ANNABEL

Hey everyone, lyrics are up! Click on the album on the right side of the page, then each song in the track listing will have a link to the lyrics! Thanks to @chilsen for specifically asking for them. Now read up and sing along at home or at shows!

Back from tour everyone and I must say overall it was a smashing success! We played so many great shows with great bands, got to hang out with so many great people, and certainly met our fair share of awesome new people as well.

The tour spanned 8 days with 7 shows. We ended up going to the Street Smart Cyclist reunion show in Bethlehem, PA to start things off, which ruled. Of course, everywhere we decided to go ended up with a blizzard warning, so we were not without our obstacles to overcome. Nevertheless, all of the shows were well attended and went off without a hitch.

There are several people and bands who deserve to be thanked such as the likes of Brian of Wess Meets West, Fugue„ Martin Luther King, Jon’s brother-in-law the Hockey player, Ryan in Allston, Keith’s sister, Harris and all of Sundials, Chason, Monument, Hightide Hotel, Mark Sepe and In The Wake Of Giants.

We’d like to give a SUPER thanks though to John Galm and Snowing and Karl Kuehn of SWTHRT. Both helped us tremendously and we can’t thank them enough! Everyone knows and loves Snowing, but you should definitely check out SWTHRT, a new band from members of Museum Mouth. They kinda sound like New Order. Karl is the coolest/nicest dude of all time, for real. New Years eve in Wilmington was EPIC.

Touring with Empire! Empire! was certainly awesome as well, and it was great to hang out with Jon and Keith, (not to mention be in their band). These end of tour rants seem to be cliche these days, but they are a necessary way of putting things in their place. Thanks to everyone who came to a show, showed us generosity, or bought something. We hope to get back out soon. We might be laying low on shows in the near future, but I can assure you it’s not because of laziness.

As a closing note, reviews are starting to come in for the 7”. You can read the first one here: http://is.gd/ka09Q

love,
- ben

A sincere thanks to everyone who came to the release show on Thursday night! It was a lot of fun and great to play with some of our friends. Reptilian, Into It Over It, Two Hand Fools and For Want Of killed it.

We’re also happy to hear from everyone who is getting their records in the mail. Guess this thing is really underway. If you haven’t seen them yet, they look pretty cool if I must say so myself. The polybag has the text written on it, so you can even flip the back cover and make it the front cover if you so like.

Next up, tour!

So at this point I’d like to mention that our tour with Empire! Empire! is nearly all set. This is probably the most excited for a tour I’ve ever been. Why? because not only do we get to play some awesome shows in awesome places with awesome people (not to mention we’ll be playing with E!E! every night for a week) but Andy and I will also be playing IN Empire! Empire! How cool is that? It will be totally weird, right? Anyway, here are the dates. We still need a Richmond show, but ah well.

Monday, Dec 27 
Easton, CT
@ Paul’s Pad
77 Rock House Road
w/ Fugue, Suns, and Martin Luther King

Tuesday, Dec 28
Boston, MA
@ O’Briens
w/ The Clippers, more tba

Wednesday, Dec 29
Bethlehem, PA
@ St. Bernards
331 Brodhead Avenue
W/ Snowing, For Serious This Time and U.S. Male

Thursday, Dec 30
Richmond, VA
@ TBA
w/ TBA

Friday, Dec 31
Wilmington, NC
@ The Soapbox
w/SWTHRT (ex-Museum Mouth)

Saturday, Jan 1
Baltimore, MD
@ Charm City Art Space
w/ Monument, Hightide Hotel

Sunday, Jan 2
Pittsburgh, PA
@ Garfield Artworks
W/TBA

On another note, we got our records in the other day and boy do they look pretty. I’d advise all you North East Ohio-ans to make it out Dec 16th. We do have tickets, and while we aren’t a fan of selling tickets in any way, it might make things easier. There’s some sort of deal for if you buy a ticket and want a 7” it’s only $10 for the two. Admission will be around $7 i think and that same deal still applies at the door. There ARE touring bands on this show and that’s why we’re okay with having that high a door charge. Here’s that info in a more organized fashion.

Thursday, Dec 16th
Akron, OH
@ Musica
51 East Market St
w/ Two Hand Fools, Into It. Over It. The Reptilian and For Want Of
8PM
$6-7 for admission only
$10 for entry and 7”

Stiletto had to drop off this show because they have unfortunately broken up. While they haven’t played a great many shows in a while, they had a good run and we wish them well in their future endeavors. Tough to believe they were around longer than we have!

Once again the weekend format of touring has done us wonderfully. After filling up on turkey and stuffing on Thursday, we set off on a 3 day mini-tour with our buddies Two Hand Fools. Philadelphia was the first show, and for the second time there in a row, it was a smashing success. It was so so awesome to play with Spraynard and Everyone Everywhere, two awesome bands with good people and great jams. What made it even better was all the people we knew that showed up and hung out.

