The Mountain Goats road test new material
It used to be common for bands to tour with new material before they took it into the studio for posterity. Fresh off last year's return-to-form All Eternals Deck, The Mountain Goats are reviving this concept for a short tour of the Deep South. Each gig will include some of the songs singer-songwriter John Darnielle has written for the band's next album, due sometime later in 2012.
In his official tour announcement, Darnielle writes:
"For years bands have been pretty judicious about playing unreleased new material, because much of it becomes available online immediately, even when the new songs are still in fairly raw form. We, too, have gotten into the bad habit of holding new stuff back. We are done with that whole philosophy, though. I miss playing stuff that's unreleased & unrecorded, stuff that still stings fresh... but be advised that if you're the sort of person who wants as many surprises as possible when you hear a new album, you should tread lightly around recordings of these shows."
The tour begins in Austin on January 19 and wraps up in Saxapahaw, NC on February 4. No word yet on when the new album will be out.
