February 22, 2010
The first song, "Goodbye Sweet Dreams," from True Love Cast Out All Evil, has been made available on Pitchfork today. As mentioned previously, the album will be released in the U.S. on April 20. In Europe, including the U.K., the album will have to wait until June 7 to see its release (on the label Chemikal Underground).
2/24 UPDATE: If you sign up for the mailing list at the album's website, you can also download "Goodbye Sweet Dreams" from there.
The first review -- or, as the author prefers to describe it, series of impressions -- on the album has been put on-line at Austin 360.
Tour dates with Roky Erickson are beginning to be announced. See our Concerts page for listings in San Francisco and New York City.
February 17, 2010
The first official announcement was made today for Okkervil at SXSW. The band will be backing Roky Erickson at the Paste Magazine party. They will be performing at the Galaxy Room (outside) on Wednesday, March 17 from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m.
February 16, 2010
Last week the artwork and tracklisting for the Roky Erickson/Okkervil River collaboration was revealed.
January 12, 2010
Today there has finally been an announcement about the long-awaited Roky Erickson/Okkervil River collaboration. True Love Cast Out All Evil, an album of previously unreleased Roky Erickson songs, will be released on Anti- Records on April 20. In addition to the entire band backing Roky up, Will acted as producer.
December 22, 2009
In December, Okkervil River is offering a 15% discount off items ordered through their official online store.
December 8, 2009
"The Lost Coastlines" can be found on the World Cafe's latest compilation: Live at the World Cafe® Volume 27.
November 22, 2009
Wondering what the members of Okkervil River get up to when they're not on the road? If you live in Austin you can catch the first show by Scott, Travis, and Brian, along with Jeff Johnston of L'il Cap'n Travis (who has also played bass for Okkervil on occasion) at Mohawk on Friday, November 27. The band name is Brackett & Co. and you can hear some of their songs on their myspace page.
November 3, 2009
What better way to start off the new year than by seeing Okkervil River. If you can get to NYC, you can do just that. OR is opening for the Levon Helm Band on January 7 at Terminal 5. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 6 at noon EST.
Yesterday PBS archived the monumental Austin City Limits episode with Okkervil River (and M. Ward).
October 23, 2009
Of interest to vinyl fans: On December 8, Jagjaguwar will be releasing Black Sheep Boy (Deluxe Edition) as a double lp. This is the first time you'll have the opportunity to hear songs from the Appendix in that format.
September 30, 2009
Okkervil River's Tel Aviv show will be re-broadcast on 88fm on Friday, October 2 at 9:00pm Tel Aviv time (3:00pm EDT). For those of you who, like us, don't read Hebrew, we've been told that the easiest way to listen is to go to http://www.amichai.com/live and click on the 88fm icon.
September 25, 2009
The time has finally arrived! In August, the Spanish label Acuarela reissued the Julie Doiron/Okkervil River split. As with the first edition, Darla has exclusive rights to the US distribution. For those of you outside the US, the UK record store HMV currently offers the best price that we could find.
September 5, 2009
Will contributed vocals to the song "Darla" on Austin musician Lee Barber's album, Thief And Rescue, to be released Monday, September 7. The album was produced by Okkervil producer Brian Beattie. You can hear the song, along with the rest of the album, on Barber's website.
August 20, 2009
Norah Jones distributed a press release today regarding her forthcoming album. Relevant news: among her songwriting collaborators was Will Sheff. The album is scheduled to be released in November.
August 16, 2009
PBS has announced the fall schedule for Austin City Limits. Okkervil will play the second half of a show that will begin with M. Ward and be aired on October 31, 2009. PBS broadcasting around the country varies, so be sure and check your own local schedule nearer to that date.
August 6, 2009
DTO interrupts the newsless Okkervil world to announce that the band will be hitting their fourth continent when they play at Barby on September 15 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
June 24, 2009
Okkervil River will be joining Jason Bentley at 11:15 a.m. PDT tomorrow on KCRW's radio program Morning Becomes Eclectic. If you can't listen at that time, the shows are archived on the radio station's website.
June 23, 2009
Okkervil River will be playing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, which runs October 2-4. Maybe "Omie Wise" should be brought out of retirement.
May 19, 2009
Will will be going it alone at Portland's MusicfestNW. The festival runs September 16-19 at various venues across the city.
May 18, 2009
Okkervil River have filled in one of the holes in their calendar. They will be opening for Wilco on their west coast tour, June 25 through July 3.
Yet another opening slot was announced today. Okkervil will be opening for Iron and Wine for the Twilight Concert Series in Salt Lake City on August 20.
May 16, 2009
McSweeney's Quarterly Concern Issue 31 is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com. Discover what otherworldly fantasy story in the tradition of Norse sagas Will conjures in this issue. He spoke about its writing process in a Pitchfork interview last fall. The publication should be available directly from The McSweeney's Store very soon.
May 10, 2009
Will Sheff will be on Saturday Morning With Kim Hill on Saturday, May 16. The radio program is broadcast from 8:00 a.m. to noon Auckland, New Zealand time (May 15, 4:00 p.m. EDT).
May 5, 2009
No dates have been announced yet for the 35th season of Austin City Limits, but our beloved band will finally be getting their turn to perform on this legendary program. Once we know the date, we'll post it.
