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

Happy New Year! Tonight the ball drops in Times Square on one of the best years I can remember – we started the year having just released “The Silent Generation” and we end it wrapping up work on our second full length record and having just released an EP of what’s to come in the “New England EP”.

‘08 was a year of politics in this country – I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. It was a year of crazy ups and downs – from $4 a gallon gasoline to stock market crashes – a year where I had the chance to go to Italy and experience an incredible art and culture…and climb castle towers. It was a year of writing songs, almost 30 songs (that I’ll admit to), all surrounding the history and people of an amazing place called Boston. It was a year of new instruments, new beards, new friends and old friends…

Every year has it’s up and downs, but, for me anyway, 2008 had many more ups than it did downs. If you all get a chance to reflect on the year a bit, let us know what you’ll remember most about 2008. Happy New Year!

The Dimes – Auld Lang Syne (click to listen)

Johnny