Sub Pop Records, The Big Bag of Beans

Mudhoney Day is May 20th - Mark Your Calendars!

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:22:46 -0700

May 20th, 2008 is officially Mudhoney Day on the wall calendar in the Sub Pop International Global World Headquarters of America office. I know you’re scratching your head thinking, “How can I, Mudhoney fanatic that I am, celebrate Mudhoney Day?” Well I’ll tell you, presumably inquisitive reader! You pick up TWO new Mudhoney records (and maybe a t-shirt and a poster if you like)! We’re actually quite pleased with ourselves for unleashing The Lucky Ones (CD/LP), a brand new Mudhoney album, as well as a very deluxe, very special double-disc Superfuzz Bigmuff (CD) all on the same day. And due to our penchant for pandering to potential record-buyers, if you pre-order The Lucky Ones by May 20th, we’ll toss in a bonus 7” single. A new bonus 7” single by Mudhoney. And, we’ll toss in Mudhoney-related stickers and a button. So please, help us celebrate Mudhoney Day by turning your money into our money.

Pick up Lucky Ones here

Pick up the deluxed-up Superfuzz Bigmuff here

SP20 Festival - Just Added!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:43:02 -0700

As you may have read already elsewhere (here and here, say), we’ve announced a couple of additions to the line-up for our 20th anniversary festival out at Marymoor. Like so:

The Vaselines and Eric’s Trip have been added to Saturday. And Les Thugs have been added to Sunday.

We’re pretty excited about all three.

Gentle reminder: tickets for SP20 through TicketMaster go up to $35 per day and $60 for a 2-day pass tomorrow, Saturday May 10th. And we’re nearly out of the 2-day passes we have for sale here on the Sub Pop site.

Also! The Gutter Twins and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (feat. Tad “Tad” Doyle) will be playing at The Showbox on Saturday, July 12th. This is a separate (though related) event and you will need to buy tickets for this show on its own, apart from the festival at Marymoor.

5 New T-Shirts for Your Music-Savvy Torso

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:54:42 -0700

Welcome to the content section of this informational post. I’d like to take this opportunity to inform you of five new t-shirt designs we have recently made available for your upper-half – your better half. First off, we have two shirts from No Age, both featuring a shiny metallic silver ink – futuristic? Yeah, maybe. Second, we have a Sera Cahoone shirt featuring the noblest of all woodland creatures, the mighty stag. Up next, we’ve got a Foals shirt. And lastly but not leastly, we have a Hardly Art shirt featuring artwork from Ghostshrimp.

No Age Type No Age Bleach Sera Cahoone Foals Hardly Art

FOALS + JIMMY KIMMEL = YOUR GOLDEN TICKET

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:34:02 -0700

If you love the new Foals record as much we do, tend to think you can outdo most studio audiences, are 18 or over, AND will be in the LA area on Friday, May 23rd, then you’ll be excited to know that your golden opportunity may just be around the corner.

That Friday evening, the Foals will be performing on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! and we’d love to see you whoop it with the band and Mr. Kimmel on national television.

Tickets and information are available here.

If you’re not going to be around for Kimmel, worry not—you catch a breeze with the band elsewhere on their upcoming tour.

On The Line - 5.9.08

alissag@subpop.com (Alissa Gallivan) — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:26:00 -0700

There’s been some great No Age pieces showing up online lately, and a few good ones are included here for your browsing convenience! You’re Welcome.

No Age on Ground Control No Age on Pitchfork TV No Age Slideshow on Imeem

A Form of Paying Attention May '08

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:11:16 -0700

May has arrived and here at HQ we are all ready for the best summer we’ve ever known, what with all the good records coming out and the hot shit SP20 Festival right around the corner. In fact, the SP20 Fest was voted Best Summer Music Fest in an informal poll I quietly held here at my desk. Want more info? Read this, bub.

The highly anticipated new No Age record Nouns comes out May 6th and will be available on CD and LP and MP3 and maybe even Blueray and/or Cassette if I finally get my way around this fucking place! Seriously though, if you order this fantastical album from subpop.com we’ll throw in a cool poster designed by a Mr. Templeton. A Mr. Ed Templeton. (Google it.) We’re throwing in something else but I want to save my dignity and not type the phrase “buttons and stickers” ever again, so… Wait, I just… Dammit! The No Age dudes just shot their first video (for “Eraser”) and although it’s still in post-production it looks really amazing—there are balloons, a giant skull, the LA River, and…Dean Spunt and Randy Randall from No Age! See? That’s them up above. Please keep an eye out for it—it would be the right thing to do. Click here to get the record. Click here to find out more about No Age.

On May 20th Mudhoney will be releasing their 37th full-length album, The Lucky Ones. Mark Arm sits out on guitar on this one, presumably so he can dance more at their shows. He is a re-mark-able dancer. (Get it?) The Lucky Ones LP will come stuffed with a 7” single of Mudhoney covering Pere Ubu’s “Street Waves” and “Gonna Make You Mine” by the Troggs. We’ll have 200 of these 7”s to give away with pre-orders of the CD so you better hurry. They’re going to try to sign some stuff as well but don’t hold your breath. (I suggested that they might want to go ahead and let their wives/girlfriends sign this one just to mix it up a bit but I was met with a stony silence so I doubt that’s happening.) On the 20th we will also release the first in what will presumably be a not un-long line of reissues for Sub Pop’s 20th, Superfuzz Bigmuff Deluxe! This is a remastered double-CD with an expanded booklet and a ton of live tracks and way too much stuff for me to type so read (then order!) this here. You don’t get anything extra with this because it is full of extras and when did you start expecting so much stuff anyway?

We’re all pretty puffed up around here (chuffed?) about how well this Flight of the Conchords thing is going. We just followed-up their (ahem…) FUCKING GRAMMY-AWARD-WINNING EP, The Distant Future with their self-titled debut full-length, and man, is that thing ever shifting units. So much so that none other than Yahoo! (Google it.) was prompted to comment: “Ashlee Simpson’s new album sold so poorly, it was beaten by a comedy album.” Our comedy album! (Hat Tip to good ol’ Matt “Epsonality/Domino’s Pizza” Olsen for this one.) Flight of the Conchords and many other Sub Pop bands are on tour right now so make sure you use our new and improved tour-search-filter to see if someone’s coming to your town.

So, yeah, this 20th Anniversary thing is really starting to happen! We’re not to a point where we feel comfortable announcing too much more (read: we don’t know yet) but we guarantee at least one to one-and-a-half more great things are on the way. We at Sub Pop value your opinion, even if we don’t always agree with it. So, if you were The Deciderer, what would you do to celebrate?

The Helio Sequence Went on Tour in Europe and Have Some Things to Show You About

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:05:01 -0700

This just in from our friends in The Helio Sequence...

Hi there- Benjamin and I just got back from a great tour in Scandinavia and the UK with Low. Here are a few things we learned while over there:

People in Sweden really are more attractive, intelligent and well educated than everywhere else AND Stockholm really is cleaner, more sophisticated and charming than anywhere else.
The Danish use a “floating ground” system, which for those of us with no electrical training means: “watch out or you’ll be shocked with 240 volts on your lips if you touch that microphone!”
Drinking enough Scotch on an overnight ferry ride across the English channel has a similar effect to taking 4 Dramamine. But…either way you will still feel like you’re on the ferry for the entire next day, even if you are on solid ground.
They DO NOT drive on the wrong side of the road in the UK (and you will definitely be set straight if you say otherwise on stage!)
Stonehenge actually isn’t smaller than you think it will be when you see it for the first time…it actually seems bigger…that is, if you expected it to be smaller in the first place because everyone has already told you it will be smaller than you expect it to be. Get what I mean?
If you are on stage in Gateshead do not say “Hello Newcastle!!!”
Brown sauce is good…on just about everything. Mushy peas are not as disgusting as they sound. A Banger IS a type of food. And beans for breakfast is a possibility.
Watch what you say and do in the UK because Big Brother really is watching. Just take a look around and see how many CCTV cameras are trained on you at any given moment anywhere you may be.

