the show in the o-dot wasn't that great. there wasn't a big crowd - whatever.
there were some friends there. good to see claudia - haven't seen in her like what, 3 yrs, and erica (allyson's sister) came with one of her work buddies.
the sound at zaphod's is always awesome, so that was a bonus.
we ended ended up playing an establishment set - which was a great practice for the windsor show - and it was quite funny because the bartender remembered us from when we were there this summer, and bought us shots during our set. then, when i tried to give him a cd, he said "oh, i already have one." i was pretty psyched about that.
we all ended up sleeping in a one-bedroom apartment of a friend of one of the guys in My Dad VS Yours (a cool band from Ottawa who played at Pineau's prom with us back home). i discovered a trick - if you're all sleeping on floors, put a pillow underneath your hips - you sleep much more comfortably and soundly. decent trick.
we got up around 9 this morning, had some breakfast at denny's (good, but a little pricey), and then drove down to guelph. well, we dropped mary off in toronto, and then headed to guelph.
katherine (our guelph counterpart) had a roast, mashed potatoes, and carrots ready for us for supper - not to mention a million cookies - so we felt we were amazingly at home. after supper we went out and bought a cornucopia of groceries and beers. we have dubbed tomorrow Saint Patrick's Wednesday - so we are starting drinking at at least 1pm tomorrow. it's our day off - so we're taking advantage of it.
this is awesome.
Mar 13, 2007
Mar 12, 2007
toronto
we left montreal on sunday morning and headed to to the Tdot.
we strolled into town around 4 o'clock on unloaded our gear in a spot called The Boat on Augusta Avenue. It was once a chinese restaurant fashioned to look like a boat, but now it's serves as a rock n roll venue for these things called Pitter Patter nights - which is basically like a new music showcase in toronto.
we were playing this show as part of a festival - so there were like 5 or 6 bands on the bill.
jon played second, we played third.
the crowd was pretty receptive to us, even when we played Godspeed (in which the lyrics are: I don't want to move to Toronto). for a sunday night in Toronto, the crowd was pretty good. the place was in kensington market, so it wasn't too bad. we didn't really make a "boat" load (get it?) of money or sell much merch - but whatever.
when we got into Toronto i met up with my old college friends (how old am i?) Jo Corbett and Aaron McCluskey - who was actually my roommate in first year. they came out to the show, and Pinky and I came back to their place - which is conveniently just around the corner - to spend the night. ahhh. no floor for me last night.
it was good times, it's always great to reconnect with old friends - especially people like Jo and Aaron.
Today we do a bit of a zigzag back up to Ottawa for a free showcase at Zaphod's - we usually do well with merch there, but there's no local act tonite - so i don't know how that will go. the establishment might even hop up and do a set. crazy.
we strolled into town around 4 o'clock on unloaded our gear in a spot called The Boat on Augusta Avenue. It was once a chinese restaurant fashioned to look like a boat, but now it's serves as a rock n roll venue for these things called Pitter Patter nights - which is basically like a new music showcase in toronto.
we were playing this show as part of a festival - so there were like 5 or 6 bands on the bill.
jon played second, we played third.
the crowd was pretty receptive to us, even when we played Godspeed (in which the lyrics are: I don't want to move to Toronto). for a sunday night in Toronto, the crowd was pretty good. the place was in kensington market, so it wasn't too bad. we didn't really make a "boat" load (get it?) of money or sell much merch - but whatever.
when we got into Toronto i met up with my old college friends (how old am i?) Jo Corbett and Aaron McCluskey - who was actually my roommate in first year. they came out to the show, and Pinky and I came back to their place - which is conveniently just around the corner - to spend the night. ahhh. no floor for me last night.
it was good times, it's always great to reconnect with old friends - especially people like Jo and Aaron.
Today we do a bit of a zigzag back up to Ottawa for a free showcase at Zaphod's - we usually do well with merch there, but there's no local act tonite - so i don't know how that will go. the establishment might even hop up and do a set. crazy.
