First Aid Kit Start US Tour @ Webster Hall on March 28th / US TV Debut on Conan on April 16th

Stockholm, Sweden's First Aid Kit are confirmed to make their U.S. television debut April 16th on Conan, in support of their acclaimed sophomore album The Lion's Roar, which was released January 24th via Wichita Recordings.

Leading up to the performance, First Aid Kit will travel cross-country on their North American headlining tour, which begins on March 28th at Webster Hall in New York, NY and wraps up on April 18th at Slim's in San Francisco, CA. The tour includes multiple sold out dates - Washington, DC, Toronto, ON, Chicago, IL, Minneapolis, MN, and Seattle, WA - as well as shows in Boston, MA and Portland, OR that have been upgraded to larger venues due to demand. First Aid Kit will also perform at the Coachella Music and Arts festival on April 15th and 22nd, and are confirmed to support Wild Flag at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, CA on April 19th. In late July, the band will perform at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.

The band's North American trek comes on the heels of their tours in Europe, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, the majority of which were sold out plays (including Stockholm, Berlin, Paris, and all UK shows). First Aid Kit will return to the stage overseas this summer for six shows supporting Jack White, who produced and released the band's Third Man Records Blue Series 7-inch single in January 2010. A full itinerary is below.



First Aid Kit Tour Dates:
MAR. 28 -- NEW YORK, NY -- WEBSTER HALL
MAR. 30 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- BLACK CAT (SOLD OUT)
MAR. 31 -- PHILADELPHIA, PA -- UNION TRANSFER
APR. 2 -- BOSTON, MA -- PARADISE ROCK CLUB
APR. 3 -- MONTREAL, QC -- LA SALA ROSSA
APR. 4 -- TORONTO, ON -- THE GREAT HALL (SOLD OUT)
APR. 6 -- CHICAGO, IL -- LINCOLN HALL (SOLD OUT)
APR. 7 -- MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- CEDAR CULTURAL CENTER (SOLD OUT)
APR. 10 -- VANCOUVER, BC -- VENUE
APR. 11 -- SEATTLE, WA -- THE CROCODILE (SOLD OUT)
APR. 12 -- PORTLAND, OR -- WONDER BALLROOM
APR. 15 -- INDIO, CA -- COACHELLA
APR. 18 -- SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- SLIM'S
APR. 19 -- LOS ANGELES, CA -- EL REY THEATRE*
APR. 22 -- INDIO, CA -- COACHELLA
JUN. 22 -- LONDON, UK -- HAMMERSMITH APOLLO**
JUN. 25 -- AMSTERDAM, NL -- HEINEKEN MUSIC HALL**
JUN. 26 -- BERLIN, DE -- TEMPODRUM**
JUN. 27 -- COLOGNE, DE -- E-WERK**
JUL. 2 -- PARIS, FR -- L'OLYMPIA**
JUL. 5 -- HAMBURG, DE -- DOCKS**
JUL. 28 -- NEWPORT, RI -- NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL
* supporting Wild Flag
** supporting Jack White

Links:
First Aid Kit

First Aid Kit Post Title Track From Their Sophomore Release "The Lion's Roar" / Show at Mercury Lounge on November 16th

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar by Wichita Recordings

First Aid Kit premiered the title track off their upcoming sophomore full-length album The Lion’s Roar yesterday on NPR’s All Songs Considered Blog. Described as “more than just a pretty song…a piercing ballad about the pain and frustration of lost love”. A single of “The Lion’s Roar” will be available digitally and as a 7-inch at the band’s shows beginning November 8th. The 7-inch will also be available at independent retailers on December 6th. The Lion’s Roar LP will be released January 24th, 2012 on Wichita Recordings.

After a short run of UK dates with Lykke Li beginning late this month, First Aid Kit will head westward in November for a US tour also supporting their fellow Swede. These US dates include two headlining shows as well: on the 8th at The Troubadour in Los Angeles and on the 16th at the Mercury Lounge in New York. The show at the Mercury Lounge is an early show (6:30PM doors) at First Aid Kit is playing with Alessi's Ark. Advanced tickets are $15.

The band will then return to Europe for another six dates in late November/early December. Last month, First Aid Kit – who recently performed a moving rendition of Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot” at the Polar Music Prize awards ceremony – spent two weeks touring the US with Bright Eyes. A current itinerary is below.



The follow up to last year’s highly-praised debut LP The Big Black & The Blue, The Lion’s Roar finds sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg at their finest, singing bittersweet songs that frequently juxtapose sadness and beauty. Whether the title track opener, the achingly lovely “Emmylou”, or the exuberant final track “King Of The World” (featuring Conor Oberst and The Felice Brothers), the Söderbergs’ evocative, preternatural harmonies and remarkable songwriting take centerstage throughout the album.

