Pitchfork

James Jackson Toth has never been able to settle on just one name. "Wooden Wand" is always in there somewhere, but whether or not there's a "Vanishing Voice" or a "Sky High Band" or a "Jambalaya Slamgrass" (the last one is just a suggestion) in there seems entirely dependent on Toth's whim. So it's no surprise that he is modifying his Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice moniker once again.

According to a Wooden Wand MySpace blog entry from Toth, the band formerly known as Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice now go by the name WWVV "to reflect the 'new, grown up, hard-as-hell' us, like New Kids on the Block did all those years ago-- and just remember how great that turned out!" The band will also function "in a slightly more casual capacity" due to band members' various other commitments.

WWVV will commemorate the transition with a short tour of the East Coast. Not coincidentally, the tour comes right before the release of Toth's newest album, James & the Quiet, out May 15 on Ecstatic Peace. Apparently this will be his final album under his present name. Wrote Toth, "the 'Wooden Wand' name will die with the release of (and inevitable tour in support of) the new album.

"I'm recording a new album this summer, not sure what name it will be under yet, but for all intents and purposes, it'll be a new band."

For Toth's full, somewhat convoluted explanation of the situation, along with a vague-but-extensive list of the other band members' projects, check out his MySpace blog post.

Dates:

04-18 Ridgewood, NY - Silent Barn
04-19 Poughkeepsie, NY - Vassar College
04-20 Brooklyn, NY - Lutheran Church
04-21 Purchase, NY - SUNY Purchase
04-22 Philadelphia, PA - Big Jar Books
04-23 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - Bard College
04-24 New York, NY - Cake Shop
04-25 Boston, MA - P.A.'s Lounge *
04-26 Portland, ME - TBA #
04-27 Northampton, MA - TBA ^
04-28 Clinton, NY - Hamilton College

* with Sunburned Hand of the Man
# with Visitations
^ with Gown