That concludes the observational part of this post. Now, on to the news. We’ve got a really big US tour to announce!!! We’ve had people e-mailing asking us “Please come to Peoria” and “Please come to Evanston”...well, we’re not going to make it to either of those cities but we are going to a whole lot of other places. The full list of our tour dates is here. We’d love to see you out at the show!

Grand Archives are on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Wed. April 30!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:07:49 -0700

Earlier this month, the remarkably talented and genial men of Grand Archives recorded their very first television performance, playing the song Torn Blue Foam Couch on the CBS program, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. “Torn Blue Foam Couch,” of course, appears on Grand Archives’ recently released debut album, The Grand Archives And, this episode, the Grand Archives episode of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, will be airing this Wednesday night, April 30th!

Allow me to boldly reiterate…

Grand Archives will be appearing on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this Wednesday, April 30th!

As an added bonus, and for those of you who don’t already know this, Craig Ferguson is actually a really funny, manic host! And, the other guests on this particular episode are great as well – Jeff Bridges and Sophia Myles!

Please tune in!

SP20 Festival - Details

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:24:20 -0700

As you have hopefully already read elsewhere here on the Sub Pop Interweb Tendency, we’re 20 this year. And, we plan to make kind of a nuisance of ourselves about it. More so than usual, even.

To celebrate the label’s twentieth birthday, Sub Pop will release a series of re-issues starting with Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (which, like their brand new album The Lucky Ones , comes out May 20, 2008), launch a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club (more on that soon-ish), and throw a series of over-the-top birthday parties for itself this summer.

Herewith the scoop on these birthday parties:

SP20 Comedy Show – Friday, July 11th at The Moore Theatre with…

Eugene Mirman Patton Oswalt Todd Barry and, of course, “special guests.”

Buy SP20 Comedy Tickets

Prohibited Items, Accessibility and other Moore Theatre FAQs

SP20 Festival – Saturday, July 12th at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

Fleet Foxes Flight of the Conchords The Fluid The Helio Sequence Iron and Wine Low Mudhoney Pissed Jeans Seaweed

SP20 Festival – Sunday, July 13th at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

Beachwood Sparks Comets on Fire Foals Grand Archives Green River Kinski No Age Red Red Meat The Ruby Suns Wolf Parade

Buy SP20 Festival Tickets

Prohibited Items, Accessibility and other Marymoor Park FAQs

Getting to SP20 Festival

Information on SP20 Beneficiaries Coming Soon.

Free Stuff With Your No Age Pre-order, For Real.

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:54:58 -0700

On May 6th, we at Sub Pop will be doing the world a real solid by releasing the first proper No Age full-length! It’s called Nouns and will be available in CD, MP3 and mind-blowing, fidelity-maximizing LP format (complete with a coupon to download the entire album as MP3s). And, in our ongoing quest to turn your money into our money, through the charming, old-timey concept of “selling music,” we are really piling on the incentives. If you pre-order Nouns by May 6th, you’ll receive a limited-edition poster featuring an Ed Templeton photograph of No Age, covered with a drawing by this same, broadly-talented artiste, Mr. Templeton (see rotating photos associated with this post for a visual representation of what the previous sentence described). Plus, as if this amazing record weren’t incentive enough, we’re throwing in some free No Age-related stickers and a button.

Pre-order Nouns here.

The Vera Project needs your help

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:46:21 -0700

The Vera Project needs to raise $33,000 by the end of June to finish paying for their new space and fuel more awesome music and arts programming. Each dollar we raise up to this goal will be doubled by a generous matching grant from the Murdock Charitable trust. Every donation, no matter how large or small, will make a difference in the lives of thousands of young people and artists.

It’s a great time to donate to Vera, especially with the government’s tax rebate just around the bend – now you have a chance to use your tax money to support all-ages music in Seattle instead of the whims of those in Washington (DC, that is).

You can help them reach their goal: • Donate! You can donate online through this link , or you can drop a check in the mail.

• Get the word out! Tell your friends, family, co-workers and anyone else you can think of.

• Have your employer match your donation. Many companies, including locals Microsoft, Washington Mutual and Boeing, have giving programs that support the charities their employees contribute to. This is a really easy way to double your donation – just check with your employer to see if your company offers matching donations.

• Get in touch if you want to help! Thinking of doing a benefit show? Wondering how your next dinner party can raise money for Vera? Just drop us a line at fundraising@theveraproject.org or (206) 956-8372.

If you prefer to donate by check please send your donation to The Vera Project, 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109. Be sure to write “Vera 2008 Spring Fund Drive” on the check and include your current mailing address so we can send you a receipt.

Thanks for supporting all-ages music and art!

About The Vera Project

The Vera Project is an all-ages popular music venue and arts center in the heart of Seattle, Washington. We put on concerts, art shows and events, and offer classes and facilities for silkscreen printing, sound engineering, studio recording and concert lighting. Over a thousand volunteers work with Vera’s staff and Board of Directors to run the organization. Vera is dedicated to making all-ages music and art a thriving, vital force in Seattle and empowering young people to create and define their own culture.

In February 2007 Vera opened our first long-term home at the Seattle Center. The new venue is an incredible asset to Seattle – it includes a 362 capacity showroom, an art gallery, a silkscreen studio, a recording studio and state of the art sound, lighting and recording equipment, all of which have helped us serve more people than ever before. Since opening the new space, Vera has served over 22,000, show attendance is up by 50%, and participation in silkscreen and sound engineering classes has doubled. Thanks to the new venue Vera will be a stable home for all-ages music and art for generations to come.

The Vera Project 305 Harrison Street Seattle, WA 09109 (206) 956-8372 * www.theveraproject.org

Record Store Day is Saturday, April 19, 2008

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:41:35 -0700

In a more perfect world, every day would be Record Store Day (and every week would include No Pants Friday). But, until that time comes, until each and every delicious day includes (as most of Dean’s do) a lunch-time trip to one of our nation’s many wonderful record/tape/compact disc/water-pipe emporiums, let’s all be thankful that a rogue consortium of independent record store owners have banded together and mustered the AUDACITY TO INVENT A HOLIDAY! Rejoice, for Saturday April 19, is Record Store Day, people! And on this day, this Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate, with special performances and giveaways and all sorts of cool shit!

Seriously! If you value record stores (as you should) for the culture they help to foster and create, and the community that surrounds and permeates them, you should spend some time in one (or several!) of these stores on Saturday. You’ll be glad you did!

And, if you do, you’ll be able to pick up, free of charge, the new 2008 Sub Pop Records sampler, Terminal Sales Vol. 3: Happy Birthday to Me! The new sampler has 18 tracks in all, many of them as-yet-unreleased, and is handsomely/expensively packaged (yes, we are pretty pleased with ourselves).

Here’s the full list of stores participating in Record Store Day!

Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:17:22 -0700

In unabashedly conspicuous celebration of 20 years of not going out of business (sometimes only barely), Seattle’s Sub Pop Records will gather past and present label-mates for a series of events, including a two-day festival at Marymoor Park on July 12 & 13 and a comedy show on July 11 at Seattle’s Moore Theatre. Proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to support beneficiaries of each participating act’s choosing. Tickets go on sale April 26 at 12 PM Pacific at SubPop.com and all Ticketmaster locations. More ticket information provided below.

Though Bruce Pavitt had been using the title SUBTERRANEAN POP since sometime in ’79 for fanzines, cassette compilations, radio shows, and the like, somewhere along the line he and co-founder Jonathan Poneman decided that April 1, 1988—the day they quit their jobs and rented a tiny office in the Terminal Sales Building in Seattle—was the day Sub Pop Records was born. To celebrate the label’s twentieth birthday, Sub Pop will release a series of re-issues starting with Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (which comes out May 20, 2008), launch a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club, and throw a series of over-the-top birthday parties for itself this summer.

The SP20 Festival is happening July 12 & 13 at Marymoor Park just outside of Seattle in Redmond, WA. In addition to reunited bands, acts currently on the label’s roster, and everything in between, the festival will also host a half-pipe featuring both Nike and Girl + Chocolate sponsored skaters. While the full day-by-day line-up will be announced in the coming months, the festival will include:

Beachwood Sparks / Comets on Fire / Fleet Foxes / Flight of the Conchords / The Fluid / Foals / Grand Archives / Green River / The Helio Sequence / Iron & Wine / Kinski / Low / Mudhoney / No Age / Pissed Jeans / Red Red Meat / The Ruby Suns / Seaweed / Wolf Parade, and more to be announced.

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit a variety of charities chosen by both Sub Pop and each act performing. Ticket information provided below.

The SP20 activities will commence with a comedy show on July 11 at The Moore Theatre. Among the performing comedians are Sub Pop artists Eugene Mirman and Patton Oswalt, label friend and fan Todd Barry, and special guests.

Discounted $30 single-day or $50 two-day passes to the SP20 Festival go on sale Saturday April 26 at 12 pm Pacific at SubPop.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Marymoor box office Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with all service charges going to benefit the parks department. Ticket prices will increase to $35 single-day or $60 two-day passes on May 10.

Tickets for SP20 Comedy Show are $20 and go on sale April 26 at 12 pm Pacific at SubPop.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Moore Theatre box office, which is open Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm and again from 3:15 pm to 6:00 pm.

Proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit a variety of beneficiaries, chosen by both Sub Pop and participating bands.

Flight of the Conchords Have a New Record for you to buy!

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:07:21 -0700

Sub Pop’s International Talent-Hound Dept. is almost constantly scouring the globe for the “hottest” and “freshest” new “artists.” On April 22nd, we’re releasing a new album from one such hot discovery: New Zealand’s totally bumpable, Flight of the Conchords. Their self-titled full-length will be available on both CD and, for you connoisseurs of the finer things in fidelity, vinyl LP (with an MP3 download code for the entire album). And for the wall-art lover in all of us: both versions come with an enclosed poster celebrating the album’s stunningly handsome artwork. Uh-huh, we know you like it like that. But, no way is that all. If you pre-order Flight of the Conchords by April 22nd, you’ll pay only $12 before shipping and very sensual handling (that’s 2 dollars less than our normal, post-April 22nd, still totally reasonable price of $14). What’s that? You’d like some more? Well, just like all of our online orders, you’ll also receive Flight of the Conchords-related buttons and stickers. Don’t delay; order now, or whatever!

Pre-order here.

Megan Jasper Eats Breakfast with Squirrels

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:36:39 -0700

Megan Jasper has a long and illustrious career here at Sub Pop Records. She started out as the receptionist, got fired and went to work for ADA (our distributor), and then came back and gave a million BJs all over the office in order to become GM and then VP of the Pacific Northwest’s premiere record label. After Megan had time to rest her jaw she sat down with me in her opulent, well-organized office to give me some insight into what makes her tick. Megan is a hilarious and generous lady, a consummate prankster, and a lover of huge rings who also makes wedding cakes in her spare time. I am proud to call her friend, boss lady, and cum dumpster. Let’s meet Megan!

L: You are most famous for your pulling the wool over the eyes of the New York Times and providing them with a totally bogus dictionary of grunge. Tell me a little about this—was it off the cuff? Did you giggle? Did you ever think it would haunt you for the rest of your life?

M: Actually they called Jonathan first but he re-directed them my way. [Yep, shirking responsibility—sounds like JP. –ed.] I wasn’t really expecting the call but it couldn’t have come at a better time. I was bored shitless and on my third pot of coffee. The kid asked me to tell him the lexicon, but I told him that it might be easier if he gave me a word and I provided the grunge translation. I wrote down a bunch of words that rhymed and mixed them up to come up with the answers but then I got bored and just started making up things that my friends and I used to say as jokes. I felt bad for him and tried to make each answer slightly more retarded than the last, but he never got it. I figured it would just be edited, but a few days later it was on the front page of the style section. At first I was trying not to laugh, but by the end of the phone call I was almost bummed that he just kept typing. Did I ever think it would haunt me for so long? God no!

L: You have a long, weird relationship with Dinosaur Jr. How did that begin? Tell me something strange about J. Mascis. Is he a practical joker? Why does he like purple?

M: I met J when I was in high school. J would show up at the same punk/hardcore shows that I went to. We used to call him, “Chemo Boy”, because he cut chunks out of his hair right to the scalp. Other strands were long and hung over the random, weird bald spots. He almost always wore the same shirt to every show, one with the Trix cereal rabbit holding up a box of the cereal saying, “Trix are for kids!” To be honest with you, we didn’t quite care for each other at first. I thought he was a freak and he thought that I was kind of gross. The first time he came to our house, he got in a screaming match with my mom. The visit ended with J standing at the front door yelling, “YOU’RE FUCKED!” to my mom and my mom then yelling to my dad, “JIMMY!!! DID YOU HEAR THAT? HE SAID THAT WE’RE FUCKED!” I don’t quite remember my dad responding. However, in time he became close friends not only with my sister but with the whole family and now we refer to him as, the “third Jasper sister.” [I see who got all the looks… -ed.] Whenever he and my mom are together, my mom will say that if you’re looking for J he’ll be in one of two places—to her right or to her left. Purple? I guess he just likes to celebrate the look of his shaft engorged with blood. Just kidding. I have no idea, but he’s been into it since I’ve known him.

L: You’ve worked at Sub Pop for a very long time, but a lot of people might not know that you were actually fired at one point at time. How does it feel to get fired, rehired, and promoted straight to the top?

M: It makes me feel a little bit like David Lee Roth.

L: Do you think that working in the music biz for so long has helped or hurt your love of music? How do you combat musical burnout? You’ve worked with a lot of bands on the label—who surprised you the most?

M: Working with people who love music is a gift. It’s like being in a library and realizing that you’ll never get to all of it. Stuart M made me an amazing comp once with all oldies, [Oh, God! I drove back from Portland with him one time and he made us listen to every Billboard #1. Through his laptop speakers. From the back seat. –ed.] Andy turned me onto PP Arnold and Bobby Charles, and Tony has given me a bunch of stuff that I never knew about too. That’s one of the best things about working with people who appreciate music—you get turned onto great stuff that might otherwise go unnoticed. I can’t imagine getting tired of music in the same way that I can’t imagine getting tired of any art form. [I’m so over mixed media. –ed.]