First Aid Kit recorded The Lion’s Roar with producer Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes and Monster Of Folk; producer of Cursive, Lightspeed Champion, Pete Yorn, and many others) in May at his ARC Studios in Omaha, NE. In addition to Klara (vocals, guitar) and Johanna (vocals, autoharp, keys), the album features their father Benkt on bass and Mattias Bergqvist on drums, while Mogis, Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), and a cast of Omaha-based musicians further round out the sound.

Earlier this year, First Aid Kit released a Third Man Records Blue Series 7-inch single featuring covers of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier” the classic blues standard “It Hurts Me Too”, recorded with Jack White at his own Third Man Studios in Nashville, TN.

First Aid Kit Tour Dates:
OCT. 30 -- GLASGOW, UK -- ABC*
OCT. 31 -- MANCHESTER, UK -- ACADEMY 2*
NOV. 1 -- LONDON, UK -- ROUNDHOUSE* (sold out)
NOV. 7 -- POMONA, CA -- FOX THEATER*
NOV. 8 -- LOS ANGELES, CA -- THE TROUBADOUR
NOV. 9 -- OAKLAND, CA -- FOX THEATER*
NOV. 11 -- DENVER, CO -- OGDEN THEATER*
NOV. 13 -- MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- FIRST AVENUE*
NOV. 14 -- CHICAGO, IL -- VIC THEATER*
NOV. 15 -- TORONTO, ON -- SOUND ACADEMY*
NOV. 16 -- NEW YORK, NY -- THE MERCURY LOUNGE
NOV. 17 -- MONTCLAIR, NJ -- WELLMONT THEATER*
NOV. 19 -- ASHEVILLE, NC -- ORANGE PEEL*
NOV. 20 -- ATLANTA, GA -- BUCKHEAD THEATER*
NOV. 21 -- NEW ORLEANS, LA -- TIPITINA’S*
NOV. 28 -- STOCKHOLM, SE -- MOSEBACKE
NOV. 30 -- GÖTEBORG, SE -- NEFERTITI
DEC. 2 -- MALMÖ, SE -- VICTORIATEATERN
DEC. 5 -- BERLIN, DE -- BERGHAIN KANTINE
DEC. 6 -- LONDON, UK -- BUSH HALL
DEC. 8 -- AMSTERDAM, NL -- PARADISIO
* supporting Lykke Li

Links:
First Aid Kit

First Aid Kit Releases Full Live Set as Free Download // jack White Produced 7-Inch Single Out 1/18/11

DOWNLOAD: First Aid Kit - 10-Song Set Recorded Live in Sydney, Australia Sept. '10 (requires registration)

Rising Swedish folk-pop duo First Aid Kit are among the latest artists to take part in Third Man Records' Blue Series of releases. The special series of 7-inch records, produced by Jack White and recorded at his own Third Man Studios in Nashville, has featured releases from Wanda Jackson, Laura Marling and Secret Sisters, among others.

For their Blue Series 7-inch, First Aid Kit recorded covers of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier" (made famous in 1965 by Donovan) and classic blues standard "It Hurts Me Too", a song much loved by fans of Karen Dalton's 1969 folk-blues version. First Aid Kit, comprised of 17 and 20-year old sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, recorded the tracks with White during the Nashville stop on their US headlining tour in October. Joshua Hedley joins the duo on fiddle for both tracks, while touring drummer Mattias Bergqvist, their father Benkt Söderberg, and Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs), also contribute additional instrumentation on "It Hurts Me Too."

First Aid Kit's Blue Series single comes out on January 18th, 2011.



Links:
First Aid Kit

Steve Albini Interviewed in GQ Magazine

GQ Magazine has just posted an interview with Shellac mainman Steve Albini. The focus of the interview is on Steve's views on the state of the music business and how record production/distribution is radically changing. Click through on the link to read the full interview.

For anyone who thinks that that talking with GQ means Steve is softening on corporate mainstream culture, here is how he ended the interview:

I think fashion is repulsive. The whole idea that someone else can make clothing that is supposed to be in style and make other people look good is ridiculous. It sickens me to think that there is an industry that plays to the low self-esteem of the general public. I would like the fashion industry to collapse. I think it plays to the most superficial, most insecure parts of human nature. I hope GQ as a magazine fails. I hope that all of these people who make a living by looking pretty are eventually made destitute or forced to do something of substance. At least pornography has a function.



Links:
Shellac

First Aid Kit Release Video for "Ghost Town" // CMJ Show on Oct. 21st

First Aid Kit's new video for "Ghost Town," off the duo's debut full-length album The Big Black & The Blue (Wichita), premiered earlier this week on Spin.com. Encapsulating the haunting beauty of the song, the Mats Udd-directed video was filmed earlier this summer in Stockholm, nearby their hometown of Enskede, Sweden.

