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The Shins' James Mercer

May 06, 2009 The Shins By Laura Studarus Photography by Crackerfarm

On Saturday night at Washington University, The Shins unveiled unexpected changes in their lineup. Keyboardist Marty Crandall has been replaced with Ron Lewis from Grand Archives and Fruit Bats, while drummer Jesse Sandoval’s place has been taken by Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse.

In an interview posted today on Pitchfork, frontman James Mercer admitted the lineup shake up wasn’t due to bad blood between band members and that he, “…wouldn’t say I’d never work with them again. I love working with those guys,” but rather that, “I started to have production ideas that I wanted to do that basically required some other people…it’s an aesthetic decision.”

The new band is working on a new album. While there’s no release date, it will be released on Mercer’s own label Aural Apothecary, which is also set to rerelease Mercer Pre-Shins project Flake Music’s 1997 album, When You Land Here, It’s Time to Return.

In the meanwhile, catch Mercer’s guest appearance on Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse project Dark Night of the Soul.

Welcome the new guys:

5-06 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
5-07 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
5-09 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
5-10 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium
5-11 San Diego, CA - SOMA
5-13 Richmond, VA - The National
5-14 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
5-15 Baltimore, MD - Ram’s Head Live
5-16 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
5-17 Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theater
5-18 New York, NY - Terminal Five

(www.theshins.com)