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June 16th

Screens is available in Australian stores right now! xo

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June 14th

The most important thing going on for us right now is the news of Chris Knox's recent stroke. The latest news is not terrific. It's really hard to reconcile the image of Chris when I saw him last with what the stroke must have done to him. No good news today. This just sucks. Here is a picture of Chris Knox less than two months ago...

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May 29th

As promised, here is the new video for Hot on Your Heels by Cam and Joel from Special Problems. Hot on Your Heels is the new single in New Zealand and will appear on the upcoming pdx pop compilation this year. Hope you enjoy it! Don't forget we're playing an all-ages show tonight at backspace in Portland.

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May 28th

I'm going to post the new video for Hot on your Heels here tomorrow but in the meantime we were messing around in the basement and thought we'd post some live stuff here. The first song is Frank Zappa's 'Let's Make the Water Turn Black' (it probably seems pretty masochistic to attempt Zappa but fuck it):

This is the Zombies' 'Tell Her No':

This is Zappa and George Duke's 'Uncle Remus':

(Thanks to Bret Vogel for for the use of his twelve string)

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May 23rd

It's 5am and I need to state that Screens has no actual vocoder on it. It does, however, have plenty of analog autotune and auto-harmonizer. There. I said it. I feel much better now.

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May 22nd

What an exciting day. Big things are occurring but I can't talk about them just yet. Also I can't show you guys the Hot on Your Heels video either. Dammit!!!!! So frustrating. There will be more to see soon I promise. For instance the new video will be coming on tv in New Zealand next week and shortly after that I'll post it here. It's up there with the top three Mint Chicks videos of all time. In the meantime you can watch some new stuff on the youtube channel.

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May 21st

Today someone sent me a quote by Ben Stanley of the Waikato Times from his review of Screens:

"Screens is the Chicks second album, and from the first listen, you can tell it's not going to last the distance."

Sir, your words are recorded for posterity and we accept your challenge. By the way it's our third album. In the future, these kinds of details can be sorted out on the google.com or even on the old wikipedia there. They really are priceless resources and extremely useful in today's modern journalistic landscape. YOINK!!!

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May 20th

Kelly Woessner just posted some footage she took of us playing the Crystal Ballroom in Portland last year. Coming soon: Hot on Your Heels video.

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May 17th

We'd just like to say thanks to Daniel and Maya for having us on their kboo show the other night. We did a live-to-air in the wee hours thinking we'd play about four or five songs and they tricked us into playing for an hour. We eventually went through a bunch of old songs and covers. The session will probably be available for download at some stage soon so you can keep an eye out for that. I'll post the link here. Looking forward to our show at Backspace with Soft Tags on the 29th.

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May 7th

bla

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May 2nd

Here are a few pics from the soundclash we did last week. The first photo is Chris Knox who we played the Tall Dwarfs song 'Nothing's Going to Happen' with. He wore the hat with the lyrics in front and went into the crowd and pretty much terrorised everything. It was so good. The second pic is me pouring vodka over the front row. Third pic is the crowd. - Ruban

Also: bfm have added 'Don't Sell Your Brain Out, Baby' as the new Mint Chicks song on the playlist. Go to their website and vote for it on the top ten if you're keen!

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April 29th

The new issue of Real Groove is on the shelves right now and has us on the cover and inside the magazine in 3D. It comes with some 3D glasses designed by me and also it comes with a free download album of some of the most interesting and exciting new music happening in New Zealand right now. Don't forget to pick up a copy! For more info go here

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April 23rd

We're soundclashing tomorrow night at the powerstation!!!

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April 21st

I had a laugh at 'shitgaze'. Also me and Kody saw a penguin on the beach today:

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April 15th

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April 9th

Our good friend and talented troubadour Finn Andrews contributed some haunting backing vocals to the song Sweet Janine on the our album, his band the Veils have released a new record called Sun Gangs which is cool cool cool cool cool. If you don't know about this band have a look/listen

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April 7th

We're playing the Redbull Soundclash with King Kapisi on the 24th of this month! Both bands will play a set and also we'll be playing some of eachother's songs and playing songs together. We've also got some guests coming along to join in. After that we're heading back to Portland!