Mar 11, 2007
montreal
we got to montreal in excellent time today, i slept through all of new brunswick - fine by me.
the place we played in tonite was called La Sala Rosa - a pretty big place that reminded me of a high school gym. The show was quite early (930) but the crowd was great. we had a good response, sold some cds - and met up with some montreal via halifax pals (karley, bex, erin, dounia, etc).
oh, ps - andrew is BACK. he was in jamaica for three months - we picked him up today and he jumped right back into the lineup. i can't wait for his jamaica stories.
off to toronto tomorrow - hoping to see some old king's folk.
so far, so good.
the place we played in tonite was called La Sala Rosa - a pretty big place that reminded me of a high school gym. The show was quite early (930) but the crowd was great. we had a good response, sold some cds - and met up with some montreal via halifax pals (karley, bex, erin, dounia, etc).
oh, ps - andrew is BACK. he was in jamaica for three months - we picked him up today and he jumped right back into the lineup. i can't wait for his jamaica stories.
off to toronto tomorrow - hoping to see some old king's folk.
so far, so good.
Mar 10, 2007
it starts
the tour has officially started. we're hanging out in fredericton at derek's, as always, and we're waking up early to go to montreal for our first show on the road at La Sala Rosa.
Last night's show @ the Attic was lots of fun. It's the first time we've played there with the sleepless nights. for a thursday night show, there was a good crowd. We played with The Darcys and our touring partners Jon McKiel.
Today we rented our tour van, packed it full, and hit the road.
i'm excited to be on tour again. i don't like that it's winter - that means we won't be able to hang out in cool spots in ottawa or peterborough or something. it also means that if i have to sleep on floors, it's probably going to be cold. which is why i brought a blanket. no one else is getting it! suckers!
we may have a couple days off mid-tour, i'm hoping the gang will agree to go to guelph and hang out at my friend katherine's place. she's a doll. she has beds for all of us.
have to get up at 630 tomorrow morning - off to montreal in a few hours.
this is awesome.
Last night's show @ the Attic was lots of fun. It's the first time we've played there with the sleepless nights. for a thursday night show, there was a good crowd. We played with The Darcys and our touring partners Jon McKiel.
Today we rented our tour van, packed it full, and hit the road.
i'm excited to be on tour again. i don't like that it's winter - that means we won't be able to hang out in cool spots in ottawa or peterborough or something. it also means that if i have to sleep on floors, it's probably going to be cold. which is why i brought a blanket. no one else is getting it! suckers!
we may have a couple days off mid-tour, i'm hoping the gang will agree to go to guelph and hang out at my friend katherine's place. she's a doll. she has beds for all of us.
have to get up at 630 tomorrow morning - off to montreal in a few hours.
this is awesome.
Mar 5, 2007
what a weekend
This was a rock n' roll weekend for sure.
Friday night The Establishment was set to play a show @ The Attic with Die Brucke and our best buddies Orphan Choir from Windsor, Ontario. The entire week the weatherman said a terrible storm would be hitting us Friday, which a) didn't surprise me because The Establishment is cursed and whenever we play in Halifax it either snows like mad or rains so hard you can't see in front of your face, and b) pissed me off as a result of "a" always being right. When I woke up Friday morning though, the sun was out and I thought we were good to grow. Wrong. But the show was happening regardless.
By nightfall the snow started barrelling down, turning into hail, turning into rain, turning the whole city into slush by the time our show was over.
Usually we do quite well @ The Attic crowd-wise, but because of the weather the turnout was rather minimal in comparison. But, that didn't stop us from having fun. It was so awesome to hang out with the guys in Orphan Choir again, they are seriously amazing fellas (they're pictured above, with us - The Establishment). It sucked that the weather was so bad, I really wanted them to play to a good sized crowd in Halifax. Regardless, the people who did brave the weather to come were excellent and they really enjoyed the show - so it wasn't a total bust.
Saturday morning I woke up to gorgeous sunshine, and +5 weather - a stark contrast to the night before. I went and rented a car and we got set for a road trip to Fredericton where we were playing another show with Orphan Choir and a band from Fredericton called Them, The Ragtag. To our awesome surprise, earlier in the week, we found out that this was yet another band that Nick Cobham and Steve Dunn (of The Fussy Part) were involved with. So, as always, it would be good to see them again.
The drive up was pain-free, the weather was nice. Nicole (my gf) and our friend Vanessa came along for the ride.
We played at a bar called The Capital, where we always play, but they have done some excellent rennovations in there so now there's a good sound system, an awesome stage and lots more standing room. Gorgeous.
