Pernice Bros' Overcome by Happiness getting deluxe reissue treatment

Joe Pernice and crew are celebrating 25 years of Overcome by Happiness with an expanded 2LP reissue of their 1998 album.

Here's the scoop...

The Pernice Brothers will release Overcome by Happiness: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on May 19th via New West Records. The original mixes were remastered by John Golden and will be available on vinyl for the first time, 25 years to the day of its original Sub Pop issue on May 19, 1998. 

The 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes a 13-track bonus LP featuring 8 unreleased home demos (often recorded minutes after the songs were written by Joe Pernice). The 2 LPs will be pressed on orange-and-white splatter vinyl and packaged in a hardbound, full-color, 52-page book featuring extensive liner notes written by Stephen Deusner, an introduction and track-by-track written by Joe Pernice, the Overcome by Happiness lyrics printed for the first time, and countless unpublished photographs. A 5x7 print autographed by Joe Pernice is also included in every copy. Check the pre-release trailer below. 

The story of Overcome by Happiness is one of great risk and greater payoff. It’s the story of a songwriter just finding his voice, an artist so desperate to express himself that he scrapped one band (the alt-country-adjacent Scud Mountain Boys) to form another, a frontman who jeopardized his contract with Sub Pop Records so that he could put what he heard in his head onto tape. It’s the story of a musician embracing the sounds of his childhood: AM easy listening, sophisticated chamber pop, baroque lounge music, Bread, the Carpenters, Bacharach, Manilow. The album was widely praised upon its release. The New York Times said of the debut, “Overcome taps an all-American yearning that recalls neon-lighted fairgrounds and lovers’ cars parked at the edge of a Great Lake… Beneath the beauty, each song is haunted by bitterness, but its fatalism is characteristic, too, of a land — and a season — in which dreams can be won or dashed at a sideshow roulette wheel.” AllMusic called Overcome by Happiness “...a near-perfect modern songsmith swoon album” while The Sunday Times in London exclaimed, “Let the Pernice Brothers overcome you.” 

As Joe Pernice explains, “Pouring over the demos and song sketches, photos, notebooks and of course the album itself triggered some profound memories for me: Those involving the making of the album were all good. Memories of the songs’ geneses—as one who has heard the album might imagine—ran the gamut. I’m very grateful to the people at New West Records for both involving me so completely in compiling the material for this deluxe vinyl issue, and for the stunning edition they’re releasing. To have my songs and the stories behind them treated with such care and out of a sense of love is something I neither expect or take for granted. I’m so happy about how this turned out. I honestly don’t think a more complete Overcome by Happiness ‘experience’ could have been put together.” 

The Pernice Brothers also announced two special engagements where they will perform Overcome by Happiness in its entirety with a string quartet on May 18 at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville, MA, and May 19th at Racket NYC in New York City. Tickets for each performance go on sale this Friday, February 3, at 10:00 am Eastern.  

Joe Pernice has kept the Pernice Brothers going for twenty-five years now, weathering almost constant lineup changes and releasing seven studio albums that have sharpened, expanded, commented on, and elaborated upon the elegant orchestral pop sounds of Overcome by Happiness. But his catalog extends well beyond that band. In addition to recording a handful of solo albums (including a Barry Manilow tribute), he reconvened his first band, the Scud Mountain Boys, in the early 2010s for a new album and tour, and in 2014 he released Into the Lime with the New Mendicants, a supergroup featuring Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake. He also writes frequently for television, most notably as a staff writer for the Canadian crime drama The Detail. Joe has published a book of poetry and several works of fiction, including a novella about the Smiths for the 33 1/3 book series. And in 2009, he released a 7-inch single under the alias the Young Accuser via his first label Sub Pop Records—a tie-in with his novel It Feels So Good When I Stop. 2019 saw the release of the Pernice Brothers’ acclaimed album Spread The Feeling. 

The Pernice Brothers Overcome by Happiness: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is available for pre-order  via New West Records right here. Check the track list followed by clips of the Pernice Brothers rippin' through "Monkey Suit" in 2019, Joe Pernice performing a solo acoustic version of "Chicken Wire" at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto and the Sub Pop single B-side "Jimmy Coma". 

Overcome By Happiness - Pernice Brothers

1. Crestfallen 

2. Overcome by Happiness 

3. Sick of You 

4. Clear Spot 

5. Dimmest Star 

6. Monkey Suit 

7. Chicken Wire 

8. Wait to Stop 

9. All I Know 

10. Shoes and Clothes 

11. Wherein Obscurely 

12. Ferris Wheel 

 

13-Track Bonus LP 

1. Jimmy Coma (1997 Sub Pop Single) 

2. Monkey Suit (1997 Sub Pop Single) 

3. Square World (1997 Summershine Single) 

4. In Plain Sight (1997 Summershine Single)

5. Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs Cover / Clear Spot UK CD Single B-Side) 

6. Sick of You (Earliest Sketch Demo) 1:48 *

7. Cut You Free (Demo) 4:00 *

8. Overcome by Happiness (Earliest Sketch Demo) *

9. Clear Spot (Earliest Sketch Demo) *

10. Dimmest Star (Earliest Sketch Demo) *

11. Song #2 (The Queen of NYC) (earliest demo) *

12. Courage Up (Demo) 2:40 *

13. Let That Show (Demo) 4:00 *

* Previously Unreleased 

Pernice Brothers launch Spread The Feeling at Dakota Tavern October 9 & 10

The vinyl version of The Pernice Brothers' Spread The Feeling album is due in stores October 15th. Check out the Sandwich EP from back in March.

