Spring Tour 2011: Tacos & Monkeys

PEELANDER-Z
www.peelander-z.com

First up, Cristina and I have many, many, many, time sang the praises of this band. Basically it just comes down to this: Peelander-Z is the best live band you’ll ever see. If you don’t believe me, please refer back to the pictures in my review.

Looking over their massive tour schedule for 2011, I can tell you that this band never rests. I’m pleased to see them doing the Warp Tour – I will bet you they will gain quite a following with this crowd!

So what can you expect to see at any given Peelander-Z show ? Human bowling, head-bashing battle, giant squid monster, climbing, body surfing, audience playing their instruments and pots & pans, the list goes on and on.

This year’s tour is pretty exciting because they’re touring with Anamanaguchi, a band that makes music out of hacked NES chips. It should be a pretty amazing lineup… although I would love a superteamup of Guitar Wolf and Peelander-Z, all guitar battle!

03/15 Austin, TX @ Beauty Bar# * 03/16 Austin, TX @ The Elysium Chicken Ranch# * 03/17 Austin, TX @ Threadgills# * 03/19 Austin, TX @ The Grackle#* 03/19 Austin, TX @ Headhunters Chicken Ranch# * 03/22 Hot Springs, AR @ VOV Festival 03/24 Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep 03/25 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre 03/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 03/29 Ketchum, ID @ Whiskey Jacques 03/30 Boise, ID @ The Mardi Gras Event Center 03/31 Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall 04/01 Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven 04/02 Portland, OR @ Someday Lounge 04/05 Stockton, CA @ Plea For Peace Center 04/06 Orangevale, CA @ Boardwalk 04/07 San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge 04/08 Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy 04/09 Temecula, CA @ The Vault 04/10 Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse Saloon 04/12 Tulsa, OK @ The Marquee 04/13 Farmington, MO @ The Vault 04/14 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Rock Club 04/15 St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club 04/16 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall 04/17 Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room 04/18 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern

04/19 Newport, KY @ Southgate House 04/20 Knoxville, TN @ Cider House WUTK Presents 04/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade 04/22 Nashville, TN @ The End 04/23 Tallahassee, FL @ Engine Room 04/24 Mobile, AL @ The Music Box 04/26 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s 04/27 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s 04/28 Austin, TX @ The Parish 04/29 Dallas, TX @ The Loft 04/30 Norman, OK @ Norman Music Festival * 05/07 New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall 05/14 Tampa, FL @ Tropical Heatwave 06/05 Ozark, AR @ Wakarusa Festival * 07/20 Cleveland, OH @ Time Warner Cable+ * 07/21 Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Center+, * 07/22 Burgettstown, PA @ First Niagra Pav+, * 07/23 Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Mem+ * 07/24 Oceanport, NJ @ Monmouth Park+, * 07/26 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post+* 07/27 Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless+, * 07/28 Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless+, * 07/29 Orlando, FL @ Firestone Amphitheatre+, * All dates with Anamanaguchi (except *) + Vans Warped Tour # SXSW

Can I tell you that the last time I saw Arctic Monkeys at First Ave, that Elvis Costello was in the crowd? How did I know? His bodyguard pushed me aside.

Well, the Arctic Monkeys are back and they are returning back to First Ave, and I’m certain it will probably sell out like the last time. If you don’t like crowded hipster shows, best avoid this one, otherwise get your tickets before they sell out.

No news of a new album, but they previewed “Brick By Brick” on their youtube page. Video is unamazing, featuring a spinning record. Yeah, possibly the worst video I’ve ever seen.

Their upcoming US tour dates in full:

Not a full tour, but I wanted to pass along this, if you live in the Minneapolis-area: BNLX are at it again with their fifth EP release, titled EP #5 at the Cause Soundbar on March 11^th (that’s THIS Friday).

This time around, they are getting help from Idle Hands, Satellite Voices, and Byzantine Beatbox. The only band I’ve heard of is Idle Hands, they were my most anticipated band at Bastille Day 2009.

I had to put on EP #5 because, according to the press information, “Garbage Strike (It’s Rubbish)” is a “well-done Smiths homage/parody”. I wouldn’t call Ed Ackerson’s Morrissey impression well-done or even half-baked, but it’s a better effort than certain people I know. If you want to hear it for yourself, the song is available as a free download from susstones.com.

Their only cover on this EP is Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day”, in the typical drum machine fashion like their last cover lover EP #4.

As usual, BNLX makes all their products affordable: $2.91 for a CD (they’re all handcrafted), and $5 T-Shirts. I didn’t see the shirts for sale on their website, but you can pick them up at a merch table at one of their live shows.