08/23/2010 august23
Posted by: tim
We’re still driving through the desert, like we’re running over coals. Stopping is burning. But it’s so long. The constant redbrown mountains of Nevada are patiently watching us move out towards Arizona. From what i know of Arizona, there likely isn’t the cool, foggy weather of home awaiting us. But i imagine there is delicious flavours of iced tea in nice, reusable glass bottles. And more people to play for. The last few shows (LV, SF, LA) were great and thanks to everyone for coming out and coming up and saying hi. Hearty apologies to Santa Barbara and Solana Beach for our missing those shows. We were stuck in the suburbs of San Jose with a busted van and no prospects other than buying a new one. Rough day. But we are back on the blacktop now, in a new rig, with a lot less apprehension about hills and distances. Ready to push on east. and on we go. x
07/15/2010 the go!
Posted by: tim
okay home now for a bit of the real thing, the best possible, the newfoundland summer. trying to get on the water, beside the fire, out in the woods, as much as possible. but first, we are finishing the final mixes of the new album, putting the songs in the right order, getting it all to sit right and be one thing and be beautiful and smooth and sharp. then the artworking. and then the touring!
it's a busy time ahead. we're leaving in a week or so and gone til november (just like wyclef). its an east coast trip, then off to shanghai for the world expo, and then we embark on a full-on u.s. tour supporting 'hot hot heat' in pretty much every major city in america. and then across canada too. and then to the hospital. and then back to the bars.
big thanks to everyone that made our last, fairly random tour such a great time. from the storm-bravers in burlington, to the hockey players in vegas, the queen hand-shakers in ottawa to the pride-paraders in san fran. big love to all our california people for the little tour through, (except the thieving housekeepers at the sheraton in san diego that are currently using my iphone and laughing laughing laughing! well they're probably not really laughing...they're probably housekeeping. but shamefully apping away on their breaks. or maybe they bought their children medicine. or crayons and construction paper. maybe i'm glad they took it. no, i'm not glad, but i'm gonna start leaving tips. yeah...) anyhow, its an incredible, terrifying, hotass state to be sure. muchos gracias. hasta luego.
yes hasta everyone luego. we've got to be in your neck of the woods soon! so we'll see ya then. can't wait.t
xo
06/11/2010 mix
Posted by: tim
this week josh and i are in sunny scotland, stuck indoors but having a fine time mixing the mess we've created over the last few weeks. it makes for long days but it's going down smoothly enough. and while the tracks are all getting setup in the afternoon i get to wander around the many parks of glasgow, getting hopelessly lost and enamored. i secretly hope we'll get a chance to head out of town and visit a castle before we go back to canada next week. maybe its just that i recently saw this robin hood movie. or maybe its just that castles are amazingly kick ass. either way, i shall finish my cheese and pickled onion sandwich and get back to the mixing board.
luv
05/09/2010 may the ninth be with you
Posted by: tim
so halifax was nice. always is really. though we mosly only saw the inside of the studio. and burrito jax. and ray's lebanese. long days, but the songs are finished now for good and all the directions and grooves set down. we spend another week here at home finishing charts and watching for sun, and then it's back to halifornia for the next, and final, session; to put the paint on, and sing the singing in. hopefully no hard drive, nor ash cloud, nor bout of illness will slow our schedule this time. and before we know it'll be over and we'll be back in the van playing summer shows around the continent. nice.
hope you are well. hug yer mom.
tim
04/12/2010 juno what time it is
Posted by: tim
today i am sick and i am slowed down and see that i haven't written for a month or so. we have been very busy getting ourselves ready to start recording our next album next week. but now the songs are all written, the parts in place, the orchestral arrangements nearly finished. and i have crashed into a jealous bed. but not for long with a busy week ahead besides with the juno awards here in our very hometown.
we're playing two shows ourselves...thursday night at the delta ballroom with local favs the idlers and the novaks. and then friday night at the majestic theatre with the great lake swimmers and mr rich aucoin. that'll be something. (see the "tour dates" section of the site for times and ticket info). also a few of the boys are playing with our friend amy millan at her solo show at the ship on saturday night (between "mercy the sexton" and "land of talk". what?!)
i'm doing a short solo thing myself on saturday afternoon at fred's records. i'm on around 4:30 but i know sean mcann (great big sea) is on at 2 and post data (paul and tim from wintersleep) are on around 3:30. so much to be at this weekend. hope you are here to enjoy.
off to nap in the sun.
03/09/2010 marchin on
Posted by: tim
it's march and we're here at home, in the grey rain. oddly happy to be pumping flood water from our basements, tunes from pianos, wine into our heads. the olympics were monumental and great. hugely better than i anticipated. so much more than the tv events, the strange ritual of judging other nations on their athletic prowess. it was so celebratory. despite the politics and prices, and the ubiquitous security and corporate sponsors, it was strangely pure and beautiful underneath. and we enjoyed 7 completely different, completely fun shows. many thanks to the west.
here at home we are inching closer and closer and closer to recording our next album. the schedule is nearly in place. the songs are nearly in place. the excitement is already comfortably seated in my sternum, stretching out, wiggling her fingers and toes. it's been so long. i hope she will stay with us through the grey rain ahead.
in fact she's tugging at me now, to stop writing words on a webpage and to hurry back downstairs to the notebooks. requests i can't deny.
next week we're in texas for the massive south by south west music festival. bring in the sun! bring in the bbq and beer!
i will spill the first mouthful onto the ground for you.
peace
tim
01/19/2010 twenty below and wind off the water
Posted by: tim
it's cold.
i'm cold.
i've got my cut-off piano gloves out and am sitting in the warming glow of another space heater. reading and writing. and here's some of the great james agee to warm you up...
On the rough wet grass of the back yard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there. First we were sitting up, then one of us lay down, and then we all lay down, on our stomachs, or on our sides, or on our backs, and they have kept on talking. They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine, quiet, with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of night. May god bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.
After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.
from under toque and quilt and coffee steam,
good evening.
12/31/2009 2010
Posted by: tim
happy new year!
and seriously now...i want the whole year to be your happiest. every day happier than the last, and so on, on into next year.
and why not? if i'm wishing you something, it may as well be eternal and excellent. if i think my wishes mean anything, will result in anything, then i may as well make it count. let's not be timid and full of doubt this year. let's not be superstitious and hedging and afraid. let's pull out peace and safety and health and fulfillment and wide eyes and big love till you die old and happy and done. right.
all.the.best.
2010.
a real ring to it.
hr!xo
12/14/2009 !
