ThouShaltNot

ThouShaltNot is in the process of recording our new album, and we are pleased to invite you to a special rehearsal/recital session, during which the band will, on piano, guitar, and drums, play through a whole set of brand new, never-before-heard songs (and maybe a few old favorites too). Fans will get the chance to comment and vote on songs, giving their input into the new ThouShaltNot material as we sculpt the album.

This is a one-time only opportunity for an intimate performance. It will happen next Saturday night, December 12, in Granville, Ohio (45 minutes east of Columbus. Seats are very limited.



Additionally, ThouShaltNot are releasing their first new track since 2006's Land Dispute. The ballad "Sick" will be appearing on the Metropolis Records compilation Electronic Saviors, a 5 CD benefit album for the Foundation for Cancer Research and Wellness, organized by the band's longtime friend, DJ Hiem (who himself beat cancer last year).

The compilation is a virtual Who's Who of industrial music. In addition to ThouShaltNot, also appearing are Combichrist, Ego Likeness, Assemblage 23, Stromkern, Freezepop, Spahn Ranch, Leather Strip, Dismantled, Chemlab, Gencab, FleshField, The Azoic, and many others. Iris appears on the compilation as well, with an exclusive remix of "Imposter" by ThouShaltNot. You can read more about this amazing set and buy it here.

Okay, so first, a quick update: several new TSN songs are done, and the progress toward the next album (30 songs from which we'll cull 10 or so) is steady, at last. Two or three of these tracks will see the light of day on compilations soonish. We'll also be putting the New World EP up on iTunes shortly.

But the main reason for this post is that TSN has completed two remixes of Depeche Mode's "Peace" for DM's official remix contest hosted over at beatportal.com. Because the contest winners are determined in part by how many votes they get, we are asking — nay, BEGGING — you to register an account at

http://www.beatportal.com

and to give our mixes a listen. One is a straightforward "classic" DM synthrock mix, and the other is a 100% a cappella fugue and chorale.

http://www.beatportal.com/remix/detail/peace-thoushaltnot-mix/
http://www.beatportal.com/remix/detail/peace-fugue-and-chorale/

If you like them, please click "SPIN THIS" to vote. Feel free to listen to others; there are something like 800 remixes of the song up there.

The winning remix gets an official release on Mute Records.

Spread the word!

First off, we're down to our last ten t-shirts! Four large and four small apiece of the Land Dispute design, and a newly rediscovered pair of classic White Beyond design shirts in size large. Stop on over at http://www.thoushalt.net/product to get your mitts on these before the holidays and before they disappear. We will NOT be reprinting either batch.

Second, yes, we are working on the new album. There is talk of working with a producer on it; we'll see. There are a LOT of songs written for it. Here are some titles, to whet your appetite, even though probably only 10 or 12 will make the cut:

Forget Us (this one has great key changes)
The Eyes of Extinction (epic, with lots of sextuplet rhythms — almost certainly a keeper)
Colliding With Night (an older song that is still looking for the right arrangement)
A Safer World (this keeps growing; now it has an orchestral fugue)
Unresolved (a tight pop song written the day after "The Projectionist")
Muscle Memory (a slinky, smart, groovy sad song)
Bayonet (all about how getting close means getting hurt)
Fire (good tomtom drums on this and a cool vocal leap in the chorus)
Everything (probably the first single)
Convincing (we'll likely open the album with this — sad and expansive)
The Haunted Phonograph (think True Love meets Scales on Scales)
Noah v1.0 (a big swaggering song about hallucination)
Sixty Times (a slow plaintive ballad; an afterthought kind of song)
Sick (big sounding heartfelt anthem)
Lost In Logic (more than a little Tears For Fears-ish)
Goodnight London (if this doesn't blow up for us, nothing will)
Everything Could Change (a band favorite)
Search Party (almost a little too pop, perhaps?)
The Shadows (desperate and Land Dispute-ish)

When will this all be done? We honestly don't know. We'll throw you some bones as we get closer, but I figured it would nice to give people a quick update.

We're also working on putting the New World EP up on iTunes for those who missed in the first time around. More news to follow on that as we figure it out.

In the meantime, take care, and many thanks.

I feel really bad about having been so lousy at updating this thing. We just played a good show in Salt Lake City, stayed last night with an amazing collection of people in Boise, and have scripted an excellent new Christmas pageant involving Alphabet Soup. Hopefully we'll be able to give more detail about all of this.

