This past weekend was the anniversary of the famous “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” (and William Dawes), and we thought we’d take a break from our current recording project to give a quick update.  We’ll be releasing the bonus EP, William Dawes and Other Forgotten Gems, for purchase/download in the coming weeks (up to this point it’s only been available with the purchase of The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry).  The EP includes the song “Paul Revere“, and our good friend Doug Blair, who put together the artwork for The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry, has been working on an animated video for the track. Here’s a little teaser he sent me:

We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the video and on the release of the new EP.  If you don’t already have our latest album, The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry, and you’d like a copy, click the link below to jump to our online store and the bonus EP, along with the song “Paul Revere”, are included.  We’ve got the record in vinyl too  : )

CLICK HERE FOR THE ONLINE STORE

We’ll be on the road to southern Oregon this weekend with shows in Eugene on Friday night at Sam Bond’s and in Ashland at Alex’s on Saturday night.  If you live in the area, come out to the show and say hi – we’ll have a few burned copies of the new EP with us.

Have a great week and hope to see you soon,

Johnny

ps – Thanks again to the kind folks at “My Indie Life” who featured us in their latest episode -

I hope you’re all enjoying what has turned out to be a lovely month of March so far (at least here in the Northwest)…

We’ve been spending quite a bit of time in our home recording studios over the past few weeks and we’re looking forward to releasing more new music soon – we just released one of our latest demos, “Oh, Louise” as a free download on our website, and we’ll be playing another couple of new tunes for the first time on Friday at the Doug Fir here in Portland.  We freely admit it: we love playing new songs. It’s always fun when you’re trying something out for the first time in front of an audience, and we’re very much looking forward to this weekend of shows and trying out a couple of the newest songs.

I’m also happy to say that we just got a shipment of vinyl copies of our latest record, “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry”, and for those in the area…we’ll have copies with us at the shows this weekend. For those not in the area, we’ll ship it to you…they’re available on our online store, just click the link below : )

http://www.thedimes.com/store.html

I hope your week goes well and maybe we’ll see some of you this weekend? We’re at Doug Fir in Portland this Friday night (March 26th), and then off to Bend, OR on Saturday night – until then,

Johnny

Hi friends -

We’ll be taking part in a special benefit concert for Haiti this weekend (Sunday evening) at the Kennedy School here in Portland – the show starts at 7pm and was organized by our good friend (and sometimes bandmate) Mattie Kaiser.  I know it’s last minute notice, but if you live in the area we’d love to see you there – there is still tremendous need in Haiti, it’s a free show and 100% of donations from this show will go to Parters in Health.  And every little bit helps.  Here’s the official press release:

On January 24th at 7pm at the Kennedy School, Classical Revolution PDX and friends will perform a free benefit concert to raise funds for relief in Haiti. 100% of donations received will go to Partners in Health. Classical Revolution is delighted to be joined by Matt Sheehy, Opera Theater Oregon, The Dimes, Sophe Lux, Travis Dow, James Faretheewell and many other special guests for a very eclectic and fun night of chamber music.

A silent auction will occur during the performance, with products and services donated by local artists and businesses. Items for auction include event tickets, fine photography, haircuts, massages, and many of the performers are donating private lessons.

Briana Ratterman, a member of Classical Revolution, has been working around the clock to help with the search for her father, Walt Ratterman, who has been missing since the earthquake. Ratterman is CEO and co-founder of SunEnergy Power International. He was in Haiti working on a project to improve the delivery of energy to health care facilities run by Partners in Health. “Our thoughts and love are with Briana and her family,” says Mattie Kaiser, Executive Director of Classical Revolution PDX. “We found it fitting to donate to the incredible work that that Walt and Partners in Health do to contribute to a better life in Haiti.”

It’s hard to believe this year…and this decade…are almost over. For me, this was the decade of my 20s. I was 21 years old when I played a New Year’s Eve show with my college band in 1999. We closed with a cover of REM’s “End of the World As We Know It”.  Funny, looking back on it, that was true in so many ways, at least for me. It was a decade full of music, and this year was certainly no different.  Most of 2009 was consumed with finishing and releasing our new record, The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry, and it’s companion EP William Dawes and Other Forgotten Gems. But there were certainly plenty of other big changes and events this year – new friends, new bandmates, back to schools, back to jobs, marriages and even a couple of babies on the way.  It’s been an incredible year, one I’ll never forget, and I’m looking forward to what the new year…and the new decade…will bring.  We’ll be celebrating the New Year this Thursday night, playing a special New Year’s Eve show with our friends Weinland at the Mission Theater here in Portland.  The show starts at 9pm and we kick things off, so come early and say hi! (Click here for ticket info)

Have a great rest of the week – and if you don’t already have the new record, it’s now available on iTunes and on our website! See you soon and here’s to a safe and happy New Year -

Johnny

This drawing by Ben Franklin was a popular image in Boston during the months leading up to the Revolution – for the Sons of Liberty, a rebellious group of Bostonians who orchestrated the Boston Tea Party, it became their calling card and principle message, and it inspired a new nation. It also had a hand in inspiring our new record…

We’re excited to have released “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry” locally this past weekend (and a huge thanks to all who were able to make it out to the shows).  It’s been quite the year finishing up this album and we’re thrilled to finally have the chance to get it out to you…thank you for being patient with us : )

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the new record, click here to go to our online store – you’ll notice there are many options…you can get the new record instantly via digital download, or order the physical CD and get the instant digital download free – we’re especially excited to have the album available in vinyl, and some packages even include a little bonus B-sides EP of songs from the “King” sessions that aren’t on the full record and won’t be officially released for another few months…click the album cover below to go to the store and see for yourself:

Thanks again friends – hope you had a great weekend and we’ll see you soon -

Johnny

Hey all – hope your week is off to a smooth start.  It’s an exciting week for us in The Dimes camp as we’re having our first CD release shows this weekend for the new album.  We’ve been looking forward to this weekend for what feels like forever.  And, to add a little coincidence to it all, it just so happens that this week (today in fact) marks the 137th anniversary of the Great Boston Fire of 1872 – the fire, and the heroics of Boston Fire Chief John Damrell, are the subject and inspiration for the song “Damrell’s Fire”, which is the first track off the new record.

