This Thanksgiving, support the hands that harvested the food on your table by purchasing a ticket to the Harvest of Hope Fest in sunny St. Augustine, Florida. The Harvest of Hope Fest is a three-day, multiple stage music festival that raises awareness and provides financial and educational aid to migrant farmworkers all over the country. For a limited time, discounted three-day tickets for the festival are available at the incredibly low introductory price of $29.50.

HOH Fest is the first multi-day concert of 2010 festival season and uniquely different than the copycat lineups you see at other events. Last year over 17,000 attendees rocked out to over one hundred punk, indie, hip-hop, and alternative rock bands. Audiences were treated to Against Me!, Black Kids, Girl Talk, Less Than Jake, The National, GZA, Tokyo Police Club, Propagandhi, Ra Ra Riot, KRS-One, Kool Keith, and many others. This year’s line up, which will be announced in early December, promises over 100+ artists joining together to raise awareness to the plight of migrant farm workers!

Right in time for spring break, the 2010 Harvest of Hope Festival is scheduled for March 12th – 14th. It is conveniently located on the St. Johns County Fairgrounds and offers 90 acres of grassy pasture and trees for limited primitive camping. The festival is an ideal destination for spring breakers, snowbirds, and sun lovers. The Harvest of Hope Fest is located a short distance from historic St. Augustine and the beach and within an easy drive of Daytona, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Gainesville.

Discounted three-day tickets are on sale starting November 23rd for the low price of $29.50 until the festival line-up is announced. Proceeds from the charity fundraiser festival will benefit the Harvest of Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides emergency and educational aid to some of the hardest-working and often overlooked people keeping our agricultural economy moving - migrant farmworkers. Harvest of Hope distributes funds to migrant farmworkers and their families to help pay for food, medical services, clothing, rent, educational scholarships, and more. It is an honor to have such a large group of musicians donating their time and performances to the cause.

Bands interested in performing at the 2010 Harvest of Hope Fest are requested to make a tax-deductible donation of $5 (USD) to the Harvest of Hope Foundation. The completion of a successful donation will offer you access to fill-out our 2010 Band Registration Application and submit their interest to play the 2010 HOH FEST! You can make a donation and apply on the festival’s website.

Double Donut Productions is currently working on a documentary on Harvest of Hope Foundation and the first annual Harvest of Hope Fest that took place last year. You can check out a teaser trailer for the documentary as well as live performances from The Gaslight Anthem, Ra Ra Riot, and Girl Talk on the Harvest of Hope Fest MySpace page.

You can check out a plethora of performances caught by fans on this YouTube link.

For more information on the Harvest of Hope Festival, including ticket information, camping info and line-up, please visit the official Harvest of Hope Fest website.

Joey Cape (Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes) will once again be taking it on the road to support his solo album “Bridge,” released late last year by Suburban Home Records. This time, travels take Joey to far away lands. He will be starting a South American tour today. Dates for the tour can be seen by clicking “more” below.

Cape recently hopped on a leg of The Revival Tour just after his intimate set at THE FEST 8 this past Halloween weekend in Gainesville, FL. You can check out a video of him performing “Making Friends” at The Fest 8 here.

You can also check out a recent video of Joey performing his song “Minus” with good friend and tour buddy Brian Wahlstrom at Maxell’s in Hoboken, NJ here.

(more…)

Chicago’s CoCoComa recently performed a show in Chicago and a date in Milwaukee for Stumblurfest. You can check out live footage from both sets here.

The band continues to play select regional shows to support their recent album “Things Are Not All Right,” released by Memphis’s Goner Records. They also are currently planning a full European tour in Jan/Feb 2010. Dates for that tour will be announced soon.

CoCoComa regional shows:
12/4 - Detroit, MI @ PJ’s Lager House
12/12 - Chicago, IL @ Bloodline Speakeasy

CoCoComa recently performed “It Won’t Be Long” on the notoriously hip children’s dance show Chic-A-Go-Go. The taping was for the show’s Halloween Party special that aired October 27th and 28th on local Chicago channel 19. You can check out the performance here.

