Skip to main content

Lucero Return with 1372 Overton Park

By

A good friend said, "It'll probably sound like all the rest, but I'll still love it." I'm happy to report that she's right on both counts.


Listen to "Smoke" off the new album, 1372 Overton Park


Sounds Like: Lying drunk on the bar floor with whiskey in one hand, and the other balled into a fist and raised high in some kind of inebriated salute.


RIYL: Old 97s, Whiskeytown, Drag the River, Drive by Truckers


From the Press Release: Lucero’s sixth studio album and major label debut, 1372 Overton Park, is due October 6 on Universal Republic Records. Produced by Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem) and featuring horn arrangements by legendary Memphis session player Jim Spake (Al Green, John Hiatt, Solomon Burke, Cat Power), the record marks a decided turn toward the Memphis soul sound that has long informed the band’s records from afar. 1372 Overton Park follows the band’s 2006 release, Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers, hailed by Pitchfork as “the best showcase for the band’s taut dynamic yet."


The new album’s name comes from the address of the Memphis loft in which all four band members lived, practiced and even recorded portions of their 2003 release That Much Further West (the history of the space itself is even more colorful—in the `70s, 1372 Overton Park was a karate dojo where local resident Elvis Presley, among others, took lessons). Over recent years band members have gradually moved out leaving lead singer and guitarist Ben Nichols the sole resident of the space until word finally came down that the building would be sold and demolished. Almost as if marking the end of an era not only for the building but for the band as well, this record turns the page and signals a strong move toward the Memphis soul sound that has long served as an influence for the group.


While 1372 Overton Park serves as a love letter to Memphis and its musical heritage, the band has far from abandoned the country/rock/punk influences that they’ve become known for over their previous five records and countless tour dates in front of rabid fans. “I think the fact that we don't claim a genre is very important to what Lucero is,” according to Nichols. “There are too many rules in punk rock. Too many rules in country music. We’re hard headed and . . . god damn if we don’t do things the way we want to do them.”


God damn, indeed. And be sure to catch Lucero as they, yet again, tour the lower 48 (and peek into Canada):


October 9 - Cannery Ballroom - Nashville, TN
October 10 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
October 11 - The Pour House - Charleston, SC
October 13 - Cats Cradle - Carrboro, NC
October 14 - The National - Richmond, VA
October 15 - 9:30 Club - Washington D.C.
October 16 - Starlight Ballroom - Philadelphia, PA
October 17 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
October 18 - The Middle East - Cambridge, MA
October 20 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, ON
October 21 - The Magic Stick - Detroit, MI
October 22 - Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI
October 23 - Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN
October 26 - Aggie Theatre - Ft. Collins, CO
October 27 - Ogden Theater - Denver, CO
October 29 - The Crocodile - Seattle, WA
October 30 - Hawthorne Theatre - Portland, OR
November 1 - Mezzanine - San Francisco, CA
November 4 - The Casbah - San Diego, CA
November 5 - The Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
November 7 - Longhorn Saloon - Ft. Worth, TX
November 8 - Fun Fun Fun Fest - Austin, TX
November 9 - Meridian - Houston, TX
November 10 - Alabama Music Box - Mobile, AL
November 12 - Club Down Under @ Florida State University - Tallahassee, FL
November 13 - Czar - Tampa, FL
November 14 - Lizzie McCormick Stage - Orlando, FL
November 15 - Cafe Eleven - St. Augustine, FL
November 17 - Visulite Theatre - Charlotte, NC
November 18 - 40 Watt - Athens, GA
November 19 - Valarium - Knoxville, TN
November 20 - Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
November 21 - Headliners - Louisville, KY
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrate Halloween with Peter Squires's New Video, "Witch"

By
I don't usually do festive or holiday posts. In fact, the closest I get is writing some kind of seasonal bent against a track, and only then when I've had too much coffee and can't find any relation to a song other than what the weather is doing. I just think holiday-themed posts / articles are lazy. But Halloween is different. Why? Because Halloween, to paraphrase Wesley Willis, whips a horse's ass. So when Ryan from The Musebox put me on to Peter Squires a few days ago, I knew it was going into the annals of Duck & Cover (that's right, I said "annals" on the Internets). From the Press Release: Peter’s direct and honest vocal delivery is reminiscent of contemporaries such as Kimya Dawson and Luke Temple. The album is all heart, laid bare for our aural pleasure. Woe Is Me was recorded in Peter Squires’ Brooklyn bedroom and is available on his website for fans to download at no charge. The first video from the album is “Witch” and it was just rele...
2 comments
Read more

Lucero Video for "Darken My Door"

By
Darken My Door from Lucero on Vimeo . It's good to see that a serious band doesn't have to take itself seriously. Even better when a band's fans don't take them too seriously. "Darken My Door" off of Lucero's latest album, 1372 Overton Park , is a song about losing stuff--girlfriend, money, dignity. In fact, a lot of Lucero's songs are like that, but I'm not getting into that now. I'm talking about the video, which has so much to love. Obviously, I love the fact director Alex Mecum has used a puppet as the protagonist. But it's what the puppet does that makes this video so much fun. Puppet eating chili dogs, puppet drinking whiskey, puppet giving blow jobs . . . Hell, there's even puppet vomit! It's ridiculous, yes, but also tragic. By the end of the video, if you don't feel a little sorry for the scruffy faced whore puppet, then you have no soul. Here's a little more about the videos for Lucero's new album: To promot...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flight of the Conchords Are Tha Muthaflippin'

By
If you go to the official Flight of the Conchords website , you will see that it was about the time they started work on their HBO special that they stopped updating. However, you will also read that they don’t mind too much. In fact, they are very quick to point to other fan sites that are doing a much better job. This self deprecating humour is part of what makes the duo so endearing. For those who have not yet seen the programme, Bret McKenzie ( formerly of Wellington dub band The Black Seeds) plays the naïve Bret, who is a vertible emotional rollercoaster when compared to the dour-faced Jermaine (Jermaine Clement. See him in Eagle vs. Shark ). Together they look for gigs and . . . well that’s pretty much it: they look for gigs. But it’s enough. Just because the show’s premise isn’t robust, doesn’t mean the show falls flat. Hell, remember Seinfeld? That was a show supposedly about ‘nothing,’ and look how well it did. FOTC is at least about one thing, so it’s got that much more ...
3 comments
Read more