John Vanderslice Tours with Mountain Goats
Songwriters merge into hideous monstrosity Vandernielle, battle evil Monster X

Half-studio-wizard/half-roadrunner John Vanderslice is about to embark on his third tour of the year, assuming we didn't miss one while we were out stalking Ben Gibbard. Speaking via tiny telephone with Pitchfork, Vanderslice talked about the stresses of interrupting life for a tour every four months: "Sometimes you're out there and it's like, 'At home, my plants are dying, my relationship is dying... I'm out on the Mir Space Station and I need my mom.'" (Not a figure of speech; he was, in fact, hanging out with his mother when we accidentally telemarketed him.)

Half the shows this time around are with longtime compatriots The Mountain Goats, whose 2004 release We Shall All Be Healed Vanderslice produced, and whose as-yet-untitled next album he will be working on come this November. We Shall All Be Healed was the band's second full-length to be recorded in a studio, and possibly their 620th overall. The nucleus of The Mountain Goats is comprised of impossibly vivid songwriter John Darnielle on acoustic guitar, though he is often accompanied by bassist Peter Hughes at performances. But much like their recorded output, the live ensemble is rumored to be expanding for this upcoming tour. Their current shared itinerary with John Vanderslice reads as follows, with more dates to be arranged and confirmed in the immediate future:

09-22 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan *&
09-27 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *&
09-28 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge *&
10-02 Chicago, IL - Open End Gallery *&
10-03 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle #
10-06 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #
10-07 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw #
10-08 New York, NY - Knitting Factory #
10-11 Washington, DC - Black Cat #
10-13 Wilmington, NC - Soapbox Laundrolounge #
10-15 Orlando, FL - The Social #
10-16 St. Augustine, FL - Cafe Eleven #
10-17 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder #
10-18 Atlanta, GA - The Earl #
10-21 Norman, OK - The Opolis $
10-22 Denton, TX - Hailey's &
10-23 Austin, TX - The Parish $
10-25 Tucson, AZ - Plush &
10-29 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord (Tiny Telephone 7th Anniversary)
10-30 San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord (Tiny Telephone 7th Anniversary)

* with Will Johnson
& with Robbers on High Street
# with Mountain Goats
$ with Karate

As previously reported here at Pitchfork, Vanderslice's January release of Cellar Door was followed by a track-for-track remix album, MGM Endings. Vanderslice told us that he and Scott Solter spent a surprising amount of time turning Cellar Door into MGM, including the creation of new instrumental and vocal tracks to throw into the mix. "Some songs are stripped down, some are totally exploded," he said. The record's limited pressing is close to selling out, but high-quality MP3s just went up at the official Vanderweb headquarters. You snooze, you get stuff for free anyway. Nice.

An all-new album from Vanderslice likely will not hit until summer of 2005, but approximately one-third of it is done recorded, including looped tracks from drummer Dave Douglas. A pre-album headlining tour in the spring will visit festivals Noise Pop and South By Southwest, among other dates.