Matador Records | Pretty Girls Make Graves

The Seattle quintet's follow-up to the universally acclaimed ‘The New Romance,’ and their first album since the addition of keyboardist Leona Marrs - is by far Pretty Girls Make Graves' most ambitious, multifarious and scorching to date. Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Destroyer), Élan Vital provides the band with a bigger, bolder canvas with which to weave their magic. "Pyrite Pedestal," "The Number" and "Parade" rank amongst their finest, most complex songs -- still melodic, but newly thoughtful while remaining contentious. [...]

News
7/10/07--Pretty Girls Make Graves Ringtones Now Available
Matador Records is pleased to announce a new ringtones service. We currently have ringtones available from 11 artists, including Pretty Girls Make Graves, and more are coming soon. mobile.matadorrecords.com is the new home for all your Matador ringtones needs.

4/23/07--Pretty Girls Make Graves Not Playing China After All
Pretty Girls Make Graves have had to cancel their four upcoming dates in China. Damn those visa deadlines! Still there are quite a number of dates left on their farewell tour, check them out on the Tour Page.

3/29/07--Pretty Girls Make Graves: It's Been Unreal
The following message was posted on Pretty Girls Makes Graves' site earlier today.

We are sorry to announce that our upcoming tour in May will be our last. Nick quit the band and the rest of us feel like it wouldn’t be right to continue on without him. The 5 of us feel very lucky to have met and worked with some truly amazing people over the years. Thank you all so much….

Needless to say, though all of us at brutally exploitive label central are very disappointed by this news….we've known about it for ages! Who says Matador can't keep a secret?

In all seriousness, while one of our fave bands on Earth pulling the plug is a sad occasion, it is also a reminder there's something to be said for going out at the top of your game. And we're also very confident that our friendship with Andrea, Derek, Jay, Nick and Leona is far from finished, and we eagerly whatever else they've got up their sleeves musically or otherwise. To say we're fortunate to have been associated with such awesome people would be the understatement of the year. The following are the dates for their final tour (note the dates in China!)

Thursday, April 26 Beijing, China - Mao Live
Friday, April 27, Hong Kong, China - TBA
Saturday, April 28, Shanghai, China - 4Live0
Sunday, April 29, Beijing, China - D22
Thursday, May 10 - MILWAUKEE, WI: Todd Wehr Auditorium
Friday, May 11 - IOWA CITY, IA: The Picador
Saturday, May 12 - CHICAGO, IL: Empty Bottle
Sunday, May 13 - CLEVELAND, OH: Grog Shop
Monday, May 14 - PITTSBURGH, PA: Mr. Small's
Wednesday, May 16 - PHILADELPHIA, PA: North Star
Thursday, May 17 - CAMBRIDGE, MA: Middle East - Downstairs
Friday, May 18 - PROVIDENCE, RI: The Living Room
Saturday, May 19 - NEW YORK, NY: Gramercy Theatre
Sunday, May 20 - WASHINGTON, D.C.: Black Cat
Tuesday, May 22 - ATLANTA, GA: The Earl
Wednesday, May 23 - TAMPA, FL: The Orpheum
Thursday, May 24 - ORLANDO, FL: The Social
Saturday, May 26 - BATON ROUGE, LA: Spanish Moon
Sunday, May 27 - DENTON, TX: Hailey's
Monday, May 28 - AUSTIN, TX: Emo's
Tuesday, May 29 - ALBUQUERQUE, NM: Launchpad
Wednesday, May 30 - TEMPE, AZ: The Clubhouse
Saturday, June 2 - POMONA, CA: Glasshouse
Sunday, June 3 - LOS ANGELES, CA: Troubadour
Monday, June 4 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Great American Music Hall
Wednesday, June 6 - PORTLAND, OR: Berbati's Pan
Saturday, June 9 - SEATTLE, WA: Neumo's

10/19/06 — Upcoming tour dates
Pretty Girls Make Graves have a whole slew of new dates confirmed starting next week and lasting to the end of the year. Read the full details on the tour page.

08/22/06 — Pretty Girls Make Live iTunes Session, Graves

A brand spankin' new iTunes session from everybody's favorite Jack Kerouac (or is it The Smith's?) quoting Seattle supergroup is now available for your downloading pleasure. This iTunes exclusive features four specially recorded live in the studio tracks:

That last one, Domino Dub Mix, is the value shopper's track of choice in this set. Clocking in at a massive 7 minutes and 31 seconds, that breaks down to something like 13.2 cents per minute. Which should make up for all those people who spent 99 cents on Guided By Voices 22 second opus, "Hit." Click the link to go to the iTunes store and see it for yourself.

