January 26th, 2012 at 11:33AM
Thanks to the Independent Weekly for a nice review of WXDU V.3! I’m hoping to have these in local stores by the weekend. That means All Day Records & Chaz’s Bull City Records. Out-of-towners: you can visit Paramnesia Records for online ordering. The artwork is hang-on-your-wall-able. #hangonyrwallable “hang on your wallable” kohlrabi. whatever. i’m fuckin tiiiiiiired. More about this release here!

Thanks to the Independent Weekly for a nice review of WXDU V.3! 

I’m hoping to have these in local stores by the weekend. That means All Day Records & Chaz’s Bull City Records. Out-of-towners: you can visit Paramnesia Records for online ordering. The artwork is hang-on-your-wall-able. #hangonyrwallable “hang on your wallable” kohlrabi. whatever. i’m fuckin tiiiiiiired. 

More about this release here!

3 notes
January 24th, 2012 at 1:07PM
TICKETS BOOKED!!!!!!!!!! SO STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!! EURO TOUR #6!!!!!!!!!!!! VEGAN CROISSANTS!!!!!!!!!!! SITZGRUPPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!it seems we’re still having some trouble booking a Paris show for March 8! if you have any leads, please be in touch!maybe this is a good time to tell you that it’s probably my fault we can’t get a paris show. i seems i may have walked out of the club mid-set on the last tour. but you know, i was playing solo…people were talking…so i did what i always do—what any reasonable lunatic would do—& i nicely & very politely got up & left. i wanted to make it a REAL solo des ark show, know what i’m sayin? like the kind that communicates how crazy & unstable you have to be to get up on some stage in some country & make noise in front of a bunch of extra good looking strangers. by yourself! you really have to be nuts, i’m telling you. but for the record, i did invite everyone to follow me outside, where we marched in procession through the starry eyed streets of Paris, until we found ourselves in front of a museum with a bunch of “cool” skateboarders & creepy night loiterers, & i played a completely inaudible set there instead. but the scenery was beautiful. if only you had been there.then i met some of the kids who were buttering the gnar (is that lame to say? i just looked it up on the internet), sweet teenagers from california who told me all about how they ran away from home and somehow ended up in fucking paris. we totally hugged! then everybody walked back to the club.then i got in trouble. it was really intense! but then everybody hugged at the end too, so i dunno.but also for the record, this is a FULL BAND show. so if you’re talking, it ain’t no thang! we’ll just turn the fuck up! we’re used to getting in trouble for that.

TICKETS BOOKED!!!!!!!!!! SO STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!! EURO TOUR #6!!!!!!!!!!!! VEGAN CROISSANTS!!!!!!!!!!! SITZGRUPPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it seems we’re still having some trouble booking a Paris show for March 8! if you have any leads, please be in touch!

maybe this is a good time to tell you that it’s probably my fault we can’t get a paris show. i seems i may have walked out of the club mid-set on the last tour. but you know, i was playing solo…people were talking…so i did what i always do—what any reasonable lunatic would do—& i nicely & very politely got up & left. i wanted to make it a REAL solo des ark show, know what i’m sayin? like the kind that communicates how crazy & unstable you have to be to get up on some stage in some country & make noise in front of a bunch of extra good looking strangers. by yourself! you really have to be nuts, i’m telling you. 

but for the record, i did invite everyone to follow me outside, where we marched in procession through the starry eyed streets of Paris, until we found ourselves in front of a museum with a bunch of “cool” skateboarders & creepy night loiterers, & i played a completely inaudible set there instead. but the scenery was beautiful. if only you had been there.

then i met some of the kids who were buttering the gnar (is that lame to say? i just looked it up on the internet), sweet teenagers from california who told me all about how they ran away from home and somehow ended up in fucking paris. we totally hugged! 

then everybody walked back to the club.

then i got in trouble. it was really intense! but then everybody hugged at the end too, so i dunno.

but also for the record, this is a FULL BAND show. so if you’re talking, it ain’t no thang! we’ll just turn the fuck up! we’re used to getting in trouble for that.


1 note
January 20th, 2012 at 12:09PM

help?

alright, gentle people of the internet, here are the dates we need help filling. please be in touch if you have a lead, & please feel free to forward widely!

