March 2014 Spin Doctors News round up March 4th, 2014
The Spin Doctors' 2014 started with a very special show
at the Hudson Theatre in New York: the band was invited to perform
a couple of Beatles' classics as part of the "Across The Universe"
festival. Chris, Eric, Aaron and Mark did "I Want You (She´s
So Heavy)", "Why Don´t We Do It In The Road", "I
Want To Be Your Man", "Revolution" and "I Got A Feeling".
A couple of these songs made it onto the setlists of the Spin's European
tour in the end of February. The tour went really well, most
of the clubs were packed and the band was in high spirits. As one of the
most notable changes, the band started mixingupsetlistsalot
during the Euro run - fans were in for a lot of surprise openers or closers:
how about shows that start with "Yo Mama's A Pajama" or "Traction
Blues" and end with "Sugar"? The crowds really dug it and
the band seemed to have a fantastic time.
So, what are the band's plans for the rest of the year? Here's what Aaron
told us: "Spin Doctors have some cool summer Europe festivals
coming in and we're looking to book as many gigs all over as we
can in 2014 so stay tuned. We are all writing a lot and look
forward to bringing it all together for a new recording session
sometime in 2014 for a follow-up to 'If The River Was Whiskey'."
Also, rumor has it that the band is planning to release a live
album this year.
As always, the guys are busy with their solo projects,
too. Most notably, Aaron Comess will be releasing his
third solo album "Blues For Use" including
original instrumental songs on May 6th. He will also appear on the new
albums from German uber-star Westernhagen and singer
extraordinaire Joan Osborne, both are due for a spring
release. Chris Barron and his Norwegian band The
Canoes are working on a follow-up to "Booze And Canoes",
Chris is also planning another solo album. Eric
Schenkman just released a cool blues album with Canadian harp
player and singer Jerome Godboo and is also working on
writing and recording material for another solo disc as well as for a
second album with Openhearts Society.
Spin Doctors 2013 wrap-up: The Year of the Whiskey November 17th, 2013
2013 was a busy year for Spin Doctors: "If
The River Was Whiskey", their first album in eight years,
entered the Top
10 of the Billboard and iTunes blues charts. It earned rave
reviews, some of the best of their entire career. Chris, Aaron, Mark and
Eric have been touring heavily in support of the album since April (US
in spring / summer, Europe in the fall). Setlists were
heavy on "Whiskey" and "Pocketful Of Kryptonite",
but the guys also treated their fans with deep cuts such as "Turn
It Upside Down", "Can't Say No", "Yo Baby" or
"Sugar" every once in a while. Thanks to Aaron, you can find
almost every 2013 setlist in the show
archive section of this site.
On November 23rd, Spin Doctors will be playing a special 2-set-show
at the Cutting Room in New York City. The show is billed as "An
Evening with Aaron Comess and the Spin Doctors". Aaron
will be doing a Q&A before the first set.
For 2014, things are looking good in Spins land, too.
The band will be touring
Europe again in late February (making up for a couple of
shows the band had to cancel this year as Chris had some vocal chord issues
in September). Other than that, there is talk about writing and recording
sessions and another studio album for Ruf Records due at the end of next
year. So here's hoping for another year of great music and peaty spirits!
Aaron Comess news round-up for Modern Drummer magazine November 17th, 2013
Last month, Aaron told the readers of Modern Drummer magazine about his
recent projects. Here are some excerpts of his post. "I’m writing
you from the Spin Doctors current fall tour of Europe behind our most
recent record, If The River Was Whiskey. We are having a great time over
here. ... I’m going to be recording a bunch of beats for
the Loop Loft that should be out by early next year. And I’ll
be back in the studio in November with Joan Osborne working on
her new record. ... I’m also on a track on the latest Garland
Jeffreys record, a great song called “Is This the Real
World.” ... I recorded legendary jazz trombonist Roswell
Rudd’s new record, also out in November. And I’ll
be headed down to Austin in December to do some more tracking on an upcoming
Edie Brickell record. I have just started working on
my next solo record of original instrumental songs, and that should be
out some time in early 2014." Read Aaron's full statement here.
Aaron also recorded with German singer Westernhagen.
The album is due to be released in spring and will be supported by a club
tour in Germany.
Back to the roots: Spins release blues album "If The River Was Whiskey" February 2nd, 2013
"If The River
Was Whiskey", the Spin Doctors' sixth studio album and
the first since their critically acclaimed 2005 disc "Nice Talking
To Me", is set for a May 14, 2013 US and European release
via Ruf Records,
a German blues-oriented record label. "Whiskey" was recorded
in Aaron Comess' His
House Studio in a three day recording session last July and features
pure Spin Doctors, without any additional overdubs.
The ten blues songs are a mix of brand new and very old material: while
the album's title track and "Some Other Man Instead"
were written just last year, some other songs such as "So
Bad" or "Sweetest Portion" date
back to the very early days of the band in the late 80s when Chris Barron,
Aaron Comess, Mark White and Eric Schenkman had to play blues bars in
New York to make a living being musicians. Instead of covering blues standards,
the band wrote an entire repertoire of original blues songs.
The core tracks of this repertoire are featured on the brillant new album,
songs such as "Traction Blues", "The Drop",
"Ben's Looking Out The Window Blues". A special treat
for all old school Spin Doctors fans is the new version of "About
A Train". The song was part of the 1996 album "You've
Got To Believe In Something". Compared to the original song from
the early days, the 1996 take had different lyrics and a a more stream
lined chorus and arrangement. With original guitarist Eric Schenkman back
in the band since 2001, the band revived the primary arrangement and finally
recorded it.
To promote "If The River
Was Whiskey", the Spin Doctors will be playing lots
of shows in the US this spring and summer. Another European tour
is in the plans for the fall.
It's tour time! January 21st, 2013
Finally, the
Spin Doctors' 2013 UK/Spain tour is about to take off! The
band is exicted to play thirteen gigs within the next three weeks: nine
in the United Kingdom and four in Spain.
We are looking forward to hearing fan favorites from way back, material
from "Nice Talking To Me" and, of course, some tracks from the
band's upcoming blues album "If The River Was Whiskey".
According to Aaron Comess, the new album will be released in May
in Europe and the US. But if you need another good reason to
make it to a show in the upcoming tour, here's what Aaron told us: "We
will have a run of them to sell at the shows", so
there's a good chance that you get your copy of the new album early.
If you have recording equipment, make sure to bring it to the show and
upload the results to archive.org afterwards. Also, make sure to send
us the set list(s) of the show(s) you've attended so we can add them to
our lovely little show archive - contact us via Facebook
or e-mail.
Well - see you in the UK or Spain, enjoy the shows and - SPIN
ON!
2013 UK/Spain tour dates:
2013-01-23 HMV Picture House - Edinburgh, Scottland, UK
2013-01-24 Eric´s Live - Liverpool, England, UK
2013-01-25 Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, England, UK
2013-01-26 The Factory - Porth, Wales, UK
2013-01-27 The Fleece - Bristol, England, UK
2013-01-28 Robin 2 - Wolverhampton, England, UK
2013-01-30 Islington Academy - London, England, UK
2013-01-31 Corn Exchange - Hertford, England, UK
2013-02-01 Sub 89 Live - Reading, England, UK
2013-02-02 Auditorio Casa de Cultura - Avilés, Asturias, Spain
2013-02-07 Teatro Lara - Madrid, Spain
2013-02-08 Rock Star Live - San Vicente De Baracaldo, Pais Vasco, Spain
2013-02-09 Pazo da Cultura - Pontevedra, Spain
Spinning Traveler show, more 2013 Euro dates October 27th, 2012
On October
13th, Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors did a show together
in Port Chester, NY. Unlike the last time both bands played together (back
in 2006), this time, the bands excited everyone by performing a classic
"Spinning Traveler" transition from the Spin's set into
the BT set. The show ended with both bands performing "Hard To Exist"
together as an encore. According to everyone who was there, it was a great
night of music. Make sure to listen to the recordings
of this great night.