April 22, 2009
Score one more for the Canadians. The day before they play the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Okkervil will be appearing at the Ottawa Bluesfest: Friday, July 10 at 7:15 p.m.
April 20, 2009
Thanks to the Programming and Activities Board, Okkervil River will be giving a free concert this Friday, April 24 on the Hassayampa Lawn at Arizona State University.
April 16, 2009
Okkervil's Coachella set on Sunday will be webcast by AT&T at 6:00 p.m. PDT. It will require downloading a plug-in so don't wait until the last minute to head on over there.
April 14, 2009
The Australian crew at Inertia has re-stocked Overboard & Down.
April 9, 2009
What do you do if you have a last minute cancellation by Crooked Fingers opening for tonight's Neko Case show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.? If you're smart you call on Will Sheff. For those of us not in D.C., the show will be webcast on NPR tonight beginning at 8:15 p.m. EDT.
April 8, 2009
The Pop Lie single is now available for purchase from Okkervil River's label, Jagjaguwar.
April 3, 2009
The first non-festival dates for fall in the UK have been announced. Tickets are already on sale for most of the shows.
March 20, 2009
From the streets in Austin, DTO reports that Will's solo set is scheduled for 2:50 p.m. on Saturday at the Halcyon coffeehouse.
March 19, 2009
Electric Picnic lands itself as Okkervil's eighth announced festival date of 2009. Okkervil will fall into this festival's lineup at some point between September 4 - 6. On the evening of September 7, the band will then find themselves in front of another Irish audience at Róisín Dubh in Galway.
March 14, 2009
Okkervil River has many parks to conquer before they match last year's 24 festival appearances, but they will come one step closer when they take the stage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in July.
March 10, 2009
In lieu of any real tour news -- beyond their brief sojourn to the other side of the world in May -- hopefully we'll at least keep learning of individual shows here and there. Today Okkervil's appearance at the End Of The Road Festival in England September 11-13 was announced.
We also learned from a reliable source (M. Ward's MySpace blog is reliable, isn't it?) that during SXSW week, Will Sheff will be performing at the ReadyMade party to be held at the Halcyon coffeehouse on Saturday, March 21 (time unknown).
March 6, 2009
The track listing for Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers! was announced today. The song Okkervil chose to cover is East River Pipe's "All You Little Suckers." Not only are we very excited to hear what they do with this song, but this compilation overall has the potential to be one of the all-time best. By the way, they are limiting the run to 7,500 copies, so you may want to pre-order.
March 2, 2009
Tonight at 7:00 p.m. a free show featuring Okkervil River and Hospital Ships will take place at the Main Building Lawn, St. Edward's University. The University indicates that it's "a private event for the St. Edward's community." Good luck to the rest of you Austinites in figuring out how you're going to get in.
For those of you who will be in attendance at SXSW and are currently figuring out how to juggle seeing all those amazing bands: Reserve the 6:00 p.m. time slot on Thursday, March 19 for Okkervil. That is the time they are scheduled to take the stage at the Roky Erickson Psychedelic Ice Cream Social. As with all SXSW appearances, time is subject to change.
February 27, 2009
Okkervil's 2009 festival kickoff is no longer Coachella, but Vanderbilt University's Rites of Spring Festival a day or two beforehand.
The band also will be continuing their Roky Erickson love affair by playing at the annual Roky Erickson Psychedelic Ice Cream Social held in Austin during SXSW. No word whether they also will be backing him at this event, but one can hope.
This Sunday, March 1, Austin's teens will have a chance to learn about songwriting from today's best. Okkervil River will be teaching at a workshop held by Austin's Bat Cave, a non-profit program (whose website is woefully out-of-date) helping Austin's youth develop their writing abilities.
February 20, 2009
A reminder that this Sunday, February 22 at 1:00 p.m. PST you can hear an edited version of Will's "Talking Music" interview on KQED. The show is repeated Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. PST and Wednesday 2:00 a.m. PST. Many of the station's affiliates broadcast the show, but the times may differ.
February 13, 2009
Fingers crossed for OR fans heading to or residing in ATX that this will be the first of several Okkervil 2009 SXSW shows.
Official showcase: Friday, March 20 at 1:00 a.m. at The Parish
February 11, 2009
Finally, the party responsible for the pause came to the realization that no SXSW in the 2000s would be complete without a non-touring Okkervil. We'll announce exact dates, times, places as they are announced, revealed, discovered.
In case you missed the official announcement or the addition to the concert page: Okkervil River is a Bonnaroo guest this year.
February 2, 2009
The first of this year's Australian dates have been announced. Okkervil will be playing all three dates of the Groovin' The Moo festival. With a name like that, we sure wish we could be there.
We are very excited to learn from Pitchfork that on April 21 the band will release "Pop Lie" as a single. The b-sides will be a solo version of "Pop Lie" and -- the reason for our excitement -- the song "Millionaire." Having had the privilege of hearing this song, we can guarantee that you will want to get this single.
January 30, 2009
Okkervil's first festival appearance of 2009 has just been announced. They will be playing Coachella on Sunday, April 19.
January 26, 2009
On February 5, musicians Will Sheff, Tim Bracy (The Mendoza Line), and Beth Wawerna (Bird of Youth), along with comedians and authors, will be performing at a launch party for the new online magazine therumpus.net. Tickets for the event can be purchased from brownpapertickets.