Posted by: tim
after touring ourselves east to halifax, we're back in toronto for one last gig before heading home for a christmas break. the cbc radio2 songquest crew have put together a big show, with all the writers/bands involved, tomorrow night here at the glenn gould studio on front street. i suppose it'll be aired at some point. i'll let you know.
heartfelt thanks to all who came out the shows this run. you probably won't see us again for awhile. after our two christmas shows in st johns, this weekend, we're gonna take a couple months, in our wintry new found land and workaway on the new songs.
also, i think those 7" records are finally pressed and shipped from the factory, so hopefully we can get them out to you for christmastime giving. visit the merchandise page for more info on that.
ok happy holy days everyone.
glad tidings etc
!
tim
11/25/2009 pink ties, turnstiles, blue skies, mince pies
Posted by: tim
hey we're in london and it's all bright sun and spots of tea today. we've had a real week though. a show here, and then the train to paris for a couple (tabernak cette ville! c'est du construire sur les dos des poetes! les os de la revolution! les lacs d'urine!) and then the train back again and 746 subway rides later we are here, en hotel, eating potato cakes and marmite. two more shows and we're back to canada for another run of cities, toronto east.
big thank yous to everyone who keeps coming to see us play so far away from home. big sorrys to all our loved ones we have not called or written to. its bloody precious to telecommunicate from this kingdom here.
ok. off to sing for supper.
in other news our song for gros morne is done and handed in and i think was played a couple times yesterday. unfortunately you can only hear a small (somewhat innocuous) sample of it on cbc radio2's website, but i suppose it'll be on the air from time to time. drive (with sir rich terfry) is a pretty terrific show to listen to anytime anyhow.
anyway peace to you.
tim
11/13/2009 painthing
Posted by: tim
hi there,
i shouldn't be writing when i'm in such a hurry but alas, time is speeding up as we get closer to our flight over to england and onto the road for a month. just here finishing some string parts for our cbc great canadian songquest recording this afternoon. eep.
but the reason i stopped to write this here was because time is also running out on this year's kidney foundation's art auction. they asked me to create a painting for it, so i obviously agreed, having never painted a thing in my whole drab, grey, blank slate of a life. until now. it's here if you want a peek or even bid on it.
ok i really do have to run.
bless you, i'm out.
10/28/2009 10.28.09
Posted by: tim
hey.
this isn't gonna be easy, but i got some things to tell you.
it's not gonna be easy cause i think i sprained my middle finger ten-pin bowling last night. but the things are all fun and exciting!
first of all, we're heading into the arts and culture centre in a few hours to sound check with the newfoundland symphony orchestra. we're playing three of our songs with them on friday night here in st johns, as part of their annual fundraiser gala. arranging for an orchestra was pretty fucking serious and possibly beyond josh and i, but it's done and i am super psyched to hear it in real life instead of midi. also on the bill are ron hynes, cheryl hickman, tina maddigan and abbey road (beatles tribute band). online tickets are sold out, but i think there are some left at 709-722-4441. heads up though, they're 100$ a pop.
also, thanks to everyone that voted for us in the cbc "great canadian song quest" campaign. we got it! and i started working on a song about gros morne late last night (post-bowling, playing piano with only 9 fingers). and there is fruit there ripening. over the long range mountains.
ok more news soon.
careful out there. it's windy.
10/12/2009 re:quest
Posted by: tim
Ho there passersby!
Just a small bit of news on this wet blustery night. We've been nominated to be a part of the CBC's Great Canadian Song Quest. Basically, you vote for one artist in each province or territory and then vote for the place you wish them to immortalize in song. We are happy and honoured to have been chosen among our friends, comrades, and favourites. Hawksley Workman, Joel Plaskett, Old Man Leudecke, Coeur De Pirate, Malajube, Julie Doiron, Olympic Symphonium, Woodpigeon, Jenn Grant have all been selected from their respective provinces as well as Damhnait Doyle, Ron Hynes, Amelia Curran, and Mark Bragg from our stomping ground here in Newfoundland. Nice.
Please go to: http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/songquest/index.html and vote for your choice. It'd be cool if you voted for us...just sayin... and I've got a few good ideas for a song about signal hill...just sayin...oh and you can vote once per day so vote often if you like...just sayin... And please pass this along to your friends and fellow Canadian music lovers!
Thank you for your reading and scrolling.
Please have an incredibly good day.
09/26/2009 at weeks end
Posted by: tim
big thanks to the sackville fall fair, the fredericton harvest festival, the polaris music prize, the xm verge awards and itunes in studio sessions for keeping us busy over the last week or so. and today we're in the summery sun of vancouver island, about to go and soundcheck for our show at the transmission/rifflandia festival tonight here in victoria. a couple of beautiful days for a wicked sick lineup of new music... tonight we're playing with caracol, the penderecki quartet, jon and roy, jordan klassen, jets overhead and buck 65. cool man. cool.
and then we're out of here, and home. for a month of new songs and sleep. hazzah!
thanks road. see you again soon i'm sure.
oh and congrats to our pal dan mangan, xm artist of the year! (and to alexisonfire and fucked up).
oh and the itunes live studio session series should be available soon on the itunes store i suppose. whether it's any good, recorded the day after two big award show party nights in a row, is another story.
ok au revoir
xo
09/14/2009 long live it
Posted by: tim
yellowknife is a big town. and full of love. and after iqaluit and inuvik it feels like the big city. there's lots of tall, shiny government buildings, more than your usual town of twenty thousand would engender. and there's asian restaurants. poor pat (our sound engineer extraordinaire) had his first real meal in a week. the vegetarian options up north have mostly been sides cobbled together, meals missing something. just last night for example we had a meal of whitefish and buns, cooked up over a campfire on an island in great slave lake. it was amazing. pat had buns. but i'm getting ahead of myself.
we got into the knife (apparently it's called yellowknife because the 'dene' aboriginal people traditionally made knife from the copper found in the area) just in time for soundcheck. so we were whisked off to the black knight pub (by our new friends from 'folk on the rocks'...big summer festival in yellowknife hooray!). the show was packed and hot and full of fine dancing and pint raising. so many lovely people. i said it during our said and i wasn't just kissing ass: yellowknife is so much sweeter than i though it would be.
and today, postshow, we got up slowly, testing our heads and eyes in the light, found that we were strong and willing, and set out in a pontoon boat for fishing and whiskey in beautiful prelude lake. although we ended up fishless, we scored some from 'fish guy' through our new friends the dawgwoods. 'fish guy' sells fish out of his truck downtown. just like home.
and so back in town and night had fallen, we set off from the government dock in a couple little aluminum numbers out into the black water of great slave. after a few minutes we got to a houseboat, and it was up on the dock, across the deck, through the woods, over a gulch on a wooden plank and through a throng of welcoming dogs and into the warm circle of a bonfire. soon pike mike arrived with fish spiced and tinfoiled and not long after the northern lights settled above us and we all watched and whistled, drunk and awed. on the way back out in the little boat, the aurora really started going; twisting and twinkling, shaking and shifting, green and white and purple. it was completely unreal. our skipper said he hadn't seen them do that in over a year.
a fitting way to end a trip that's been new the whole time. big love and thanks to everyone that helped make it happen: the arctic college of nunavut, the elks club and the elders of iqaluit, the children first society of inuvik, the folk on the rocks festival in yellowknife and our huge sponser canadian north for flying us around the whole time!
long live the north. i can't really explain it. it's hard, but it's soft. it's small, but it's so big. it's freezing, and real warm.
and tonight we're bound for that balmy southern megaopolis, edmonton. and back to our eastern realities.
so maximum thanks everyone!: neil, jason, sharina, karla, wilson, john, sheldon, patricia, peter, rick, jean, lynn, sarah, joanna, spiderman, becky, pike mike, and so many others.
xo
tim
hr!
