"DON'T BE ALARMED NOW" - BUSTLE IN YOUR HEDGEROW RETURNS

We have confirmed the return of the rock... Marco, Joe, Dave Dreiwitz and Scotty Metzger will once again reconvene to rock you. We are going to some familiar places to get things rolling, but we hope to visit some new territories as well in the future. But for now, be prepared to help us get the LED out at the Fox Theatre in Boulder on February 28th, the Bluebird Theatre in Denver on March 1st, and a return visit to the Abbey Pub in Chicago on Friday, March 1st (there is still one small portion of the back corner of the bar that still needs to be rocked after the post-Lollapalooza blow-out this past summer at the same spot).

Russo plans on showing some of his Irish blood on Saturday, March 17th as the foursome head back to their homestate of New Jersey to lay some Zeppelin down. Mexicali Blues will be your St. Patrick's Day destination.

Haven't heard your share of Bustle yet? Check it out here.

A limited pre-sale will be available through DuoTicketing. All of the essentials can be found on the shows page.

RUSSO JOINS HARFORD FOR FREAKS BALL

Russo will be joining Chris Harford's Band of Changes, as he will again be a participant in the Freaks Ball. Russo will be joining familiar co-horts, Scott Metzger and Dave Dreiwitz in this incarnation of the BOC. Other acts on the bill include Apollo Sunshine and the Dansettes. This year's event will be held at Southpaw in Brooklyn on January 27th. Tickets are available through ticketweb.

music and hoodies and long-sleeves, oh my!

We have recently added a few new items to the DuoStore to brighten your shopping experience:

First up, the limited-edition "Split Sides" EP is available for order now. These discs feature live versions of some of your favorite Duo cuts from recent shows in Omaha, Boulder, Louisville and St. Louis. These tracks were handpicked by Marco Benevento after combing through material from this past tour. Fans will be treated to two live tracks by our good friends and tourmates, American Babies Go on and order your copy today.

In addition to the new music, we are also bringing back an old favorite in some new styles. The "DuoRocks" design is back, and this time, it has some company. Available for the first time as a long-sleeve tee or a hoodie, this classic design will warm up you or a loved one when you are on your way to one of our upcoming shows.

bobby previte presents "The separation"

Bobby Previte has invited Marco and bassist, Reed Mathis, along with the Rose Ensemble conducted by Jordan Sramek to participate in a very special performance of music entitled "Separation."

Previte's metal-infused Coalition of the Willing crashes into the mystical voices of early music choir The Rose Ensemble in a re-imagination of both Guilliaume Dufay's 15th century choral epic, Missa Sancti Jacobi, and Olivier Messiaen's organ masterwork, La Nativitié du Seigneur, coloring Kleine's essay about the dueling desires of conformity and individuality.

A choral mass in nine movements.
A dark parable about the death of the individual.
A heavy metal requiem.
An essay on the short life of a lonely sheep.

split sides vol. 1 - limited edition live ep

A limited-edition EP, entitled "Split Sides, Vol. 1" will feature five live tracks from "Pause," the recently completed Midwest leg of the big Fall Tour. In addition to five tracks from the Duo's last two albums, fans will be treated to two live tracks by our good friends and tourmates, American Babies. Track listings and additional information can be found at the DuoStore. Grab yours quickly as only 500 copies will be available ...

ITUNES EXCLUSIVE - ACL FESTIVAL LIVE

Benevento/Russo Duo's Austin City Limits Music Festival recordings are now available on iTunes. Download exclusive versions of "Echo Park, "Welcome Red," "Soba," and a scorching "Best Reason to Buy the Sun" from the Duo's festival-opening set at the Heineken Stage this past September. The ACL Music Festival was Pollstar's "2005 Festival of the Year" and has been nominated for Billboard's "2006 Festival of the Year." Get your recordings HERE now!

duo and cingular hook up to bring you acl streams on your phone

Unable to catch us at the 2006 Austin City Limits Music Festival? If so, don’t worry – if you are a Cingular customer, that is! From your CingularVideo-enabled wireless handset, follow these simple steps, and you will be just a few clicks away from our exclusive live performance footage from the show (this will go live early next week):
*Open CingularVideo on your enabled handset
*Click on Entertainment, then Music
*From there, click on the Cingular Sounds Live folder
*Select Austin City Limits
*Click to open our folder (Benevento/Russo Duo), and here you will find FOUR songs from our ACL performance!