08/21/06 — Second MP3 posted: Magic Hour
The Roxy Music inspired photo spread in Élan Vital's LP packaging is pretty appropriate when you think about it. Like Bryan Ferry and company in their salad days, PGMG has coped with the loss of an important member (former guitarist Nathan Thelen) with more grace than could have been expected, and returned with enough verve to suggest that their best albums are still ahead of them. Plus, the new sound on Élan Vital, tarted up with Leona Marrs' icy keyboards and wrapped in gauzy, dubbed-out reverb, is as stone cold cool as Roxy Music at their best.

The latest song we're sharing, "Magic Hour," would serve as a great description of Élan Vital itself if the album didn't clock in at a much too short 40-odd minutes. Either way, it's a great example of the Rubix Cube worthy arranging skills Pretty Girls Make Graves brought to the table this time out.The parts lock together tighter than Lego bricks, and add up to a package that's as tasty as a neon ice cream cone. Check it out on the music page.

07/26/06 — Dropping hints for the fall
After some frantic activity in Germany and the UK, Pretty Girls Make Graves returned to the states for big outdoor show at Brooklyn's McCarron Pool last Sunday. With an exclusive session for the iTunes Music Store out this week, further North America live action is planned for the Autumn, most likely with a very, very big name act whom we cannot mention (at least partially because we've not put the gun to their head yet. But we're working on it).

06/01/06 — New website; European tour
As the first leg of U.S. touring on behalf of 'Elan Vital' comes to a close with a set at the Sasquatch Festival, we can finally present the new and improved official Pretty Girls Make Graves website, with the band's tour diary podcast forthcoming. If you can't wait, Derek Fudesco's Cave Singing will have to suffice.

Pretty Girls Make Graves play Europe on the following dates

24-Jun - Germany, Neuhausen Ob Eck, Southside Festival
25-Jun Germany, Scheessel, Hurricane Festival
27-Jun Belgium, Brussels, Botanique/Rotonde
28-Jun Holland, Utrecht, Helling
29-Jun Holland, Amsterdam, Melkweg
1-Jul, UK, Aberdeen, Tunnels
2-Jul, UK, Sheffield, Leadmill
3-Jul, UK, Newcastle, Academy
6-Jul UK London, Islington Academy
7-Jul UK Manchester, Academy
8-Jul UK Scotland T In The Park
9-Jul UK Ireland, Punchestown Racecourse, Oxegen festival
11-Jul, UK, Cardiff,Barfly

Finally, visit the youtube site to see the winning Pretty Girls Make Graves video, and also a new video of the winners picking up their $1000 check at the Matador offices.

04/27/06 —Pretty Girls Make Graves: They'll sleep when they're dead!
The 3rd Pretty Girls Make Graves album, the double-daring 'Elan Vital,' arrived in stores last week, just in time to coincide with packed-to-the-seams instores in Seattle, LA and San Francisco, along with a almost-top-secret MySpace gig at SF's Bottom of The Hill.

After a brief promo trip to London, Manchester and Paris, the band are hitting the road stateside, with Giant Drag in support on all dates:

April
27th Boise at Neurolux TONIGHT
28th SLC at Avalon Theater
29th Denver at Marquis Theatre

May
1st Lawrence at The Bottleneck
2nd Omaha at Sokol
3rd Minneapolis at Triple Rock
4th Milwaukee at Mad Planet
5th Chicago at Metro
6th Detroit at Magic Stick
8th Cleveland at Grog shop
9th Buffalo at The Buffalo Icon
11th Boston at Middle East
12th RI at The Living Room
13th NY at Irving Plaza
14th Philadelphia at TLA
15th DC at Black Cat
17th Nashville at Exit In
18th Atlanta at The Earl
19th Tallahassee at The Beta Bar
20th Ft. Lauderdale at Culture Room
21st Tampa at Orphuem
23rd Orlando at The Social
24th New Orleans at The Parish
25th Austin at Emos
26th Dallas at Gypsy Tea Room
28th SASQUATCH FESTIVAL, The Gorge, George, WA
30th Tempe at Clubhouse

June
1st San Diego at Casbah
2nd Pomona at The Glasshouse
3rd LA at El Ray
4th SF at Great American Music Hall

not quite top secret pics from some of the above events can be found at Derek Fudesco's new blog.

The iTunes Music Store version of Elan Vital features a bonus track --- if you're left out in the cold on this one, it might be time to steal a computer.