A lot of bands have surprised me in many different ways, but the most surprised I ever was by a band was when I saw the Yo Yo’s play in Texas with the Backyard Babies. Danny, The Yo Yo’s lead singer, got mad at the Backyard Babies and pulled down his pants (mind you, they were leather and he didn’t bring any other pants on tour with him—and he shat those pants numerous times on tour, so they were black on the outside, brown on the inside), shook up a bottle of beer, shoved the bottle into his asshole (his crack looked like a chocolate smile), and gave himself a beer enema. Almost as good as a GG Allin show.

L: Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary is tomorrow (April 1). What are the three things you’re most proud of here at the Pop? What are the three things you wish could’ve gone down differently?

M: Isn’t that fucking crazy? 20 years is pretty amazing. I’m most proud that Jonathan kept the label going—there were many times during the 20 years when he could have easily walked and lost a lot of stress. I’m incredibly proud of the label’s roster over the past two decades. We’ve worked with and continue to work with some of the smartest and most talented people out there. I’ve said before that Sub Pop is like a history book. It’s the artistic reaction and reflection to what’s been happening in the world for the past 20 years. I think it’s cool to work with a team of people, who care that those expressions are heard. And, thirdly, I’m proud of the staff. The people who work here constantly blow my mind with their creativity, humor, and dedication.

There are some things that would have been nice if they’d gone down differently—probably too many to even mention but those are situations that you learn from by taking the lessons to heart and moving on so that all of the upcoming lessons are new ones. [Yes, but these are the most interesting! –ed.]

L: You like to garden and seem you seem to know a lot about plants. What’s your favorite plant and why? How and when did this interest begin? Do you and Brian garden naked?

M: I love to garden. I didn’t know how much I loved it until I lived in a house with a yard. The yard had a couple of plants and a lot of grass. I didn’t know what kind of garden I wanted, I just knew that I wanted one. I went to a bunch of nurseries to find things that I liked and that might work in my yard. I also started reading gardening books so that I could learn more. Now, I walk around nurseries like they’re record stores, looking at each plant and reading about them. Trying to pick a favorite plant is like trying to list a favorite band—there are too many good ones. But I will tell you this: my favorite evergreen tree is a hinoki cypress, my favorite deciduous tree is probably a paperbark maple, and my favorite flowers are tulips, ranunculus, and peonies. Gardening naked? Sick. I prefer to keep my secret garden indoors.

L: You had a mohawk when you were a kid. Tell me about being an East Coast punker back in the day. Do you think kids have changed? Did you ever think you’d wind up doing marathons?

M: I was a little shit, crusty punk. I almost always carried a bottle of Aqua Net Super Extra Hold in my bag and I used to have to tilt my head sideways when I sat in a car so that the hawk could fit as well. Being a punk rock kid on the east coast was pretty great. There were a million bands that I got to see—X, The Circle Jerks, The Misfits, Negative Approach, SSD, The Bad Brains, Minor Threat, etc. They played all ages shows in Boston on Sundays. I became good friends with a bunch of those—J was one, Todd Cote was another, Crazy Adam, who drove an old pick up truck that had “Raw Power” on the front. Adam used to blast Johnny Cash songs, jump out of his truck and spin on his head. His favorite hobby was “scoopin’ tuna” on a Friday night. If he got some, he could hang with the guys on Saturday. [He sounds like a real catch. -ed.] Then there were the Meatgirls, a hilarious group of girls (with hair that that went to high hell and back) who decided that if the Meatmen could do it, so could they. One of them lives here in Seattle and books shows at The Comet. [Michelle? –ed] I was lucky to be around these people—they were a fucking blast and they were an escape from the douche bags, who were threatened by anyone (like me) who was abnormal. I don’t think kids have changed at all and I think I always knew that I’d at least run a couple of marathons. I used to go running when I was a kid (mohawk and all). I’m sure that it was quite a site.

L: Your mom once poisoned your dog Vito and Carly once pranked you in the Seattle Times by putting out an ad that said free Chihuahua puppies. Go ahead and tell everyone a dirty secret about your mom, Carly, and your dog.

M: Oh wow…this will be fun. Let’s start with my mom. You know that we were a dysfunctional Irish Catholic family. My parents made us go to catechism classes when we were kids. My mom was the principal and my dad was one of the teachers. After my class, I would go to the principal’s office to find my mom practically being man-handled by the priests. It’s not that they were digging for her lady-gold, they were drooling over her jewelry! I think she sniffed out every gay priest in Worcester and made each one her best friend. My mom told me that she believes that she has “fag hag” in her DNA. [Moms should not say fag hag. –ed.] She also claims to have passed it on to her two (and three if you count J) daughters.

And as far as Carly goes—her nickname for an entire summer was “Upchuck”. She was visiting Old Faithful and, feeling the spirit, started to projectile vomit in front of everyone. Also, her real last name isn’t Starr. That’s the name she took when she worked at the Lusty Lady. She’s got a bag full of nicknames! [I give you a golden opportunity and this is all the shit you give her? She half-heartedly tried to kidnap your dog the other day! -ed.]

L: Tell me why you hate these things: eggs, avocados, and squirrels.

M: I think eggs are super fucking gross. It’s kind of like eating a bird’s period. Sick. [If my period tasted good scrambled or deviled I’d eat the shit out of it. –ed.] Avocados have a nasty texture that grosses me out. I know that they’re good for you so I wish I liked them. Squirrels scare the shit out of me. I think it’s strange that people think they’re cute and harmless. They have sharp teeth and they’re unpredictable little beasts. Once in Boston Common a squirrel jumped on my lap to steal my bagel. I nearly had a fucking heart attack.

L: I just heard that Mark Lanegan beat you up in an elevator. What the fuck? And then you re-sign his band?!

M: I was working for Dinosaur Jr, selling merch. This is post-fire, pre-rehire and promoted—I’m thinking early ’92. The band had just played in NY and I sold merch for them. The Screaming Trees were recording in the city so Mark came out and met up with us. I think I had a few thousand bucks in my pocket and I made the mistake of bragging about it when I was in the elevator with Mark. As a joke, he tried to grab it and not as a joke, I tried to make sure that it didn’t leave my pocket. It turned into a bit of struggle that bled into the hotel lobby when the elevator doors opened. People crowded around a bit not knowing if it was a fight or just fun and then Mark split pretty quickly. I’m sure that it didn’t look good to anyone not knowing us. Mark is someone I first met over 20 years ago. I’ve always been a fan of his music and he is undeniably gifted as well as being a very decent person. Nobody sings like Mark and I’m super proud to work with him. [Plus, Megan likes getting hit by dudes. It’s her “thing”. –ed.]

L: And finally, what is the weirdest thing that you and JP have ever done together?

M: Definitely the dolphin meditation. [I’m not even going to say anything about this one. -ed.]

No Age on MTVU

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:49:18 -0700

Randy and Dean got to shoot this really cool, super pro promo piece for mtvU at SXSW. Check it out here

A Form of Paying Attention April '08

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:55:00 -0700

Today, and this is no April Fools joke, is Sub Pop Records’ 20th Anniversary. When I asked Jon Poneman, aka The Jonald, how it feels to turn 20 he responded, “The company maintains bowel movements at regular intervals so we’re not nearly as grouchy as some other labels our age.” I couldn’t put it better myself, but this is coming from a man who has never once used the bathroom in the office.