Fredericton is always really fun (my fav. place to play in the Maritimes) and Saturday was no exception. The crowd was excellent, all the bands were excellent and we got to hang out with some awesome people, including our pal Derek who comes to every show and puts us up whenever we're in town.
We stuck around the bar for quite a long time, then said our farewells to Orphan Choir who had to start the drive to Ottawa that night. Those guys are seriously awesome. I can't wait for our split to be done. And the good thing is, we'll be seeing them in two weeks when we go to Ontario with Sleepless Nights. Hot damn.
Sunday morning we had to get up at 7:30, despite only going to bed at like 4:30, because Pinky and I had to be back in Halifax for a matinee show with Sleepless Nights at the Pavilion. Thanks to the wonderful driving of my girlfriend, we made it home right on time, returned the rental car and then hit the Pavilion for the show with our pals Gamma Gamma Rays and a band from Ontario called The Most Serene Republic (best known for being on Arts & Crafts and for housing ex-members of Broken Social Scene).
For a show on a Sunday afternoon, I thought the crowd was great. I always look forward to hanging out/playing with Gamma Gamma Rays - they're a lot of fun.
The weekend left me completely exhausted, and I still have so much work to do before we leave for the Sleepless Nights tour to Ontario on Friday...
Friday night The Establishment was set to play a show @ The Attic with Die Brucke and our best buddies Orphan Choir from Windsor, Ontario. The entire week the weatherman said a terrible storm would be hitting us Friday, which a) didn't surprise me because The Establishment is cursed and whenever we play in Halifax it either snows like mad or rains so hard you can't see in front of your face, and b) pissed me off as a result of "a" always being right. When I woke up Friday morning though, the sun was out and I thought we were good to grow. Wrong. But the show was happening regardless.
By nightfall the snow started barrelling down, turning into hail, turning into rain, turning the whole city into slush by the time our show was over.
Usually we do quite well @ The Attic crowd-wise, but because of the weather the turnout was rather minimal in comparison. But, that didn't stop us from having fun. It was so awesome to hang out with the guys in Orphan Choir again, they are seriously amazing fellas (they're pictured above, with us - The Establishment). It sucked that the weather was so bad, I really wanted them to play to a good sized crowd in Halifax. Regardless, the people who did brave the weather to come were excellent and they really enjoyed the show - so it wasn't a total bust.
Saturday morning I woke up to gorgeous sunshine, and +5 weather - a stark contrast to the night before. I went and rented a car and we got set for a road trip to Fredericton where we were playing another show with Orphan Choir and a band from Fredericton called Them, The Ragtag. To our awesome surprise, earlier in the week, we found out that this was yet another band that Nick Cobham and Steve Dunn (of The Fussy Part) were involved with. So, as always, it would be good to see them again.
The drive up was pain-free, the weather was nice. Nicole (my gf) and our friend Vanessa came along for the ride.
We played at a bar called The Capital, where we always play, but they have done some excellent rennovations in there so now there's a good sound system, an awesome stage and lots more standing room. Gorgeous.
Fredericton is always really fun (my fav. place to play in the Maritimes) and Saturday was no exception. The crowd was excellent, all the bands were excellent and we got to hang out with some awesome people, including our pal Derek who comes to every show and puts us up whenever we're in town.
We stuck around the bar for quite a long time, then said our farewells to Orphan Choir who had to start the drive to Ottawa that night. Those guys are seriously awesome. I can't wait for our split to be done. And the good thing is, we'll be seeing them in two weeks when we go to Ontario with Sleepless Nights. Hot damn.
Sunday morning we had to get up at 7:30, despite only going to bed at like 4:30, because Pinky and I had to be back in Halifax for a matinee show with Sleepless Nights at the Pavilion. Thanks to the wonderful driving of my girlfriend, we made it home right on time, returned the rental car and then hit the Pavilion for the show with our pals Gamma Gamma Rays and a band from Ontario called The Most Serene Republic (best known for being on Arts & Crafts and for housing ex-members of Broken Social Scene).
For a show on a Sunday afternoon, I thought the crowd was great. I always look forward to hanging out/playing with Gamma Gamma Rays - they're a lot of fun.
The weekend left me completely exhausted, and I still have so much work to do before we leave for the Sleepless Nights tour to Ontario on Friday...