In other news, Spin Doctors added some more
show dates for 2013. Right after their UK tour, the band
will be touring Spain for four gigs in early February.
Spin Doctors working on new blues album, UK tour in January 2013 news round up added August 3rd, 2012
Great news for Spin Doctors fans: the band is working on a new
album titled "If The River Was Whiskey". Chris, Eric,
Mark and Aaron just recorded ten original blues songs at Aaron's His House
Studio with Aaron's long-time collaborator Roman Klun mixing; blues tunes
that were mostly written before the band was popular and successful so
that they could play little blues bars in NYC. The songs were lost and
forgotten for about 20 years, but have just been dug up again during the
PFOK 20th anniversary tours in the UK, the US and Europe. As far as we
know, these are the songs that the boys recorded:
The Drop
Sweetest Portion
About A Train
Scotch And Water Blues
Traction Blues
So Bad
Ben's Looking Out The Window Blues
What My Love
Some Other Man
If The River Was Whiskey
"Some Other Man" and "If The River Was Whiskey" are
brand new tunes. There is a version of "Train" on the 1996 Spin
Doctors album "You've Got To Believe In Something" with guitar
player Anthony Krizan which is very different from the original version
with Eric that got recorded now. There are live-in-studio recordings of
"Scotch" and "What My Love" on some
1994 maxi cd singles, but both songs never got proper studio treatment
before. All other songs are previously unreleased, some of them weren't
played live by the band since the late 80s.
It is not certain whether the album recording process is completely done
already or if there will be additional sessions, overdubs etc. Also, there
is no release date / distibution info given yet. On July 18th,
the band played a small gig in NYC to celebrate the album recording session.
Do yourself a favor and listen
to this awesome show in its entirety.
News Round Up February 2012 added February 5th, 2012
Following the release of "Pocket Full Of Kryptonite - 20th
Anniversary Edition", the band finished another two successful
"PFOK 20th Anniversary" tours - an US tour
in Octoberand a European tour in January. Official
live albums of five shows from the fall tour are available via
Rock
House Live. They include live performances of the whole PFOK album
in sequence and lots of interesting "deep cuts" as encores,
such as "The Drop", "Gestalt's Blues" or the original
version of "'Bout A Train". Check the Discography
site for details.
Chris' Norwegian side project The
Canoes released its first album "Booze
And Canoes" on February 3rd (at the moment, it's only available
in Norway). The band participated in the national Eurovision semi-finals
with the song "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time", but
did not make it to the finals.
Meanwhile, Aaron finished recording an album
with Joan Osborne.
The blues / soul disc "Bring It On Home" will be released on
March 27th and Aaron will join Joan for an extensive US tour in support
of this album. In September, Aaron will be touring Germany with German
rock superstar Westernhagen
again.
So, what's going on with the Spin Doctors in 2012? In
an interview with SpinDoctors-Archive.com, Aaron confirmed that the band
plans to record a blues album including material from the band's
early days (So Bad, The Drop, Traction Blues, What My Love etc.). Other
than that, there will be live shows in the summer and the fall. You can
read the full interview on
our Facebook profile.
News Round Up June 2011 added June 25th, 2011
Summer is here and a lot of things are happening in Spin Doctors land.
The band did a UK tour in May, performing their hit album
"Pocket Full Of Kryptonite" in sequence and with the European
bonus tracks (Yo Mama's A Pajama, Sweet Widow and Stepped On A Crack)
as encores. During the 7-show-run, the band brought back some very old
blues tunes - so the English audiences got performances of Scotch
& Water Blues, The Drop (!) and So Bad (!!!).
Check the recordings
and the 2011
Show Archive to read and hear about the success that was the UK PFOK
tour.
The 20th anniversary of PFOK is the main focus for the
band for the rest of 2011. Yesterday, the official press release for the
PFOK anniversary edition was released, read
the full statement here. Main news is that we will get the classic
album, remastered with an alternative version of "Hard To Exist"
as a bonus track on CD one. The second disc offers remastered
versions of the "Can't Say No" and "Piece Of Glass"
demo tapes plus two live tracks. Highlights for the hard-core
fans are the tracks "Can't Say No" and "Turn It Upside
Down (live)". The PFOK re-release will be in stores August 30th (in
the US, that is).
In other news, SD are playing a couple of shows in the summer
(check the 2011
Show Archive for details). There will be a US East Coast tour in October
including a show in New York City that will be officially announced soon.
Lots of side projects are happening as well: Chris formed a side project
in Norway, a band called "The Canoes". They
plan on recording and releasing an album. Aaron just released his second
solo album - the fantastic "Beautiful
Mistake". There is also new music by NYEP
and James Maddock that has Aaron
as producer and musician. Aaron just was in the studio doing a blues album
with Joan Osborne and also a new record with Edie Brikell, so there is
more good stuff to look forward to. Eric's new band Open Hearts
Society has a brand
new website and released its truly fine debut album "Love
In Time" in March.
Finally, the SpinDoctors-Archive.com
is now on Facebook, too. "Like" us their to get
Spin Doctors news when they happen and to get links to reviews, releases
and recordings. Mow B'Jow, people!
2011 Spin Doctors news update: PFOK re-release, anniversary tour, solo
procjets! added January 24th, 2011
Twenty years ago, "Pocket Full Of Kryptonite"
was released. Sony Records will re-release the classic album
with some additional material such as outtakes and bonus stuff. Spin
Doctors plan to do some heavy touring in the US and Europe to
promote the re-release. Aaron: "Had some great gigs with Spin Doctors
in 2010 and we are gearing up to get a little busier in 2011 with more
shows and a 20th anniversary release of PFOK with Sony. We are going to
do some shows where we play the record top to bottom. Really looking forward
to that."
Other than that, the band's members are also busy with their solo projects.
Eric Schenkman's band Open
Hearts Society plans to release their debut disc "Love In Time"
in February. Also in February, Aaron Comess starts recording
his second solo album, the follow-up to 2006's "Catskills Cry".
Chris Barron toured Italy with his friend Jono Manson
in January and co-wrote the song "Champipple" for the upcoming
album by John
Popper and The Duskray Troubadours which will be released on March
1st, 2011. Additionally, Chris will play some solo shows supporting singer
Thomas Ian Nicholas (of "American Pie" fame) in Denmark and
Germany in March and April.
Find us on Facebook added January 24th, 2011
More Than Meets The Ear - The Spin Doctors Archive is
now on Facebook. Join us here
to get all the latest infos and details first.
2010 news round-up added January 24th, 2011
The Spin Doctors did a little summer tour in 2010
with shows in Las Vegas, Santa Cruz and Detroit as well as some one-off
gigs in the fall.
In May, Chris Barron released an EP with his solo band
"The Time Bandits". The disc is called "Songs From
The Summer Of Sangria" and is available digitally and physically
now. Chris and the Time Bandits also did an "Iraq'n'Roll" tour
playing for US soldiers in Kuwait and Iraq last summer. You can read about
the tour in Chris'
Tumblr blog.
