11.07.11 THE RETURN OF THE HARD LESSONS

It has been half a year since we last spoke. We miss you. We want to see you again. That is why we're announcing the full-band return of The Hard Lessons at the 6th Annual Post-Christmas Blowout to take place at St. Andrew's Hall on December 26.



Since starting off with a festive, sold-out show at the Magic Stick in 2006, this yearly spectacle has evolved into an over-the-top musical highlight of the year for boys, girls, and Santas of all ages. The event has grown to include two stages, a Santa photo station, the official release of the band's yearly Christmas single, and more. This year we're pulling out all of the stops, as well as the frankincense and myrrh in case a special baby decides to make an appearance. (Our son).

Tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY via Ticketmaster. Much more to come each week as the show approaches, so get with it and follow the band on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. There is a probably still a myspace page if you find yourself in a Delorean.

SEE YOU SOON!


03.09.11 The Midwest Opens Its Arms + Acoustic Shows!

Those lucky enough to have been in attendance at THL's final four electric shows before going hiatus will attest to both their celebratory nature and epicness. Capacity crowds traveled from near and far to coax the band through songs new and old, with baby presents and years worth of memories in tow. The culminating show at the Metro Times Blowout ended around 2:30 am, after some 20 songs had been played, spanning the band's entire career! If you missed the Detroit News retrospective about what the band has meant to Michigan and vice verse, read it HERE!

Also check out the band's TUMBLR


If you missed any of these last electric shows, fear not! Korin and Augie are packing up the van one last time for a short string of acoustic shows which will take them back to the beloved cities of Toledo and Kalamazoo, before officially going on haitus after an April 23 performance at the Loving Touch in Ferndale. It will also be Augie's birthday!

Be sure to follow the band on Twitter for all of the latest updates straight from the band! The acoustic tour is on! Mark your calendars!

Yours, Rod Serling


02.07.11 The Time Was Now: Hiatus Announced

The following is a message from Augie and Korin of The Hard Lessons:

"To all who have supported The Hard Lessons over the last 8 years and 700 shows in 6 countries, we would like to share the following news with you. It is with great happiness and anticipation that we are announcing the impending July birth of our first child of an unknown gender and name. The urgency we feel in preparing for said child's arrival is matched only by our desire to properly cap off the end of this amazing first era of the band. Our next four shows will be the last electric shows we perform before going on a hiatus of an indefinite length. While each of these finals shows will be extremely special to us, we are especially pleased to be ending this leg of the journey at the Metro Times Blowout for a show that will include songs new and old, as well as reunions with former members of the band.



"Hamtramck is the historical location of our third show, the first of many to take place within the confines of beloved Detroit City. Also, our first cover story outside of Lansing was gracing the Metro Times for a performance at the Blowout in 2004. We sincerely hope you can make it to bid us adieu and wish the future THL baby well! And please allow us to say that the last 8 years have been more than we could have ever dreamed when starting this band in an MSU dorm room hoping to one day book a show off of campus. We are grateful for all that has been given to us, and grateful to have been able to give back as much as we could."

Sincerely, Korin and Augie


01.17.11 A New Year Just Begun!

Firstly, a hearty thanks to all those who filled up St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit for the band's 5th Annual Holiday show. We are all consistently humbled and honored by the sheer numbers and enthusiasm greeting the band at Michigan shows, and this was no exception. You can re-live it or vicariously enjoy it HERE!


Photo: Doug Coombe

A handful of new shows have been added, which you can see to your left. Plan accordingly Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Ann Arbor! The band will be debuting new songs at these shows, as well as busting out some rarely performed gems from albums new and old.

Much more to come, but please stay up-to-date by following the band on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook!

Yours, Rod Serling


11.22.10 Get Out Your Mittens + Holiday Traditions!

Welcome to winter in the midwest! Sure, outside it's gonna get pretty frightful, but inside St. Andrew's Hall on December 26 it's going to be so delightful. That's the night of the band's 5th Annual Holiday Show! This tradition, which started unassumingly at Detroit's Magic Stick, has grown into a full-blown, two-stage celebration that marks a musical highlight of the year for the band - and for fans who travel from places near and far to witness this must-see event. Buy your tickets now, RIGHT HERE!



But as always, there is so much more! If you haven't seen the band's self-produced video for the new song "Wally Bronner (Christmas Always)," check it out HERE. The song is the A Side to a super-deluxe 45 RPM single, which includes a CD copy of the songs AND the video! Pre-order the the single (which includes a moving take on the Christmas classic "O Holy Night" on the B Side) over at Bellyache Records. Doing so will also get a free five-badge set!