There was a huge debate the entire night about the best cheese steaks in Philly. We had went to Tony Luke’s restaurant the last time we were there, and were floored by the experience. Actually, we based our entire plans around getting T-Lukes once again. Much of the Philly population, however, was against TL in favor of places such as Pat’s or Jim’s. After much internal struggling and debate, we decided to try something new and go for the “experience” of Pat’s (according to Evan of Into It. Over It.) While Pat’s was indeed delicious, we knew in our hearts that Tony Luke’s was our place. We got it the next day completely satisfied.

and oh yeah, we played more shows! Next up was Brooklyn, NYC. Before the show we stopped off at Dave Garwake’s apt. and shot another pink couch session. Look for that soon! The Brooklyn show was also sweet. More sweet bands and sweet people. It was our first time playing with Sleep Bellum Sonno, who were kindly fellows, and hope to play with them more. Oscar of Nakatomi Plaza’s new band Ghost Robot Ninja Bear played and it was great to see The New Dress again. I’ll spare you the details of the Columbus show (too long a day to really focus on the show) but I must say we’ve never had a bad Columbus show and this was no exception.

Our new buddy Joe was kind enough to document our entire show in Philadelphia and put the entire set up on YouTube. Check it out HERE

More news: we’ve also finally revealed the info for our 7” release show. It will be at Musica in Akron, OH on December 16th. Playing with us will be Stiletto, Two Hand Fools, The Reptilian and their friends For Want Of. Please respond on the Facebook event. There will be some deal with entry and 7” for $10, or something like that. We got the actual vinyl in the mail, so all we’re waiting for is the packaging. Get stoked!

We’ve got a weekend tour planned over Thanksgiving weekend and so stoked for it. We’re making the trip with the kids in Two Hand Fools and playing with some doggone awesome bands. If you live in and/or know people who live in the Philadelphia or NYC areas you should tell them to come out! Here is a little more detail.

Nov 26 Philadelphia @ ZAK House w/Everyone Everywhere, Spraynard, Two Hand Fools
Nov 27 New York City @ Lulu’s w/ Sleep Bellum Sonno, Ghost Robot Ninja Bear, The New Dress, and Two Hand Fools
Nov 28 Columbus @ The Bat Cave w/ Two Hand Fools, Mixtapes and more tba

Thanksgiving is really pretty much the best time of the year. At least usually. Last year we had to miss playing the American War CD Release show because I came down with a nasty flu. Nothing like a good meal, then movies on TV all day. I should probably wait to make a post about Thanksgiving, but damn, I’m so excited. So much delicious food!

Anyway, we’ve got a tour planned with Empire! Empire! the end of December so keep an eye out for those dates. (actually, they are to the right of the page. if you think you can help, let us know!)

back in march, the 4 of us Annabros (two of us are actual-bros) heaped up in my parent’s basement to begin recording our follow-up release to last year’s Each and Everyone. Overall, tracking went swiftly as did mixing and mastering. We’ve been done with this sucker since the end of April, but now it will finally see its official release! We’ve been anxious to get these songs released and that’s because, while it IS a small sampling of 4-5 songs, we are more proud of them then anything else we’ve done in the past. And we think you should be too.

So now I can reveal all the details regarding the record. The 7” EP is called Here We Are Tomorrow and will be released on Tiny Engines Records, home to some other awesome bands such as Tigers Jaw, Castevet, Look Mexico and Everyone Everywhere. We’ve been working with Will at Beartrap PR for almost 3 years now, and when he started his own label with other Beartrap dude Chuck Daley, I knew that we had to have something released by them. I still have no idea how he found out about us though, haha. Anyway, we’re thrilled to have their support.

They should ship within the next few weeks, but pre-order is available now and can be done at http://www.tinyengines.net/releases/here-we-are-tomorrow/

1. The Forgetting of Names and Faces
2. Repetition, Etc.
3. We Came As Today
4. Summer Health
5. The Secrets of Learning (digital download only)

recorded, mixed, and produced by Ben Hendricks
mastered by Tim Gerak at Mammoth Cave Studio
art and design by Andy Hendricks

Check out “Names and Faces” on our myspace, facebook, bandcamp and last.fm pages. you can also download “Names and Faces” on the Punknews/Fest 9 compilation at http://www.punknews.org/article/40337.

We’ve got a big announcement coming next week. Actually, I’ll be forward, we’ll finally have the announcement for when our record will actually come out. Hell, I’ll even tell you who is releasing it. Tiny Engines will be putting out our 4(+1) song release. I know, I know, these songs have been finished since April, but that’s just how the process goes. We’ve hit some snags, but we’re just happy to have worked with labels that are so cool. Seriously, we feel so lucky to be a part of and work with two amazing labels in Count Your Lucky Stars and TE. but more next week…

We’ve got so many exciting things happening in the next few months. Next week we’ll be playing a cover set as The Smashing Pumpkins. Who hasn’t listened to the Pumpkins at least one point in their life? That same week we’ll be heading down to Florida to play the Fest 9. We could not be more excited to play this year! We’ll be playing right before Algernon Cadwallader, and really, our whole show is pretty much the bomb. We’ve got some tours in the horizon as well, so stay tuned!