In case you missed out and are interested, here are some of the reviews for our new album. I think this little collection makes this our most critically acclaimed album. That's pretty cool.

real groove
stuff.co.nz
cheeseontoast
bullet magazine
new zealand herald
obscuresound
undertheradar
pulpmagazine.co.uk
salient

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April 1st

We are on Nightline tonight! Nightline are going 3D, and we are featuring as their first 3D article tonight. Nightline screens at 10:30pm on tv3.

The Radio.

We have a bit of a problem. After a bit of thought we wondered whether the music from Screens belongs on mainstream radio. It's a hard one to call but ultimately a decision we don't know how to make since none of us really get the opportunity to listen to the radio much and when we do our favourite station is bfm. We have never been particularly against our music on mainstream radio, but are pretty out of touch with the culture surrounding it. The stations themselves seem to view us as 'too alternative' as they always have (despite the success of Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!), and yet it seems very strange that they play the music of many bands and artists who sell less records than us and draw smaller crowds and it begins to feel a little bit surreal. We decided the simplest way to figure this thing out is for our fans and friends to decide.

1. If you listen to the Edge, and would like to hear our music played there during work or whenever (or simply would like to see our music infiltrate the station) you can click here and sign in to request 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' by the Mint Chicks.

2. If you would like to keep us to yourself, it's easy. Simply don't demand that we be played on this kind of station.

We're happy either way. We've been really lucky to be showered with praise from many writers we respect and have had a top ten debut for this album already and will never 'tailor' our music to fit in with the playlists of these kinds of radio stations. We make the music we want to make. Why the Edge? Why not. It's one of the biggest ones.

Also, this way, if the Edge start playing our music and you don't like it you can blame your peers and leave us out of it!

No big deal, but an issue that needed to be addressed at this time. Cheers!

-Ruban

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March 31st

The reason I haven't updated the website in a while is because my son has been born. Moebius Nielson was born on the 27th of March and was 8.2 lbs. He's cool and he makes me laugh. -Ruban

In other news Donk remixed Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! I like it.

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March 25th

A few good things today:

Real Groove are hosting a free download of Telephone, which is track 9 on the new album. Enjoy!

stuff.co.nz have posted their review of Screens today, and it's another very positive one, for which we are grateful for.

The photo below of Kody in the March 23rd post is by Kelly Woessner, and is actually a still taken from one of her live vids. Here are some more she posted today:

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March 24th

Screens made it's debut at #10 today on the New Zealand album chart! Good news.

Hayden from Vice magazine wants me to tell you that you can win a copy of Screens from Vice. Don't miss out! Click HERE

I found another review of Screens (yes I am reading every review I can find online, I'm waiting for a baby to be born and have nothing to do but surf the net, update this blog, write new songs and eat muesli bars. Don't judge me). I can't believe how much people are liking this album. It feels like christmas.

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March 23rd

Undertheradar have posted a review of Screens. Read it HERE

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March 20th

Only one thing to say today. It's called 'troublegum', not 'troublegum pop'.

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March 19th

Mint Chicks in the Arizona desert

I Can't Stop Being Foolish has been number one on the bfm top ten for two weeks in a row. Thanks for your votes, last night I didn't do any 'canvassing' and it still went to number one. This is awesome news.

We've put the lyrics for Screens up today. If some of these don't come up straight away it's because the admins at lyrics.com haven't approved them yet and I need to post this now so I can get on with my day!

The other thing I've done is started trying to do an rss feed for this blog so I won't have to do as many e-mails. I don't really know what I'm doing so bear with me on it. It'll probably be kind of shitty at first but then it should get sorted. Any hints would be awesome, just send them to themintchicks@gmail.com if you feel the need.

