Okkervil River re-ups tour dates, appears on soundtrack

You could call the members of Okkervil River "a band." You could call them purveyors of music for people with "ears" and "brains" and occasionally "hearts (black and/or blood-red)." Maybe you could even say they're nearly-tireless touring machines. The one thing you can't call them, however, is stingy.

In the last 12 months, the band has toured the U.S. and Europe twice, plus Australia, plus released a full-length album and a free EP. But this news update is not about the past—it's about the rosy and road-filled future.

Besides the impending (Sept. 9) release of The Stand Ins, Okkervil recently amended a batch of previously announced tour dates, adding a few European festivals and friendly, raucous visits to some oft-overlooked college towns like Wilmington, N.C., a.k.a. the home of Dawson's Creek, where the band will play the curious (and, let's just be honest here, cool) laundromat/restaurant/bar known as the Soapbox Laundro Lounge.

Eager fans can get a taste of the new album on iTunes, where "Lost Coastlines" is ready for sailing/downloading. The highly hummable, banjo-accented tune is a duet between Okkervil lead singer Will Sheff and Shearwater frontman (and now-former Okkervil River member) Jonathan Meiburg.

And (deep breath), finally, the new, hotly-touted, Craigslist-love-story independent film In Search of a Midnight Kiss contains a bevy of songs from the two Austin-based bands, including three from the (sky-highly recommended) Shearwater album Winged Life, an Okkervil song ("Lines") only released on a CD that came with volume 4 of the in-depth, slightly wacky bookazine YETI, and an unreleased song called "Mermaid."

Will Sheff recently explained it all in a posting on the band's message board:

"My friend Alex Holdridge made that movie ... I've known Alex from waaaaaay back in the Austin days and I think he might have been one of the earliest Okkervil fans... I sent him a CD of total rough mixes of song we'd recorded just for fun way back in January '06 the sneaky bastard put two of them into his edit without telling me (along with a whole lot of Shearwater stuff). Anyway, wish I could say we made money from the song usage but that whole project is financed on a wing and a prayer, etc... and "Mermaid" is actually a total rough mix I NEVER thought would see the light of day, but a song I love and have been saving for awhile."

Seriously, have you ever met a more generous band?

(Revised) dates:

August

2 - Chicago, Ill. @ Lollapalooza
7 - Oslo, Norway @ Øya Festival
8 - Gothenburg, Sweden @ Way Out West Fstival
9 - Haldern, Germany @ Haldern Pop Festival
10 - Urbino, Italy @ Frequenze Disturbate Festival

September
12 - Lawrence, Kan. @ The Bottleneck
13 - Omaha, Neb. @ Slowdown
14 - Madison, Wis. @ Barrymore Theater
15 - Fargo, N.D. @ Aquarium
17 - Seattle, Wash. @ The Showbox
18 - Vancouver, BC @ Richards on Richards
19 - Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
20 - Eugene, Ore. @ McDonald Theatre

21 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Treasure Island Festival
23 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Henry Fonda Theatre
24 - Solana Beach, Calif. @ Belly Up Tavern
25 - Tempe, Ariz. @ Clubhouse

26 - Tucson, Ariz. @ Club Congress
28 - Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits Festival
30 - New Orleans, La. @ The Republic

October
1 - Birmingham, Ala. @ Workplay
2 - Athens, Ga. @ 40 Watt Club
3 - Wilmington, N.C. @ Soapbox Laundro Lounge

4 - Richmond, Va. @ The National
6 - New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
7 - New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
8 - Northampton, Mass. @ Pearl Street
9 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
10 - Buffalo, N.Y. @ Tralf Music Hall
11 - Montreal, QC @ Les Saints
12 - Toronto, Ont. @ Phoenix
14 - Chicago, Ill. @ Metro

27 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Loppen

November
3 - Paris, France @ L'Alhambra

4 - Brugge, Belgium @ Cactus

5 - Norwich, England @ Waterfront
6 - Manchester, England @ Academy
7 - Dublin, Ireland @ Academy
9 - Glasgow, Scotland @ Oran Mor
10 - Wolverhampton, England @ Wulfrun
11 - London, England @ Shepherd's Bush Empire
12 - Brighton, England @ Concorde 2

14 - Amsterdam, Neth. @ Melkweg

15 - Hamburg, Germany @ Knust

17 - Berlin, Germany @ Postbahnhof

18 - Munich, Germany @ Registratur

19 - Milan, Italy @ Magazzini Generali

20 - Rome, Italy @ Circolo Degli Artisti

21 - Bologna, Italy @ Estragon

22 - Vienna, Austria @ Blue Bird Festival