Victoria B.C.’s Ladyhawk have been making some headlines across the intertubes the past few weeks as they prepare to release their “Pinkerton“. I gave my ears an early listen of the upcoming album titled Shots and I’m thrilled with it. I’ve spent many days with their 2006 self-titled release on repeat and I’m sure Shots will share a similar fate. Jagjaguwar described the album,

…filled with the cold creaking and ghostly echoes of the old house in the dead of winter. Like a party for the last house standing in a sea of strip malls and condos, surely near the end of its time. “Shots” is the sound of Ladyhawk getting loose, turning up loud, downing a few more and howling at the moon. It evokes the devilish sounds of Goats Head Soup guitars, the honey-slides and howling of Neil Young in his darkest hours, and the phantoms that haunted Roky Erickson at the Holiday Inn.

Experts at bottling the misty mountain ghostly blues offered on their self titled debut, it should be clear, this is not classic rock; this is not southern rock. “Shots” is a step forward toward someplace your compass doesn’t point.

Shots is set to be released March 4th and two weeks after that the guys are packing up to tour east to west (towards the end of the tour they’ll be sharing the stage with Black Mountain). Here are the tour dates:

03/18/08 London, ON - Salt Lounge
03/19/08 Hamilton, ON - Casbah
03/20/08 Montreal, PQ - Le Divan Orange
03/21/08 Ottawa, ON - Zaphod Beeblebrox
03/22/08 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
03/27/08 Winnipeg, MB - Pyramid Cabaret w/ Black Mountain
03/28/08 Regina, SK - The Distrikt w/ Black Mountain
03/29/08 Saskatoon, SK - Amigo’s w/ Black Mountain
03/31/08 Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room w/ Black Mountain
04/01/08 Calgary, AB - The Warehouse w/ Black Mountain
04/02/08 Kelowna, BC - The Habitat
04/05/08 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom w/ Black Mountain

MP3: I Don’t Always Know What You’re Saying

More Ladyhawk if you …….

My last experience with Ladyhawk live left me with a sour taste in my month. It was back in November when they played with Attack In Black at La Sala Rossa. The show itself had too many acts of varying caliber. The opening act (who’s name I can’t remember now) were obviously not worth noting. The second act Barn Burner where fun to watch, but not so much fun to hear. Attack In Black played a great set that ended far too quickly. Ladyhawk finished the night “not with a bang but a whimper”. Before I go further with this, I don’t want readers to get the wrong impression since my very first encounter with Ladyhawk (when they opened for Tapes ‘N Tapes) was absolutely fantastic.  I believe that they’ll redeem themselves come March.

Here are some select tracks from Sala Rossa that night:

• Attack In Black - Inches And Ages
• Attack In Black - Marriage
• Ladyhawk - Dugout
• Ladyhawk - My Old Jackknife
• Ladyhawk - S.T.H.D. [new track ]

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