Hello from VI HQ,

Things over at VI grand central have been shaken up a little lately and we thought it would be a good time to pass on the news and let everyone know what’s up.

For those of you who saw our recent shows with Cursive, you probably noticed a handsome new fella on bass guitar. That young man is Ryan Devlin and we’re excited to announce that Ryan has joined Virgin Islands on bass to replace Chuck Keller. We were extremely sad to hear that Chuck would be leaving the band and will no doubt miss him and his musical talent. Chuck has decided to focus on family life and we wish him the best on his pending fatherhood!

We are also sad to announce that our drummer Aaron Ball has decided to leave the band and focus on new pursuits in life. Aaron has been playing drums in bands for many years now and has recently decided that it was time to move on from the drum throne. Aaron is an amazing drummer and we’re sad to hear that he’s retiring. He leaves us with some pretty big shoes to fill behind the drum kit and will be greatly missed.

While the timing of both Aaron and Chuck leaving the band leaves us with a challenge, Chris and Michael are excited to carry on with Ryan and are currently on the hunt for a new drummer. There is absolutely zero bad blood between anyone related to the band and we’re happy to remain friends in the wake of these new developments. We’re also very excited to move forward with a new rhythm section and the changes that may bring. We look forward to playing more shows and recording our next record. Both are things that will be happening very soon.

We’ll keep you posted here. Take care of each other and we’ll see you soon!

Love,
Michael, Chris & Ryan of Virgin Islands

P.S. – we also regret to inform you that we are not playing the show with fIREHOSE and Tera Melos on Saturday April 7th.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our shows with Cursive and Ume! It was an absolutely incredible tour and it was a pleasure to meet so many great new friends along the way. Cursive and Ume were the best tour mates ever! Awesome bands and amazing people to spend time with.

We’re extremely thrilled to announce that we’re opening the upcoming fIREHOSE show at Neumos on Saturday April 7th with Tera Melos. It will be an absolute honor to play with the reunited fIREHOSE! Tera Melos rules and you should come!

More news coming soon… Until the, take care of each other and fight the good fight.

xo,
VI

We’re extremely thrilled to announce the start of our US tour with indie rock legends Cursive and the mighty UME from Austin, TX. The tour will cover the entire western half of the US with and will end in Omaha, NE. The home of Ernie Chambers. We couldn’t be more excited. Come out to the shows early and bang your head to some Virgin Islands!

Tour dates are below:
02/17/2012 – Seattle, WA / Neumo’s – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/18/2012 – Vancouver, BC / Media Club – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/19/2012 – Portland, OR / Bunk Bar – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/24/2012 – Los Angeles, CA / Troubadour – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/25/2012 – Pomona, CA / Glasshouse – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/26/2012 – San Diego, CA / Casbah – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/27/2012 – Tempe, AZ / Crescent Ballroom – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/28/2012 – Albuquerque, NM / Launchpad – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

03/02/2012 – Kansas City, MO / Record Bar – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

03/03/2012 – Omaha, NE / Slowdown – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

03/04/2012 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge (not with Cursive or Ume)

We are extremely thrilled to announce that we’re playing the 2012 Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco this February, as a part of our tour with Cursive and Ume. We’re playing Wednesday February 22nd at the Great American Music Hall. Advance tickets can be purchased here. The line-up for the 2012 looks incredible and we hope to see you out! Well worth the trip for those outside the Bay Area!

We are extremely excited to announce an upcoming tour supporting Cursive this February and March! We’ll be opening shows along this tour and the mighty Ume are playing main support. We cannot wait and we’re looking forward to seeing our friends along the way. Cursive will be supporting a brand new record and these shows are sure to sell out. Make sure to buy advance tickets! We’ll be adding a few dates along the way and will keep you posted here. All confirmed dates are listed below:

02/17/2012 – Seattle, WA / Neumo’s – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/18/2012 – Vancouver, BC / Media Club – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/19/2012 – Portland, OR / Bunk Bar – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/24/2012 – Los Angeles, CA / Troubadour – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/25/2012 – Pomona, CA / Glasshouse – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/26/2012 – San Diego, CA / Casbah – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/27/2012 – Tempe, AZ / Crescent Ballroom – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

02/28/2012 – Albuquerque, NM / Launchpad – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

03/02/2012 – Kansas City, MO / Record Bar – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

03/03/2012 – Omaha, NE / Slowdown – with Cursive and Ume – BUY TICKETS

Our song “No Doctor” is NPR’s Song of the Day today! Do you think the Supreme Court will listen? Check out the review and song through this link!

We apologize for the extended radio silence from VI HQ. We’ve had a busy summer promoting our new record Ernie Chambers v. God and are winding down the live biz with a few more shows in the Northwest this fall to round out the year. We’d like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who’s bought the new record and caught a show over the summer. For those of you in Seattle and Bellingham, there are a few opportunities to see us live this fall, all on some really amazing shows. Check us out here, if you can:

Saturday October 15th – The Shakedown (Bellingham, WA) with Police Teeth and Victory & Associates
Saturday October 22nd – Chop Suey (Seattle, WA) City Arts Fest with Male Bonding, Unnatural Helpers and The Fucking Eagles
Friday November 18th – The Comet (Seattle, WA) Mikey’s birthday bash with Police Teeth, Strong Killings and Wow & Flutter

These shows will be our last for awhile, as we will be taking the next several months off from live performances while we work on completing our second full length. If all goes as planned, we’ll be back in the studio in March of 2012 with a release planned for later in the year.

Thanks again for all of you support. Take care of each other and see you soon.
Love,
Virgin Islands

Our new record “Ernie Chambers v. God” is out TODAY! You should be able to find it in your local record store, or you can order it online through any of the options below. If you live in Seattle, we hope can join us in celebrating the release at our show this Friday, May 13th at the Columbia City Theater. Advance tickets for that show can be purchased HERE. Thank you to everyone who helped make this record happen and thank YOU for the support. Happy record release week to us!

Purchase the LP (with free download code) from us directly for $12.99 (plus shipping and handling) HERE
Purchase the full length CD from us directly for $9.99 (plus shipping and handling) HERE

Follow these links below to purchase the new record at a retailer of your choice
iTunes (digital)
Amazon (LP / CD / Digital)
Insound (LP / CD / Digital)
Control Group (LP / CD)
eMusic (Digital)
Sonic Boom Records (LP / CD)
Easy Street Records (LP / CD)

We’re super excited about the video for our song “No Doctor” from our upcoming record “Ernie Chambers v. God” which is due out May 10th on the Control Group. Consequence of Sound premiered the video last week, and now the video is permanently hosted on both YouTube and Vimeo through our label, The Control Group. Here are the videos at both sites (same video, your preference). Enjoy!

Virgin Islands “No Doctor” official video from The Control Group on Vimeo.