News From The Front

Our intrepid nerdcore heroes trek eastward, heartlessly bypassing a number of towns (SLC, Boise, Lincoln) where they should by all rights be rocking the mic(s). The band is sorry! Next time, they promise.

There will be, however: three shows in Illinois, Front’s first visits to Madison, Saint Paul, Cleveland, triumphant returns to Pittsburgh and Philidelphia, and finally a moment of rest before the UK tour launches in June. See the gig calendar for specifics.

VF-to-Mint-grade Nerdcore albums are emerging from their mylar left and right! Front is extremely psyched about the latest offerings from Beefy, Random, and Dr. Awkward, and he encourages you to check them out as soon as you’re able. For serious, though. These are three amazing records and nerdcore is evolving faster than any of us thought possible over here at headquarters. Don’t get left behind.

Tour picks up again tomorrow with a grand homecoming at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. Featured also: Blak Lotus’s solo set and the world premiere of Edible Norris.

Then it’s off to Los Angeles (Viper Room with Random on the 5th), Seattle (for w00tstock with Paul & Storm,Wil Wheaton, and Adam Savage on the 7th, followed by a full-length Frontalot concert at the High Dive on the 8th), Portland (Dante’s on the 10th), and then a ton of midwest dates as the band works its way back east. US tour wraps up in Philly on the 21st at Nerdrage. Then it’s off to the UK with Wheatus for 14 shows in June (many tickets still available, ye olde worlders take note).

Where’s Gm7 though all this? Holding down the fort back east, getting his Band Geeks musical onstage at Goodspeed in CT. Check that out if you’re able.

Plenty of other Frontalot things are on your computron! PAX ‘09 concert snippets (from their wonderful DVD), a vaguely-supportive-of-charities-in-general supergroup single for Comic Relief (w/ P&S, JoCo, and countless others), a song fight supergroup entry about a movie none of them liked, stormy rappings, a collectible card.

The new album has been out for almost a month. And you have not bought it? Madness. We’re not mad at you, we just think you’re insane. Get your brain medicine here (physical + digital) or here (digital only). The first single is still rich with Doughty goodness.

Tour! Front’s on it. The remaining April and May US dates are on the gig calendar. Vic-20’s tour diary offers you a window into band shennanigans, as does Front’s twitter feed. Indulge.

UK tour! Front’s very first occurs this June. Those dates and ticket links are on this page here. Front will appear as the guest of headliners Wheatus, a lovely bunch of rock stars who are on their 10th anniversary jaunt. You might want to secure those tickets speedily, as sold-out performances are expected.

New album! It is explored in the previous news post, immediately below this one. Reviews have begun toaccrue. Help the old guard to appreciate it by requesting the second single First World Problem from your nearby college radio right now.

Finally: a list. Another list. An interview or two or three. And the all new official MC Frontalot IRC chan.

The new MC Frontalot album, Zero Day, is released today. You can order the physical CD with instant download, or buy the less expensive download-only version here at frontalot.com. If you have an iTunes gift card, nab it there. Same goes for Amazon.com. But we recommend you get your digital versions from the source because that’s your only avenue for the 24-bit FLAC version, which is the fanciest version of the album audio that can possibly exist.

Let’s discuss the album a little bit, shall we? (That was rhetorical; we are already going to discuss it.) It came out pretty well! There are many wonderful people on it. Mike Doughty is kind enough to sing on Wil’s theme song, and you can hear that song whole because it is the first single. John Hodgman freewheels through a fake trivia challenge, and his conversation with MC Frontalot is enshrined in skit form. Similarly, Sara Benincasa lends her unparalleled comedy talents to the enterprise for an examination of first world problems (another skit, let us be plain). Nerdcore rappers ytcracker, Dual Core, Beefy, and Schaffer The Darklord make appearances, as does chap-hop mastermind Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer. There is an assortment of brilliant songstresses, including Jane Silence, Molly Hager, and Kimmy Gatewood. Front’s current touring keyboardist Vic-20lends his angelic voice, and you will be glad to discover that all of your favorite guitars, drum machines, actual drums, basses, scratches, and synth hooks remain part of the magical Frontalot recipe. You will even findRandall Munroe on the album, tormenting our good MC via the telephone.

Anyway, check it out.

Front remains on tour throughout April and May. The dates are handily listed on the info page.