This opportunity expires soon. If you are Cingular customer, visit your nearest Cingular Wireless store to find out how you can get a CingularVideo-enabled handset today and start viewing our exclusive clips today!

WORLD PREMIERE on February 2 and 3 at the Walker Art Performing Arts Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Subsequent performances will take place on Feb 7 and 8 at Hallwalls Art Center at Ani DiFranco's "Asbury Hall at the Church" in Buffalo, New York.

we're coming back to philly

We are really excited to announce that we will be returning to Philadelphia on December 1st as part of a one-of-a-kind line-up, and for one night only. We will be joining an already-stellar line-up of My Morning Jacket and The Slip at the Electric Factory. We have been granted a limited allotment of tickets for DuoTicketing that will go on sale on Wednesday, October 11th for a short time. Tickets go on-sale to the general public on Thursday, October 19th through ticketmaster outlets.

we return to the recher

One more date has been added to our little string of weekends in December, as we will be returning to one of our favorite cities in the country. On December 2nd, we will once again grace the stage of the Recher Theatre in Towson, MD (sending love to our DuoRocks site crew). Tickets are available now through DuoTicketing and will be on-sale to the general public beginning on October 14th. Tom Hamilton's American Babies will be on board for this date as well as the previously announced performances.

stop! BOSTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND BURLINGTON ANNOUNCED TOO

Y'all knew that we would start peppering you with some more dates once we geot back from the west coast, didn't you?

We can't spill all the beans at once, but when we say "Stop," we mean STOP. So instead of hitting the road for consecutive weeks, we are going to be sticking around the home-front and having some fun around the homefront ... and we'll have news about that soon as well.

Don't fret, we have shows on the calendar throughout the east coast, but most of it will be in December, so after the Halloween weekend, we are going to head down south for a quick run to a some fresh ground...after we hit the Georgia Theatre (11/2) of course. So roll out the welcome mats in Greensboro, as we will make our first foray into the Flying Anvil on Friday, November 3rd, and then well have some fun in the suds at the Soap Box in Wilmington (with who else, but Meatcamp of course) on Saturday, November 4th. Tom Hamilton's American Babies will be on board for the run down south.

We will be heading to Paradise on the 30th of November, as we return to Boston before the year is out. The following weekend, we will return to New England, as we set up shop at the Stone Church for two nights on December 6th and 7th before heading back to the Higher Ground on Saturday, December 8th. Mark it in your calendars and buy your tickets quickly. In the meantime, head on over to the store and pick up a copy of the new record or go grab some tickets to Burlington, or one of the shows we have on the books already.

a halloween announcement or two

Last year when we decided to head to Charleston, SC, for Halloween at a club called The Music Farm, we had no idea that we would be starting our very own annual tradition for the big scare fest...and now that we think about it, what is scarier to the fine folks of Charleston, South Carolina, then a couple of Jersey Yankees interloping on their turf with some alien sounds. Well, we're here to tell you that it was a match made in heaven, as we are excited to return to the Music Farm for our second straight Halloween Freak Fest. Tickets are only $12 and will go on sale through DuoTicketing over the weekend and will go on sale to the general public beginning on September 4th.

In addition, a limited number of tickets for our October 27th performance at the Bowery Ballroom are now available through DuoTicketing. If the last Bowery play was any indication, the pre-sale tickets will sell quickly, so get yours today. General on-sale through the Bowery website will begin in mid-September.

