Sorry we've been MIA....... (explanation)

Well.. after Australia.. we immediately started rehearsing to record the follow up to AWCDWS. We recorded for six days at the Hangar in Sacramento with our good friend Jason. Then, we played Noise Pop.. and continued on for a west coast tour with M. Ward.. then almost immediately left for the insanity that is SXSW in Austin... And then Cambria and I were back in the studio for 17 more days (!).

The record is now nearing completion.. We master on the 23rd.. so we're still tweaking things here and there.. but we are SOOOOOO excited about it!

Other news...

***We are now on Twitter... click HERE to "follow" us.

***We are finally reworking our horrible website (which is now somehow owned by a real esate company.. after I forgot to re-register the domain).

***We have a few exciting summer tours coming up.. stay tuned for details!

***Our new single "Winter" is now available on iTunes, etc HERE.


i guess thats all for now.. stay tuned for more soon!!!

Australia tour videos.

Here are some videos from our Australia tour..

Our usual tour video montage:



"I Woke Up Today" from onstage, last show of tour, Sydney:



"I Woke Up Today" getting way out of hand in Brisbane:



love, van

Australia photos!

We just got back from our first tour of Australia.. and it was so radical. The crowds were amazing, the food was amazing, the animals were amazing.. Here are some pictures from our adventure....

Kanga jerky from a Fiji airport, anyone?



Airplane breakfast, anyone?



At our hotel in Brisbane, Ryan scanning the air for some creepy sounds on his short-wave radio...



The boys at the Dew Process office.



Graham, the Dude of Dew Process.



NO FURBIES ALLOWED!!!



The obligatory kangaroo photos:









We went to Phillip Island on our day off, and saw some amazing penguins.. Look at that little penguin!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't you want to grab it?





We took 9 flights in 10 days.. We got tired of the process, for sure.


But, we did get to see this guy. The worst (or, best) haircut ever.



Bananas!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH.



Ryan on the beach on West Coast.. Fremantle.. The Indian Ocean (!!!!).





We attempted to "body surf" in the warm water, bro.



The sand...



I'll have a Zeb on the rocks. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.



Band photo time!! OMG!!!!



The Australia Hero, Bon Scott of AC/DC.



Possibly the cutest photo of all time, Sadie the koala, kissing Cambria.



They sleep 20 hours a day!!!!!!!



They are everywhere!!!!!



The opposite of the koala photo above. This is possibly the grossest photo ever taken:



Our tour manager and sound dude, the amazing Richie Robinson.


HUUUUGGGGEEEE fruit bats waiting to fly away at night.



The night before we left, Sydney.



we hope to get back there soon!
love, van

First batch of Nov/Dec European tour photos!

Hey all!

We arrived safe and sound a few nights ago to not-nearly-as-cold California.. It was an amazing tour (!) but it is nice to be home for the holidays.. and to be off from the road until Australia.. Over a month a half with no shows might be the longest time frame for us for over a year. Anyway.. we just uploaded pictures from one of our cameras, so this is just the first batch of photos. We still have one more camera of ours, Josh's camera, and tour manager Christian's camera to come through.. and of course, the tour video.

We flew out of SFO on Thanksgiving Day.. and Ryan (who continues to amaze us all with his amazing-ness) brought a Tofurkey for us to devour. He also brought dressing, which he was forced to put in legally sized non-terror-producing 2oz. bottles.



He also had some birthday presents for me. First, I opened the new Clone Wars DVD, which excited me beyond belief. Then, 4 t-shirts, one of which says "Boobies Make Me Smile." Also, he gave me back the infamous Britney shirt.. WOMANIZER OH YOU'RE A WOMANIZER BABY >>>>



We flew into Munich to play a radio festival. We quickly discovered the magic of the German Christmas Market, which were in pretty much all of the towns we visited. One of the best things about them is Glühwein, an amazing hot wine.



Tenenbaum!



Random cute German kid.



A tremendously huge pot of mushrooms.



Snowing in Leipzig!



Outside of our shows with Herman Dune and Get Well Soon, we played a few headlining shows.. These were the posters for our show in Halle.



The CD racks in Gottingen, Germany. Hanging out Katy Perry, Pink, and Nirvana.



