Mastering work on the subdudes' forthcoming album, "Flower Petals," has been completed, and the finished recording will soon be delivered to the record company. That means promotional copies could be in the hands of radio stations within a month or so.

The CD is slated for official release on 429 Records on Sept. 1. It’s the band’s first studio album in two years. The subdudes will tour widely to support the album.

"Flower Petals," in fact, has something of an Old West flavor. The songs are loosely tied together by a common theme, set at the turn of the century and mostly told from the point of view of a soldier who has passed on. Toward the end of the recordings, the narrator's spirit is finally released to the great beyond.

Jimmy Messa sent a handful of pictures that the subdudes took during some free time on their mini-tour of Alaska! (Here's Steve Amedee and Tim Cook right outside of Juneau with the Mendenhall Glacier behind them.) Check out the photos!

Nearly four years after he stepped down as webmaster in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, subdudes.com founder Richard Russell is returning as webmaster.

Scott Cunningham, who ably held the reins of the site, is stepping down. “The band would like to thank Scott for picking up the web page after Richard stepped down,” said Tim Cook, speaking for his fellow subdudes band members.

“We want everyone to know how much we appreciate Scott running the web pages and keeping it going over the last few years. I'm sure we're going to be hearing more from Scott.

“The band is also excited to let you all know that we’ve asked Richard to come back. The band has decided to go back to its roots musically with the upcoming album, and in some ways getting Richard involved again is also like returning to our roots, since he started this thing,” Cook said.