Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) and Jay Farrar (Son Volt) will continue their Jack Kerouac adventure by literally taking it on the road in October with a touring band comprising Nick Harmer (Death Cab), Mark Spencer (Son Volt) and Jon Wurster (Superchunk).
The collaboration between the two singer-songwriters began almost two years ago when the pair linked up to record the soundtrack for the documentary ‘One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur.’ The documentary about Kerouac features Farrar and Gibbard among other famous writers, poets, actors and musicians.The album boasts 12 original songs based on Kerouac’s prose from his 1962 novel ‘Big Sur.’ Both the album and the film will be released on October 20. As we previously reported, you can pre-order both via the One Fast Move Store.
Farrar and Gibbard were huge Kerouac fans long before the project. While Gibbard’s says that Big Sur is perhaps his favorite book of all time, Farrar says that his own songwriting has long been inspired by Kerouac’s improvisational philosophy. “Kerouac gave great rules to follow: You shouldn’t have many rules. You should just go with your first thought … Just [get] your thoughts down without a whole lot of preconception or revision,” says Farrar. “I’ve tried to adopt that method over the years. I don’t always write with that method, but I’ve found that it is the best method to write.”
The short Kerouac tour, consisting of a quartet of stops — Los Angeles, San Francisco (Bimbos 365), Chicago and New York — begins on October 23, corresponding closely with the 40th anniversary of Kerouac’s death. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning, September 16th.
Tour Dates:
October
23 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ El Rey Theatre
24 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Bimbo’s 365 Club
26 – Chicago, Ill. @ Lincoln Hall
28 – New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
Check out a short video of one of the collaborations off of the album. It’s called San Francisco.
Watch the video for San Francisco
