We’ve got a story coming up from Fathead about the song order of Thirteen Tales and how it got that way. Would it surprise you that at one time, “Country Leaver” was to open the record? It does, but it doesn’t really. I mean, it’s a great song. It’s one of my favorites. I never ever ask Courtney what his songs are about, because it should be open to your own interpretation (I guess), but I can guess what’s going on here. I feel like I’ve been in this situation way too many times in my life, on a plane armed only with dumb blind faith.
It’s such a dreary winter in Portland that when spring hits, it really hits, babe. To celebrate spring, the official Dandys online store is having a big Spring Sale. From now until May 14th, take 15% off on ALL Dandys recordings, as well as selected tees and miscellaneous items. For all sale items, visit store.dandywarhols.com/spring-sale now. Or later, maybe you’re too busy.
– Round-trip school-bus ride to the coast with The Dandy Warhols, with tour guide Tres Shannon (Voodoo Doughnut, X-Ray Cafe).
– Stop-off in Tillamook for an exclusive Dandys mini-performance.
– Ticket to show at San Dune Pub (21+)
– Discounted rate on a room at the Sunset Surf Motel in Manzanita. (Upon purchase, ticket holder will receive a secret discount code that they will use when booking their room.)
80 Show-Only tickets ($25.00)
Show-only ticket includes:
-Ticket to show at San Dune Pub (21+)
Premium and Show tickets are available NOW at cascadetickets.com while supplies last.
I had a 1966 Cadillac Sedan Deville that I had bought just a little after we released Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. It was huge. One of the longest cars ever made. 19 feet 8 inches if I remember right. It fit eight people easily. It had five ash trays. It was the most perfect car I ever owned.
For the Horse Pills video we decided to pile eight people into the car and basically have a raging party while I drove down I-5 and 405 in a circle around Portland. We turned the camera on and just passed it around the car taking turns filming. Looking back I’m thinking it might have been a bit dangerous but we were young and carefree. The video is a document of one of the best periods of my life. To me it works as an extension to the video for Bohemian Like You that was mainly filmed in my Rock Dorm apartment and my two favourite neighbourhood bars featuring most of my favourite people. It feels like one of those nights when we would all leave Slabtown and pile into my Caddy and head across town. It’s a great low budget DIY video that just works.
One thing that popular movies get wrong about bands recording an album is that the whole band sits in a recording studio in a circle and just plays “the songs” live. Nah, man. That may have been the case in Little Richard’s time, but for well over 40 years, songs – and albums – have been assembled like a puzzle, with the only real guide the original intent of the songwriter (via his/her demo recording) and the intuition of the producers and recording engineers. The only real limitation is time. While this process can result in legendary recordings (like our own Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia), when it comes to playing the songs live, you kinda have to reverse engineer your parts.
Part of Zia’s process in learning her parts for live performance is what you see here. Zia makes these notes for herself during the initial rehearsal sessions whenever the Dandys venture forth on performing new material. She doesn’t need keep the notes on hand very long at all, just a few days. Quite frankly, I don’t know how we still have this sitting around the Odditorium, since these notes were obviously transcribed two studios ago. I think we have not thrown anything away, ever.
Now Courtney usually eschews discussing what songs “mean,” but in this interview conducted in 2000 with Ink 19, the subject of Nietzsche comes up, and…
Courtney, you’ve had this fascination for Nietzsche, and now you’ve written a song named for him. How was that song inspired?
Courtney: That came straight off the bathroom-stall wall of a private college in Portland. Pete and I roadied for a swing band that was playing there. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that. I was like “Okay, I’ve gotta use that. That’s amazing.” It said “I want a god who stays dead, not just plays dead. Even I can play dead.” And that’s the lyrics to the song.
Read the entire interview, which includes some anecdotes on the recording of Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, as well as what Saturday morning cartoon Zia thinks the Dandys are most comparable to, by pointing your interweb browser HERE.
Here’s one we hadn’t seen in thirteen years. The Dandy Warhols perform ‘Get Off’ on French music show Nulle Part Ailleurs, 11 September 2000. According to our Gigography, the Dandys would play the next night at Le Trabendo in Paris, and then fly home, which is a weird little trip, if you ask me.
The Jean-Francois Rivard-directed video for the This Machine track “Rest Your Head” made it’s debut today on Spinner.com. Go over there and watch and ‘Like’ and Tweet that mother out there, if you wouldn’t mind, bubeleh.
We’ve ransacked our closets to find some rare, never-before heard gems from the Thirteen Tales recording sessions. Combining these outtakes, alternate mixes, and early four-track demos with newly remastered Thirteen Tales album tracks, we are proud to announce the release of the expanded Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia 13th Anniversary Edition June 11th on Capitol Records.
The formats include 2CD and digital audio packages via Capitol, with newly remixed Pop-Art packaging by original album designer Steven Birch, plus a big bad limited edition deluxe vinyl box set – with all new-t-shirt packages – available exclusively from dandywarhols.com. (A remastered original Thirteen Tales will also be released by Capitol on 180-gram vinyl with replicated original artwork.)
CD 1: ORIGINAL ALBUM, REMASTERED
1. Godless
2. Mohammed
3. Nietzsche
4. Country Leaver
5. Solid
6. Horse Pills
7. Get Off
8. Sleep
9. Cool Scene
10. Bohemian Like You
11. Shakin’
12. Big Indian
13. The Gospel
CD 2: 13TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION BONUS TRACKS
1. Later The Show
2. Ras Tafar and I
3. Godless (Alt Vox Melody)
4. Cool Scene (Early Mix)
5. Country Leaver (Early Mix)
6. Bohemian Like You (Courtney Home Demo)
7. Mohammed (Courtney Home Demo)
8. Big Indian (Courtney Cassette 4-Track)
9. Big Indian (Courtney Home Demo)
10. Unknown
11. Godless (Courtney Home Demo)
12. Cool Scene (Courtney Home Demo)
13. Dub Song (Courtney Home Demo)
The limited edition deluxe vinyl box set will be available ONLY from dandywarhols.com. More information is sure to follow in the coming weeks. For now, take a gander at these shirts we’ve made up as add-ons to the box set:
