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Friday, October 19, 2007
New video of Perfect World
A stop motion animated video of the song Perfect World is now finished and available for download. The video, filmed and edited by 13 year old Evan Farris and his siblings Sean and Juliana, was created in their parent's basement using homemade sets and hand crafted props. We are honored that such cool kids took the time to make such a beautiful piece of cinematic art based on one of our songs. Another of Evan's films is currently featured in an Italian short film festival. We wish him luck!

Friday, August 17, 2007
U.S. / European Tour Planned
A North American tour in support of Alligator is in the works with European dates to follow in early 2008 . Tour dates will be posted as they are confirmed. Check back here for details.

 

Tuesday, August 14, 2007
New CD Alligator officially out now.
The first full length album by the Guards of Metropolis, "Alligator" is available in retail stores, iTunes, and other download sites today, with a European release to follow in the Fall. The album contains 13 tracks recorded in Los Angeles, Oregon, Prague, and Oslo. Listen to tracks from the album at iTunes or our media page.

 

Friday, June 15, 2007
Frank Black European Tour Begins
One half of the Guards of Metropolis, Jason Carter and Charles Norman, begin a month long long European tour as part of Frank Black's new band. The tour will cover 26 cities and 9 countries in just over 30 days. Confirmed dates so far are:

6/13/07 - Paris, France - Paris, Paris
6/14/07 - Hamburg, Germany - Prinzenbar
6/16/07 - Nickelsdorf, Austria - Nova Rock Festival
6/17/07 - Interlaken, Switzerland - Greenfield Festival
6/18/07 - Merignac, France - Krakatoa
6/19/07 - Nantes, France – Olympic
6/20/07 - Angers, France - Chabada
6/22/07 - Lille, France - Aéronef
6/23/07 - Scheeßel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
6/24/07 - Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival
6/25/07 - Clermont-Ferrand, France - Coopérative de Mai
6/26/07 - Marseille, France - Espace Julien
6/27/07 - Toulouse, France - Salle des Fêtes de Ramonville
6/29/07 - Cergy Pontoise, France - Furia Sound Festival
6/30/07 - Alençon, France - Extra Sonores Festival
7/1/07 - Werchter, Belgium - Werchter Festival
7/2/07 - Groningen, The Netherlands - Oosterpoort
7/3/07 - Rotterdam, The Netherlands - Waterfront
7/4/07 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Paradiso
7/5/07 - Nijmegen, The Netherlands - Doornroosje
7/7/07 - Evreux, France - Festival Rock Dans Tous Ses Etats
7/8/07 - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg - iTunes live session
7/10/07 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala Apolo
7/11/07 - Madrid, Spain - Joy Eslava
7/12/07 - Bilbao, Spain - Kafe Antzokia
7/13/07 - Aix Les Bains, France - Musilac Festival
7/15/07 - London, England - Shepherds Bush Empire

 

Friday, May 18, 2007
Frank Black tour warmup show
G.O.M. members Charles Normal and Jason Carter will join Pixies singer Frank Black for a European tour to promote a Frank Black "best of" compilation. A pre-tour warmup show will take place on May 26 at Lefty's in Salem, Oregon. The opening act will be G.O.M. singer Kristin Blix and bassist Silver Sorensen in their new acoustic band Fjørd Motor Company. 

Thursday, April 26, 2007
Full length album release date set.
The Guards' first full length CD Alligator will be released on August 14, 2007 followed by U.S. and European dates in the Fall. Details will be posted in August. 

 

Thursday, March 29, 2007
Jason Carter on new Frank Black CD.
G.O.M. drummer Jason Carter has recently finished recording his parts on a forthcoming Frank Black album. Recorded in January and February of 2007 in Eugene, Oregon, the new album titled Bluefinger will be out in the Fall. In addition to playing drums, Jason also mixed some of the tracks on the album. Listen to tracks at www.bluefingeronline.com

 

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
"Whatever It Is" EP officially out now.
The new EP is out now. Download it now at iTunes or wherever you get your mp3 fixes. The EP, entitled “Whatever It Is” was originally rushed out as a limited edition pre-release back in November to coincide with the U.S. midterm elections. It is now officially out and available for download at iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, etc.

 

Friday October 27 , 2006

G.O.M. rock the vote with new CD

To mark the midterm elections on Tuesday November 7, we're issuing a limited run special pre-release four song EP to be sold at our live shows and will donate the net proceeds from the title track to the Oregon and Washington Democratic Parties.

