The Union Suits loaded up the van last month and made the long trek downstream from Minneapolis to Austin, TX, for their very first South By Southwest. It was delightful. We stayed with K.G. and played at Pete’s Bar on east 6th Street. We ate tacos and beef brisket, stopped by the Bloodshot Records free show to check out Lydia Loveless and say “hi” to Wayne Hancock, busked and shot a short video for NPR affiliate KUT Austin, saw an unexpected and awesome performance by Billy Joe Shaver at the White Horse, chatted with Vermin Supreme, Zach got his picture taken for the New York Times, we grilled some chicken and pushed the limits of our sanity. I lost my voice out of sheer foolishness, and we drove 20 hours straight to get home on time for one of our last performances at the Nomad. Here’s a few photos for now and the video we shot for KUT, we took lots more pics and shot plenty of video. Stay tuned and I will post as soon as I can.

-max

Zach's signature leather jacket (thanks Michael)

Zach performing at Pete's "East Side" Bar - Credit: Ben Sklar for The New York Times

video of Max and Jac, shot by Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon for KUT Austin

Zach and JB Smoove

KG with blood on his face

KG and Zach (note the Jokertown tat)

Zach and Presidential Candidate Vermin Supreme

Max and Zach taking a fiver

Max busking on East 6th Street

Jorge directing Max and Jac

Taking another fiver

Tromping back to Pete's for another night

Here it is folks. The Union Suits’ debut album “You Got The Wrong Guy” is available on CD and digital download.

Enjoy!

We’ve got a van..

SO, it’s hard to resist the call to travel with the bands. Thus far we’ve made it to Duluth, Eau Claire, Shawano, Milwaukee, Mankato, Grand Forks and Fargo. We’ll be back to all these places, as well as trying to make it down into Iowa and of course more of Wisconsin.

Next week we head down to Texas for South By Southwest. There will inevitably be lots of good stories to share with y’all.

Calamity & The Owl performing at the Hub in Grand Forks, ND (photo courtesy of Manstrom Photography)

The Union Suits performing at the Mousetrap in Eau Claire, WI

note: If you’ve got photos of the Union Suits or Calamity & The Owl, post them directly to our facebook pages or email to max@jokertownrecords.com

And it’s about damn time…

The Union Suits have been farting around Minneapolis, playing loads of shows, and crashing parties for nearly 2 years now. They’ve been cutting their teeth and finding the right line-up, writing tunes and getting their ducks in a row. Finally they’ve put it down on tape, and are ready to share it with the world. Their long awaited debut album “You Got The Wrong Guy” was recorded at Albatross – the snug basement studio in South Minneapolis of Mike Wisti (Rank Strangers)..

It was a pleasure recording and mixing with Mike. His personability and workmanship exceeded all expectations. He allowed the band to do their thing, and successfully extracted 11 original songs, tracked with minimal overdubbing and mixed in a total of 5 sessions.

Musically, the album is finished. The artwork and liner notes are being assembled for it’s manufacturing and release. The Union Suits debut album will be released by Jokertown Records in early March of 2012. Stay tuned for details…

Until then here’s a little taste:
The Union Suits by JokertownRecords
Mike “Razz” Russel and Mike Wisti

Grady Appleton and John Adams Cornelius

MFR, or Minneapolis Fucking Rocks is an excellent music blog ran by Minnesota’s own Ian Anderson. Ian is the front man of indie rock group One For the Team and founder of Afternoon Records (Haley Bonar, A Night in the Box, Poison Control Center).

Jokertown Record’s artists The Union Suits and Calamity & The Owl performed at the sound bar Honey in Minneapolis on September 27th, 2011 as part of MFR’s concert series “MFR Nights”. A great time was had by all, and these nice videos were shot by Big Cats!