Wednesday, March 12   12:00 a.m.
Maggie Mae's Gibson Room   (512 Trinity St)

With a sound too expansive to be labeled purely as indie rock, Tacks, the Boy Disaster offers thoughtful and imaginative lyricism, solid musical hooks and rich instrumentation reminiscent of late-60’s/early-70’s pop. Yet the band, whose moniker is derived from a minor character in a forgotten children’s book, has managed to reconcile their brilliant pop sensibility and familiarity with their taste for the unexpected. These little musical surprises, ranging from a juxtaposition of melancholy lyrics with sunshine-y harmonies à la Harry Nilsson (“Forget-Me-Not”) to whirling piano lines (“Frozen Feet”) are what set Tacks’ sound apart from their peers.

After only eight months together, Evan Jacobs (vocals/keys), a founding member of Midlake who also moonlights with the Polyphonic Spree, and the rest of the band - Jason Friedrich (drums), Nathan Stein (guitar), and Alán Uribe (bass/vocals) – recorded Oh, Beatrice in Jacobs’ house with equipment they borrowed from friends, and later brought on Erik Wofford (My Morning Jacket, Voxtrot, Explosions in the Sky) for mixing duties. On its US release in late 2006, Oh, Beatrice received glorious reviews from local press and became an immediate buzz in the blogoshpere.

"…with Oh, Beatrice, Tacks, the Boy Disaster has recorded one of the strongest local debuts in recent memory, the rare work genuinely deserving of being called beautiful. In short, it's unforgettable." – The Daily Texan

The Austin Chronicle called Oh, Beatrice, “a mixture of ecstasy and mania”, comparing Tacks’ sound to Bowie, Beach Boys, and the early Factory Records releases. Tacks, the Boy Disaster quickly gained an ardent regional following as word-of-mouth spread about their extraordinary live shows with Texas favorites Midlake, Sound TEAM, St. Vincent, and Voxtrot. The band’s single “Frozen Feet” was added to regular rotation on Austin’s KROX and The Daily Texan put Oh, Beatrice first on their “Top 10 Albums from ATX” list.

In the Summer of 2007, Tacks serviced the self-released Oh, Beatrice to radio and the album was enthusiastically received by stations big and small, breaking into the CMJ Top 100 and subsequently getting them invited to play the CMJ Music Marathon in the Fall.

Recently the band was asked to support Cherry Ghost in the UK and have started writing for their follow-up LP to be released in 2008.