To commemorate the tour, Sleeping Giant Glossolalia released our Split 7″ with The Woolen Men! It has our new song “Headhunting” b/w “Excess.” Woolen Men’s side has “Deaf Americans” and cover of “Frozen Car” by The Terminals.

SGG is also carrying our Flexi-Book EP, which is officially out today (so say SPIN and CMJ). If you just want the download code, rather than 10 pages of original art and a book you can play on your turntable, the MP3s are available from digital spots like Spotify, Amazon, eMusic, iTunes, Bandcamp and our fave the FMA.

The Flexi-Book is also available at these fine shops that we visited during our tour (after the jump):

CHICAGO
Permanent Records

BLOOMINGTON, IN
Landlocked
TD’s

NASHVILLE
Fond Object
Grimey’s
Groove

MEMPHIS
Goner Records

AUSTIN
Waterloo
End of an Ear
Trailer Space

NEW ORLEANS
Domino Sound

ATHENS
Wuxtry

CARRBORO NC
All Day Records

DURHAM NC
Bull City Records

ARLINGTON VA
CD Cellar

WASHINGTON DC
Som Records

NYC
Cake Shop

…and more soon!

>> ORDER HERE <<

300 Flexi-Books arrived from Pirates Press this week. We hand-tested, stenciled, stickered, bagged and shipped out the first batch of pre-orders…

We’re bringing the rest on our tour with The Woolen Men, May 19-June 6th.

May 19 (sun) NYC - Brooklyn @ Shea Stadium w/ Hippy & Shark? **FLEXI-BOOKs ARE HERE**
May 20 (mon) NJ – Woolen Men tape @ WFMU followed by a New Brunswick house show
May 21 (tues) Boston MA @ O’Brien’s w/ Bent Shapes, Half Sour
May 22 (wed) Philadelphia PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Literature, Pet Milk
May 23 (thurs) Cleveland OH @ Now That’s Class w/ Chomp
May 24 (fri) Chicago  IL @ Permanent Records (6pm) + late show at Coles
May 25 (sat) Bloomington IN @ The Ream w/ Thee Open Sex
May 26 (sun) Nashville  TN @ The End w/ Deluxin & R Stevie Moore
May 27 (mon) Memphis TN @ The Lamplighter
May 28 (tues) Little Rock AR @ Professor Bowl / 8bit Tap Room
May 29 (wed) Austin TX @ Beerland  w/ Simple Circuit, Zoltars, Shinta
May 30 (thur) New Orleans LA @ AllWays Lounge w/ SS Boombox
May 31 (fri) Athens GA @ Farm 255 w/ Eureka CA, Dead Dog (tour kickoff), Little Gold
June 1 (sat) Atlanta GA @ 529 w/ This House, Starfighter
June 2 (sun) Charlotte NC @ Yauhaus (BBQ) + Late Show TBA
June 3 (mon) Durham NC @ Fellowship Hall w/ Fruit, Stems (fb)
June 4 (tue) Washington DC @ CD Cellar w/ Foul Swoops
June 5 (wed) Baltimore @ Ottobar Upstairs w/ Crimson Wave, Expert Alterations
June 6 (thur) - NYC @ Cake Shop w/ Darlings + Future Punx ** Lame Drivers / Woolen Men SGG split 7″ Release Party **
June 7 (fri) – Brooklyn @ Silent Barn (Woolen Men only)

All of these shows are with The Woolen Men, our PDX tour buds and a fellow 3-piece. Their new tour tape, Dog Years LP, and debut for Woodsist all rule. These guys just keep getting better and we’re not only looking forward to getting in the van with ‘em, but we’re also very excited about our split 7″ on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia…more on that soon!