Tom Hamilton's American Babies will be on board for both shows (and probably more).

bringing the bowery down one more time...BOO!

After canvassing most of the country before the end of October, we will return to the scene of the crime (the great chainsaw scandal of april) for a Halloween weekend homecoming party at the Bowery Ballroom on Friday, October 27th. Tickets will be available via the DuoTicketing presale through Music Today in the coming days. This show is an 18 and over event, advance tickets are $18 and tix are $22 day of show. Tom Hamilton's American Babies will be opening up on this evening. We recommend that you grab your tickets quickly for this holiday extravaganza...as there are only a couple left through the DuoTicketing pre-sale.

play pause stop in stores now

Our new album, Play Pause Stop, is now available in stores everywhere on
Butter Problems/Reincarnate Music (also available now in Japan through P-Vine Records). The album is also available now at the DuoStore and at our concert performances.

Tracks can be previewed through the myspace page and free downloads of the first three songsoff of the album are available right here.

We hope that everybody an head out to their favorite record stores this week and show their support of the band by picking up the disc. We are extremely proud of the music that we are releasing.

Here is the track-listing to Play Pause Stop:

1. Play Pause Stop
2. Echo Park
3. Soba
4. Best Reason to Buy the Sun
5. Powder
6. Something for Rockets
7. Walking, Running, Viking
8. Hate Frame
9. Memphis

and to tide you over!

Follow the links below to get yourself acquaned with the roots of the band, as Itunes is now selling both the long out-of-print self-titled release "Benevento/Russo Duo" and "Darts" (both self-released in 2003).

Check out the MUSIC section for a little more info.

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL ANNOUNCED

We've had to keep this one under wraps for a bit, but today ws the day we were ablve to officially announce it. We will be playing the 2006 ACL Music Festival in Austin, TX (easily one of our favorite towns). The festival takes place between September 15th and 17th and the line-up includes one of the most diverse pools of talent across the globe, including Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Van Morrison, The Flaming Lips, The Raconteurs and over 130 more acts. You can find all of the essentials on the official site. Take it from us...this is just one of those festivals that you can't miss.

Thanks everybody

We wanted to take a moment to thank everybody for coming out this summer and supporting our big tour with Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon. The artists (Trey, Mike, Phil and his band), crew, local production and everybody else involved with this tour were incredibly warm and kind to us throughout the summer and we appreciate the opportunity that we were given to go out and rock with the big boys on the big stage this summer.

We would also like to thank all of the fans who made it out early to catch our brief opening sets. We are very appreciative of all of the support that we have received from the fans while playing a lot of new material for everybody who attended the shows!

The duo, mike & trey to tour this summer

For the first time, Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon are hitting the road together for over three weeks of dates, and they have asked the Duo to round out the band. The run of shows begins on June 28th in Raleigh, NC and includes a double bill with Phil Lesh & Friends for ten shows beginning on 6/28. Though we have been performing with Mike on and off for the past three years, the genesis of the group came together earlier this year when Trey asked us and Mike to join him for a recording session at a Brooklyn studio. Suffice to say, the material rocks. In addition to the new songs, the group will also draw on each other's repertoire and beyond.

Trey, Mike and the Duo's dates with Phil Lesh & Friends follow below. Both bands will play full shows -- Trey & Mike w/ the Duo will close a handful of shows, and Phil Lesh & Friends will close the rest. In addition, The Benevento/Russo Duo (hey, that's us!) will open each show on our own. We expect to announce up to an additional week of Trey & Mike with the Duo dates sometime shortly.

Tickets are available through a real time presale now at http://treytickets.rlc.net. Public on-sales start Friday, May 12. Full show and ticket information will be made available on the Shows page over the course of this week.

