OK Go, the band whose inventive internet campaigns and self-directed music videos have set records and won the band a GRAMMY, announces the formation of Paracadute. Paracadute and OK Go will oversee the distribution and promotion functions for the band and have planned an extensive promotional campaign for OK Go's latest album, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, which was released in January. Just as the band saw an opportunity to do something different with their homemade videos, OK Go see untapped potential in the sea change that the music industry is experiencing and believe there are tremendous opportunities for artists capable of managing their own promotion and distribution. The band, who have always controlled their publishing, merchandise, touring, and all other non-recording rights, are parting by mutual agreement with EMI Music.
"We'd like to thank the people who have worked so hard on our behalf," said OK Go singer Damian Kulash, who will discuss the band's departure from the label on NPR's "All Things Considered" today. "And we'd like to thank our fans for making this choice an easy one for us."
The agreement will be effective April 1st. Without missing a beat, OK Go will perform on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" that evening and launch a North American tour on April 13th, which will include stops at numerous music festivals, including Bamboozle, Bonnaroo and Sasquatch. With its April 30th show at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg already sold out, OK Go has added another date at the venue - April 29th. (See below for tour itinerary.) The band will appear on "Late Show with David Letterman" on April 28th, "The Colbert Report" on April 29th and "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" on May 4th.
OK Go unveiled its latest crazily ambitious clip - the video for current single "This Too Shall Pass," which features a two-story Rube Goldberg machine built by the band and Syyn Labs, a team of creative engineers with day jobs at NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory - last Monday and it garnered over six million views in the first six days, becoming the #1 Top Rated (All Time) music video on YouTube and going to #1 on the Viral Video charts, Reddit and Digg. Kulash has been asked to participate in the "How to Create a Viral Video" panel taking place at SXSW this Saturday, March 13th. He and bassist Tim Nordwind with Syyn Labs will discuss the new clip on "Last Call with Carson Daly" on Tuesday, March 16th.
The band hosted bi-coastal celebrations of the video's release, with 100 contest winners joining Kulash for a Q&A session in New York City immediately after the premiere. Fans could also join the live chat online via Ustream. Last Friday, OK Go screened the video and performed a special acoustic set at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for members of LACMA, MUSE and Syyn Labs. The event was a benefit for LACMA MUSE.
Date City Venue
4/13 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room
4/14 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre
4/16 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall
4/17 Chicago, IL Metro
4/18 St. Louis, MO The Old Rock House
4/20 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
4/21 Indianapolis, IN Earth House
4/22 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
4/23 Toronto, ON Mod Club
4/27 Northampton, MA Pearl Street
4/28 New Haven, CT Toad's Place
4/29 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
4/30 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg - SOLD OUT
5/2 East Rutherford, NJ Meadowlands (Bamboozle)
5/3 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
5/5 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
5/7 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
5/9 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live
5/11 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
5/12 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre
5/13 Atlanta, GA The Loft
5/14 Tampa, FL Crowbar
5/15 Orlando, FL Firestone Live
5/16 Gulf Shores, AL Hangout Music Fest
5/18 Dallas, TX Granada Theatre
5/19 Austin, TX The Parish
5/21 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
5/22 San Diego, CA House of Blues
5/26 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
5/28 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
5/29 George, WA Sasquatch Festival
6/11 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo
http://www.youtube.com/okgo