:: MUSIC VIDEO ::

A group of imaginative 2nd-6th graders wrote, directed and starred in this video for “Frozen Egg,” one of the songs off the Flexi-Book EP. It was a project of the Inventgenuity after-school program in Brooklyn, where Jeff is a teacher. They have amazing workshops where young people solder circuits for DIY light and sound gadgets, create their own video games & custom controllers, learn carpentry with power tools, stop-motion animation, physical computing with Arduino, printmaking, building boogie boards, praxinoscopes, puppets, alarm clocks and more…kids these days are pretty amazing! The storyline that Cougar, Max, Amelia, Gigi, Warren and Isabel came up with includes time travel, zombies, procreation, and apocalypse. East Village Radio picked it up and we wanted to post it here, too!

May 19 (sun) NYC – Brooklyn @ Shea Stadium w/ Hippy & Shark? **FLEXI-BOOKs ARE HERE**
May 20 (mon) NJ – Woolen Men tape @ WFMU followed by a New Brunswick house show
May 21 (tues) Boston MA @ O’Brien’s w/ Bent Shapes, Half Sour
May 22 (wed) Philadelphia PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Literature, Pet Milk
May 23 (thurs) Cleveland OH @ Now That’s Class w/ Chomp
May 24 (fri) Chicago  IL @ Permanent Records (6pm)
May 25 (sat) Bloomington IN @ The Ream w/ Thee Open Sex
May 26 (sun) Nashville  TN @ The End w/ Deluxin & R Stevie Moore
May 27 (mon) Memphis TN @ The Lamplighter
May 28 (tues) Little Rock AR @ Professor Bowl / 8bit Tap Room
May 29 (wed) Austin TX @ Beerland  w/ Simple Circuit, Zoltars, Shinta
May 30 (thur) New Orleans LA @ AllWays Lounge w/ SS Boombox
May 31 (fri) Athens GA @ Farm 255 w/ Eureka CA, Dead Dog (tour kickoff), Little Gold
June 1 (sat) Atlanta GA @ 529 w/ This House, Starfighter
June 2 (sun) Charlotte NC @ Yauhaus (BBQ) + Late Show TBA
June 3 (mon) Durham NC @ Fellowship Hall w/ Fruit, Stems (fb)
June 4 (tue) Washington DC @ TBA w/ The Best Band In Town
June 5 (wed) Baltimore @ Ottobar Upstairs w/ Crimson Wave, Expert Alterations
June 6 (thur) – NYC @ Cake Shop w/ Darlings + Future Punx ** Lame Drivers / Woolen Men SGG split 7″ Release Party **
June 7 (fri) – Brooklyn @ Silent Barn (Woolen Men only)

If there’s a spot you think you can help us out with a place to play/stay or band to play with, we’d be so psyched. But pretty much all of the TBA’s are coming together, just not confirmed. We’ve never planned something this far in advance before and it definitely helps! Hope to see you soon.

Artwork: “Youth” by Umman Turkoglu
Recorded by Matt Tong at Exploded Drawing

This is a track from our forthcoming Flexi-Disc EP. Originally we’d planned five flexi postcards, but our Kickstarter exceeded the goal so we’re realizing our dream of a Flexi-Book that you can play on your turntable like this:

The Flexi-Book format is inspired by a National Geographic guide to bird sounds, and it sounds fantastic—we’ve had the Group Flex from Castle Face on heavy rotation. We’ve been working on extra songs, more handmade artwork, and enough copies to distribute around the world. We’re at the mastering stage and they should be ready within the next month.

Super fans will find a demo version of “Frozen Egg” on the Eureka California tape amidst our digital archive of every recording we have ever made, along with lots of other song ideas that we are developing thanks to your support. We’ve been making the most of our budget by doing some studio recordings with Matt Tong, JZ Barrell, and Sammy Bananas, along with home recording at Rad Town. We have 17 new songs written for our debut LP, a bunch of sessions coming up in January, and we are psyched for what’s to come.

