Pitchfork

If any band's drummer could be a rocket scientist, it's the (now-extinct) Dismemberment Plan's Joe Easley. So we were thrilled and only a little surprised to find out that Easley is in his final year of study in the University of Maryland's Aerospace Engineering program. We were even more thrilled to find this out from the MySpace blog of Easley's new band with D-Plan bassist Eric Axelson (who now teaches 11th grade English) and D.C. songwriter/guitarist Clark Sabine: Statehood.

The band used to be called Disconnect and was just the vehicle for Sabine's songs until Easley and Axelson hopped aboard and they became Statehood. Now, they have four demos available for download from their MySpace page (and one more at their website, from when the project was just Sabine solo).

They began recording with Dismemberment Plan guitarist Jason Caddell recently, though things are slow-going considering the band members' other commitments. "Hopefully around the holidays we'll find more time. Not sure where this recording is going yet, but we'll put some tracks up when they're done," they write.

Statehood have, however, found time in their schedules to play a show at Washington, D.C.'s Black Cat with the Hold Steady this Saturday, November 25.

Caddell has been busy recording his old bandmates, as he recently produced some tracks at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago for Travis Morrison's upcoming album. Morrison writes on his website, "We aren't done, but we're really far along and we should have everything ready for a spring release."

Morrison is also getting into the holiday spirit. He writes, "I want to organize something that sends people out on Saturday morning to sing to bedridden old folks. Spirituals and all. It kills them that they can't go to church. It's a long-term project, but for starters, I just want to get a bunch of DC rock and rollers to form a carol group for this winter. That'll get the ball rolling socially and all. I need an unfuckwitable inner core of good singers and sight readers: then an outer bunch of people who either have great ears or can read fluently; then the outer ring can accommodate any old freak who likes 'O Tannenbaum'. Dudes with very low or very high voices get extra points but there's room for anyone. If you're interested, drop me a line."