Author: Centro-matic

Help Centro-matic Help Bastrop County Fire Victims

on By

Centro-matic Dispatch – September 6, 2011

I write to you all with a pretty heavy heart this afternoon. On the flight home from New Orleans yesterday, I saw a massive portion of my former home county on fire. I got word of all this after our show on Sunday night, and waited ’til morning to make some calls. I spoke to a friend and former neighbor before I got on the plane to make sure he, his wife and dogs were okay. He told me that the fire came through faster than they could have imagined on Sunday afternoon. They had just enough time to get the dogs into their small car, shut the front door to the house that they’d put years of love, work, and care into, and say goodbye. They lost everything minutes later to a fire that presently spans over 30,000 acres, and has destroyed more than 500 homes. Resources are stretched thin out there. As I write this, the fire is still 0% contained.

My friend’s story is one of many here in Central Texas right now, but it sure hits hard. It comes from a community that I lived in for a good while, and still have immeasurable love for. Bastrop and its surrounding piney woods has inspired the last few years of our songwriting and the releases that have followed. Every ounce of Candidate Waltz was written out there. The Little Raider EP that I released earlier in the year is as close as I could get to out and out writing a love note to that area’s beauty, inhabitants, and uniqueness.

Our band has decided we’d like to help out in a few ways.

We will donate all Centro-matic/South San Gabriel/Will J sales from the Undertow Store on Saturday Sept. 10th and Sunday Sept. 11th to help victims of this fire. It’s a good time to pick up a release (or releases) you may not have, need to replace, or pass along to a friend.

Centro-matic store @ Undertow Music Collective.

I will also auction off two original baseball paintings (Dave Kingman and Richie Hebner) starting Sunday. The auction will be up and running for a week, ending Sunday Sept. 18th. All details on the paintings will be included once the auction begins.

100% of the proceeds will go directly to help victims of this fire get their lives back on track.

Thanks for reading and considering.

-Will J

NEW ORLEANS UPDATE

on By

NEW ORLEANS UPDATE: Attention fans in (and headed to) New Orleans this weekend, the shows are still ON! Your safety is of course very important to us and we will be keeping a close eye on the weather. We will update you if anything changes but as of now the band is planing on playing. If for some reason your travel plans are changing due to tropical storm Lee refunds will be available at point of purchase. We hope to see you all Saturday and Sunday night at Tipitinas.

Centro-matic Dispatch July 2011 – Denton, TX 76201

on By

THANK YOU
Buckets of gratitude go to those who came out and shared in these recent shows with us and our friend, Sarah Jaffe. It’s been an important chapter in our collective creative lives. Seven months ago we confidently decided to streamline and shorten the path to our fans by self-releasing our music. It was the right time to simplify things, and hopefully strengthen our connection with those who continue to support us. Candidate Waltz has been our first step in that direction. Ten Centro-matic records in, this was our most encouraging and enjoyable tour yet. It has also been the best start sales and press-wise for any record that we’ve released.  Thanks to all that have supported our cause, spent some time with our music, come out to the shows, purchased our records, and have therefore enabled us to keep doing this. Can’t wait ’til we see each other again.

DBT + CM = TLA
We are finally reuniting with our longtime, dear friends, Drive-By Truckers for some shows in August and September.

Friday August 12 – Athens, GA – Georgia Theater (sold out).
Saturday August 13 – Athens, GA – Georgia Theater (sold out).
Thursday Sept. 1 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s (outside).
Friday Sept. 2 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater.
Saturday Sept. 3 – New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s
Sunday Sept. 4 – New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s

NORTHWEST WALTZ
We’ll be up for a couple of fly-in dates in September.

Friday Sept. 9/Portland, OR – Musicfest Northwest.
Sunday Sept. 11/Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern.

We are presently routing and assembling more Western dates for November.  Those will be announced soon.

Salute, and see you around.  -Will J.

Centro-matic Summer Tour!

on By

We’ll be heading out on our first full band tour in some time to support of our new record, Candidate Waltz. The always amazing Sarah Jaffe will be opening all of the shows (except Athfest and record store performances). Please come out and say hello. It’ll be more fun with you there.

