, Hopewell 06/20 - (NYC) The Annex 07/01 - (NYC) Southpaw 07/06 - (Philly) Johnny Brenda's 07/21-22 - (UK) -Truck Festival
amorous
Hopewell's on vol 3 of the Northern Star psych comp with lots of bands we've crossed paths with in some ways. Out in the UK now.
devious
We're writing and recording a ton right now. Should have some new tracks ready to post soon.
blustery
aroused
savage