January 23, 2009
From Letterman to...Starbucks? You can now enjoy your grande, skim, extra hot, triple shot, extra caramel, Caramel Macchiato with "Lost Coastlines," which can be found on the Starbucks Coffee Company's Winter '09 compilation CD.
January 20, 2009
For those of you without a turntable, the Sheff/Bissell split single is now available for download from your preferred mp3 site -- or at least from emusic, Amazon and iTunes.
January 14, 2009
Will is certainly busy while on tour. In addition to the concerts themselves, he always seems to be popping up elsewhere, usually on his own. Here are videos of "Lost Coastlines" and "Pop Lie," which he performed for Le Cargo before Okkervil's show in Paris last fall.
January 6, 2009
During their U.S. tour this past fall, Okkervil stopped to chat with Pitchfork contributor Jessica Suarez. Part one of the two part interview has now been posted on pitchfork.tv. What's a little narrative license when you get to hear the genuine enthusiasm of playing with the legendary Roky Erickson?
December 22, 2008
Two thousand eight was a year in which Okkervil River advocated for social change through the support and promotion of several charity and green projects. To conclude 2008, Will Sheff adds one more cause to these efforts. This time he lends his voice to raise public awareness of a population that is becoming increasingly marginalized as a result of the current financial crisis. Learn more about this campaign on episode 5 of BEARDO broadcasting now on Pitchfork TV.
It took DTO a couple of days to get around to mentioning that OKKERVIL RIVER WILL BE ON THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN; we were out celebrating. Watch them stampede Dave's stage on January 7, 2009.
In preparation for the CBS appearance, the sixsome will play a show for the NYC and surrounding area fans at The Bell House on January 6, 2009. BUY tickets before this small venue sells out.
On February 22, 2009, you will be able to hear Will's solo show at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco on City Arts & Lectures, Inc. Radio, which is transmitted through San Francisco Bay Area's KQED-FM (88.5) and 170 public radio stations.
To wrap up today's scattered belated news items: If you missed it, Okkervil River's online store (now operated by Port Merchandise) is selling the Will Sheff/Charles Bissell 7".
David Letterman!
December 7, 2008
In a half hour (7:00 p.m. Berlin time) you can hear Will host an hour-long radio program on MotorFM Ohrspiel. We apologize for the short notice, but if you miss it, the show will be re-broadcast Monday at midnight and Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. (Berlin time).
This may no longer qualify as news, but a year ago Daytrotter had Will in to do a reading for the Bookery section of their website. You can now hear him read "Okkervil River" from Tatyana Tolstaya's White Walls.
November 25, 2008
While in Bologna, Will, Lauren, and Justin stopped by Radio Maps for an interview and studio performance. The station's site has audio of the entire appearance along with video performances for "Calling And Not Calling My Ex" and "Lost Coastlines," which are also on YouTube.
November 22, 2008
We've been out and about, away from the computer, of late but we're back now; at least one half of us is. Here's some of what has been going on with Okkervil this past week or two.
Will was on Bayern 2 radio in Munich on November 18. Part of the interview can be heard on line.
The Fall 2008 issue of Under The Radar has an interview with Will (as well as an album review).
Once again showing the creativity they put into everything they do, Okkervil River did an interview for MTV2's Subterranean wherein MTV's questions, delivered by Beth Wawerna, and Okkervil's answers, were all conducted in song.
The year-end lists have just started to come out and Paste lists The Stand Ins at number 5.
November 11, 2008
This one seems to have slipped through the cracks. We've only just discovered that at some point when Jonathan and Brian were still in the band, Okkervil made a video for "A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene," directed by Steven Drypolcher.
November 6, 2008
The Austin Chronicle informs us that Okkervil River will be recording an album of unreleased Roky Erickson songs. No release date even hinted at yet. The boys backing Roky at the Austin Music Awards this year was stupendous so we can't wait to hear what they do with these songs.
November 5, 2008
Turns out the Will Sheff/Charles Bissell collaboration isn't an urban legend after all. Expectant fans will finally be able to hear Charles Bissell covering Okkervil River's "It Ends With A Fall" and Will Sheff covering The Wrens's "Ex-Girl Collection" with the release of the 7" from Jagjaguwar this winter. You can take a sneak peak at the masterpiece in December at Will's solo shows. Two new dates have been added to this mini-tour. You can catch Will and Bird of Youth on December 19th in San Francisco at Cafe Du Nord and the following evening in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery Masonic Lodge.
November 4, 2008
Will (Sheff) is balancing out his appearance on the west coast by playing NYC on December 11th, a week before his solo show in San Francisco. This one is not to be missed. Bird of Youth and Charles Bissell are the openers. Tickets go on sale at noon on Wednesday, November 5th.
November 1, 2008
Okkervil River's Fall 2008 US tour concluded almost three weeks ago--a tour
that was extraordinary in its ambition to be completely carbon neutral, and
yet DTO inexcusably failed to mention it up to this point.
The band sought to accomplish their goal by selling carbon-offset stickers
at the shows and by encouraging their fans to commute to the venues by way
of carpools, public transportation and bike rides. Through these
initiatives, the band strove to raise awareness of the detrimental effects
of CO2 emissions to the environment and to promote eco-friendly
transportation options not only for travel to concerts, but for everyday
life.