TREY ANASTASIO & MIKE GORDON with the Benevento/Russo Duo and PHIL LESH & FRIENDS SUMMER 2006

6/28 Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek - Raleigh, NC
6/30 Tweeter Center At The Waterfront - Camden, NJ
7/1 PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ
7/2 SPAC - Saratoga Springs, NY
7/3 New England Dodge Music Center - Hartford, CT
7/7 Nikon at Jones Beach - Wantagh, NY
7/8 Darien Lakes PAC - Darien Center, NY
7/9 Bethel Woods Center For The Arts - Bethel, NY
7/11 Toyota Pavilion - Scranton, PA
7/12 Champlain Valley Fairgrounds - Essex Junction, VT

LOST - ONE STIHL CHAINSAW & FOUND - ONE BOWERY SELL-OUT; NYC -1; TEAM DUO - 1

This past Friday saw the best of times and the worst of times to paraphrase Dickens. As expected, Marco and Joe performed for a capacity crowd at the Bowery Ballroom on Friday, April 28th. The guys featured a setlist heavy on material from the forthcoming release, entitled "PLAY PAUSE STOP", which is tentatively being slated for a mid-July release. But while we were rocking the crowd on the inside of this esteemed venue, the LES residents were taking something back, as our boy Bobby Balls lost his prized Stihl Chainsaw that had an appointment with our trailer the following day...after a few Makers on the Rocks we all got over the loss, but it just goes to show you that even in our hometown there is only so much love to go around.

A BIG thank you goes out to everybody who made the energy at the Bowery contagious. We had been looking forward to the big homecoming show for quite some time and none of you let us down!

fuji rock festival - duo return to japan

We haven't been back since February of 2005 but is there a bigger way to return than the 10th ANNUAL FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL?! We will be making our very first appearance at one of the world's most prestigious music festivals on July 28th - 30th. We have been added to an already out-of-this-world line-up that includes Red Hot Chili Peppers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, Clap Your Hand Say Yeah, Broken Social Scene, Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Franz Ferdinand, KT Tunstall, Snow Patrol, North Mississippi Allstars and a laundry list of others (with even more to be confirmed). The festival takes place once again at the Naeba Ski Resort in Yuzawa-machi, Niigata, Japan.

If you are looking into making the trip to experience this incredible festival, you can find much more information by clicking here.

lollapAlooza!

As we continue to hash out the rest of our summer plans, we have some more festival news to report. We have been invited (along with a STELLAR collection of talent) to perform at this year's Lollapalooza Music Festival at Grant Park in Chicago (August 4th-5th). With over 130 acts on 8 stages, Chicago will obviously be the place to be this festival season. Other acts on the bill include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco, The Strokes, The Raconteurs, Stars, Gnarls Barkley, Wolfmother, and so many more incredible artists. Ticketing information and other essentials can be found at the Official Lollapalooza Website.

INSTANT LIVE AVAILABLE NOW

After a HOT performance at the Paradise in Boston on December 2nd, we have teamed up with the folks at Instant Live in order to bring y'all a little extra Duo in time for the holidays. We have made the Paradise show available to everybody via the Instant Live website. This show is available for pre-order and will ship in the next few weeks to those of you who order it now. So, don't miss out on a great holiday gift for a loved one. Click here to order now!

west coast updates

We've completed the mixing for our upcoming release with the maestro, Tom Biller, and Mr. Matt Chamberlain over at the Sound Factory. Sessions ran late and even featured an old-school LA "rolling blackout" as we neared the finish line. The album will clock in at around 50 minutes of music, including four never-before-heard new tracks...always a good sign when everybody involved in the session has a different "favorite" and we can't wait untill y'all can hear it and pick your own.

On a late February Friday night, Marco looked like a kid in a candy store at Largo when he was asked to join Jon Brion on stage during Mr. Brion's friday night residency for an insterstellar version of the Stones classic, "Miss You"!

"raw horse" - AVAILABLE NOW in japan

We've been hinting at it for a little while now, but here is the official announcement. P-Vine Records and the Benevento/Russo Duo are excited to announce that "Raw Horse", our first official live release will be available exclusively in Japan on March 2nd (this includes all Japanese music retailers and Japenese online distributors).