Congratulations to the winners of the 'make a Pretty Girls Make Graves video without being paid by Matador' contest. To quote Don Cornelius in "Tape Heads" ...get out of our office before we call security. (perhaps that was a different movie)

The Pretty Girls Make Graves podcast has 1500 subscribers and counting. Don't you want to become yet another notch on their pod-post?

04/11/06 — Week of release activities
Pretty Girls are all up and down the West Coast this week with a variety of special activites:

Mon 4/10 - In LA recording an iTunes Session (launch date to be announced)

Tue 4/12 - Amoeba LA in-store performance at 6 PM

Wed 4/12 - SF: MySpace Secret Show at Bottom Of The Hill (tickets first come first served; show up at venue day of show - today - to get them) at 8 PM

Thu 4/13 - Amoeba SF in-store performance at 6 PM

Fri 4/14 - Sonic Boom Ballard in-store performance at 6 PM

followed by a massive coast-to-coast tour, mostly with Giant Drag, starting on 4/24.

02/08/06 — New photos; youtube.com make a video contest
New photos have been posted, by Dan Monick; more to come. Also, visit youtube.com to enter a contest to make a video for 'The Nocturnal House.'

01/11/06 — First MP3 posted
The first MP3 from Élan Vital has been posted on the music page; it's entitled "The Nocturnal House."

12/24/05 — Élan Vital LP/CD announced
Coming in April '06, The Seattle quintet's follow-up to the universally acclaimed 'The New Romance', and their first album since the addition of keyboardist Leona Marrs --- is by far Pretty Girls Make Graves' most ambitious, multifarious and scorching to date. Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Destroyer), 'Elan Vital' provides the band with a bigger, bolder canvas with which to weave their magic; "Pyrite Pedestal", "The Number" and "Parade" ranking amongst their finest songs. The new material, road tested after gigs around the globe with Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab For Cutie, shows a blindingly original American band who are improving with each successive album.

Pretty Girls Make Graves have the following US dates in February, with full-scale global action to follow.

2/14/05 - Moscow, ID - University of Idaho
2/16/05 - Berkeley, CA - UC Berkeley
2/17/05 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
2/18/05 - Bremerton, WA - Rush's

11/18/05 — Album is done - full details in next news update; shows with The Double and others
OK, so it was two news updates away from fully announcing the as-yet-untitled album.

In the meantime, they're playing some dates on the West Coast and 7 East Coast dates in December with The Double:

Wed, Nov 30 - Vancouver BC - Red Room

Thu, Dec 1 - Tacoma WA - Hell's Kitchen
Fri, Dec 2 - Seattle WA - Husky Union Bldg, Univ of Washington

Mon, Dec 5 - New York NY - Knitting Factory with PGMG
Tue, Dec 6 - Brooklyn NY - Warsaw with PGMG
Thu, Dec 8 - Washington DC - Black Cat with PGMG
Fri, Dec 9 - Bellmore NY - Live Trax with PGMG
Sat, Dec 10 - Providence RI - The Living Room with PGMG
Sun, Dec 11 - Cambridge MA - Middle East with PGMG
Mon, Dec 12 - Philadelphia PA - North Star with PGMG

10/11/05 — Yet more touring! and album almost done
We're about one news update away from announcing the details behind Pretty Girls Make Graves' forthcoming 3rd full length album. In the meantime, however, the band have just returned from a brief run of US dates supporting Franz Ferdinand and are preparing for yet another batch of West Coast appearances:

10/22/05 - Lake Forest, CA - Skatepark of Lake Forest (Etnies fest)
10/24/05 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Club Slo Brew
10/25/05 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom the Hill
10/26/05 - Bakersfield, CA - Montgomery World Plaza
10/27/05 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
10/28/05 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
10/29/05 - Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction

07/27/05 — Shows with Franz Ferdinand
In addition to a bunch of Midwestern US headlining dates (with Kill Me Tomorrow and IQU in tow), Pretty Girls Make Graves have been added to the following September dates supporting Franz Ferdinand:

Tuesday, September 20 - Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
Wednesday, September 21 - Minn, MN US Bank Theater
Thursday, September 22 - Kansas City, KS Uptown Theatre
Friday, September 23 - St Louis, MO The Pageant
Tuesday, September 27 - Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium Don Strasburg
Wednesday, September 28 - Salt Lake City, UT Great Salt Air Tom LaPenna

See the rest of the dates in the Matador tour section.