Bike rides were organized through local alternative transportation
advocacy groups in Madison, Portland, Tempe, Athens, Pittsburgh and Chicago,
and the carpools through the eco-rideshare program PickupPal. If you are
organizing an event in the future, keep PickupPal in mind.
The carbon-offset stickers, designed by Scott Brackett, sold for two dollars
at every stop on the tour. Each sticker purchased offset 300 lbs. of carbon
emissions. The gross proceeds of the sales went to NativeEnergy, a
non-profit organization that supports clean and renewable energy projects
and promotes the sustainability of Native American farming. To increase the sticker sales at the last ten shows, the band raffled off a copy of an unreleased song, a unique version of which was mixed in the "green" room prior
to the start of each show.
According to the band's website, their green efforts were enabled in part
by Air Traffic Control, a non-profit organization that provides artists with
the resources to engage in social change.
If you were unable to go to the shows, and wish to contribute to causes
supported by Okkervil River, you can purchase carbon-offsets (stickers not
included) through NativeEnergy's website or make an online donation to Air
Traffic Control.
October 31, 2008
You'll have yet one more chance to catch Okkervil River on their month-long European tour. They will be doing an acoustic in-store at Saturn in Berlin on November 17 at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 22 update: This was actually a Will Sheff solo set.
October 29, 2008
Tomorrow, on World Cafe, NPR will broadcast a recently recorded, in-studio performance by Okkervil River. Listen to the show online from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. (EDT), Thursday, October 30th.
October 27, 2008
Tonight in Denmark--Copenhagen to be exact--Okkervil River launched their last tour of two thousand and eight. They will stop and play songs in twenty-four cities across the European continent, including the mainland and the largest island to its left. Visit their official website for links to points of ticket sales and venue websites (and as an added bonus--there is even a link to a fruit restaurant!).
There’s a two-page article in the November 2008 issue of Uncut (Bob Dylan cover) wherein the author sits down in Brooklyn with a very happy Will Sheff thanks, in part, to Lou Reed. The article is not on-line, but the magazine is worth the money. It also contains a 4-star review of The Stand Ins.
October 20, 2008
Okkervil River's cover of Joni Mitchell's "Blonde In The Bleachers" is on
the digital-only release Before The Goldrush, a
project to benefit Teach For America. Purchase the album at Amazon.com.
October 17, 2008
On the band’s second day in New York during their recent tour, a day they finally didn’t have to spend traveling in a bus, rather than relax they spent the day doing promotion. While some events were limited to those in the industry, WNEW has made available a brief interview and a couple of solo in-studio songs from an appearance Will made that same day.
October 16, 2008
Will explains the genesis, evolution and recording of "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979" in today's edition of "Behind the Song" published on Spin magazine online.
2008 Statistics: By December 31st, Okkervil River will have played 108 shows over 105 days in 83 cities in 19 countries. These figures do not include media appearances or possible unknown secret shows. Of the 108 shows, they opened 14 times and headlined 66 times, made 24 festival appearances, and played 2 official aftershows and 2 VIP events.
September 29, 2008
This week's episode of NPR's All Songs Considered features Will Sheff. In his role as guest DJ, Will not only pulls songs from obscurity to share with the listeners, he also discusses a range of topics with Bob Boilen, the host of All Songs Considered. In speaking of one of his earliest musical influeneces, The Incredible String Band, Will states: "I really didn't know that music could be like this...This idea that music could be like casting a spell and could reorder the entire world." (I think many feel that notion could be applied to a band whose name appears a few times on this website.)
The "Lost Coastlines" video is now up on YouTube.
September 25, 2008
It appears that the Subterranean blog is a little confused with the hours of the day. Today's blog (9/25) instructs all to tune in at "1AM tonight." In that case, for the official record, "Lost Coastlines" will be introduced to the MTV2 viewing world at 1 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 26 (not on September 25, as was announced yesterday). Yes, MTV2! If you miss it, switch over to mtvU at the top of every hour for the duration of the day.
September 24, 2008
A post on the Subterranean blog announced today that mtvU will premier the video for "Lost Coastlines" Thursday night, September 25. On September 26, the video will then be aired every hour, on the hour on mtvU and will be streamed online.
Meanwhile, Daytrotter has posted a video of Will Sheff performing Randy Newman's song "Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear."
And in even more internet video news, the band's performance at the ACL Festival will be webcast by the AT&T Blue Room at 5:30 p.m. CDT, Sunday, September 28.
September 18, 2008
The Stands Ins stands up and upstages The Stage Names by debuting at number 42 on The Billboard 200 music chart for the week of September 27, 2008. This is twenty slots better than its predecessor.
September 17, 2008
Prior to their show at The Showbox, Okkervil River gave a special performance at the Triple Door in Seattle for KEXP’s VIP members earlier today. If you missed the live stream, you’ll be able to hear it once it hits the archives.
September 16, 2008
Tomorrow, the radio program Simple Folk will air a session they recorded with Will Sheff earlier this year. It will air at 6:00 p.m. GMT (11:00 a.m. CDT) and can be streamed at www.radioreverb.com or heard directly on the radio at 97.2 if you happen to live in Brighton. It will be rebroadcast on Sunday, September 21 at 1:00 p.m. (7:00 a.m. CDT).