Also you might be wondering how I have the time to update this blog every day at the moment and it's because my wife is having our first baby any day now and I haven't got a lot to do except wait for that to happen. Pretty exciting. Also got to see the actual cd of the album today and was happy with the way it came out. Hope you guys like it. xxoo Ruban

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March 18th
Be in to win a copy of Screens through bfm, with a chance to win the whole Mint Chicks back catalogue HERE

Don't forget to vote for us on the bfm top ten HERE

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March 17th

NZ Musician are giving away some copies of Screens. To be in to win, go HERE

They also have a Mint Chicks article online HERE

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March 16th

The new album "Screens" is out today in New Zealand. You can go out to the store or go to itunes and get a copy right now! If your local store doesn't have a copy of the record, order one and Flying Nun will send one out to them asap. We can't wait for you to hear it.

You can buy it right now from:

itunes

smoke CDs

Mighty Ape

digiRAMA

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March 15th

Screens is released tomorrow! Don't forget to get your copy!

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March 14th

2 days until Screens is released in New Zealand!

Andrew at cheeseontoast.co.nz has informed me that his review of Screens came online on Monday, before the Real Groove review! Which means the Real Groove review was not actually the first review. Sorry Andrew! You can read his review HERE

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March 13th

3 days until Screens is released in New Zealand!

Real Groove are the first out of the gate with their review of Screens. Read the five star review HERE

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March 10th

Thanks for coming along to the shows last week everyone. This has been our biggest headlining tour yet and one of the most fun. The zoo show was a record for attendance at a mint chicks headlining show at approx. 2,500 people!

Don't forget that the best is yet to come, with the album coming out in less than a week. We'll definitely be returning once you've had a chance to absorb the new songs. xxoo mnt chx

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March 9th

Puppeteering for the I Can't Stop Being Foolish video

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March 3rd

Andrew Tidball from cheeseontoast.co.nz is going to feature four tracks from the forthcoming Screens album at Eavesdrop this Wednesday evening. The Eavesdrop is Wednesday 4 March at The Wine Cellar in Saint Kevin's Arcade, K Road, Auckland.

Don't forget that you have to buy tickets for our Wellington show at San Francisco Bathhouse with the DHDFD's and F in Math (Mike Logie's solo music). They're available at Real Groovy. Don't miss out!

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March 2nd

Sam Peacocke has uploaded the video he made for 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' to Vimeo today! Hope you enjoy it. Here it is:

To add this video to your myspace, bebo or blog, copy and paste the text below:

<script type="text/javascript"> AC_AX_RunContent( 'width','400','height','300','src','http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3426842&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1','type','application/x-shockwave-flash','allowfullscreen','true','allowscriptaccess','always','movie','http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3426842&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1' ); //end AC code </script><noscript><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3426842&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3426842&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object></noscript><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/3426842">THE MINT CHICKS - I Cant Stop Being Foolish</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user918936">Samuel Peacocke</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.

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February 28th

Hi friends, New Zealand music channel C4 has started to play our new video for 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish', if you'd like to request it and see it played more often please let them know HERE

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February 26th

As requested by you, I've finally managed to put the mint chicks lyrics from past releases up somewhere. Rather than host them here on the website I put them on Lyrics.com

Go HERE to see lyrics for our past releases. Soon I'll post the lyrics for the new album but for now it's the early E.Ps and albums.

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February 25th

Pre-order Screens from itunes right now and get a bonus track which won't appear on any other versions of the release.

itunes are taking pre-orders right now for the new album, Screens. There is a bonus track with pre-ordered albums but on the release date* the track will become unavailable on itunes and will not be on the cd.

*(EDIT: the bonus track will only be available until March 10)

Today we went to Goat Island and did some 3d band photos and some underwater ones with Milana Radojcic. Giant snapper and lots of bright blue fish (I don't know what they're called) were swimming around us. More on this soon.

Also, Sam Peacocke's brand new video for 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' is finished and we've seen it and it wins. It'll be on tv and eventually all over the web (and on this website) very very soon. It's going to be out there soon!!! On a post further down this page (January 11th) there are some screenshots from it.