09/12/2009 inuvik
Posted by: tim
the most startling thing for me arriving in inuvik, northwest territories (or 'nwt' as everyone here says), was the trees. it's well above the arctic circle, much higher north than iqaluit, but it's full of yellowing birch and evergreen pines. not at all like the rocky tundra of nunavut. then it was explained to me that the arctic circle is a lattitude, a manmade line, that arctic and subarctic ecosytems readily ignore. but there is still permafrost here, and it's still pretty chilly, snowing any day now and not melting until june. this, and the isolation, makes it a headache to build anything. our show, at the (in)famous 'mad trapper inn', was partly a fundraiser to help the 'children first society' of inuvik build an institution for preschool programs and for teaching parenting skills. but the building will cost around 6 million dollars! i doubt we made that much last night, but hopefully we helped raise a little awareness about it. i know we raised a few kokanees. oh boy, they're all too kind up here.
speaking of buildings, they are some neat ones in this humble, sunny, western town. we visited the igloo church; a church made to look like an igloo. and it's absolutely beautiful. it was built by a french pastor with no plans. no plans! this utterly original building was made by hand, right out of his head. apparently they did up blueprints after it was built so it could be approved. awesome.
and then we took a jaunt down the road to the inuvik community greenhouse; an old arena, that was set to be torn down, but then saved by some savvy, strong-willed citizens and turned into a spread of plots, filled with potatoes and tomatoes and herbs and flowers. it's not much good for the two months in winter when its pretty much 24hour darkness. and it can be hard to manage during the 24hour sunlight of midsummer, but the rest of the time it provides healthy and cheap food, in a place where that hardly never happens.
all in all, the high arctic is entirely hospitable. not near as punishing and hard as i imagined. sure, the mad trapper has it's share of tough looking albert johnsons (the strange and singular outlaw after which the bar is named http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Trapper ) but it is tempered by so much good humor and community that you're completely at ease. which i guess is why so many people we've met have been here for 20+ years, after only intending to stay for a few months.
and now we're off the knife, for some big city digging. back on the plane. back over the mackenzie mountains.
soon,
tim
09/08/2009 iqaluit day 4/5/6
Posted by: tim
so we've spent the last 3 days calling the nova hotel home. no really, it's kinda embarrassing. the way you used to call your teacher 'mom' when you were a kid. that's how we're calling the big beige corrugated metal hotel on federal street iqaluit home. and what we call 'over' is the elks club across the street. as in "i'm heading over now in five. we'll run that new tune and i'll murder you in a game of darts". we've been holed up in the elks lodge trying to do some arranging on new songs. we had two days off so we made a deal with the elks whereby they let use their bar sunday and monday (as it's closed anyhow) and we'll play a show there tuesday, with all the proceeds (which the elks will match) going to the children's education fund here in iqaluit. can't say no to that.
today though, before the show, we took some time off rehearsal and drove around to the town of apex, to the old hudson's bay company store (now an inuit art gallery), to the city cemetary, to silvia grinnell national park, and out the 'road to nowhere'. that's actually the name on the road sign. it really goes nowhere. the next settlement is a 9-day hike. well, the road does eventually lead to some gravel pits, but mostly it just runs through the barren moonscape that surrounds the town. though, it's not really barren at all. you just have to get low. nothing grows above twelve inches but below that there's a forest of stuff: mosses and bright flowers and arctic cotton and berries. like so much here, you just have to switch your point of view a little.
we drove down past the airport where they (not sure who) keep the sled dogs. they keep them pretty hungry apparently, so they'll work harder. we had to stop phil from going to pet them, as they probably would have eaten him, bow-flex hardened and adorable though he may be. and tonight we saw the northen lights for the first time. incredible. the inuit say that if you whistle, they'll dance for you. i whistled. i felt strangely connected to them, to the whole night sky. then i learned that they dance for you, as they come to chop off your head. so then you have to clap, or zip your zipper, or rub your fingernails together to ward them off. not sure how much is actual myth and how much was made up on the spot just to mess with me. cause there was a lot of laughs tonight. sweaty times in the arctic! we have to say a big thank you to the elks club, the arctic college and canadian north for making all this actually occur. what hospitality. what love.
tomorrow we fly to inuvik. out of nunavut into the northwest territories. into the arctic circle.
i can't believe i left my coat at home. wow.
until next time, i'll be getting down real low and whistling at the sky.
tim.
09/05/2009 iqaluit day 3
Posted by: tim
today was show day. it's the main reason we're up here and our chance to sing for our supper so to speak. after all the fine treatment and amazing food we've been given, we really wanted to put off something good. and it was alright i think. the crowd, mostly students of the arctic college, was excellent. my favorite parts of the show were the sections when we had the inukshuk drum dancers join us. this is a local group of young girls and their drumming and throat singing and costumes created some really awesome moments of fusion. a lot of what i enjoy about touring around to different places and playing for different peoples is the way the environment can inform the song in a different way. tonight certain songs in particular became more intense because of where we are: 'tired eyes' (an it's human history of environmental disregard and disconnectivity), 'i've been asleep...' (and it's sudden realization that the world has changed and the past is gone), 'handshake the gangster' (and it's dual nature of ambition and the resentment of institutions forced upon you). and so on.
so i had quite a moving time up on stage at the aqsarniit middle school, imagination running off, arms flailing about. and i think the iqalummuit (people of iqaluit) did too. we certainly had a good time taking pictures and doing autographs and playing inuit drums afterwards.
and now its a few days off to really look around. and to hole up in an old club down the road and do some writing and rehearsing. and to hopefully see these elusive northern lights...
until next time,
peace peace peace
tim
09/05/2009 iqaluit day 2
Posted by: tim
up early today for a few more interviews and it was cold but the sun was brilliant and you could feel it despite the distance. the sun takes a long time to rise here it seems. it makes for a pretty light, and all the boulders and pickup trucks and dust seem more meaningful than they might elsewhere. like there is a weight behind all the beauty i can't really put my finger on. i think it has something to do with the story of the inuit.
