Better Than Ezra Options

[J.Sax]

This was just posted yesterday on BTE's MySpace:

EVERY NEW BEGINNING IS ANOTHER BEGINNING'S END

Fans and friends, we want to let you know that after 12 great years with Better Than Ezra, Travis McNabb is moving on to pursue other opportunities in music. You probably are aware that Travis has been touring with Sugarland for the past year and a half. We will miss Travis dearly and wish him nothing but success and happiness in the years to come. He will remain a close friend of the band and will continue to serve on the board of the band’s charity – The Better Than Ezra Foundation. Travis’ last show with the band will be this Sunday in Metairie.

That said, it is with great excitement that we welcome Michael Jerome to the band. We've been friends with Michael for awhile and have been a fan of his drumming. Michael has toured with the likes of Richard Thompson, John Cale, and New Orleans' own, Pleasure Club. He brings with him a great musical sensibility and an explosive live show.
In May Better Than Ezra will release our seventh studio album, Paper Empire. We are thrilled with how it sounds and can't wait for you to hear it. Looking forward to touring with new music, new gags and of course, new dance moves! Thanks so much for all your support over the years…many more to come!

See you on the road in '09!
Kevin and Tom

So, finally, a new album in May! But Travis left the band and they got a new drummer (again). Shitty.

[Ian]

Could be worse. They could be calling it quites, which was a rumor for awhile there. well maybe they will be touring with LIVe after all this summer.

[J.Sax]

New single - "Absolutely Still"!

Here it is:
http://wezb.radiotown.com/ondemand/media/a.../bteabstill.mp3

This gray room, this bunker
The air is humming us to sleep
While outside the city hurries
The endless worries are out of reach

Promise me we'll never leave this room
A million years from now would be too soon

The world is spinning, turning day to night
And my thoughts are running at the speed of light
Got an empty feeling that I never want to fill
Absolutely still
I've waited longer 'cause I needed proof
That every door I shut's leading me to you
And there's a nervous feeling that I never want to kill
Absolutely still

We were running from the same noise
We were stuck in the same pursuit
Now the door's locked and I find that
This dizzy madness is bleeding through

Promise me you'll never leave this room
A million years from now would be too soon

'Cause the world is spinning, turning day to night
And my thoughts are running at the speed of light
Got an empty feeling that I never want to fill
Absolutely still
I've waited longer 'cause I needed proof
That every door I shut's leading me to you
And there's a nervous feeling that I never want to kill
Absolutely still

So, promise me you'll never leave this room
A million years from now would be too soon

The world is spinning, turning day to night
And my thoughts are running at the speed of light
Got an empty feeling that I never want to fill
Absolutely still
I've waited longer 'cause I needed proof
That every door I shut's leading me to you
And there's a nervous feeling that I never want to kill
Absolutely still

I'll go anywhere you want tonight
'Cause my head is spinning like a satellite
I got a restless feeling that i never want to fill
Absolutely still

This post has been edited by J.Sax: Mar 6 2009, 3:21 am

[SJN1279]

I'm actually a bit disappointed in the single, its a huge step down from A Lifetime on first listen. That song was amazingly good and hard to live up to though.

[SJN1279]

I'm actually a bit disappointed in the single, its a huge step down from A Lifetime on first listen. That song was amazingly good and hard to live up to though.

The song is growing on me a bit....

[J.Sax]

I like it! "A Lifetime" was just perfect (though I do prefer the version on Closer). But this is good...no pun intended. Oh, I'm funny.

[CRH]

I like it! "A Lifetime" was just perfect (though I do prefer the version on Closer). But this is good...no pun intended. Oh, I'm funny.

Well played, sir.

I doubt the Live/BTE tour is a real possibility. Just got tickets for BTE at the Trocadero in Philly in June. Unless it is later on, but I'm pretty sure their tour dates go pretty deep into the summer.

Absolutely Still is catchy, but not huge to me. When Before the Robots leaked, I allowed myself to listen to one song, and chose "Burned" because it was the album opener. The intro to that song let me know that the album was going to be great. With Absolutely Still, I'm not getting a definitive feeling on the album, however the guys have never done a single thing to prove that the album would be anything other than great.

Travis leaving was hard to take. In a band of 3 guys, its really hard to see someone go. The man had a feel on drums that fit that band perfectly. I know he wasn't their original drummer, but he was a guy who defined the character of a lot of their songs (breakdown of Southern Thing?) and their live performance (the bridge of "Lifetime?"). But let's rock with MJM.