 

The song “Whatever It Is” from the forthcoming EP of the same name is a scathing musical indictment of President Bush and his achievements over the past six years. “As non citizens, we’re not allowed to vote,” says vocalist Kristin Blix, “so we figured this might be a good way to contribute to the sanity of this country we’re living in.” Bassist Silver Sørensen says, “With all the crackdowns on civil liberties this past year, I half expect to be deported because of this song. But that’s okay, we can always sneak back into the U.S. from Mexico!” The CD will have an official release in February 2007.

 

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Pacific Northwest Tour Dates

Seven shows have been booked in the Pacific Northwest the second week in November to coincide with a planned EP release. The Guards of Metropolis have been busy in the studio creating their own "October Surprise" but will emerge in November for seven shows in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Nov. 3 – Salem, OR – Lefty’s

Nov. 9 – Seattle, WA – High Dive

Nov. 11 – Everett, WA – JR’s

Nov. 14 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom (w/ Frank Black)

Nov. 15 – Portland, OR – Dante’s

Nov. 17 – Eugene, OR – Diablo’s

Nov. 18 – Portland, OR – Music Millennium

 

More complete details here

 

Saturday September 2, 2006

Jason Carter in Vietnam

Jason Carter arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) today for the third time in the past 6 months, this time with Guards of Metropolis' long-time live sound engineer Alan Stone in tow. On this trip, Jason will be guiding several first time visitors through the southern part of the country to show them the results of their donations to the Village School Foundation, a non-profit organization which builds schools for underprivileged children in Vietnam. The Guards of Metropolis have been working closely over the past year with the organization's founder Tinh in raising money for the construction of educational facilities, tuition, and school supplies, all without the support of the Vietnamese government. Read more about the foundation (and see photos of Jason floating down the Mekong River) at the foundation's website.

 

Thursday August 24, 2006

G.O.M. blog now online

Now you can follow the mundane daily activities of Kristin Blix, Silver Sorensen, Jason Carter and Charles Normal at the Guards of Metropolis Blog which is online now. Drop in and leave a comment or two. Then, head over to the newly posted G.O.M. Myspace page and add yourself to their list of friends.

 

Tuesday August 1, 2006

New CD project with Frank Black and Larry Norman

G.O.M. guitarist Charles Normal is in a Portland, Oregon recording studio working on a secretive CD project with Frank Black, singer of the legendary Pixies, singer/songwriter Larry Norman, and Mark Lemhouse backed by the Guards of Metropolis. The CD is still at the pre-production stage with an eventual release date slated for Spring 2007. Stay tuned for more info...

Monday July 24, 2006

Softcore - Guards of Metropolis name change

A note from the band members: A lot has happened recently! First off, we're finally rid of all the immigration issues that have dogged us in the past year and we are all able to travel and work freely in the U.S. now. Finally! With this new-found liberty, and in light of the upcoming promotional push we'll be getting in the U.S. in the new year, we've changed our name from Softcore to Guards of Metropolis. Here's why: The growing capabilities of search engines such as Google, and more sophisticated email spam filters have made it increasingly difficult to communicate with our fans on the internet. Messages containing the word Softcore would never get to them. People kept telling us that they never got our newsletters since they were being filtered directly into their trash file. Perhaps that's where we ultimately belong, but we'd like YOU to have the chance to decide, not your service provider or Hotmail interface!
 
Cool? So that's that then. Same band, different name. We're now called Guards of Metropolis, and we have a CD coming out in early 2007. We're currently working on several videos to accompany the CD. We'll also be doing a U.S. tour at the same time, so if you join our email list we'll let you know when we're coming to your town.
 
We'll keep sending news bulletins for awhile to everyone who joined the Softcore email list, but we recommend that you also sign up for our new email list which will be posted shortly.
 
Thanks for your continued support!
 
Kristin, Silver, Jason, and Charles

 

Wednesday November 2, 2005

Mark Lemhouse Wins Muddy Award

Mark Lemhouse has won the Muddy Award for "Recording of the Year" for his most recent album "The Great American Yard Sale", which was co-written and produced by Guards of Metropolis guitarist Charles Normal. The Muddy Award honors artists recognized for outstanding achievements over the previous year.