Here’s Peter at The End of the Road Festival at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset, UK, lookin’ a bit like rock royalty somehow:

Mark misses this orange tie. He gave it to Martin from Calexico, thinking it’d be easy to find another one just like it. Alas, that wasn’t the case. You can almost see the longing in his eyes. The sadness.

And here’s Foon being the most photographic mandobird slinger in the history of the world ever:

Dang, that was fun.

Another thrill: Holding Songbook in our hands with its beautiful new artwork by Sing Statistics.

You can read some nice things about it at Subba-Cultcha, The Line of Best Fit, a cool profile from The Guardian, and BBC’s website. We can’t read Swedish, but our friends who can tell us there’s swell words here at Dagensskiva too.

Pick it up via Rough Trade!

As for that “other” record we’ve been hawking lately, well, you’ve read it here first: Treasury Library Canada is sold out, folks. All 1,000 hand-folded copies are gone, and we couldn’t be happier (in part to have the closet space back).

But worry not: it shall be back … (and speaking of backs, in case you haven’t seen it, here’s what it looked like!)

xox,
 W.P.

01. ON THE ROAD

Hey! Check out the following list of confirmed tour dates and come out and say ‘hi’ if we’re coming through your town!

AUGUST 2008
30 - THE GATEWAY w/ Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - Calgary, Alberta

SEPTEMBER 2008
06 - THE LUMINAIRE w/ Orphans + Vandals & Spokes - London, UK
07 - THE COLCHESTER ARTS CENTRE w/ Guests - Colchester, UK
08 - THE CAPTAIN’S REST w/ Eagleowl & Kelley Stoltz - Glasgow, Scotland
10 - TRIPOD w/ Calexico - Dublin, Ireland
11 - QUEEN’S HALL w/ Calexico - Edinburgh, Scotland
12 - CARLING ACADEMY w/ Calexico - Oxford, UK
13 - LEADMILL w/ Calexico - Sheffield, UK
14 - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL – Main Stage (5PM) - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
14 - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL – Tipi Stage (Midnight) - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
16 - THE LAMP w/ Guests - Hull, UK
17 - THE JUNCTION w/ Guests - York, UK
18 - CUMBERLAND ARMS w/ Guests - Newcastle, UK
19 - THE BODEGA w/ Guests - Nottingham, UK
23 - ROUGH TRADE EAST – Afternoon Instore - London, UK
23 - HOXTON BAR w/ Guests - London, UK
25 - SCHOKOLADEN w/ Ghostmice - Berlin, DE *
30 - CLUB VINYL w/ Guests - Wetzlar, DE *

OCTOBER 2008
01 - FRAU HEDI w/ Guests - Hamburg, DE *
03 - VALENTIN STUBERL w/ Guests - Berlin, DE *
08 - MACEWAN HALL BALLROOM w/ Iron & Wine - Calgary, Alberta
09 - MEYER HOROWITZ THEATRE w/ Iron & Wine - Edmonton, Alberta

* All German dates performed as a two-piece composed of Mark + Foon. We’re christening it the Balladeer tour.

We’ve plotted it out for you on GoogleMaps, so you can see what a UK / Ireland tour looks like:

02. SUMMER FLINGS

We’ve had such an amazing summer. Thanks to everyone who’s come out to see us play or said ‘hey’ on the interwebs. We’ve been particularly touched by the way Treasury Library Canada has been taken in by everyone who’s heard it. We really only intended it as a between-album-album to tide things over on the upcoming UK tour and to give folks something new to listen to this summer, but it’s getting props. If you ask us, it’s really only Album #1.5. Album #2’s on the way. But hey. How often is it that your tour CD gets written up in nice, big ways? We’re not complaining. We’ve only printed 1,000 of them, and at the moment the big box at WPHQ has just dwindled down to 200 left.

We don’t mean to be alarmist, but once these hand-numbered ones are gone, they’re gone! (And incidentally, the 200 hand-stamped hand-made ones are long gone too!) We’ll try our best to increase the ebay re-sale value of these things as much as we can for y’all, so you’d best grab one now. We’ll have a few at the upcoming shows.

