THE SPLIT SQUAD Releases Debut Album 'Now Hear This' Today

Fresh off their second annual appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX - in a showcase at the Gingerman, presented by Blurt Magazine - The Split Squad will be playing a series of East Coast tour dates to promote the release of their debut album, Now Hear This, which will have its official U.S. release on vinyl today, April 15, 2014.

The Split Squad kicked off their Spring tour in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on March 7 before heading down to to SXSW, and will wrap up on April 28 in Longbranch, New Jersey, sharing bills with legendary NYC-based rockers The Fleshtones. Upcoming dates and venues include:

04/24/14 IOTA Arlington VA
04/25/14 The Bowery Electric New York NY - w/The Figgs
04/26/14 Cafe Nine NewHaven CT
04/28/14 Brighton Bar Longbranch NJ

Formed in 2011, The Split Squad is the the brainchild of bassist/singer Michael Giblin, of the PA-based powerpop band Parallax Project, who assembled a team of veteran musicians he had worked with over the years on tours and various recording projects. The other members of The Split Squad are:

Drummer Clem Burke, a founding member of Blondie, and a 2006 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Burke is also a highly sought-after session musician who has worked with Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop and Joan Jett, among many others.

Guitarist Eddie Muñoz of L.A.'s legendary powerpop outfit The Plimsouls (whose single "A Million Miles Away" charted on the Billboard Hot 100) and more recently Magic Christian and Parallax Project, with Giblin.

Guitarist Keith Streng, founding member of seminal rockers The Fleshtones, longtime fixtures of the New York garage-rock scene that grew from the famed Manhattan music club CBGB.

Keyboardist Josh Kantor, of The Baseball Project, and Boston-based folk-rock band Jim's Big Ego, who also serves as the organist for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Featuring 12 original tracks plus a cover of The Small Faces' "Sorry She's Mine," Now Hear This is the unmistakeable product of its members common roots in the classic powerpop, punk, glam and garage rock of the '70s and '80s. The album was produced by Seattle music icon Scott McCaughey, best known as a founding member of cult faves The Young Fresh Fellows and the Minus 5. Adding to the star power on The Split Squad's debut are guest appearances by McCaughey, Peter Buck (R.E.M.),Hugo Burnham (Gang of Four), and Mike Gent (The Figgs). Now Hear This was recorded in the summer of 2012, at Woolly Mammoth Studios in Waltham, MA. The vinyl LP will retail for $20 and will include a download code for a digital version.

For more information, please visit the band's official website at www.thesplitsquad.com and their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TheSplitSquad.