Category: news

UPDATE:
Thanks to the kind generosity of a fan and friend in Buffalo. We were able to donate $1000 to Drew’s Memorial Fund. THANK YOU!!!

On January 5th, we lost a very good friend in Drew Glackin. Drew passed away due to an overactive thyroid condition that lead to severe heart damage. Like so many musicians, he had no health insurance, and funeral costs still have yet to be covered.

There are several shows taking place between New York and Texas to help cover expenses, and we here in Centro-matic-land are hoping to do our part. We will be holding an auction of a ten painting set done by Will Johnson with all money going to Drew’s family.

The set is titled “Canned/Shitcanned – American Beers From Past and Present”

These paintings are acrylic on five-ply wood flooring scraps fresh out of Will’s garage, measuring anywhere from 3-1/4″ to 4″ in width and 7-1/2″ to 9-1/2″ in length. They come complete with hooks for hanging, and each beer’s name and city of origin noted on the back of the paintings. All are signed and dated by Will in finest, high grade, black Sharpie.

Please check out the auction at Ebay here.

More information upcoming benefit shows and how to donate directly at www.thesilos.net.

New Resolutions for Baseball Cheatin’ Pollutions
Happy 2008. Hope this finds you in firm control of all your resolutions. Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written. Was busy trying to get my name cleared from the Mitchell Report and, y’know, working out. Danbom just shot me up with some, umm, B12. At least my lawyer advised me to say it was B12, so I think I’m ready to get down to full transmission here.

Hawks, man.
We been toilin and schemin’ in our little world over the last little while, and I think it’s gonna be a fun one this year. I’m proud to announce that this spring we will celebrate the release of our first double album, “Dual Hawks”. It will not only be a double, but a split double that includes a Centro-matic side and a South San Gabriel side. It will come to you courtesy of Misra here in the US, and Cooking Vinyl and Houston Party Records in Europe. We are keeping costs as low as possible at many turns to ensure that it comes to you at a very fan-friendly price. There will also be a limited edition release of Dual Hawks with special packaging available. We’re fine tuning all these things at the moment and will keep that info coming as release time nears. Healthy amounts of touring for both the US and Europe will follow. For now, here is the tracklisting for this release:

Centro-matic/Dual Hawks
Rat Patrol and DJ’s
Two Seats Gold Reserved
Quality Strange
Remind Us Alive
Every Single Switch
I, The Kite
Strychnine, Breathless Ways
All Your Farewells
Counting The Scars
Twenty-Four
A Critical Display of Snakes

South San Gabriel/Dual Hawks
Emma Jane
Kept On The Sly
When The Angels Will Put Out Their Lights
Of Evil/For Evil
My Goodbyes
Senselessly
Corner Cross
Trust To Lose
The Arc And The Cusp
Alabama Crusade
Jornada Del Muerto #20
From This I Will Awake

New Shows. Texas Three Step
I’ll be rolling around Texas in the pickup for a solo few shows in early February, all with the impeccable Sarah Jaffe.

Thurs. Feb. 7 – Dallas – Double Wide
Fri. Feb. 8 – Denton – Dan’s Silverleaf
Sat. Feb 9 – Austin – The Mohawk

More shows will be announced soon.

Drew
Lastly, it is with heavy hearts that we say farewell to our good friend Drew Glackin. Drew passed away peacefully last Saturday due to an overactive thyroid condition that led to fatal heart damage. He was a longtime and devoted friend of ours from our earliest days of touring, and was a musician of the highest regard that had a resounding effect on all those that were lucky enough to know him. His work with The Silos, and the many contributions he made to so many other projects, releases and countless performances will live on with us. His kindness and undying enthusiasm were contagious and have meant a great deal to our band over the years. We send a heartfelt and humble salute in memory of him. We will miss you terribly, Drew.

– Will J.

Carter Albrecht was our friend. He made our lives richer whenever we were lucky enough to be in his presence. He also inspired us with his musical brilliance and his personal integrity. We will miss him dearly. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.

sincerely,
Matt, Mark, Will, and Scott

These photos were taken at the Echo Lab, where Carter worked on commercial and film music with me (Matt). He composed music there, with Will Johnson, Robert Gomez and, most especially, Danny Balis. It was a real joy to see the Danny and Carter tag team, musically and personally. I will miss it very much, and I want to send a personal consolation to Danny, who I know is wounded deeply from this event.

Matt Pence

VIEW SLIDESHOW

Will will be drumming for legendary Texas recluse, Jandek, on Saturday July 21st at Fort Worth’s Rose Marine Theater. The show is scheduled to start at 7:30, and the lineup includes Ralph White on fiddle and banjo, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel, and Baptist General, Ryan Williams on bass guitar. This performance will be filmed by Lee Daniel, who has worked on several Richard Linklater films, the Townes Van Zandt documentary “Be Here To Love Me”, and the Roky Erickson documentary “You’re Gonna Miss Me”. Tickets are available at End Of An Ear in Austin, Good Records in Dallas, and www.ticketalternative.com.

