There was life BEFORE Band of Horses. Hard to admit, I know. But there was. It took the shape of Carissa’s Wierd, who were a folk-pop group co-founded by Mat Brooke (ex-BoH, now Grand Archives) and Jenn Ghetto. Amongst their players included Ben Bridwell and Sera Cahoone (ex-BoH drummer).
The band have decided to update their legacy from “that band the Band of Horses guy was in before he was in Band of Horses” with plans to reissue their back catalogue and add a Best Of to the mix.
The Best Of will be called They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003, and will be release on 13th July via Hardly Art in the US. The albums Ugly But Honest, You Should Be at Home Here, and Songs About Leaving will follow on digital and vinyl only. Apparently there will be “at least one” Carissa’s Wierd show in Seattle in July.
Band of Horses will release their third album, Infinite Arms, in May.
They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003:
01 Low Budget Slow Motion Soundtrack Song for the Leaving Scene
02 Die
03 The Color That Your Eyes Changed With the Color of Your Hair
04 One Night Stand
05 You Should Be Hated Here
06 Drunk w/ the Only Saints I Know
07 Phantom Fireworks
08 So You Wanna Be a Superhero
09 Brooke Daniels’ Tiny Broken Fingers
10 Ignorant Piece of Shit
11 Blessed Arms That Hold You Tight, Freezing Cold and Alone
12 Blue Champagne Glass
13 September Come Take This Heart Away
14 All Apologies and Smiles, Yours Truely, Ugly Valentine
15 Sympathy Bush
16 They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave
More from Best Fit
some things are really better left in the past.
Is it really that bad?
I understand that a lot of this might be marketing strategy to sell more, riding on the wave of band of horses’ popularity (see Saddle Creek re-releasing Conor Oberst albums and splits, see ancient bands coming back together for “reunion tours” though their members can hardly still stand without needing canes, see re-issues with bonus and “OMG UNRELEASEDDD” tracks of Jeff Buckley’s Grace and Live at Sin-É, when are the beatles going to come back to life as 3d animations while McCartney sings their whole discography in a stadium? etc etc) HOWEVER carissa’s wierd were a great, great band, totally underrated and extremely honest in their songwriting and I think it’s lovely that more people will be able to listen to and find out about them. somehow.
Rich – they’re not awful, nor are they particularly great, but I can’t understand the reason for a re-issue. it’s not like the Band of Horses fanbase is so large that they’re demanding this stuff, and the really hardcore fans who want it have ways of finding it, as I did. the above post suggests there are marketing reasons for this, but is there really a profitable market for this?
what I meant is that probably all the people who didn’t know carissa’s wierd and are band of horses fans will throw themselves on the stuff. Of course, their fanbase isn’t large, but it’s still bigger than the carissa’s wierd fanbase in the early 00′s. I think the niche is probably there. Also, the people who are willing to invest money in buying physical copies of records are the same people who seem to have a certain fascination with vinyl. I’m not going to lie, I’m part of those, and I’m also not a hardcore Carissa’s Wierd fan. chances are I’ll fall into the trap and get myself a couple of those on vinyl.
Yeah, I think the temptation of getting something on vinyl will make me purchase them…
a lot of bands are figuring out that vinyl+download code is a really good trick for people like us ;)
I think it’s the way forward, without a doubt. I’m thinking of stopping buying CD’s and getting vinyl only, then just using digital out and about.