The Dears Are Back In Action

Back in February we told you that our favourite Montreal pop combo, The Dears, had confirmed the rumours that they were going to sign some sort of a deal with Universal.

After releasing their Nor The Dalias: The Dears 1995-1999 rarities disc (or as the band like to call it, "the contractual obligation album") the group were free to part ways with Grenadine Records and have moved on to ink a distribution deal with the label of all labels. We can now tell you that Universal will help the band re-release the ever-popular Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique EP on April 9.

The new version will be remastered and should sound all sparkly and brand new. In other Dears-y news, seeing as the band are busy preparing for a new full-length record, their tour dates have been few and far between as of late, but they will be playing a few shows over the course of the spring. Unfortunately, only one of them is in Canada.

The band will play their first show of 2002 at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas (in an act of endearing patriotism they're playing the NXNE @ SXSW showcase) on March 16. After that they'll have a couple of shows in New York and then it's off to Toronto to open for Spiritualized at the Opera House on April 26.

So, if you missed The Dears on their winter cross-country tour, it's your sad luck. Don't say we didn't tell you so.

Finally, Murray Lightburn, Martin Pelland and Howard Bilerman came up triumphant at the recent MiMi (Montreal Independent Music Initiative) Awards. The trio won the Best Production nod for their work on Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique.

Upcoming Dears tour dates:
March 16 Austin, TX @ BD Riley's (SXSW)
March 25 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
March 26 Brooklyn, NY @ Northsix
April 26 Toronto, ON @ Opera House (with Spiritualized)