April is packed full of highly anticipated releases, starting first with the US release of Foals Antidotes on CD/LP (w/ download code). This is out on April 8th and if you pre-order you’ll get a bonus CDR with B-sides! April 8th is also the release date for the new seven-inch from No Age. It features “Eraser” from the upcoming album plus three covers. April 8th is also the official release date for the Fleet Foxes EP, but you’ve been able to buy that on subpop.com for practically forever so who cares?

On April 22nd we’ll be releasing Flight of the Conchords by Flight of the Conchords and then I’ll get to hear all the world sing “Business Time” wherever I go. The album is on CD and LP (w/download code) and both come with a killer little poster. Also, we’ll go ahead and give you $2 off until street date. Don’t say we never did nothing for you. We almost never stop doing nothing for you.

The first of our anniversary celebrations is tonight (April 1st) at Chop Suey, where The Ruby Suns are playing. Tomorrow (that’s April 2nd) we intend to buy all of Seattle a drink at Hattie’s Hat from 9pm on. You better show up early as the place will surely reach capacity within seconds. Keep your eye out for details on our summertime anniversary show and maybe a little something called the Singles Club. Uh oh—cat’s out of the bag.

Vh1 Does Us a Solid on our Birthday

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:54:44 -0700

The fine folks over at vh1.com and vh1classic.com went above and beyond and have provided us with our best birthday present yet—a Sub Pop Turns 20 celebration with over 50 Sub Pop videos from the dawn of time til now. Check it out—there’s Tad, SDRE, Mudhoney, Band of Horses, The Shins, CSS, and more!

James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus are playing a benefit together in Portland April 11th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:33:37 -0700

To help raise money for Portland’s Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School, The Shins’ James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus will be playing the 18th annual Buckman Art Show & Sell at The Jupiter Hotel on Friday April 11th! You should go!

Full details, including a link to buy tickets, can be found here

New Foals CD/LP Available April 8th

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:21:20 -0700

On April 8th, as the astute music aficionado you are (you came to this website, didn’t you?), you ought to be listening to Antidotes, the debut from Foals. Here at the embarrassingly opulent Sub Pop World Headquarters we have had songs from this record stuck in our heads for weeks now, and on April 8th they can be in your head too. If you pre-order Antidotes by April 8th, we’ll include a limited, 3-song, bonus CDR containing b-sides from Foals UK singles. And because we can’t stop it with all of our crazy incentivizing we’re gonna throw in a couple stickers and buttons. That’s so like us.

Get your pre-order on right here.

The Medium Give

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:57:22 -0700

As close to quarterly as we’re able to manage, we here at Sub Pop have the very great privilege of discreetly siphoning money from the company coffers to far more deserving, industrious and admirable organizations. In light of the fact that we’re here crowing about it, “discreet” may be the wrong word. But, the point here is somewhat less a matter of patting ourselves on the back (although, yes, we enjoy that as well), and more a matter of maybe bringing some of these organizations to your attention. They are all likely more deserving, industrious and admirable than you too.

Here’s where you can read all of the details on this stuff, including info on previous recipients, etc.

And then, proudly, here are the most recent additions:

The return of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship for 2008

Children’s Hospital

FareStart

First Place School

Hollow Earth Radio

Nature Consortium

Northwest Film Forum

Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls

Summer Search

New No Age 7" Available For Pre-Order

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:46:07 -0700

No Age! Alright! On April 8th, we’re putting out a new 7” single from the aforementioned No Age with the a-side “Eraser”, from their forthcoming Nouns (out May 6th, stay tuned) and three b-sides, covers originally by The Nerves, The Urinals, and Nate Denver’s Neck.

Pre-order right here.

Gutter Twins Vinyl? Back In Stock!

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:04:15 -0700

It’s been several tense weeks here at the Sub Pop International World-Headquarters due to a lack of the Gutter Twins’ Saturnalia on vinyl. But glory days are here again; the sun is shining and we just received a shipment of these LP’s for your record-playing needs!

Saturnalia LP’s come with an MP3 download code. That’s like turning your iPod into a record player!

Pick it up here

The Loser Scholarship is Back for 2008!

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:45:52 -0700

We at Sub Pop Records have always thought quite a bit of ourselves. But lately, it’s been getting a little ridiculous, even for us. However, it is our innate ability to cast aside just these sorts of, fortunately fleeting, moments of self-doubt and humility that fills us with such overwhelming pride to announce… THE SUB POP SCHOLARSHIP! Somewhat incredibly, and momentarily ignoring the fact that we have managed to misspell our own name (which consists of two three-letter words…) on one of our own releases, Sub Pop Records is hereby joining the fight against higher education! The relevant details are below…

Sub Pop Records in Seattle, WA is offering a grand total of $13,000 worth of college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships—one for $6,000 and two for $3,500 each. To apply for these scholarships you must be a resident of Washington or Oregon, and a graduating senior on your way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for an applicant who is involved and/or interested in music and/or the creative arts in some way.

To apply for these scholarships we would like you to submit an essay, no longer than one page, letting us know about some of the following topics:

What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community?

How and/or why did you become interested in artistic outlets?

Why do you need this scholarship money?

What are your influences and/or who inspires you?

Who are some of your favorite bands or artists?

Applicants are encouraged to send digital links and provide hard copies of their artwork along with their essay. However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above. The deadline for applications is May 1, 2008 so please get in touch before then if you are interested.

Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com

All physical submissions should be sent to:

Sub Pop Records Attn: Scholarship 2013 4th Ave, 3rd Floor Seattle, WA 98121

Amount: $6,000 / $3,500 / $3,500 – checks will be made payable to the university or college of the winning applicants’ choice and applied to winning applicants’ tuition.

The Art of Sub Pop, Straight from the Horses' Mouths

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:33:39 -0700

Come see, live and in person, the living legends that are Jeff Kleinsmith and Dusty Summers—Sub Pop’s Art Directors and Regional Comedy Duo Champs—as they share the inside creative story behind Sub Pop Records. You’ll discover that a steady diet of designing posters, apparel, and packaging for some of Seattle’s top musicians (such as The Shins, Mudhoney, and The Postal Service) is every bit as good as it sounds.

Tuesday March 25 6:30-8:00pm School of Visual Concepts Seattle. Register online at SVC Jeff Kleinsmith is also having his very own retrospective at Seattle SVC for the month of April. The opening party will be April 11 5-9pm and there will be BEER!

And finally, Jeff and Dusty will be tag teaming co-eds with their art knowledge in their very own class at the SVC. Check out the website for details.

Gutter Twins Play/Slay Letterman!

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:46:11 -0700

Make sure to tune your TV knobs to CBS on Wednesday night so that you don’t miss the magic that is The Gutter Twins doing it to it on The Late Show with David Letterman. Lanegan and Dulli will be performing “Idle Hands” and it will be amazing.

We need a new Andrew

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:13:09 -0700

UPDATE (3/31/08): This position is now filled! Thanks!