And! There is a new quest at Kingdom Of Loathing to commemorate the album release (perhaps because of the new KoL theme on that album). Front will now go play it until he passes out. Don’t look at him that way. The next show isn’t until Thursday night.

Frontalot is on tour with the whole darn band! See them. There may be even more posted soon on the gig calendar.

• 3/30 - Camden NJ (at Rutgers) early & FREE
• 4/3 - Asheville NC - Late show!
• 4/5 - Chapel Hill NC - All Ages
• 4/8 - Charlotte NC - 18+
• 4/9 - Atlanta - All Ages
• 4/12 - Athens - 18 and up
• 4/13 - Gainesville FL - All Ages
• 4/14 - Jacksonville FL - All Ages
• 4/17 - Austin TX - 18+
• 4/18 - Dallas TX
• 4/19 - Oklahoma City
• 4/20 - Little Rock AR
• 4/22 - Hot Springs AR
• 4/23 - Fayetteville AR
• 4/24 - Wichita KS
• 4/26 - Denver
• 5/4 - San Francisco
• 5/5 - Los Angeles
• 5/8 - Seattle
• 5/10 - Portland OR
• 5/13 - Rock Island IL
• 5/14 - Saint Paul MN
• 5/15 - Chicago
• 5/16 - DeKalb
• 5/17 - Madison
• 5/18 - Cleveland
• 5/19 - Pittsburgh
• 5/21 - Philidelphia (at Nerdrage)

Wowsers, look at all those tour dates! Tell a friend.

Big triangular play button, upper left? Hit that and enjoy the dulcet tones of Mike Doughty (guest starring on Front’s new album) while you read about the tour:

The tour!? Indeed. It launches this weekend at EPAX.

There’s details on the calendar, though we hope you will forgive us if we update the showtimes as we go along (a number of them are guesses). Also! There’s a a whole return leg on the west coast and through the midwest throughout May, which we’ll be announcing extra soon. Who wants to be on a street team? Drop us a note.

Hello! MC Frontalot here. I always write the news, but today I’m doing it without referring to myself in the third person like a dick.

I just wanted to tell you that my new album Zero Day is coming out April 6th. If you order it right now you can download it right now (and get the CD in the mail in April). You can even download the 24-bit FLAC, which has what we in the biz call “fancier sound quality” than that of the CD version.

So check out what’s what on the Zero Day album page. There are song snippets and album credits and a free download of the first single Your Friend Wil. I and my many extremely talented collaborators worked super hard on this album, and we all hope you like it.

I will say lots of additional things about the thing very soon, right here! But I will go back to doing it in 3rd (aka “the dickth”) person because: this is a news post, not a motherfucking blog, and I have got lots of journalistic integrity.

Cheers!

mcf

PS I am at south by southwest all week, and you can follow my adventures on the bird-themed chatter output service.

Front and the Sturgenius are at SXSW in glorious Austin, TX. Tonight (Monday) is a show open to all at the Flamingo Cantina, and Wednesday is Front’s panel followed by a signing followed by the official SXSW showcase. If you were on the mail list, you’d be laden with details already.

Day one is coming. By then, it will already be too late.

Have you always wanted to design a shirt for MC Frontalot, but never known how to bring this dream to life? Well,there’s a contest to do that very thing for the Zero Day album/tour, and you’d better get on it because the whole thing’s done by Wednesday the 3rd (the whole contest thing, not the whole album/tour thing).

Speaking of things, there’s this SXSW thing going down in Texas in a couple of weeks, and Front’s three shows are announced as follows: first, Mar 13 is the io9 party at PureVolume which is free with any kind of festival credential. And maybe without? Try your jedi mind tricks at the door. Next up, Mar 15 is a public show atFlamingo Cantina with Megaran and Terp2it. And finally, Mar 17 is the official showcase at Karma Lounge with STD, ytc, terp, Ran, K-Flay, Jesse Dangerously, and more.

Before any of those things happen, the New Haven (CT) show at Cafe Nine is on Mar 11th, with Brandon Patton.

In other news, pay to get ytc’s fool head shaved down here, Front would do the same but… well.

Our MC recouperates in sunshiney Cali with Ma Front and Doggy Fresh. He’ll be back east soon enough, for the New Haven show on March 11th, followed by three (count ‘em, three!) Austin shows during SXSW, and then the thrillsplosion that is likely to accompany PAX East. Stay abreast on the mail list, won’t you?