top records of 2008

as I mentioned earlier, I didn't find 2008 a great year for new releases. most of these records wouldn't compete very well against last year's list. but still, some things get me a little worked up. in january and february I was actively pursuing new music for my radio show. I stopped hosting the show in august when I went on tour with the phrenologists, and spent the previous months booking the tour and making three records. as december arrived I made an attempt to catch up on the stuff I missed.

favourite record from early in the year:
1. WOLF PARADE – AT MOUNT ZOOMER. everything wolf parade does is always my favourite. this second album is denser bigger more unified. I don’t like it better than their first record, which I don’t like better than their rough and jagged first eps, but it’s a great development for them. one thing that was great when I saw this material in concert twice last year before the album came out was when dante joined dan and spencer on vocals and it’s too bad that that’s not happening on this record. hopefully he’s busy making my favourite record of 2009.

favourite record from recent catch-up listening:
2. MARNIE STERN - THIS IS IT AND I AM IT AND YOU ARE IT AND SO IS THAT AND HE IS IT AND SHE IS IT AND IT IS IT AND THAT IS THAT. my friend paul was really into marnie stern’s last (first?) album, but I thought it was just okay. this one hit me over the head, maybe I could make music like this if I had so much energy for making it big. it is exuberant like I like it, with tones of riot grrrl and dance pop and fuckin guitar rock and hey! get up (and with yr brain too)! cheerish chanting vocals. I almost can’t believe this record. I might like it better than wolf parade. or I might get over it in another month, who knows.

other stuff I like:
3. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – WATER CURSES. everything I love about animal collective, this is just a little ep, but beautiful in a sharp twirly happy dizzy way that doesn’t make you sick but worked up alive beyond language, but with words too. alot of a FEELS (2005) vibe, which was what hooked me into them with a jagged tingly hook.

4. TIMES NEW VIKING – RIP IT OFF. this record is so loud and sharp in the ears it pretty much hurts, emphasis on the pretty. I love all the static, it gets me kind of worked up. this is one show this year I’m sad I missed when they toured with deerhunter (who are good, but not the kind of thing that gets me going). it’s like great grunge pop.

5. MOUNT EERIE – LOST WISDOM. a friend with good taste sent me this record. I was underwhelmed at first because it’s so quiet in an underwhelming way, kind of like how I feel about julie doiron who sings on it. I got hooked by the song VOICE IN HEADPHONES, whose refrain has the beautifullest singalong of one of my favourite BJORK songs (UNDO). then the song WHAT? (rightly) ends with this line:
newborn babies come to life on my face, they say ‘ta da!’
I just can’t believe what’s going on there. listen to the whispers.

6. BORN RUFFIANS –RED, YELLOW & BLUE. skip the pretty lame opening title track and this record is so much bouncing fun. maybe not as deep as I hoped, as I had been anticipating it since hearing the people camping next to us at sasquatch festival last year listening to it loudly while I was trying to sleep. I went and asked them to turn it down, but also who the rad band was. it’s the kind of edgy pop sound with some hopeful angst that grabs me and sings me along.

also interesting to me:
7. STEPHEN MALKMUS – REAL EMOTIONAL TRASH. I haven’t even listened to this whole album, but whenever I have it on and am in the other room doing something, something catches me and I come stand close to the speaker to say, hmm, yeah. he’s got it right, everyone knows it.

8. TITUS ANDRONICUS – THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES. another one I haven’t digested enough to say anything intelligent about, except that it sounds like conor oberst in a band that rocks damn fine and fun with just enough darkness. I like that kind of thing.

9. TOKYO POLICE CLUB – ELEPHANT SHELL. you know this band is good. I didn’t hear anything about this record in the second half of the year, which seems a little weird, because in a year of albums with some good sound and some good songs, this fits in nicely.

10. THE DODOS – VISITER. another good listen from early in the year, with a couple hell-yeah standout tracks.

11. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH – SHALLOW GRAVES. this guy’s from sweden or something. the kind of voice on the kind of songs it’s hard to skip through when they come on your playlist. classic folky stuff with a sharp voice.

12. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – DISTORTION. a fine bit of fuzz over pretty songs. I’m beginning to think I’ve underrated it.

