Pages tagged “thao”

Click above to watch a live performance of "Bag of Hammers" from Thao with the Get Down Stay Down 's album We Brave Bee Stings and All, out now on Kill Rock Stars.

Fresh off her travels with Xiu Xiu , Thao Nguyen and her Get Down Stay Down have signed on for the rest of the spring with Rilo Kiley.

The 23-year-old Michael J. Fox-loving Thao will be play in most of North America, Canada and Europe through the middle of June, promising smart, folk-pop for all.

MP3: Thao - ”Bag of Hammers”

Dates:

April
10 - Pomona College @ Claremont, Calif.
11 - Echo @ Los Angeles, Calif.
12 - Rasputin @ Berkeley, Calif.
12 - Bottom of the Hill @ San Francisco, Calif.
14 - Blue Lamp @ Sacramento, Calif.
15 - Someday Lounge @ Portland, Ore.
19 - The College of William & Mary @ Williamsburg, Va.

May
1 - Masonic Temple @ Brooklyn, N.Y.
3 - Cyprus Avenue @ Cork, Ireland
4 - Crawdaddy @ Dublin, Ireland
6 - Barfly @ Liverpool, England
7 - Nice and Sleazy @ Glasgow, Scotland
8 - The Social @ Nottingham, England
9 - The Luminaire @ London, England
10 - Barfly @ Brighton, England
12 - Paradiso @ Amsterdam, Netherlands
13 - Hafen @ Offenbach, Germany
14 - Sudstadt @ Munich, Germany
15 - Schokoladen @ Berlin, Germany
16 - Panam @ Leipzig, Germany
19 - La Bataclan @ Paris, France
20 - Locomotiv @ Bologna, Italy
21 - Le Baron @ Paris, France
22 - Rough Trade @ London, England
22 - Water Rats @ London, England
26 - Sasquatch! Festival @ George, Wash.
28 - Phoenix Theatre @ Toronto, Ontario
30 - Palladium @ Worcester, Mass.
31 - Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel @ Providence, R.I.

June
1 - Calvin Theater @ Northampton, Mass.
2 - Terminal 5 @ New York, N.Y.
3 - Terminal 5 @ New York, N.Y.
5 - Electric Factory @ Philadelphia, Pa.
6 - 9:30 Club @ Washington, D.C.
7 - Rams Head Live! @ Baltimore, Md.
8 - Toad’s Place @ Richmond, Va.
10 - The NorVa @ Norfolk, Va.
11 - Orange Peel @ Asheville, N.C.
12 - Charleston Music Farm @ Charleston, S.C.
15 - Palladium @ Dallas, Texas
16 - Stubb’s Bar-B-Q @ Austin, Texas

Related links:
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down on MySpace
KillRockStars.com
YouTube: ”Bag of Hammers”

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Thao Nguyen has mixed feelings about rock ‘n’ roll tours.

“I think you have to be wired for [touring], because it makes no sense. You drive 10 hours, play for 45 minutes, you get back in the car, and you do it again,” Nguyen told Paste in our 4 to Watch spotlight piece on her.

But...

“At the end of the day, the only reason you do it is because you love those 45 minutes when you get to be on stage,” Nguyen concluded.

Fans all across the U.S.A. (and Canada too) will be thanking Nguyen for spreading that love, as she and The Get Down Stay Down take to the North American highways for a month-long tour. They’ll play support for Kill Rock Stars labelmates Xiu Xiu, flooding small clubs from Brooklyn to Ames, Iowa with art-folk-pop whimsy. It’s certainly going to require a lot of driving, but those magical minutes of performance time are surely worth chasing.

She braves gas prices and all:

March
10 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ Urban Lounge
11 - Denver, Colo. @ Hi Dive
13 - Ames, Iowa @ Maintenance Shop
14 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ Triple Rock Social Club
15 - Chicago, Ill. @ Reggies
16 - Mount Pleasant, Mich. @ Rubble's Bar
17 - Toronto, Ontario @ Sneaky Dee's
18 - Ottawa, Ontario @ Babylon Nightclub
19 - Montreal, Quebec @ La Sala Rossa
20 - Bennington, Vt. @ Bennington College
21 - Boston, Mass. @ Museum of Fine Arts
22 - Annandale, N.Y. @ Smog, Bard College
24 - Purchase, N.Y. @ SUNY Student Center
23 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
25 - Bronx, N.Y. @ Fordham University
26 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unitarian Church
27 - Washington D.C. @ Black Cat
28 - Columbus, Ohio @ Skully's Music-Diner
29 - Newport, Ky. @ Southgate House
31 - St. Louis, Mo. @ Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center

April
1 - Springfield, Mo. @ Randy Bacon Gallery
2 - Oklahoma City, Okla. @ Conservatory
3 - Fort Worth, Texas @ Lola's
4 - Houston, Texas @ Orange Show Center
5 - Austin, Texas @ Mohawk
7 - Santa Fe, N.M. @ College of Santa Fe Sub
8 - Phoenix, Ariz. @ Rhythm Room
11 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Echo
12 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Bottom of the Hill

Related links:
Thao on MySpace
KillRockStars.com
Thao's Daytrotter session

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Hometown: Falls Church, Va.
Fun fact: The title for Nguyen’s European single, “Bag of Hammers,” was snatched from an Inside the Actor’s Studio episode featuring Michael J. Fox.
Why she's worth watching: After Nguyen contributed a track to the Kill Rock Stars compilation The Sound the Hare Heard, label founder Slim Moon asked to manage her, setting her up with producer Tucker Martine.
For fans of: Feist, Modest Mouse, Laura Veirs

Thao Nguyen’s scrappy folksongs—a blend of acoustic strums and brainy lyrics—have already earned the 23-year-old songwriter heaps of critical acclaim. She’s still waiting for the fallout: “You know when you get that feeling, like something’s coming? I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but it’s gonna be bad,” Nguyen laughs.

Nguyen grew up in the strip-mall-addled suburbs of Washington, D.C., fleeing for San Francisco promptly after finishing school. “I hate Northern Virginia,” she says. “The objective was to get out as soon as possible.” She released her debut LP, Like the Linen, in 2005 while still an undergraduate at The College of William and Mary; her second full-length, We Brave Bee Stings and All, explores the awkward, post-collegiate shift into adulthood. “It’s all incredibly autobiographical,” Nguyen says. “It was a transitional time in my life, having just graduated, trying to figure out how to interact in the world as an adult, with people. It was the first time I was really living on my own.”

Nguyen has toured extensively with her band, The Get Down Stay Down, including a short stint opening for the Indigo Girls. “I think you have to be wired for [touring], because it makes no sense. You drive 10 hours, play for 45 minutes, you get back in the car, and you do it again,” Nguyen sighs. “But we all love it. There’s a transience to it that’s incredibly interesting. You know where you have to be the next day and when you have to be there, but everything else is up in the air. At the end of the day, the only reason you do it is because you love those 45 minutes when you get to be on stage.”