Outside an old castle in Halle.



Obama's slogan employed elsewhere.



We played one show in Switzerland.. in an amazing mostly-French-speaking town called Fribourg. Cambria and I took a walk down to the ancient part of town in the morning.







Something may have been lost in the translation (?), Fribourg.



We got to make a quick stop in the amazing university town of Heidelberg, Germany.. where this is an absolutely amazing castle.





The last show of our tour was in Hamburg.. Here is the backstage scene with the Duners and the O'Brien-ers.



The two drummers.



Inter-band love in Port O'Brien.



The Port O'Brien - Herman Dune - Get Well Soon 3-band tour graduation shot.



Saying goodbye to the City Slangers... This is Josh with Severin.. who booked the tour.



Stay tuned for WAYYYYY more photos coming soon.. and video!

love love love, van

Bochum tonight.. only 2 more shows with GWS and HD.

Heyooo!

writing from an internet cafe in Cologne.. The drive is only 80km to where we are playing tonight.. at the Zeche in Bochum.. its one of the 2 last shows with Get Well Soon and Herman Dune... we also have 2 headline shows tomorrow and the next day.. We have all been playing and singing the last song of GWS´s encore.. "Race for the Prize" by the flaming lips.. Here is a (super bad quality) video from a few nights ago.



Hope all is welllll!!!!!!!!!

Cologne tonight!!! Bochum tomorrow!

Hey all!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the last 2 shows in Switzerland.. and Mannheim, Germany! It was our first two shows with both Get Well Soon and Herman Dune.. and its proving to be such an incredibly fun tour!!! Everyone on board is so nice and humble. Its honestly going to be so sad to say goodbye.. (so soon!) We only have 5 more shows on this tour.. and only 3 with those 2 bands.. Tonight, we play in Cologne at the Gloria.. Tomorrow in Bochum.. both of those are with GWS and HD.

Our stay in Switzerland was so incredible... I love it there so much. The people are incredible.. and the mountains are beyond amazing. Cambria and I walked down into the old town of Fribourg in the early morning. It was misty and refreshing out.. The town is over a thousand years old... mostly french-speaking.. ANyway.. we took lots of pictures and we'll put em up when we get back to good ol' California..

until then, we'll talk soooooooooooN!

Best of iTunes 2008.. Album on sale for only $7.99!!!

Heyoooo!!!

Thanks to the crowd who came out to Halle last night! Tonight, we are staying in Frankfurt.. on the way to Switzerland tomorrow.. No show tonight, which feels kind of weird.. but its nice to have a break..

ANYWAY.... GOOD NEWS!

Our album "All We Could Do Was Sing" has been included on the iTunes "Best of Indie Spotlight 2008".. as part of their Best of 2008 Feature.. This means that our album is ON SALE for only $7.99 for a very limited time.. So if you don't have the album yet, now is THE time to get it.. click HERE to buy now!!!

love, van

Halle tonight!

Last night was awesome in Leipzig! The venue was one of the most beautiful we have ever seen.. so good to see some familiar faces there as well.. the whole Slang Gang. We stayed the night at a hotel by a Shell station.. and we only have a half hour drive today!!!! We are playing our first ever show in Halle, Germany tonight.. We are headlining tonight.. while Get well Soon gets a break from us... we meet back up with them in Switzerland. It just started snowing an hour or so again.. and it looks beautiful outside.. I wish we could post photos, but we don't have a USB cable.. we are on the hunt though!!!

love love love, van

Vienna last night.. Leipzig, Germany tonight.

Heyoooooo...

Writing from our hotel lobby in Vienna. Last night was the first night of the "Christmas in Adventure Parks Tour 2008." I do not really understand the title.. but it is with Get Well Soon, Herman Dune.. and us. All City Slang bands.. and there is an awesome set! First time we have ever played with decorations and stuff all around.. HUGE christmas ornaments hanging from the ceiling that are changing colors.. and rad video screens.. and all that kind of shit! We are working on performing a Flaming Lips song with GWS during their encore.. They are absolutely amazingly nice human beings. Anyway.. it was our second ever show in Vienna.. and it was as fun and amazing as the first one. The crowds there are just phenomenal! I hope we can come back this summer. Today.. we have a looooonnngggg drive to Leipzig, Germany to play again with GWS.