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February 23rd

The new NZ tourdates are up now on the left<<<

This week I've put the new single 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' up for streaming. It's on the right there >>>.

This song is number one on the bfm top ten for the third week running. Thanks everyone that's voting, we're glad you like the song and we appreciate your help getting the song out there.

We actually recorded a version of this song when we recorded the Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No! album but the version didn't suit the rest of the album and in the end it was one of the many things that didn't go on it. We've messed with this song probably more than any other song we've ever written, and over the course of the last four years have played it a lot of different ways. Here's a fucked up version we played last year for a redbull live session:

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February 18th

As you may already know, our latest single 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' has spent two weeks at the top of the bfm top ten. Thanks for your voting!

If you would like to vote for us again this week we've included some of the other main bnet stations for those of you outside of Auckland who would like to support us a bit closer to home:

For bfm in Auckland:

http://www.95bfm.co.nz/default,top10.sm

For Radio 1 in Dunedin:

http://www.r1.co.nz/top11.php

For RDU in Christchurch:

1) Email
Send an email to top10@rdu.org.nz with Top 10: the Mint Chicks 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' in the subject line.
2) Text Message (SMS)
Send a text message (SMS) to 021 RDU 985 (021 738 985) including Top 10: the Mint Chicks 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' in the message.

For Radio Active in Wellington:

phone: +64 4 801 9899 and request the mint chicks

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February 13th

Hello friends. Our new single 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' is into it's second week at number one on the bfm top ten. Thank you! You can vote for it HERE
Yesterday we were at Sam Peacocke's new studio doing the puppetry for the robots in his new video for this same song. It's coming soon and I'll post some pics from the day soon.
The new album 'Screens' is set to come out in New Zealand on the 16th of March, with pre-orders opening up on itunes before then. We're adding an unreleased track to the pre-release too so if you want the extra track look out for more news on that.
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February 1st

January 30th

Hello! Please vote for our new single 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' on bfm!

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January 27th

OK, so I've sent the new Mint Chicks track to Troy at bfm and no doubt he'll be playing it on his show the Rock n Roll Wire this Friday at 12:00pm New Zealand time (GMT + 12,00) on 95fm in Auckland. Anywhere else in the world? You can stream it HERE. It's always worth listening to the whole show as Troy consistently plays great music. Sometimes classic, sometimes cutting edge, and always has good interviews. Within the last month or so he's had interviews with Ron Asheton of the Stooges (RIP), King Buzzo (Fantomas, Melvins), and Pink Eyes from Fucked Up and that's just a few. Tune in!

P.S: You might be wondering what those pics of us hanging out with elephants and tortoises and monkeys were all about.

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January 23rd

There is a hole in ozone layer above New Zealand. I've been wondering whether we should send the next single from Screens: 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' to Troy at the Rock n Roll Wire on bfm. I've decided that if people send 50 e-mails asking for it to themintchicks@gmail.com I will. Otherwise, if you'd rather wait until the video comes out you can send me an e-mail that says that.

A guy sent us an e-mail recently which outlined song by song what he believed to be the 'key' to the album Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! and I think he may have been right. He believes it to be a story or (and I hate this term) concept album. It kind of seems to fit. Do you want to know what I believe? (you would've stopped reading this if you didn't) I believe that many of the people who listen to our music understand it better than we do.

P.S. Here are some photos of us hanging out with cool animals:

The Mint Chicks with Burma and Kashin

Galapagos Tortoises FTMFW

Ruban feeds a maggot to a Tamarin monkey (the gloves are for their protection, humans are filthy creatures)

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January 22nd

It's always important to play for either too long or too short. Anything worth doing, is worth doing wrong.

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January 21st

Maui/Coyote/Raven/Hermes/Loki/Eshu

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January 20th

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January 15th

Here's the cover for the new album 'Screens'. So now you blogger dudes can stop e-mailing me about this (just kidding, thanks for giving a shit about our music). Hope you like it.

