TREAT: Superchunk and Quivers surprised attendees of their recently concluded US tour with a split 7-inch. In keeping with Superchunk tradition, the double A-side Halloween single featured two covers, with Superchunk taking on Dead Moon’s “Fire in the Western World” and Quivers interpreting Yo La Tengo’s “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind.”

TRICK: The record, hand-numbered in an edition of 300, sold out on said recently concluded US tour. 

TREAT: The Superchunk/Quivers split single is now available wherever you listen to music, and can be added to your digital library via Bandcamp or the Merge store!

Mac McCaughan on “Fire in the Western World”:

After a couple years off, we are back in the haunted house with a Halloween track for you! This time we’re doing the timeless ”Fire In The Western World” from eternal rockers Dead Moon. We enjoyed playing this tune nearly every night on tour with Quivers this month, and while the tour 7-inch is sold out, you can now frighten trick-or-treaters by blasting this one from your preferred digital source. Can’t you hear the rooster crowing in the dead of the night?

Quivers on “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” which premiered via Paste Magazine:

We chose an impossible song, Yo La Tengo’s incredible 10-minute, 47-second classic “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” and had a real good time being in the song. Especially being in a song that is also an older soul song, you just dip your toes in the river of song that went before and will go forever. That beat and bassline goes forever. We played around with our Tascam 388 reel-to-reel for the first time really recording ourselves. Bella and Holly dueled the vocals, and we kinda imagined the song more as a transmission that comes and goes rather than the epic world of Yo La Tengo’s amazing repetition. Holly then mixed the song, and it felt good to have a first song we’d done all by ourselves. DIY is the only future for music, we think! Doing a split 7-inch with Superchunk ahead of the tour was a dream.

 

Drawing by James McNew / Sleeve design by Holly Thomas and Daniel Murphy

This release marks the second for the Superchunk line-up of Mac McCaughan (vocals/guitar), Laura Ballance (bass/vocals), Jim Wilbur (guitar/vocals), and Laura King (drums/vocals) following the release of “Everybody Dies” b/w “As in a Blender”, which kicked off Merge’s 35th anniversary festivities. For Quivers, it follows the release of their acclaimed Merge Records debut Oyster Cuts.

Both bands have wrapped their respective tours of North America but will close out 2025 on the road, with Superchunk touring Australia in December and Quivers swinging through their home turf in November before arriving in the EU to finish out the year. Tickets for all dates are on sale now.

Superchunk on tour: 
Dec 07 Fortitude Valley, AU – The Brightside Brisbane
Dec 08 Adelaide, AU – Lion Arts Factory
Dec 10 North Perth, AU – The Rosemount
Dec 13 Leichardt, AU – Crowbar Sydney
Dec 14 Richmond, AU – Corner Hotel Melbourne

Quivers on tour: 
Nov 01 Turner, AU – The Polo
Nov 02 Newtown, AU – Waywards
Nov 03 Port Kembla, AU – The Servo
Nov 08 Richmond, AU – The Corner Hotel Melbourne
Nov 15 Hobart, AU – Altar
Nov 16 Fortitude Valley, AU – Black Bear Lodge
Dec 03 Dresden, DE – Ostpol
Dec 04 Berlin, DE – Neue Zukunft
Dec 05 Hamburg, DE – Hebebühne
Dec 06 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Dec 10 Paris, FR – Supersonic
Dec 11 London, UK – The Lexington
Dec 12 Manchester, UK – Castle Hotel
Dec 13 Madrid, ES – Maravillas Club
Dec 14 Barcelona, ES – Heliogábal
Dec 15 Valencia, ES – Loco Club
Jan 25 North Fremantle, AU – Mojos