Over the past decade, Michael Gira’s output has shifted from the ultra-menacing noise rock of legendary New York band Swans to the more quietly eerie folk songs released both under his own name and under the Angels of Light moniker. Gira, whose early work generally messed up people’s hearing and made listeners vomit, now more closely resembles the just slightly creepy olde tyme traveling salesman or itinerant preacher with a deadly secret who I imagine to live somewhere in the dusty backroads of Nick Cave’s mind at all times.
And now, at last, these two very different sounds shall finally be united.
On July 25, Gira is playing a solo set in Brooklyn with James Jackson Toth (a.k.a. Wooden Wand or Wand), a recent signee to Gira's Young God Records. Songs from both the Angels of Light and Swans catalogues are on the setlist for the night, as are some NEW songs Gira has been both working on and is expected to release as a Swans/Angels of Light hybrid.
Could a joint tour be far behind in support of this album that does not even exist yet? According to the man himself, “maybe.”
07.25.09 – Brooklyn, NY – Issue Project Room
Meanwhile, Toth has his own dates lined up, in support of the recently released Hard Knox (out now on Ecstatic Peace). And don't forget that he has an exclusive track on our TMT Darfur comp, too!
Wand tourdates:
07.22.09 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
07.23.09 - Fairmont, WV - River City Grill
07.24.09 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery @
07.25.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Issue Project Room
07.26.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall Studio
07.28.09 - Northampton, MA - Artifacts of the 20th Century
07.29.09 - Albany, NY - Valentine's
07.30.09 - Portland, ME - Apohadian Theatre
07.31.09 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
08.02.09 - Columbus, OH - Rhumba
08.03.09 - Bloomington, IN - Russian Recording
08.05.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
08.06.09 - Rock Island, IL- Daytrotter (session and show)
08.07.09 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
08.08.09 - Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dee's
08.09.09 - Montreal, QC - Green Room
08.11.09 - Washington, DC - Rock + Roll Hotel &
08.12.09 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle &
08.13.09 - Atlanta, GA - E.A.R.L. &
08.14.09 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
@ Crazy Dreams Band
& Akron Family
[Photo: Anne Helmond]