While preparing the Flexi EP and Debut LP, we’re also got our hands full with additional Kickstarter rewards like the Covers EP and the Digital Archive of every recording we have ever made (for Super LD Fans). Meanwhile, there have been some outside distractions beyond the day-to-day: Jason was shipped off to Australia for a Home Blitz tour, he and Jeff have been doing multimedia work for Piehole productions (expect the Mann Ist Mann studio album soon—music by J. Sigal, lyrics by B. Brecht), Joe got engaged (during band practice no less!), and a few of the recording dates Matt Tong had set aside for us between Bloc Party tours were derailed by Hurricane Sandy. We don’t want to compromise the quality of the releases that our backers have made possible, so we hope you’ll appreciate that we’re not going to rush things.

You can order a Lame Drivers Flexi Disc EP here, and they should be ready in early January. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy “Frozen Egg” and feel free to share the mp3!

// WEDNESDAY 10/17 @ Big Snow Buffalo Lodge Brooklyn \\

Regal Degal (Los Angeles)
regaldegal.blogspot.com

So Cow (Galway, Ireland)
facebook.com/socowmusic

Squarehead (Dublin, Ireland)
squarehead.bandcamp.com

Ian Drennan (Big Troubles)
underwaterpeoples.com new-2xlp-the-wonderful-world

…with Group Tightener’s Rezound on the sound system.

// FRIDAY 8/19 @ Ding Dong Lounge NYC \\

Sros Lords (Detroit)
sroslords.tumblr.com

Avant Duel (Von LMO + Otto von Ruggins)
avantduel.com

Regal Degal (Los Angeles)
regaldegal.blogspot.com

Our Flexi-Disc EP + Debut 12″ LP is Coming Soon—thanks to you!

It has never been a more exciting time to be a Lame Driver. We are incredibly grateful, humbled, overwhelmed and above all inspired by your support. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Read more @ Kickstarter update | Stay tuned via email

In the meantime, we’re going through our tapes and harddrives to compile digital copies of every recording we’ve ever made (for the Super Fans). There’s a lot that has never seen the light of day. But there’s also a lot of stuff that is already up for free download at our discography. If you haven’t already found ‘em, the Captain Amazing EP, the Let Them Eat Tape, and the Demoverse Cassette are all free to share. Same goes for the Cruisin’ Classics sampler, which is like a lame drivers crash course with a few songs from each of those releases plus a bunch from other sources.

Of course we’re mostly psyched about the new stuff right now. Stay tuned as we realize our lame vision, made possible by you!

We could not document everything. There are many moments that will only exist in our minds and in the stories we’ll have to tell you later. But thanks to my obsession with instagram (@therewasaguy), Alex’s occasional flickr-ing, and our super photographer friends like M. Elizabeth Hershey (–> live pics from Bloomington below), there are a bunch of photos. We’re posting them here as a time capsule to aid our own memories, and perhaps as entertainment for you. There is some partial nudity. We’ve got the West Coast (Aug 17-24) photos first, then East Coast (Jul 18-29), each in roughly chronological order…

Click an image to view them all in a slide show!

Jeff @ Clear Lake, Lucerne, California // CLICK TO VIEW SLIDESHOW

Dragonfly @ Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento

Setting up for house show / garden party @ Cat’s house (Dog Camp), SF

Michael Stasis at Dog Camp, SF 9/17

Princess Donna

Music Concourse outside the DeYoung in Golden Gate Park, SF // on our way to Fresno…

Alex: “I am a Tree”

San Francisco: The Next Generation

Ruth Asawa at the DeYoung Museum, SF

Cornelia Parker, “Anti-Mass,” from the remains of a church burnt by arsonists, at the DeYoung Museum, SF

Pre-show crowd @ Game Time Pizza Palace, Fresno CA 9/18

Woolen Men @ Game Time Pizza, Fresno CA 9/18

Game Time Pizza, Fresno CA

KRAFT promotional vehicle and Raiders bus trip @ Game Time

Couches we slept on at C.A.F.E. Infoshop, Fresno CA

We moved that thing to the other side of the room to keep the tweakers from peaking in on us sleeping

