The Shins have unveiled the first leg of their tour in support of their upcoming Sub Pop album, "Wincing the Night Away." The trek will begin Feb. 8 in Minneapolis and continue through Feb. 25 in London, with more shows to be announced. "Wincing" is due Jan. 23.
Also on tap is a Jan. 13 appearance on "Saturday Night Live," an in-store at the Virgin Megastore in New York's Union Square at midnight the day of release and another in-store at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles a few days later. The band's live lineup will be augmented by Eric Johnson of Sub Pop labelmates the Fruit Bats.
Despite all this activity, the Shins will actually take a few months off in the spring, as frontman James Mercer and his wife are expecting a baby in May. "Our booking agent wants us to continue touring forever," he tells Billboard. "I've found it a challenge to focus on the big picture."
"If we keep doing it the way we've been doing it, we can live this way," keyboardist Marty Crandall says. "I hope this might be the record that allows us to become our own enterprise and call our own shots. We've got the friendship and the experience behind us — it'll be challenging, but it's something I know we can do."
In addition, look for Mercer singing backup on three tracks from Modest Mouse's "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," due in March via Epic.
