Directed by Torlando Hakes

Starring the comic book making skills of Lyndsey Taylor.

Baptist Girls is officially in stores today! Please, please, please go down to your local record shop and pick it up or tell them to order it if they haven’t. There are a number of awesome stores who will definitely have it in stock and in their listening stations soon so you should definitely hit up these cool stores like Birdland in Virginia Beach, CD Central in Lexington KY, Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, Landlocked in Bloomington IN, Criminal in Atlanta, End of An Ear in Austin, Grimey’s in Nashville, or even M-Theory in San Diego. There are lots more where that came from, but the message is go out and pick it up from your record store if you can. If they don’t have it, they can easily order it.

Definitely go pick one up at a local record store, but if for some reason you don’t like having beautiful things in your hands, you can still score some super high-quality digital files on the XRA Bandcamp! Also, you can, of course, still get it at the XRA Webstore.

I will talk more about my thoughts on the record in a second, but wanted to share some tour dates with you! Do you like tour dates? ‘Cause I’ve got them. Tell a friend, tell a frenemy, tell a family member, tell a shut-in. I’m coming your way if you life in the Midwest and I can’t wait to see everyone!

(This list will be updated often so keep checking out the tour page!)

Feb. 17^th | Bloomington, IN @ In-store @ Landlocked w/ Lydia Loveless

Feb. 17^th | Bloomington, IN @ Record Release Show at Russian Recording w/ Mike Adams At His Honest Weight

Feb. 18^th | Muncie, IN @ Village Green Records w/ State Park

Feb. 19^th | South Bend, IN @ Quincy’s w/ John Davey

Feb. 20^th | Grand Rapids, MI @ 815 Watson St SE w/ Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good to Me), Nathan K (limited seating! Email danclimie@gmail.com for a spot on the guest list)

Feb. 21^st | Lansing, MI @ tba w/ Nathan K

Feb. 22^nd | Kalamazoo, MI @ No Fun House w/ Glowfriends

Feb. 23^rd | Ypsilanti, MI @ Woodruff’s w/ Gun Lake

Feb. 24^th | Toledo, OH @ In-store  @ Culture Clash

Feb. 25^th | Indianapolis, IN @ tba

Feb. 26^th | Nashville, TN @ The Dirks’ House w/ Seth Wood

Feb. 27^th | St. Louis, MO @ The Heavy Anchor

Feb. 28^th | Bowling Green, KY @ tba

March 1^st | Springfield, IL @ tba

March 2^nd | Peoria, IL @ 2020 House

March 4^th | Milwaukee, WI @ Linneman’s w/ Golden Coins, Jay Flash

March 5^th | Minneapolis, MN @ tba w/ Kalispell

March 6^th | Eau Claire, WI @ The Mouse Trap w/ Kalispell

March 8^th | Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR w/ Molly Sullivan

March 11^th | Louisville, KY @ tba

March 13^th | Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 14^th | Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 15^th | Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 16^th | Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 17^th | Austin, TX @ SXSW

Now for some thoughts on the record:

I almost can’t believe it. I started recording Baptist Girls back in September of 2009 with Mike Adams and Adam Jessup in Warsaw, IN in a converted chicken barn. I’m not quite sure what happened between then and now, but apparently I did enough to have this record come out. It’s Release Day! I’m really like a proud Dad over here. I can’t begin to tell you how nice it is to not have to tell you that my full-length will be out soon. I’ve been saying that since the first BS tour in ’09. I wasn’t lying or trying to sound cooler than I am (which is totally not cool), but I really thought it was so close that whole time.

I have found out recently that I’m pretty badly mistaken when it comes to a lot of big things. It has taken me over 2 years to make Baptist Girls a reality and those 2+ years have been some of the weirdest, hardest, depressing, and fun times in my life. I have met so many good and kind people over the last few years who have been so incredibly supportive of me (and my music) and I definitely don’t deserve having such great friends.

If Mike and Adam weren’t so great at recording, the record wouldn’t sound good. If Dave wasn’t so good at laying out artwork and fixing up old photos, then the record wouldn’t look cool. If Laura wasn’t a really incredible artist with a delicate sensibility and eye for capturing powerful moments then there wouldn’t be an awesome comic book coming your way. If Cheyenne and Dixon weren’t really profound musicians and masters of their craft, the record wouldn’t be as colored as it is. If my dear friends Sean and Brittanie didn’t let me sleep in their upstairs for free for countless weeks I would have spent a lot of nights sleeping in my car. If an almost innumerable number of folks wouldn’t have given a chance to some guy they didn’t know and booked a show for Bro. Stephen, I absolutely wouldn’t be where I am right now (which is a really healthy and exciting place). I’m not trying to be super sappy, but I really have been blessed with the people around me and  it’s ever so evident when a lot of people’s hard work makes it possible for me to create a record that is really meaningful to me and very much the record I always wanted to make. Thanks for making it possible guys.

xoxoxo,

Scott

You can now officially pre-order my record ‘Baptist Girls’ from Crossroads of America Records and you can do it right here: http://www.xrarecords.com/catalog/baptist-girls/

All of the pre-orders are shipping out right away so get on it. Also, let you record store know that they should stock it in their store and that they can order it from their distributor.

I’ll write a lot more about this soon and let you know a few of the reasons why this is one of the most special things I’ve ever done.

Thank you so much for even reading this and for being a friend.

All the best,

Scott | Bro. Stephen

I just wanted to let you all know about a few things.