03. RELEASE DATES!

15 September 2008 - Songbook UK is released via the Rough Trade Album Club w/ a bonus EP
29 September 2008 - Songbook UK is released in all other UK retail shops
06 October 2008 - Chorus of Wolves UK EP is released through digital retailers

Keep ‘em in your calendar.

And oh, just in case you missed it, here’s what’s coming on Chorus of Wolves EP:

> 01. Chorus of Wolves [from Songbook]
> 02. Matty John Chyzyk
> 03. Camera-Man
> 04. Oberkampf [from Houndstooth]

04. ONWARDS! UPWARDS!

If planning a tour and record release across the pond wasn’t enough work, we’ve been hammering away at the mixes for our next album, Die Stadt Muzikanten. It’s close. Very close. In fact, it’s about a week or so away from being done. And if you come to one of our UK shows and you’re really friendly about it, we might even let you listen to a track or two on one of our iPods. (Foon, however, will require some sort of exotic snack to comply).

05. BALLADEER!

And hey! There’s a couple of other projects a-brewing. Upon WP’s battle-scarred return to Canada in October (and post-Iron & Wine dates too), we’ll be recording an EP entitled Balladeer with our dear friend Kris Ellestad. We’re hoping to capture some of the weirder shizzit that happens when it’s just Mark + Foon messing about on-stage with dueling loop pedals and open-ended song structures, butting heads with Kris at the controls. And still kind-of folky too. Like Houndstooth on mushrooms. Check Kris out here:

Dude’s seriously amazing. One of the best things about being in a band is getting to meet people like this. It’s even better when you get to work with them too.

06. POSTCARDS!

And Kris isn’t the only genius cat we’ll be working with through the winter. Mark’s looking to work on tunes with songwriters across Canada and beyond for a series of free download EPs. The first two are already underway and they’re going to be tops.

#1: Ryan Doyle (of Brooklyn):

Swoon.

#2: Carl Johnson (of Regina’s The Library Voices):

Damn. There’s even more of them than there are of us.

Lo-fi and minimalist, all done quick as you like — musical correspondence at its finest! We’ll keep the others a surprise for now …

07. ADIEU TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNCIL. WE’LL MISS YOU. A LOT.

Our friends The Neighbourhood Council moved off and away from Calgary to Montreal, and we already miss them loads. Check out the group performing live at Olympic Plaza in Calgary this summer. Then visit their myspace, or read about them on Stereogum. You’d be an idiot to miss these guys when they play with Deerhunter and Times New Viking in Toronto and Montreal this October. A stone-cold idiot.

08. UNTIL NEXT TIME

We’ll see you in the UK, Ireland, and Germany! WPHQ signing off.

xox,
 W.P.

01.
We self-released a new album entitled Treasury Library Canada that we’re selling at shows and through this here website. The reviews have been swell. There’s only 1,000, and just 4 days since releasing it we’ve already sold over 300 of them. Get ‘em quick! Click here! Or check it out soon on zunior.com, where you’ll also get an exclusive bonus disc’s worth of remixes and a other things.

02.
We finished all of the tracking for another album that we’re going to have done up and ready for early 2009. Mixing finishes in the next couple of weeks. The record’s called Die Stadt Muzikanten and it’s based at least in part on the Bremen folk tale of the same name (but different spelling). We just like the way it looks as two separate words better.

03.
We played a show at Sled Island 2008 with Kris Ellestad and Grizzly Bear. Holy cripes. This week Grizzly Bear’s touring with Radiohead. Weird.

04.
The phone rang and a voice on the other side said, “I’m with Calexico. They’re hoping you’ll do some shows with them,” and so we did. Toronto’s MOD Club and Montreal’s Le National Theatre were both lovely, and at the latter show WP came out and helped out on an epic cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Going to Acapulco’. Here’s a shot from the back of the venue.

05.
We played at the Calgary Folk Festival alongside our new friends Julie Doiron, Calexico, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and Basia Bulat. It was also time to bring out some new songs, so we unveiled ‘Thumbtacks & Glue’, which we’re pretty excited about. Here’s one of the best songs of the year, no doubt (‘In The Night’ by Basia Bulat from her album ‘Oh, My Darling’):

Woodpigeon will also be at the Regina Folk Fest 8-10 August, 2008!