Sadly, we need to replace this guy. Here are the details…

Sub Pop Records is currently seeking a new part-time IT/Help Desk professional at our world headquarters. Based in Seattle, WA the beacon of grunge has become a leading force in the increasingly self-important and intolerable world of indie rock and/or pop. The duties for this position include, but are not limited to:

Support of the Microsoft office suite, mainly Outlook/Exchange.
Software upgrades, repair and support for a variety of programs including Quickbooks, iTunes, Photoshop, Firefox, antivirus, Filemaker, and more.
All desktop support questions for a 30 user network.
Print queue management.
Computer hardware building, upgrading, and repair.
Proactive upgrading of network hardware and software.
Basic level server support for Active Directory, DNS, Domain Controllers and Exchange.
Working knowledge of TCP/IP networking principals and network hardware.
Ability to diagnose, organize and solve problems on the fly.
Knowledge of relevant media types and their various uses, IE: .wav, .mp3, .mov, .mp4, .avi, .mpeg, .zip, .rar, .tiff, .jpeg, etc.
Hardware/Software purchasing and implementation of hardware devices such as printers, phones, scanners, BlackBerries, monitors, etc.
Must be an independent thinking troubleshooter who can self-start all projects.
Ability to organize and execute a plan from beginning to end with little supervision.
Ability to learn and use new technology related skills and theories to solve network issues.
This person will also coordinate IT support and planning with our contracted technology services partner (All Covered).

Our ideal candidate will work 20-30 hours a week on site in our Seattle office 5 days a week for 3-6 hours a day supporting all office desktop support needs.

This position will be paid hourly, depending on experience, and will include opportunities for ongoing professional technical education, paid for by Sub Pop.

~~Please send resumes to: andrews@subpop.com~~

New Record from Sera Cahoone Available March 18th

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:46:37 -0700

On March 18th, Sub Pop will be releasing Only as the Day Is Long, our first record with Sera Cahoone. Sera played in Carissa’s Wierd and played drums on the Band of Horses album Everything All the Time, and her self-titled, self-released debut record was one of our favorites of 2006. Not that we really need to sweeten this pot, but if you pre-order the new CD by March 18th, we’ll take 2 bucks off our already strikingly low price of $12, thereby only charging you, esteemed and intelligent consumer, a measly $10. Plus, for you, there will be stickers and, oh yes, there will be buttons!

Pre-order right here.

Listen to Sera Cahoone here.

New Band of Horses 7" Available

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:40:00 -0800

Hey all you Horses-Heads! What? Not cool? Maybe I’ll try to come up with a more flattering nickname for Band of Horses fans. Or better yet, maybe no nickname at all. Anyway, I thought you should know about a brand new Band of Horses seven inch single featuring No One’s Gonna Love You on the a-side and a cover of Am I a Good Man, by Them Two, on the b-side, recorded live for KEXP.

These will go pretty quick, so pick one up right here

Official SXSW Sub Pop Showcase

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:36:58 -0800

The mighty Sub Pop is having a HUGE showcase at 2008’s SXSW in Austin this year. How huge is it? Two stages huge!

Our showcase will be on Friday March 14th at Bourbon Rocks and Bourbon Rocks Patio which are both connected, but not really connected. Bourbon Rocks is located at 508 E. 6th St. (6th and Neches) and doors are at 7:15pm.

Here’s how the whole shebang will go down:

BOURBON ROCKS STAGE (inside) Love As Laughter – 8pm Sera Cahoone – 9pm Grand Archives – 10pm Kelley Stoltz – 11pm Fleet Foxes – 12am Blitzen Trapper – 1am

BOURBON ROCKS PATIO STAGE (outside) The Ruby Suns – 8:30pm Pissed Jeans – 9:30pm Handsome Furs – 10:30pm The Helio Sequence – 11:30pm No Age – 12:30pm

Also, click HERE for day party info.

VOTE BRUNETTES ON MTVU

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:15:29 -0800

MTVU is trying their darndest to get some Sub Pop music to the people, what with Pissed Jeans and Foals appearing on the Freshman. Now it’s time for the Brunettes to get their shot at fame and glory so c’mon and VOTE!

SXSW Day Parties. Free Booze + Bands

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:23:50 -0800

Hoping to see all that Sub Pop has to offer but you can’t make it to our sure to be sold out showcase? No problem! Here’s a list of parties where you might be able to catch some Sub Pop bands:

The Ruby Suns will be playing 3/12 at the Fader Party (4:30), 3/13 at Waterloo Records (3pm), 3/14 Home Slice Pizza (4:45), 3/15 Outside Music/Exclaim! Party (2:30).

Grand Archives will be playing 3/13 at the Noise Pop/Little Radio Party (1:30), 3/14 at the Other Music Party (2pm), 3/15 at the Filter Magazine Showdown (4pm).

No Age will be playing 3/13 at the Rhapsody Party (TBA) & the Jelly NYC/My Open Bar Party (10pm), 3/14 at the Pitchfork/Windish Party (TBA), 3/15 at the Stereogum Party (3pm) & the Don’t Mess with Texas Party (5pm).

Fleet Foxes will be playing 3/13 at the Under the Radar Party (1:35), 3/14 at the Pitchfork/Windish Party (3:30).

The Helio Sequence will be playing 3/13 at the Under the Radar Party (3:15), 3/14 at the Noise Pop Party (TBA).

Blitzen Trapper will be playing 3/13 at the Schubas Day Party (2-4pm), 3/14 at Hot Freaks Party (3pm), 3/15 at Stereogum/Paste Party (2pm) & Current Day Party (5pm)

Handsome Furs will be playing 3/14 at KEXP at ACL mainstage at KLRU (3:30).

Kelley Stoltz will be playing 3/14 at WFMU Showcase (8pm).

Pissed Jeans will be playing 3/15 at the Don’t Mess with Texas Party (5pm) & the Chunklet Party (9pm).

Eugene Mirman will be doing comedy all over the place at the Don’t Mess with Texas Party on 3/15.

Fleet Foxes Sun Giant MP3s @ 256k

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:07:10 -0800

Did you know: the MP3s we’re offering for sale on the site of the Fleet Foxes stunning new Sun Giant EP at 256k? It’s the first of our MP3 records that we’ve been able to make available at the higher bitrate.

Lap it up! All 256k bits are belong to you.

A Form of Paying Attention March '08

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:22:40 -0800

On March 4th we’ll be releasing Saturnalia by The Gutter Twins, aka Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli, as well as Sea Lion by The Ruby Suns, aka a band from New Zealand. Both of these records are worth the price of admission so just step up to the plate and buy them, bub. We’re giving $2 off Sea Lion and Saturnalia through release date along with our patented, highly effective sticker/button combo for each band. Want to know more about these fine bands? Look at this and this and this and this. Both The Gutter Twins and The Ruby Suns are on tour—click their names to see if they’re coming to your town!

Sera Cahoone’s new record Only as the Day is Long comes out March 18th and it’s available for pre-order here. Find out all you wanted to know about Sera by looking here and make sure to check her out at her record release show at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle on March 29th and/or her Easy Street Records show on March 18th.

And finally, we have the Fleet Foxes ep available right now. Read this Pitchfork review and then snatch it up—this isn’t available everywhere.

March is also the month of everyone’s favorite music fest—the amazingly brutal SXSW in Austin. We’re having a showcase at Bourbon Rocks on Friday the 14th with Love as Laughter, Sera Cahoone, Grand Archives, Kelley Stoltz, Fleet Foxes, and Blitzen Trapper on one stage and The Ruby Suns, Pissed Jeans, Handsome Furs, The Helio Sequence, and No Age on another stage. All these bands will be playing parties all over the place but I’ll tell you about that on Monday. Let’s do it to it, March.