September 12, 2008
Okkervil River's month-long U.S. tour kicks off tonight with a stop at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. These first few shows will have an assortment of opening bands before they begin the early part of their tour with Zykos and Sea Wolf and the latter part with Crooked Fingers and Black Joe Lewis.
September 9, 2008
The Stand Ins was officially released today in the US. This brought to a close the YouTube covers project. Here's the complete list of the videos from the stand in artists:
"Lost Coastlines" - A.C. Newman and Will Sheff
"Singer Songwriter" - David Vandervelde
"Starry Stairs" - Jack Ladder
"Blue Tulip" - Bon Iver
"Pop
Lie" - Bird of Youth
"On Tour With Zykos" - Zykos
"Calling And Not Calling My Ex" - Ola Podrida
"Bruce Wayne Campbell On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979" - Crooked Fingers
Also, Okkervil River joined Jay Trachtenberg on Austin radio station KUT today for an interview and in-studio performance of "Pop Lie," "Calling And Not Calling My Ex" and "On Tour With Zykos." If you missed it, you can listen to it again and again and again by visiting KUT's archives.
September 4, 2008
Will Sheff spoke with Virginia Prescott, host of the New Hampshire Public Radio program Word of Mouth about The Stand Ins, which is out in 5 days. You can listen here.
August 29, 2008
While in Chicago for Lollapalooza, Will was interviewed for the ABC News segment The Mix. That interview is now playing on ABC's website.
August 28, 2008
Will Sheff, Travis Nelsen and Patrick Pestorius have descended upon Park
Slope in Brooklyn to help record the debut album from Bird of
Youth, a new musical project led by Beth Wawerna. The record is
being produced by no other than Mr. Sheff himself (release date unknown).
Scott Brackett is also listed as a band member on Bird of Youth's MySpace
page. See Beth in action covering "Pop
Lie"--the latest addition to Okkervil River's The Stand Ins
covers project.
We previously wrote that Okkervil had asked their friends to cover songs
from their forthcoming album, which they have been uploading to their
YouTube channel. Well, don't feel left out because they've also invited
fans to record their own versions of The Stand Ins songs.
Feel free to upload one yourself or join in on this interesting idea: Chad
at Everybody Cares, Everybody
Understands has seized the challenge issued by Okkervil River and
has come up with a communal plan for fans to participate. Visit the blog to
learn how you can contribute.
Don't forget to pre-order your copy of The Stand Ins. Take your
choice between ordering from Jagjaguwar to receive posters of
this album, as well as The Stage Names, or from Newbury Comics for an autographed copy of the CD
booklet. Or, if you're the indecisive type, buy one from each.
August 23, 2008
We don't know too much about it ourselves, but according to the Denver Film Society, in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention, Okkervil River is scheduled to appear on August 25 at Red Rocks for Cinemocracy Rocks. Also on the bill are Jill Sobule and Apples In Stereo, along with the screening of several of the top entrants in the Cinemocracy Film Festival contest. Buy your tickets at the society's webpage. You can read a little more about the event on the official Cinemocracy blog. Sept. 4 update: As little as we knew about this show, it seems the band knew even less. We have no other information, but they did not play this event.
August 18, 2008
In part 1 of an interview given backstage at Schubas, Will talks of the unnerving Belgian audiences and feeling like Bon Jovi. We'll be sure and let you know when part 2 is posted.
Also, Okkervil River has set up a YouTube
channel where they have begun posting "stand in" videos for
The Stand Ins. They kicked off the project last week with the
album's promotional video. In one of two videos released today, "The
Stand Ins Intro," Will explains the concept of this endeavor: Each
song on The Stand Ins now has a sibling video performed by a
different artist that the band has befriended over the last ten years. Carl
Newman of The New Pornographers serves as the first stand in by dueting with
Will on "Lost
Coastlines." Videos of the recreations will be released in the
order that they appear on the album. Since Will encouraged the artists to
tear apart the songs, it should be interesting to see what is to come.
August 12, 2008
The publicity machine is picking up steam. There is now a trailer for The Stand Ins up on Vimeo and the band's website. Also, for those of you who didn't already buy it from iTunes, Jagjaguwar is now offering "Lost Coastlines" for free.
August 11, 2008
As of today, The Stand Ins is available for pre-order from Jagjaguwar.
Those who pre-order will have access to a digital download in advance of the release date and will receive a "cover art poster set" (presumably art to both The Stage Names and The Stand Ins).
August 10, 2008
Stops in the Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway are now included in the upcoming European tour. The CONCERTS page has the exact dates, venues and cities.
August 9, 2008
Varg Vikernes var en dum unge
While in Norway this week for the Øya Festival, Will, Lauren and Scott ambled through a very cool looking café, treating its patrons to a live version of "Lost Coastlines." Watch the video and listen to Will's comments on black metal artist and convicted murderer Varg Vikernes on NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation).
Wikipedia entry on
Varg Vikernes.
August 8, 2008
Uncut magazine's September 2008 sampler CD, Roll With It, contains "16 songs about drinking, dope and disorderly conduct." Evidently, suicide is classified as "disorderly conduct" since "John Allyn Smith Sails" makes its appearance on the sampler.
Through good, old-fashioned detective work, DTO discovered that the guitar and mandolin player currently touring with Okkervil River is Lauren Gurgiolo. Learn more about Lauren on her Website and MySpace page.