06.
Songbook UK’s also bringing with it a new online EP single for Chorus of Wolves, released 06 October 2008.

01. chorus of wolves
02. matty john chyzyk
03. camera-man
04. oberkampf [from the Houndstooth EP]

07.
Songbook UK will be released in the UK on 29 September and in Continental Europe shortly afterwards. We’ll be celebrating the release with a UK tour and a few dates in Germany and Sweden too. So far those dates (with more to come) are:

06 September 2008 - THE LUMINAIRE, London, UK
07 September 2008 - ARTS CENTRE, Colchester, UK
08 September 2008 - THE CAPTAIN’S REST, Glasgow, Scotland w/ Eagleowl
10 September 2008 - TRIPOD, Dublin, Ireland w/ Calexico
11 September 2008 - QUEEN’S HALL, Edinburgh, Scotland w/ Calexico
12 September 2008 - ACADEMY, Oxford, UK w/ Calexico
13 September 2008 - LEADMILL, Sheffield, UK w/ Calexico
14 September 2008 - THE END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL, Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, UK
16 September 2008 - THE LAMP, Hull, UK
17 September 2008 - THE JUNCTION, York, UK
18 September 2008 - CUMBERLAND ARMS, Newcastle, UK
19 September 2008 - THE BODEGA, Nottingham, UK
24 September 2008 - SCHLACHTHOF, Wiesbaden, Germany w/ Gravenhurst
25 September 2008 - SCHOKOLADEN, Berlin, Germany w/ Ghostmice
04 October 2008 - ABENDSEGLER, Feldberg, Germany
08.
Soon, soon, soon, another new EP. It’s entitled Balladeer, and it’s pretty different. Yes yes. Part of our annual series of free download-only records. And by annual, we mean we’re going to do one every year. At least. Some of the things sure to be on it: ‘I Want To See You Again’ (which we’ve been playing at the past few shows), ‘Music Belongs To Those Who Make It’, ‘The Two Amelias’, and ‘I Am Your Balladeer’. Maybe a couple more too.

09.
Spreepark’s finishing up the recording of another record entitled Slow Jamz. All the songs are dirty. We’ll be sure to tell you when that one’s done and ready too. Another 8 songs recorded up at Vasa Park, a tiny Swedish settlement in Northern Alberta. There’s even an actual Swedish telephone booth there, and we recorded in the main room of the dance hall underneath posters of King Carl Gustav & family. Some of the songs: ‘Vasa Park Lullabye’, ‘The Fall of the Berlin Wall’, and ‘To My Left, The West, And To The Right, You, Beautiful You, Oh So Far Away In The East’. You can still get both We’re Reinventing Music and The Gaysian Invasion albums for free from spreeparktheband.com.

10.
I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s more than enough for now.

xox,
 W.P.

We’re also excited to announce our first UK and Euro releases through The End of the Road Records set for early 2008. While at The End of the Road Festival this past fall, we were lucky enough to not only play alongside folks like Yo La Tengo and Lambchop (and, man-oh-man, David Thomas Broughton and Jens Lekman too!), but to also return to Canada as the newest members of one of England’s most exciting musical families.

First up, a 7” for Songbook’s finale closer ‘That Was Good But You Can Do Better’, backed with the new song ‘Knock Knock’ (featuring our great friends The Neighbourhood Council on backing vocals).

Following shortly behind, Songbook UK featuring all-new artwork by the amazing Sing Statistics!

There’s also a few nice bonuses tucked away inside on the bonus Treasury Library 1: Dewey Does It EP:

01. in the battle of sun vs. curtains, sun loses and we sleep until noon
02. i live a lot of places
03. 7th fret over andres
04. a moment’s peace for mary christa o’keefe
05. anna, girl in the clocktower
06. bad news brown

We’re off to Austin to play SXSW this March, and then a few more dates here and there before heading back overseas for a spell this summer and again in the fall. We hope to meet you all then.

And stay tuned for more! We plan to upload demos, live performances, radio sessions, and whatever else we’ve got laying about to the site as we go.
xox,
 W.P.