Mona D can tell you what to do in Reno

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:44:22 -0800

One of the greatest joys of People Who Work Here is introducing you to our newest employees in a timely fashion. These interviews are—let’s face it—great reading for you, but they’re also a useful and powerful tool for Sub Pop staffers to get to know our new coworkers so that we can commence harassing them in better, more effective ways much more quickly than ever before. Mona D is our newest addition to the Sub Pop radio promo staff and she’s a nice little thing who is paying way too much for a studio apartment in Capitol Hill. Mona has only been in Seattle since January, and I think she’s a vegetarian and I know that she likes to drink vodka sodas. Let’s meet Mona!

L: Mona, welcome to Sub Pop! You have been here for about two months now—how do you like it? What is the most surprising thing about working here? (This can be anything from ‘I had no idea you guys worked in cubicles’ to ‘Who knew that people in Seattle were so racist!?’)

M: I think Seattle is actually hell of rad (you can take the girl out of California…). [I always thought it was ‘hella’. I guess you get to church it up a little if you have a Masters, though. –ed.] There are a ton of good record shops and bars here, and the weather is actually kinda nice these days. The most surprising thing about working here? To be honest, I wasn’t expecting such a high percentage of the staff to be married or own a house or have kids or all those adult things…I was more expecting to walk in on people doing hell of drugs in the bathrooms. I’m definitely not disappointed that it’s babies over blow here, just a bit surprised. [For the record, most of the staff does drugs with their babies at home, not at work. –ed.]

L: What have you been doing in your free time? How do you find Seattle? Do you pretend you live in England on account of the grey? That’s what I do….

M: I’ve pretty much been doing here what I do in every town…chain smoke, listen to records, and wander around town (Ballard and Capitol Hill both seem pretty awesome so far). I’d like to start DJing again soon, ‘cos that’s pretty fun too. Seattle reminds me a lot of San Francisco but without all the pretension. Sometimes I do pretend it’s England though, and I say ‘cor blimey’ and ‘bollocks’ a lot…until I get punched in the face, and then it’s not fun anymore. [You should lay some of that cockney shit on Richard the Scotsman—he looooves it. –ed.]

L: Please tell me about Mona D in high school. I see you have some Souxsie and the Bashees stuff at your desk—were you goth? Would you consider yourself goth presently? Wait, fuck it, what’s your favorite band?

M: Mona D in high school was pretty goth if you consider a Robert Smith hairdo, 20 eye docs, and black lipstick ‘goth.’ I never wore a cape thankfully, but I did used to recite poetry with my best friend at midnight on the weekends…it was some next level loserdom. I don’t think I’m still goth (do I still seem goth?), [Sure, a little. –ed.] but I still love all that music…Bauahaus, Christian Death, Virgin Prunes, Sisters of Mercy…so good! My favorite band? The Smiths…hands down. Best band of all time. Though I’ve been obsessing over Richard Hawley for a while now too. [He’s really great—you should check him out for sure. –ed.]

L: Tell me about the first show you ever saw—mine was Bob Dylan and Tom Petty at the Southern Star Amphitheater with my mom and dad, followed shortly thereafter by The Monkees reunion tour where Weird Al was opening for them. Do you think that your first musical experience shaped your life in any fundamental way or was it just blah?

M: My first show was Thompson Twins and Cyndi Lauper at the Lawler Events Center in Reno, NV. [It’s too hot to wear a cape in Reno! –ed.] I was in the 1st grade and my sisters dragged me out and made me wear INXS cycling shorts, that were in fact pants on me ‘cos I was so short. I don’t remember much of it, but I think it definitely shaped my musical tastes…I still love a good synth track any day, and I still wear cycling shorts all the time…especially when I go to shows.

L: You used to live in London—what were you doing there? Did you pretend to live in Seattle on account of the grey? I hear you have some hot shot British boyfriend—lay it on me, sister.

M: London is where I got my Masters and worked at a bunch of radio stations. [Well la ti da! Look at the big brain on Mona! -ed.] BBC 6 Music was my favorite station I worked at, ‘cos at the time it was super new and the DJs got to take a lot of risks…it seemed to kind of have this John Peel ethic where they’d play loads of stuff from all different genres old / new that weren’t heard on other stations…like you’d hear Lord Kitchener into Gang of Four into the new one from Futureheads into Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band into Half Man Half Biscuit. It ruled!

L: You are from Reno and I am going to Reno in the near future. What should I do for fun?

M: Dude…where to begin!? You must stop by Pneumatic Diner they have some really tasty vegan/vegetarian treats…try the Princess Erin Shake: it’s a ridiculously delicious drink with chocolate, coffee, espresso bean, and ice cream goodness). Um…Recycled Records is pretty cool and my favorite casino to gamble at is the Atlantis…might I recommend the Double Double Bonus Poker machines…play nickels, 5 credits at a time and play slowly so you keep getting free drinks before you lose all your money…if you are lucky you might even win and get paid to drink…pretty exciting stuff. (Note to editor: If you and your dude wanna skip the fancy wedding you have planned, you can do a quick one at the trashy chapel downtown called White Lace and Promises …you can call it White Lacey and Promises if you like.) [Oh, I like! –ed.]

L: Please tell everyone what the day to day life of a college radio promoter is like. Are you going to stay with radio or would you like to do something else?

M: My days are always different, but they usually include stuff like talking to music directors …setting up studio sessions…putting people on ‘the list’ for shows…mailing out records…bringing joy to people’s lives one day at a time. I’m basically a pusher, but my product isn’t gonna cause anyone to lose their day job, or their teeth. I’ll probably stay with radio for a while…I wouldn’t mind being an astronaut either. [Is that what your Masters is in? Astronautism? –ed.]

L: What is the worst injury you’ve ever had? Do you do drugs?

M: I’ve been pretty lucky and haven’t had any crazy inuries…I did land on a rock once when I jumped into a lake and had to get stitches in my knee. But that wasn’t too bad. Why would ask if you I do drugs? I don’t. Do you? Is that the right answer? [You seem a little paranoid, Mona. –ed.]

L: Can you tell me a good joke? If you had to sum up Mona D in one word what would it be?

M: Here’s a joke: Why are indie boys so bad in bed? They’re always lying about their 7 inches. [I don’t get it. –ed.] Mona in one word? Razzmatazz.

L: And finally, is there anything you’d like to ask me? M: Can I have a lollipop now? [No, but there are a TON of Wonka products in the kitchen if you want some! –ed.]

Brand New Ruby Suns Record on Tuesday

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:16:50 -0800

On March 4th, we’re releasing our first album with New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns. It’s called Sea Lion and is ten tracks of globe-trotting, Tropicalia-infused psychedelic pop, sprinkled with references to the Beach Boys, Eno and a ton of others. Like many of our favorite NZ exports, this record is a constantly unfolding wonder, inventive and wide-ranging. And, if you pre-order Sea Lion by March 4th, we’ll take $2 off the already low Sub Pop Megamart price of $12, making it $10 for you, you super intelligent consumer of Sub Pop wares whose ass we are forever trying to kiss. And just like all of our online orders, we will include stickers and possibly even a button; because we like getting you excited about buying things from us. Actually, we mostly just like the part where you buy things from us – but the excitement is nice, too.

Pick it up here.

Gutter Twins Vinyl - Temporarily Sold Out

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:43:15 -0800

The reason you don’t see an LP option when you try to pre-order Saturnalia is because we don’t have any more LPs to sell at the moment. The super good news about this otherwise bleak reality is that we’re getting more made. In about a month or so, you’ll be able to order an LP copy of the record (complete with an MP3 download code), so please check back with us.