Here is a youtube video from our 1st of 2 shows so far on this tour, in Munich..



Also.. some rad videos of our recent SLO show have been uploaded.. here is "The Rooftop Song"



more to come soon!
love, van

Safe in Munich!

We arrived safely to Munich 2 nights ago. We were crazy jetlagged yesterday.. but managed to play our first show of the tour.. at the Bavarian Open Festival in Munich. We were one of 3 US bands playing.. the others being TV on the Radio and Santogold. The show was SOOOOOOOOOO fun! Thanks so much for everyone who came out.. it was a fun, sold out night of jetlagged weirdness. Today, we have a day off.. so we get to stay in the same hotel.. where all the bands are staying who played last night.. Tomorrow.. we are off to Vienna, Austria for our first show with Get Well Soon.. before also meeting up with Herman Dune on the next show.. Hopefully, we will figure out a way to get pics on here soon as we go..

talk to you soon!!!!
love, van

Euro Tour Video! and other news...

Sorry this hasn't been updated regularly lately.. As our touring year comes to a close (in a couple weeks, anyway).. we'll get better at it. For now, I have our October Euro Tour Video to share.







IN OTHER NEWS!>>>

1) We fly to Germany today. Yes, on Thanksgiving Day. Direct flight from SFO to Munich. We'll start a 2-week tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, mostly with Get Well Soon and Herman Dune. One festival and a few headlining shows will be sprinkled in there for fun. Its supposed to be snowing and freezing cold. Yay! We return to the states on December 12th.

2) We recorded two songs for a 7" this past weekend at Pan American in SF with Jason Quever. We are sooooooooo excited about hear it sounds! It will be released in Jan/Feb on SUPER limited edition vinyl, and iTunes. Stay tuned for more details!

3) We start recording our next album (!) in mid-February after we get back from Australia. Details on that soon....

4) Happy Thanksgiving!

Love love love, van

Midwest/East Coast tour photos!

Heyo!!!

We got back a few nights ago from our Midwest / East Coast tour with Secretly Canadian's Bodies of Water... We had such a great time! Here are some pictures of the tour.. video to come soon!

On our way out to the first show in Madison, Wisconsin.. we camped at Zion National Park in Utah.. It is seriously one of THE most beautiful places in the world. Before we got there, though, we had to seriously stock up on pizza.



And Josh and Ryan kept busy looking at their favorite mag.



Then.. we arrived and camped the night away!!!





Nessie and Bessie had fun too!



In the morning, we took the bus into the canyon and went on a hike up to the swimming pools...





The best swimming hole in the world.



Joshie underwater!



We tried to do the SliNT 'spiderland' thing.



After our Zion adventure, we drove 24 hours straight (!) to Pleasant Creek State Rec. Area in Iowa. We saw our first ever fireflies. They are amazing! We also went fising, to no success... but that didn't matter (obviously). We roasted veggie dogs and had a fantastic night..



Night fishing!





We finally arrived to our first show.. in Madison, Wi and all felt a little crazy by then...



We stayed at a hotel.. that HATED parties, of all kinds.



Our next stop was Chicago.. and we played the amazing Schuba's... A big hello to all the peeps that came out to Chicago!



Cambria's work station...



Ryan got some cats in Chicago for his amp that are now an official member of Team PO'B.



And I got some incense burners, to "get rid of all the bad vibes," man. Ya, dude.



Backstage Cleveland.







After Cleveland.. we went into Canada.. after the mighty difficult border crossing.. we drove through the night to Toronto.. and without any sleep at all... had a donut.



Ryan got into it up there.



We Priceline.com'd our 2nd hotel of the trip and got a Hilton for 60 bucks.. and we hillbilly'ed the place up IMMEDIATELY.. with our good ol' blow up mattress in the fancy pants elevator.



After our 2-show (Toronto, Montreal) Canadian adventure, we were back into Freedom Country... After a quick stop in Cambridge, MASS with our dear friend Hallie and co.. we made it to New York!



We played Mercury Lounge in NYC and Union Hall in Brooklyn.. Both were AMAZING shows!