August 7, 2008
One more date has been added to the fall tour. Okkervil River will be playing the Metro in Chicago on Tuesday, October 14. Tickets will be on sale Saturday, August 9 at noon on the Metro website.
City Arts & Lectures, Inc. hosts Will Sheff "in conversation and song" on Wednesday, December 17 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Tickets on sale now.
July 29, 2008
You can now purchase from iTunes the first track, "Lost Coastlines," from Okkervil River's upcoming album, The Stand Ins.
Okkervil River is scheduled to perform their Lollapalooza debut this Saturday, August 2nd on the PlayStation 3 Stage from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Not lucky enough to be packed into Grant Park under the scorching Chicago sun to witness the debauchery firsthand? Fear not! That evening at 9 p.m. (EDT),
XM Exclusives will broadcast Okkervil River's Lollapalooza set in its entirety as part of its Lollapalooza 2008: This Weekend on XMX! series. XMX will then re-air the Okkervil segment at 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Program update: The Lollapalooza broadcast was limited to XM Radio, and was not aired on XM Radio Online...sorry to get your hopes up!
July 17, 2008
Fall European continent dates announced! The full tour will wind them through Denmark, France, Belgium, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy and Austria. Visit CONCERTS for complete details.
The Insound 20 Design Project unveiled limited edition t-shirt, hoodies and posters designed by Jason Munn for 20 of their favorite bands, including Okkervil River. For a 10% discount, use coupon code: insoundtwenty10 (valid until August 31, 2008).
Additionally, Okkervil River's name is included on the special 21st design. All profits from the sale of the 21st shirt and poster will benefit 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring, writing and publishing organization dedicated to providing free literacy programs for children.
July 15, 2008
The soundtrack to the upcoming movie, In Search Of A Midnight Kiss, will feature two Okkervil River songs--the previously released "Lines" and the unreleased "Mermaid"--and three previously released Shearwater songs--"My Good Deed" (Sheff), "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine" (Sheff) and "The Kind" (Meiburg).
June 17, 2008
Following their Lollapalooza set, which is scheduled for 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. on August 2, Okkervil River will be doing an official Aftershow that evening at Schubas. Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 21.
May 30, 2008
Okkervil River unveiled the track list and album cover for The Stand Ins on their website and Pitchfork today. The best disclosure of the day, however, was the birth of the Okkervil River Fan Community, courtesy of Front Gate Tickets. Buy your tickets now via this new pre-sale option for the Fall 2008 North American tour, also announced today (visit CONCERTS for the latest dates).
May 22, 2008
Change that new EP announcement to read LP! Pitchfork announced today that Okkervil River will release The Stand Ins, a new full-length album, on September 9th. The Stand Ins, a sequel to last year's The Stage Names, will contain songs originally conceived for inclusion on a double-disk TSN release, along with a few elusive studio versions of old tracks which Okkervil River fans have been eagerly anticipating and some new tunes.
May 21, 2008
The accumulation of festival dates and travel miles for Okkervil River continues...they will be appearing at the Treasure Island Festival on September 21 in San Francisco. Tickets go on sale May 29th.
May 17, 2008
In Down The Oubliette's absence over the last month, there have been several developments in the Okkervil River camp, most notably the departure of Jonathan Meiburg. Jonathan, a member of the band since 1999, announced through his publicist on May 12th his amicable disengagement from Okkervil River in order to concentrate exclusively on Shearwater. Shearwater's fifth LP, Rook, will be released June 3rd on Matador Records.
New EP!
Will confirmed in a Tiny Mix Tapes interview last month that The Stage Names Appendix will be out this fall.
New concert dates!
Is there a music festival near your home town? Chances are Okkeril River will be swinging by. The band is hitting the festival circuit this year, including appearances at All Tomorrow's Parties, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and many more throughout the US and Europe. Visit DTO's CONCERT PAGE for the full list of upcoming 2008 shows, including dates for a November 2008 UK tour.
New live media appearances!
Pictchfork.tv. Fall 2007.
Stripped down and monkeyed-up, Okkervil River performs on top of the Pitchfork roof in midtown Manhattan for the "Don't Look Down" series.
WYEP Studio Session. April 12, 2008.
Don't miss Will's slower solo version of "A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene" and the first broadcast performance of "Lost Coastlines," a song that the band debuted live October 8, 2006 in Chicago, which will appear on the upcoming EP.
Lounge Acts on WOXY. April 24, 2008.
Download MP3s of the four songs performed on WOXY from The Smudge of Ashen Fluff blog.
Cooking With Rock Stars. May 12, 2008.
Will Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg take their first ride in a limousine in order to bring you recipes for Chocolate Caramel Tart with Sea Salt and Split Pea Soup.
April 7, 2008
The lineup for Lollapalooza 2008 was announced today. Get your tickets for the August 1 - 3, 2008 event before they sell out. Okkervil River will be there.
April 4, 2008
Okkervil River plays tomorrow night at The Granada Theater in Dallas with the one and only Black Joe Lewis (who is causing quite a ruckus down in Texas!).
March 14, 2008
Okkervil River plays the Harp (R.I.P.) party at the French Legation Museum tomorrow around 6 p.m., as well as the SoundExchange/Mojo showcase at Stubb's at 9 p.m. Roky Erickson follows Okkervil at 10, so I'm still hoping for a joint effort "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" in addition to "You're Gonna Miss Me!"