Aaron Comess played and recorded with a lot of artists
last year, among other projects he did a Germany stadium tour with singer-
/ songwriter Marius Müller Westernhagen in October. Aaron: "I
recorded with Paula Valstein, Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkastata, Amy Ziff from
(betty), True Nature, New York Electric Piano, Mark Kostabi, Danielle
Evin, Ivan Rubinstein-Gillis, Kevin Bents, Rebecca Everette, Heidi Lennox,
Phil Ramone, James Maddock, Joan Osborne, The Open Heart Society and nore
that I can't think of now. Played live with Spin Doctors, Marius Müller-Westernhagen,
Joan Osborne, James Maddock, Chrissi Poland, Oli Rockberger, Todd Paula
Valstein, Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkastrata, Smoking Joe Kubeck and Bnois King,
Eddie Brikell and Heavy Makeup, Elie Weisel, Saul Zonana, Teddy Kumpel
Orchestra, Seth Winters Jamar Rogers, Mighty Kate, Amy Ziff, Chris Bergson.
I had the pleasure of subbing a good amount of shows for the ledgendary
Bernard Purdie in the broadway music Hair."
Eric Schenkman recorded an album with his band "The
Open Hearts Society" which will be released in early 2011.
Eric also played at the Jimi Hendrix 68th Birthday Celebration as a member
of the Corky Laing All-Star Band at B.B.King's Blues Club and Grill in
New York City on November 27th, 2010.
Chris: ArtistShare project, in studio with Time Bandits added March 6th, 2010
Chris Barron
recently invited his fans to participate in a new project called Artistshare
For Songwriters. You can follow Chris in the creative process
of writing a song from start to finish and witness a new song come to
life. All participants get a limited edition enhanced CD of the very first
recording of the new song. To join, you can buy participation offers at
the project's website.
In other news, Chris and The Time Bandits just started
to work on a new album that is being produced by Eric
Ambel. The working title is "Dancing With Your Dress On Fire"
and there are plans to release a first single later this year. More details
to come. Update June 2010: due to Chris' busy recording
and touring schedule, the Artist Share project got cancelled.
Two Spin Doctors shows announced added March 6th, 2010
According to Pollstar
and Jambase,
Spin Doctors are going to play two shows in the near
future: 2010-04-29, Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Hotel and 2010-08-13, Santa
Cruz, CA, Santa Cruz @ Beach Boardwalk. As soon as more dates pop up,
we'll let you know about it.
Aaron, Eric and friends live in NYC added March 6th, 2010
On March 10th, Aaron Comess and Eric Schenkman are going
to play a very special show featuring some good friends at the Rockwood
Music Hall. Eric and Aaron invited Andy Hess (Black
Crowes, Gov't Mule), Erik Lawrence (Levon Helm Band)
and Rob Clores (Black Crowes, John Popper Band, Chris
Barron & The Give Daddy 5) to jam with them, Leslie Mendelson
and James Maddock join the all-star line up as well.
Show starts at 10.40pm, hopefully there'll be a recording of the show
as this is going to be a great set of rock and soul music for sure.
Notorious #9: New old movie starring Chris Barron added March 6th, 2010
Notorious #9 (And Titillating 10s) is a film that was
in the making for more than 20 years. On March 9, it'll be shown in public
for the first time ever. Chris Barron appears in the
movie, he plays a character called Eric: "a newly practicing orthopedist,
who within the course of the movie, grows a beard and forms and begins
touring with the band 'Four Doctors and a Receptionist.'" Here's
what Chris told The Spin Doctors Archive about the project: "Milon
Levine is the director of the film, I knew Milon at Bennington college
and he asked me to be in his movie. It's been lying around for 20 years.
Now he can finally do a screening because with the technology now he can
finally get it edited. I had only one scene and, to tell the truth, it
was so long ago, I don't really remember much about it."
"The Notorious #9": March 9, 2010, 8pm @ Anthology Film
Archives, New York, NY.Movie still by Leonard Fujiyama, taken
from the „Notorious #9“ Facebook event page.
Eric forms Open Heart Society with Canadian producer Chris Brown added March 6th, 2010
Eric Schenkman is one half of a new Wolfe Island, Ontario,
Canada based music project called The Open Heart Society.
It's basically Eric and Canadian producer and musician Chris
Brown with a couple of friends. The band will soon release
an album which is still in the making. The Open Heart Society
also hits the stage every so often, for example, OHS is going to appear
at a benefit concert in Kingston, Canada on March 20th, 2010.
State of the Spins – News Update February 2010 February 1st, 2010
Aaron performing with Elvis
Costello
Photo by Paul LaRaia, used by permission
It's about time for an update on what's happening in Spin Doctors
land these days... Well, according to Aaron, some one-off Spin
Doctors 2010 gigs are already booked for the summer, and there
are more to come.
Other than that, Chris Barron is busy with the Time
Bandits – performing
a lot with the Bandits, and the band is also recording some new stuff
for another Chris Barron album. Also, Chris co-wrote a song with his old
pals John Popper and Jono Manson for Popper's up-coming solo album. According
to Popper, it's a song „about a popular 'Sanford & Son'
beverage“. Mark White seems to be busy teaching
bass guitar in Texas, and Eric Schenkman enjoys to jam
with local Toronto musicians every once in a while - check this,
this,
this,
this
and this
for some fresh Schenkman guitar action.
Aaron Comess is as busy as always – in 2009, he performed
with a lot of local and national artists – from up-and-coming talents
such as Danielle Levin and Katy Pfaffl to rock'n'roll legends like Elvis
Costello and Tony Levin. In spring 2010, Aaron will tour the US with Joan
Osborne once again, and in September and October of 2010, he'll be
part of Marius Müller Westernhagen's touring band. Westernhagen
is a best-selling German singer who will tour in support of his latest,
New-York-recorded disc "Williamsburg". Check back regularly
for more news on the Spin Doctors, all the solo projects etc.
Official Chris Barron section at Live Music Archive, new songs debut live June 3rd, 2009
There is now an official Chris Barron section on the Live Music
Archive, thanks to Chris, his manager and Dave Mallick. Besides
some early 1988 CB solo shows, you can also stream
and download recent Time Bandits performances from May 2009, with
John Popper of Blues Traveler and Mike Gordon of Phish sitting in with
the Time Bandits.
During those recent shows, Chris and the band also debuted some brand
new songs with titles such as „Dancing With Your Dress
On Fire“, „Phony“, „What's Eating You (Alive)“,
„Darken My Door“ and „Stone's Throw“. Most of
the songs were written by Chris, „Phony“ and „Darken“
were co-written by the Time Bandits. Chris told SpinDoctors-Archive.com
that he's very happy with the new material and plans to record and release
it once "Pancho And The Kid" got the promotion it deserves.
To browse the new Chris Barron section on the LMA, click
here.
"Pancho And The Kid" now officially released,
Chris to perform in Iraq June 3rd, 2009
Chris Barron's critically acclaimed album „Pancho
And the Kid“ is now available in record stores all over
the world and online (record
company, iTunes)
through Valley Entertainment. To promote the long-awaited release (Chris
released it independently in 2006 for the first time), Chris is currently
doing a lot of shows with his band „The Time Bandits“ –
touring the US east coast and NYC mostly, but also Spain. According to
his new website,
Chris will also be part of the „Iraq & Roll“ tour
in August, performing at US military bases in Iraq. Check out Chrisbarron.com
for a schedule of Chris Barron solo and Time Bandits shows.
Spin Doctors: Summer Shows scheduled June 3rd, 2009
After they did some one-off shows in May, the Spin Doctors
will be going on a small summer tour in July. According to Aaron Comess'
Myspace tour
calendar, the band will be touring for about a week in mid-July. For
Spin Doctors tour dates, check out Aaron's
Myspace site. Additional tour info provided by fans is available in
this
thread at the official SD message board.