If you missed last year's Christmas classic, "Beards Scare Children (Unless They're Attached To Santa)," pick one up in the Quack!Media Store.

So much more to come this holiday season, including the band's annual (and awful) Sears Portrait Studio Photos! Be the first to see them by following the band on TUMBLR, TWITTER, and FACEBOOK!!

Yours,
Rod Serling


10.20.10 Right 'Round Like A Record (Or Wheel!)

This past summer, The Hard Lessons and The Hentchmen solidified their love of the modern marvel knowns as the "automobile" by having songs placed in some spritely Chevrolet Tee Vee commercials. Well, that more-perfect union has now resulted in a full-on rock show to take place on November 9. In the hopes of giving you an early Christmas present, it involves A LOT of FREE! Check it out:


That's right! Not only is the show free, but you get a cool-lookin' and cool-soundin' collector's item! A THL/HENTCH split seven inch!

BUT THE GIVING DOESN'T STOP THERE! On sale at Ticketmaster RIGHT NOW, you can purchase your tickets for the band's all-ages 5th Annual Post-Christmas Blowout to take place at St. Andrew's Hall on December 26! This tradition has become a yearly highlight and will double as a release party for the band's annual Christmas single! Much more on that to come, but get those tickets NOW at an early-bird discounted price.

Check the shows to your left and get ready to rock-a!

Yours, Rod Serling


08.30.10 Greatest Summer Ending


The Hard Lessons have completed stirring shows in both Illinois and Ohio since returning from over seas. You know what that means, Michigan? You're next! Check the dates to your left and plan on making it out to a rock show or two! September shows kick off THIS SATURDAY around 10 pm with the band's debut at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, performing as part of Arts, Beats & Eats.
Photo: Jade Amey
ALSO! Did you know that THL is on TWITTER and TUMBLR??? Get the latest scoop on shows straight from the band, along with musings on fast food, hip hop, and an occasional photo of a funny hat at a truck stop! Priceless!

Yours, Rod Serling

07.19.10 Torna A Sorriento, Non Mi Lasciare Più!


Augie and Korin are currently registering foreign sounds into machines both new and ancient on continents such as Europe and Africa. Senegalese children have created symphonies from discarded plastic water bottles, and the people of S. Angelo have moved the feet of young and old with accordians and guitars carved from trees behind barns.

This Friday, the culmination of said journies will be a live performance beneath historic Monte Cassino at Bar Reale. Then the full band is back in action in the USA at Wicker Park Festival in Chicago on August 1.

Much more to come. Yours, Rod Serling

05.18.10 Crazy Fun + Raising Funds + MORE!

Only 4 midwest shows left until August. Check it out:

*Come out to the Magic Stick on Friday, May 21 to support Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project! A bunch of bands for only $5!! Surprises in store, too!

*THL are headlining the last night of Midwest Fest at the Mixtape Cafe in Grand Rapids on Sunday, May 23! Opening sets by Friendly Foes, Zoos of Berlin, and MORE!

*After years away, the band returns to the first bar they ever played on June 4 - The Fabulous Elbow Room in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Opening sets by Lightning Love and The Drags.

*The Ottawa Tavern in Toledo, Ohio is the stuff of legend. See why when THL play Ryan Bunch's "Takeover" weekend on June 11.

MUCH more to come, including details on a crazy new musical scheme, scheme, plot, plot... Yours, Rod Serling

04.19.10 Surviving The Year Of Rock N Roll Death...

Five years ago this month The Hard Lessons sang, "27 just seems so old" at the Magic Bag Theater in Ferndale, MI for the release of their first album, Gasoline. Five years later, Augie and Korin return to that venue on April 23 to celebrate surviving the "year of Rock N Roll death!"

Poster (Detail): Pinky Blaster / Shawn Knight

Hand-selected openers for the show include the band's friends The Octopus, FAWN, and The Continental Things. Tickets can be purchased (without service charges!) at the Woodward Avenue Brewers, or you can order online at Ticketmaster by CLICKING HERE.

AND HEY CHICAGO! April 24 THL return to Subterranean for a show with Deal's Gone Bad and Scissors! Advance tickets are highly recommended, and can be purchased by CLICKING HERE.

Finally, due to an inability to work out a date, time, and venue for the show, The Hard Lessons will regrettably NOT be performing at Central Michigan University this week. Thanks to all of the CMU THL-supporters. You rock.