March 13, 2008
Okkervil River plays the Schubas Party at Yard Dog at 3:50 p.m. today.
Last night at the Austin Music Awards, the best indie rock band of all time (we are biased) won the "Indie Rock Band of the Year" award.
March 12, 2008
A Pitchfork article officially confirms that the SXSW shows will be Okkervil River's last performances with Brian Cassidy as a full-time touring member. Brian's replacement on the spring and summer tour will be The Wrens' Charles Bissell.
March 4, 2008
Announced last week, Okkervil River will be playing the Sasquatch! Music Festival at The Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington. Tickets for this May 24 - 26 event go on sale March 8 at noon.
February 27, 2008
A second Okkervil River SXSW appearance has surfaced. The band is scheduled to play the Schubas Party at Yard Dog at 3:50 p.m. on March 13.
February 22, 2008
Okkervil River's tour of Australia and New Zealand starts tomorrow in Adelaide.
February 14, 2008
Jonathan begins his solo tour tomorrow! He's opening for Bill Callahan, through February and into March.
See Jonathan's Concert Page for details.
February 8, 2008
Okkervil River's show at Paradiso in Amsterdam (February 9) will be filmed and available live on Fabchannel.com.
February 7, 2008
A video of Dailymotion's latest Ukulele Session posted today. Will Sheff, Brian Cassidy and Justin Sherburn perform "A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene" and "A King And A Queen" in a locker room in Perwez, Belgium. Okkervil River plays Stuk in Leuven tonight.
February 6, 2008
Will Sheff stopped in for an interview with BBC-6's Steve Lamacq earlier today. Okkervil River were his New Favourite Band (obviously). Will's segment can be heard at approximately the 17:41:39 mark, immediately after M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes."
February 3, 2008
The Austin Chronicle ran an article last Friday announcing that Okkervil River will headline this year's Austin Music Awards on March 12th, along with Roky Erickson. The event, part of SXSW, will take place at the Austin Music Hall.
February 2, 2008
The UK and European tour starts today in Belfast. A few TICKETS are still available.
January 31, 2008
Lots of news today. In addition to the New Pornographers' dates and the date with Black Joe Lewis in Dallas, TX, Okkervil River has announced two more headlining dates in Memphis, TN and Bloomington, IN with Howlin' Rain. See the updated dates on our Concert Page.
The New Pornographers' site posted its announcement of the full tour with Okkervil River this afternoon. Get your TICKETS before they're gone!
Though no official announcement or full list of dates has been released yet, some more venues are advertising tickets for The New Pornographers/Okkervil River shows. See the latest dates on our Concert Page.
January 29, 2008
Okkervil River is scheduled to perform at the Granada Theater in Dallas, TX on April 5th. This show, apparently, is not part of The New Pornographers' tour. Buy tickets on the Granada Theatre site.
January 28, 2008
The New Pornographers' ticketing site has a banner reading, "The New Pornographers with Special Guests Okkervil River." Currently, none of the dates are posted, and no official announcement has yet been released. However, we have a few of those April dates on our Concert Page.
January 26, 2008
Jonathan will be on a solo tour, opening for Bill Callahan, in February and March. See Jonathan's Concert Page for details.
January 20, 2008
MusikExpress's Backstage Sessions features Will's solo versions of Loudon Wainwright's "Motel Blues" and Okkervil's "Savannah Smiles." Be warned. Both will wreck you.
January 19, 2008
The Black Cab Sessions Chapter 27 features Will Sheff performing a solo version of Big Star's "Big Black Car." It's brilliant!
January 10, 2008
The first of the 2008 US tour dates are starting to come in! Carnegie Library Music Hall doesn't list Okkervil River (nor the other band scheduled!) on its website yet, but check back here for updates as we get them!
December 14, 2007
Will Sheff answers fans' questions in an exclusive interview about the Golden Opportunities mixtape in the news section of Okkervil River's website. Thanks for taking the time to indulge us, Will!
December 12, 2007
The Golden Opportunities mixtape is available for download on the Okkervil River website. Recorded live on tour during 2006 and 2007, these cover songs are a grand gift from the band to the fans (And there are pictures, too! Hey, nice feet!).
Pitchfork has an article to accompany the mixtape announcement.
December 4, 2007
Tour dates continue to trickle in, one at a time, it seems. The latest is Melbourne on February 26.
November 28, 2007
The Stage Names lands at #1 on HARP's 50 Best CDs of 2007 list. Congratulations Okkervil River!
November 27, 2007
Italian web magazine indie-eye has a series of video podcasts from an interview with Will Sheff. One of each of the 14 short episodes will be posted daily. The first and second installments are currently available.
November 26, 2007
Another date, at Paradiso in Amsterdam on February 9, has been added to Okkervil River's 2008 tour schedule.
November 24, 2007
A brief note from the road has been posted on Okkervil River.com's news section.
Will mentions Münster, mustard and Molina, along with the video for "A Girl In Port."
November 21, 2007
A video for "A Girl In Port," filmed in Italy in November 2006, is available on You Tube.
Pitchfork has a blurb about it, as well.
November 17, 2007
Videos and mp3s of Okkervil River's acoustic session at Aligre FM 93.1 is available on Planet Claire. This is from the press tour Will Sheff and Travis Nelsen did in July 2007.
