Well hello, February. Hearts, groundhogs, dead presidents, and black history to all of you out there in internet land.

Are you thrifty? Well, check this out…The Gary is on sale through the month of February. Downloads on their Bandcamp page are 1/2 off, which means the EPs are $2.50 and the LP is $4.00. If you’ve been thinking about securing some of these fine documents for your own enjoyment, now is the time to pounce. Proceeds go to the Cedar Fever coffers, which we will use to fund the next album by The G, or to provide spirits for them to imbibe during the recording of the remainder of the next album. Either way, it’s a worthy cause.

Machete! Machete! We’ll Go Machete! Paul, Chris, Rachel, and John will be playing at Trailer Space Records on Saturday Feb. 4th. Cabra, Aetherhawk, & Honey & Salt will be playing, too. It is our understanding that this will be the final Honey & Salt show, so come see ‘em, especially if you’re into bands like Faroquet or Medications. If you’ve never been to a Trailer Space show, we urge you to come check it out. The beer flows freely and the good times roll.

Year of the Dragon, mofos!!!! While many good things happened to Cedar Fever bands during 2011, all are glad to put the Year of the Bunny to rest. Begone, bunny. It’s the year of the MF’n DRAGON, and we can think of no better year to get things done than this one.

We’ll Go Machete have received accolades for their Strong Drunk Hands LP, and have caught the attention of Stressed Sumo Records in the UK, who will be releasing WGM’s LP and debut EP in a single volume titled Six Plus Ten. Exciting shit, no? There’s some rumbling about a tour across the pond, as well. And, hey…check this out- their drummer Rachel has been featured in Drum! magazine and did some writing for Tom Tom magazine.

Killdeer are back in the saddle again. They debuted their new drummer Brian at their Free Week show in early January, and now it’s no-holds-barred for the Killdeer crew. New songs are flowing, and quite nicely. Get back into that studio, Killdeer!

The Gary have recorded the first half of their new LP at the Echo Lab in lovely Argyle TX, and will be returning to the Lab to record the other half with the wonderful, talented, and gentlemanly Matthew Barnhart, who also plays in  Tre Orsi. Matt and The Gary had a great time working together last year (some undue control-room flatulence aside), and we look forward to hearing what happens during round two. The Gary will also do some puttering around the US, and will be touring Europe later in the year with Croatia’s Joe 4.

All three bands will be playing during SXSW, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We don’t even want to think about SXSW right now.

Killdeer’s first release “Summer Panic” is now available on Bandcamp. You should check it out and stick it in your pop hole!

We’ll Go Machete’s second release “Strong Drunk Hands” is also on that camp thing. Use it for self defense and insect repellent!

http://killdeeratx.bandcamp.com/album/summer-panic
http://gomachete.bandcamp.com/album/strong-drunk-hands

The Gary will be playing a few shows in the month of April. Go say hi to them if they’re in your area.

April 14- Hole In The Wall, Austin TX w/La Snacks, Calm Blue Sea, Zoltars

April 22- Murphys, Memphis TN w/Azalia Snail, Dragoon (ex-Trusty & Grifters folks)

April 23- The Hideout, Chicago Il w/Stnnng!,  MVF (Martha’s Vineyard Ferries- members of Shellac, The New Year)

April 24- High Noon Saloon, Madison WI w/Stnnng!, Wereworm, and  MVF

April 25- Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI w/Wereworm, MVF

April 26- Quencher’s, Chicago Il w/Wereworm, MVF

Put your ear to the ground. Do you hear that rumbling sound? That’s the sound of countless indie musicians pointing their wagons toward our fair city for this year’s SXSW. Yonder, the pasty-skinned and bedheaded hordes. We hope you enjoy your stay. Should you want to see one of our bands, they will be playing at various day/night parties-

The Gary- Thursday 3/17  4:00pm Slab By Slab Fest with We’ll Go Machete, Half Mile Fox Fur, Recide, & more. Saturday 3/19 around midnight at Trailer Space Records for the PRF Showcase.

We’ll Go Machete- Thursday 3/17  5:00pm Slab By Slab Fest with The Gary, Half Mile Fox Fur, Recide, & more. Friday 3/18 around 10:00pm at Trailer Space Records for the PRF Showcase.

Killdeer- Saturday 3/19 at Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive In, 2326 E. Cesar Chavez.   Also playing: Appleseed Cast, ST37,  My Education, and more.

Golden Gram won’t be at SXSW this year, but we encourage you to take some time out and explore his new project Get Better.

Our friend Henna Chou is putting on her annual Leisure Tourniquet showcase during SXSW. This year it will be at the Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive In on 2326 E. Cesar Chavez, and will feature visual installations, as well as the plethora of great musical acts, including our own Killdeer. This will be Leisure Tourniquet’s fourth year, and by the looks of things, it’ll be the best one yet.

Enough about SXSW. Let’s talk about bands who make their home on our fair moniker, like The Gary. Their 6 song EP called El Camino has been released and been well-received by a few folks. Will these three men spend the rest of the year resting on their laurels? No. Hell no. They’ll be hitting the road in April to play some shows with Martha’s Vinyard Ferries, a new band featuring Bob Weston of Shellac/Mission Of Burma/Volcano Suns fame and Chris Brokaw of Codeine/Come/The New Year notoriety. STNNNG and Wereworm will also be there.

We’ll Go Machete have written a new batch of songs and will be heading into the studio in May. Based on what we’ve heard from their recent live shows, this new album will be pretty intense. It’ll be their first release with new drummer Rachel, who also plays with Many Birthdays and Ume.

We love Killdeer!!! They spent a weekend at Ohm recently and recorded their debut EP, out on Cedar Fever this Spring. We’ve been listening to these new songs here at Cedar Fever HQ over and over again, and believe they may be the best band in the world. That’s right, we said it.

So…

The Gary will be ringing in 2011 with a 6 song EP called El Camino. It was recorded up in Chicago by Steve Albini and mastered by Bob Weston. With these gentlemen at the helm, you know it is sure to be a handsome document. It is being pressed as we speak, and it will be available on vinyl and download in January.

Drummer extraordinaire  and all-around badass Rachel Fuhrer (Many Birthdays, Spellcaster) has joined We’ll Go Machete. They are turning out a bunch of new material, and we can expect a new one from them in the not-so-distant future.

Have you heard Killdeer? This band features Mari Pool (Sad Like Crazy), Chris May (We’ll Go Machete), and Stephanie Layton (Rossi Mission). We would describe them as a dark wall of pop noise, but we’ll let you be the judge. They’re playing in Austin at Beerland on January 1st, with The Gary. They’ll be ducking into the studio soon and releasing things on our fair moniker.

That is all, for now.