After rising to the top of the college radio charts last fall with its "See It Another Way" album, Macha is currently in the midst of a brief jaunt to drum up support for its forthcoming EP, "Macha Loved Bedhead," due out on April 25.

Macha's Joshua McKay and Kai Riedl began working with brothers Bubba and Matt Kadane -- formerly of the Dallas band Bedhead -- in late 1999 on the five tracks for the "Macha Loves Bedhead" EP, including an utterly whacked-out version of Cher's global dance hit, "Believe."

In addition to its own outing, Macha will also help The The finish its North American spring tour by opening for the Matt Johnson-fronted group during its final week of tour dates, including shows in New Orleans, Atlanta, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

Recreating its trademark layered sound in concert presents Macha with certain challenges, but because the group is comprised of three multi-instrumentalists -- McKay, Kiedl, and Wes Martin (McKay's brother, Mischo, plays drums) -- the band tends to switch up instruments and parts both during and between songs.

"It's very much logistically based," Macha's Joshua McKay said of the band's round-robin approach to performing live. "We have to do the things that work best for covering the arrangements that we want to get across. It also turns out to be really fun to have it be that way. We get to travel around the stage, travel from instrument to instrument.

"I think a lot of the reason that there aren't more bands just like us is that people have ideas on how things should be, and so they don't do other things. Y'know, they go 'I play guitar, I don't really play bass so well, so I'm not gonna play the bass.'

"But I think that when a guitar player moves over to bass," he continued,

Macha's tour itinerary for the rest of April:

  • 4/19 - St. Louis, MO @ Side Door
  • 4/20 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
  • 4/21 - Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar
  • 4/22 - Madison, WI @ The Rathskeller
  • 4/25 - Pullman, WA @ Washington State Univ.
  • 4/26 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe
  • 4/27 - McMinnville, OR @ Linfield College
  • 4/28 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
  • 4/29 - Silver Lake, CA @ Spaceland Of Dreams
  • 4/30 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
  • 5/1 - Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
  • 5/6 - Atlanta, GA @ Music Midtown Festival
  • 5/26 - New Orleans @ House of Blues (opening for The The)
  • 5/27 - Atlanta, GA @ The Roxy (opening for The The)
  • 5/29 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (opening for The The)
  • 5/30 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza (opening for The The)