New bass player for The Heavy Pets May 14th, 2009
The Heavy Pets have a new bass player, Felix Pastorius.
Pastorius will be the permanent replacement for Joe Dupell who left the
band last December and was replaced by Spin Doctors' bassist Mark
White for a couple of shows earlier this year (see our January
news story on this below). In an official statement, the Heavy Pets
thank Mark for helping them: „The band is ever thankful to interim
bassist Mark White for stepping in and throwing down the disco like no
other in our time of need.“
Aaron jamming with Teddy Kumpel, shows available
online May 14th, 2009
Wanna hear some new stuff featuring Aaron Comess on drums?
Then we highly recommend to check out the music Aaron is performing with
long time friend and collaborator Teddy Kumpel (Teddybut).
Teddy is playing regularly in New York City, and every once in a while,
Aaron joins him and other great NYC musicians. The best thing: Teddy records
his shows and makes them available online for free for
our listening pleasure. Make sure to check out some of that stuff at Teddyjam.com.
New albums feat. Aaron and Chris released February 6th, 2009
Two new releases featuring Spin Doctors band members are available now.
Jeff Cohen's band Pancho's Lament just released its 3rd
album "Three Sides To Every Story" including Aaron on drums
for one song and Chris on backing vocals. Also, True Nature's
EP "Feels Like Century" is out. This one features Aaron on drums
and producing and Chris on vocals, too. Check the discography
section for album details and orderin information.
Spin Doctors 2009 - an interview with Aaron January 30th, 2009
What are the plans for Spin Doctors and its members for 2009? SpinDoctors-Archive.com
was able to do a short interview with Aaron Comess about what to expect
from the Doctors this year.
If they exist, what are the "Spin Doctors
plans" for 2009 - touring, recording etc.?
Aaron Comess: We usually start receiving gig offers in
the next few months so hopefully they will come in and we will be available
to do them. There is already talk of some gigs in Norway for the summer.
No recording plans for the immediate future but we have talked of doing
some writing sessions this year so we will have some new material should
we decide to record. We all love the doctors and will keep it going for
sure.
With Mark being the new bass man for the Heavy Pets and you and Chris
having all your solo projects, is there still enough time for the Spins?
AC: Speaking for my self I have always been able to juggle
my other work with the spin doctors. Hope fully we can all keep that going
and the other projects will not interfere to much.
Do you have any ideas what Eric Schenkman is doing at the moment (besides
farming)? Any musical projects?
AC: I know Eric does the occasional gig or session in
Toronto.im sure he is keeping busy with music and is always growing as
a player.
You're involved in a lot of solo projects and collaboration work.
Which one do you look forward to the most?
AC: I am lucky to get the opportunity to play with so
many great musicians and songwriters. I try to put as much effort and
care into all of the projects I do.
Do you know when the True Nature album featuring you and Chris will be
released?
AC: I think that is coming out very soon. That was a
fun project and the record came out great.
Update: The True Nature EP is out now (see news above).
Also, Mark White recently sent a message to all Spin Doctors fans on Facebook:
"Just would like to say thanks to all our fans. We'll be doing some
fancy live shows this summer, so get ready!!!"
"New" Spin Doctors album available January 13th, 2009
Today, a new Spin Doctors "Best Of" compilation was released
in the USA. "Playlist: The Very Best Of Spin Doctors"
is the first "best of" that features tracks from "Nice
Talking To Me". From the product description: "Not just the
hits, but...the life-changing songs. The out-of-print tracks. The fan
favorites everyone loves. The songs that make the artists who they are.
You'll no doubt enjoy the sound of the beautifully remastered songs on
this CD, unlike the compromised sound of an MP3 file. (...) But we think
the thing you'll appreciate most about this Playlist is that even though
you didn't make it, you might wish you did. Full liner notes, photos,
and more included as a PDF file on this CD."
Tracklisting:
1. What Time Is It?/Off My Line
2. Big Fat Funky Booty (Live)
3. Two Princes
4. Nice Talking To Me
5. Little Miss Can't Be Wrong
6. You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast
7. If Wishes Were Horses
8. Cleopatra's Cat
9. Jimmy Olsen's Blues
10. Genuine
11. Bags Of Dirt
12. Margarita
13. How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Can Have Me)
14. Refrigerator Car (Live)
Mark White leaves Mighty Orq, joins Heavy Pets January 5th, 2009
Mark White is the new bass player for Florida
based jam band The Heavy Pets. According to the band's
official website, he replaces founding member Joe Dupell starting
January, 13th. Also, Mark and the band The Might Orq
parted ways in November. On TMO's
website, you can find the following statement: "We would like
to let everyone know that Mr. Mark White is no longer playing with us.
We wish Mark only the best in all of his future endeavors". Mark
himself indirectly confirmed the news on his newly launched public
Facebook site, where he describes himself as being the "current
bass bubble for The Heavy Pets. Former and pissed off member of The Mighty
Org."
Doctors busy with their solo projects October 9th, 2008
While Mark White is preparing and playing shows with
this new project The Mighty Orq in the US and Europe
in fall and winter (see Mark's
Myspace for tour dates), Chris Barron is writing
and recording with Norwegian artist Eric Roe (also, check out Chris'
new Youtube channel for some funny videos from Norway). In October,
Chris joins Blues Traveler as solo opening act for two
nights (October 19 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ and October 23
at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY) - and he will be the opening act for
Suzanne Vega in November (Nov 13, Stamford, CT), too.
Aaron`s playing a successful tour with Joan Osborne
to promote her brilliant new album "Little Wild One". Also,
some of his 2007/2008 studio sessions are now available on CD - check
out the AC solo discography to
learn more about Aaron's contributions to the latest Saul Zonana,
Roman Klun and New York Electric Piano
releases - all of them are highly recommended.
Chris Barron cameo on new TV comedy show August 25th, 2008
Chris Barron will have a cameo appearance on the new
IFC music comedy show Z Rock that debuted last week.
According to his latest newsletter, Chris is in episode 9 which airs October
19th. Also, Chris' friend John Popper of Blues Traveler will have several
"Z Rock" cameos during the entire season, too. Other stars to
guest on the IFC program are Dave Navarro, Joan Rivers and Sebastian Bach.
You can watch a trailer of the show here,
photo taken from Chris's e-mail newsletter.
Mark White joins new band August 25th, 2008
Spin Doctors bass player Mark White has joined the Houston,
TX based band The Mighty Orq. The band just split with
their latest bass player and invited Mark to join them. They are doing
a lot of gigs recently, as they release a new album ("To The Bone")
on September 5th. From The Mighty Orq's Myspace blog: "The new
bass player in The Mighty Orq is Mr. Mark White. He is in the band the
Spin Doctors. We have been having a lot of fun playing w/ Mark and we
hope that y'all can experience a live show soon. We are all excited about
how the songs have been sounding and the crazy directions that we're heading
in."
Appearantly, Mark is not playing on their up-coming release as this one
was recorded before he joined the band. In addition to a lot of shows
in the US within the next months, The Might Orq will play in Germany and
Austria in November and December. For a full touring schedule, check this
site.
Mark joining this band doesn't mean he leaves Spin Doctors, he's doing
TMO in addition to the Spins (just like Aaron and Chris having individual
projects). But it's no secret that Mark is not too happy about the current
situation with SD just playing a few shows each summer, so TMO might be
Mark's main focus at the moment.
