And though it tried to stand strong, Tarpits was blasted from its lofty position into submission on the docks.

After gathering itself, Tarpits figured it was best to try and blend in around the historic district.

But was eventually lured out of hiding by a siren's song, and found itself firmly in the clutches of this comely vixen:

Will Tarpits evade the mermaid's grasp?  Find out next week.

We stopped in to record stripped-down versions of the following tracks:

• Kate and Kelsey
• Oto the Bear
• So Many Ways to Die
• Cavaliers (har hum)

One commenter managed to track down the original Polish poem that inspired "Oto the Bear":

"Prosze panstwa, oto mis.
Mis jest bardzo grzeczny dzis,
Chetnie panstwu lape poda.
Nie chce podac?
A to szkoda."

Anywho, it was great fun to try a new approach to these tunes and we hope you enjoy. 

In other news, our dear disc Tarpits and Canyonlands continues its march across the planet Earth.  This week it has been spotted back in its hometown of Durham, N.C.

Stay tuned for more developments in bombi-land and don't forget to write.

- Bryan, James, and Daniel

 
The Tarpits and Canyonlands World Tour continues on its marry way. Today, our album finds itself far from home, visiting some famous U.S. Presidents.

Let us know if you want the World Tour to come through your town, and stay tuned for more stops!

Cheers,

Bryan, Daniel and James

Ten thousand thundering thank yous to everyone that came out to help us celebrate the release of our new record on Saturday!  We were honored to see so many of you there. 

For those that didn't get a chance or would like to have another look at the artwork, you may now view them here.  We do have limited editions prints of a few of the illustrations remaining, so be sure to check out our new store and snag one that matches your favorite song on the record before they all disappear. 

Speaking of which, we've heard some folks are having trouble finding out where to purchase a copy of the new disc.  For Triangle residents, here's where you can pick up a copy of Tarpits and Canyonlands:

Schoolkids (Raleigh)
Chaz's Bull City Records (Durham)
Offbeat Music (Durham)
CD Alley (Chapel Hill)

We advise other folks to grab it from iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, or, the best way to support the band, by ordering directly from our store, where your disc will come shipped with unique packaging.

In the meantime, have a look at the press section to hear what folks are saying about the record.  We also wanted to share with everyone Rick Cornell's thoughful article in The Independent Weekly about the latest developments for the band. 

Whew!  Thank you again everyone and stay tuned for more news to come...

Thank you so much for all the thoughts and concerns over the last few weeks–it means a lot to hear from you all! We mentioned an alternative release party and now it is time to reveal some details. You are hereby cordially invite to the Bombadil CD Listening Extravaganza: July 11th at Golden Belt in downtown Durham!

We are so excited for this event. Though we will be unable to perform as a band, this show will have things we always wanted to feature at a concert but for some reason were unable.

For starters, there will be artwork on display from the new record. We've talked before about how the album is a special collaboration with the Idiots' Books press (the record is a part of their monthly book series, with the packaging doubling as a fable inspired by the songs). This show will feature the fruits of that collaboration on display: one illustration to match every song on the record, plus artwork found elsewhere in the packaging as part of the fable that interperets the album as a whole. We hope you will be able to fall in love with Matthew and Robbi's creations as quickly as we did.

As far as music goes, the evening will feature live performances by two of our favorite bands: The Tender Fruit and Luego. After those sets, we will play the record for a communal listening of Tarpits and Canyonlands.


Meanwhile, James will be defending his honor on the Ping Pong table. You also might try to enter one of the raffles with various Bombadil memorabilia for prizes. At worst, everyone should at least win some free food: there will be free snacks provided by some of Durham's finest eateries. And there are more details to come! So to recap:


Saturday, July 11th @ Golden Belt, 7pm

-Artwork on display from the special Bombadil / IdiotsBooks collaboration
-Live performances by Luego and The Tender Fruit
-Free food from local eateries
-James, defending his honor on the Ping Pong table
-Free raffles featuring unique band memorabilia as prizes
-A casual listening of the new record
-More to come soon!

Admissions will be free. This album represents the culmination of years on the road, thousands of miles on the vans (RIP Mark III), and hundreds of shows, so we would be honored to have you with us to celebrate on this night. This record has been shaped and nurtured by your support, encouragement, and feedback and ultimately, would not have existed without all of you out there. Thank you for everything so far and hope to see you soon.


If you would like to order the record in advance, you may do so here.

Today we arrive with some bad news. As many of you have become aware, Daniel has been dealing with severe tendonitis in his hands since 2007. Things have gotten progressively worse and have reached a point where he cannot brush his teeth without feeling pain, much less perform with the rest of the band. As such we feel it's best to cancel all of the remaining shows on our schedule.


Needless to say, this brings us great sadness. We tried to limit Daniel's movements on stage, but it seems that even sitting in a chair and simply singing on stage was impeding his recovery. At the end of the day, we did not feel that it was in the artistic spirit of the band to continue and play shows without him.


It is not clear when we will be able to perform again--some doctors say that a 3 month break would suffice, while others forecast a 2-year recovery period. But in the meantime, we'll be writing new songs and keeping you up to date of our activities. We see this merely as a road bump on the long road that is this band, and as soon as Daniel is able to perform music again, we'll be visiting a town near you.


Our new record will still come out on July 7th, and you will be able to find it at a few select records stores, iTunes, eMusic, Amazon.com, and this very website. We are so excited to share it with the world and are exploring alternative ideas for some sort of release party. For now, we've put up two new songs on myspace: Oto the Bear and So Many Ways to Die. We are also now accepting pre-orders for the record here. Pre-orders will ship from Bombadil HQ here in Durham on July 1.


We are so grateful for the support everyone has shown over the years. Without your ears and encouragement none of this would have been possible. Stay in touch, and look out for more updates on the horizon!

-Bryan, James, Daniel, and Stuart

1) Everyone who buys a ticket to the show will receive 10% off of their next purchase at Lunchbox Records - a great locally owned and operated record store in Charlotte (1419-A Central Ave, (704) 331-0788, lunchboxrecords.com).

2) Everyone who buys a ticket will also be entered to win a $100 shopping spree at Lunchbox Records!

3) A portion of the night's proceeds will be donated to Kids First of the Carolinas, a really great local charity.

4) If you can't make it to the show, Stage-Cast, a new company based in NC, will be providing a live video stream of the show - available here. You can watch some videos from all the artists performing there now, and you can watch the show live on the day of. Also, portions of the show will be archived on the site in the near future.

We really hope you can join us tomorrow evening!