Email me with any questions at websales@subpop.com.

PLEASE DO VOTE FOR FOALS ON MTVu FRESHMAN

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:20:27 -0800

Lo and behold, we have another musical act on the chopping block at ol’ mtvU, purveyors of music videos direct to your dorm. This week we need your vote for ”Balloons” by Foals and you can get down to business right HERE REMEMBER—VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, AND VOTE BY FRIDAY!

Pre-order the new Gutter Twins and get 2 bucks off!

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:35:02 -0800

On March 4th, rejoice, for you can finally listen to the long-awaited debut from The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia! And, if you pre-order Saturnalia on CD or on glorious, incredibly expensive 180-gram, double LP by March 4th, you’ll get $2 off the regular Sub Pop Megamart price (that’s already $2 off the retail price – generosity is totally our thing). Also, being the deal-sweeteners that we are, we’re going to give the first 200 pre-orderers a CD booklet autographed by both Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli. That’s a limited offer, folks – when they’re gone, that’s it. And as with all of our online orders, you’ll get Gutter Twins-related stickers and buttons. Generosity, that’s just how we don’t not do.

Orders have exceeded the amount of autographed CD booklets we have. If you’d like to try and get one of them still, try ordering through Newbury Comics here.

Again: the autographed CD booklets are now gone!

Attention! As we have mentioned from time to time here on the Sub Pop web thingy, most of the LPs that we put out come with an enclosed coupon enabling you to download all of the album’s songs as mp3s FOR FREE. The vinyl format for Saturnalia, for example, includes one of these very coupons.

The Helio Sequence on Jimmy Kimmel Live airs Monday, February 25th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:44:21 -0800

As we mentioned just the other day, our very close, personal, close friends in The Helio Sequence are recording a performance of their song Keep Your Eyes Ahead on The Jimmy Kimmel Live late-night TV talk/variety program this very evening in Los Angeles. And, this just in…

This performance will air this coming Monday, February 25th. So, naturally, you should watch!

False Alarm on Grand Archives Radio Appearance

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:29:52 -0800

If you saw an item in this space earlier about Grand Archives playing on The END today at 6pm, please disregard. They are not playing on the radio on 2/21.

They will be on The END February 29. It will still be at 6pm, just 8 days later.

We’ll remind you as it gets closer. Thank you for your patience.

This part from earlier still applies:

If you couldn’t be there, the Triple Door shows Grand Archives did last night were fantastic. Be sure to check their tours page and go see them if they’re playing near you!

Grand Archives on the END 6pm

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:12:42 -0800

Grand Archives are set to play on the END radio station (107.7) today (that’s Thursday) at 6pm.

If you don’t live in Seattle you can listen live on the KNDD website.

If you couldn’t be there, the Triple Door shows that Grand Archives did last night were fantastic. Be sure to check their tours page and go see them if they’re playing near you soon!

using your kids to display our logo

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:18:06 -0800

We just restocked our warehouse with our line of children’s clothing, just in time for spring or whatever. These are the perfect shirts for you to impose your interests upon your otherwise ambivalent children. And when they’re like 20, they’ll see pictures and think, “Yeah, mom and/or dad! Here’s proof that I’ve ruled since my infancy.” Then they’ll thank you.

Check out our entire kid’s line Baby onesie Kid’s Baseball Jersey Sub Tot Kid’s T Pick up a matching Sub Pop shirt for you right here.

The Helio Sequence on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:38:00 -0800

On Friday, February 22nd, our close personal friends in The Helio Sequence will be in Los Angeles, recording a performance of the song Keep Your Eyes Ahead from their almost unbelievably amazing new album of the very same name (Keep Your Eyes Ahead) on the Jimmy Kimmel Live TELEVISION PROGRAM! This episode will be airing at some later date in the next week or so (ON TV!), but if you happen to live in the Los Angeles area (or will be there this Friday), you might be able to go see The Helio Sequence on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Here’s the shinola on how to do that:

Guests must be at least 18 with a valid ID. They will need to be available form 5:30PM to 8:00PM on Friday, Feb. 22nd. They can get tickets at www.1iota.com or by calling 866-JIMMYTIX.

Seems easy enough! DO IT! Plus, Sarah Silverman might be there!

Grand Archives Record Now Out! Live Appearances!

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:38:11 -0800

Grand Archives record The Grand Archives is OUT NOW. It is even available in MP3 format! (As usual the vinyl version comes with a coupon to download MP3s of the entire album.)

And not only but also! They are playing today (that’s 2/19/08) on KEXP at 3pm AND playing an in store at Sonic Boom Ballard tonight at 7pm. That is a free in store performance.

And as if that weren’t enough, they are playing two shows tomorrow night (that is Wednesday 2/20/08) at The Triple Door. Both shows are with Sera Cahoone and a band called S. Early show doors at 6:00 (early, right?), late show doors at 10:30.

If you don’t happen to live in Seattle, check Grand Archives tour page as they are playing a bunch of other cities soon.

Jennifer Gentle Rock the BBC

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:03:33 -0800

Jennifer Gentle played on BBC 6 today, Valentine’s Day. You can listen to it today and maybe for a couple more days.

Get on it!

Free Ltd. 7" with Grand Archives Pre-order

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:55:08 -0800

February 19th is probably going to be a pretty crappy day weather-wise wherever you happen to be, and unless you’re excessively goth, you’re probably gonna be pretty bummed about it. We here at Sub Pop had the remarkable foresight to bring you a record scientifically-designed and precision-engineered to combat any symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) you might be feeling. Your February 19th is going to be a little brighter with the debut from Grand Archives. Or, you could just hide all the knives in your house and curl up into a ball until spring. We think The Grand Archives makes a lot more sense. And, if you pre-order The Grand Archives on CD or LP by release date, we’ll throw in a bonus seven-inch (because vinyl sounds a little warmer or whatever). And just like all of our online customers, you’ll also get a button and a couple stickers! Because that’s just how we do.

Pick it up here.

OH! And the limited seven-inch is on the rarest of earthly elements – white vinyl!

OMG! A New Way to Celebrate Wolf Parade!

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:52:05 -0800

That’s right! A new Wolf Parade shirt for you to celebrate your fan-dom with. This is an aqua American Apparel shirt expressing Wolf Parade’s tendency to be Cold Chillin’. They love it, and so will you.

Pick it up here.

Flight of the Conchords won a damn Grammy!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:32:18 -0800

Somewhat unbelievably, though no less deservedly, Flight of the Conchords won an actual Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album the other night! For a record (The Distant Future) that we, here at Sub Pop, released!

Whoa!

Ever since David Cross’s Shut Up, You Fucking Baby lost to Weird Al’s Poodle Hat album back in ‘04, we kinda figured we’d never win one. But, maybe David just shouldn’t have used the word “Fucking” in the title of his album?

Anyhoo, congratulations on your Grammy Bret and Jemaine! We’re surpassingly proud to bask in your reflected glory.

And, congratulations also to The Shins on their Best Alternative Album Grammy nomination! Though they didn’t win (The White Stripes did), it’s an enormous honor just to be nominated. And their album Wincing the Fucking Night Away is no less amazing for not winning.

Unsanitary love

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:48:19 -0800

Wherein Randy (No Age, Los Angeles, affectionate) attempts/begins/pretends to lick the eyeball of Sean (Pissed Jeans, Philadelphia, obliging, also affectionate).

That is all.