Aaron Comess to tour with Joan Osborne August 25th, 2008
Appearantly, New York Electric Piano (NYEP), one of Aaron's
many projects, have finished their next album. It will be titled "King
Mystery" and is most likely to be released in this year's fall. "King
Mystery" is NYEP's fifth full album release, you can listen to or
download four tracks from the new disc already on Myspace.
Go see the Spin Doctors live this summer! May 19th, 2008
Chris Barron's "Pancho And The Kid" album available online May 19th, 2008
Almost two years after Chris started to sell hand-made advance copies
of his second solo album "Pancho And The Kid" at live shows,
the disc is available online now. eMusic
already offers mp3s of all the songs, iTunes might follow within the
next days. According to Chris, the CD version of the album will be available
via CD Baby very soon. Check back often for updates.
"Wetlands Preserved" film to be released on DVD March 16th, 2008
The music documentary Wetlands Preserved portaiting the
legendary Wetlands music club in which Spin Doctors recorded their releases
"Up For Grabs" and parts of "Homebelly Groove" will
be available on DVD around April 4th, 2008. The critically
acclaimed film debuted at the Green Movie Festival two years ago. "Wetlands
was one of the hottest venues for underground music in New York City.
This former Chinese food warehouse just south of the Holland Tunnel hosted
the latest upand- coming artists in every musical genre. But it was more
than just a rock and roll joint – it was also the first ‘activist
nightclub’, a place as devoted to environmental and political issues
as it was to partying and great music. This entertaining and insightful
documentary tracks the history of Wetlands, featuring interviews and concert
footage with artists like Dave Matthews, Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers
Band), Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Phish, and Blues Traveler." To (pre-)order
the DVD that includes some rare Spin Doctors footage, visit the First
Run Features website.
Exclusive European Spin Doctors Show March 16th, 2008
Spin Doctors will perform a show in Europe this spring. The band plays
Black Music
Festival in Girona (Catalonia, Spain) on April 12th. This is the first
European show since the 2005-03-18 show in Prague, Czech Republic and
most likely the only one for a while. Check the
festival's website for details and tickets.
Also, the Spin Doctors announced some summer US show dates as well, check
out the band's
Myspace for more information.
Chris Barron And The Time Bandits video footage March 1st, 2008
Chris and the Time Bandits performed some tracks for the Woozyfly website
in NYC's JSM Studios last September. The videos for "Brokenhearted
Serenade", "Heartbreak Boulevard", "Can't Kick The
Habit" and "I Know You Know" are available now at the Woozyfly
website as well as a 9-minutes interview with Chris. Also, Woozyfly
hosts footage from the Time Bandits' "Southern Fried Tour" in
December that is available from Chris'
Myspace as well.
Q&A with Aaron about all things Spins 2008 December 31st, 2007
SpinDoctors-Archive.com had the chance to do a short e-mail-interview
with our friend Aaron Comess about all things Spins 2008...:
Q: There are rumors about a Joan Osborne UK tour in Feb with you on
drums, are the rumors true?
Aaron Comess: "True... I am going to be doing a short 3 gig tour
in England with Joan... I think it is London, Manchester and somewhere
else... The dates are Feb. 4 5 and 6 I believe... Sorry I don’t
have the exact info."
With you being busy in studio and Chris being busy with his solo record
and the Time Bandits, what is the perspective for Spin Doctors in 2008?
AC: "No real plans for the band this year except to keep it together
and play some gigs when we are all free. There has been some talk of doing
some short club runs if we can get it together. We all love being in the
spin doctors and have no plans on not doing it in the future."
In a Myspace comment, Chris answered the question "have we seen
the last SD album" with "no". Is there anything more that
you can / want add to that?
AC: "No plans to make another record at this point but I'm sure the
time will come when we will again."
What is Eric doing except farming? It's hard to keep up with his stuff
as he isn't exactly an "online" person... Can you help us?
AC: "Eric does some gigs and sessions up in Canada and continues
to be one of the best rock guitar players on the planet in my opinion."
What are the next CD/download releases featuring Aaron Comess?
AC: "I just did a record with an artist names Carrie Rodriguez for
blue note with Malcolm Burn producing. We are doing a few more tracks
the first of the new year.
He is a really terrific artist in the Americana vain. Keep an eye out
for her. The record will be released this spring. Another NYEP record
is in the can and will come out some time this year. Going in the studio
with Saul zonana and Leslie Mendelson in January for their records to
be released later this year as well."
End Of 2007 News Round-Up December 30th, 2007
2007 wasn't exactly a busy year for the Spin Doctors - but for its individual
members... While Mark did a great job in maintaining
the Spin
Doctors' Myspace page, Aaron did a US summer tour
with Joan Osborne and played with lots of other artists
such as James Maddock, Chris Bergson or New York Electric Piano just to
name a few. For new releases featuring Aaron, check out his solo
discography. Here's what Aaron wrote on his website in November:
"I have been in the studio with Ivan Rubenstein Gillis, Danielle
Evin, Rachael Yamagata, Adam Howard, Jeff Cohen, James Maddock, Kevin
Bents, Jonah Smith and Susan Cagle. Will be doing a record the first 2
weeks of December with a great artist named Carrie Rodriguez upstate with
Malcolm Burn producing as well as another New York Electric Piano record
the end of November.
Been doing live dates with Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne, Danielle Evin,
James Maddock, Chris Bergson, Susan Cagle, Bacon Brothers, Erik Lawrence,
Seth Winters and will be playing with local guitar extraordinaire Jim
Campilongo in November for a few shows. I'll also be performing on the
Today Show on Nov 21 with Natasha Bedingfield."
Chris did a lot of touring with his new band The
Time Bandits, which - in its current incarnation - consists of
Jon Loyd (keyboard, vocals), Phil Cimino (drums) and Brett Bass (bass).
To watch some footage of the Bandits' recent "Southern Fried Tour",
click here
(hint: in the fourth video, you can see snippets of a new and unreleased
song called "Stone's Throw").
Reportedly, the touring will continue in 2008 starting with the "Son
Of Southern Fried Tour" on January, 24th, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland.
For tour dates, check Chris'
Myspace site. Also, Chris' second solo album Pancho
And The Kid (which was originally released in 2006) will
be available online soon:
"With the Spin Doctors performing only occasionally, Barron has
finally released "Pancho and the Kid" [...]. The disc is currently
available at Barron's concerts and will be released to retail stores and
on the Internet in early 2008. Fans of the Spin Doctors might be a little
surprised to hear Barron in a more singer-songwriter/Americana rock mode
on the album." (source
I)
"Pancho and the Kid Due For Release on January 18, 2008"
(source
II)
In other news, Atmosphere Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida released
a DVD of a Chris solo show from March 2007. For details
on this release, go to the Chris solo
discography.
What about Eric, you ask... Well, according to the band's Myspace, he's
happy as the band's "lead farmer". And indeed: even sd-archive.com
can't offer any more news on Mr. Schenkman other than he's still playing
guitar with the band every now and then.
Speaking of SD, what to expect in 2008? With Chris touring with The Time
Bandits and Aaron doing a UK tour with Joan Osborne (February) and his
usual NYC guest appearances, the situation for Spin Doctors
may be the same as in 2007: the boys played some shows together this year
and enjoyed themselves a lot, but a proper Spin Doctors tour seems rather
unlikely. But hey - you never know...
Aaron update: Busy as always..., "2007 Doctors
shows possible" January 19th, 2007
Not only Chris, who recently formed a new band to join him on his
solo shows (see story below), Spin Doctors' drummer, Aaron Comess, is
busy as hell at the moment, too. On January 20th, Aaron will be performing
on US national television - he will be playing with Danielle
Evin on the CBS morning show "Second Cup Of Coffee".
