The A-Sides were hands down, the sweetest group of sweeties I have come across in a long time. They are smiley, clean-cuttish good-time fellas who use their whole mild-mannered, Eddie Haskell appearance to conceal the fact that they are secretly a band of ragin partiers. They told me some of the foulest, most shit- and blood- and piss-ful stories I’ve ever heard, but sugar-coated each one with Grampa terms like “BM” and “on her monthly.” Actually, I feel like all the old-fashioned lingo may have just made things worse. At one point we had to stop the interview and take a breather because I had fallen off the sofa cackling like a maniac. It was a literal laugh attack.

In case you haven’t gathered, this episode of Practice Space is one of a few that we shot down in Philadelphia with the local bands we’re into (there are surprisingly a bunch these days). We’re not going to say who, but at one band’s rehearsal space we found Doyle, the A-Sides’ keyboardist’s number scrawled on the wall, bathroom-stall-style. He also showed up to practice so completely wasted that he disappeared during the interview, managed to break his keyboard during the actual practice, then passed out in the hallway before we’d had a chance to say good-bye. Oh yeah, he’s also got “If lost, please call 867-5309″ tattooed on his arm. All in all, this is a band of classy, smile-faced gentlemen who are all secretly off the chain.

Here is the video.

We started working on new songs. You don’t even want to know.

We are pleased to announce that we have signed to Vagrant Records out of Los Angeles, CA. They will be releasing our new album “Silver Storms” on 08.28.07!!! So mark your calendars! Vagrant in the last couple of years has put out fine records by The Hold Steady, French Kicks, Futureheads, The Comas, and tons more and we are very excited to be part of their roster. Most of all, we can’t wait to get this record out there and do some extensive touring… Come out and see us!

So we’re doing a quick jaunt westward in June stopping in State College, PA, somewhere in Ohio, and with not one but two shows in Chicago. Unless there is a freak summer blizzard, we will actually make it to Chicago this time. Here’s the info.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - Dark Horse Tavern - State College, PA at Roustabout. Just us and DJs. A very fun night.

Thursday, June 21, 2007 - Somewhere, Ohio (info to come)

Friday, June 22, 2007 - Schuba’s Tavern - Chicago, IL w/ The Safes

Saturday, June 23, 2007 - The Continental Block Party - Chicago, IL w/ many many other bands.

Also, it should be noted that we will be doing a very fun outdoorsy type show in July as part of WXPN’s 4-day festival. We’re playing the YRock night which is Friday, July 20th and we’ll be making my life reach a full circle since we’re playing with Cracker who may have been the first band I ever saw. Don’t look at me like that. Anyhow, info below!

Friday, July 20, 2007 - Xponential Music Festival at Wiggins Park, Camden Waterfront, NJ w/ The Fratellis, Fountains of Wayne, and Cracker and a bunch of wonderful locals on a sidestage including our great pals Bitter Bitter Weeks!

Also, the biggest news we’ve got is about to be unleashed…

Dear you: I (Jon) will be playing an acoustic set this sunday at the Fire in Philadelphia. The show is a benefit for Shane Gooding, who passed away last month. Some friends of his are working on publicizing and publishing his rather voluminous backlog posthumously. You can hear some of his music at his myspace

The show runs at a casual pace from 4-11, punctuated by food and raffles. I will be playing toward the closing end of that time, so drop by and share some good vibes. I’ll be playing some a-sides songs, perhaps a couple covers, and maybe even some new stuff that my bandmates haven’t even heard yet. I’ll post more info as it becomes available.

Thanks to everyone that made Friday nights show at the Fillmore (TLA) such an awesome time. Though the crowd in general was a little *cough* older than usual, everyone had a good time and we didn’t get anything thrown at us. Extra special thanks are in order to John Petit and Jessie Todd for lending trumpet skills, Ross Bellenoit for his lap steel goodness, and the Mallon Sisters (aka Extreme Girl Choir) for their sweet angel voices and matching outfits.

Sitting in a submarine before the show.

Welcome to the cuddle factory.




That’s a lot of people up there.

Todd de la Rundgren.

Photos by Zia and Flem.