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Hockey Album Hype


04/17/2009
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(Capitol Records) For a band that named its forthcoming Capitol Records debut album Mind Chaos, which will be released on August 25th, the collective thinking on modern dance-rockers Hockey is already crystal-clear: this is a band set for a worldwide breakout this year.

With a cohesive album marked by ingenious, assured song craft and fresh, loose-limbed new-wave-flavored dance-rock propulsion -- "debauched, joy-inducing floor-fillers, " according to Arena Magazine -- Hockey may have already located and embodied the zeitgeist of 2009 with lyrics and an outlook that's both "soulful and knowingly sarcastic" (Arena).

Hockey played four hotly-anticipated gigs at the famed South By Southwest music festival in mid-March, following a series of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn shows that stoked a chorus of on-line cheers and a notice in Paste Magazine's 10 New Artists to Watch in 2009.

Two smashingly successful visits to the U.K. in December and in February (with Passion Pit) have built Hockey's international momentum right up to the U.S. release of the kick-off "Too Fake" single, whose video and digital single is available now and a vinyl 7-inch will be available May 19. The video has been officially added at mtvU and has seen play on LOGO and mun2. MtvU has also selected Hockey to participate in their "Ahead Of The Curve" initiative with promo spots running on the network and mtvU.com April 20th and continuing throughout 2009.

The band is currently on a series of April appearances on the West Coast, some with Friendly Fires, and will cross the Atlantic with Friendly Fires for another month-long U.K. swing with them later this month. While in the UK, Hockey is confirmed to appear on the popular BBC late night show "Later with Jools Holland" on April 21st.

Formed in Los Angeles five years ago by founders Ben Grubin, lead singer, and Jeremy "Jerm" Reynolds on bass, Hockey is now based in Portland, Oregon as a quartet with Brian White on guitar, and Anthony Stassi on drums. Mind Chaos was released independently, and the group signed to Capitol late in 2008. The album will be remixed and remastered, with new songs added, for the August 25th, 2009 international release.



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