Yours, Rod Serling

03.10.10 Jump Up and Get Down

After two years of touring through March, The Hard Lessons returned to the MT Blowout to a sold-out-and-then-some crowd of rowdy New Dodge patrons for a 1:00 am performance deemed both "legendary" and "incredible" by the local bloggerati and newspapers. The Metro Time also called Arms Forest "Detroit brilliance through and through." Check out photos from Blowout (and New York City) by clicking HERE.


Augie jumps from the Balcony (Photo: Drew Dawson)

JUST-ANNOUNCED SHOWS have been added to your left, including the band's long-awaited return to Chicago, a huge and FREE Central Michigan Univesity show, an intimate performance in Rochester, and a Korin and Augie birthday celebration at the Magic Bag on April 23!! Mark your calendars!

Next show is March 13 at Mickey Finn's in Toledo, OH. Word on the street is the band is cooking up a special surprise with the other bands on the bill... The Muggs, Millions Of Brazilians, and Mind Fish.

Yours, Rod Serling
1.13.10: You Wanna Rock With THL? All Night?

The Hard Lessons have some great shows scheduled around the midwest and east coast over the next month. Dates are to your left!



In other news, this month marks the beginning of the THL Guitar Tablature Series Stripped down to the barest components, The Hard Lessons have always been a riff-based Rock N Roll band - a fact that has piqued the interest of (and inspired) some devoted guitar-slinging fans enough to put together covers of THL songs, or send in requests for chord charts and tabs. With that said, please enjoy "Roma Termini" and "Bamboo." You're welcome!

New songs will be up on a monthly basis.

Yours, Rod Serling

01.02.10 Let's Get This Decade Started Right!


It's been said that science fiction and fantasy are two different things: science fiction the improbable made possible; fantasy, the impossible made probable. What would you have if you put these two different things together? You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another decade � a decade of sound, a decade of sight, a decade of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the year 2010.

Happy New Year!

-Rod Sterling

12.07.09 Welcome to the Arms Forest

We are pleased to announce that THL's 4th Annual Post-Christmas Blowout is set to take place on the party-night of party-nights: NEW YEAR'S EVE! The event will be a co-headliner with Detroit's own The Von Bondies and will be held at Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan. Aside from all of the usual insanity that takes place at this extravaganza, this year's ticketing options can provide YOU with such lovely amenities as a champagne toast, party favors, UNLIMITED beer/wine, and (if you'd REALLY like to make it a party) a room for you and yours.

WE'RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S 2009!

1) To order tickets click HERE (Only $30 if purchased BEFORE December 11)

2) To order VIP tickets and UNLIMITED beer/wine click HERE (Only $70 if purchased BEFORE December 11)

3) To order tickets AND rooms call: 800-233-1234 / Hyatt.com

ALSO: The annual tradition continues - check out the band's awesomely bad Sears Portrait Studio photos over at MYSPACE

Lastly, don't forget to pick up your THL HOLIDAY GIFT PACKS for your friends and family. Nothing says "Christmas" quite like a beautiful vinyl record and/or a song about beards scaring children.

Yours, Rod Serling

11.23.09: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

Much like Old St. Nicholas himself, The Hard Lessons have been hard at work creating special gifts for all you good boys and girls. Starting RIGHT NOW you can purchase the band's new Christmas single, "Beards Scare Children (Unless They're Attached To Santa)" from the Quack!Media webstore! Special gift packs include a bundle with the excellent new album Arms Forest, or a "Stocking Stuffer Special" where you can buy 5 singles and get the 6th FREE! Ho, Ho, Ho!



The single will be available in concert starting THIS Saturday when the band plays the 93.9 The River Winter Icebreaker at the fabulous Fillmore Theater in downtown Detroit! As this news goes to press there are a VERY limited number of seats still available. Get them while you can and enjoy three full-length sets of music from the likes of Canadian rockers Sam Roberts Band and Sloan, and your Americans, THL. This will be the biggest celebration of Canada and Michigan's more-than-friends relationship EVER. Sorry Freedom Festival Fireworks!!!

MUCH more to come as the holiday season kicks into gear. Welcome to Arms Forest!
Yours, Rod Serling

10/28/09: Christmas Comes Early: Download ARMS FOREST for FREE!



For an entire month starting NOW you can download the latest and greatest from The Hard Lessons for FREE. All 13 tracks from Arms Forest are ready and waiting for you and your friends. Just sign up for the mailing list and you're all set. This is your chance to share your superior musical tastes with the people you know! Do it!