The A.V. Club Chicago also recently ran an interview with Bill and Lisa Roe, the husband and wife team behind CoCoComa and founders of a new label, Trouble In Mind, which puts out 7-inch singles from garage-rock bands like White Wires, Fresh & Onlys, and Sonic Chicken 4. The A.V. Club sat down with Bill and Lisa to talk about their new album, starting a record label, and the birth of their now 6-month-old child, Ronnie Roe, who appears in the video dressed like a hot dog.

Indierockreviews.com continues to run an exclusive stream of “Things Are Not All Right.” You can check out the album here.

The album has already garnered considerable praise from critics, some of whom have said:

“Forget blitzkriegs, CoCoComa’s Things Are Not All Right is the real all-out assault […]This is garage rock on an entirely new and bountiful level. Blink and you might miss the drunken genius of Cococoma, but take them in and you’ll probably be left blinking in surprise for days anyway.” – Skope

“Things Are Not All Right bursts with simple, well-crafted tunes that walk a fine edge between sweet and sour; garage and glam; gritty and glossy. They’re delivered with an urgency and directness that practically dares other bands to come up with something so impossibly simple and dead on.” – Dusted

“Simply put: this record is at once both a riot and thoughtful. Now, fun is not something typically associated with ‘mature’ songwriting. But CoCoComa has managed to record these ten tracks with a youthfulness that gives life to their adult writing perspective. They keep the formula simple and the hooks catchy.” - Buddyhead

The hardest-working band in Gainesville, Spanish Gamble, have leaked another new song from their upcoming debut album “It’s All Coming Down,” to be released in early 2010 courtesy of Paper + Plastick. The song is titled “Four Letter Word” and can be heard over on the band’s MySpace page along with the previously leaked title track, “It’s All Coming Down.”

The band recently rocked a raging hometown house show, at which a good friend was able to capture some surprisingly high-quality video footage of the band performing “Four Letter Word.” That video can be viewed right over here.

Spanish Gamble originally formed under the moniker Dirty Money in 2007 after founding members Ryan and Colin left their native New Mexico for the fabled mecca of North-central Florida. Cutting their teeth playing around Gainesville and eventually growing restless at home, they embarked on several self-booked tours, taking them across the US several times in the past two years and building their reputation as one of the most roadworthy young bands in today’s punk scene. In late 2008, the three-piece added a fourth member and began writing for a full-length. The band and songs had evolved and taken on a new life to a point where a name change seemed necessary. They decided on Spanish Gamble as their new chosen name and drew a line between their past and the future. Their influences are eclectic, yet their sound is cohesive. They spent a considerable amount of time demoing the songs for It’s All Coming Down with Roger Lima (Less Than Jake/Rehasher) before venturing across the desert to Oakland, CA, where they recorded the final versions for the album with Ryan Massey (American Steel) at his Sharkbite Studios.

Prior to the album’s release, the band will be embarking on a three-week crusade up and down the East Coast with longtime friends Reverse The Curse, dates for which can be seen by clicking “more” below or visiting our tours page.

(more…)

This week marks the release date of the highly anticipated album from Virginia’s Worn In Red, entitled “In The Offing.” To celebrate their new addition to the family, the band’s new home, No Idea Records, has launched a media player where you can stream “In The Offing” in its entirety.

You can check out the stream on the front page of the No Idea Records website.

Worn In Red hail from Charlottesville/Richmond, VA and have garnered comparisons to Planes Mistaken for Stars, Four Hundred Years, Frodus, Glass and Ashes, and Sleepytime Trio.

The band recently undertook a short East Coast tour down to THE FEST 8. Two videos of their performance at THE FEST 8 have popped up. You can check out the video for “When People Have Something To Say,” captured by Thinker Thought Records, here. You can check out the video for “As Best We Can” courtesy of Alternative Press here.

The band will also be doing a string of album release shows in Virginia, with plans for a six-week tour of the entire US from late January through mid-March 2010, culminating at the second annual Harvest of Hope Festival in St. Augustine, FL. Dates for that tour will be announced shortly.

Florida’s alt-country darlings, Whiskey & Co., have leaked a new song from their upcoming and third album entitled “Rust Colors,” to be released sometime in early 2010 via No Idea Records. The song is entitled “Long Lonely Nights,” and you can check it out on the band’s MySpace page.

The band recorded this past summer in their hometown of Gainesville, FL at Crescendo Sound Studios (Hot Water Music, Against Me!, Leatherface, No Friends).

