Archers of Loaf reissues+tour

Merge Records will reissue all four Archers of Loaf studio albums, starting with their acclaimed 1993 debut album Icky Mettle on Aug. 2. 

Re-mastered by Bob Weston and featuring new liner notes by Robert Christgau, Icky Mettle will come with bonus material including the entire Archers of Loaf vs. The Greatest of All Time EP as well as singles and b-sides from the Icky Mettle era. It will be available on CD, limited-edition blue vinyl, and digital download. Reissues of Vee Vee, All the Nationís Airports, and White Trash Heroes will follow next year.

Singer/guitarist Eric Bachmann, guitarist Eric Johnson, bassist Matt Gentling, and drummer Mark Price formed Archers of Loaf in Chapel Hill, NC, in 1991. Icky Mettle was the first of four studio albums for the band that seemed to personify what SPIN magazine deemed a tremendously optimistic time in underground music, that 15-minute period in the early 1990s when it looked like indie rock really might take over the world.

After a now famous secret show opening for The Love Language at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC last January, Archers of Loaf kicked off their first tour since the fall of 1998 with a sold out show in their hometown of Asheville, NC. A raucous set at the Sasquatch Festival over Memorial Day weekend followed and was captured by NPR Music. The band will perform multiple dates at smaller venues across the country in an effort to replicate the more raw experience for which they are famous.

Archers of Loaf will make their late-night television debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on June 24.

Pre-order Icky Mettle on CD or LP now in the Merge store to receive an exclusive download of live video from the January 2011 show at Cat's Cradle, as well as a download of the re-mastered original album. http://www.mergerecords.com/ickymettle.

Hear the band's recent live in-studio performance on KEXP–Seattle: http://www.kexp.org/live/liveperformance.aspx?rID=33396

For pre-sale access, sign up for the fan club here: http://www.archersofloaf.net/sign-up/

ARCHERS OF LOAF 2011 TOUR DATES


June 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour

June 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour (SOLD OUT)

June 11 – Austin, TX @ Emoís

June 12 – Dallas, TX @ The LOFT at the Palladium

June 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT)

June 26 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall

July 8 – Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge

July 9 – Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge (SOLD OUT)

July 22 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (SOLD OUT)

July 23 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (SOLD OUT)

July 24 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

August 5 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat (SOLD OUT)

August 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero


August 19 – Carrboro, NC @ Catís Cradle (SOLD OUT)

August 20 – Carrboro, NC @ Catís Cradle

September 2 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

September 3 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

September 8 – Portland, OR @ Music Fest NW

September 9 – Seattle, WA @ Neumoís (on sale Friday/Saturday)