[SJN1279]

Well played, sir.

I doubt the Live/BTE tour is a real possibility. Just got tickets for BTE at the Trocadero in Philly in June. Unless it is later on, but I'm pretty sure their tour dates go pretty deep into the summer.

Absolutely Still is catchy, but not huge to me. When Before the Robots leaked, I allowed myself to listen to one song, and chose "Burned" because it was the album opener. The intro to that song let me know that the album was going to be great. With Absolutely Still, I'm not getting a definitive feeling on the album, however the guys have never done a single thing to prove that the album would be anything other than great.

Travis leaving was hard to take. In a band of 3 guys, its really hard to see someone go. The man had a feel on drums that fit that band perfectly. I know he wasn't their original drummer, but he was a guy who defined the character of a lot of their songs (breakdown of Southern Thing?) and their live performance (the bridge of "Lifetime?"). But let's rock with MJM.

Actually Better Than Ezra only has two dates in July. I could see them touring with Live this summer.

Real possibilities:

Live/Collective Soul/Better Than Ezra
Live/Collective Soul/Tonic

Unless Counting Crows want a summer tour now that they're indie. Blues Traveler looks a bit booked for 2009.

[J.Sax]

Regardless of if any of the aforementioned bands (namely LIVE, CS and BTE--my faves!) tour together this summer, I hope they all hit up Columbus! (Or even Cleveland or another city within a few hours).

BTE is taking requests for other cities on their forums to fill up the empty dates. I hope to see them as it's been almost two years now.

I'd also love to catch both LIVE and CS this summer, with LIVE's set list change and both bands planning on having new albums out this year.

EDIT: Just saw that Toad the Wet Sprocket is hitting Columbus in May at the LC! I haven't seen them since 2007 either! Hells yeah!

This post has been edited by J.Sax: Mar 28 2009, 7:18 pm

[SJN1279]

EDIT: Just saw that Toad the Wet Sprocket is hitting Columbus in May at the LC! I haven't seen them since 2007 either! Hells yeah!

How is their show? I always wanted to see them.

[J.Sax]

How is their show? I always wanted to see them.

I've only seen them the one time, but I remember it being a pretty good show. I'm a huge fan of both their music and Glen's other endeavors. They played the hits along with some other fan favorites and some of Glen's solo songs. The crowd was into it as I don't really think anybody else would go to a show of theirs unless they were a fan of the band.

I just dug out the set list from that show. It was actually in 2006, not 2007, so I guess the upcoming show really is overdue!

1. Something's Always Wrong
2. Whatever I Fear
3. Fly from Heaven
4. Windmills
5. Dam Would Break
6. All I Want
7. Nightingale Song
8. Good Intentions
9. Come Back Down
10. Easier [Glen Solo]
11. Waiting [Glen Solo]
12. Everything But You [Full Band]
13. Way Away
14. Inside
15. Hold Her Down
16. Brother
17. Amnesia
18. Fall Down
19. Encore: Crazy Life
20. Encore: Walk On the Ocean

The band has been touring together for years now. I'm surprised they haven't yet officially gotten back together and started work on a new album. I love Glen's solo work, but the music the band did as a whole is much better, in my opinion.

This post has been edited by J.Sax: Mar 30 2009, 3:42 am

[J.Sax]

The Cleveland Leader has an article up on Paper Empire which you can read here:
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/9699

Of interest is the track list!

1. Absolutely Still
2. Turn Up the Bright Lights
3. Just One Day
4. The Loveless
5. All In
6. Fit
7. Hell No!
8. Hey Love
9. Nightclubbing
10. Black Light
11. Wounded
12. I Just Knew

I guess those supposed solo tracks on Kevin's MySpace (that I posted in the original thread in the off-topic forum) were actually BTE tracks. Every once in a while he would re-post them slightly remixed...can't wait to see how they turned out for the final album! They were all pretty good tracks!

[J.Sax]

"Just One Day"!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/id0y2n0wmr1/...20One%20Day.mp3

This post has been edited by J.Sax: Apr 15 2009, 3:54 pm

[CRH]

"Just One Day"!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/id0y2n0wmr1/...20One%20Day.mp3

Woah where did this come from? Listening to it now.

I'm actually pretty happy to see that all of those songs Kevin was posting are going to be on this album. How about May gets here now.

[J.Sax]

Woah where did this come from? Listening to it now.

I'm actually pretty happy to see that all of those songs Kevin was posting are going to be on this album. How about May gets here now.

It's streaming on EW.com. It's embedded into a flash file, but I'm good.