we met with the community's elders today for some stories and games and country food. we ate beluga meat and narwhal blubber and caribou and arctic char, all raw or smoked. it was good and not at all as intense as it sounds. mild, chewy, clean. and the stories were mild too, plenty of jokes and games and laughing. we were pretty amazed at how friendly they all were (despite the fact only two of them spoke english) and how pleased they seemed to meet us. us! a bunch of young nobodies from newfoundland, white as the driven snow (except for romesh of course). it was very warm in their circular meeting room, lined with quilts and spears and kettles and photographs of old. as we were about to leave they laid around each of our necks us a leather disc on a blue ribbon. on the discs were embossed numbers. mine says "Q 0435". the Q stands for the inuktitut word for "white man" (or literally "fat belly", though i've also heard "fat eyebrows"...it was originally a derogatory term but has come into common usage). the number is my number. i'm white man
09/04/2009 arctic tour. day one. iqaluit
Posted by: tim
0435. see up until the 1970s the government assigned northern natives numbers, because it was so difficult to pronounce their names. one elder mentioned that you can see people today with their number tattooed on their arms. i couldn't tell if they'd tattooed it themselves, or if they had been tattooed by the state at the time, but either way, images of grim nazi rationality leapt into my mind. so, it was a bittersweet gift. very warmly given, amidst food and laughter; but also a heavy reminder of their difficult collective past.
and there are a lot of these layers here. we just walked back to the hotel and met groups of young kids out on the roads, running and laughing and having a great time. but at the same time they were out in t-shirts, getting onto atvs, at midnight.
the steady influence of southern culture and technology presents a similar dichotomy. northern life is becoming easier, faster, safer. but also less independent, less healthy, less pure.
i realize this post is a little heavy. but so is iqaluit. though it's still the friendliest place i've been in a long time. but we just had possibly the best jiggs dinner of our lives. and follow that up with a bottle of rum and few dozen reels on the whistle and guitar in great company, and you're feeling alright. in fact, a bit too alright. sorry for any spelling mistakes. and for the long wind.
goodnight all.
tim (Q 0435)
08/29/2009 show tonight
Posted by: j
we arrived in iqaluit today around noon. it was cloudy and not as cold as we'd expected. a nice, nondescript, autumnal day . the airport, like a lot of the buildings here, reminds you of a moon colony or something from the sci-fi futurism of the 70s. real cool. aside from that it's mostly corrugated metal, friendly faces and sweeping open tundra. it actually looks a lot like parts of newfoundland.
after we checked into the hotel we went off to see sharina dodsworth. see, before we arrived i'd mentioned i'd like to hear what people up here had to say about global warming--their observations, their feelings. ask and ye shall receive...sharina's the education specialist for the nunavut department of the environment and she showed us lots of slides, both terrifying and hopeful, and fed us delicious smoked arcitc char and crackers. we learned that melting waters and rising temperatures aren't just a nightmare waiting to happen up here, they are a tangible threat to the whole northern way of life; unsafe ice, eroding shorelines, changes in wildlife health and populations...sharina characterized climate change as a human rights issue, not just a scientific or political debate. this is really smart. and we also made tea from leaves growing on the hill outside her house. this is really delicious.
the rest of the day was pretty much spent soundchecking and eating and the usual, except i was constantly being reminded we are in the arctic. it's easy to forget. most of the people we met were from elsewhere in canada. and despite hearing some complaints about shoddy building practices, most of the buildings were new and nice and just like down south. "down south" means ottawa by the way. heh.
speaking of the south, i'm off to enjoy an incredibly expensive beer in the hotel bar where they're playing steely dan and eating nachos. somehow i imagined it'd be more northern. i guess there's still plenty north outside the double panes of glass.
oh yeah, i learned a local word today. "tikkitunga!" it means, "we've arrived!"
peace and love from us up here.
tim.
08/16/2009 august. sixteen. shirts off.
Posted by: tim
we are in fact playing a show at the ship tonight (saturday). a limited amount of tickets go on sale at 10 am at fred's records, the remaining tickets will be available at The Ship at 10 pm.
love you
07/15/2009 sorry stewart park
Posted by: tim
my god the summer in newfoundland is the greatest summer there is. every punished leaf, every weary blade, every pale and shivering human being comes out and expands in heat and joy and drunken optimism. the bursting is best in the woods. the smells. the greens. the squawking birds. what a thing! i know cause i've been holed up in a cabin alone for a week trying to write songs but really just standing around in the sun and taking it in and talking to myself. but now i'm back. back in the bright bosom of pixels and traffic and lists and what have i got to say to you passive passersby?
we're off to st anthony this weekend. the great northern peninsula. viking archaeology and ocean fishing and we're playing in an arena. yes now.
but mostly we're here in town with chisel and sandpaper and chalk to the new songs, readying them for the studio microphones. and for some fall dates too.
other things too but that's it for now. i just wanted to wave hello and to mention this big season and say get out into it.
bless
(icelandic for goodbye)
(but also i mean to bless you in some secular and sincere way)
07/07/2009 little big list
Posted by: tim
it is with deep regret that we had to cancel our show at the stewart park festival in perth (ont) this weekend and head home earlier than expected. a death in josh's family made it impossible to stay out and play. but we will still be playing the salmon festival in grand falls this saturday. and then back out to ontario, quebec and america.
we will miss you phillip and may you rest in peace.
peace and love
tim
06/24/2009 the cold hard
Posted by: tim
hey there,
pleasant sunny morning here in calgary. good vietnamese soup and good news to boot...our album has made the polaris prize short list this year. hiphip! we are huge fans of the prize and its mechanics and its mandate and we are real delighted to be up there. what company. wild. thanks everyone.
ok, time to shake off the surreality and go buy some tamborines and patch cables.
great day.
tim
06/13/2009 response
Posted by: tim
hello!
i got some flak that my last weblog was all fluff and artsy fartsy garbage, so today it's all facts.
fact: last week we made the polaris prize long list.
fact: this is totally sweet. each year this list is filled with our favorite records. records with depth and ingenuity and allaround wickedness, so we are pumped to be nominated, and completely humbled by our fellow longlisters.
fact: this is a link to said long list: www.polarismusicprize.ca
fact: we are playing canada day eve this coming tuesday (june30) on the main stage on george street here in st john's. and we've got our friends 'the arkells' from hamilton (this band is excellent!) and 'the novaks' from here in town (new cd just released! pick it up!) to play with us. should be finest kind really.
fact: wednesday is a holiday.
fact: do it!
fact: goodbye.
05/18/2009 uk
Posted by: tim
we're off the road and sitting still now for a minute. i'm trying to remember how it is a song gets itself written. and i'm fixing my house, eating food groups, catching up, even reading again.
i've got this kinda cheesy book that offers a poem for every day of the year. today was an old sonnet, 'the soote season', about the summer come and the new health of all the animals in the english hills. its not really summer here yet, but that pang of jealousy notwithstanding, i found i could relate to old henry howard, earl of surrey. except the gloomy ending:
"and thus i see among these pleasant things
each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs"
no.no.
fuck that, surrey baby! it's saturday night!
and despite the weather, it looks alright.
see you in the real mid-summer.
tim.