"Raw Horse" features several tracks recorded just after the release of "Best Reason to Buy the Sun". Tracks were culled from the Duo's first headlining performance at the Fox Theatre in Boulder on May 11th, 2005 and feature explosive live versions of what have become the staples of the Duo's recent concerts.

The tracklisting includes:

1. 9 x 9 (7:20)
2. The Three Question Marks (9:54)
3. Becky (6:11)
4. Mephisto (10:21)
5. Sunny's Song (4:01)
6. My Pet Goat (11:35)
7. Best Reason to Buy the Sun (6:02)

For all of you in other parts of the world looking to get a hold of this disc, stay tuned for info on how you can get a hold of the disc stateside.

checking in from the studio

Marco and Joe have been in Los Angeles for just under a week now tracking the follow-up to Best Reason to Buy the Sun at Beer Wine Fish in Echo Park. Russo strapped on the Tele early in the session and we haven't been able to get him to sit down at the kit since. More details and pictures from the sessions soon.

tuba sunshine - when marco has free time

Like Marco isn't busy enough, head on over to his newest creation, TubaSunshine.com and grab some of his new t-shirt designs...and while your in the money-spending mood, head over to the DuoStore and grab a piece of Duo swag or two.

love from the fans

First it started last week with the launch of the DuoRocks Site. Then things got downright strange when we received this link from our friend Flaco earlier today. Although not affiliated in any way with the Official Benevenot/Russo Duo site, SirJoeRusso.com will answer all of your questions pertaining to the knighting of our favorite drummer. Thanks to our community of fans for supporting us in so many creative ways!

lend a hand (or two)...

We are so thankful to all of the fans for your continued support of Benevento/Russo Duo and as we prepare for what is shaping up to be our most ambitious tour yet this coming fall, we are asking for your help. After many false starts, we are excited to announce the new and improved Duo Street Team. Please send an e-mail with your contact information to our man Chris (who will be heading up the new arm of Team Duo) and send some love!

LAUNCH OF MUSICTODAY TICKETING SITE

Since we are staring into the eyes of our biggest tours to date, we figured we would bring along some experienced company to help our fans purchase tickets without enormous surchages. With that being said, we are pleased to announce that we will be partnering with Music Today to offer y'all an opportunity to purchase tickets directly from us for upcoming Benevento/Russo Duo performances...so add http://www.beneventorussoduo.tickets.musictoday.com to your favorites today.

Don't sleep on the store

We are in the midst of breaking out some new designs and trinkets for the big fall tour, but in the meantime, head on over to the store and grab yourself some of the old favorites in new Summertime colors, as we have recently updated the webstore to include our newest color schemes to our most familiar designs...and while you're at it, you can also determine what the Best Reason to Buy the Sun really is.

duo ringtones

Yeah, you heard us...Duo Ringtones are available now from Decent Xposure and by the looks of it, they are making quite a splash. Choose one of three wonderful selections off of Best Reason to Buy the Sun, "Becky," "My Pet Goat" or "Scratchitti" can be downloaded now, right here and in moments, you can have the coolest ringtone around. And if you've been sleeping for the past couple of months, or are a new fan, be sure to pick up a copy of "Best Reason to Buy the Sun" from the Duo Webstore or your favorite local record store.

"Best Reason" Available NOW

Best Reason to Buy the Sun is now on the shelves of all of your favorite (and not-so-favorite) record shops. So, be sure to head on over to your favorite shop and drop some coin on our debut ropeadope release. Thank you to all of the fans who pre-ordered the record and are listening to the disc as we speak...for those of you who were slow on the pre-order and can't be bothered to go out of the house, just click here now to have it shipped to your door today.

Rolling stone and more praise duo and best reason...

