Backyard Tire Fire return with their new studio album, The Places We Lived, on August 26. It’s the first long-player by the Bloomington, Illinois-based band to be released on independent label Hyena Records. Distinguished by a rare combination of workingman authenticity and indie-rock eccentricity, The Places We Lived is defiantly contemporary in the face of its deep Midwestern roots. It’s an approach that led Daytrotter.com to recently rave: “Backyard Tire Fire are the choice we make when the extremes always sound too extreme, the bright lights feel too foreign, the money’s not important, the beer’s on ice and the clothes we like most are the ones that we’ve had on our bodies for decades and we know what made all of the holes and rough patches in them.”

First formed in Chico, CA, back in 1991, The Mother Hips released 3 records on Rick Rubin's American Recordings from 1994-1997, and built a following the old-fashioned way, touring constantly and letting word-of-mouth do the talking, with fans left buzzing after tours with Johnny Cash, Wilco and on the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Now residing in and about the Bay Area, the current Mother Hips line-up consists of singer/guitarist Tim Bluhm, singer/guitarist Greg Loiacono, bassist Paul Hoaglin and drummer John Hofer.