04/28/2009 silver linings
Posted by: tim
we got the train from heathrow into piccadilly this evening. we'd driven out to drop off the rental car we'd had for the weekend. i think was ready to stop driving around this town and its fearless, expert racers and their tiny, busy, winding, backwards streets. its all very lovely etc, but better enjoyed from the train i suspect. slightly drunk in the summer night to be precise. we flew passed stations like lords court and barons court and knightsbridge and i had this realization that knights actually fought here. lords lorded and barons baroned and the middle ages actually happened. here. i mean, of course. but also, wow.
and with my big dumb heavy head out the backdoor of the traincar watching the uneven brick roofs and big blooming trees chop across the cloudy city night, i had another realization...that it was summer air there against me. the dirty, thick, zap of summer. and zing. and zip. and sizzle. all z words really.
and speaking of 'z's, the rest of the band are all snoring away behind me in our little hotel room. and i'm off to join them i think. we had a couple late nights at the great escape festival in brighton this weekend. beautiful town. what fun.
then tomorrow its a show in london, then another on wednesday, and then up north to the liverpool sound city festival. and then home. for a little time writing and playing and looking for z words in the night.
until then we'll send you warm nights and happy trails wherever you are.
04/12/2009 easter, terrace bay
Posted by: tim
well we made it out of terrace bay only to break down in peterborough. 3 times actually. we literally couldn't get out of that town. and after so many trips to various mechanics with no success, we realized that our old van's days were done. sad stuff. and a little nervy. we had about 8 hours to rent a car, drive to toronto, find a new van, check it out, figure out how to get enough money to buy, buy it, drive it to peterborough and get our trailer full of gear and get ourselves to hamilton for a show. scary gary. but we did it. and the silver lining is a silver shiny ford e350 diesel beauty. not the same personality as the old girl...no shakes, no rumbles, no smells, no scares...but comfy and smooth and strong.
and now we're basically home. fredericton tonight at the old capital and then charlottetown, sackville, halifax and sydney. then the island. and then at last st johns. but not for long. the uk in mid may. more on that to come later.
right now i'm stepping out into the sun. its summer here now in new brunswick and i'm out to feel it.
you too.
04/01/2009 Tickets On Sale Now!
Posted by: Phil
we are in terrace bay, northern ontario. it's nice and quiet, but we don't want to be here. our dear van has succumbed to the wear of another trip across this enormous country. our transmission self-destructed early yesterday afternoon. luckily the plucky dan mangan was just behind us and gathered some of us under the wing of his volvo and flew off to the safety of sault ste marie and then toronto. for the rest of us, we are in the norwood motel, waiting for monday mechanics. entombed, waiting for the resurrection of our own particular econoline saviour. oh, roll away the rock, local mechanic! let us fly home! to our show in ottawa.
we might be in a situation here. i'm having trouble considering leaving the van behind. but we might have to. oh yvonne. i'm not sure. i'm not sure.
i'll keep you posted.
03/24/2009 waiting for to go
Posted by: tim
Why hello there,
Just a quick message to let you know that tickets for our St. John's show at The Majestic Theatre on May 8th are on sale right now at Allan's Video and Fred's Records for $15!
The proof is in the pudding there Aaron, the proof is in the pudding there...
--Phil
03/03/2009 march!
Posted by: tim
ha! couldn't resist the title gag there. my apologies.
seriously though, scores of flights cancelled early this morning here in the still-raging newfoundland winter. hoping and thinking we'll get out this afternoon. and while i am worried about making our show in victoria tomorrow night, i am also enjoying that rare and luxurious storm day feeling. there's something beautiful about getting a day you didn't think you'd get. my to do list is empty, and i think i'll leave it that way. well, i got some shoveling to do...
and when air canada drops us all on the far western shore, then we truly begin. 25 shows from coast to coast in a little over a month. if you're on the list of stops, you should look into grabbing some tickets soon cause i'm told that a bunch are sold out already. and we've got great support coming with us. mr dan mangan out west, brent randall and all those pinecones throughout ontario, and the cinematic bliss of rich aucoin here on the east coast.
in other news, thanks everyone that voted and helped us take home a couple canadian independent music awards last week in toronto. favorite album and (wha?) favorite website! special thanks to brad perry, sydney smith, jason burns, zack atkinson and james boyle for making this ambitious and rather clunky website dream into a beautiful and user friendly reality (cyberreality). also thanks to my father for continually pointing out all the problems with it. no seriously, thanks.
ok. i'm gonna go make a snowfort until it's time for the airport.
hey that rhymes.
like hugs and highfives.
t.
02/13/2009 13.02.09
Posted by: tim
Hey everybody, 01/19/2008 monday 01>Indie Awards here
first off, thanks to the East Coast Music Association and all the volunteers and all our friends for such a wicked weekend in Corner Brook. And thanks to everyone who voted for us and all the fine faces come out to see our shows. We took home 3 little silver treble clefs for our efforts. Thanks to all.
We're also playing another awards show during Canadian Music Week in Toronto in a couple weeks. You can vote for these
Posted by: tim.
This morning we're on our way through the ice of New Brunswick to the ice of New York. We are playing a couple shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn...March 4th at Piano’s (158 Ludlow St., New York) at 10:30 and then March 5th at Trash Bar (256 Grand St., Brooklyn) at 11:30. If you'd like a complimentary ticket, please respond to this email and we'll gladly put you on the guest list.
And then there's the rest of the spring march across canada (and little pockets of america). There's some holes in it right now where we'll be recording some new music. But there's lots o dates posted here on the 'tour dates' page. check em out.
and hey! we have a couple new videos up online. There's one we shot awhile back with the great Noah Pink in the Annapolis Valley for an unreleased tune called 'red song'. And another little video for 'there's an arc' we shot last Sunday with our sweet sister Jordan Canning at my house in St. John's. You can see these here on our myspace.
ok that's it for now.
thanks again for those awards and all the love.
see you soon
hr!
01/05/2009 .5
Posted by: tim
hey everybody,
it's been awhile. but hey, things take awhile in february. but today things are melting, and so am i. it's a good day, a big messy day here in the streets of st john's. after all the freezing and holding and stalling, things are giving in, gushing forth, releasing. i feel like giving too. but what can i give you here, in blog form? well, how about a poem?
well, a song, really...
couldn't shake
the cold away
a year alone,
stock still,
stuck in snow
two black eyes,
this phony smile,
my senses dead,
my body bent in ice
you took off your winter clothes
and you leaned against
with your eager innocence
my brittle knotted wrists twitched
reaching out
out
for it
right.
oh, next week we'll be heading out to corner brook for the east coast music awards conference/celebrations. we got 4 nominations this year. yip. group recording of the year, factor recording of the year, alternative recording of the year, and songwriter of the year. we're also in the list for the fan's choice award. if you're in a giving mood today too, you could cast your vote for that here: www.cbc.ca/eastcoastmusic.
after the ecmas, we are continuing on westward into the usa and over to ontario for some shows. then it's off to the junos in vancouver and a big ol' tour back. well, more details on that to come.
until then, melt easy.
tim.
