No, we’re not getting back into the self-congratulatory, aggrandization of last year’s birthday revelry but referring to the band who’s name sounds like the time-tested affirmation of aging. We’re as happy as a bucket of clams to announce that we’ll be putting out Happy Birthday’s first record on Sub Pop Records.

We learned about Happy Birthday by way of our obsession with one of 2008’s best records, King Tuff’s Was Dead. After meeting Kyle (aka King Tuff) early this year, we spent the better part of 2009 trying to squeeze Happy Birthday and/or King Tuff songs out of him—an effort that’s finally paid off in a record of near-perfectly constructed comic-book-pop gems. (We’re not quite sure what that means either, but we’re rolling with it.)

But enough of my blather, here’s what the band has to say about themselves:

Happy Birthday is Kyle Thomas (aka King Tuff), Chris Weisman, and Ruth Garbus. They formed in November 2008 to play one show at the punk-space “Tinderbox” (RIP), in their hometown Brattleboro, Vermont. Kyle needed a band to play his new pop songs because he was too scared to play by himself. They enjoyed playing with each other so much that they decided to keep doing it. They have now played a total of 5 shows.
Kyle sings and plays lead guitar. The songs are mostly his, but the band arranges and finishes them together. He is also a painter and drawer and loves top 40, shoes, texting, comic books, etc. Ruth Garbus plays drums and sings. She also makes her own music and art. Chris Weisman plays “inverted-tuning” guitar, bass, and sings. He makes 4-track songs, enjoys reading and writing, and is a guitar teacher.

We look forward to releasing Happy Birthday’s full length in early spring of next year.