“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.

Recommends, the Barclaycard Mercury Prize newsletter, pronounced the video as “stunning,” adding “Few bands have a reputation that rivals OK Go when it comes to inventive videos, but even by their own high standards the LA based quartet have excelled…” CNN said it “may be the most mesmerizing music video of the year” while the Boston Herald noted: “No word on the follow up. But it will take a collaboration between James Cameron, Stephen Hawking and “Doc” Brown of “Back to the Future” fame for OK Go to top itself once more.” You can check the video out at:

http://www.youtube.com/okgo

As promised by their tag line, State Farm’s sponsorship of the new Rube Goldberg video is helping OK Go “be there” for their fans: it is embeddable by fans and can be posted anywhere on the internet. A furor erupted last month because fans could not embed earlier OK Go videos due to contractual issues. When Kulash posted a candid and even-handed explanation of the situation to fans, his letter itself went viral, netting over 500,000 hits in two days. He commented further on the issue in an Op-Ed piece that was published in The New York Times on February 21st:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/opinion/20kulash.html

The new video features the album/single version of “This Too Shall Pass,” and follows up on the explosive success of their last video, a live recording of the same song that featured 130 members of the Notre Dame marching band. That clip marked the first time that a song’s video and recording session were one and the same, and in only a couple weeks its online views soared past two million.

“This Too Shall Pass” recently impacted Modern Rock radio, where it’s been well-received, garnering play already on KNRK-Portland, KRBZ-Kansas City, KCRW-Los Angeles, WEQX-Albany, KCMP-Minneapolis, WWCD-Columbus and WRFF-Philadelphia. OK Go has been tapped as Xbox LIVE’s “Artist of the Month” for March, facing off with fans in a Game With Fame event.

With 180 million video streams and counting, OK Go – comprising Damian Kulash, Tim Nordwind, Dan Konopka and Andy Ross – is the most-downloaded band ever. Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, the follow-up to 2005’s Oh No, debuted in the Billboard Top 40 and earned a 4 ½ star review from Alternative Press, while Spin hailed it as “ambitious” and absolutepunk.net pronounced it “wholly triumphant.” It was produced by ex-Mercury Rev member David Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT).

OK GO – SPRING 2010 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

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

Dates:

Apr 13 2010 Blue Note Columbia, Missouri
Apr 14 2010 Spin Louisville, Kentucky
Apr 16 2010 Bogart’s Cincinnati, Ohio
Apr 17 2010 Orbit Room Grand Rapids, Michigan
Apr 18 2010 Club Zoo Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Apr 20 2010 Chameleon Club Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Apr 21 2010 Northern Lights Clifton Park, New York
Apr 23 2010 The Cannery w/ The Used, Chiodos Nashville, Tennessee
Apr 24 2010 The Canopy Champaign, Illinois
Apr 25 2010 Tom Dick & Harry’s Green Bay, Wisconsin
Apr 27 2010 The Shrine Billings, Montana
Apr 28 2010 Wilma Theatre Missoula, Montana
Apr 29 2010 Knitting Factory Spokane, Washington
May 1 2010 Knitting Factory Boise, Idaho
May 2 2010 Roseland Portland, Oregon

EVERYTHING YOU DO

You throw me off with the simple things
Makes it hard to see into you
Carve me up, I’m a simple man
Question everything that you do
Carving away, I question everything you do

I’ll spend the night with you
Just tell me what to do
Don’t make this hard on us baby
I’ve chased you all this way
and I’m out of things to say
Don’t you escape from me baby

I swore it off among other things
Then I saw a little spark in you
Keep me in the dark and let me chase that little spark
A little lighthouse that never moves
Tell me what, there’s so many things
But you can’t say, no you won’t say these things to me
I tell you, you don’t, don’t know anything
I’ve got it all inside of me
Carving away, I question everything you do

I’ll spend the night with you
Just tell me what to do
Don’t make this hard on us baby
I’ve chased you all this way
and I’m out of things to say
Don’t you escape from me baby

Such a waste of your time, every little step
Puts you further away from everything you wanted
Such a waste of your breath,of your hard headed sense
Don’t go thinking that I got the best of you

I’ll spend the night with you
Just tell me what to do
Don’t make this hard on us baby
I’ve chased you all this way
and I’m out of things to say
Don’t you escape from me baby

IF YOU DON’T CALL

Oh, today’s the day you’re breaking my heart
I really just hate to say it, but you’re breaking my heart
And I know you don’t know
So I’ll just come out and say it
I know you can’t know
So I’ll just come out and say it

But if you don’t call
Gonna let you run away
And if you don’t know
Gonna give my heart away

Oh, I hate the way you’re making me wait
I really just hate the way you make me wait
And I know you can’t say
So I’ll just come out and say it
I know you won’t say
So I’ll just come out and say it
And baby just please
Come save me from my misery
Baby just please
Come save me from my misery