November 14, 2007
Okkervil River has added two more dates to the Winter '08 European tour. They will be playing Stuk in Leuven, Belgium on February 7 and Doornroosje in Nijmegen, Netherlands on February 10.
November 12, 2007
Okkervil River's Daytrotter sessions are online, along with an interview (Ah, Muppet Murder Mystery memories!).
November 5, 2007
The first leg of Okkervil River's European tour begins in Colchester, UK Tuesday night. Tickets are still available. Check the Concerts page for other tour dates.
November 4, 2007
Okkervil River played the Fun Fun Fun Fest main stage at Waterloo Park, this weekend. That Other Paper wrote a bit about it, and TOP's Kristin Hillery took some fabulous photos.
October 29, 2007
Okkervil River will be playing St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Australia early next year!
The festival hits Adelaide on February 23, Melbourne on February 24th, Brisbane on March 1st, and Sydney on March 2nd.
Performers scheduled include Feist, The Brunettes, Bridezilla, Little Red and Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah, among others. For more information, see the festival's My Space profile.
Tickets are on sale November 9th through Moshtix.com, except Brisbane, which is through Oztix.com
(The special presales begin on November 5th, however. Click the individual cities above!).
October 24, 2007
Okkervil River has announced new tour dates! The band will be playing Belfast, Edinburgh and London in February, 2008. Get your tickets, they're going fast!
The November/December issue of HARP magazine is on stands. The Okkervil River article is online.
October 21, 2007
Okkervil River will be featured in the November/December issue of HARP magazine.
Check back soon for a link to the article.
October 17, 2007
Will Sheff is scheduled to perform at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, October 20, as part of the CMJ Music Marathon.
October 10, 2007
Okkervil River's NPR's World Cafe performance is online.
October 9, 2007
Okkervil River performs on KUT's Music With Jay Trachtenberg.
October 7, 2007
Okkervil River played the last show on the first leg of the current tour last night in Houston.
The European tour begins next month, check the Concerts page for all the details.
October 1, 2007
Okkervil River recorded a session for NPR's World Cafe in Philadelphia, PA.
September 30, 2007
Okkervil River's show from The Rock And Roll Hotel in Washington, DC broadcasts live on NPR's Live Concert Series.
The Live Concert page also features a pre-show interview with Will Sheff and some spectacular live photos.
September 27, 2007
Okkervil River performs on WNYC's Soundcheck.
September 16, 2007
Okkervil River recorded a session for Daytrotter.com. Check back soon to find when you will be able to hear it!
September 13, 2007
Jonathan Meiburg has scheduled a solo performance in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for September 27th.
Check his Solo Page for more information.
September 10, 2007
Because of our own technical difficulties, we were unable to tell you about the cancellation--due to technical difficulties--of the KEXP in-studio performance. However, Okkervil River will still rock Neumo's tonight!
September 9, 2007
Tonight Okkervil River plays the first Canadian date on this tour. The Stage Names holds at number 3 on ChartAttack, which tracks Canadian Campus/Community Radio Airplay.
September 6, 2007
Tonight at 6 p.m., Okkervil River plays an In-store show at Amoeba Records in San Francisco!
September 5, 2007
Tonight Okkervil River plays a Sold Out show at Independent in San Francisco!
Tomorrow the guys perform at Amoeba's Haight Street store, at 6 p.m. The store has a limited number of copies of the limited edition CD Sampler
for sale with The Stage Names. For more information, check out its Live Shows page.
September 3, 2007
Some "Behind-The-Video" still photos with captions, as well as other, interestingly captioned, photos can now be found under "Gallery" in the Media
section of Okkervil River.com.
September 2, 2007
Will talks about his experience (meeting Jeff Goldblum!) on Late Night With Conan O'Brien under "Videos" in the Media section of Okkervil River.com.
Okkervil hits the west coast tomorrow, with a show in San Diego! See Concerts for more tour dates.
August 30, 2007
The fall tour commences in Albuquerque, New Mexico! See Concerts for more tour dates.
Jagjaguwar responds to the leaked video for "Our Life Is Not A Movie, Or Maybe," on You Tube by officially posting the final cut.
You can also watch it on Pitchfork.com.
August 28, 2007
Okkervil River performs "Our Life Is Not A Movie, Or Maybe" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
August 27, 2007
The music video for "Our Life Is Not A Movie, Or Maybe," directed by Margaret Brown (Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt), leaks on TV Guide Broadband's "M Vids" and a poor quality version quickly hits You Tube.
August 24, 2007
Okkervil River in-store performance at Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas!
August 18, 2007
Will Sheff performs solo at Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn, New York.
August 17, 2007
The Stage Names debuts at number 62 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart for the week of August 25th.
August 10, 2007
The Stage Names debuts on ChartAttack, which tracks Canadian Campus/Community Radio Airplay, at number 37.
August 8, 2007
Okkervil River's new, official website debuts: www.okkervilriver.com
Jagjaguwar posted an audio podcast on the making of The Stage Names. Listen on iTunes
August 7, 2007
Okkervil River's The Stage Names is released in the US.
The Stage Names Deluxe Edition includes a bonus disc of demos for each album track.
eMusic features the exclusive bonus track, "Love To A Monster."
iTunes features the exclusive bonus track, "Starry Stairs."
July 31, 2007
The Stage Names is streaming in its entirety on Okkervil River's My Space profile.