MARCH 3: west/north Germany, or east Netherlands 
MARCH 8: Paris
MARCH 11: between Angers and Toulouse 
MARCH 24/25: between München & Ljubljana 
MARCH 29: Praha

3 notes
January 18th, 2012 at 1:25PM

ok oops! here’s the real post about our exciting shit!

hey everybody! 
we’ve got some news!

we are not pregnant.

but we’d like to be…know anyone good?

jk. anyway, we’re leaving for another europe tour soon & we’re fuckin pumped!!! i just dropped an apple core in my bra. cold. we’ve got only a few holes left to fill on this tour…i lost the email that tells me which ones those are…i’ll find that soon because we’d love some help from y’all if you know anybody! all shows will be with the magnificent Sissters from Berlin!

in the meantime, we’d like to formally invite you for a round of FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!s as we welcome DRUMMER NUMBER NINE (let’s say “9 to 12”…i’m losing count over here) into des ark, Mister James-Roman Joshua Nee. i call him “m’lady,” but if that makes you wanna hurl, you can call him Josh Nee. josh currently plays in Thou, who we love. this is just super rad, because he loves to dance. i think? i actually barely know the dude, but i’m pretty sure he loves to dance. 

for the record, this does not mean goodbye to Johnny Ward (pygmylush); we are looking forward to writing and recording with johnny in the conundrum of future space & time, but he’s been off surfing in hawaii (no lie, we thought we’d never see his ass again). he’s back, but has other commitments with pygmylush at this time! which means: go see pygmylush! 

here’s what i know about josh, either from talking to him or snooping him on the internet (creepy, i know. please don’t judge):
-he plays in thou
-he has a cat named “Dude” (me too! i can’t believe this) 
-he is an aries 
-he DJs an 80’s night in baton rouge. i went to it. it was good.
-he doesn’t bring “No Surrender” (from born in the USA) to 80’s night. that part about him…ehh…not so cool.
-he seems excited about my idea to power chug a half gallon of euro coffee then go play dress up at H&M
-he loves to go on tour
-he eats meat but also enjoys eating vegan
-i bet his favorite food is pizza, since he’s late to mid 20’s/in  a punk band
-he wants to play music all of the time
-he’s very nice and easy to communicate with
-he has a lot of tattoos
-he seems to like to wear a baseball cap
-according to youtube, he knows how to play at least one black sabbath song
-this man is not scared of fun.

& that concludes our profile of josh nee. 

i’ve updated the tour section & will keep it updated as things keep happening. there will likely be a brief 1-2 week solo europe tour to follow, so if you’d like to help with any of that, please be in touch with our pal Mika, who is setting up these awesome shows.

also, one more thing: we don’t hate drummers, but drummers just keep having babies or getting real jobs or buying houses and shit like that. i would say “…or buying houses and shit like that…not my problem!” but, it kind of *is* my problem. know what i mean?

EURO TOUR WITH SISSTERS!:
03.01.12 BERLIN GERMANY @ MARIA-ANTOINETTE w/Sissters
03.02.12 HAMBURG GERMANY @ CENTRO SOCIALE w/Sissters
03.04.12 MÜLHEIM GERMANY @ AZ w/Sissters
03.05.12 UTRECHT NETHERLANDS @ TBA w/Sissters
03.06.12 AACHEN GERMANY @ AZ w/Sissters
03.07.12 LUXEMBOURG @ DQLIQ w/Sissters
03.09.12 LE MANS FRANCE @ TBA w/Sissters
03.10.12 ANGERS FRANCE @ LA CONSERVARIE w/Sissters
03.12.12 TOULOUSE FRANCE @ PETIT LONDON w/Sissters
03.13.12 GRENOBLE FRANCE @ TBA w/Sissters
03.14.12 LYON FRANCE @ LA TRIPERIE w/Sissters
03.15.12 GENEVA SWITZERLAND @ L’ECURIE w/Sissters
03.16.12 WINTERTHUR SWITZERLAND @ KRAFTFELD w/Sissters
03.17.12 FREIBURG GERMANY @ WHITE RABBIT w/Sissters
03.18.12 STRASBOURG FRANCE @ MUDD CLUB w/Sissters
03.19.12 TRIER GERMANY @ EXHAUS w/Sissters
03.20.12 FRANKFURT GERMANY @ TBA w/Sissters
03.21.12 WÜRZBURG GERMANY @ CAIRO w/Sissters
03.22.12 NÜRNBERG GERMANY @ K4 w/Sissters
03.23.12 MÜNCHEN GERMANY @ KAFE KULT w/Sissters
03.26.12 LJUBLJANA SLOVENIA @ MENZA PRI KORITU w/Sissters
03.27.12 VIENNA AUSTRIA @ SHELTER w/Sissters
03.28.12 BRNO CZECH REPUBLIC @ BORO CLUB w/Sissters
03.30.12 DRESDEN GERMANY @ AZ CONNI w/Sissters
03.31.12 LEIPZIG GERMANY @ TBA w/Sissters 

20 notes
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:08PM
it’s real (Taken with instagram)

it’s real (Taken with instagram)

9 notes
December 28th, 2011 at 12:19PM
friends getting yr new record in the mail when yr staying w/them! super cool! @robotcaptain (Taken with Instagram at Treme)

friends getting yr new record in the mail when yr staying w/them! super cool! @robotcaptain (Taken with Instagram at Treme)

3 notes
November 24th, 2011 at 1:05PM
45 notes
November 20th, 2011 at 3:54PM

BRKLN 2NITE ::: FULL BAND!!!