Assorted notes from the road, in no organized fashion:

So we played Billings the other day, at a festival with a bunch of poppunk bands, which was an adventure. We debated rocking up our set a bit to blend in, but ultimately we decided that we'd just do a straightahead ThouShaltNot show, with all the big goth synthesizer noises that entails, because A.) we can't really fool anyone into thinking we belong onstage with bands like that, B.) we'd likely suck, or at least sound sloppy, if we tried to do the rock thing, not having rehearsed our songs that way, and C.) this way we could be "that one band," and at least have people remember us. We think it was the right choice, and indeed the show could have been much worse. It was still a little surreal to play in daylight outdoors.

After the show, we Taco Belled ourselves into oblivion and shelled out the cash for the first hotel of the tour.

On Sunday night, we stayed in Missoula with Aaron's uncle Bill, who hosted us on our first tour as well, long ago and in a galaxy far far away.

Seattle's show was outstanding — almost certainly the best of the tour so far, which was a relief, given that it was a Monday night. We played with James D. Stark, who also opened up for us five years ago in Iowa City. Small world. It was great to see some really old school fans at the show, as well. We also got to visit Alex's sister Robyn and hang out with her beautiful kitties and her ridiculous 20 month old William.

So first of all, having now travelled through Idaho and Montana, where every step we took bore afresh the very real danger of our being mauled by grizzly bears, we decided that for our own safety and indeed the safety of all people everywhere, we should have a plan for being chased by a bear.

( And so we present, and encourage you to pass on, the plan. )

North Dakota / Montana, 11:4AM, July 19, 2008

YES! WE ARE IN NORTH DAKOTA! OUR DREAMS ARE ALL COMING TRUE!

We have been on the road since seven-something this morning, after getting in from last night's show at 3:30. Skaht, our excellent and very conscientious promoter, made sure that we sounded good onstage and that we had a place to crash afterwards, but no amount of Minneapolis hospitality could save us from the feeling of utter doom — the complete certainty that death itself was somehow creeping up on us through the marrow of our bones — that our level of exhaustion brought to us upon waking. Tonight we're playing a festival in Billings, Montana, which is a twelve hour drive from last night's show. The advertisements for this event call it a rock lineup "for the whole family." Maybe we'll change the lines in Something Dire that repeat "kill me" over and over.

In attempt to save his voice, Alex has taken to singing along with the radio in improvised faux sign language. You don't want to know how it looked when he belted "Every detail had been reproduced" from John Linnell's song "Arkansas."

When we stopped for gas in Valley City, a ninety year old man at the station was irately demanding of the clerk, "Do you know how old dirt IS?" repeatedly.

There is a Mexican food chain we keep seeing called "Del Taco." We wonder at whether they are merely a subdivision of a more insidious company DeltaCo.

July 18, 10:48pm, Minneapolis, MN

We're backstage at Ground Zero, which has to be one of the nicest venues we've ever played. Skaht, the promoter, ensured us a comfortably long soundcheck, and we had some time to grab some vegetables at a nearby grocery store, on which we now dine.

Running gags among the three of us at this point include a fascination with pop music's references to "the club" and all that one can do within, the mythical Broadway one-man-show called "Ready, Set... JOE!", and an elaborate description of the nice farm that Jeremy's dog moved to fourteen years ago, where he lives with a nice family who loves him very much. We think that Kirby Puckett lives there as well. That family must love him too.

Anyhow, the show starts in about twenty minutes. Alex is wearing a kilt. All is well with the world.

Chicago, Friday, July 18, 10:30AM

So both the Chicago and Cleveland shows have been similar — strong performances to small crowds. This, compounded with the inexplicable parking ticket here last night (which is incontestable, given that we'll not be back in Chicago anytime soon), is a wee bit discouraging, but we earned several new fans, and the new material especially went over well. Ned from Stromkern and Andrew from Iris came out for the concert and we shared some extended gripes and "lols," as the hip kids say.

Two nights ago we were excellently hosted by a college friend, Sarah, in Cleveland, and now we are at Alex's sister's house here in the winding windy city. Karen's two kids, James and Clair (James is the older, at two), were insistent on entertaining us at 6:30AM, oblivious to our having gotten back to the apartment a scant three and a half hours earlier. They are forgiven on account of cuteness, I think. Soon we embark to Minneapolis, which is, incidentally, where Alex was born.

I feel compelled to transcribe an exchange overheard in a rest stop bathroom in Indiana, between two children, speaking in dead serious, slow tunes.

"Are you the dragon?"
"Yes. I am. And what are you?"