Posted on: July 11, 2011 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Paper + Plastick Records is excited to announce the release of Austin’s raucous rockers RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS new EP, Smash/Grab, on July 12th. Available on vinyl, CD, and digitally, the band will be toting the new EP on their summer US tour with Off With Their Heads, which kicked off yesterday in San Diego at Casbah. The first leg of the tour wraps on July 30th in Cleveland, with the second leg of the tour picking up again for a week in Houston on August 26th closing out in Las Vegas on September 2nd. See all tour dates below.

Armed with their first new release since 2008’s Underneath The Owl, Riverboat Gamblers’ notoriously rowdy live show will include a handful of new songs. “’Parasite Friends’ is a song we have actually been playing for a year… but I feel great about doing the new songs live,” says vocalist Mike Wiebe. “AND THE KIDS LOVE THEM!” Praised for the band’s ability to turn concert halls upside down, Wiebe has received comparisons to the iconic Iggy Pop by SPIN, which commented Wiebe performs with “a kind of calculated recklessness — his bandmates must have training in the Zen art of avoiding a swinging microphone,” and Rolling Stone stating Riverboat Gamblers “baptized pogoers… in sweat and yell-along choruses as Wiebe, a beanpole Iggy Pop, literally bounced off walls, crawled atop the audience as far as his mike cord allowed and hung by his ankles from the rafter as he sang.”
Smash/Grab EP Art
Click for hi-res version

After touring for nearly two years straight, Riverboat Gamblers bunkered down in Dallas earlier this year to record Smash/Grab with Stuart Sikes (Rocket From The Crypt, White Stripes, Cat Power). Smash/Grab is filled with Riverboat Gamblers’ patented energetic rock and Southern swagger, but is rawer and rougher than the band’s previous efforts, which Wiebe says was a conscious effort. Anchored by the song “The Ol’ Smash and Grab,” Wiebe surmises “the song specifically is about some of our western attitudes… but the idea of a smash and grab can apply to a number of things (be it looting or emotional manipulation). The title for the record is meant to reconsider the idea of what is ‘needed’ and how we go about getting whatever it is we think we need.”

Riverboat Gamblers is Mike Wiebe (vocals), Fadi El-Assad (guitar), Ian McDougall (guitar), Rob Marchant (bass), and Sam Keir (drums).

Riverboat Gamblers tour dates
w/ Off With Their Heads

JUL 12 – PORTLAND OR @ Branx
JUL 13 – SEATTLE WA @ El Corazon
JUL 14 – BOISE ID @ The Red Room-Boise
JUL 15 – SALT LAKE CITY UT @ Kilby Court
JUL 16 – DENVER CO @ Marquis Theatre
JUL 17 – COLORADO SPRINGS CO @ The Black Sheep
JUL 19 – KANSAS CITY MO @ Record Bar
JUL 20 – MINNEAPOLIS MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
JUL 21- CHICAGO IL @ Subterraenean
JUL 22 – MADISON WI @ The Frequency
JUL 23 – CHICAGO IL @ Wicker Park Festival
JUL 24 – SAINT LOUIS MO @ Firebird
JUL 26 – NEWPORT KY @ The Southgate House
JUL 27 – FORT WAYNE IN @ The Brass Rail
JUL 28 – DETROIT MI @ Magic Stick
JUL 29 – PITTSBURGH PA @ Rex Theater
JUL 30 – CLEVELAND OH @ Now That’s Class
AUG 26 – HOUSTON TX @ Walter’s
AUG 27 – AUSTIN TX @ Red Seven – Outside
AUG 28 – DENTON TX @ Rubber Gloves
AUG 29 – OKLAHOMA CITY OK @ The Conservatory
AUG 31 – ALBUQUERQUE NM @ Launchpad
SEP 1 – SCOTTSDALE AZ @ Chaser’s
SEP 2 – LAS VEGAS NV @ The Dive Bar

Leave a Comment