Hello there!

Most important bit up top:

• We are hosting three shows on November 13 (Brooklyn), December 12 (Austin), and February 12 (Asheville)

• Asheville — Thursday, February 12 — is on presale, exclusively for Train Songz subscribers, here. Use code “SWANNANOA” to unlock before the general public onsale tomorrow.

  • This will be a release party for Z9.

• Interested in New York or Austin? Fill out this form and we’ll keep you in the loop. Austin will be a release party for Z8.

Now I’m gonna write the rest of the email for those who read these in full, but I like to put the important stuff up top for my skimmers…

Train Songz has always been all about offline experiences. Once the meme page picked up speed, I started profusely sweating: how can we get this content offline? Mailboxes. Paper. Ink. Thus, the zine was born. It’s been the most fun I’ve ever had working on anything in my life to write about and around the music we all love and figure out how to squeeze that into 44 pages of fanzine.

In continuing the spirit of Train Songz taking things offline, I’d like to announce…

Train Songz LIVE!

We will host three shows and social gatherings for our community from November to February:

• Thursday, November 13 — Brooklyn, NY

  • Venue & band to be announced later

  • Fill out this form to be the first to know

• Friday, December 12 — Austin, TX

  • Venue & band to be announced later

  • Fill out this form to be the first to know

  • This will be a release party for Z8!

• Thursday, February 12 — Asheville, NC

  • An evening with The Asheville Mountain Boys at The Grey Eagle

  • Grab tickets here for $20 ($26.87 after fees and tax, such is life)

  • Use presale code “SWANNANOA”

  • This will be a release party for Z9!

  • We’ll also have dyers, artists, and bootleggers who are Friends of the Train peddling their wares.

We love The Asheville Mountain Boys and are honored they want to partner with us for an event. (The zine-team, specifically Brakeman, manifested us doing this in 2026 pretty much immediately after Billy’s Asheville run last winter. Very cool to see his vision come to life.)

We also love the other two local acts we’re partnering with in Brooklyn and Austin. (Once again, make sure you fill out this two-question Google Form to stay in the loop on those shows about band, venue, tickets, etc.)

On the economics of throwing a concert: We could make money, we could lose money. Ticket sales and/or tips will allow us to pay the band and the venue before we pay ourselves. Some bands want a flat rate, some bands want a percentage of ticket sales, and some bands want a free show with tips. We are deferring to the band in each situation. We’ll probably sell offline-exclusive merchandise and zines, as well, to help fundraise.

Seeya there.

–The Conductor