But if you don’t call
Gonna let you run away
And if you don’t know
Gonna give my heart away
But if you don’t call (and I know you don’t know)
Gonna let you run away (so i’ll just come out and say it)
And if you don’t know (I know you can’t know)
Gonna give my heart away (so I’ll just come out and say it)

I’m gonna get you
right where I want you
I’ll never fake it
So I can have you

But if you don’t call
Gonna let you run away
And if you don’t know
Gonna give my heart away
But if you don’t call (and I know you don’t know)
Gonna let you run away (so i’ll just come out and say it)
And if you don’t know (I know you can’t know)
Gonna give my heart away (so I’ll just come out and say it)

I’m gonna get you
right where I want you
I’ll never fake it
So I can have you

REAL LOVE

Are you real love
Am I only dreaming up
Such a true love
I don’t want to pass it up
When you’re with me
Am I all you’re thinking of
Do you see him
Do you try to shut it up

And what am I supposed to say to you
When I’m here and he’s not around
And baby how could I be without you now
Without you

Do I take love
And throw it all away
Wait and see love
Come back to me again
When you kiss me
Is it really just enough
Or do you miss him
Do you try to choke it up

And what am I supposed to say to you
When I’m here and he’s not around
And baby how could I be without you now
Without you

YVONNE

Raise the shades just high enough to see
Got a racing heart you won’t believe
Gonna shake the silence sat beneath your tree
Yeah, Yvonne you’ve got a hook in me

‘Cause I don’t wanna be holding on to my beliefs
And if everything stays the same with her and me
And I don’t wanna be chasing this, or pushing you away
So I gotta give in to what you give to me

Don’t be mistaken by the shake in your legs
I’ve got this book full of reasons that you’ve probably read
So lets tear a page two
I’m out the door with you

Cause, I don’t wanna be holding on to my beliefs
And if everything stays the same with her and me
And I don’t wanna be chasing this, or pushing you away
So I gotta give in to what you give to me

Please don’t mistake these words
They don’t mean anything
I’m not the man you think
You’re just imagining

Cause, I don’t wanna be holding on to my beliefs
And if everything stays the same with her and me
And I don’t wanna be chasing this, or pushing you away
So I gotta give in to what you give to me

AUGUST 30

And I face it
What we lost along the way
And I take it
Yeah I take it
But you found me
And I ain’t the same today
Don’t worry
I’ll replace it

‘Cause no one is the first to take it back
And bring you home
You’re hanging by the noose you paid for back
When you sold your soul
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
I’m taking back what I left home

Your money
Never fixed up anything
So I paid it
And I paid it
But it lost me
And I’m better off today
Still I chase it
Yeah I chase it

‘Cause no one is the first to take it back
And bring you home
(Turned you off, ‘cause I always wanted more)
You’re hanging by the noose you paid for back
When you sold your soul
(Tuned you out like I never have before)
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
I’m taking back what I left home

And I always wanted more
I’ve been taking me for granted lately
And my life means so much more

‘Cause no one is the first to take it back
And bring you home
You’re hanging by the noose you paid for back
When you sold your soul
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
‘Cause no one is the first to take you back
(So I’m gonna give it all away)
Oh, no one is the first to take it back
(Yeah, I’m gonna give it all away)
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
I’m taking back when I left home

CLOSER

If I could say
Every little thing I ever said to you
I’d swear that I am always gonna tell the truth
No, I’m not him, baby
If I could change
Every little sentiment I send to you
I’d swear that I have always had a thing for you
And it’s not gonna go away

‘Cause it takes a long drive to your father’s house
But baby take your sweet time and just wait it out
‘Cause you got me
And I wanna be closer
So you went to the place where your mother lives
Where the sun shines brighter but it feels so dim
But you got me
And this is where we live now

All memories
Of everything before don’t mean a thing to me
You and I are strong enough to not believe
We sleep in on Sunday
All yesterday
I waited for you at the bar on make believe
Where you and I were always there and meant to be
And it’s not gonna go away

‘Cause it takes a long drive to your father’s house
But baby take your sweet time and just wait it out
‘Cause you got me
And I wanna be closer
So you went to the place where your mother lives
Where the sun shines brighter but it feels so dim
But you got me
And this is where we live now

All I want
Is just to hold you every night
I can make the wrongs feel right
Honey, don’t you leave this time
Because it don’t mean much to the place you live
If you got someone there to share it with
And he only wants to hear you say,
“I’m gonna love him back”

‘Cause it takes a long drive to your father’s house
But baby take your sweet time and just wait it out
‘Cause you got me
And I wanna be closer
So you went to the place where your mother lives
Where the sun shines brighter but it feels so different
But you got me
And this is where we live now