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Big Day Out: We're on the Essential stage at 6:30pm

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January 11

It's 6am and I'm still awake. Our flight leaves Portland for Auckland in 7 hours. Sleep on the plane.

I've been sent some stills from Sam Peacocke's new Mint Chicks vid he's been working on and I thought I'd post a few of them on here. So far it's looking gorgeous and it's going to be awesome. The three videos he'll have made for us so far will be a cool little set.

This is the girl who kind of stars in the video.

This is one of the robots who clash with an owl later in the vid. Nothing radder than robots and owls.

Here's the girl again. Nothing radder than robots, owls and hot nerds.

Giant owl.

In other news thanks to Cary Clarke for putting Screens in his Portland Mercury article 'The Most Anticipated Albums of 2009'. He described it as:

'a vocoder-heavy pop record that sounds like it's target audience are bubble-gum chewing, teenage robot punks with a soft spot for Queen and Brainiac'

Sure, why not.

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Ron Asheton - July 17, 1948 – c. January 6, 2009

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January 7

We're heading back to New Zealand this week and we'll be there for the release of Screens and some touring in March. Have been listening to My Bloody Valentine and the Hollies non-stop for some reason (I mean obviously the reason being that their music is amazing but yeah).

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January 3

Tonight we're playing at Doug Fir w/ the Prids and Lookbook. This will be our last show in the US for about 3 months so come down and get naked if you've got nothing better to do. We've got more videos that we're finishing up so stay tuned, and looking forward to playing the Big Day Out in Auckland on Jan 16th so see you kiwis there.

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Life Will Get Better Some Day

Hope you enjoyed Mintunes, if you haven't got it yet, download it! Here is a video Kody put together for Life Will Get Better Some Day. It's going to be on the next album. Happy new year and all that.

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Mintunes 25/12/08

Merry Xmas! Here is our new 8-bit E.P. for free download! Some of you may be wondering why this was first up on xmas eve, but it was up midnight on xmas day New Zealand time and since we are from New Zealand we decided it would go up NZ time. Hope you enjoy it.

If this doesn't work for some reason, click HERE

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Enemies video

Mint Chicks - Enemies from Ruban Nielson on Vimeo.

View in higher quality

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New Album

Our next album 'Screens' is finally finished. The record has taken a surprisingly long time considering my brother and I recorded the bulk of the tracks in about four days in the middle of the year. Most of it was recorded in our Portland basement on a three year old imac with a toy drumkit we found at a junk shop and yet it was mixed by the enigmatic Jacob Portrait in four different studios around Portland (five if you include the Frank Zappa-esque horns and the-Clean-on-meth organs recorded by my Dad in his bedroom in New Zealand).

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It was recorded and mixed on six different computer screens, which is not that many when you think about it. Since we're a band from the future that travelled back in time to record I would say that the album is very derivative of bands that don't exist yet. You know what I mean? Since reality is a tragic disappointment and the world is mostly built from people so moronic they'll never figure out why they're such square dicks, I'm happy to say that it's completely out of touch with reality in the most encouraging way I ever could have imagined. I'm thrilled to say that the grumpy, bearded fat guys with black hoodies, karate shoes and sub-atomic penises will not get it. We made this record for creepy teenaged girls with one glass eye.

On xmas day, we'll put an EP of 8-bit versions Kody and I made of Mint Chicks songs called Mintunes up on here for you to download for free. One day, if we fight the wicked war effectively and deftly, everything will be free.

Sam Peacocke, the director who made the videos for 'Walking Off a Cliff Again' and 'Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!' is making a new video for the song 'I Can't Stop Being Foolish' which is from our next album. It's going to have everything you want. I know what your thinking, 'Bullshit! It's not going to have an owl fighting a robot!' but you're wrong. It's got that. Early next year it'll be on TV, youtube, vimeo, Screenster, all that stuff (I made the last one up, did you believe it was a real website for a second?).

Ruban

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