12/27/2008 merry xmen
Posted by: tim
what monday of mondays. a big white month stretched out before us. we're back from australia, and by now only traces of jetlag cling to our eyelids. quite an experience, leaving the intense heat and long days and barbecues and soccer games, to be instantly thrust into the full-on newfoundland working winter. i am excited though. the nights i've been unable to sleep since returning have not been spent twisting in bed. i've been pacing about and humming and building a fort in the basement. it's a big tent of sorts, to record in, to keep heat in. and so far it's working. and so am i. songs are being conceived in that little womb of tarp and blanket. plans are hatching. it's monday here.
but to australia (where it's tuesday) we look backwards and send thanks. such wonderful people we met. to steve and christine and jeff and carina and laura and damian and henry and sophie and all our best friends in dead letter chorus and our canadian posse (jill, matt, grant, alexa, hawk, todd) and to every aussie who came to see us and welcomed us so genuinely, we thank you. we hope you enjoyed our shows. we hope you buy our records so we can come back again. to your sweet impossible long summer weekends in january.
ok. to the fort.
bon courage
tim.
12/21/2008 get your things
Posted by: tim
it occurs to me now that half our time in australia is gone. gone to petersham, brisbane, and sydney. gone to the bushes of queensland and new south wales. gone to the beach. gone into the dreamworld of sun and beer and laughing that is life down here. i'm starting to think us hard done by up in the cold and snow. what if we all just moved south a few thousand kilometers? buildings and cars and roads and all. it'd be hard at first, but the payoff could be something.
all said, i can't wait to get home. even if i will spend the next month in a frigid basement playing piano with gloves on, i will be working on new things. putting periods and exclamation points at the end of all these half baked road songs. what a relief that could be.
but we're not done here yet. another show in sydney tonight at the vanguard with hawksley workman, and then we're off to melbourne and brisbane on the 'dead letter chorus' leg of the tour. mm more qantas breakfasts.
and to you i send the heat of the southern sun.
t.
11/29/2008 i'm in no rush, i'm in no rush (oh i, oh i, oh i)
Posted by: tim
well we're in australia. and it's awesome. it's summer here and there's palm trees and wallabys and the friendliest strangers in the world. all true. spent christmas eve riding bikes in newtown and drinking on steve's tin roof in the sun. then christmas day on the powdery sand of bondi beach, bellies full of barbeque, eyes full of bikini, mouths full of pacific water. ears full of gdays and fullys and mates all sorts of foreign phrases. what a sweet scene. and today we're at the woodford folk festival, in the green tropical hills northwest of brisbane. the festival is a sprawling setup town of tents and stages and shops and restaurants. yesterday was our first show here and it was alright. but we were missing kinley who was stuck for days in various airports trying to get free of the snow in can. also missing was all our instruments that we put on the conveyor belt in toronto and didn't make it much passed there. an odd way to start the tour. but fun enough and everfriendly.
well i think we have finally adjusted to the jetlag, so tonight we're off into the jungle of tents for an evening of god only knows.
sunny thoughts of you.
tim.
11/05/2008 greatest day
Posted by: tim
we are packing bags and picking books and preparing for a long flight west. we arrive in australia on christmas eve, knackered and giddy and pale. a couple days off and we're off to the woodford folk festival near brisbane for four shows over five days. and then south again, at the same pace all over the rest of eastern aus.
i don't really know what to expect. sun, i suppose. here in the snow and the 12 below i can't wrap my head around what that will feel like. but a welcome shock, no matter.
thanks to everyone who came out to our christmas shows at the rockhouse here in st john's. special thanks to mike worthman and his crew of volunteers for going above and beyond with the lanterns and yarn and lights and fabric and all that trimming and trapping. bravo.
and to the kickass gramercy riffs for opening up both nights.
and to jody and jord for getting me that record player. so sweet.
k. merry christmas / hanukkah / kwanzaa / winter solstice / regular day.
whatever and wherever you are, safe journeys and highest heights.
t.
10/30/2008 into it, onwith it
Posted by: tim
still sitting here with toronto. we're growing fonder of one another. she's slowing down and getting quieter. i'm letting my guard down. today i'm just breathing out.
last night we played at massey hall. it is beautiful there. big thanks to hawksley and everyone who gave us the chance to play there.
and that marks the end of our long scattered fall tour. out east with our new friends stars. out west with our old friends two hours traffic and the danks. and then here in the middle of it all with our older brother hw. full houses all over. big bright grins and big warm hands in the gathering canada cold. fuck yeah. thanks.
we're making our way home slowly, taking in a few shows on the way. but we'll be back for the 13th...we're playing mile one stadium with sam roberts and matt mays and el torpedo. and then the 18 and 19 will see us at the rock house for our own two shows. we're half-starved for a 90 minute set b'ys. joining us for that christmas cheer are 'the gramercy riffs' from st johns. what a time we'll have.
safe journeys.
10/11/2008 .
Posted by: tim
last night might have been the best ever. not only were we playing the last show of our tour with our incredible new friends 'stars' (amy, evan, pat, torq, chris, allan - its been a goddamn privilege!) and not only was it here in st john's for all our friends and lovers and families, but halfway through the night we learned that senator barack obama had become president-elect barack obama. have you heard his acceptance speech? jesus, i bawled. so good. i don't know what else to say. so good. my head is buzzing. we celebrated in triplicate hier soir.
as kinley is so fond of saying: greatest day.
in our little inconsequential sphere of activity, we're about to get on a plane and get ourselves to winnipeg to begin the western leg of our fall tour. this time we're teaming up with 'two hours traffic' and 'the danks' from pei. check out the 'show dates' link below to see if we're stopping by yer yellowing town before the winter begins.
winter is coming, but it feels like spring to me. obama!
see you soon wherever you are.
god bless america.
09/28/2008 so sweet
Posted by: tim
sitting in the white light of moncton october overcast with one show down and 24 to go. it's nice to be into it. the waiting game is no fun. it's not really a game at all.
played fredericton last night and it was awesome as usual. these people are spectacular. strangely, its our first time playing moncton ever this evening. at least we're doing it in style with stars. they really do knock socks off. it's true.
not much news per se, just a note to say we're still alive.
and there was a note on the bathroom stall last night that read "warning. you are breathing. voluntarily." josh and i were a little taken aback. it was true!
oh philosophy. i've missed being bloodied by your heavy hands.
but we're spending plenty of time back in school over the next couple months. or, campus bars at least. but there's plenty to be learned there, right? isn't there? eh?
oh yeah, and new york was great. was it ever. and the video shoot in montreal...what a lark! 20 hours digging holes in a rainy field. how could it have been so much fun? let's hope it looks good and all fits together. that's up to gabriel and all the artists and scientists at nufilms now i guess.
alright, enough gabbing. back to the moncton sky. onwith it!
hope to see you soon wherever you are.
hr!
