To Our Dearest Friends and Fans,
May 15th, 2005 -- A well-dressed gang of four shuffles into The Whistle Stop Bar in South Park and bursts forth with sheer pop goodness; it’s rumored an angel got its wings on that night (you know -- if you believe in that sorta thing)! ... Sound familiar? It was just over five years ago that the four of us graced the stage for the first time together, playing to a packed house of friends and family at the beloved Whistle Stop, and from that day forward, we never looked back. But! were we to look back now, we would now see three albums, four EPs, one SD Music Award for “Best Pop Album," two other nominations, a pear tree, and ourselves in a slightly less haggard state. Yes, we’re starting to smell like a combination of whiskey and grandpa (which, coincidentally, are one in the same). We loved to write the songs, we loved to play the songs, and we hope (know) you loved to hear the songs. But after many years, our train’s pulling up to its last (whistle) stop for the foreseeable future.
It is with fond memories and the warmest sentiment that we announce our plans to, come August, take a break from it all. An “indefinite hiatus,” if you will. (For the definition of "indefinite hiatus," please see current status of Sleater Kinney). In five years, we have created a ton of music and never taken a break from The Modlins. Even in months when we weren't playing live, we were always writing, practicing, recording, mixing, or all of the above, and it’s time for a rest and, for some of us, a change of scenery. But before we settle down for our long winter's (autumn's) nap -- we're gonna have a few final hurrahs. So, we would like to take this opportunity to announce a few more shows... and a couple more albums. Read on!
Final hurrah #1 – One more road trip!
Come mid-June, we’ll be heading out for one more tour. Four shows, all in California. Our apologies to the other 48 states (Not you, Alaska. Arizona, you're on thin ice. And Alaska, you're on thick ice.) Get it while it’s hot. And speaking of hot, our producer extraordinaire (aka friend) Mark Bertuldo will be bringing along his band “Hot TV” to play all dates with us, so it should be a ton of fun! They're just great, and we’ll be switching off the Headliner/Opener slot with them. Check it!
Wed, June 16th @ Soda Bar (3rd to last SD Modlins show before the break)
Thurs, June 17th @ Pehrspace in LA
Fri, Jun 18th @ Stork Club in Oakland
Sat, Jun 19th @ Old Ironsides in Sacramento.
Final Hurrah #2 – Two more albums! ONE NIGHT ONLY!
That’s right -- just over a year after Where Does It End?, we are releasing two more (yes, 2!!) full length albums on the same friggin’ night! Remember how we released both Here’s To Being Happy and With Friends Like These in 2007? It’s kinda like that, except without 10 months between them. FRIGGIN' BLAMO! Over the fall, winter, and spring, we’ve been hard at work on a large batch of new songs, all driven by one of two basic album concepts. (That's album concepts, not concept albums.) And anyway, they just won't fit on one disc. This insanity is going down at the Tin Can Alehouse on Friday, July 2nd with Secret Apollo and another special guest supporting (2nd to last SD Modlins show). More details to follow in the coming weeks ...
Final Hurrah #3 (How can it be a 3rd final hurrah? That means the first two weren’t really final, were they?) – FAREWELL SHOW!!!
What kind of band would we be without saying goodbye to all those who supported and encouraged us? And what better place to host than the one where it all began? The four of us will take to the Whistle Stop floor one last time to play a set filled with songs from throughout our discography. Come out, hear your favorite Modlin’s jams one more time, and wish us well. It’s sure to be a night of good music, good beers, and a few surprises. And hugs. Yeah, there will probably be a lot of hugs. This all will be occuring Friday August 20th so mark those calendars! more details next month ...
And contrary to what hiatuses usually mean, the four of us are actually closer, more collaborative, and more on the same page than ever before -- and we think that this will be demonstrated by our new records, of which we are enormously proud. We think that they contain some of our best material to date, and we hope you'll agree. But, this flurry of productivity makes the break all the more welcomed, and who knows what the future will hold for us musically. But for now, this chapter of the Modlins is coming to a close.
So finally, and most importantly, we’d sincerely like to express our gratitude for your support over the course of the last five years. Thank you for coming to our shows, buying our records, giving us a roof over our heads when we weren’t near our own, and generally making us feel like what we did in that time was worth a damn. From the bottom of our maudlin hearts, we appreciate you and hope you make it out to some (or all) of these events so that we can show you just how much you mean to us.
Cheers,
Eric, Matt, Stoph and Alex
The Modlins
PS If someone wants to get us on an awesome label, and feature our songs in an awesome movie or commercial, give us a ton of royalties and just generally get us to "the big time," then awesome! The above all goes out the window in that case!