Alex with Bitter Melon (leftover from Food Not Bombs) @ C.A.F.E. Infoshop / we didn’t read the wall til later

Cabrillo Beach, San Pedro

Woolen Men @ Harold’s Place, San Pedro 8/19

dublab, Los Angeles 8/20

Frosty @ DUBLAB

Flexi-Van

driving by Zen Wellness CA

My Name is Joe also played this show, and there was an alternate flyer by Tank Attack that we can’t find

Lawton, Merchant of Reality SF

KFJC, Los Altos Hills 8/21

KFJC, Los Altos Hills 8/21

Leslie was my babysitter growing up in SF and a KFJC DJ

KFJC

KFJC 7″ bin

KDVS Presents w/ Apache Dropout & Charles Albright! This is the show that convinced us to do the tour!

Luigi’s FunGarden & Slice, Sacramento 8/21 – thanks Lauren for saving my cheeseless pizza!

Jason @ Fungarden want pizza

We stayed with Larry in Sacramento. His pad’s stocked with records, books, found video and awesomeness

Larry’s, Sacramento. Check out his radio show Tripping with the Flower Vato on KDVS

Larry’s Pad

Lucerne, the Switzerland of America, Clear Lake California

Dead Fish @ Clear Lake, Lucerne

Jeff going wild on this break in our drive from Sacramento to Eureka

The Wild Lungs / Lame Drivers / Scotch Wiggly @ Little Red Lion, Eureka CA (Fogliner cancelled, but this was fun anyway)

Scotch Wiggly @ Lil Red Lion, Eureka CA 8/22

Pacific Outfitters of Eureka

Why would anybody want to watch our band play when there are millions of songs available now on the digital jukebox?

The Wild Lungs @ Little Red Lion, Eureka CA

Ellis traded a Wild Lungs shirt for a Lame shirt

Eureka CA

Spare Tire, Eureka CA

lazerdiscs @ Record Room, Portland OR 8/23

Raf @ Spielman Coffee Roasters, home of PDX’s best bagels

Lame Van, PDX

G. Green @ Slabtown, PDX 8/24

Tour’s over, and Joe found a shortcut

EAST COAST

Captain Amazing EP reissue at Armageddon, Providence RI

Woolen Men at Video Underground, Jamaica Plain 7/19

Primanti Bros, Pittsburgh

hello from Ohio

shootin pool at The Summit, Columbus OH 7/21

We got an engagement gift for our Detroit hosts Al & Helene and we also got some BK (and you know what else)

Eastern Market, Detroit

the next photos –> video via Al of System D Detroit:

BBOX Radio + WFMU “Talk’s Cheap!”

Power Wheels + Confetti Gun + JBL’s + @OmniCorp

Grillin’ w/ Sros Lords and Growwing Pains @ OmniCorp Detroit

RIP Fendler @ Omni Corp Detroit (OCD) 7/22/2012

Alex of Woolen Men’s knockoff bass got knocked out at omni corp

tighten the sparring glove

Crunk Beach, Belle Isle, Detroit

Hitchhiker

Burlington, Chicago

We played with The Funs @ The Burlington, July 23rd 2012

Creepin’ on the floor, Chicago

Alex slept in this Chicago yard until the 5am thunderstorm.

Pork Tenderloin & Grammatical Error @ the Mug ‘n’ Bun, IN

Root Beer @ Mug-n-Bun

Photos from Bear’s Place, Bloomington IN, by M. Elizabeth Hershey:

Lame Drivers @ Bear’s Place, Bloomington IN 7/24 photo by Elizabeth Hershey

Lame Drivers @ Bear’s Place, Bloomington IN 7/24 photo by Elizabeth Hershey

Woolen Men @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Woolen Men @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Woolen Men @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Woolen Men @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Woolen Men @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Woolen Men @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Bloody Mess @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Bloody Mess @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Bloody Mess @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