First up, my good buddy Jared at Flannelgraph Records asked me to be a part of his annual instrumental Christmas record this year and it is available for download now. 100% of the proceeds go to Stepping Stones which is a Bloomington, IN-based non-profit that helps teenagers who are experiencing homelessness. Obviously, this is about more than music this time. Also, the songs on this thing are GOOD. Top-notch bands like Dirty Beaches, Dolorean, Burnt Ones, Frank Lenz (Starflyer 59) Mike Adams At His Honest Weight, Sleeping Bag, Homecomings, and more (including yours truly) all contributed instrumental songs invoking what the holidays mean to them. My song is called “Donuts” and I’m really, really happy with it. I’m really just proud to be a part of this awesome comp.

Also, I’m playing a show next weekend and its a doozy! It’s Stay Young Fest in Ft. Wayne, IN and I’ll be playing alongside folks like Frontier(s), Brett Detar (The Juliana Theory), Metavari, Frank Schweikhardt, and lots more. It’ll be a good time friends. Please come on out if you are able.

Also, I have lot of wonderful things to share with you soon. Please keep your ears to the ground and I’ll try to make sure that the buffalo come soon.

xoxox,

Brother Stephen

It is here upon us. We were going to sit on this a little longer, but really wanted to share this with you now. My 7″ vinyl record entitled Patrons Of The Arts is now available to order from Crossroads of America Records! So, if you did not have a chance to grab a copy on my fall tour, you can now have it for your very own. Plus, it gets better.

On Saturday October 29th (in 2 weeks!) I will be having the record release show at Taylor University in Upland, IN with Asthmatic Records artist My Brightest Diamond. I’m really excited about this one.

Please tell your friends and your family and help us get the word out. Many thanks…

All my love and appreciation,

Scott | Bro. Stephen

It couldn’t be avoided. The last week of tour is upon us. It has been a lot of fun and I can’t thank everyone enough who has come, chatted with me, housed me, fed me, or bought a 7″. You are all the best.

The past couple weeks have been pretty earth shattering for me in a personal and very good way. I won’t get into it here, but I really feel positive about the direction my personal life is going. I feel healthy and excited about it more than I have in years. This is a good thing. I don’t get too personal on here very often and there are various reasons for that, but it feels good to say all this (even if its veiled). I have a long way to go before I get there, but I’m going there.

That being said, I’ve got 4 shows left which are not to be forgotten and they are the only places where you will be able to buy my new 7″ until it officially releases in November. Get on it! In these next few shows I will make triumphant returns to Louisville, Muncie and Michigan (FINALLY) and I was a last minute addition to the awesome Each Note Secure Day Party in Cincinnati tomorrow for MPMF. My set last night at MPMF was awesome and fun. This I think will be even better.

Also, I got to meet Marc Maron today and somehow managed to not go total-crazy-fan-boy on him. I’m going to see his set in Louisville tonight as well! You should check him out. His podcast has literally changed my life. I have listened to approx 40 WTF episodes on this tour and it’s been awesome. It has cured me of sleepy driving problems. I wish I could be a spokesperson for the podcast, but he doesn’t need me. (Warning: Mom and Dad, he uses bad language and you won’t like it.)

Without further adieu:

09 24 11 | Cincinnati, OH @ Each Note Secure’s MPMF Official Day-Party w/ Nerves Junior (2:15 set time)

09 25 11 | Louisville, KY @ Uncle Slayton’s w/ Chamberlain

09 26 11 | Muncie, IN @ Tulo’s Place (611 W Ashland) w/ Cowboy Angels, Support the Troopz

09 27 11 | Mount Pleasant, MI @ Midwest Fest Pre-Party at Mount Pleasant Brewery w/ Wavvy Hands

I’ve got a couple new shows for you in Louisville, KY and Muncie, IN which is exciting of course. I wanted to make sure you all knew about those.

(New shows and changes in bold below)

Also, as many of you know, this weekend is XRA FEST 4! It’s going to be crazy and amazing. I’m so excited to see all of my friends. I’ll be playing the first night at Russian Recording alongside Metavari and husband&wife. This will be a special show as well because it’s not a typical Bro. Stephen set (I’m not sure what is exactly). This will be the debut (and possible finale) to Bro. Stephen’s Laminar Excursion and Beyond! Get hip to it kids.

09 16 11 | Bloomington, IN – XRA FEST 2011 Night 1 @ Russian Recording w/ husban&wife, Bro. Stephen’s Laminar Excursion and Beyond, Metavari, and an after party with XRA Karaoke

09 17 11 | Bloomington, IN- XRA FEST 2011 Night 2 @ The Bishop w/Alexander the Great (last show ever), Rodeo Ruby Love, Sleeping Bag, Frank Schweikhardt, and Black Cat

09 21 11 | Marion, IN @ IWU Crema w/ Laura K. Balke

09 22 11 | Cincinnati, OH @ Midpoint Music Festival – Mr. Pitifuls (9:15 set time!) w/ Pokey LaFarge and The South City Three, 500 Miles to Memphis, Aunt Martha

09 25 11 | Louisville, KY @ Uncle Slayton’s w/ Chamberlain

09 26 11 | Muncie, IN @ Tulo’s Place (611 W Ashland) w/ Cowboy Angels

09 27 11 | Mount Pleasant, MI @ Midwest Fest Pre-Party w/ Wavvy Hands