Houston, TX’s O Pioneers! have played another round of musical musical chairs, this time welcoming Toronto’s Junior Battles as vocalist/guitarist Eric Solomon’s backing band. To celebrate their matrimony, Kiss of Death Records has announced the release of a split 7” between the two bands, recorded during a marathon practice session in Toronto last month. Both bands have offered up a new song, with O Pioneers! contributing “That’s My Blood” to coincide with Junior Battles’ “Passing Out.”

You can head over to O Pioneers!’ MySpace page to check out “That’s My Blood” and to Junior Battles’ MySpace page to hear “Passing Out.”

This pairing marks the eighth line-up change for O Pioneers! in half as many years, as half a dozen rhythm sections have done time alongside band mainstay Eric Solomon. Solomon elaborated:

“In December, we did our big month-long tour. Everything was awesome; all the shows were great, we weren’t struggling on the road, and then we got into a sweet van accident that totaled our van. So after dealing with all of that, getting everyone and everything home safely, I was stuck with myself in Houston and band mates in Indiana, with no economical way to get back and forth between the two. So at this point, I was looking to call it quits on this band. The dudes in Indiana didn’t really want to come down anymore, so I just said, “Fuck it. We’ll do Harvest of Hope, and that’ll be the last show. We’ll be surrounded by friends and family, and we’ll go out on a high note.”

When I started to break the news to said friends and family, people got bummed. Which kinda took me by surprise, because if you know me, I don’t think anyone likes my shitty band. I started talking with Sam from Junior Battles and Bryon from Kiss Of Death, and they basically persuaded me to not stop doing this band, with the promise of hugs and kisses. So I agreed, and kinda became the guy who has a back up band. Pioneers! played a couple of shows around Harvest of Hope with New Bruises filling in, and shit was epic. It was so fun, it made me excited to play music again. A week later, I flew up to Toronto to write and record the O Pioneers!/Junior Battles split 7″, and although I was only in town for 5 days and we only had 10 hours to practice, we wrote three of the best songs this band (with any members) has ever produced. Also, setting up a tour with these fine gentlemen to and from Rad Fest was a no-brainer. So although Pioneers! is really, really different now, I’m really excited for what the future has to offer for once.”

O Pioneers! and Junior Battles will be touring together in May on their way to Wilmington, NC’s Rad Fest. Dates are listed just below the “more” button.
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Michigan’s Small Brown Bike have released the details for “Composite Vol. 2,” the second installment in their 7” series of new material for No Idea Records.

Scheduled for release on March 9th, “Composite Vol. 2″ will feature two new songs tracked this past January in the band’s home recording studio and mixed/mastered by Dave Feeny at Tempermill. The 7” will be limited to 1,100 physical copies, which will include a digital download. Side A will host “Some Optimistic,” with the flip side being home for “Never Walk This Alone.”

The band commented that the two new songs “feel a little slower and colder than Composite Vol. 1’s material. That’s what a winter in Michigan will do to a band.”

SBB recently released “Composite Vol. 1,” a 7” on No Idea Records. The 7” featured two new songs recorded in 2009; “When We Run” and “Hourglass.” The 7” was limited to 1,100 copies. No Idea has 30 left for sale on their mail-order website. The band has about 50 copies they will be selling at their upcoming shows in March. Once they’re gone, you’ll still be able to purchase the songs via iTUNES. You can currently stream “Composite Vol. 1″ here.

The band will be playing shows in Gainesville and Orlando while in Florida performing at the second annual Harvest of Hope Fest (HOH FEST) March 12th-14th in St. Augustine, FL. In May, the band will set out for a string of shows in the Northeast, which they haven’t visited since 2003. All dates and support acts can be seen by clicking “more” below.
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