Wednesday 06/22 – Grimey’s Records @ 6pm (Will Johnson solo)
Wednesday 06/22 – The Basement – Nashville, TN
Thursday 06/23 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA
Friday 06/24 – Athfest – (in front of the) 40 Watt Club – Athens, GA
Saturday 06/25 – Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC
Sunday 06/26 – DC9 – Washington DC
Tuesday 06/28 – North Star Bar – Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday 06/29 – Great Scott – Cambridge, MA
Thursday 06/30 – The Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
Friday 07/01 – Mohawk Place – Buffalo, NY
Saturday 07/02 – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH
Sunday 07/03 – Schubas – Chicago, IL
Tuesday 07/05 – Euclid Records – St. Louis, MO @ 5pm (Will Johnson solo)
Tuesday 07/05 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO
Thursday 07/07 – Dan’s Silverleaf – Denton, TX
Friday 07/08 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX
Saturday 07/09 – Cactus Records @ 1pm (Will Johnson solo)
Sunday 07/10 – Waterloo Records @ 5pm (full band)
Sunday 07/10 – The Mohawk – Austin, TX

Only In My Double Mind

on By

Centro-matic’s new album Candidate Waltz will be released on June 21.

We have 500 CDs and 175 LPs set aside for pre-orders. CDs and LPs will be shipped to arrive on or before the release date.

PRE-ORDER HERE!

The first video features Will Johnson creating the huge painting that became the album cover art. The video was conceived and created by Christian Helms, Mike Woolf and Andrew Yates at Helms Studio and edited by Brandon Thomas Beef & Pie in Austin, TX.

Summer 2011

on By

Greetings from the banks of Burn Ban River.  This drought won’t seem to stop, and I hope all recipients here are safe and well.

LIVING ROOM TREK SPRING 2011
The pickup truck will soon be loaded, and I’m gonna head out on another acoustic living room show joint.  So far these shows have been a pretty fun experience.  If you are hosting and I actually get there early, I will probably hang out in your kitchen, (maybe) stealing ideas for paint colors and home decor.  I try not to look at all the pictures on your refrigerator.  That is none of my business.  Anyway, these shows tend to break down many of the barriers we often encounter in public venues, putting everyone on some serious neutral, residential turf.  The floor is open for discussion, questions, complaints, etc., and I’ve found the architecture and lighting can define a good deal of the situation.

Wed. 5/4 – San Marcos TX
Thurs. 5/5 – Sealy TX (45 minutes west of Houston)
Fri 5/6 – Dallas TX – SOLD OUT
Sat. 5/7 – Little Rock AR
Sun. 5/8 – Fayetteville AR
Mon. 5/9 – Springfield MO
Tues. 5/10 – Saint Louis, MO
Wed. 5/11 – Chicago IL – SOLD OUT
Thurs. 5/12 – Milwaukee WI
Fri. 5/13 – Madison WI
Sat. 5/14 – Minneapolis MN
Mon. 5/16 – Kansas City KS

Get tickets HERE

LITTLE RAIDER EP
I will have a new solo EP available on this trip, and available online through Undertow soon.  I went to my friend Jim Eno’s house for two days back in February, and we set up shop in his living room with some great mics, various guitars, and his wall piano.  We got six songs tracked and mixed in that time. Jim mixed it, Matt Pence mastered, and Dan Grissom/Sanctuary Print Shop has done the excellent letter-pressed sleeves.  Track list:

Little Raider
To Coupland Lines
One More Dreamer For The Summer
To Place Me On A Stone
Tangle For The Less
Devil On The Interstate Line

NEW CENTRO-MATIC SHOWS
We’ll be heading out in June on our first full band tour in some time in full support of our new record, Candidate Waltz.  Pre-orders begin May 24th, and the record will be released on vinyl, cd, and digitally on June 21st.  Tour dates are here:

Wednesday 06/22 – Grimey’s Records @ 6pm
Wednesday 06/22 – The Basement – Nashville, TN
Thursday 06/23 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA
Friday 06/24 – Athfest – (in front of the) 40 Watt Club – Athens, GA
Saturday 06/25 – Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC
Sunday 06/26 – DC9 – Washington DC
Tuesday 06/28 – North Star Bar – Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday 06/29 – Great Scott – Cambridge, MA
Thursday 06/30 – The Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
Friday 07/01 – Mohawk Place – Buffalo, NY
Saturday 07/02 – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH
Sunday 07/03 – Schubas – Chicago, IL
Tuesday 07/05 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO
Thursday 07/07 – Dan’s Silverleaf – Denton, TX
Friday 07/08 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX
Saturday 07/09 – Cactus Records @ 1pm
Sunday 07/10 – Waterloo Records @ 5pm
Sunday 07/10 – The Mohawk – Austin, TX

24 FREE SONGS
People often ask what Centro-matic or South San Gabriel album to start with. There’s no easy answer to this, so we are giving away a couple of songs from each album spanning the band’s 15 years of making music together. Look in the right sidebar for the download link. Please share this with your friends who might not know about Centro-matic or South San Gabriel.

Thanks as always.  Maybe see you on the road.  -Will J.