As for the story, the Great Fire of 1872 was certainly one for the books.  Historic Boston may very well have suffered the same fate the city of Chicago did just one year prior had it not been for Boston Fire Chief John Damrell.  Wooden roofs on structures built right along side each other, inadequate water supply in much of the city, together with a horse flu epidemic that kept the city’s fire engines from moving anywhere quickly seemed to have created the perfect storm in the winter of 1872.  Had it not been for John Damrell and the brave men of the BFD, historic Boston may have been left in ashes.  The song inspired by the story, “Damrell’s Fire”, is over in our new player on the blog page and up on our new myspace page, so feel free to listen – here’s the info again for the record release shows this weekend!

Friday, November 13th
Seattle Record Release Show
The Tractor Tavern
5213 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107-4809
9pm

Saturday, November 14th
Portland Record Release Shows
Mississippi Studios
3939 Mississippi Ave
Portland 97227
Early show: 7pm
Late show: 10pm

Have a great rest of the week and we hope to see you soon…maybe this weekend?

Johnny

We want to give you all an update into our world as of late… As you’ve probably heard by now, we’ve got a brand new record ready to release – The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry – a record about the people, places, and history around early day Boston. The songs are stories of abolition, women’s suffrage, famous artists, people and major events that have shaped our great nation.

We’ve been rehearsing like crazy lately, in preparation for next week’s record release shows, which will feature a few extra friends that will be sitting in to lend a hand. In fact, there’ll be a DOUBLE record release show on Saturday, November 14th at Mississippi Studios in Portland, where we’ll kick things off with an early, all ages and family friendly show at 7pm, that’ll be more intimate and acoustic feeling. Then at 9:30pm, we’ll give folks a no-holds-barred, full band performance that is sure to end in a sweaty mess of fun.

I honestly can’t explain enough how excited we all are to be finished with the record and to finally be able to share it with all of you. It’s been a ton of work in the making, so you and all your friends should come out and celebrate with us and enjoy one hell of a party!

To tide you over a bit, we’re giving you a free song that you can download. The song is from the new record and is titled, “Celia’s Garden.”

Or if big clickable images scare you… you can click on this link to download the song too:

+ http://t.opsp.in/Vv6

Also, here’s a nice little review of the record that came in today from music blog, Tuneraker.com over in Europe:

+ http://www.tuneraker.com/index.php/music-features/the-dimes-the-king-can-drink-the-harbour-dry/

Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you in Seattle or Portland next week!

- Ryan Johnston

“These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.” – Abigail Adams

On October 19th, 1781 – almost 230 years ago today – British troops under the command of General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, all but ending the war for American Independence.  Cornwallis was so ashamed at his defeat that he didn’t even attend the surrender, claiming he was ill and sending a subordinate to deliver his sword instead – no matter, General Washington and the Americans (with a great deal of help from the French) had finally won their freedom and as the British band played “The World Turned Upside Down” it must have truly seemed so.

Granted, the new record is about Boston and this didn’t happen in Boston, but it all certainly started there and it seemed appropriate to post…and I’m sure there was quite the celebration in Boston…

Here’s hoping you have a great week and we’ll hopefully see you soon…for those in Seattle and Portland, don’t forget the CD release shows are coming up – Nov. 13th in Seattle @ the Tractor Tavern and Nov. 14th in Portland @ Mississippi Studios!

See you then,

Johnny

We’re thrilled to announce the release of our new record, “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry”, with a local CD release show scheduled for Saturday, November 14th at Mississippi Studios here in Portland and an official national release to follow. The record will feature 12 songs, each with their own ties to historic Boston, MA (hometown of our own Pierre Kaiser) -

We’ll be playing two shows at Mississippi Studios that Saturday (Nov. 14th), with a special all ages acoustic show in the evening and a full show (with some very special guest appearances) later that night – tickets for both shows are available on the Mississippi Studios site…

CD release shows are also on the books for Seattle, Eugene and Ashland as well – just click the shows link for more info.  We can’t wait to get the new record out to you – in the meantime, you can find several demos and acoustic versions of songs from the upcoming record here on the site (see the new music player towards the top)…

Hope to see you all soon -

Johnny

(NOTE: if you can’t see the above video, click here)

Hey all – here’s the second of two video blogs from our acoustic rehearsal a few weeks back. Many thanks to our friend Ryan for the camera work on these… (in case you missed it, free to check out the Liberator video blog here).  Both songs will be on our upcoming album, “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry“, which is due out later in the summer.

I hope your week is going well so far – it’s been a nice one here in Portland, though the sun seems to have left us again today. But it’s supposed to be a great weekend, and one that we’re all looking forward to in the Dimes camp – we’ll be opening for the always fantastic Clumsy Lovers at the Doug Fir Lounge here in Portland on Friday night, and again at the newly reopened Crocodile in Seattle on Saturday night. I’m also excited to say our dear friend Ehren Ebbage will be rejoining us with his lap steel for these shows after a few months on the road. These are going to be fun shows for sure…

Have a great rest of the week y’all – we’ll see you soon -

Johnny