Monday, May 5, 2008

Neither Elf nor Cat: mr. Gnome delivers Creature power to the U.S. and throughout the blogoverse.

Cleveland duo’s #1 most-blogged-about new album and national tour’s imminent launch.

The music of mr. Gnome has been described as utilizing elements of AltRock, Metal, Post Punk, and Prog, but lands in a realm of their own making, crafting a compelling sonic-psychedelic melange of indie rock. Since its conception in 2005, the Cleveland duo has released two EPs, receiving wide-ranging and honorable comparisons to Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Tool, Portishead, Pelican, Death From Above 1979, Bjork and Blonde Redhead. Above all else, mr. Gnome’s compositions work -- and in very unusual and clearly soon-to-be-influential ways, where truly adequate descriptions aren’t yet available.

While comparisons vary, one thing is certain - the duo’s unique sound explores unpredictable shades of violence and intensity, while meshing the sludgy, reverberating monsoon of hardcore with the feminine. Its debut full-length CD, Deliver This Creature, hits stores May 6, 2008 on El Marko Records. And, hot on the heels of that release, the band takes to the road to truly deliver the creature -- as it has nearly incessantly over the past three years -- city to city across the US. See complete tour dates below.

The phenomenally unique and powerful pair recently catapulted to the #1 most blogged about band on the Elbo.ws blog aggregator immediately after release of the first MP3 from the album Pirates. Print press has also resolutely responded to the album, including forthcoming coverage in SPIN, Paste, Venus, Big Takeover, Amplifier and many more.

Guitarist/vocalist Nicole Barille and drummer Sam Meister began experimenting a few years ago with a sound based on minimalist instrumentation and the rigid dichotomy of soft vs. loud and masculine vs. feminine. Within a year, the two released their first EP, Echoes on the Ground, and were touring the regional circuit. Their second EP, self-titled (mr. Gnome), was released in November of 2006 and the two, having hooked up with Lost Barrio Artists, a booking agency based out of Tucson, AZ now found themselves touring nationally. After completing their first two national tours, Barille and Meister found it hard to go back to the daily grind and felt an immediate urgency to continue traveling the countryside.

With the road calling, Nicole and Sam ditched their belongings in a storage space and temporarily parted ways with the midwest. mr. Gnome, an officially homeless band, began touring the United States, living out of a van and sleeping on random couches for the second part of 2007. With a handful of new material in their setlist, the two used practice spots along the way to complete the writing of their new creation and by the force of their journey, discovered both Larry Crane’s Jackpot Studios (Elliott Smith, Cat Power, The Shins, The Decemberists) in Portland, Oregon and Craig Schumacher’s Wavelab Studios (Calexico, DeVotchka, Neko Case, Animal Collective) in Tucson, Arizona where they recorded their first full-length album with engineers Kendra Lynn, and Chris Schultz. mr. Gnome headed back to Cleveland to put the finishing touches on their album at Ante Up Audio (Bone Thugs N’ Harmony, Tori Amos, Guided By Voices) working with Michael Seifert. The album was then mixed at Butch Vig’s Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin by Beau Sorenson (Death Cab for Cutie).

With four national tours under their belt within the last year and countless regional dates, mr. Gnome, with the support of El Marko Records, will continue to tour the countryside in spring of 2008, behind its first full-length release.

Press Quotes:
“Boy does this Ohio duo make a lot of noise. Such is the overwhelming nature of the twosome’s aggressive-yet-beautiful sound.” – Paste Magazine

“mr. Gnome glides through catchy and crunchy hard rock arrangements, thanks to big sonic blasts of aggressive elegance. The Cleveland duo showcases a knack for squeezing big hooks into hard driving numbers.” – Amplifier Magazine

“Think White Stripes turned inside out and upside down, with a dash of psychedelia, and then you can get an idea of this duo’s sound.” – Detroit News

“A mix of Death From Above 1979 with the intense vocal wail of Diamanda Galas, while Kurt Cobain sits in on guitar. In short, mr. Gnome makes a lot of beautiful noise.” – Albuquerque Journal

mr. Gnome Live:
05/10 Nashville, TN @ Springwater
05/12 Atlanta, GA @ Smith’s Olde Bar
05/13 Athens, GA @ Tasty World
05/14 Birmingham, AL @ The Nick
05/15 New Orleans, LA @ The Circle Bar
05/16 Houston, TX @ Rudyard’s British Pub
05/17 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
05/18 Austin, TX @ Beauty Bar
05/20 Columbia, MO @ Mojo’s
05/21 Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
05/22 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
05/23 Madison, WI @ The Annex
05/24 St. Louis, MO @ The Bluebird
05/26 Denver, CO @ 3 Kings
05/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/28 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
05/29 Portland, OR @ Towne Lounge
05/30 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
05/31 Tacoma, WA @ Le Voyeur
06/02 Arcata, CA @ Jambalaya
06/03 Oakland, CA @ The Stork Club
06/04 San Diego, CA @ Beauty Bar
06/05 San Francisco, CA @ Amnesia
06/06 Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory
06/07 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
06/09 Albuquerque, NM @ Atomic Cantina
06/10 Oklahoma City, OK @ OKC Infoshop
06/11 Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
06/12 Minneapolis, MN @ Hexagon Bar
06/13 Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
06/14 Chicago, IL @ Ronny’s
06/20 Cleveland, OH @ Jigsaw
08/08 Cincinnati, OH @ TBD

Deliver This Creature Tracklisting:
Release Date: May 6th, 2008

01. Pirates (MP3)
02. Rabbit (MP3)
03. Deliver This Creature
04. The Machine
05. Night of the Crickets (MP3)
06. I’m Alright
07. Silhouette
08. Thief
09. After the Sun
10. Tied

Tools and Hi-Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/rosterdetails.php?indexkey=1279

On The Web:
www.mrgnome.com
www.myspace.com/mrgnome
www.elmarkorecords.com
www.myspace.com/elmarkorecords

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