NYC! SURPRIIIIIISE! DESARK will be FULL BAND TONIGHT @glasslands w/ASHLEY ARNWINE (drummr on “Don’t Rock the Boat,Sink the Fucker”) on drumzzz! Fuckkk yeahhhhh get stokkkkkkkedddddddd!!!!!!

3 notes
November 15th, 2011 at 3:33PM
Des Ark’s WXDU V.3 pre-orders from Paramnesia Records have begun!  Pre-ordering gets you a limited print of the cover art by Jeanne D’Angelo. You can also buy an additional pre-order GLOW IN THE DARK print by Jeanne for $5 extra (limit 50). Additional artwork by Kris Platt! For those of you in Philadelphia, please note the way cheaper “local pick-up” pre-order option.WXDU V.3 is the third volume in a series of live solo records recorded by Ross Grady at WXDU 88.7fm in Durham, NC. I have been spray painting covers & burning CDs for these fucking things since the first volume was released in 2007…it is a mega pain in my ass, not to mention a serious health-hazard to my already slim resource of brain cells. And I always make my bandmates help me assemble them in the back of the van before shows, and I think they hate me for that. Mike Brennan, you are making it possible for my friends and family to like me more. YR THE BEST!!!!!!!!!This is an LP-only release. It’s a bunch of quiet songs, mostly about break ups and cancer and suicide. There are even a couple suggestions of hope (very subtle), but these are generally overshadowed by relentless descriptions of extremely sad stuff. Hilarious in-between-song banter has been cut out to ensure maximum self-loathing! WXDU v.2 was the Independent Weekly’s Album of the Month in 2008…check out a review here.There’s a release party in Philly on November 19…we will be playing as a full band, featuring Ashley Arnwine on drumxxzzzxs!! 

Des Ark’s WXDU V.3 pre-orders from Paramnesia Records have begun!  Pre-ordering gets you a limited print of the cover art by Jeanne D’Angelo. You can also buy an additional pre-order GLOW IN THE DARK print by Jeanne for $5 extra (limit 50). Additional artwork by Kris Platt! For those of you in Philadelphia, please note the way cheaper “local pick-up” pre-order option.

WXDU V.3 is the third volume in a series of live solo records recorded by Ross Grady at WXDU 88.7fm in Durham, NC. I have been spray painting covers & burning CDs for these fucking things since the first volume was released in 2007…it is a mega pain in my ass, not to mention a serious health-hazard to my already slim resource of brain cells. And I always make my bandmates help me assemble them in the back of the van before shows, and I think they hate me for that. Mike Brennan, you are making it possible for my friends and family to like me more. YR THE BEST!!!!!!!!!

This is an LP-only release. It’s a bunch of quiet songs, mostly about break ups and cancer and suicide. There are even a couple suggestions of hope (very subtle), but these are generally overshadowed by relentless descriptions of extremely sad stuff. Hilarious in-between-song banter has been cut out to ensure maximum self-loathing! 

WXDU v.2 was the Independent Weekly’s Album of the Month in 2008…check out a review here.

There’s a release party in Philly on November 19…we will be playing as a full band, featuring Ashley Arnwine on drumxxzzzxs!! 

11 notes
November 4th, 2011 at 8:53PM

LAST MINUTE SOLO SHOW SATURDAY NOV 5!

finally, a show that lets me go from my house in the woods…to somebody else’s house in the woods.  all my hermitic dreams come true.  

tomorrow’s show is a benefit for Circle Acres, an intentional community located in silk hope, NC.  the fun goes all day & night, w/a show starting at 6pm.  i play at 7pm.  

in case i think today is friday but it is actually thursday (which has been happening a lot lately, like how for instance i had a 20 minute long conversation with an old friend yesterday & managed to never wish him happy birthday because i thought it was still october), i should just say that when i say “tomorrow,” what i really mean is “saturday, november 5th at 6pm.  i play at 7.”  

 

2 notes