Cover #2 in our series for the year is from The Breeders’ 1993 classic, Last Splash. “Do You Love Me Now” features Kerri Preston helping out on vocals. Download it here.
Big stuff happening today! NO KONTROL will be released on February 16th, 2010 via Funambulist Recording Company, with a release party the following week on at The Hideout in Chicago. The EP is limited to 200 copies, recorded and mixed by Johnathan Crawford, mastered by Carl Saff, designed by Mike Renaud, and hand packaged by your’s truly. We’ll have them at the shows and for sale here on the website. Check out the first cut from the EP over there to the right.
The release show is scheduled for February 26th at The Hideout, and we’ll have Tiger Bones, The Runnies, and Only Children joining us for the party. Should be a great night.
Finally, we’re trying a little experiment. We’ll be releasing a cover song every month this year, starting with The Velvet Underground’s “I Can’t Stand It”. These are free, and are recorded in our practice space on an 8-track cassette recorder, and consist of a bunch of songs that we really like. We hope you do too. Come back on the 1st of every month for a new tune.
Our pals The Fake Fictions are playing their last show ever, and while we don’t really approve of this kind of behavior, we’re happy to announce that we’ll be playing that final show with them. Also joining us is another Chicago crew, Very Truly Yours. We’ve been trying to hook something up with them for a while now so we’re excited to have them on the bill. This all goes down at Ronny’s in Chicago on November 20th.
In EP news, we’re finished mixing and the record is going off to Carl Saff very soon for mastering. We’ll be hitting a few states with the new tunes in the new year, so keep an eye out for shows in your town.
Hey all, we’re going back to the stu-stu-studio this weekend to record an EP with our good buddy Johnathan Crawford (Paul Cary, Tiger Bones, France Has the Bomb). We’re not quite sure what the plan is for release yet, but it’s probably going to be this fall and it’s probably going to be free. The jams:
No Control
Cooler Birds
Beauty Spies
Disconnected
Get Sensitive
We’re going lo-fi with a 8-track tape machine and a bunch of reverb boxes. Buckle up.
Our song, “Your Filthy Eastern Ways” from There Are No More Gentlemen will be featured on Royal Pains on the USA Network tomorrow night. Tune in and check it out!!
Our first show in Chicago since April, and It’s gonna be a barn burner! We’re excited to be playing with our good friends and neighbors in Coupleskate.
August 13 - The Hideout, Chicago
9PM - Good Morning Valentine
10PM - Coupleskate
11PM - The Laureates
Just got back from our mini-mini-tour to Minneapolis and Milwaukee this weekend. Thanks to all the friends who came out to see us and thanks to all the new friends we made for showing us a great time. We saw a lot of really good bands at both of the shows too…we’ll be looking you guys up so we can play together again.
Thanks for making our very first road shows a great success…See you all again soon!
The past few weeks, There Are No More Gentlemen has been getting some radio play at college and community stations nationwide and we’re excited to see that it made it on the CMJ 200 chart this week, coming in at #168!
Thanks to all the stations supporting the record!
Dig.
Mr. Evan “Funk” Davies at WFMU has placed There Are No More Gentlemen at #14 in his top albums of the year. See the full list here: WFMU’s Beware of the Blog
Our debut album, There Are No More Gentlemen, is now available at the iTunes store. Go get yourself a present…you’ve already done so much for everyone else…
We don’t know much Italian, so we let Google translate this one for us. It’s like a beautiful haiku:
“The debut of Laureates is dedicated to the lovers of the sixties, the band was founded in 2005 and after a dazzling ep namesake is leaving There Are No More Gentlemen.
With a style of reference that is the Rock-Pop, the band tries to catch them as tunes from the past to the present day, which is predominant in these thirteen songs of the band Boston is the reprise of everything that was done by 50 years until now, you can hear hints of Motown, the Kinks, a reference to Ian Curtis and even The Monkees.
It starts with Her Fiction, and a pace sotenuto to load a pop reminescente 60s with lots of appendages Coretti; Your Filthy Eastern Ways follows the same march with Noting Is perfect, very danceable songs with a groove edited by many powerful tools which trumpets plane, arriving to have some influence at times beat.
In the wake of a slight breeze express It’s Shattering, which slows the pace and moves in the seventies British, while My Association Signs a funk melodic pop, with Tomorrow Today is the one steering toward a more sound and punk underground, Coronation Now continues with a rock and pulled some point of jazz.
Gentlemen is the union of all that has been done so far to album, song where all the qualities of the band emerge, and it turned into a pearl played in the day but that in itself embodies the influences of the past, which also affect Joy Division in the Witching Boots, where a sound is jagged and hectic backdrop to a voice intonation tribute to Ian Curtis.
