News

August 25, 2002

The National Means Quality

...which is another way of saying that they take a long time to get things done. Recording sessions for the follow-up to their self-titled debut continue in the fashion of many good things you wouldn't want to live without, things like consumer capitalism and the weather. The sessions have moved from a glamorous location (the penthouse of the Puck Building in Soho) to a charming and rustic one (an 18th century vintage farmhouse in the Connecticut suburbs). (Pictured, at right, is drummer Bryan Devendorf at the Puck, either making phat beats, aiding producer Nick Lloyd in mixing a song, or playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on the Game Boy Advance.) Wrap-up is currently scheduled for the end of September. What is the saying? "All good things must wait." Something like that...

The band has also announced a bunch of shows, including a few dates in Brooklyn with our friends in the bands Elk City and Lansing-Dreiden, and another handful of dates with our buddy Dan Bern. [LINK TO COME] Click here for details.

To tide you over and tempt you out of the house, we've posted live video of The National doing an otherwise unreleased track called "All the Wine." It's available in three formats (Real Video, Quicktime, and Windows Media). See it [LINK TO COME] here. It's a rager. Meanwhile, AmericanMary.com is currently featuring 7 vault recordings -- 4 track and 8 track stuff that may never see the light of day outside of the MP3 format, including a bunch of songs that don't appear on the band's debut and won't appear on the follow-up. Enjoy.


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