The Whigs announce new record, tour

You may think that the real news here is that Athens, Ga. trio, The Whigs, has announced its new album, Mission Control, will drop Jan. 22, 2008, courtesy of ATO Records, as well as a two-month tour alongside ex-Trucker Jason Isbell and Merge’s The Broken West.

But what you may have missed is that during a “secret” tour kick-off show at Athens dive Tasty World, Blues Traveler frontman and harmonica impresario John Popper joined the band onstage for an encore song. More importantly, Popper was wearing an Aces Bar & Grille t-shirt.

(WTF, mates? Does this mean Popper hangs out at Aces, the neighborhood bar down the street from my house? Will he play “Hook” at next week’s trivia night? Wasn’t the Weather Channel featured prominently in the video for “Hook?”)

But, um, yeah, The Whigs. Catch them on tour during the remainder of ’07, then look for Mission Control, the Rob Schnapf-produced (Beck, Elliott Smith) follow-up to 2006’s excellent Give ‘Em All a Big Fat Lip. Oh, and this time the boys traded the cozy confines of self-recording in the basement of a antebellum frat house for the plush studio home known as Sunset Sound in L.A. Nice!

The Whigs w/ John Popper on YouTube:

Dates:

October:
9: Charlottesville, Va. - Satellite Ballroom*
10: New York, N.Y. - Bowery Ballroom*
11: Northhamton, Mass. - Iron Horse*
13: Burlington, Vt. - Higher Ground*
14: Baltimore, Md. – Fletchers*
16: State College, Pa. - Lulu's Nightspot*
17: Buffalo, N.Y. - The Mohawk*
18: Columbus, Ohio - The Basement*
19: Lexington, Ky. - The Dame*
20: Atlanta, Ga. - The Variety Playhouse*
23: Knoxville, Tenn. - World Grotto#
24: Asheville, N.C. - Grey Eagle Tavern#
25: Chapel Hill, N.C. - Local 506#
26: Philadelphia, Pa. – Khyber#
27: Washington, DC. - Rock and Roll Hotel#
30: Nashville, Tenn. - The Exit / In#
31: Cincinnati, Ohio - 20th Century Theatre#

November:
1: Indianapolis, Ind.- Birdy’s#
2: Chicago, Ill. – Schubas#
3: Minneapolis, Minn. - 7th Street#

* - w/ Jason Isbell
# - w/ The Broken West

Related links:
The Whigs on MySpace
ATORecords.com
Paste: Blues Traveler covers itself on new album