09/15/2008 hello, sorry, thanks, you're welcome, goodnight
Posted by: tim
oh hi!
i didn't see you there. i thought i was the only one here.
i'm just checking out the new "request hr! on your local radio station" link we've just added to the site. oh, it's nice. have a look. it's there on your right. pretty snappy!
you see, we finally got our asses in gear and decided upon a single. it took awhile cause our label and distributor and manager and mothers and fathers and lovers and roommates all had to agree, and then we had to get it remixed to fit into the small little holes radio requires. so now, here we are. our single is 'red heart'. most of the songs on the record we couldn't make fit. we hope people enjoy this one. make a request if you like! maybe people will hear it and run out of their offices and kitchens and minivans and start dancing in the street! its worth a shot.
last weekend we were at pop montreal. it was tres amusant. our show had some bum sound, but the crowd was full of heroes. hurrah for them! high cinq mtl!
this week has been full of new songs. trying to get them to settle down and make something of themselves. its going pretty well. yeah, no, real well. i wiggle all ten fingers in delight.
ok. i should get back to work. you stick around as long as you like. i'll be in the basement telling choruses to sing out and verses to be clever and concise.
08/24/2008 old augustus
Posted by: tim
last wednesday night i was in toronto. it was the best i've seen it. the sky was big and clear and all the night buildings were bright and towering. even the people rushing around were friendly and stylish and oddly calm. but maybe it was me. i had been drinking. and i had just been handed the verge xm52 album of the year award from xm satellite radio. and later, a cheque for 25000 dollars. and then i saw broken social scene for the first time ever. then i drank some more. the cab home was like a ride at the fair and the streets were lit and spinning and spectacular. the only thing that sullied the thing was realizing i'd forgotten to thank a couple key players in my bumbling acceptance speech. so a big thank you is sent to hawksley workman, matt dematteo and to darrin van niekerk for their helping make everything sound the way it does on the record. and once again big thanks to louis and mike and everyone at sonic records, adam and steph and everyone at the agency group, victor and john and everyone at warner, kelowna and leake and everyone at the verge, the musicnl and that jason burns. and big monstrous sloppy thanks to everyone who actually went online and voted for us! so sweet.
coming up this weekend: pop montreal.
next weekend: as promised, midnight parades.
08/01/2008 great days
Posted by: tim
we just got back into halifax yesterday. our home away. here for a four day spell and then back northwest to sackville for the last show of our little september tour. the shows with matt mays and el torpedo were superfun. rocknroll lessons. and the harvest festival in fredericton was great. everyone was great. great great great. other than swearing at some toddlers in the park, it went off without a hitch. (sorry kiddies, i cant bring myself to censor certain lyrics. as you'll learn when you get older, certain fucks and shits are vital, and not violent and disrepectful. i can assure you that if i was delivering some message of hatred or ignorance or violence or even certain sexual imagery, even satirically, i would have chosen not to sing that. but the s- and f-bombs i occasionally drop are functional and innocent, i promise. they are basic characterization--a sign of frustration/ anger/ dissappointment/ self-loathing within the narrator. somewhat less importantly, they are also rhythmic and relatable and real, but they always have a definite purpose and to remove them, is to change everything, even if everything changes only slightly. i hope someday you'll understand and forgive me. although, most likely, you probably didn't notice i said anything out of the ordinary. which, in fact, i didn't.) ok. tirades aside, fredericton was superawesome and friendly and well organized and one helluva party. we saw charlie hunter on wednesday night. 3 words: un believe able. his playing was insane but his taste was terribly, terribly sane. i heard someone say he had no soul. they are more insane even than his playing.
then we scooted down (in our dreamlike, newly mufflered van) to a little town called st george in new brunswick to play a show at paul's wharf. all in all not a bad show, thanks to everyone that drove down from saint john to take it in. (i should make another bracketed apology here though. to the handful of newfoundlanders i met after the show that were expecting jigs and reels. all they got was artsy fartsy rock based on artsy fartsy lyrics. one older woman said to me after that it was boring and awful and unfair to the older crowd. beaming, i agreed. sorry, b'ys.)
and that brings us to today. a blustery, smoky september afternoon. my favorite. we play the marquee thursday, as part of the atlantic film festival. then i'm doing a songwriter's circle friday before we silently speed ourselves back to the sack. ville.
to old women and children and everyone in between sorry, thanks, you're welcome, goodnight.
peace love music
tim.
07/16/2008 back on to 'er
Posted by: tim
i can hear motorcycles zooming down my street at night when i go to bed. it makes me feel like a kid in summer. which i thought i was. but lately i've been much older...spending my days indoors, blinds drawn, craning and working and worrying. i've been writing and recording instrumental music for the university, teaching myself a new recording software and clawing my up the learning curve cliff. i hope they like it. its aged me considerably. but this time next week all that will be done and we'll be kids again, setting off on a fall tour. out of the basement and on through the leaves and sun and campus bars. theres all sorts of big plans for our fall. things i cant talk about. big sweet blinding things.
but for now its back to the recording console of my kitchen table, and the creaky floor of my living room studio.
waiting and wizening
tb.
hr!
07/06/2008 HOME SHOW ADDED AND OPENERS ADDED (JENN GRANT AND SHARE)
Posted by: Tim
great days.
hey junebugs, it's august! can you believe it? we've been real busy driving our darling van into the eastern dirt. but now we have a few days here at home.
before i go on, i should mention that we've been nominated for best artist and best album on xm satellite radio's emerging music station 'the verge xm52'. pretty sweet. but, the winner gets 50000 dollars! yup, four zeros. so if you're at nothing, head here and vote www.thevergexm52.com/musicawards. if we win we'll throw a big parade and you can be in it. we can all march around playing glockenspiels and throwing purity biscuits.
hey, last night we were in a movie! its a film about planes getting diverted to gander (nl) during 9/11. it's called diverted. we had a good laugh filming, and i had a couple lines, but we weren't really acting, cause we were playing a band playing in a bar playing one of our own songs. just playing around.
saturday we're off to the real gander for the big 'great big sea - cobb's pond rotary park - gander days festival' with all sorts of homespun stars: the novaks, sexy rexy goudie, the hon. ron hynes, the navigators, aislin house, and of course gbs themselves. great day!
okay...that's it for now...i'm off to the basement to write some parade music, just in case you might go vote for us.
thanks!
tim.
07/06/2008 another
Posted by: Tim
after a handful of shows at home on the island we're back on the mainland in our little blue van. the shows were lovely: a gazebow in a windy clarenville park; two and a half crazy, hot, sold out shows on george street in st johns; then a crazier, hotter, sold out show in corner brook (an awesome birthday party...thanks all) and it promises to be a warm night here in charlottetown now. tomorrow night its the ever-sweaty, ever-ready capital bar of fredericton and then down to our long lost second home of halifax for who-knows-what at the marquee club on friday.
i just wanted to post a note of thanks to everyone for their support and love and sweat and energy. it's seems a charmed life we have here now. even the van is breathing well and moving smooth.
a small prayer to the great uv rays above us that we'll see you soon.