There’s a new interview up, along with four downloadable performances from the Rock Island, IL session this past April. A paired down version of the new South San Gabriel song “Emma Jane” is thrown into the mix. Available at: www.daytrotter.com

Centro-matic’s new EP featuring 8 previously unreleased songs “OPERATION MOTORCIDE” is in stock and available for immediate shipping from Centro-matic’s official on-line store.

BUY NOW

track listing:
1. All This Fresh Mutiny
2. Atlanta
3. Operation Motorcide
4. I A Celebrated Grime
5. Blood On The Floor
6. Daggers Sharp Enough
7. Circuits To Circuses
8. 74 Cuts, 74 Scars

And for you folks who prefer instant digital gratification yoi can get the EP via iTunes:

DOWNLOAD FROM ITUNES

This mail order link is for North America and Japan only. For European orders please visit www.houstonpartyrecords.com

Trek and Shift and Late Night Gurrlz Paying For College in Dirty Ways:
Thanks to any and all that stopped down on this recent midwestern solo run with my friend and fellow Undertow Orchestra chum, David Bazan. We kicked it (slow and) low overhead with a Subaru, an amp and two guitars, gorging ourselves on This American Life and discussions of music, getting the best out of a reasonably priced Zinfandel, and of course, the devil. Or at least the idea of the devil. Anyway, to that dude that was truckin’ the Girls Gone Wild bus through downtown Madison: What graphics, holmes! Thanks for not parking it in front of our show.

There’s recently been a change within a band that is family to us, and I’d like to give humble salute. After five and a half years of making some truly astounding music and memories together, The Drive-By Truckers and Jason Isbell have chosen to go their separate ways. We wish them both our heartfelt best on these new paths they’re taking, and look forward to all the great music that will certainly come from each of them as the days do roll on.

Operation Motorcide EP:
If you haven’t snagged it already via import mail order, iTunes has stated that they will have the Operation Motorcide EP available within the coming weeks. We also plan to have a limited number of import copies on hand for the May 12th Austin show. For now, it is streaming wildly at our myspace page.

Glorious Noise and Daytrotter:
I was recently in Chicago for some traffic, a show, and a hang with John Boston and his crew at Glorious Noise. The link to the session and site:

http://www.gloriousnoise.com/articles/2007/will_johnson_video_documentary.php

Lastly, Bazan and I stopped in for a Daytrotter session in beautiful downtown Rock Island, IL a few weeks back, and we’ll post a link to that once they get it ready. In the meantime, check out their site and their doin’s (http://www.daytrotter.com/). They’re up to some great stuff, and clearly fighting the good fight for independent music.

Thanks as always for reading and listening. Godspeed, brethren and sistren.

-Will J.

WINTER’S SPLINTER
Man, it’s been a post-holiday run of useless and exhausting Bonds-ian contract speculation, ice storms, and spoonfuls of Hydroxy Cut when no one’s lookin’. I got chromium picolinate on the brain, but really, who doesn’t? Either way, hope youns are well. Thanks to all the friends in Spain and Portugal that stopped down for the recent run of solo shows with my gentlemanly Texas friends, Micah P. Hinson and Nick Phelps. We had a real good time rolling along, hanging with our driver, Titi, playing some songs and wolfing bocadillos. We were full blown pottymouthed for twelve days straight.

NEW EP
Houston Party Records will release Centro-matic’s Operation Motorcide EP this spring. Far as I know, it’ll be available via iTunes and some of those other downloadable cyber avenues as well. The tracklisting will be as follows: All This Fresh Mutiny, Atlanta, Operation Motorcide, A Celebrated Grime, Blood On The Floor, Daggers Sharp Enough, Circuits to Circuses, and 74 Cuts 74 Scars. Artwork is again done by our good friend, Dave Ewald. More info will be available here and at www.houstonpartyrecords.com as the days go.

BACK TO THE WOODS
South San Gabriel embarks on its next recording experience in just a few days. We’ll hole up traditional-like in the confines of Argyle, Texas’ Echo Lab until early March. We’ll have all Centro-matic folks, Matt Stoessel, Bryan Vandivier and Robert Gomez onhand to make this stark and dark recording dream real.

SHOWS
No confirmations at the moment due to recording, though I will trek the midwest solo with David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) in April, and Centro-matic will return to Spain and possibly other parts of Europe come late Spring. We’re working on fitting a few Texas shows in there as well, hopefully prior to the baseball Rangers being mathematically eliminated from playoff qualification. All dates will be listed and sent just as soon as we have ’em in hand. Godspeed, thanks for reading and happy tax book preparin’. -Will J.

Centro-matic’s live performance from Austin City Limits Music Festival 2006 is now available for download at iTunes. Enjoy!

[ DOWNLOAD FROM iTUNES ]