World Racketeering Squad Blog

Hello everyone!

We're sorry to announce that The Bell Riots will not be able to perform at the Nerdwave Showcase this coming Friday at Trailer Space. They are taking a little break to regroup. We wish them the best and hope to see them playing out soon! 

But we are thrilled that Austin's greatest rising star on guitar, Andrew Stone, will be joining us on the bill!

We first ran into Andrew at Red-Eyed Fly a few months ago when we were both playing there. 

We were all thrilled by his incredible guitar playing and stage presence. 

We've played with him a couple of times but he's been recording a lot lately, and you can hear what he's been working on at his website:

Listen to the first track, "Angels of Mercy", from Andrew Stone's upcoming album.

Andrew will be joining World Racketeering Squad and The Cocker Spaniels on the bill at Trailer Space Records, this Friday, January 14, at 7pm.

See you there!

Okay, it might be a stretch to say we were "featured", but WRS does appear on The Onion AV Club's year-end roundup of weird, bizarre and amusing band names!

http://www.avclub.com/articles/2010-the-year-in-band-names,49559/3/

Also appearing is my other band, You Might Think We're Sharks, putting me on the list twice! 

How was your holiday?

Mine was pretty good--got married, went to NYC for a week on our honeymoon, saw Prince and Chuck Berry. No big deal. :)

But seriously, there are a lot of changes in the air right now for the Squad, my (Isaac's) wedding among them. We're both excited about them and a little nervous.

Bruce

Reed and I started the Squad in 2007 with just the two of us. We played shows, accompanying ourselves on guitar, and even created some backing tracks for songs that needed a little more rock power than we could provide on our own.

Bruce Chandler joined us as drummer in early 2008 and has been the rock solid core of the rhythm section ever since. His vocals, his versatility on melodica or iPhone organ, and his drums have helped define our sound as we tried to figure out exactly what IS nerdwave?

But Bruce is also a recording engineer and producer--he's contribued to all of WRS' recordings along with many other excellent acts.p>

A couple of months ago Bruce let us know that he's going to be leaving the Squad to focus on this career. He'll be with us through the end of February but after that we will be drummer-less for the first time in two years.

What's next?

Reed and I are both excited for Bruce, but understandably nervous about the next step. As any musician can tell you, a drummer is the rarest of creatures, even in Austin, and a GOOD drummer doubly so. Finding a good drummer that meshes with Reed's and my eccentric personalities AND digs our nerdwave sound could prove to be a hell of a challenge.

We're considering our options--we've got some ideas about playing electronically with programmed drums or backing tracks. We've seen Sean Padilla rock the crowd many times with only an iPod, so we know it's possible. Some of our favorite bands, like Ween and They Might Be Giants, played for years this way.

In our hearts, though, we really want to find a drummer. There's nothing quite like the feel of playing live with real people and we don't want to lose that.

Talking to the Radio

To add to our nervousness about this next phase, I have to admit we're a little disappointed by the reception of our latest EP, Talking to the Radio. Reed and I both feel like our debut album What is Nerdwave? got an excellent response with decent sales, but I think the reaction to the new EP has been a little underwhelming.

I knew that I was going to basically take December off to devote to my wedding, so we did not spend much energy on letting people know that we have some terrific new songs out.

But we're proud of it--it's got great mixing and mastering from Bruce, Mike Propst and Jonny Dub. We love the songs, especially the title track, which is about a dear friend of both Reed's and mine.

I know it seems like we just put out the album, but we write a lot of songs! We want to work fast and get them out into the world.

If you haven't heard the new songs, please give them a listen--you can hear the EP in its entirety on our website. You can buy the EP now or in person at our shows. It would mean a lot to us and go a long way toward helping us make our next recording.

Nerdwave Showcase II

And finally, we have shows!

We're joining up again with our nerdwave brothers and sisters in The Cocker Spaniels and The Bell Riots next Friday, January 14 at Trailer Space Records. It's an early show, running 7 to 10pm so you can check it out after work and still have time to keep the party going later!

And we'll be at Rockin' Tomato with Conquistador, Inc on Saturday, January 29. Come at 8pm for pizza, the show starts at 9!

Friday Jan 14

Nerdwave Showcase II
Trailer Space Records
1401-A Rosewood Ave, Austin TX 78702

• 7pm The Bell Riots
• 8pm World Racketeering Squad
• 9pm The Cocker Spaniels

Saturday Jan 29

Rockin' Tomato
3003 S Lamar, Austin TX 78704

• 8pm pizza!
• 9pm World Racketeering Squad
• 10pm Conquistador Inc

Love, Isaac, Reed and Bruce

Here is a taste of our last show at Rockin' Tomato:

Here's a short video snippet of one of our new songs, "Collecting Dust".

It was filmed by Mike Propst at Rockin' Tomato on Saturday, Nov 13!

Racketeers,

Our newest release is here!

Our brand new 4-song EP, "Talking to the Radio", is available right now to preorder and download!  CDs will be available December 3, but if you preorder now you can download the album digitally right away!

Here is the cover:

Here is the track listing:

She Thinks She's Got It (Going On)
Bill Says
Rock N Roll Love Letter
Talking to the Radio

The album was mixed by Mike Propst of You Might Think We're Sharks and by Bruce Chandler, and it was mastered by Jonny_Dub, our old friend and former bassist.

It also features Bruce Chandler's lead vocals for the first time on a WRS record, in "Rock N Roll Love Letter"!

We think it sounds terrific and we're excited to release it now before the holiday rush!

Pre-order "Talking to the Radio" now and receive the digital edition right away.

Here's an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Big Western Flavor for our friend Andrew Stone's recent show at The Parlor:

There are a lot of blues-inspired songwriters in Austin who aren't worth your time. Some may be further along the path to becoming polished songwriters than Andrew Stone, but none that I know of have the assets he does -- an arrestingly original, signature instrumental approach and a clear passion and confidence when performing. His songs sound sharper now than they do when he recorded them, and surrounded as he is in Austin by so much talented competition he can only stand to improve. Get into this elevator on the ground floor, music fans.

Westy is right on the money about this guy.  He's an incredible guitar player and there's no way he is going to stay underground for long.

Come see him play with WRS at the Rockin' Tomato on November 13!

We had a blast at the Hydrant Cafe in Denton on Saturday!

Our first out of town show went off really well, we met a bunch of cool people and had a great time.  

We opened for Sean Padilla aka Cocker Spaniels, who melted everyone's faces and inspired a massive dance party. Local Denton band Eat Avery's Bones headlined, and they were massive and wild! 

Here are some pics of Reed with some fans after the show:

 

If you've listened to our first album, "What is Nerdwave?" and enjoyed it, would you mind leaving a comment on iTunes or Amazon?