Well we’re a week removed from DIT Fest in Kent and what a wonderful time it was. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it fun. This was our 4th year doing it and hopefully not the last. It’s amazing that we’ve been embraced by such a wonderful community of people, musicians, artists, etc. It may seem trite, but Fests like these really are confirmation that doing this is worthwhile. We’ve met so many great people over the years, and things of these sorts are always an accumulation of the people we like most. Like ARM Fest a month ago, we appreciate the pile-ons, sing-alongs and general craziness at our set. My DC adapter is pretty bent and busted, but in the end, it was worth it.

We’d also like to give a wave goodbye to our dear friend Matthew Herald, who is moving to Austin, TX in less than a week. He’s been with us on most of our tours and been a best man of sorts the band for quite a while now. We wish him well, and if there are any positives to take out of it, his band Pswingset will be re-formed and living once again. He’s having a going away party tonight at Corey and Scotty’s house, so everyone in the Akron area should try to make it out. It’s also probably the last Seaskulls show, so don’t miss it!

So “The Beast” era in the world of Annabel has come and gone. More bad news on the front of our latest purchase. There are now way more problems with this van than we can deal with, so we’re gonna be resorting back to our old mini-Annavan (kind of ironic that this is now the more reliable vehicle seeing as how it broke down after a show the first day we got it back in 05’). We are all pretty disappointed things with the van didn’t work out. We may have to pull a “the ground is lava” type garage sale to recover some of our losses.

HOWEVER, this will not stop us from embarking on our first FULL U.S. tour starting Thursday! We’ll be on the road for 3 and half weeks and traveling from the Carolinas to the West Coast and back. So far, besides shows, on the itinerary is Late Night with Jay Leno, a pool party, hopefully a Dodgers game and maybe that music museum in Seattle. We’ll try to post little bits here throughout the tour. Hopefully there will be more to report back than inside jokes and things no one else will understand.

We posted a new track on our Myspace page. Check it out if you don’t mind terrible sound quality from their player. The song is called “The Forgetting of Names and Faces” and will be on our new EP titled Here We Are Tomorrow. Gonna be released some time later this summer so stay tuned for more information!

all right, lots of things to get ready for. please wish us well and let’s hope there are no more van problems!

well what an experience that was… last weekend we made a trek out towards the mid-west (not that we aren’t already from the mid-west, but more mid-west i guess). first off, i’ll start by mentioning that we were so excited for this, not just because we were playing with sweet bands and friends, but we just bought ourselves a new van! every real band needs a real van and we were quite elated to join this elite group of tourers. so much more room! as for the van’s name, it shall be referred to as THE ANNABEAST, and affectionately as “THE BEAST” for short.

however with real vans come real problems. Our van broke down not once, but twice over the course of two days. It first stalled out in South Bend, Indiana while the show was still going on. We then had it towed and the fuel pump was replaced the next day. So $740 later, we think we are good to go then set sail for Chicago. We don’t even make it to Chicago before the van craps out again right on the highway. We luckily get it to work temporarily and are able to make it to the venue. some notes about this:

* Pepboys sure takes their good-ass-fucking-time with things

fuel pump again. bad wiring. electronics. lots of money. bs bs bs. anyway,

We’d like to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped us over the weekend. It was a stressful time and everyone’s understanding made it a lot easier for us. Especially the people of Chicago. Matt and John and everyone who was at the show at Strangelight helped us out tremendously. Also a big ups to The Reptilian and Joie De Vivre for being awesome bands and awesome people. Also thanks to Chiptole for coming through in the clutch.

We unfortunately had to drop off the show in Kalazmazoo, but hopefully we’ll be back out there again soon.

in other news, our record is currently being mastered by Tim Gerak at his studio in Akron. Tim has been involved in so many projects we adore and respect, it’s an honor to have him put the finishing touches on our tracks. okay that’s it for now.

Hey everyone! Welcome to Annabel’s “official” new blog. we’ve had this thing for a while, but have sadly neglected it for far too long. So here it is. We’ll try to keep everyone as up to date with our happenings, thoughts and feelings, even if you don’t care! So without further adieu…

We are just about done tracking some new music to be released soon. Personally, and I think I speak for everyone, I believe it’s some of the strongest material we’ve created and we hope you’ll agree. We’ve been recording in my basement for the past 2 weeks and have a few videos from the sessions we’ll post soon. There has been lots of dancing, yelling, sleeping, and cuss words (mostly from Andy) involved in this project (actually, all of those things are mostly just Andy). Anyway, it will be mixed throughout the next few weeks and hopefully be in your hands by the beginning of summer. This information may seem vague now, but just you wait!

In other news, we are STOKED for our two shows this weekend. Thursday at the Kling House in Akron with our good friends The Sidekicks and Into It. Over It. and Saturday at the Grog Shop with Good Luck, Tigers Jaw and, once again…The Sidekicks. I’ve never had the chance to see Good Luck before, but I’m really excited because their last record is outstanding.

So, these are the kinds of things you can expect in this blog. A little bit of blah blah, and a little bit of blah, blah, blah. Bookmark it. Put it in your favorites. Whatever. You will be a much better person for keeping up with us in the long run. I promise.

- Ben