04/28/05 — Note from Derek
Just back from some UK dates supporting Bloc Party, Derek writes:

"We are going in to record on July 1st, the record is not going to be called "The Shivering Duck" after all... We also just set up a 2 week midwest tour for Aug. Other than that, there will be a lot of swimming and Barbeque this summer."

01/26/05 — Winter and spring touring
As the band nears completion on their eagerly awaited 3rd album, the following US dates are now confirmed:

January 20- Seattle @ The Showbox
January 26-Vancouver @ Mesa Luna
January 28-Seattle @ Husky Union Building
January 30-Tacoma @ Hell's Kitchen

March 9-Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall
March 10-Stanford, CA @ Stanford University/Cresge Hall
March 11-Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
March 12-San Diego, CA @ Ground Control
March 13-Las Vegas, NV @ Jillian's of Las Vegas
March 15-Phoenix, AZ @ Mason Jar
March 16-Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
March 18- The Parish, Austin TX
March 19-San Antonio, TX @ The Sanctuary
March 20-El Paso, TX @ T-Lounge
March 22-Tucson, AZ @ Hotel Congress
March 23- Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
March 24-Bakersfield, CA @ Jerry's Pizza
March 25-San Francisco, CA @ Caf� Dunord
March 26-San Francisco, CA @ Caf� Dunord
March 27-Portland, OR @ Bossanova

In April, Pretty Girls Make Graves are off to the UK for the following shows in support of Bloc Party.

April 13/14 - Astoria, London
April 15 - Barrowlands, Glasgow
April 17 - Academy, Manchester

10/05/04 — Derek Fudesco reports:
"We have a bit of news..

1st. Leona is replacing Lorna as our new keyboard player.

2nd. We our doing our very first tours of Australia and Japan in Nov.

3rd. We are in the process of recording our next record 'The Shivering Duck'

But the studio's vibes are kinda bad,so we will be finishing it in Seattle at the end of the year."

A last-minute New York show has been added this Friday at Delancey Bar.

09/03/04 — Tracks on 'Matador At Fifteen,' Death Cab tour
The 'Matador At Fifteen' compilation will include the rarity "C-30 C-60 C-90 GO!", a cover of the Bow Wow Wow Song, originally on the UK "All Medicated Geniuses" single. It also includes their first Matador single, "This Is Our Emergency."

A fter a slew of well received German and UK dates (their last until new keyboardist/backing vocalist Lorna joins the band fulltime), Pretty Girls Make Graves head off on a long US tour in support of Death Cab For Cutie. Come November, the band will be playing their first-ever shows in Australia (with Les Savvy Fav), followed by Japanese dates with Seachange.

06/01/04 — European dates, 'Good Health' reissue
Following a one-off date at the Primavera Festival in Barcelona, Pretty Girls Make Graves are planning a return trip to Europe in August for headlining and festival dates. Matador's European reissue of their debut album, 'Good Health' (remastered with extra tracks, plus a vinyl version for the first time) will be released on August 30.

04/13/04 — "All Medicated Geniuses" video posted
The video for "All Medicated Geniuses," directed by Mike Ott, is available for viewing in Real or Windows Media streams on the music and video page.

04/08/04 — Hosting MTV2 Subterranean, new video premiere
Pretty Girls Make Graves will be hosting MTV2's 'Subterranean' program this weekend. It airs FRIDAY, APRIL 9 at midnight, and SUNDAY, APRIL 11 at midnight. The show will also premiere the new video for "All Medicated Geniuses".

Please also note that the following shows have been canceled:

4/7 Salt Lake City UT
4/8 Reno NV
4/19 Northampton MA
4/23 Terre Haute IN
4/24 Richmond IN

They are STILL PLAYING this show (which is free, by the way):

4/9 Claremont CA

03/10/04 — Nathan's departure; tour still on; more
As you might've read at prettygirlsmakegraves.com, guitarist Nathan Thelen has left the band due to family commitments. All of us at Matador will miss Nathan and wish him well. Seth from Les Savy Fav will continue filling in on 2nd guitar for Pretty Girls Make Graves' forthcoming extensive tour dates.

The European side of Matador, aka Matador Europe or Matador with the other mailing address, will be reissuing Pretty Girls Makes Graves' first album, 'Good Health', during the summer of 2004.

03/09/04 — Pretty Girls Make Graves contest
Enter a contest to win a Dakine skate pack filled with Pretty Girls Make Graves swag and whatever else we can fit in there. All you have to do is fill in some lyrics. Enter the contest.

