We Are The Union to release new album digitally March 30

Paper + Plastick Records announces a March 30, 2010 digital release date of the Motor City quintet WE ARE THE UNION’s sophomore album, Great Leaps Forward. The vinyl pre-sale begins today at www.paperandplastick.com (shipping in April), and includes a FREE download of WATU’s debut, Who We Are.

We Are The Union also premiere a new song on AbsolutePunk.net today entitled “One Million Motors,” and have announced a number of tour dates that include shows with The Snips, Such Gold, and The Wonder Years, as well as a set at the Harvest Of Hope Festival (see all dates below).

In anticipation of the new album, We Are The Union was recently donned one of ALTERNATIVE PRESS’ "100 Bands You Need To Know", which commented “If the proletariat were to ever rise in favor of Ska Nation, We Are The Union… would provide the anthem, horns at the ready, leading the full frontal-lobe assault on your sensibilities.”

The band’s blend of melodic hardcore and punk-influenced ska has been widely accepted in a number of different music communities and has led to shows with a wide variety of bands, such as Shook Ones, Set Your Goals, Cheap Girls, The Swellers, Mustard Plug, and Less Than Jake.

WATU tormbonist Matt Belanger says, “Our sound owes a lot more to fast, melodic punk bands like Rehasher and No Trigger, as well as more melodic hardcore bands like Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, than it does to "third wave" ska punk bands that people probably think of when they think of "ska punk",” quickly dispelling any comparisons to their ska-punk peers.


Great Leaps Forward will be available in three different color vinyl; purple & grey mixed, green, and clear, and will be a 12”x36” full color folded cover, which will also include a CD version. We Are The Union recorded the new album with producer Matt Allison (Alkaline Trio, The Lawrence Arms, Less Than Jake), while Matt Bayles (Isis, Mastodon, Shook Ones) and Bill Stevenson (Black Flag, Descendents) mixed the album.

Having recorded half the album before heading out on the road with Shook Ones, and with the loss of a saxaphonist, the band re-recorded many of the songs with Matt on trombone and had time to re-record or add to certain parts of those songs.

“Having a few months to sit on the half-finished record gave us some perspective that allowed us to go back and record some stuff we thought needed to be added,” says Belanger. “Working with Matt Allison helped us to really think about how the songs and all the parts we had written needed to fit together to sound best in recorded form.”

We Are The Union is Reed Wolcott (vocals/guitar), Jim Margle (drums), Matt Belanger (trombone), Brandon Benson (bass), and Ricky Weber (guitar).

WE ARE THE UNION
tour dates

W/ The Snips
March 9 – Toledo, OH @ Frankies
March 10 – Corbin, KY @ Corbin Tech Center
March 11 – Atlanta, GA @ 585 Wells St
March 12 – St. Augustine, FL @ Harvest Of Hope
March 13 – St. Augustine, FL @ Harvest Of Hope
March 14 – St. Augustine, FL @ Harvest Of Hope
March 16 – Clarksville, TN @ The Coup
March 17 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Dojo

W/ The Wonder Years & Such Gold
April 7 – Zanesville, OH @ The Shotshot
April 8 – Springfield, MO @ Outland Ballroom
April 9 – Plano, TX @ Eisenbergs Skatepark
April 10 – Midland, TX @ The Ground Floor
April 11 – El Paso, TX @ TBA
April 12 – Tuscon, AZ @ Skrappys

W/ Such Gold
April 13 – Murrieta, CA @ Gilindos
April 14 – Northern CA @ TBA
April 15 – Las Vegas, NV @ TBA
April 16 – Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Underground
April 17 – Albuquerque, NM @ Black Market Goods
April 18 – San Antonio, TX @ The Ten Eleven
April 19 – Houston, TX @ TBA
April 20 – Metairie, LA @ High Ground
April 21 – Tallahassee, FL @ TBA
April 22 – Tampa, FL @ Transitions
April 23 – Pembroke Pines, FL @ The Talent Farm
April 24 – Orlando, FL @ Uncle Lous
April 25 – Highpoint, NC @ Arts By Alexander
April 26 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel
April 28 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
April 29 – Long Island, NY @ TBA
April 30 – Jermyn, PA @ Elenor Rigbys
May 1 – Toledo, OH @ TBA

www.myspace.com/wearetheunion
www.paperandplastick.com