Greetings, Racketeers!

We hope everybody had an eventful or relaxing holiday season, depending on your preference.  We have been hard at work writing new songs, recording older songs and booking plenty of gigs in the new year!

New gigs

First up, we are playing at the Carousel Lounge on January 21 from 9pm to midnight.  Admission is free, as always.  We hope to see you there!  If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP for the event.

The Squad is taking a bit of a break in January because drummer extraordinaire Bruce Chandler is working with banjoist and chanteuse Alexa Woodward on recording and producing her upcoming album.  Alexa is in town for just a few weeks from New York and we're all excited to hear what she's working on!

Looking forward into February, we'll be playing at The Parlor on North Loop on February 4 and at Trophy's on S. Congress on February 10.  Those are both fun venues to play at, and we'll let you know more about those shows in the coming weeks.

New demo videos

Just because Bruce is busy doesn't mean the creative juices aren't flowing, though!  We've been pretty productive the last few weeks, with two brand new demo videos up on the website right now.  The first is a smooth Americana-type tune called "Wine Into Water", and the second's a catchy pop ditty known as "Looking for Lorelei".  We'll be working both of those into our set at some point soon, so please let us know what you think!

Vote for us in the Music Poll

The Austin Chronicle's 2008-2009 Music Poll is out and accepting votes right now.  We encourage you to write in "World Racketeering Squad" for categories like Best New Austin Band, Rock Band, and anything else you think might fit.  Probably not "Traditional Latin Band", but you never know--it's hard to keep us pinned down to one style!