Overall, the debut album of Laureates is a look fuggente music of recent years, which is the foundation of everything that has been done to date, the council primarily to those who have nostalgia for that was marked by the birth of rock and throughout its evolution, appear to our ears clear references a band of the caliber of the Kinks, of The Monkees, or periods marked by fights between Mods and Rockers, the birth of Motown and love for the cold ambience created by Joy Division.
-Matteo Guglielmi”
Here’s the original: indie-mag.it
Got some news for you kids looking to pick up the new record outside of Chicago. We’ve just made it easier for you. There Are No More Gentlemen is now available at any at any of these fine online retailers:
Insound
Parasol Mail Order
Amazon MP3
Reckless Records
Don’t forget the Record Release Party tomorrow at the Empty Bottle! Our friends Jeanine O’Toole (from The 1900s) and Ben Grigg (from Geronimo!/Inspector Owl) will be joining us to help rock all the cuts from the record straight through. Picture Books and Fake Fictions will be opening, and we’re ecstatic to have them. Bring your dancin’ shoes, this is gonna be a good one!
Happy record release day!
There Are No More Gentlemen is released to the public today! Get it here on the website though Paypal, or at any of the fine record shops here in Chicago. Soon enough, it will also be available via Insound and Parasol mail order, as well as iTunes. If you work at a record shop and want to stock a bunch of copies, go to the contact page and hit us up on email. We’ll totally hook you up.
Of course, you can always get a copy straight from us at the record release show next Wednesday Nov 19th at the Empty Bottle. We’ll be giving away free copies of our 7″ EP with every CD, but the real reason to come out is because it’s going to be a hell of a night and a lot of fun.
Listen up to WXRT’s Local Anesthetic this Sunday at 7:30PM. Sounds like there will be a couple tunes a-spinnin’.
Look kids, new website!
Thanks to everybody for coming out to the Metro the other night to see us. We had a great time…hope you did too.
So hey, there’s been some misleading press lately about how we have the new album, There Are No More Gentlemen, up for free download. Truth is, we don’t. The album isn’t even out yet, but never fear. Drop date is November 11, and we’ll have it available through a number of sources then. Local shops in Chicago, Insound, Parasol Mail Order, and eventually iTunes. We’ll set things up so you can get the MP3s here as well.
You know what though, we don’t want you to leave empty-handed if you were out lookin’ for some jams, so head over to the Music page and you can download our debut EP for free. It’s 4 tracks that we put out on a 7″ a while back. Hope you dig.
Back to the new record…If you’re not yet in the know, we’ll be having a big old party for the release on November 19th at the Empty Bottle here in Chicago. Our buddies Picture Books and The Fake Fictions will be joining us, and we’re super pumped. Should be an excellent night full of music and friends. Also joining us on stage for a few tunes will be Ben Grigg of Geronimo! and Inspector Owl and Jeanine O’Toole of the 1900s. Can’t wait to see you there!
Wow, our buddy Mike Renaud did it again! Here’s what he made for the final release artwork for There Are No More Gentlemen. We think it’s tops. Looky looky…

Digipak Outside »
Digipak Inside »
Digipak Inside w/ CD Face »
We’re gonna throw a big ol’ party for the record release on November 19th at the Empty Bottle. Our friends The Fake Fictions are going to open it up, and we’re working on adding one more band to the bill.
Before that though, Metro on October 23rd with The Spinto Band and Frightened Rabbit! Should be a killer show. You’ll probably want to come to both if you know what’s good for ya.
We did an interview with Chicagoist last week. Check it out here: Chicagoist Interview.
Bottom Lounge tomorrow!
Some nice words about the upcoming full-length as well as the 7″ in the blogs in the past few weeks…
Veritas Lux Mea
3hive
Unpiano:Music
Back in the City
…and we were on The Unblinking Ear’s podcast last week.
Check this out. Our buddy Mike Renaud made these awesome packages for our There Are No More Gentlemen promo CDs! He designed it and screen printed, cut, and scored each by hand. Go show him some love: michaelrenaud.com
Closed »
Opened 1 »
Opened 2 »
Disc »
Hey everybody, we’re done with mastering! We’re giving you a free download of “A Novel Approach”, because we love you. Here it is (right-click or ctrl-click to save): A Novel Approach. Enjoy!
Thanks to Carl Saff for putting up with our indecisive ways and busting out the excellent mastering job. The artwork in the player is fake. We made it up. It’s crap. Our buddy Mike Renaud is working on some good artwork for the album. He did the art for the 7″ before, and we trust the new stuff will be equally as awesome. We’re still working on figuring out when this album is going to come out, and on what imprint. We’ll give you the scoop as soon as we know, but for now we’re hoping for sometime in September. Anyone wanna put out a record?
Also, don’t forget: Show tomorrow at Ronny’s!. See you there!