As a special way of kicking off the giveaway, you can finally check out the band's video for Arms Forest track "See You Again" on the front page of the website. The giveaway will close with the debut of the video for "The Arms Forest." So many new things to enjoy!

Of course Arms Forest is still available for purchase in two stunning packages, including a gatefold vinyl version with a full color sleeve (which includes a CD!) and a compact disc version with a 16-page lyrics booklet.

Welcome to Arms Forest.
Enjoy your stay!

Yours, Rod Serling

09/23/09: Fall is here, ring the bell!

First off, The Hard Lessons reported feeling "moved" by the amount of hometown love they received at the second annual DIY Street Fair in Ferndale. There's no place like home. Check out photos from the night courtesy of Nathan Kanaebel available on his Flickr page!

Speaking of home, THL will represent both their state and country at the Fillmore on Saturday, November 28 as they team up with Canada's Sam Roberts Band and Sloan at 93.9's Winter Icebreaker.

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much more to come, as always! Check the tour dates!

Yours, Rod Serling

08/19/09: Celebrate Summer With Me!

Photo: Jade Amey

Sweating has finally surpassed Razor Scooters as the number one THL pastime at summer shows, thanks to The Factory's Gold Festival this past weekend. HOTT! As August draws to a close, the band is attempting to cover A LOT of ground throughout both peninsulas of their home state of Michigan - including a first-ever performance in the "upper" one. Get all the scoop right here.

Much more to come!

Yours, Rod Serling

06/22/09 Daytrotter Session + New York!

The folks over at Daytrotter have posted songs from the band's in-studio session on their website. Go HERE to download all four tracks for FREE, as well as browse their impressive archive of great bands.



The Hard Lessons finish up June and kick-off July with two very special New York shows: June 30 at the Mercury Lounge in Manhattan, and July 1 at the Bell House in Brooklyn. It is gonna be HOT, but not as hot as it was in Birmingham last week.

Yours, Rod Serling


06/01/09 Welcome To Summer!

Just a quick note to everyone who attened one of the THREE homecoming record-release parties in Detroit over Memorial Day Weekend: THANK YOU! The band has posted a recap with photos from each show HERE! All photos were taken by esteemed Michigan photographer Doug "So So Fresh" Coombe, who has even more photos hidden in his amazing Flickr Account.







The Hard Lessons are currently wrapping TWO new music videos and preparing for the summer festival season. Stay tuned for much more to come.

Yours, Rod Serling


5/21/09: Homecoming Shows + Record Release Parties!

The Hard Lessons are pleased to be kicking off a three-day release party event tonight! For the first time in years, the band is returning to the venues from which they were born: The Belmont on Thursday, Smalls on Friday, and The Lager House in the early evening on Saturday. To boot, the shows are all on the CHEAP and will be stocked with brand new copies of Arms Forest on vinyl or compact disc . There is even an extremely limited and extremely awesome poster series designed and screened by The Silent Giants.

Yes, Michigan! Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice.

Yours, Rod Serling


4/30/09: Doctor Rock City.

Who says musicians and health care don't mix? Tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy features the new THL song "Wedding Ring," straight off the band's forthcoming full-length album, Arms Forest. You can get the song on iTunes here, or the whole album here. Awesome! The physical CDs and Gatefold LPs will be available starting May 26. Listen to the song now by clicking the first cassette to the right, or by visiting the band's myspace page.

In other TV news, the video for "Sound The Silent Alarm" recently debuted on The Uncharted Zone, the "most important music television show along the Gulf Coast." Think "Wayne's World" if Garth made videos on green screens. Check out the story (and video) direct from the band by clicking HERE.

Yours, Rod Serling


4/29/09: Welcome to Arms Forest.

The Hard Lessons are currently wrapping up two months of touring leading up to the release of their stunning and diverse new full-length album, Arms Forest. A three-night record release celebration marking the band's first homecoming performances of 2009 is planned for Memorial Day Weekend. Forgoing one large-scale spectacle, the band will instead be returning to the three Detroit venues from which they were born: The Belmont on May 21st, Small's Bar on May 22nd, and the Lager House on May 23rd. Arms Forest will be available on CD and LP, and a limited edition series of posters for each show (1-3) will be available while supplies last. Opening bands and DJs to be announced.



Check the tour dates for information on summer shows, which will see the band hitting the festival circuit playing Rothbury in Michigan, Riverbend in Tennessee, and City Stages in Alabama.

Lastly, keep checking back as this website will be updated with much more including new videos, photos, music, and personal messages from Augie and Korin.

Yours, Rod Serling