Nov 17th at the Columbus Theatre is sold out.  Thanks to all who bought tickets!  For anyone who missed out, the Columbus is putting on a super-special night 2 in the upstairs room.  We’ll be playing along with Last Good Tooth, The Silks, Rachel Jorgensen and Sean Kennedy. Again, all profits will be split between ongoing theater restoration and ATRAVES (see the link for more details about the amazing work they do for education in Nicaragua).  Get your tickets here quickly as they are very limited.

Friends!

One year ago Jeff was eating a pizza on the corner of Broadway and America, gazing curiously across the street at the looming, shuttered bulk of the Columbus Theatre.  The clock tower read 1:00, and this was true (a twice daily coincidence). “OPENING SOON,” on the weathered Marquee, a tired and ironic staple of life on Broadway.

This theatre had seen everything, and embodied a century’s worth of American contradictions (note dubious anti-hero namesake). From the glorious heights of opera to the survivalism of it’s XXX film years, it has hosted everyone from Lightning Bolt to Julie Andrews. It has been the subject of endless first amendment law suits. It has been over the years lobbied, condemned, bent and bargained for like a cherished property of Monopoly America. Jeff’s pizza was getting cold. He nodded (warm but businesslike) to the crossing guard and went to see a cellphone about a man.

Brief profile of a man:

Jon S. Berberian — owner, opera singer, and defender of her life and majesty — has helmed the theatre since 1962. He and his family have fought tirelessly to protect the Columbus from the bulldozers circling. Endless devotion. Man of principle. Man of sense. Tenor.

A thing led to another thing and I can’t tell you what because I’d have to kill you, but let’s just say, The Columbus Theatre has become a rehearsal and recording home for we of The Low Anthem. It is a dream. We have set up shop in the 1930′s dance and acting school above the Broadway marquee. It is a magical place to work, replete with ghosts of bygone projectionists, world-class, double-proscenium acoustics, pop-corn machines, and enough ju-ju to drown a goo-goo.

Now, we are incredibly excited to announce— on Saturday, November 17th— the Columbus Theatre will reopen its doors for Revival! the grand opening benefit concert! A TON OF RAD LOCAL BANDS and PERSONS have come together, volunteering time and more to make this happen. We will play. The Moth-machine will fly.

Joining us will be: Brown Bird, Roz Raskin and the Rice Cakes, Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Vudu Sister, Alec K Redfearn, and a mystery guest to be announced later for all the right reasons.  There will be 2 (or 3) stages. Julian’s double-decker food truck omnibus and Nice Slice pizza will be vending outside, and Revival Brewing will be supplying sweet juices. The kick-off show will be RIDICULOUS and may include charity hair-cuts by band-members. We invite you to be a part of the rebirth of Columbus Theatre! Half of the profits from the concert will go to the ongoing restoration, and half will be donated to a non-profit called Atraves.   Atraves is a Providence-Based Nonprofit Working for Education, Health, and Development in Nicaragua.

Tickets are $20, and limited in number.  There are also ticket + signed poster tickets available in even more limited number.  Get them here.

Doors at 6. We can’t wait to see you. Get your tickets now, be a part of this extraordinarium.

Love,

Jeff, Ben, Jocie, Tyler, Mike, Moth-machine
The Low Anthem
Jon S. Berberian

Check out this acoustic session shot in Calgary when the band was on tour with City and Colour.  Thanks Welcome to the West!

The band will play a special show curated by Justin Townes Earle and also featuring Joe Pug at Pace University’s Michael Shimmel Center for the Arts in NYC on October 27th.  The show will feature artists’ original songs in the context of the continuing legacy of Woody Guthrie in his centennial celebration year.  Tickets are available now here.

We will be playing a one-off special FREE show in Boston on July 28th!  More details here.

Here is a video of “Matter of Time” from our friends at Live & Breathing.

Ben’s zoetrope (the Moth-machine) will be flown publicly for the first time on Thursday, May 3 in Jamestown, RI.  Like a wild stallion, this gorilla party-on-legs has been broken, leashed and given it’s shots.  It will be formally appearing as part of the Technocraft show at the Jamestown Arts Center.  The show features craft art that is based in tech…as the name suggests. A few band members will perform briefly. Luke Randall will be featuring many of his wonderful inventions.

The Hunger Games soundtrack, which includes our contribution, “Lover is Childlike,” is out today. You can get it here.

The band opened for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at SXSW and then joined them, Arcade Fire, Alejandro Escovedo, Eric Burdon, Tom Morello, Joe Ely and more to sing “This Land is Your Land.”

This Land is Your Land (SXSW) from Backstreets on Vimeo.

The band performed “School Days Over” from the 50th Anniversary Chieftain’s album, Voice of Ages, on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Today marks the release day for The Chieftain’s 50^th Anniversary record, Voice of Ages.  We were happy to join a great list of artists who collaborated with The Cheiftain’s and T Bone Burnett on this record including Bon Iver, Lisa Hannigan and the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  We recorded Ewan McColl’s song “School Days Over,” which you can see and hear here. We are also excited to announce we will be joining The Chieftain’s to perform the song when they hit The Late Show on March 13^th as well as Carnegie Hall on St. Paddy’s Day.

We recently recorded a soundtrack for an indie movie called Arcadia about a broken family on a road trip across the country to their new home. It premiered this month at the Berlin Film Festival and won a CRYSTAL BEAR in its category!  The soundtrack is self-engineered and was recorded in a week.  It consists of a few composed songs and harvested sections of epic improvised sessions.  It was a new process for us and we are very proud of the result!  We will keep you posted on when and how you can see and hear it.

The band was invited to work with T Bone Burnett on a song for The Hunger Games soundtrack and it will be released March 20th! You can pre-order from Amazon and iTunes now.

Happy Valentines lovers!! In Honor Of St. V we’ve put together a Trala-lala playist of some favorite love songs. In two parts.

XO, TLA

Mating Rituals from the Strange Colony pt. 1 (A Valentines Mix)

Mating Rituals from the Strange Colony pt. 2 (A Valentines Mix)

The video of the recording of “School Days Over” with The Chieftain’s has just premiered on the LA Times. Enjoy!