02/10/04 — Hear Pretty Girls Make Graves live on XFM
You will be able to hear most of tonight's show at the Monarch in London live on XFM (tape delay by one hour) at 11 PM tonight Greenwich Mean Time (6 PM Eastern Standard Time) on John Kennedy's Xposure show. For those of you not in the UK, go to: http://www.xfm.co.uk.

01/28/04 — Back on the road, worldwide
The indomitable Pretty Girls were playing out pretty much constantly from last summer through December, followed by scattered fly-in dates in January. This weekend sees them in Portland and Charlottesville, followed by a visit to Europe, and then another coast-to-coast US and Canada tour.

In addition, Pretty Girls will be playing the Matador South By Southwest showcase in Austin at La Zona Rosa on March 18, with Mission Of Burma, Preston School Of Industry and Seachange.

See the tours page for details.

12/01/03 — Second MP3 posted
Our second MP3 is the first track on the album, and it's entitled "Something Bigger, Something Brighter". Download it from the music page.

11/25/03 — Equipment stolen; make a donation
The band's van and trailer were ripped off in Seattle, along with all the band's amp heads. Although the vehicles were recovered, the equipment is gone. Visit the Pretty Girls Make Graves website to make a donation to the band's stolen-equipment fund.

11/17/03 — Second UK single; video posted
The second UK single will be "All Medicated Geniuses". It will be on 7" and CD5 and features a Bow Wow Wow cover on the B-side. In stores December 8th, or preorder it from the Matador Store. Also, the video for "This Is Our Emergency" has been posted on the music page.

09/18/03 — Album's out, US tour
Hot on the heels of a ridiculously well received European tour with the Blood Brothers, Pretty Girls Make Graves hit the road last week for a US tour in support of 'The New Romance'. Kicking things off in front of delirious (if not overcrowded) audience at Seattle's Sonic Boom Records, the band are proving to fans old and new why their 2nd album is the pick of so many (including some that don't work here) for record-of-the-year. There's another in-store tonight at LA's Virgin Megastore, but check the tour dates for more gigs running through the end of November, most of 'em with Cobra High in tow. December looks like the month for a headlining European club tour, followed by more US shows until you fall in love or the whole band drops dead. Whichever comes first. We should have a video for "This Is Our Emergency" for you to gaze at, any day now.

08/06/03 — European tour, upcoming instores
Currently embroiled in a European tour with The Blood Brothers, Pretty Girls Make Graves have the following instore gigs scheduled in the U.S. :

SEATTLE
Tuesday, September 9th at 7PM
Sonic Boom Ballard
2209 NW Market Street * Seattle
206 297 2666

SAN FRANCISCO
Thursday, September 11th at 6PM
Amoeba SF
1855 Haight Street * San Francisco
415 831 1200

06/26/03 — Pre-order and prevent pricey disorder
the new and utterly massive album, 'The New Romance', is now available for pre-order from the Matador Store, and the savings are substantial. So much so, that we're tempted to change our minds and just gouge you to death (as a matter of speaking, not literally). So take advantage now, before we regain our senses.

06/11/03 — European pre-album single
There will be a Matador Europe-only pre-album single released on August 11th, entitled "This Is Our Emergency". Unreleased B-sides to be announced. You can preorder it direct from the Matador Store.

05/20/03 — New album
I don't know what's the more stunning development -- Pretty Girls Make Graves' impending album-of-the-year, 'The New Romance', or the fact that we finally scooped Pitchfork on a story about one of our own bands. Following their breakthrough releases for the Lookout and Dim Mak labels, the Seattle quintet have emerged with their hotly anticipated Matador debut. That 'The New Romance' is as anthemic and explosive as 'Good Health' is no surprise; but the band's compositional skills have grown by leaps and bounds, along with their flair for the dramatic.

The record features the single "This Is Our Emergency" (coming out in August via Matador UK along with some non-album tracks from a recent radio session). Pretty Girls Make Graves are currently on tour in the US with the Alkaline Trio; they'll be doing European festivals along with club dates supporting the Blood Brothers in August.

03/05/03 — Pretty Girls Make Graves sign to Matador
As previously tipped by Pitchfork (scooped again, fuck) and the band's own site, the Seattle quintet Pretty Girls Make Graves have signed to Matador in a worldwide deal. Following their brilliant releases for the Lookout and Dim Mak labels, Matador will be releasing the 2nd PGMG full length CD/LP this autumn, produced (once again) by Phil Ek. Currently on tour, Pretty Girls Make Graves will be appearing at South By Southwest as part of the Lookout bill also featuring Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and the Oranges Band at Emo's Jr. on March 13.