Here's the whole sad story:
Over a 20-year career in music, Joe Pernice has made 17 full-length records. He began in the mid-90’s, with Scud Mountain Boys, who released two albums (Pine Box and Dance the Night Away, later compiled as The Early Year) before signing to Sub Pop and releasing Massachusetts, considered by many to be an alt-country masterpiece.

In 1998, Pernice disbanded the Scuds and assembled Pernice Brothers, recording Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop), called “a startling slice of beauty” by The New York Times and “A thing of pernicious beauty indeed” by The Irish Times. In 1999 and 2000, he released two records, under the names Chappaquiddick Skyline and Big Tobacco. (More or less considered solo records, they do feature assorted members of the Pernice family circus, so that designation is a bit misleading. This naming inconsistency also dogs the enterprise to this day, and therefore, Pernice promises to call everything Pernice Brothers from now on, until he changes his mind.)

Spread The Feeling is due in late September

In 2001, Pernice and his manager decided that they were as capable of not selling many records as anyone. They founded Ashmont Records, releasing a series of Pernice Brothers records, featuring various players, beginning with The World Won’t End, which was called a “lush, perfectly realized record” by The Onion (not ironically). 2003 brought the release of Yours, Mine and Ours, called “a monumental record from a tow-ering talent” by Magnet. A live record and DVD, Nobody’s Watching/Nobody’s Listening was released in 2004.

In 2005, Discover a Lovelier You came out, and the song “Amazing Glow” was included in the legendary “Partings” episode of Gilmore Girls. Pernice performed the song on the show. Live a Little, called “a stunning album” by Spin was released in 2006. In 2009 Joe Pernice published his first novel, It Feels So Good When I Stop (Riverhead/Penguin), and Ashmont released a soundtrack of the same name, more or less, featuring Pernice covering songs referenced in the novel. (A novella, Meat is Murder, was published by Continuum Books in 2003, as part of their popular 33 1/3 series. It remains one of the bestselling books in the series).

In 2013 after a 17 year hiatus The Scud Mountain Boys released their fourth full length album Do You Love The Sun on Ashmont Records. That same year Pernice teamed up with hip hop producer and musician Budo (Joshua Karp) to record an album under the name Roger Lion. That self-titled album was released by Team Love Records.

In 2014 Pernice, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and Mike Belitsky (The Sadies) formed the group The New Mendicants. Their debut album was released by Ashmont Records in North America and One Little Indian worldwide.

In 2017 Pernice took a brief hiatus from music to take a staff writer position on the Canadian homicide cop TV show The Detail. He co-wrote the sixth episode of season one. He has yet to determine how the very positive experience influenced his songwriting.

Spread The Feeling was recorded in Boston, Toronto and Washington State. It features appearances by a regular cast of players including Peyton Pinkerton, James Walbourne, Patrick Berkery, Bob Pernice, Ric Menck, Neko Case, Pete Yorn, Liam Jaeger, Budo, etc., etc.

You can order a copy of The Pernice Brothers' forthcoming Spread The Feeling album right here.
Get tickets for the Pernice Brothers show at the Dakota Tavern right here.

While you're waiting for your copy of Spread The Feeling to arrive, listen to the Pernice Brothers' Sandwich EP below.

New Mendicants @ Dakota Tavern, Aug 26

Joe Pernice and Norman Blake appear in disguise as The New Mendicants at the Dakota Tavern

Joe Pernice resurfaces!

Although singer/songwriter and novelist Joe Pernice has reportedly made Toronto his home for the past five years, he's maintaining a decidedly low profile. In fact, Prince would probably like to get some tips on keeping hidden in the city – if he could only find him. There have been a couple of unconfirmed Pernice sightings in the area of Ossington and Dundas – Tim Hanna swears it was Pernice who walked into Frantic City and signed a Young Accuser single sleeve which he has on the wall as evidence – but whether it was actually him or a bearded look-alike faking a Northamptonian drawl, the fact remains that Pernice isn't in danger of oversaturating the market with local club appearances. He's played fewer shows in Toronto over the past 12 months than Austin's Strange Boys. So even though Pernice's appearance tonight (Monday, September 20) at Clinton's as part of This Is Not A Reading Series will be primarily a discussion of his first novel It Feels So Good When I Stop (Penguin) prodded by Stuart Ross, I've heard from a reliable source that Pernice will have a guitar with him. Good news.
The last time Pernice held a book launch in town, it started with him reading passages from his novel but quickly turned into a solo acoustic performance with Pernice playing more than half of the cover songs from the book's accompanying "soundtrack" album and culminated with a set of tunes from his time with the Pernice Brothers, Scud Mountain Boys and Chappaquiddick Skyline.
Charlie Huisken's literary event at Clinton's may not turn into another career retrospective night, it's sure to make for an entertaining evening and you'll also be among the proud few who can lay claim to observing Pernice in his new habitat. The cover is just $5 and doors open at 7 pm.


Joe Pernice reads from It Feels So Good When I Stop





Tell Me When It's Over (Dream Syndicate) by Joe Pernice