Bloody Mess @ Bear’s Place, 7/24

***

Bloody Mess (instagram)

Somebody at Bear’s Place doesn’t like Jazz

West Boggs Lake, IN

Bolton’s, Nashville TN

Jeff Would

Dino’s, Nashville

Square People @ Dino’s, Nashville 7/24

McKay Used Books, CDs, Movies & More, Nashville TN

Loot from McKay, props to Stu (@dudeassface)

Aunt Eva’s, Nashville

Jason and Great Aunt Eva, 96 and still sharp, at Wendell’s the Nashville liquor store / diner

Alex at the other side of Wendell’s

Bill Spoon’s BBQ, Charlotte NC: sweet tea, hush puppies, fried pickles, brunswick stew, slaw, pulled pork sandwich, vinegar, banana pudding (not pictured)

Firey sky post-thunderstorm outside The Layabout in Durham

Durham at Dusk

Unfortunately this show got shut down midway thru

It was fun while it lasted…

We played New Brunswick with Home Blitz and Appendix

We got nothing on naked people…they’re magic!

Rockaway Beach

 Thank you, hope to see you next time!

Here’s “Working Song,” prod by Sammy Bananas from the 2010 Blackburn Recordings compilation.

It’s a free download also featuring Big Troubles, Cloud Nothings, Sore Eros, Metal Rouge, Cursillistas, many more great bands and tracks, we were psyched to be part of this comp!!

Down-them-all here.

Working Song has been featured on a couple mixes at the Free Music Archive, including this one called “Go To Work You Jerk!” compiled by the awesome Katya-Oddio (Oddio Overplay).

So when we heard that one of our favorite bands, Austin TX’s Dikes of Holland, had their Brooklyn and Philly shows both fall thru, we had to do something. Together we managed to pull off this show at Muchmore’s, a new spot in Williamsburg, with Cool Serbia, Freecare, and Chicago’s Paranoid Shart (photos in a gallery below, video after the jump). Many thanks to all of the bands for playing and to Adam at Muchmore’s for being such a rad host.

Unfortunately I had to leave early to broadcast the Dikes of Holland session I’d taped on Sunday for Talk’s Cheap (when I found out about their shows being cancelled). Click here for the WFMU archive with mp3s + video comin’ soon. It was a fun radio show with special guest Sleeping Giant Mike selecting some rad cassettes out of the new bin.

Click any of the photos below to view a gallery of 27 photos by Dylan Johnson

photos by Dylan Johnson — click an image to view the full gallery

If you missed us last night cuz of the short notice and early opening set, we have more local shows coming up at Death By Audio on Monday and Cake Shop on Tuesday with great bands from NY (Hippy, Island Twins), Chicago (The Funs, Coffin Ships), and Australia (Deep Heat). We’ll also play first at these shows, because we are Lame.

Video of Paranoid Shart live from Nowheresville earlier this month:

But between the band’s sets, the jukebox stared out silent. The bartender didn’t have an iPod and coins stayed firmly in pockets, uninterested in those Millions of Songs (other than one curious spin of the new No Doubt song).

Instead, those quarters got together and fueled Lame Drivers’ quest to record our own songs when people put ‘em towards the west coast edition of Cruisin’ Classics. Some lucky audience members also picked up the last copies of our split tape with (here it comes…) the band Eureka California, who live thousands of miles away in Athens, GA, but proudly take their name from the very town we were in! Dirty Pillows Recs might have a few more copies of the split.

We’re spreading the word here in parts of the country where nobody had ever heard of Lame Drivers. We’ve played with great bands every step of the way, and there have been a few folks in the audience each night telling us to come back so that they can set up something at their house, club, pizza palace, or wherever it is the Lame Kids of the Future are sure to be.

We’re laying the groundwork for the future of the band right now. The tour is paving a path, and your kickstarter backing puts us well on our way towards recording a few of our own Millions of Songs.