The Dirtbombs - History - We Have You Surrounded (2008-2009)

We Have You Surrounded (2008-2009)

Recording of We Have You Surrounded, the fourth In The Red LP, began in November 2006 as a five song EP. The length of time since the band's last full-length, 2003's Dangerous Magical Noise, led to the decision to finish it as an LP, once again postponing the bubblegum record. Recording resumed in the summer of 2007, and We Have You Surrounded was released in February 2008. Far from being bubblegum, the album's themes are dark. The song "Leopard Man at C & A" features lyrics taken from comic book writer Alan Moore's poem of the same name, (described by Collins as "a fabulous take on urban paranoia").

In support of We Have You Surrounded, the band embarked on tours of the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Festival appearances included the Golden Plains Festival in Australia, The Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans, the Afro Punk Festival in Brooklyn, and the All Tomorrow's Parties's Nightmare Before Christmas Festival in England. In July 2008, the band returned to the eastern U.S.A., opening for Spiritualized, and later touring with TV on the Radio in the Fall.

Five singles were issued in 2008: a cover of a Suicide song on the Irish label Infirmary Phonographic; an INXS covers single on Australian label Stained Circles; a Sparks covers single on In The Red, which includes "Sherlock Holmes", also found on We Have You Surrounded and an iTunes compilation; and two splits on Cass Records with 2008 touring partners - a cover of Detroit proto-punk band Death on a split with touring partner Kelley Stoltz and a split with Dan Sartain.

While touring for We Have You Surrounded, Ko Melina stopped playing her parts on a "fuzzed" bass and instead started playing a baritone guitar.