Feb 25, 2007
this is not the land of oz
screw you dorothy, there are lot of places better than home.
we played at the grand hotel last night in yarmouth with sleepless nights to perhaps the worst crowd i have ever played to (with maybe the exception of the crowd @ Fibber's in New Glasgow that one time we played there).
the bar was full when Owen & Gerry played, but by the time we got to our third song, the place basically cleared out. The entire crowd was probably 35+, with the exception of about a dozen of our friends. i was convinced that more people our age would have been out, i was wrong. i am ALWAYS wrong when it comes to the Yarmouth scene.
i assume that since a million indie musicians come from Yarmouth, and since a decent handful of them make it semi-big, that there is still a thriving scene in our hometown. last night proved that I am completely wrong.
it's sad to think that we can tour the country, that we can fill bars in Halifax, Fredericton, or PEI but when we go to our own hometown, the place where we grew up and fostered our musical beginnings, not only do we get no support, we get no crowd, and no appreciation.
for some reason i always think that we can overcome all this, because of how well we're doing outside of yarmouth, and we can bring this excitement back home and say "hey, look what we're doing, isn't this great?" and people will enjoy it just as much as we do. boy was i wrong.
we played at the grand hotel last night in yarmouth with sleepless nights to perhaps the worst crowd i have ever played to (with maybe the exception of the crowd @ Fibber's in New Glasgow that one time we played there).
the bar was full when Owen & Gerry played, but by the time we got to our third song, the place basically cleared out. The entire crowd was probably 35+, with the exception of about a dozen of our friends. i was convinced that more people our age would have been out, i was wrong. i am ALWAYS wrong when it comes to the Yarmouth scene.
i assume that since a million indie musicians come from Yarmouth, and since a decent handful of them make it semi-big, that there is still a thriving scene in our hometown. last night proved that I am completely wrong.
it's sad to think that we can tour the country, that we can fill bars in Halifax, Fredericton, or PEI but when we go to our own hometown, the place where we grew up and fostered our musical beginnings, not only do we get no support, we get no crowd, and no appreciation.
for some reason i always think that we can overcome all this, because of how well we're doing outside of yarmouth, and we can bring this excitement back home and say "hey, look what we're doing, isn't this great?" and people will enjoy it just as much as we do. boy was i wrong.
Feb 19, 2007
The Estab - 2 Shows
this weekend, despite me being deathly ill, the establishment played two shows.
friday, i woke up and was so sore i couldn't move - so the whole day i pumped myself full of flu meds and eventually made it out to Pinky's birthday bash @ The Speakeasy which featured performances by Jon McKiel, The Superfantastics, and Pinky's new band, tentatively called Quikersteven, which features him, Mick from Broken Ohms, Turk from Contrived, and Virgil from Heavy Meadows. After that whole shindig, we ended up playing a short set of mainly new stuff - due to my intoxication level thanks to the flu meds, and pinky/deon's intoxication level thanks to beer, it was no doubt terrible.
Saturday night I was feeling a bit better, but still had the flu in my system when we played at this strange little bar beneath the Attic called the Chef's Room. It was part of a special show at the attic where 5 bands played upstairs, and 5 bands played downstairs. Given the obscurity of the location, the bands playing upstairs (On Vinyl, Motorleague, Shelter With Theives, The Nuclear & The Monoxides), our crowd downstairs was pretty decent. The room was pretty cool, it was a different atmosphere. It felt like playing in the lounge of a hotel or something.
There were some friends from afar at the show (at both shows actually). Nick, the drummer from The Inflation Kills hung out with us on Saturday night, and our new pals from PEI, Kerri & Jessi, even made the trip down for these two shows.
The Orphan Choir come soon...so excited. We finished mixing the tracks for our 7" this weekend too - so we're gonna put them to wax as soon as we get some sweet cash. wanna help?
friday, i woke up and was so sore i couldn't move - so the whole day i pumped myself full of flu meds and eventually made it out to Pinky's birthday bash @ The Speakeasy which featured performances by Jon McKiel, The Superfantastics, and Pinky's new band, tentatively called Quikersteven, which features him, Mick from Broken Ohms, Turk from Contrived, and Virgil from Heavy Meadows. After that whole shindig, we ended up playing a short set of mainly new stuff - due to my intoxication level thanks to the flu meds, and pinky/deon's intoxication level thanks to beer, it was no doubt terrible.