The Immortals issue of Rolling Stone (Issue #972, April 21, 2005, on newstands now) features The Duo in their South by Southwest 2005 round-up. Senior Editor, David Fricke, refers to the band as "a fusion army at heavy metal volume". To hear what else he said, pick up your copy today, and while you are at it, grab a copy of BRTBTS right here, right now in our newly-launched store.

BEST REASON TO BUY THE SUN”

We are pleased to announce that ropeadope records has set the street date for our new album, entitled "Best Reason to Buy the Sun". It will be available across the country on April 5th, 2004 (although for those of you lucky enough to live in Japan, it will be available in mid-February over there with some bonus material taboot). Keep checking back with us to find out about special pre-order opportunities through our store, the ropeadope store, and at all of our shows starting in March.

The Album was recorded this past August at the historic Sound Factory in the heart of Hollywood, CA. We had some friends, both new and old, involved in the project. Joey Waronker lent his production skills to the project and John Paterno engineered the LA sessions. Our cohorts in crime, Skerik and Mike Dillon came out to LA to add a little Coxygen flavor to a couple of tracks, and Smokey Hormel came by to drop some guitar into the mix on a couple of songs. We later reconvened at Good and Evil Studios in Brooklyn with engineer, Danny Blume, to lay down a couple more tracks that we felt couldn’t be left off of this piece of music. We are thankful to everybody who participated in the project and we can’t wait for all of you to hear the final work.

In the meantime, here is the first official tracklist for "Best Reason to Buy the Sun"
1. Becky
2. Welcome Red
3. Sunny's Song
4. Vortex
5. 9x9
6. Scratchitti
7. The Three Question Marks
8. Bronko's Blues
9. My Pet Goat
Bonus Track: Mephisto

Welcome Back Our Friends, Step Inside Step Inside

Make sure that you bookmark the new domain name (www.beneventorussoduo.com), as the old domain name will continue to forward you to the new site for a few months, but after that, we will be shedding the organanddrums.com domain name for good.

…AND UNTIL THEN

Please check out our updated tourdates section as we will continue to add more dates as they are confirmed (there are many more on the horizon). Check out our recent additions, including the majority of the newly confirmed Spring Tour.

 

Bits

Buy Benevento/Russo Duo Concert Tickets Here

Download tracks from Play Pause Stop here

Exclusive ACL Festival and Lollapalooza Itunes Downloads Here

Links to Early Releases on Itunes and Fall Tour Downloads available on Music Page!

Purchase Duo Paradise (Boston) show from Instant Live Today

Purchase Live Duo/Gordon and Anastasio/Gordon/Duo Collaborations Here

Join Our Street Team

Join Our Mailing List

Duo Rocks Fansite

Rus/Ben discussion group

Benevento/Russo Duo on MySpace

Tuba Sunshine

ReNew Orleans

UPCOMING SHOWS

1/27/2007 - Russo w/ Chris Hartford's Band of Changes - Brooklyn, NYC

2/2/2007- Bobby Previte and Andrea Klein's "The Separation" - Minneapolis, MN

2/3/2007- Bobby Previte and Andrea Klein's "The Separation" - Minneapolis, MN

2/7/2007 - Bobby Previte and Andrea Klein's "The Separation" - Buffalo, NY

2/8/2007 - Bobby Previte and Andrea Klein's "The Separation" - Buffalo, NY

2/28/2007 - Bustle In Your Hedgerow - Boulder, CO

3/1/2007 - Bustle In Your Hedgerow - Denver, CO

3/2/2007 - Bustle In Your Hedgerow - Chicago, IL

3/17/2007 - Bustle In Your Hedgerow - Teaneck, NJ

See Shows page for details.

Order Play Pause Stop and more today from the DUO Store today!

Duo Ringtones Available at Decent Xposure
in polyphonic or mp3 format

FOR THE PRESS

Be sure to check the press page, as we have updated it with a couple of new links and also included downloadable versions of our bio, poster and publicity photo!