An idea that has been germinating for years has finally come to bloom: thistle will do a short trip with the men of Lost Hands Found Fingers. True to both bands' roots, they will knock the paint off the walls at two house shows this week; Jan 25 in Athens, OH and Jan 26 in Norwalk, OH. For thistle, this is a warm up for their March outings; for the Lost Hands boys, this is a continuation of the cruel joke they've been playing on the tires and axels of their gear trailer; dragging it from state to state with a crew of metal-maniac pot-hazed captains at the helm. God help us. Hats off to Adam from the Cincinnati band Mad Anthony for hosting us at the Athens show and to Jim from SeaTac 67 for hooking up the Norwalk date.
We'll be playing stuff off our forthcoming full-length, The Small Hours which is very close to being finished, along with a few new tunes. The artwork is being wrapped up by the magical Fat Nick and we plan on shipping it off to the plant within the week. We spent so long working on this that we've already written the bulk of its follow up, which we will start recording soon. The Small Hours will be Tiberius 019! The old anchor's not so tired anymore.
In other news, we're sad to learn that our long time buddy James Vitatoe's underground venue, The Riverstone Art gallery in Somerset, KY is set to close in the next couple of months. James has been a tireless champion of underground and indie music through the years and has woven the ethos if DIY into the fabric of his existence. We've played some great shows with some great bands in that town and it's all thanks to James and his crew. We're going to try and get down there one last time to see the place off right. Hopefully the city will work with him to find a suitable replacement venue. People like James are in it for the right reasons and make traveling what it is.
A date has been set for the Alone at 3am CD release show at the Southgate House in Newport, KY, and we're pleased to be sharing the stage with them. Kevin from Ampline spent the last few weeks building a new stage there so this will be our first time playing on it. This is also our first in-town show in quite awhile, and other than the Cincy Punk fest, it will probably be our last for 2008, so if you want to abuse your hearing courtesy of Thistle, this is your opportunity: Friday March 21st, 2008
As always, thanks for listening.
Mike, Toby, Rick