June Shows

In the midst of recording our album, we are playing some shows in June!  

June 4 - Paddy Flaherty's - Sarnia ON.  We're going back to Paddy's to play a mix of covers and originals all night long.  We love doing these shows and can't wait to get back to Paddy's.

June 19 - Coronation Park (Lakeshore Blvd) - Toronto.  We will be playing at the 2010 Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay.  Easter Seals is an organization that supports children, youth and young adults with physical disabilities.  We are honoured to be playing at their annual fundraiser, and hope you can come out, enjoy some music and support this great organization.

While all this is going on, make sure you keep an eye out for new vlogs from our recording sessions (and be glad they aren't in smell-o-vision...)

The Decade of Sleep

First Day of Tracking!

New Record Underway!

What an unbelievable weekend! All last week we were running around the city calling in every favour we could to get the right gear for the record and bringing it to the studio. For some sound options we got a couple drum kits on top of my own, we rented a bunch of guitar amps and a bass amp, we got a bunch of pre-amps and EQs from a few places - the whole bit.

We got all the guitar setup and bought a bunch of drum heads, and the list goes on and on. Come Thursday we setup a few things things without Denis Tougas, our engineer, and then we went home for some sleep before we got started in on the crazy stretch.

Friday mostly consisted of getting sounds with Denis, and was well worth spending the time. Playing is so much more fun when everything sounds great in the headphones (and in the control room when you're done!). Being that we were recording in the studio that I work in, most of the tech stuff fell onto me, and after a full day of being in the tech-brain mindset it was nice to come in the next day and re-cut a tune or two. Having had the morning to refocus on actually playing drums, we ended up cutting bass, bed guitar and bass for all the songs but one that we kept from the night before - crazy. That felt so good to have done, and it also allowed us to concentrate on guitars for the next three days.

Lance killed it, even at the times when he looked more tired than I've ever seen him (which is saying a lot). I have to say I kind of feel bad for guitar players in general. Being a drummer I get to feed off of this great big room when I play, but guitar players are always stuffed away somewhere. In Lance's case, he got shoved into a crowded booth with bare fibreglass on the walls while his amps screamed on the live floor. Not only that but drummers generally only have one part. But guitar players have, what, 2? 6? 10? Lance comes up with a lot of parts so getting them all on there in 3 days was truly a feet.

We will have video of these few days up shortly thanks to our wonderful wonderful friend Nick Bonin. He's working away editing them now. In the meantime, here's a video of some of the pre-production sessions.

So, looking forward. Phil is starting on vocals this week. We're going to do a bunch of percussion overdubs and all kinds of crazy stuff. Come a couple weeks from now on June 9th we start mixing with Denis. We'll keep you posted!

Mat

Mat Pataki

C: 647.302.7681

Hard Luck Bar

We had a great time playing with the Snipes and the Stormalongs at the Hard Luck Bar last week. We're heading into the studio this week to start tracking for the new album, so that was the last show until we've got the bed tracks done! We do have some shows in June, but in the meantime, here is some eye candy:

Photo cred goes to Marcin, who can be found at wolskiphotography.com

Thanks Waterloo!

Hey we just want to send out a huge thank you to all the people who came out to the show at Maxwell's Music House on Monday.  Thanks to your loud cheers, ridiculous dance moves, and some beer spitting, we won the Battle of the Bands and walked away with $1000.  The money will go toward making the new album, which will be recording at the end of the month and should be out in the summer.  

If you missed us in Waterloo, you can catch us tonight, Wednesday May 11 at Clinton's in Toronto or tomorrow Thursday May 12 at the Hard Luck Bar with the Snipes and the Stormalongs.  

Decade

Pre-Production

I think everyone is starting to feel the crunch now. I know that looking at all of the things that need to get done before we record, and lining up all the things that need to happen for just after, I've been foreseeing it getting a bit hairy around this time and the weeks to come. But now that we are actually trying to slot in the last few rehearsals, meetings, and running around that we need to do for rentals and what-not, we are all actually feeling it get tight now... I just can't wait for that first downbeat...

We are closing in on the pre-production stage now - changing arrangements, solidifying parts, fighting over what tunes should make the record and what ones shouldn't - all that fun stuff. It feels good though. It feels like we are all ready to get in there and make it happen. In the past, out of necessity we were pretty disorganized about our recordings (Thems the breaks when you're working snatching up open studio time at a school). But this time feels a bit more legit and professional - I guess we'll see. We meet with the engineer we are working with tomorrow, Denis Tugas. This dude is heavy. I've had the pleasure of working with him a little bit in the past and I know we'll be in good hands with him behind the board. We're going to give him a bunch of reference tracks and demos tomorrow, and talk about "the approach" and all of that. The best part is that I think he's getting excited for it too!

Well, one week at a time. Next week we play a "battle of the bands" in Kitchener on Monday, have a rehearsal on Tuesday, play Clinton's in Toronto on Wednesday, and Hard Luck Bar in Toronto on Thursday. Come out and have a good time! We plan to!

Mat

May Shows

Hey all,

We're getting ready to head to the studio to lay tracks for the new album, but we've still got shows coming up, and can't wait to test out some new stuff.

Monday May 10 - Maxwell's Music House - Waterloo

Wednesday May 12 - Clinton's - Toronto

Thursday May 13 - Hard Luck Bar - Toronto - Decade of Sleep, The Snipes and The Stormalongs

Thanks to everyone who came out last week to Maxwell's. Because of you guys we advanced to the next level of the Battle of the Bands and we're going back on the 10th to hopefully lock it up. It's gonna be a blast so make sure you bring your friends.

Decade