Freelance Whales ready for inaugural headlining tour
Freelance Whales , whose music is rooted in the string instruments associated with Appalachia and the electronics of modern composers' labs, embark Saturday (7/24) on their first headlining tour since the release of their debut album, "Weathervanes."
The album is meant to evoke the feeling of being in a house during various seasons of the year. That's the logic behind opening an album with a song called "Generator^First Floor" and naming the penultimate tune "Generator^Second Floor."
"The first floor is about waking up, energizing the house," said Chuck Criss, who plays guitar, banjo and piano in the band whose music has many of the creaky elements of an old two-story home. "The second floor is more of a funeral procession, going back into the ground.
"After the songs were done, the basic idea was trying to figure out the logic of the whole album. It's very intentional -- every song is in a specific place -- but it wasn't planned. Once we got the songs down, on a lot of them we weren't sure what it was that we had done or where they should go. This is a telling a story a little."
Criss and his bandmates Judah Dadone, Kevin Read, Doris Cellar and Jacob Hyman throw the idea of the house and story out the window when performing live.
"We try to not play the record straight through," Criss noted. "The live show is more about a lot of energy. We mostly want people to have a good time -- we're always reacting to a crowd's energy."
24 - Cleveland, OH- Grog Shop
25- Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
27 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
28 - Columbus, OH - The Basement
29 - Indianapolis, IN- The Vogue Theatre
31 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
August 2010
1 - Denver, CO - Slowdown
5- Las Vegas, NV - Beauty Bar
8 - Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
12 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater
13 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop (Outside Lands night show)
15 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
16 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
19 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
20 - Chicago, IL - The Metro