Hey kiddos, we’ve got a big show coming up at The Hideout, and it promises to be a sweaty fun-packed night. Mix cheap PBR with balls-out rock from The Laureates and Mark Mallman, add some booty-shakin’ mixes from DJs Bald Eagle and Mother Hubbard and how could it not be a good time? Here’s the deal though…these Life During Wartime parties tend to sell out pretty quickly, so go get your tickets now!
In album news, we’re going to be placing it in the very capable hands of Carl Saff for mastering at the end of April. Stay tuned, because once it’s done we’ll probably post some of the finished cuts here.
We just finished up mixing at Phantom Manor last night and thought we’d post a few of the new jams on our MySpace page for you guys to check out. These are unmastered, but about as close to done as they can get. Release date for the record is still up in the air, but stay tuned here and at MySpace and we’ll keep you posted.
Nothing’s Perfect, Your Filthy Eastern Ways, and A Novel Approach are all from the Manor sessions.
Dig!
Last session at the Manor we finished up tracking for the full-length, adding acoustic guitar, horns, piano, vox organ, and a few more percussion elements. We’re going back in this weekend to mix the record, which means it should be finished really soon!
Possible album titles:
Fold Your Ghost
Hands On Craze
There Are No More Gentlemen
Hey Stripper! (A Gentlemanly Kind of Blues)
Our show at The Pike Room in Pontiac was canceled today. News is that The Valentinos broke up, so the whole show was canceled. Unfortunately, we can’t justify the cost to drive to MI for just one show, so we’re dropping off the bill at Paycheck’s in Hamtramck as well. Our apologies to anyone who was planning on coming out to the shows. We’ll try to get up there soon.
Last night’s session was all vocals again: I Want to Miss You, Furniture Moves, Make You, and we finished up some extra stuff on There Are No More Gentlemen and Witching Boots. Crawfie sang too! Awesome!
So that pretty much wraps up the vocals. We’ve got all the singin’ we can handle at the moment on all 13 tracks, which makes next sesh a keys/percussion/noise session.
Don’t forget Dekalb next Friday (the 15th). We’re playing at Otto’s with Seaworthy.
Ok, a little late now, but here’s the deal: Last Friday we did a short “sesh” at the Manor and layed down vocals for Witching Boots and Nothing’s Perfect. Ooos and aaahs abound. We’re heading back in this Thursday night to belt out some more.
Some shows coming up too. Dekalb next weekend, Michigan a the end of the month.
“Oh man”. We spent the past weekend back at the Manor, working on guitar and bass tracks, vocals, and percussion. We’re getting pretty close on some of the songs, but 13 tunes with vocals and horns and organs and pianos and shakers and tambos can take some time, so keep your pants on. In-between takes, we watched cartoons and Guns ‘N Roses videos and wrote a new song called “Hot ‘n Ready”, inspired by Little Ceasar’s Pizza. Nobody tried to steal our beer but we ran out too fast. No, we don’t have any money for your art supplies. We’re spending it all on gold records. C’mon.
Got vox and geets and percs on these guys:
Her Fiction, Your Filthy Eastern Ways, Coronation Now!, It’s Shattering, My Association, There Are No More Gentlemen, Tomorrow Today, A Novel Approach
We’ll be back in the studio shortly to keep tracking. Stay close.
A couple of top ten and best of lists to note here at the end of the year…
Evan “Funk” Davies of WFMU has The Laureates EP sitting pretty at #5 in his “Top Singles/EPs” of 2007. Take a look at the whole list here.
Also, The Unblinking Ear has “Witching Boots” in The 2007 Playlist and sporting the title for the obscure category of Song I heard on Evan “Funk” Davies show on WFMU and immediately thought “I must have this”. Check the whole 2007 in Review story here.
Thanks to Evan and Paul for the shouts. In recording news, we’re heading back to the Manor to work on the album again in mid-January. We’ll let you know how it’s going.
Happy New Year!!
We had a great time with the brilliant Mr. Lust at Phantom Manor last weekend. We watched some DVDs, played some video games, had some laughs at Lust’s interpretation of dirty south hip-hop and his sensitive MC alter-ego, tried to avoid the man-child who almost stole our beer, and played a lot of air drums in the control room. But aside from all that, we recorded basic tracks for 13 songs. Here are those songs:
Your Filthy Eastern Ways
Tomorrow Today
It’s Shattering
A Novel Approach
Nothing’s Perfect
My Association
I Want to Miss You
Make You
Her Fiction
There Are No More Gentlemen
Furniture Moves
Coronation Now!
Witching Boots
We’re not sure at all yet about the tracklisting or even what songs will make the final product, but those are the ones that we have basics for. We’ll be heading back in to the Manor in January to put down some more guitars, vocals, horns, organ, percussion, etc. We’ll post some photos from last weekend here when we get them.
Thanks to everybody who came out to the free Monday show at the Empty Bottle. That was a hell of a fun time. If you took any pictures send ‘em to us. We’re gonna take a break from the shows for the holidays, but we’ll be back in 2008.