Whiskey & Co. previously released two albums for No Idea Records; Leaving the Nightlife and S/T, as well as a split 7” last year with good buddies Ninja Gun.

O Pioneers! are heading out for a month on the road, where they’ll tackle the entire United States, spend a couple days in Canada, and share the stage with bands like Against Me!, Lemuria, and Roll The Tanks. You can click on over to the tour page to check out the dates.

Off With Their Heads have announced plans to continue their tireless conquest of the road in support of their critically acclaimed album “From the Bottom,” released last year on No Idea Records, which found its way onto many writers top lists of 2008!

On this run, the band will be sharing the stage with the legendary ALL after tearing up the US and Canada with thrash lords Municipal Waste.

The band recently played at THE FEST 8 in Gainesville, FL, Riot Fest in Chicago, IL, and FUN FUN FUN FEST in Austin, TX. You can check out some fan footage from their performance at THE FEST 8 here: “Until the Day I Die”, “Keep Falling Down”, and “Your Child is Dead.”

You can click “more” below for the dates!

(more…)

Following on the heels of their recent tour with labelmates A Wilhelm Scream and Canada’s Living With Lions, The Riot Before will be heading into the studio with legendary producer J Robbins (Against Me!, Jawbreaker, The Promise Ring) to record the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed “Fists Buried In Pockets.”

At a smoke-filled press conference this morning, bassist Cory Manning admitted, “I’m still a little in shock that we are actually doing the record with J. When we first started talking about it, we thought of it more like a dream scenario than a ‘this could happen’ scenario. Now it’s happening. Crazy.”

He also added, “We are shooting for March of next year release date.”

Tracking will begin this Friday, November 20th, and continue for the following two weeks at Robbins’ renowned Magpie Cage in Washington, DC. Tentatively titled Rebellion, the album will be the band’s first record for their new home, Paper + Plastick. Earlier this year, Paper + Plastick released a digital-only acoustic version of the band’s previous album, appropriately named Fists… Out Of Sockets, which is still available as a free download here.

The band is currently planning extensive touring to coincide with the album’s release.

Michigan’s Small Brown Bike have released two brand new songs via a 7” on No Idea Records. The 7” is entitled “Composite, Vol. 1,” and is the first in a 7” series to be released by No Idea as the band writes and records new material. The two songs featured on the record are “When We Run” and “Hourglass.” The 7” is limited to 1,100 copies, all of which include a digital download code, and can be purchased from the No Idea Records mailorder and directly from the band.

You can check out live video of both new songs from their recent performance at THE FEST 8 in Gainesville, FL via Alternative Press and you can stream both new songs on the main page of the on No Idea Records site.

The second installment of the 7” series will be released when the band returns to Florida in the spring for their performance at the second annual Harvest of Hope Fest, March 12-14, 2009 in St. Johns County, FL.

Small Brown Bike officially announced last month that the band was back together with their original line-up and were working on new material. The band posted the following statement about reforming and writing:

“Hi friends. First off, thanks for the good words over the last month. It’s awesome to know that there are still people out there listening. You all rule. We just wanted to add some more details about what’s happening. To make a long story short, the original lineup (Mike, Ben, Travis, Dan) is back together and working on new music. Over the last few months we’ve been writing a ton of new stuff and currently have about ten new songs finished plus a bunch more in various stages. We’re all really excited about how it’s going. So far, so good! The bottom line for us is to have fun, write music, and play a few shows here and there. Just like we did when we started the band. Keep it simple. So that’s what’s happening. Thanks again for listening. See you at the shows!”

The band has a few special shows planned for the rest of the year, with more appearances planned for 2010. No official tours are in the works at this time.

Small Brown Bike shows:
12/4 - Chicago, IL @ The Beat Kitchen (Early all ages show)
12/4 - Chicago, IL @ The Beat Kitchen (Late adult show - SOLD OUT)
12/5 - Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar

Small Brown Bike had releases on Second Nature Records, Smallman Records, and were part of the No Idea Records family, releasing several groundbreaking albums before leaving the label to release their final swan song on Lookout! Records, ultimately breaking up in 2004. The band played a few reunion shows in September 2007 to benefit a dear friend of the band who was battling leukemia, including a final reunion show at THE FEST 6.

You can check out the video and download MP3s of their entire set from THE FEST 6 at National Underground.