01/01/2008 checkered flag
Posted by:
So here's a little update on the upcoming shows in St. John's this weekend. Firstly, Jon of Jon and Roy (who were supposed to open the shows) is ill and they had to cancel all of their east coast dates. Hope he feels better soon.
SATURDAY NIGHT (19+) WITH SALLY CAN'T DANCE AND SHARE IS SOLD OUT!!!!!!!!!
In lieu of this, there is a FRIDAY NIGHT SHOW ADDED
Details: Friday, July 11th - 19+ only - please have your ID
The Rock House
With very special guests: JENN GRANT AND SHARE (both solo)
Doors: 9 pm
Tickets still available for Saturday all ages show:
Saturday, July 12th - All ages
The Rock House
With very special guests: SALLY CAN'T DANCE AND JENN GRANT AND SHARE
Doors: 3 pm
TICKETS ARE $15 AND AVAILABLE AT FRED'S, ALLAN'S VIDEO, AND THE SHIP
06/21/2008 bbc
Posted by:
the leaves are out in st johns. and the spanworms have yet to descend upon them. everything is as it was when we left many weeks ago. only better i guess.
a few days' peace and quiet and then we're out to clarenville thursday. and we've added another 19plus cd release show here in st johns. so now we're playing friday night, saturday evening (all ages) and saturday night. all three at the rock house on george street. tickets for friday just went on sale yesterday at freds records and allens video (elizabeth ave) cause saturday is sold out and the all ages tickets are going quickly too. we want to make the show really spectacular. in fact, i'm gonna go plan it now. have a splendid summer week.
tim
06/20/2008 NXNE weekend photos
Posted by:
many miles since my last confession. things have been going swimmingly. the show in vancouver was possibly my favorite. the media club was tightly packed with all these wonderful people on a sunday night. its funny how some shows end up being better than others. i've been trying to figure out the variables. a lot has to do with how it sounds on stage. also how the crowd decides to decorate the room. i'm also looking at phases of the moon, barometric pressure, blood alcohol, blood sugar, sex magic, etc.
vancouver island was idyllic and warm and slow as it promises but the show was frustrating. all these lovely people came out on a tuesday and the vibe was great but the sound was cutting in and out and there was technical issues left right centre. i'm sorry if i was distracted victoria. all these machines between the music and ears.
edmonton was great. we played the starlite room and the owner, wayne, was telling all about who has played there over the last 20 years. nirvana for one. no shit.
an intimate little show in winnipeg and then off to the airport to snore on benches til our flight back east. we've left the van in the competent, mustachioed, guitar-shredding hands of our friend jason vautour. we send him wakeful, mooseless driving vibes.
tonight we're in saint john, new brunswick, for the canada day countdown festivities. we're on at 9pm for a nice lengthy set down on the market square boardwalk. lets hope the thundershowers hold off.
and tomorrow its the festival of lights in pei. we're on at 3:15pm and then most likely wandering around drinking for the rest of the day in celebration of another long tour done and enjoyed and a little week off before we're at it again. ah summer. i'm going out.
06/17/2008 north by northwest...
Posted by:
we left calgary yesterday morning a little worse for wear. the show at the marquee room was big and bright and late and lovely. sold out and sweaty and so many friends. thanks calgary. and yesterday was the big amazing drive through the mountains to kamloops and then along highway 99 through the desert and the cliffs and the fields and the forests. we made terrible time because we all wanted to stop every 10 minutes and get out. it's like south america. like a british colombia you might even say. like a beautiful british colombia.
and so today we are in squamish relaxing before going over the festival and playing this afternoon. tomorrow its the media club at vancouver. then victoria at the lucky bar on tuesday. then back eastward. so far so fast.
so far so good.
so long.
06/13/2008 the western clime
Posted by:
here's some photos of HR! At the Six Shooter BBQ during NXNE weekend
Courtesy of Mike from FAZER magazine
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fazermag/sets/72157605705900031/show/
05/26/2008 Welcome!
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after two long days we're out of ontario and out underneath the big clouds of manitoba. friendly manitoba. ontario can be friendly too. but not always. example: just before our set in london on friday i got pushed around in the salt lounge parking lot, punched a couple times and asked for my wallet. it wasn't really a mugging cause i didn't give them anything and just kind of ran away. although it might have kinda screwed up the vibes for the set that followed. and hours later, there was a totally unrelated, full-on brawl in the very same parking lot. we ended up taking one friend to the hospital while another was taken off to jail. late night institutional answers to friday the 13th; the devil's handiwork. then it was north by northeast and all madness. our showcase at the horseshoe was part of a stellar lineup and the place was super full and super hot and i was so pumped i couldn't catch my breath to sing. i nearly passed out right there on the stage after the last song, cept we had to make room for matt mays to bring it. anyway the whole show was recorded and broadcast by cbcradio3. i think our sweaty, messy 40 minute party might be made available online by those fine folks in a podcast or something soon. and now we've stopped driving for the day at last and have a moment to be still in the coolness of the concrete outskirts of winnipeg. tomorrow we're in highly-underrated saskatoon, then her sister regina, then off through the canola into the rockies.
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we left the cold and drizzle of st john's two weeks ago today and have since spent most our time fanning faces and mopping our grimy brows. ontario is hot. we've been playing lots, zigzagging around the golden horseshoe, windows down, music overwhelmed by all the roaring traffic. a few highlights: our first day out we ran out of gas literally while turning into a gas station in stephenville crossing. what a sweet oasis of teenage bikers and $1.50 gasoline that turned out to be. consequently late for the ferry, we sped through the darkening marshes of western newfoundland, flew past 2 moose on the side of the road and made it to the ferry terminal with 1 minute to spare. then we were politely told that the ferry wasn't running due to mechanical failure so we had to crash in the terminal building. bright, loud, hard, yet surprisingly restful. since then we played the horseshoe tavern on june 3rd to celebrate the release of our new cd, and we were on the cbc radio's 'q' with jian gomeshi and on xm radio's 'live at the verge' with kelowna vincent. many sweaty, lovely shows in hamilton, ottawa, montreal, waterloo and guelph and tonight its london. waterloo was pretty memorable: we were playing a house party and the cops came and shut the place down seconds before we were about to start playing. so we did an impromptu acoustic set to a room full of extremely patient, quiet, and yes, sweating, sweethearts.anyway its all been hot squat and glorious and i hope to see everyone who came out again very soon. and to everyone west of the great lakes, even sooner. our calgary show has been changed from the republik (whose roof fell in) to the marquee club. and we've added some new dates later in the summer around the east coast. okay i'm going to find a sprinkler. peace peace peace