The Dears: New EP, New Album, New Tour

What the heck's going on with The Dears?

The Montreal pop-maestros have been quiet since announcing their deal with Universal in February, but things are about to get spicy. The band have just announced the release of a brand new EP, plus a mini Canadian tour.

First up, the record. At long last there will be some new Dears material on the market, namely a limited edition fancy EP called Protest. 500 copies, complete with hand-made packaging, will be available starting on September 27 via the Dears website and the band's live shows. A regular, manufactured version of the EP will be available in stores later this fall.

In typical Dears fashion, Protest won't be your garden variety verse-chorus-verse collection of songs. They're calling it an "art album" — one long piece of music presented in three movements (how very godspeed you black emperor! of them).

Curious? Keep your ears peeled at the band's live shows, they'll be playing a portion of the piece during their set. And what, pray tell, is going on with the band's much-anticipated full-length album? According to the band, it's well on it's way. The yet to be named album should be out in March or April of 2003.

The group haven't released a track listing yet, but song titles include "Who Are You, Defender Of The Universe?" "Deuxieme Partie," "Pinned Together, Falling Apart," "Don't Lose The Faith," "Lost In The Plot" and "We Can Have It."

In other Dears news, the band's most recently added member, ex-Thrush Hermiter Rob "Tigre" Benvie, has a new album of his own coming out. On September 24, Benvie will release Bankruptcy. For more details, check out the Tigre Benvie website.

Here's a list of the most recent Dears dates. Western Canadian dates will be announced shortly.
September 10 Kingston, ON @ Night Clark Hall (Queens University)
September 20 Annadale-On-Hudson, NY @ Bard College
September 23 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
September 24 St. Catharines, ON @ Brock University
September 26 London, ON @ The Spoke (Western University)
September 27 Montreal, QC @ Rialto (w/ Stars, Mogilny and J-F Lemieux for the Pop Montreal Festival)
September 28 Hamilton, ON @ Home
October 2 Sudbury, ON @ Cambrian College
October 3 Waterloo, ON @ Laurier University
October 4 Toronto, ON @ TBA
October 5 London, ON @ Call The Office