This is it folks, the official release day of These Things Are Ours. Join us tonight at Vaudeville Mews for the release party show — not only is the admission free (kudos to the Mews for letting themselves be talked into that), but we’ve got musical surprises in store for you during our set, stuff that you might never see/hear again; we’ve got all the fly Why Make Clocks merchandise — CDs, t-shirts, buttons, super coolass posters — with some really sweet package deals tonight only; and there will be cookies! We’ve also got a fine opening lineup to get things rolling: Gabe Cordova, Ely Falls, and American Restless will all be gracing us with their sounds. Music should get started around 10ish, but feel free to get out there a little ahead of time so you don’t miss anything.

Last night we made our way to The Mill in Iowa City for the first of a few shows we’ve got lined up with longtime Why Make Clocks friends American Restless. Nothing too out of the ordinary went down, just an overall good time. Iowa City is a damn fine town, The Mill is a damn fine venue, and as I came to find out, American Restless is a damn fine band. Also Samuel Locke-Ward was there running sound, and besides being a damn fine booking guy, musician and songwriter, he’s one of my all-time favorite people. It was great to get to see him again. Thanks to two fine local Iowa City bands, Final Alibi and Maylane, for letting us borrow some of their crowd for a little while.

Early last week we headed up to Ames Progressive for a show that seemingly no one knew about. Sorry if we didn’t get the word out to you. We probably should have sent posters. But we did get to meet Sundance Kids from Olympia, WA, sort of friends-of-friends of mine, and despite the small crowd they put on one of the more entertaining sets I’ve seen a band perform in quite some time. I think they might still be on tour. I’d recommend seeing them if you get the chance

See you tonight!

Whoa crap you guys, we’re getting excited. The new album is almost here,and we’ve got big shows coming up in Des Moines, Ames, Iowa City, Omaha, and Kansas City. Here’s the run-down of next month’s activities:

The CD Release Party shows will be twofold: the first at Vaudeville Mews on August 14 — no cover, and there will be cookies! Ely Falls, American Restless, and Gabe Cordova will also be performing, because we love them.

The Mews CD release party, being a night show at the Mews, is a 21+ affair, so we’re having a second, all-ages one August 19 at Des Moines Social Club where we will be musical guests on the JG Faux Show at 8:30, followed by our CD Release show featuring American Restless and The Half Hearts.

If you can’t wait that long, we’re also playing at the Ames Progressive Office on August 4, and it’s possible we’ll even have the new CD available by then. Also on that bill are The Sundance Kids (from Olympia, WA), Dot Coma, .e, and Of Course You Realize. And on August 13 we’ll be at The Mill in Iowa City with American Restless and Final Alibi.

In between the CD Release gigs in Des Moines, we return to Omaha — this time at The 49′r — on August 15 with Platte River Rain and The Biatomic Point.

And we’ve scored a spot on the North vs. South Music Festival in Kansas City, taking place at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club. With 40 acts on 2 stages over 3 days (August 20-22), it’s going to be quite the hootenanny. We’ll be going on about 8:50pm Saturday night (the 22nd), but of course I’d suggest checking out as much of the festival as you can manage to get to.

You can always check out the shows page for all this stuff, but I still like to make a post about our upcoming shows once in a while. New shows usually hit the shows page first though.

By the way, I was at Des Moines Social Club last night to do one of my solo gigs, and finally got to see Blutiger Fluss. They’re a spacey ambient electronica band that Dan’s brother Jeff is in, and they were awesome. I do believe they’re playing the Mews on September 2, so check them out too.

The CD/cover art is coming along great, the CD itself is on its way off to the pressing folks, there’s no turning back. These Things Are Ours is hurtling toward you like a meteor. Or something.

The radio interview was on last night. On the other hand, Grant Hart was playing at the Mews, so if you missed our radio appearance for that for that, we forgive you.

Roman Candle bailed on the Omaha show at Barley Street Tavern, unfortunately… unless it was The Roman Candles instead, I’m slightly confused. Whoever it was, they canceled, and we don’t intend to hold it against either of them. But Black Heart Booking went and got Rock Paper Dynamite to take their slot, and they look to be pretty rad. Also on the bill are Moses Prey and Cat Island. From the sounds of things, that’s one hell of a bill.

Check out this awesome flyer the Black Heart folks came up with:

Don’t forget the other cool shows this week:

The Record Bar in Kansas City Thursday night with The Feverbell and Datagun. They have Trivia Clash at 7pm too — I think I’m going to start a side project band called Trivia Clash and try to get it booked there, just to fuck shit up.

And then there’s Knickerbocker’s in Lincoln on Saturday night with Brad Cunningham and The Stewart John Band.

Speaking of a hell of a bill, Ames Progressive had some surprises in store for us last week. Besides Ghostbeard and Anchor In The Valley, currently on tour together, being both pretty damn great, It’s True and Little Black Stereo were added on late-like. LBS had a gig elsewhere in town but turns out it got double-booked and Ames Progressive was kind enough to let them jump on. It was worth it. It was a marathon show, but every act was a winner. All of them apart from It’s True are mid-tour about now, and may be coming near you soon.