STAY

Home
You’re always hiding alone
‘Cause your house is so old
You’d swear the outside’s facing in
Away
Is where you wanted to stay
And all the choices you made
You only want to run away

But your town isn’t there no more
And you won’t leave

So just stay
Please, just stay

Sleep
‘Cause you’re awake when you dream
You only wanted to see
If you could fall into the sheets
Away
Is where you wanted to stay
And all the choices you made
You only want to run away

But your town isn’t there no more
And you won’t leave

So just stay
Please, just stay
Come on stay

COMING HOME

Sometime you’re gonna get what you put
I try to stay away, but I always come back for more
And, hey
You’ve got a way outside your window
But you don’t see it
Honey, please don’t close the door

I won’t let it be the same
We’re gonna get through this
You got to know I’m coming home
And I’ll never be the same
If you wanna see through it
You got to know I’m coming home

Oh, I’m always walking out
(But you don’t hear it)
Too in love with another man’s life
(And you don’t see)
For now, it’s always down and out
If you don’t hear it
Then how can I shake it out?

I won’t let it be the same
We’re gonna get through this
You got to know I’m coming home
And I’ll never be the same
If you wanna see through it
You got to know I’m coming home

I’ve been hiding in the dark of night
And I just can’t forget
So, where are we going?
And how can I just dig us out?
I’ve been walking down 11th street
And I just can’t forget
So, where are we going?
And how can I forget the way we were?

I won’t let it be the same
We’re gonna get through this
You got to know I’m coming home
And I’ll never be the same
If you wanna see through it
You got to know I’m coming home
(Where are we going?)

I won’t let it be the same
We’re gonna get through this
You got to know I’m coming home
(Where are we going?)
And I’ll never be the same
If you wanna see through it
You got to know I’m coming home

I won’t let it be the same

WHEN I FEEL

Level with me, in the best company
Eye to eye can you tell me the truth
Cause god only knows, every chance I could blow
Hasn’t happened since I’ve been with you
Just say that we’ll never change
We feel just as safe with the memories

I will wait like shadows, at the mercy of your will
I haven’t felt the same since I fell ill
Any little thought could further bury me
When you fall apart is when I feel

Speak in a tense that rings current to me
Don’t put me out in the yard with the birds and the bees
Feelings on overdrive
Count it off one to five

I will wait like shadows, at the mercy of your will
I haven’t felt the same since I fell ill
Any little thought could further bury me
When you fall apart is when I feel

I never wanted say
I just assumed I created the strain
Just say that we’ll never change
We feel just as safe with the memories

I will wait like shadows, at the mercy of your will
I haven’t felt the same since I fell ill
Any little thought could further bury me
When you fall apart is when I feel

Hold Me Down is the follow up to their 2008 debut, the underground hit Take Off Your Colours.  The band will support Bring Me The Horizon for two shows in the US starting on June 21st, immediately followed by a performance at all 44 dates of this summer’s Van’s Warped Tour.  Visit their official website or MySpace page for more information.

August 30

And I face it
What we lost along the way
And I take it
Yeah I take it
But you found me
And I ain’t the same today
Don’t worry
I’ll replace it

‘Cause no one is the first to take it back
And bring you home
You’re hanging by the noose you paid for back
When you sold your soul
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
I’m taking back what I left home

Your money
Never fixed up anything
So I paid it
And I paid it
But it lost me
And I’m better off today
Still I chase it
Yeah I chase it

‘Cause no one is the first to take it back
And bring you home
(Turned you off, ‘cause I always wanted more)
You’re hanging by the noose you paid for back
When you sold your soul
(Tuned you out like I never have before)
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
I’m taking back what I left home

And I always wanted more
I’ve been taking me for granted lately
And my life means so much more

‘Cause no one is the first to take it back
And bring you home
You’re hanging by the noose you paid for back
When you sold your soul
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
‘Cause no one is the first to take you back
(So I’m gonna give it all away)
Oh, no one is the first to take it back
(Yeah, I’m gonna give it all away)
You know it’s true
It’s all I do
I’m taking back when I left home

Spanish American track listing: Click here for all the lyrics.
01. Everything You Do  A-
02. If You Don’t Call A
03. Real Love A
04. Yvonne B+
05. August 30 A+
06. Closer A
07. Stay A
08. Coming Home   B+
09. When I Feel  A-

Current town: West Palm Beach, FL

Members: Brendan Cooney (lead vocals/guitar), Ryan Cooney (drums), Dave Mozdzanowski (bass/bg vocals), Shea Brennan (lead guitar) and Cody Hunt (guitar)

Genre: Indie/Rock

For Fans of: Brighten, A Rocket to the Moon, My Favorite Highway, Vampire Weekend

Our latest Unsigned Feature goes out to East-Coast kids, The Gallery.  Formed in 2005 and enduring endless challenges of lineup changes, rotating labels, and a major relocation from chilly New England to Southern Florida, The Gallery are proving that they have the determination and heart to continue on for many years to come.  With their big move came new opportunities and a positive shift in the band’s musical direction.  They have created their own unique sound that blends the in-your-face catchiness of mainstream choruses with quirky, intricate rhythms and an undeniable charisma that will have you swaying and swooning in no time.

