New Old Friends

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New Old Friends is the third album by the indie rock band Dolour. It was written, arranged, and produced by Shane Tutmarc. Mixed by Jason Holstrom and Shane Tutmarc.

New Old Friends

Studio album by Dolour

Released

November 2, 2004

Recorded

Nov 2002 - Oct 2003 (except Next 2 U, recorded during the prior spring and summer)

Genre

Indie Pop

Label

Made In Mexico Records

Producer

Shane Tutmarc

Professional reviews

All Music Guide (4.5/5) link
Three Imaginary Girls (#3 on Top 50 NW Albums of 2004) link*
The Stranger (Article) link

Dolour chronology

Suburbiac
(2002)

New Old Friends
(2004)

A Matter of Time: 2000-2005
(2005)

1 Track listing
2 Recording Details
3 Release Details
4 New Old Friends Tour
5 Musicians
6 Miscellanea
7 Multiple Releases

[edit] Track listing

“I Smell a Lawsuit”
“You Can't Make New Old Friends”
“Cheer Up Baby”
“Next 2 U”
“Butter Knife Suicide”
“Before Tonight's Big Party”
“CPR”
“Behind the Melody”
“What If?”
“Candy”
“My Paranoid Mind”
“Running Forever”
“October 29th”

[edit] Recording Details

This album was originally started as demos that Shane made for Suburbiac's producer Aaron Sprinkle to comment on, with the goal of them two completing the record together, like they had Suburbiac. But this was not to be, Fugitive Records (after only three releases) closed their doors indefinitely and left Shane to his own devices. Disappointed with all the false promises of Fugitive, he started using his songwriting as a tool to combat the evils of the industry, penning the industry bashing, "I Smell A Lawsuit" and "Cheep Up Baby" the paranoia of "My Paranoid Mind" and "What If", and the soul-searching of "Behind the Melody" (sung by baritone voiced, Jason Holstrom). With this new fire under him, he took New Old Friends into a much more personal direction than Suburbiac. While the music was still melodic and catchy, instead of focusing on relationships (like Suburbiac) it focused more on Shane's emotional state at the time.

As he was busy preparing the record, he fired his lawyer, his publicist, acquired new management and got his brother involved with his website and album artwork. Now he was ready to take things on with more control and focus. But he still needed a helping hand to finish the album to his degree of perfection. It was in Jason Holstrom, of his beloved Wonderful and former band-mate in USE, that he found the collaboration needed to help make this dream come true. Through a series of emails Jason helped show Shane that he could turn his "demos" into the masterpieces he saw in them. Jason initially did a few mixes without Shane, but once Shane heard the results he was overjoyed at the sound, and was more than happy to join in the fun. By September 2003, the team had mixed over 15 songs, and wanted to share some of the results, so the CPR EP was released. Featuring "CPR", "You Can't Make New Old Friends", and "(Why Don't You) Come Around" (available on the Japanese, A Matter of Time collection).

[edit] Release Details

New Old Friends was initially released independently in February 2004, with a different cover (see below), showing Shane and a few of the contributing musicians. The album was eventually picked up by Seattle indie label, Made In Mexico Records and released in November with a new layout and artwork by Shane's brother, Brandon Tutmarc.. The album garnered rave reviews from local media like The Seattle Times, The Stranger and KEXP, as well as national praise from Allmusic.com and many end-of-the-year polls (including #3 on the Three Imaginary Girls Top 100 of 2004).

[edit] New Old Friends Tour

Shane gathered some musicians and hit the road for his first full US tour with label-mates, The Catch in Spring 2005. Despite the great press and the US tour, the album never received substantial radio play or sales, Shane retured home feeling disillusioned and tired. For the rest of the year he took a break from Dolour, and at the time of writing has not played a show or released any new music since August 2005.

[edit] Musicians

Craig Curran - bass
Jason Holstrom - saxophone, ukelele, vocals
Eric Howk - lead and rhythm guitar
Sugar McGuinn - bass, percussion
Paul Mumaw - drums
Phil Peterson - cello, string bass, trumpet, violin, synth, vocals, etc
Jon E Rock - percussion
Joey Sanchez - drums
Jesse Sprinkle - drums
Shane Tutmarc - vocals, piano, guitar, synth, bass, percussion, etc
Noah Weaver - piano

[edit] Miscellanea

Shane has said that "anxiety" is the theme of the record. [1]
October 29th is the date that Suburbiac was released in 2002.
"(Why Don't You) Come Around" a b-side from the New Old Friends sessions is now available on the "A Matter of Time" best-of collection thru the band's website.
The lyric: "there's Jon E Rock, who'd he bring with him tonight?" (Before Tonight Big Party) is a reference to friend and sometime collaborator, Jon E Rock of United State of Electronica and Wonderful fame.
The only songs never played live were "Behind the Melody" (which features lead vocals by Jason Holstrom on the album) and "What If?"