It seems that Aaron will continue working with Danielle - a show with
her and Aaron at Sony Studios is scheduled for January, 31st and most
likely, Aaron might end up playing drums on a few tracks for a Danielle
Evin album, he told SD-Archive.com.
On his website, Aaron just posted some news about his recent projects:
"I'm also playing out at the Sundance Film Festival with the very
talented Relix recording artist Jonah
Smith on Jan 24th. Some cool local gigs in town with Adam
Matta, Chris
Bergson, Ivan Rigar, Saul
Zonana and James
Maddock this month as well.
And I'm happy to be doing a gig on Jan 29th at the Living Room in NYC
with one of my favorite people to play with - Swati.
Been in the studio recording for Brian Speaker, Patty
Rice, James Laboz and getting ready to do produce
and play on more tracks with Lou Barlow with a slamming
band featuring Tony Levin and Gerry Leonard in late Feb as well as Roman
Klun's new record."
Furthermore, Aaron told SpinDoctors-Archive.com that some of the tracks
he recorded with James Maddock are available on James'
MySpace site at the moment. Althogether, Aaron and James recorded
about six or seven tracks together - it is not decided when or where those
tracks will be released. Check back often for details.
Finally, SD-Archive asked Aaron about 2007 Spin Doctors
live shows. Here's his answer: "I am sure some doctors dates will
come in...usually things pick up in the spring summer...it just seems
to not be as full time a thing right now but that does not mean we will
not be doing shows again soon...i do hope so myself."
Time Bandits: Chris Barron performing with new band January, 19th, 2007
Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors is playing gigs with a new backing band
recently: Chris Barron & The Time Bandits is Chris
(vocals, guitar), Phil
Cimino (drums), Jon Loyd (piano), Lance Doss (lap steel) and Tim Givens
(upright bass). These days, the CB & The Time Bandits perform in small
NYC clubs mostly, mostly playing material from Chris' solo records "Shag"
and "Pancho And The Kid". The band just launched their own MySpace
site - click here
to visit it. Also, "Pancho And The Kid", Chris' highly anticipated
second solo album, is available at his live shows now.
Sean Giblin (1963-2006) November, 28, 2006
Another sad loss for the extended Spin Doctors family: long-time SD taper,
sound engineer and friend Sean Giblin died yesterday.
Here's an eMail from our dear friend Dan Levy:
"Sean Giblin (1963-2006). Sean Giblin died on November 27 after suffering
from cancer. Sean was my first friend in the Nightingale Bar/Wetlands
scene that spawned so many great friendships and so many great times.
We met as fellow music lovers across the counter at my local CD shop,
Smash Compact Discs on St. Marks Place, where Sean worked in the late
1980s. After seeing Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors on two successive
nights in December 1989, I told Sean about these incredible new bands.
It turned out he had heard of them already. Before long, Sean and I were
spending a lot of time following the bands around, and he began his life's
pursuit of live audio recording and sound engineering. Very quickly, Sean
became a highly valued and sought-after engineer, a career which began
and thrived strictly out of his great passion for live music. Our mutual
friend Asher Miller phoned me today to tell me about two events in Sean's
honor on Thursday, November 30:
1:30-3:30: Greenwich Village Funeral Home, 199 Bleecker Street (between
Macdougal and Sixth Avenue). 4:00-7:00: Art Bar, 8th Avenue between Jane
Street and W. 13th Street, informal gettogether. I am sitting here thinking
about a few memorable moments in which Sean and I acknowledged we were
privileged to be part of such a powerful and inspiring musical world,
among them the Blues Bake in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1990, and a show
on Sean's 30th birthday at the Warfield in San Francisco. But there were
so many. I look forward to seeing some old friends at the Art Bar this
Thursday and sharing some laughs and memories. Please pass on the news
to anyone you think would be interested."
Rest in peace, Sean.
Catskills Cry out now, Chris & Aaron solo projects update November 11, 2006
Aaron
Comess' solo debut album "Catskills Cry"
is out now - and it gets rave reviews on the internet. Get
it as soon as you can, it's really good. In other news, Aarons' friend
Saul Zonana released a new album as well and it features
Aaron on drums on a few tracks. Read more about both albums at the Aaron
Comess solo discography. Aaron is busy playing a lot of shows with
his various projects in NYC and he'll be joining the Bacon Brothers
for a one-week-stand in Tokyo's Blue Note theatre.
On his website, Aaron announces that he's involved in a few new studio
projects as well - more infos on Aarons contributions to new releases
from artists such as Lou Barlow and James Maddock
can be found on his recently
redesigned website. New
York Electric Piano's next album called "Blues In Full
Moon" was recorded earlier this year and will be in stores around
February 2007.
Besides the ever-busy Aaron Comess, another Spin Doctors member is playing
a lot of shows at the moment: Chris
Barron played Ireland and Spain this summer, and he's doing
a lot of shows in the NYC area this fall, performing songs from his brilliant,
but yet-to-be-officially-released new album "Pancho
And The Kid" (see news entries below for more details).
At the moment, no Spin
Doctors shows are planned - no surprise considering the busy
schedules of Aaron and Chris because of their solo projects. Most likely,
the band won't tour again before spring 2007.
Aaron Comess: "Catskills Cry" to be released October 31st, 2006 August 30th, 2006
Spin Doctors drummer Aaron Comess will release
his first solo album "Catskills Cry" on October 31st,
2006. The all-instrumental disc will be distributed in the US
via Saul Zonana's label 2020
Music / Red
Eye Distribution. Additionally, Aaron releases "Catskills Cry"
independently online: the album will be available on iTunes, Amazon and
CD Baby.
Here's the tentative "Catskills Cry" tracklisting:
Flower
333am
Africa
Catskills Cry
Ode To Attilla
Future
Lullabye For Bkuzmo
Cap Juluca
Sky
Seventy-Six
Zapped
You can listen to three of the tracks on Aaron's completely reworked website:
click here. To
read a review of the album, click
here.
More "Pancho And The Kid" album details / Spin Doctors &
Blues Traveler show June 16th, 2006
The 05-26
show that had Spin Doctors sharing the stage with Blues Traveler
for the first time since 1994 was a real treat for old-school
fans of both bands. While BT's John Popper jammed along with the Spins
on "Two Princes" and made this one a version to remember, Eric
Schenkman joined BT later that night for a rocking "Mulling It Over".
During BT's encores, Chris Barron came out and improvised "Cleopatra's
Cat" and all the BT band members joined him. Recordings of both sets
(SD and BT) are available in various formats, make sure to check out our
download section for recordings of this evening full of truly great music.
Chris Barron did a one-week Ireland / Spain solo tour
(supported by Irish band The Fewer The Better). During this tour
(which ends today with a show in Madrid, Spain), Chris sold 50 exclusive
numbered and signed pre-release CD-R copies of his upcoming solo
album "Pancho And The Kid". The CD is finished, the
final artwork isn't. Chris plans to release the disc, which is a collaboration
with his songwriting partner Jeff Cohen, sometime in August or September.
Here`s the tracklist of the pre-release copies that Chris sold in Ireland:
Broken Hearted Serenade
Heartbreak Boulevard
Can't Kick The Habit
Blueness
Intro To The King
I Must Be The King
Pretty As A Picture
Louisiana Holiday
Why Must The Show Go On?
Stars
Shades Of Yesterday
Part Of Me
The CD is a brilliant mix of typical uplifting Chris pop songs (Heartbreak
Boulevard, Stars, I Must Be The King) and stunning ballads (Can't Kick
The Habit, Shades Of Yesterday, Pretty As A Picture). It's full-band.