The Gallery will be touring cross-country this April, hitting everywhere from Florida to Texas to California.  Can’t wait for the full spring tour?  Be sure to catch them in Tampa on April 9th where they will be sharing the stage with Jason Derulo, We the Kings and The Maine at USF.  It won’t be long before The Gallery is headlining shows of this size on their own, so be sure to check out The Gallery, right here, on ForTheSound.com!

Please introduce your band to ForTheSound.com!

Hello! We are The Gallery. Our founding members have been playing together for five years this summer. Three of us (Brendan, Ryan, and Dave) have played with a couple different people since we started, but we feel like we have our strongest lineup yet with Shea and Cody both playing guitar.

What would you like first-time listeners to come away thinking after experiencing the music of The Gallery?

We’ve always tried to make our music as universal and relatable as possible, and, however negative or positive the subject matter at the time, keeping it real.

This past summer you headed out on the road on a 50-date tour with Tooth & Nail’s Showbread. First tours are always particularly grueling, especially one that is 50 dates long. Is there anything you wish you had known before going out on the road for two months? If you could go back and warn yourself of anything before the tour had started, what would you say?

“If you eat fast-food every day, be prepared to work off the poundage post-tour.” Haha, but really, this tour went so surprisingly smooth that we don’t really have any complaints.

What is the best thing you learned about yourself, your bandmates, or your tourmates on that tour?

The best thing was that we were all out there just to play music. That’s what brought us together and that’s what would keep any connections afterwards. Also that we love driving around the country, and that sleeping in the van gets easier over time, ha.

What was your band’s first show (ever) like? Where was it and how have you changed (or not changed) your live show since then?

We played at a church rec. room back home in MA and it was atrocious, if I remember right, ha. We announced it as our first show, so we hyped it up a bit, but it went alright. I think [hope] we’ve just written better songs and become more confident playing live since then.

Did you make any resolutions in 2009? Did you stick to them? What are your goals and/or resolutions for 2010?

We didn’t really make any resolutions this year, haha, but we were recently released from our indie-label contract so our goals are simply to gain more exposure with the rest of the industry and get some more solid touring experience this year.

You boast an emphasis on lyric-driven music juxtaposed with catchy riffs that “stick in your head and have you singing along” – does everyone contribute to the writing of lyrics? In general, how does the writing process usually pan out from album to album?

Actually, as we type this, we’re all sitting around putting together a set of lyrics for a new demo we’re recording in Orlando, FL, so, yes. Some are definitely better with their words than others. Ry, even as a drummer, has contributed a great deal to most or all of our lyrics.

With three albums released, what kind of growth and progress do you feel each album has made? What kind of planning and preparation goes into each new album?

Each one has basically been with a new member (“The Leaf Album” is sort of a transition from “If You Know What I Mean” to what we’re writing now, we think), so the growth always comes from trying to pick ourselves up and move on after changing a member. We’re constantly analyzing, discussing, and experimenting, though, with our songwriting.

What is something about your music or writing/recording process that people might not know about? (Songs that got changed, weird places that you have recorded or wrote, people you write about, mistakes, problems, etc)

We actually write all of our songs in the nude with acoustic guitars. We feel it gives them that “stripped down,” raw feeling. …Not really, except for the “ acoustic, stripped down, raw” thing.

Do you stick to any mottos or viewpoints on how to live your life? How would you describe your lifestyle and daily attitude/perspective on the world and on music?

I (Dave) personally have a worldview that coincides with Christian morals and beliefs. I try to live keeping a humble attitude towards others and with myself. I really dislike when some people apply a Christian genre to music as if “Christian” were a genre at all. I look at music as a neutral thing that can be used or misused in many different ways.

What can we expect from you in the future? Any plans for the Spring/Summer?

Our plans are to tour out to California in April to record an EP. We’re still trying to finalize everything for that, but hopefully we’ll have more details soon, and then tour basically the rest of the year.

What would it take for you to say, “I’ve made it.” in the music industry/in life?

As long as we’re playing and are able to play the music we love while, at the same time, supporting ourselves and whoever might be added to us, then I would say “I’ve made it.”

Any final words for the readers at ForTheSound.com?

Thank you so much for giving us the time to read through this interview. We really appreciate all the support we’ve been given so far and cannot wait to keep playing for you all.

Thank you!

Thank you to Sara Schlievert and The Gallery for helping to coordinate and participate in ForTheSound.com’s Unsigned Feature.  For more information on The Gallery, please visit their official MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/thegalleryrock