Grapefruit head.



Bread door.



We then were off to Philly for the most amazing falafels ever.



Now, its time for funny faces.











Lunch time! Croissant and plum.



Cambria's new daugther, Isobella. She rescued her from a junk shop in DC.



The venue in DC made this very clear.



We stayed at our dear friend Garret's in DC.. Zeb slept out on the porch..



Zeb performed some songs during the last few shows with member of Bodies of Water and Josh..



Can you spot Nessie? The hardest parking lot exit, ever.



Our last show of the tour was in Indianapolis.. and was put on by My Old Kentucky Blog. Before we videotaped 3 songs for an exciting new website .. We decorated the stage.



Our wonderful friends Courtney and our Uncle James came out to say hi. They are the most amazing people in the world.



PO'B and Uncle James.



And, oh, that long drive home from Indianapolis... We still feel a little crazy from that...




Thanks to everyone who came to the shows and bought stuff!!! We love you ALL!!!

September radness!

Our September is shaping up to be quite exciting indeed!
Instead of writing about it a lot.. I will just post fliers for each event..
And then you can click the fliers to buy tickets!

Okay.. here we go!

September 4th!



At MusicFest NW in Portland, we will be performing with Nada Surf at Berbatis Pan.




September 13th!







September 18th!






September 21st!







September 27th!



HELL YEA!

California tour video!

Most of the video we took was from inside Nessie, our van, this time..

Enjoy!

California tour photos!

Hey there!

Thanks to everyone who came out to all the California shows! Special thanks to everyone in SF for helping us sell out the Cafe du Nord! It was humbling to see all of you at the shows! The Builders and the Butchers were an amazing group of dudes to tour with.. and they are an amazing band! If you haven't checked them out yet.. do it now. Click here to listen to their tunes and for links to buy their CD! Here are some pictures of our 5-day stint with them.. video coming soon! And more POB news!

Here is Harvey from B&B being a true American... Santa Barbara, CA liquor store.



Inside Nessie, our mighty tour van, on the way down south...



Zeb's "Breakfast of Champions"



Cambria's decoration on the ceiling of Nessie above where she sits...



Pee-stop on the I-5...



There were TONS of big, dead insects at this gas station.. somewhere on the I-5..



Our new (and absolutely amazing) bass player Ryan Stively...



Zeb's new hat.. he found this on the street in Santa Barbara...



On the radio in SB.. KCSB...



"Sorry"...



Sparky's Diner in SF 3:30am-ish after our Du Nord show...




more to come soon!

California Tour! Fliers!

Well.. today after band practice at Josh's mom's house, we went to the Santa Maria mall to take glamour shots. Zeb couldn't come so we had Alex, a local girl who was waiting in line, stand in for him. Now, these shots are fliers.. for our 5-date California tour starting this Monday in San Diego. Enjoy!











more soon!

love, pob

Europe tour video!

Hey there all!
Happy 4th!

This is a little clip of Port O'Brien's short European tour in late May / early June of 2008. Port O'Brien performed with Bon Iver, the Silver Jews, Fleet Foxes, the Dodos, Beach House, Tapes 'n Tapes, and more. Also, they performed at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. Look for Port O'Brien in all of Europe this October....


Port O'Brien European Tour (May/June 2008) from Port O'Brien on Vimeo.

more news soon!

Show with Frank Black on Monday!

We are playing with one of our greatest heros.... Frank Black, lead singer extraordinaire of the Pixies~!!!!!!!!!!!~~~~~!!!!!

Monday Monday Monday.
Brookdale Lodge, Brookdale CA............ hills above Santa Cruz town.

Flier is below..... courtesy of the wonderful FOLK YEAH!

Shawnee on the cover of the Kodiak Daily Mirror

Its awfully strange not being in Alaska this summer.. My mom sent me a copy of the local Kodiak Daily Mirror with our mighty vessel the Shawnee on the cover. Here is the scan!



More POB news soon!

Love, van

I Woke Up Today ~ Music Video!

Here is the Youtube-quality version.. But its highly recommended that y'all go watch it over at Stereogum here.




I was working on Europe video footage, but the audio isn't working yet.. I'll try to figure out what the heck is going on with that.

Love you all.......