The Evangelicals got to St. Louis later than they should have because of us. But, to the promoter of that show, we had nothing to do with it. It really wasn’t our fault. As has happened more times than we’re willing to count, the Evangelicals fell victim to the lure of the cream-colored recording room that smells like day-old, night-old plumes of tobacco smoke and the whole wide world of beers kissing a carpeted floor. You’d think the room was buxom or was rumored to be sitting on a silver mine or something the way people linger. When we give them fifths of whiskey, that also helps. It couldn’t hurt, right? So, lead singer/guitarist Josh Jones, bassist/keyboardist Kyle Davis and drummer Austin Stephens got caught up, detained. They recorded a couple takes each of the four songs that are found below, showing no sense of urgency to get to the Gateway to the West. It may have been a later start for the kids of the Lou, but without question, without having even been there, it’s simple to presume that the energy levels showed no signs of waning when they plugged in a took to their set. Jones probably made a pit stop at a convenience store along the route and snagged a few of their finer candied delicacies and shotgunned a huge-ass Dr. Pepper fountain drink and that was his jet fuel – it took him right through the night, sweating all over the place, rinsing out the hair dye that had turned the color of gang green from the time the lengthy tour started. Jones points out in his digital liner notes below that he was battling an illness at the time the session was recorded in October. It’s not even noticeable as he delivers as spirited of a session as one could have hoped for from a guy that doesn’t know medium or slow. This set includes a spur of the moment version of “The Halloween Song,” which they said they hadn’t played for years. They had to run over it a couple of times to remember their parts. It must have struck a chord with them as they shortly thereafter recorded it back home and sent it out for the bloggle world to sample it right around Halloween-time and it did them well. Jones mentions the line from the new song “Skeleton Man” that swung right out from the song like a third dimension when they were playing it – “When someone loves you very much, you’re fucked” – and one could be very much fucked by these songs. Again, sorry about the hold-up St. Louis. We realize it’s kind of late to be apologizing, but please accept this session as recompense for the straggling. We believe it to be adequate. Good day. – Sean Moeller

First song
Here Comes Trouble (Evangelicals) [4.49MB] [1335 downloads]


– original version appears on So Gone
Growing up, I got in a lot of trouble. I remember sometime in middle school justifying the experience of getting in trouble (getting yelled at, grounded, beat up by some kid, whatever) by thinking that it would somehow prepare me for some future situation. What that situation
would be I didn’t know – probably something fantastical like an interrogation by Colombian drug lords or running from black helicopters.

Second song
Another Day (Evangelicals) [5.76MB] [1269 downloads]


– original version appears on So Gone
One particularly dismal year I woke up and couldn’t remember what year it was. 2003? 2004?! I didn’t know and I lay in bad for an hour trying to figure out what it was without looking at a calendar.

Third song
The Halloween Song [The Ghost of Abner E. Norman] (Evanglicals) [5.51MB] [1296 downloads]


– unreleased
This song was written as a goof but, as is usually the case, became our most popular song. On this live version it kind of turns into a My Morning Jacket jam-a-rama.

Fourth song
Skeleton Man (Evanglicals) [4.22MB] [1337 downloads]


— unreleased
“Skeleton Man” gets so mad he bursts into flames and goes around being weird and freaking out. For the recorded version we’re hoping to get Nicholas Cage to do a verse. On the day we did the Daytrotter session my voice, as a consequence of being sick and eating Sour Patch Kids for breakfast, was in horrible shape. Hopefully it adds “desperation” to the line, “When someone loves you very much you’re fucked,” as opposed to just sounding bad.