Saturday night I was feeling a bit better, but still had the flu in my system when we played at this strange little bar beneath the Attic called the Chef's Room. It was part of a special show at the attic where 5 bands played upstairs, and 5 bands played downstairs. Given the obscurity of the location, the bands playing upstairs (On Vinyl, Motorleague, Shelter With Theives, The Nuclear & The Monoxides), our crowd downstairs was pretty decent. The room was pretty cool, it was a different atmosphere. It felt like playing in the lounge of a hotel or something.
There were some friends from afar at the show (at both shows actually). Nick, the drummer from The Inflation Kills hung out with us on Saturday night, and our new pals from PEI, Kerri & Jessi, even made the trip down for these two shows.
The Orphan Choir come soon...so excited. We finished mixing the tracks for our 7" this weekend too - so we're gonna put them to wax as soon as we get some sweet cash. wanna help?
Feb 13, 2007
The Establishment + $rocking 4 dollar$
it's been about 6 months since The Establishment has played $rocking 4 dollars$.
for those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it's kind of like a wheel of fortune open mic. a bunch of bands play, and then at the end of the night they each get a chance to spin a wheel for prizes. the grand prize is cold hard cash. it starts at $200, and each week, if no one win's it it increases in incrememnts of $200. So if on week one nobody wins the money, then in week two the prize would be $400. If no one wins that week, the next week it's $600. Get it? Eventually, they cap it at $1000.
Last night was $800, so we decided to go down and try our luck - which, by the way, we have none of.
We played a brand new song that's basically not even finished yet, another new song that we've only played once and "Hypernetic," which will be on the 7" we're putting out.
We didn't win, nobody won. The $1000 next week would be sweet, but god i don't want to sit there for 4 hours again. But we need that friggen money...
for those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it's kind of like a wheel of fortune open mic. a bunch of bands play, and then at the end of the night they each get a chance to spin a wheel for prizes. the grand prize is cold hard cash. it starts at $200, and each week, if no one win's it it increases in incrememnts of $200. So if on week one nobody wins the money, then in week two the prize would be $400. If no one wins that week, the next week it's $600. Get it? Eventually, they cap it at $1000.
Last night was $800, so we decided to go down and try our luck - which, by the way, we have none of.
We played a brand new song that's basically not even finished yet, another new song that we've only played once and "Hypernetic," which will be on the 7" we're putting out.
We didn't win, nobody won. The $1000 next week would be sweet, but god i don't want to sit there for 4 hours again. But we need that friggen money...
Feb 11, 2007
Sleepless Nights + PEI
(thanks to Tony Dawe for these photos!)
Well well well. The day after we played Fredericton last weekend, I issued a challenge to the folks of Prince Edward Island. I said, "Dear PEI. Fredericton was amazing, you have a lot of work to do to beat them for the best place in the Maritimes to play."
I'm not sure if they won, I mean, Fredericton is ridiculous always, but PEI was nothing short of amazing.
The first thing we did when we got there was go to China Garden, best Chinese food in the entire world. It's a PEI institute, we have never not gone there on our trips to the island.
The show was swell. We played in a weird spot in Hunter's Ale House - up on this staircase/pedastal thingy. Anyways, Lenore played with us and they were great. Pineau's cousin Laura sings in the band, her vox blew me away. great singer.
We were without Mary because she has pneumonia, so the set was a little weird. it was loud as eff though. we rocked it out, had a good time, converted a bunch of curious non-believers i think. It was fun for sure.
After the show, we hung around the bar and chatted it up with some old pals who have been to see us before in PEI, as well as some Halifax-via-PEI friends, like Bible Van and Sarah LeClair who happened to be back on the island for the show.
Went back to our lieu de residence and hung out with some of our old/new friends. We also adopted a new Sleepless Nights mascot. He first came to us in a dream Pinky had last time we were in PEI, and this time he came to life. His name is Jamal:
he kept pinky up most of the night, kept asking him to play bee-ball and to listen to some run dmc. oh jamal, you're hilarious. he's coming on tour with us in march. he can't wait.
the next morning, we went to Pineau's parent's place and his mom cooked us breakfast. Love Pineau's mom. Then we picked up some glass-bottled pop and came home.
Can't wait to go back.
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