Tomorrow we head over to the Manor to start tracking the full-length, armed with horns, maracas, sleigh bells, and a boat-load of chili. The organ is still in the shop, so we’re gonna have to wait to put the keys down. We’ll keep you posted with photos and updates about what we’re recording as we go.
We made a Christmas jingle at the practice space last night. We’ll post it here or on our MySpace when Chad gets it mixed.
There’s a nice little review of the 7″ EP over at the Seven Inches Every Day blog. Check it out, it’s a pretty cool blog.
We start recording at Phantom Manor this weekend. We’re all pretty psyched to get these tunes down on some tape.
See you at the Empty Bottle tonight!!
“Witching Boots” was played on Liz Berg’s radio show today on WFMU in New York. Check out the archive stream of the show here: Liz Berg on WFMU - November 12, 2007. Check out the whole show, she plays a lotta good tunes. “Witching Boots” comes in at about 2:32:45.
We’re getting a Farfisa tomorrow. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.
Thanks to everybody who came out to the two shows last week. Our friend Joe Kirschling from Quinn Scharber and the… took some awesome photos at the Silvie’s show that you can see in the images section.
We’re gonna take a slight break from all the shows and concentrate on getting ready to record in December. We’re bidding on organs on eBay (snipers be damned), writing and learning horn parts, re-arranging some songs, and buying up all the 2″ tape on the planet. Sessions at the Manor start December 8th, and we’ll be in and out of there recording and mixing and listening to those mixes on our stereos, your car stereo, and your mother’s iPod.
We love you. We’ll be back with more songs.
We’ve got two great shows coming up next week for you. First, we’ll be playing at Silvie’s Lounge in Chicago on Thursday, November 1st with our friends Bird Ate My Donut and Milwaukee’s Quinn Scharber.
Just added today is a Chicago/Iowa City mashup with the fantastic Death Ships and Paul Cary. That one happens on Sunday, November 4th at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago.
Keep an eye on the site for more shows coming up and news about recording. See you next week!
Woah, it’s been a little while. Thanks to everybody who came out to the shows at the Underground Lounge and Ronny’s. Last Friday at Ronny’s was the most fun we’ve had like, ever. The Gay Baby sing-along was awesome as always, and The Gunshy sounded even better with the full band in tow. Go check those guys out while they’re on this tour if you get a chance.
We just added a show with our friends Bird Ate My Donut at Silvie’s Lounge in Chicago. That one will happen on November 1st. It’s a Thursday, which is the first day of the weekend. In case you didn’t know. We’re working on booking more shows as well, so keep checking back.
The most exciting news is that we’re going to be paying a visit to Mr. Mike Lust at Phantom Manor Recording in December, where we’ll start spinning tape for what will hopefully become The Laureates’ first full-length album. We’re going to spend some time on it, so no release date is scheduled yet, but we’re gunning for sometime next year for it to hit your hands.
You can now pick up the Laureates S/T 7″ at three of the best record shops here in Chicago. Permanent Records, Laurie’s Planet of Sound, and Reckless Records are all stocking the record.
We have a couple shows in the works too. Keep an eye out on the shows page for more details soon!

Thanks to everybody for coming out to the show at the Empty Bottle the other night. Our friend Greg Dizzia snapped a few photos for us. Check them out on the images page.
Thanks also to Apteka and Flying Over Iceland for being great guys and great bands. It was an awesome show and fun time all around.
See you soon.
The Laureates’ new website is finally in action! Thanks to Michael Renaud for helping out with the fonts and for the brilliant design of our first 7″, on which this website layout is based. Shouts also go out to Joseph Mohan for taking the awesome live photos that you’ll find on the images page.
We have a show at The Empty Bottle on Sunday July 8th. We’ll be playing second in a three-band lineup including Flying Over Iceland and our good friends Apteka. We’ll bring the back-beat and Apteka will provide the eye-gouger soundtrack.
We’ll also have our new 7″ complete with fresh hand-screened covers ready to go at this show. If you can’t make it to the show or if you got ants in your pants, you can write us and we’ll let you know how you can get one. OR if you like the ol’ MP3 deal, you can head on over to the music page where you can download all the jams for FREE! No joking, just make sure you tell your friends and neighbors.
If you want to know when we have shows, release stuff, what we had for lunch, or where we’re going for drinks, join the mailing list. We’ll let you know when there’s a happening.
Finally, we’re working hard to get some new tunes written and to play some shows around the Midwest. We’ll debut one of the new songs at our Empty Bottle show next Sunday. If you book shows in or around the Midwest and want us to rock the old(ish) and the new in your city, please let us know. We’d love to come see you.
Enjoy Yourselves,
The Laureates






















