And it's about time to get this album released. It rocks! To hear some
songs off the album, check out our exclusive
Chris Barron live show downloads (two full shows).
In other news, the Spin Doctors don't do a proper summer
tour this year, but they're playing some one-offs every now and then.
Chris and Aaron are busy playing solo shows during the summer, as well.
Spins and Blues Traveler share same stage, Chris solo album details May 26th, 2006
Today's a quite important day for all Spins fans: for the first
time in nearly 12 years, Spin Doctors and Blues
Traveler share the same stage for a double bill show tonight.
Both bands will perform at the Tower City Amphitheater in Cleveland, Ohio.
So keep your fingers crossed for some fine on-stage interaction of both
bands...
In other news, Chris Barron revealed some details about
his next solo album in his newsletter today. Appearantly, the disc, which
is a collaboration with singer/songwriter Jeff Cohen, is finished and
ready to be released and will be titled "Pancho And The Kid".
To listen to two songs which most likely will be on the album ("Heartbreak
Boulevard" and a new version of "Can't Kick The Habit"),
visit Chris
Barron's MySpace site.
Aaron Comess to release solo debut "Catskills Cry" in summer April 18th, 2006
Spin Doctors drummer Aaron Comess will release his debut instrumental
album, tentatively titeled "Catskills Cry",
in mid-2006. It features Aaron on drums and guitars along with Lony Levin
on bass and Bill Dillon on guitar. According to Aaron, the album will
be available in summer - but you can listen to some sample tracks already.
And you should as it's great stuff! Check out Aaron's
MySpace site and enjoy the tracks "Future" and "Catskills
Cry".
Chris Barron plans to release 2nd solo album March 20th, 2006
Here's a short round-up on what's new in Spin Doctors
land. The band kicks off the 2006 live season with a show in Indianapolis
on March 31st. So far, no 2006 summer tour has been announced. But
given the fact that there are some confirmed tour dates already, it is
highly possible that a complete touring schedule will be announced soon.
As always, check
the official site for gig news.
Other than that, Aaron and Chris have been very busy lately: as reported
earlier, Chris did some solo shows in NYC and supported the Bacon Brothers
in March. On his new MySpace
site, Chris Barron
announced that he has almost finished a new solo album
which will mainly contain of songs the singer has written together with
Jeff Cohen (who also co-wrote Spin Doctors' 2006 comeback single "Can't
Kick The Habit"). The yet untitled disc will include some of the
songs Chris performed in his recent solo shows, such as "Louisiana
Holiday". Chris told The Spin Doctors Archive that the album
will feature some guest musicians; unlike his 1998 solo effort "Shag",
Chris will be backed up by a full band this time. So far, no release date
has been announced.
Newly-wed Spin Doctors drummer Aaron
Comessis working on two studio projects at the moment. Aaron
recorded the fourth New York Electric Piano album, tentatively
titled "Blues In Full Moon", earlier this year. He is also working
on his first solo album (check out the reports below
for details). Aaron told The Spin Doctors Archive: "I am
very pleased with both records. This is a great ny electric record - the
best since the first for sure, and even better in alot of ways i think...
I am also very happy with my own record." As with Chris' up-coming
solo disc, no release dates for NYEP and Aaron's solo album have been
announced yet.
Chris and Aaron performing with the Bacon Brothers February 4th, 2006
Both Aaron and Chris will support the Bacon Brothers at
some of their live shows within the next few weeks. Aaron Comess will
be playing drums for the brothers on February 18th in Ridgefield, CT.
Chris Barron is the Bacon Brothers' support act at the White Plains gig
as well as for the following March 2006 dates: Thursday, March 16th, Sellersville,
PA; Friday , March 17th, Alexandria, VA and Saturday, March18th, Flushing,
NY (Queens Theatre In The Park). For more information on the Bacon Brothers,
click here.
More Chris solo shows in Febuary, details on Aaron's solo album January 26th, 2006
Chris Barron, the singer of the Spin Doctors, continues
to play solo shows at New York's Sidewalk Cafe: as he did in January,
Chris will be also playing shows there in February 2006. From the most
recent Chris Barron newsletter: "Here's what Gabriella Kerson of
JamBase says about Chris Barron's friday nights... 'Chris Barron's show
at the Sidewalk Cafe is a delightful surprise at the end of any week.
His upbeat, outgoing personality, insightful lyrics and yummy voice create
a space of calm, laughter and comfort. Kind of like visiting with your
best friends.'" Check the Sidewalk
Café website for more details on Chris' February solo stands.
Other CB solo appearances: Monday, February 6, 2006 at 7pm at the Songwriter's
Circle at the Bitter End - Bleeker Street and Laguardia, NYC, NY and Wednesday,
February 15, 2006 at the Bluebird Cafe - Nashville, Tennessee.
In other news, here are some details about Aaron Comess'
up-coming solo album. Here's what Aaron wrote on his
website: "For a long time, I have wanted to write my own record,
and it’s finally happening at the beginning of next month [February
2006, sd-archive.com]. I have two amazing and gifted musicians
playing with me: On guitar, Bill Dillon. Bill has played on hundreds of
albums, including all of Robbie Robertson’s. He is one of the most
creative and one of kind players I have ever heard and played with. Tony
Levin will be playing bass. He’s also a creative and incredibly
gifted musician. He’s best known for his work with Peter Gabriel
and King Crimson."
Aaron Comess to record 1st solo album in
February January 13th, 2006
The new year starts with some good news for all people interested in Aaron's
solo projects: the Spin Doctors' drummer is recording another New
York Electric Piano album in January (this will be the fourth album
by the band including Aaron, bass player Tim Givens and piano wizard Pat
Daugherty).
In February, Mr. Comess starts the recording of his first solo album!
Aaron told SpinDoctors-Archive.com: "[..] I am finally doing my own
solo record the first week of febuary. [...] i have a wicked group together
and i think it is going to be really cool. I am very psyched about it
[...]" More details about this project will be revealed soon on Aaron's
website.
Also, there will be some Spin Doctors shows this year. Aaron: "Don't
worry ...the doctors will be out there playing again soon..." So
have a great new year, everyone!
Chris Barron to play solo shows in January 2006 December 27th, 2005
Great news for all NYC Spin Doctors fans - coming directly from Mr. Barron:
"Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors,
will be playing solo acoustic shows fridays in january
10pm at the sidewalk cafe, (avenue A and 6th street,
new york city). admission is free whether you wear a propeller beanie
or not."
Support Chris and attend his solo shows - and if you go there, don't forget
to bring along your recording device! Traditionally, CB solo shows are
very entertaining and full of rare and new material. To learn more about
Chris' solo work, check out his solo
discography.
In other news, the Spin Doctors plan to tour again in
2006 - there are rumours about another European tour. But at the moment,
nothing is official on that. For tour dates, check out the Official
Spin Doctors Forum.
Spin Doctors on new "Grandma's Boy" Movie
Soundtrack December 22nd, 2005
The Spin Doctors song "Can't Kick The Habit" will be included
in the Original Soundtrack to the new 20th Century Fox movie "Grandma's
Boy". Besides the Spin Doctors, acts such as Aphex Twin,
Bloc Party and Fischerspooner contributed to the soundtrack.
Luckily, it's the full 8-minutes version of "Can't Kick The Habit"
that will make it to the soundtrack (as opposed to the edited single version).
"Can't Kick The Habit" is taken from the band's recent album
"Nice Talking To Me". "Grandma's Boy OST" will be
released January 3rd, 2006. For more details, please visit the Compilations
page within the Discography section.
