Photo by Aliya Naumoff
For a few years now, Islands have been working on perfecting a skewed, fascinating take on pop music. But this fall, the band will have its work cut out for it, holding down the opening slot for two of the defining straight-up pop bands of the last three decades. Between them, craggy-voiced London new wavers the Psychedelic Furs and Madchester survivors in the Happy Mondays have at least one box set's worth of great songs. Opening for these two bands, as Islands will be doing, has to be both an honor and a challenge.
Over the next few months, Islands have a pretty extensive North American tour lined up. They'll play some shows opening for the Furs and the Mondays, and they'll headline plenty more, many of them with former Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl. All those dates are below.
Islands:

09-22 Asbury Park, NJ - Asbury Lanes09-23 Richmond, VA - Plaza Bowl09-24 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 50609-25 Athens, GA - Caledonia09-26 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder09-27 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits09-28 Tampa, FL - Ritz Ybor ^09-29 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution ^09-30 Orlando, FL - House of Blues ^10-02 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade ^10-03 Charlotte, NC - Amos' Southend ^10-04 Norfolk, VA - The Norva ^10-06 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club ^10-07 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero ^10-09 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom ^10-10 Cambridge, MA - House of Blues ^10-12 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall ^10-13 Pontiac, MI - Clutch Cargo's ^10-14 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus 10-15 Chicago, IL - Subterranean *10-18 Missoula, MT - Badlander *10-19 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey *10-20 Vancouver, British Columbia - Rickshaw Theatre *10-21 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre *10-22 Davis, CA - UC Davis (Oddfellows Lodge) *10-23 Berkeley, CA - UC Berkeley (Lower Sproul Plaza) *10-23 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill (day show)10-24 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour 10-25 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room *10-27 Austin, TX - Mohawk *10-28 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves *10-29 Memphis, TN - Hi Tone Cafe *10-30 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree Cafe *10-31 Atlanta, GA - Lenny's Bar *11-01 Durham, NC - Duke Coffee House *11-02 Baltimore, MD - G-Spot *11-03 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *11-04 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *11-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *11-06 Montreal, Quebec - Theatre Plaza 11-07 Toronto, Ontario - The Mod Club
* with Jemina Pearl ^ with Psychedelic Furs and the Happy Mondays