Ludo goes on tour to support major label debut

After four years of insane hard work, coast-to-coast survival touring, and endless trips back home to St. Louis, Island Records group Ludo claws their way to the top of the heap with “Love Me Dead,” the first single and video from their major label album debut, YOU’RE AWFUL, I LOVE YOU, to be released on February 26th.

The day before, on February 25th, Ludo kicks off the release with a morning sit-down on St. Louis radio 105.7/The Point. The next day, three hours of “clerk” duty at Vintage Vinyl (3-6:00 p.m.) climaxes with an 8:00 live acoustic performance broadcast by The Point. It’s the prelude to a month-long 18-city coast-to-coast road trip that opens with first-week retail CD release events in Kansas City (The Record Bar), Chicago (Reggie’s, with Q101 radio support), St. Charles, MO (Slackers), St. Louis (The Pageant), and Columbia, (Slackers, KBBM radio support). Ludo hits the SXSW Conference on March 13th. The second half of March, Ludo will open shows for Presidents of the United States of America. (Please see complete tour below.)

It only takes one listen to catch the infectious “Love Me Dead,” a cancerously parasitic love song to a romantic dead-end (with the first-verse throwaway line, “you’re awful, I love you!”). The song has grabbed Modern Rock radio by the throat since it shipped one month ago today. Following its impact date this week, “Love Me Dead” jumped to #3-bullet (from #6) on the FMQB SubModern Specialty chart.

The “Love Me Dead” video, which premiered three weeks ago on www.heavy.com , was added to “Steven’s Untitled Rock Show” on FUSE this week, and also gets the Director’s Slot rotating on the home page of YouTube. Next week, the clip is part of mtvU’s “freshmen 5” (where the winning video, as picked by viewers, receives an automatic add on mtvU).

Vigilante bushwhackers with a heart of gold, who are out to bang your psyche and love you dead – the five-man conspiracy known as Ludo was named by Alternative Press as one of the “Bands To Watch In 2007.” YOU’RE AWFUL, I LOVE YOU was recorded over the course of eight weeks in Los Angeles with producer Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Train, Faith No More). Described by the band’s Andrew Volpe as their “healthiest, most-ten-toed musicbaby yet,” the new album follows up its two indie predecessors – Ludo’s self-titled debut album of 2003 (recorded in St. Louis, “in roughly 14 days”), and 2005’s mini-album EP Broken Bride (on Redbird Records).

Beware of pterodactyls swarming on www.youtube.com/theludovideothing , the Ludo video thing channel, an organically expanding journey into the making of their new album on Island Records. Currently up to its 16th episode, the “Thing” now incorporates the ‘Toothbrush’ video for “Love me Dead. In addition to tracks from their first two albums – “Hum Along” from Ludo; and “Pt. I: Broken Bride” from Broken Bride – the site also streams “Love Me Dead” and “Drunken Lament” from YOU’RE AWFUL, I LOVE YOU.

For further information go to www.LudoRock.com.

LUDO ON THE ROAD
Date City Venue
Feb. 25 St. Louis, MO 105.7 The Point
26 St. Louis, MO Vintage Vinyl
27 Kansas City, MO The Record Bar (CD release)
28 Chicago, IL The Metro (CD release)
29 Chicago, IL Reggie's
Mar. 1 St. Charles, MO Slackers (CD release)
2 St. Louis, MO The Pageant (CD release)
3 Columbia, MO Slackers (CD release)
5 Lincoln, NB Knickerbocker’s
8 Tulsa, OK Crush Lounge
9 Lewisville, TX Fat Daddy’s Sound Shack
10 Hot Springs, AR The Attic
13 Austin, TX Cedar Door (SXSW Conf.)

Opening for Presidents of the United States of America:
Mar. 15 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
17 Orangevale, CA The Boardwalk
18 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
19 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
21 Los Angeles, CA Roxy Theater
22 San Diego, CA The Belly-Up
24 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
25 Washington DC 9:30 Club
26 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
27 Boston, MA The Paradise