Backyard Tire Fire are set to drop their new studio album, ‘The Places We Lived’, on August 26, 2008.

It’s the first long-player by the Bloomington, Illinois-based band to be released on independent label Hyena Records with whom they’ve just signed.

Distinguished by a rare combination of workingman authenticity and indie-rock eccentricity, ‘The Places We Lived’ rejects rock music’s modern obsessions with irony, while sounding defiantly contemporary. It’s an approach that led Daytrotter.com to recently rave: “Backyard Tire Fire are the choice we make when the extremes always sound too extreme, the bright lights feel too foreign, the money’s not important, the beer’s on ice and the clothes we like most are the ones that we’ve had on our bodies for decades and we know what made all of the holes and rough patches in them.”

‘The Places We Lived’ follows Backyard Tire Fire’s 2007 studio effort, ‘Vagabonds and Hooligans’, a breakthrough release that found the group popping up on numerous tastemaker blogs and year-end “best of” lists. They’d go on to play over 200 dates last year, including opening slots and co-bills with Jason Isbell, Clutch, Lynyrd Skynyrd and William Elliott Whitmore among others. Consequently, their fan-base swelled, resulting in sold-out, headline dates all over the Midwest.

Seizing on the momentum, Backyard Tire Fire came off the road and went straight into the studio to record ‘The Places We Lived’. Cut over two weeks at co-producer Tony Sanfilippo’s analog-only Oxide Lounge Studios in Bloomington, IL, it’s unquestionably the band’s most focused collection of songs to date. The signature Backyard Tire Fire sound is represented on tracks like “The Places We Lived,” “How In The Hell Did You Get Back Here” and “Welcome To The Factory” - all husky, guitar-driven rockers wearing their hearts proudly on their sleeves.

For the majority of the material, however, principle songwriter Ed Anderson turned to the piano. “Shoulda Shut It,” “Everybody’s Down” and “One Wrong Turn” are based on quirky piano figures. Relying on the nuanced rhythm section of Ed’s brother Matt Anderson on bass and Tim Kramp on drums, the band’s muscle is never sacrificed. “Rainy Day” and “Home Today” are two gorgeous piano-rooted ballads; the former a plaintive number with a sardonic lyric that wouldn’t sound out of place in Tom Waits’ catalog, while the latter, an aching love song written for Anderson’s wife, takes flight on a sweeping string section.

Backyard Tire Fire have just completed a two month U.S. tour with Reverend Horton Heat. They’ll spend the summer playing select festivals and headline dates. Upon the release of The Places We Lived, the three-piece unit will get back on the road where they’ll remain throughout the rest of 2008.

The Places We Lived tracklisting:

1. The Places We Lived
2. Shoulda Shut It
3. Everybody’s Down
4. Time With You
5. Welcome To The Factory
6. How In The Hell Did You Get Back Here?
7. Rainy Day
8. One Wrong Turn
9. Legal Crime
10. Home Today

Upcoming summer 2008 tour dates include:

Dates could be added or changed!

May 22 / The Redstone Room / Davenport, IA
May 25 / Summer Camp Festival 2008 / Chillicothe, IL
May 31 / Paulie’s / Bloomington, IL
June 7 / Eamon Patrick’s Public House / Peoria, IL
June 21 / Taste of Champaign Festival / Champaign, IL
June 25 / My Old Kentucky Blog In-Studio / Indianapolis, IN
July 1 / Summerfest / Milwaukee, WI
July 3 / Naperville Ribfest / Naperville, IL
July 11 / Lucas School House / St. Louis, MO
July 18 / Ravenswood Festival / Chicago, IL
July 19 / Donoroo Festival / St. Louis, MO
July 27 / Forecastle Festival / Louisville, KY
August 1 / Dunegrass Festival / Empire, MI
August 3 / Brown Baer / Elkhart Lake, WI

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