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Vue, Camera Obscura, Faint Team Up For Tour, CD

Indie-rockers to offer exclusive EP of new material on upcoming outing.

On the upcoming Holiday Matinee Summer Tour 2000, indie-rockers Vue, Camera Obscura and the Faint will offer more than just the usual T-shirts at the merch table.

A limited-edition seven-song EP featuring new material from all three bands will be available at the shows, as well as at independent music retailer Insound (www.insound.com), a tour sponsor who is creating the CD.

"Say you're unfamiliar with the bands and a friend drags you to the show — it's a great way to get all three bands on one disc," said Dave Brown, head of tour organizers Holiday Matinee, a publicity group specializing in independent artists. "Plus it's exclusive, new material."

The tour will begin July 10 in Sacramento, Calif., and blanket the country for a month before ending Aug. 11 in Salt Lake City.

Vue bassist Jeremy Bringetto said his band's songs on the CD were recorded this month on a four-track in Texas. "People on the Stairs" continues the hard-rock style of their self-titled CD, released in February on Sub Pop. Previously called the Audience, the band evokes the sound and style of late '70s rockers the MC5 and Nick Cave's Birthday Party on such songs as "The Shame" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Girl."

The instrumental "Streets of Industry," Vue's second new song on the tour CD, is "more ambient, more out there," according to Bringetto. "It reflects two different sides of the band. The band can write good rock songs, and we can do stuff that's more artistic and weird."

San Diego quartet Camera Obscura play aggressive rock, augmented by the keyboards of singer Michelle Maskovich. To Change the Shape of an Envelope, released June 13, ranges from the sweeping, wall-of-sound style of "Cinematheque" (RealAudio excerpt) to the driving rhythms of "Sarasota."

The band's two new songs were developed from loose ideas brought to the studio, according to Ari Sass, who organized the disc for Insound. "It's not quite as hard as the material on their album," he said. "They try some new things."

Midwestern new-wavers the Faint released their second album, Blank-Wave Arcade, late last year. The band blends the sound of '80s synth-pop with a harder rock edge on such songs as "Sex Is Personal" and "Cars Pass in Cold Blood."

The Faint are contributing three songs to the tour CD, according to Sass, including "Worked Up So Sexual," remixed by Death Cab for Cutie; a remix of "Call Call"; and a live version of "Let the Poison Spill From Your Throat."

Holiday Matinee Summer Tour 2000 dates:

July 10; Sacramento, Calif.; Capitol Garage

July 11; San Francisco, Calif.; Bottom of the Hill

July 12; Santa Ana, Calif.; Koo's Cafe

July 13; Los Angeles, Calif.; The Smell

July 14; San Diego, Calif.; Scolari's Office

July 15; Phoenix, Ariz.; Modified

July 18; Austin, Texas; Red Eye Fly

July 19; Denton, Texas; Rubber Gloves

July 20; Houston, Texas; Metropol

July 21; Baton Rouge, La.; The Bayou

July 22; Atlanta, Ga.; The Earl

July 23; Knoxville, Tenn.; Pilot Light

July 24; Greensville, N.C.; Back Door Skate Park

July 25; Baltimore, Md.; Otto Bar

July 26; Philadelphia, Pa.; 4040

July 27; Roanoke, Va.; Kara O'Caen's

July 28; Washington, D.C.; Black Cat

July 29; Hoboken, N.J.; Maxwell's

July 30; New York, N.Y.; Brownie's

July 31; Boston, Mass.; Middle East

Aug. 1; Rochester, N.Y.; Bug Jar

Aug. 2; Columbus, Ohio; Bernie's

Aug. 3; Chicago, Ill.; Fireside Bowl

Aug. 4–5; Minneapolis, Minn.; Foxfire

Aug. 6; Omaha, Neb.; Cog Factory

Aug. 7; Lawrence, Kan.; Replay Lounge

Aug. 8; Fayetteville, Ariz.; Clunk Music

Aug. 10; Denver, Colo.; The Raven

Aug. 11; Salt Lake City, Utah; Kilby Court Gallery

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