Chris Whitley passed away November 23, 2005
Sad news: US-Singer Chris
Whitley passed away a few days ago at the age of 45. Spin Doctors
drummer Aaron Comess contributed to his last album, "Soft
Dangerous Shores", which was released this summer.
Along with Arnie
Lawrence and Frankie
LaRocka, who also were friends with Spin Doctors and its members and
passed away earlier this year, Chris Whitley's death is the third sad
loss this year in the extended Spin Doctors family. Rest in peace, Chris.
New classic Spin Doctors shows available at the
LMA November 19, 2005
Fellow Spins fan Lobster uploaded some great classic live recordings to
the Live Music Archive that are now available for download. Check out
a pre-Mark White show from April
15, 1989 featuring John Popper and others, a cool recording from a
private pool party the Doctors played on July
27, 1991 as well as very interesting tapes from the Wetlands, NYC
on February
16, 1992 including a nearly-90-minutes set. To download the shows,
just click on the links to the Live Music Archive given in the single
Show Archive database entries.
By the way, to get a list of all permanently available Spin Doctors
live shows, just go to the Show Archive
main site and type "download" in the "Setlist/details"
field - we're trying to keep it as up-to-date as possible for you.
New Sandra Boynton album featuring Spin Doctors out now! November 2nd, 2005.
The new book/cd-package by well-known children's book author Sandra
Boynton was released recently. It features songs performed by
artists such as Blues Traveler, Hootie And The Blowfish, Weird Al Yankovich
and Spin Doctors.
The record release party for "Dog Train: A Wild Ride on the
Rock-and-Roll Side" took place as a private show at Times
Square, NYC on November 2nd. Spin Doctors contributed to the album
by performing the song "Tantrum". To read more about the album,
check the Spins Discography.
To buy "Dog Train", click here.
Reviews of the new album October 26, 2005
"Nice Talking To Me", the Spin Doctors' latest album (see below),
is out now for a bit more than a month, and overall, it gets pretty good
reviews in the US music press.
At the official Spin Doctors forum, we started a thread that tries to
cover the NTTM media reactions. Click here
to read the review collection - if you can add articles that aren't mentioned
over there, please feel free to do so by posting to this very thread.
On another note: although there are not too many public concerts scheduled
at the moment, the band is busy at the moment with playing some corporate
gigs, radio shows and private gigs. To find out about up-coming Spin Doctors
shows, check out this
site.
"Nice Talking To Me": Title track released as promo-single
October 6, 2005
"Nice Talking To Me", the title track from
Spin Doctors' latest album, is the next single. So far, it is only released
as a promotional 1-track CD single including an enhanced section with
portions from the Bonus-DVD that was released with the full length album.
The song can be heard on the bands MySpace site (see
Links section to get there), and there
are plans to release "Nice Talking To Me" as a regular single
- no details available about that by now.
Latest album "Nice Talking To Me" out now! September 14, 2005
The brand-new Spin Doctors album "Nice Talking To Me"
is available now in the US! A wonderful collection of ten songs, produced
by Matt Wallace (of Marron 5 and Faith No More fame). Includes an additional
DVD with live performances and a short documentary.
Get "Nice Talking To Me" from your local record store or from
the band's new eStore (see news story below).
For details about the new album, check out the Discography
section. If you want to find out what the band thinks about the new
disc, click here for an
exclusive and detailed interview with Aaron Comess. If
you want to read some of the (overall very good) press reviews, go to
this
thread on the Official Spin Doctors forum. For fan reviews, check
out this
thread.
Now open: The Spin Doctors eStore September 3, 2005
You can pre-order your copy of "Nice Talking To Me", the new
Spin Doctors album, right now from the all-new Spin Doctors eStore
at The Connextion. You can also get some current band merchandise
there. Check out this
thread from the Spins forum for details, or use
this link to visit the eStore.
Exclusive Interview with Aaron Comess August 29, 2005
Last Friday, The Spin Doctors Archive had the chance to interview
Aaron Comess, the Spin Doctors' drummer. We had a great
time talking about the new album, the band's future plans and much more.
So if you want to know how "Nice Talking To Me" became the title
track of the new album or what's on the DVD part of the new album, check
out the interview! Read about what to expect in the near future, about
Aaron's solo projects, the current setlists and muchmore!
Click here to read the entire
interview.
New Spin Doctors album in stores September 13,
2005! July 29, 2005
It's official now: "Nice Talking To Me", the
first Spin Doctors album since 1999 and the first album with the original
line-up since 1994, will be released on September 13, 2005
in the US. It includes ten brand new tracks (see tracklist below) and
an additional DVD featuring live performances and behind-the-scenes
footage from the March 2005 European tour. "Nice Talking To Me"
is the first Spin Doctors release for RuffNation
Records, distributed via Fontana
Distribution.
"Nice Talking To Me" tracklist:
01 Nice Talking To Me 3:59
02 Sugar 4:18
03 Margarita 3:01
04 Happily Ever After 3:21
05 I'd Like To Love You (But I Think You Might Be Crazy) 5:03
06 Can't Kick The Habit 8:16
07 My Problem Now 3:19
08 Genuine 5:40
09 Tonight You Could Steal Me Away 4:26
10 Safety Pin 4:13
Some more album-related news July, 18th, 2005
Although no official date is known yet, the release of the new
Spin Doctors album "Nice Talking To Me" may take place sometime
in September, 2005. On netweed.com, you can find a RuffNation
press release from July 6th, 2005 and it says:
RuffNation's first release for distribution through Fontana is The Spin
Doctors album "Nice Talking To Me" that is scheduled for release
in September. The Spin Doctors are currently on a North American tour
in support of the album's radio single "Can't Kick The Habit."
The Spin Doctors album will also include a live performance DVD that will
be included in the CD album packaging.
In other news, there's a cool article about the Spin Doctors at thedailytimes.com.
It's about Chris' paralyzed vocal chord, the band's reunion and the recording
process of NTTM. Click here
to read the full article.
"Can't Kick The Habit": New single for free, summer tour, new
album! June 13th, 2005; updated July 11th, 2005
The first single from Spin Doctors' forthcoming new album is available now
as a free mp3 download at the band's official website. "Can't
Kick The Habit" is the name of the track, a great emotional
ballad which became a fan favorite during the Euro tour in March. It's the
first single of the original Spin Doctors since "Mary Jane", which
was the third single off "Turn It Upside Down", released in fall
1994.
So just follow this
link, register to the great forum, and get the beautiful new track
"Can't Kick The Habit". Don't forget to request that song at
your local radio station this summer! You'll also find all new US concert
dates for July, August and September - the band is touring a lot this
summer!
Also, the band announced details about the up-coming album release "Nice
Talking To Me". The album will be available as a DualDisc
which means the one side of the disc includes the all new album and the
other side of it contains DVD material including video footage from the
March 2005 UK/European tour. For more details, check out this
thread on the Spin Doctors Forum.
Spin Doctors now on Archive.org March 2005
Now it's official: Spin Doctors live shows can be archived and publically
accessed at the great "Live Music Archive" at archive.org. Last
week, Spins fans asked the Archive f it was possible. This week, the band
(Mark, to be exactly) told Archive.org that it would be okay to host SD
shows at the Archive. So - if you got Spin Doctors shows in .shn or .flac
format - don't think twice and upload them to Archive.org! Thanks in advance!
Here's the permanent link to archive.org's SD site. I also included this
URL in the Links section, so it should be easy for you to find all the
great shows there.
For Spin Doctors news older than March 2005, check out the News
Archive.