Johnnie Live at Purchase

Jeez we had a lot of fun at SUNY Purchase's Fluxus Friday. Kari and I are both Purchase graduates (May 2010), so whenever we go back to perform, we really feel the love. Playing for our close friends is always a good time, but Purchase is also just a great place to meet new music lovers, making it very exciting and comfortable at the same time. Here we are playing the first tune we sang together, "Johnnie," one year after its creation, at the same school it was written.

The Light - Live at Rye Playland

Kari and I wrote this tune late last summer, but it's been unreleased until now. We found a strangely lit construct near the Long Island Sound at Rye Playland, and asked good friend and housemate, Lori, to film it with her new fancy camera.

Aside from getting this little number out there, we're also hoping that it drums up some action for our Knitting Factory date. If you can make it, please come and show some love this Thursday (April 21, 2011) at 7:00 p.m.

Suddenly Live

It's really important to us that people don't think we're only an acoustic duet anymore. Fans of the EP or New York City residents that make it out to shows already know that, but the YouTube community is mostly familiar with our earlier vids from early last summer. Here we are in late February playing a new tune, "Suddenly," with the full band.

Leave your thoughts below!

St. Patty's Day at Spike Hill

Spike Hill was the perfect setting-- with the smell of corn beef flowing freely and the strangest New York City dwellers coming out of the wood work-- including NYPD impersonators (isn't that really really illegal?), we did St. Patty's Day right. Here are a few clips from the Swear and Shake set.

It's hardly representational of the extremely fun and uhh. . . Irish night, but you know how I like dinking around in iMovie.

Thanks to Ben Goldstein for shooting!

Wanderlust

A little souvenir from Adam and Shaun's duet tour of Chiapas, Mexico.

Vamos a Patear Fuego (Let's Kick Fire)!

Lyrics - Swear and Shake - Extended Play

It's time we threw them up on the internet to see what happens. . . raise it up the flagpole see if anyone salutes. . . throw it on the doorstep see if the cat licks it up. . .

Lyrics to the Swear and Shake Extended Play:

1. Being and Time

So, you feel a tingling somewhere beneath your chest
It feels as if the years will pass before you feel it next

Oh, careful when you smile
Oh, wear the feeling right

It knows not sight nor sound nor taste
But, oh, you know it's real
And disregard the things you are
The rules don’t apply here

Oh, it’s alright to try
And be someone else
For a little while

Yesterday, you woke up screaming loud
Frightened by the eyes of a looking crowd

Oh, you’re not crazy
You’re just too aware
How stupid people speak
And waste the air
And I find I’m too bored
I find I’m too bored with them
I find I’m too bored with them to care

2. The Promise

Say what you need to say
You've got my open ears
You've got my trusting heart
That I've just stitched up

Say what needs to be said
Keep in mind the day I bled
All alone in your bed
That I had stitched up

I inhale your exhale
You've no trouble sleeping
I'll quiet my weeping not to wake you up
I inhale your exhale
Pray these stitches hold
You promised they would hold
You promised they would hold

See who you want to see
Make love to who you will
I'll deadbolt the trusting heart
That won't stay stitched up

If I should stand my ground
You'll want what I won't give
Your hands will move like they once did
To take me in

I inhale your exhale
You've no trouble sleeping
I'll quiet my weeping not to wake you up
I inhale your exhale
Pray these stitches hold
You promised they would hold
You promised they would hold

Say what you need to say
You've got my everything
You've got my only heart
I've just stitched up

3. Johnnie

Johnnie, all your hundred songs
Learned them on the guitar
Played them in the mirror
Pretended they were mine
Johnnie, what a knack for words
Each one cuts me deeper
Strong enough to make you near
When you're far away

Johnnie, is your suitcase tight?
You say goodbye to no one
Leave a mess of paper
Make way for the coast
Honey, all your bridges burned
Should you find your boots worn
I will patch your soles
If you swear you'll walk with me

Johnnie, I could be your queen
No more nights of long dreams
You could be the stronger man
To sleeps between these sheets
But never with your lips sewn shut
I can only do so much
Won't lift a finger
'Til you show me where it hurts

Johnnie, is your suitcase tight?
You say goodbye to no one
Leave a mess of paper
And make way for the coast
Honey, all your bridges burned
Should you find your boots worn
I will patch your soles
If you swear you'll walk with me

It's the way I'm gonna love you
It's the way I'm gonna love you
It's the way I'm gonna love you
The only way I know to
And I'll lay my candid loving on the line
It's the way I'm gonna love you

4. Truckstop Flower

The truckstop flower I shelled out for never brought a single smile
No, that rose wilted in my wardrobe and never saw the light of day
Well, Mary, maybe things got crazy
Still, I try to sort them out

Some things just can't wait
Just can't wait
Just can't wait

The careful graphite you pored over never got a second read
No looseleaf letter neatly folded ever did us any good
Well maybe, Mary, things got scary
Still, I try to sort them out

Some things just can't wait
Just can't wait
Just can't wait

I spoke too soon
You told me I could take it back
Mark it a slip
And put those words back on
My good and sorry tongue
She said,
"I'd be a fool
to think that I'd deserve all that
Swallow it down
Each and every word (to) come off your sorry tongue"

That old Volkswagen you pored over took us up and down the coast
And on its last leg I took over and never moved a mile more
Well, Mary, Mary, quite contrary
I'm dying for the open road

Some things just can't wait
Just can't wait
Just can't wait

I spoke too soon
You told me I could take it back
Mark it a slip
And put those words back on
My good and sorry tongue
She said,
"I'd be a fool
to think that I'd deserve all that
Swallow it down
Each and every word come off your sorry tongue"
Each and every word come off your sorry tongue
Each and every word come off your sorry tongue

Some things just can't wait

5. Bones

I said, "Be strong and hold on
You won’t feel this way forever"
But I am the weakest of all and my advice
Is worth goddamn

I said, "Goodbye and take care"
And made my way down to the river
I’m looking forward to the sunshine in my hair

I’ll be the body if you’ll be the soul and I’ll go where you go
And in between words of the letters I sent you
My bones
Are my bones

I’ll be the body if you’ll be the soul and I’ll go where you go
And in between words of the letters I sent you
My bones
Are my bones

I said I’m sorry I’m scared
I can’t get this close to human
My legs have been restless since the day
That I was born

And in between words of the letters I’ve sent you
You’ll find my bones
My bones
Bones
Bones

XP55WJXHZS29

New Show Fliers!

View the full list of shows here.