"We filmed it during a beautiful summer's day at a wheat field and a meadow in Stockholm. Mats Udd and his crew did a fantastic job and really captured the spirit of the song. It's inspired by Picnic At Hanging Rock, among other things," explains First Aid Kit's Klara and Johanna Söderberg. "The shooting was a lot of fun, but we got over 100 mosquito bites each (!!). However, it's all for the art, right?"



A "Ghost Town" single will be released digitally September 28th via Wichita and will include a cover of Fever Ray's "When I Grow Up" as a b-side. The cover is a tribute to First Aid Kit's mentor Karin Dreijer Andersson, of Fever Ray and The Knife, who released the young Swedish sisters' debut EP "Drunken Trees" in 2008 on her label, Rabid. The "Ghost Town" single will also be available as a 7" via the Wichita web store and at First Aid Kit's shows.

Later this month, First Aid Kit will begin their second North American headlining tour on September 30th at The Vera Project in Seattle, WA. Ferraby Lionheart will be opening on all dates of the tour and The Sea Of Cortez are also on the bill for the first three shows. The tour now wraps up with a recently announced New York show on October 21st at The Delancey as part of the Saddle Creek/Wichita showcase during the CMJ Music Marathon.

First Aid Kit tour dates:

SEPT. 30 -- SEATTLE, WA, THE VERA PROJECT+*
OCT. 01 -- PORTLAND, OR, DOUG FIR LOUNGE+*
OCT. 03 -- SAN FRANCISCO, CA, BOTTOM OF THE HILL+*
OCT. 04 -- LOS ANGELES, CA, LARGO AT THE CORONET+
OCT. 05 -- LOS ANGELES, CA, ECHO+
OCT. 07 -- AUSTIN, TX, STUBBS JR.+ (Official ACL Pre-party)
OCT. 09 -- AUSTIN, TX, AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL
OCT. 11 -- NASHVILLE, TN, THE END+
OCT. 13 -- CHICAGO, IL, LINCOLN HALL+
OCT. 15 -- TORONTO, ON, EL MOCAMBO+
OCT. 16 -- MONTREAL, QC, LE DIVAN ORANGE+
OCT. 17 -- BOSTON, MA, GREAT SCOTT+
OCT. 19 -- PHILADELPHIA, PA, JOHNNY BRENDA'S+
OCT. 20 -- WASHINGTON, DC, DC9+
OCT. 21 -- NEW YORK, NY, THE DELANCEY (Saddle Creek/Wichita CMJ showcase; 10:15pm set time)

+ Ferraby Lionheart supporting
* The Sea Of Cortez supporting

Links:
First Aid Kit

Sweden's First Aid Kit Returns to the US in October // "Hard Believer" Posted as a Free Download

DOWNLOAD: First Aid Kit - "Hard Believer"

Sweden's First Aid Kit is the poster children for the power of social media as their video cover of Fleet Foxes’ "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" has now gotten over 1.5M views.

The band released their debut CD, The Big Black and the Blue (Witchita Recordings), earlier this year and completed their well-received first US tour in June.

The Big Black & the Blue was recorded intermittently throughout 2008 -2009 with the help of their father, Benkt Soderberg, at their home studio Cellar Door. The collected work transports the listener via shimmering, almost telekinetic harmonies and thoughtful lyrical imagery. The songs on The Big Black & the Blue seep under the skin and claw at you. Surface playfulness is deceiving as the tracks take on a darker hue in moments, creating a surefooted yet interesting balance. By the first strokes of the acoustic fused opener, “In the Morning,” we enter the warm and spell binding nature that is First Aid Kit’s world. Transitioning to the mesmeric “Hard Believer,” where a real-life argument about religion provoked the rousingly urgent line: “And it’s one life / and it’s this life / and it’s beautiful,” then resting in the jauntiness of “Sailor Song,” which is underpinned by a driving Autoharp and a classic lost-love motif. Yet another album highlight “I Met Up With the King” borrows a line from Gram Parsons to marvelous effect and “Heavy Storm” soothes with its loosely swing. First Aid Kit penned all of the material for the album in addition to lovingly designing the sepia-toned artwork.

First Aid Kit is coming back through the US in October and I would assume that a NYC date will be slotted in around the Philly/DC dates.

Here are the upcoming tour dates:
9/30 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project
10/1 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
10/3 - San Fransisco, CA - Bottom of The Hill
10/4 - Los Angeles, CA - Largo at the Coronet
10/5 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo
10/9 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits
10/11 - Nashville, TN - The End
10/13 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
10/15 - Toronto, ON - El Mocambo
10/16 - Montreal, QC - Le Divan Orange
10/17 - Allston, MA - Great Scott
10/19 - Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's
10/20 - Washington, DC - DC9

Links:
First Aid Kit