12. THE GRATES – TEETH LOST, HEARTS WON. this is a band from australia whose sound I go crazy for. this record is not as solid as their first, but has plenty of the same get up and dance with a friendly smile on your face feeling that wins my heart.

13. THE DECEMBERISTS – ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID. the decemberists put out this little ep, full of decemberists songs. those are good things. this band has grown on me more this year. on a long list of finest bands ever, the decemberists have a solid spot.

14. EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE. I just got this cd at fascinating rhythm last week and you probably should too. I haven’t spent much time with it yet, but it might be FRVDTY records’ finest yet.

enthusiasm spoken for

I wasn’t very impressed by music I listened to in 2008, which is a strange experience for me. I think it’s mainly because I focused my energy on my own projects, which were numerous and pretty big, so my enthusiasm was all spoken for.
I passed up shows by sunset rubdown and wolf parade. (what?!)
I left nanaimo for ONE show all year (and not far, went to duncan), which was ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL. so one of my favourite records this year was their first album (quantum butterass), from 1997.
probably the record I was most into all year was one from 2007, which I just got in january: BARR’s second album, SUMMARY.
also worth a mention from 2007 is the second FRVDTY split, featuring LIGHTS OF HARMAC and DOWN WITH EVERYTHING, which came out late last year and I got pretty into this year. a highlight in local releases.


before I get to my top records of 2008 list, here’s a rundown of the endeavours that took priority over buying and downloading and being thrilled by other people’s music: I was making my own! here are five shack records releases and one tour that made this a big year for me.

my true favourite record this year is:
OLD PHOEBE – I’LL TAKE YOU WHERE I GO. jamie and I spent hot july upstairs at the & loan gallery working on this record until we were happy happy. it’s mostly songs we’ve been playing for a long time, and feels full of our whole nanaimo experience to me. listening to it fills me full of satisfaction with all the work I’ve done with jamie and everyone else I’ve worked with here.

secondly satisfying is:
THE PHRENOLOGISTS – ALCHEMY. playing in this band was fun. recording this cd, two days in june also upstairs at the & loan, was also fun. listening to the record is fun. going on tour across canada with this band in august was super fun and definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done. sure, do that and then tell me how excited you are even by a new record from your favourite band. it pales a little.

I also made this:
KILL THE BUDDHA – FIRST KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DEALING WITH. while I’m very satisfied with having made this record in a week in february, there’s so much I would change about it now. some songs really could’ve used a few more takes. and the songs sound so much the same, maybe because my guitar playing sucks so much. still, it was meant to be a raw, bare, honest laying down of songs, and it is. some people really like it. actually david morrison put it on his favourite records of the year list.

and I am extremely pleased with the debut of my good friend:
ELGIN-SKYE. it’s so pretty in every way.

also significant for me this year was:
AH, VENICE – YELLOW HOUSE. I think I have always been one of the biggest fans of chris thompson’s songwriting and singing and arranging. let me just stand behind that and leave all emotions out of it.

it's 2008!

it’s kind of fucked to revive a blog called stay at home after two years (of being too busy living to talk about it) when I’m about to leave town indefinitely. or is it.
sometimes we rock and roll.
and what is home?
I’d like to reminisce a little before I go. and then check out some other places than nanaimo to rock and roll (what?!).
like montreal. or toronto. I’ll let you know what I see when I get there.

introducing ganeshan will

come to cyber city saturday december 9th to see the green line, old phoebe, the tycoons, ganeshan will, and the paper boxes. five local bands for five little dollars! who are all these bands you ask? surely you are already good friends with the green line and old phoebe, and if not, just scroll down this page. and naturally you are familiar with the famed tycoons, nanaimo's own surf-rock band, featuring nate and tanner, formerly of the bike's mine and 123 red light, chris, formerly of the bike's mine, and brent, formerly of the cum-alongs. perhaps you have also heard word of the paper boxes, featuring marcus hastings, formerly of the cum-alongs, who I hear were pretty damn good. they sound a little black keysish, a little white stripesish, certainly a nice mess. and maybe you haven't got a clue who ganeshan will is, because they have never ever played a show before, this will be their very first one, so lucky I am here to tell you about them because I am very excited about it. here are a few somewhat related facts:

my four favourite guitar players:
1. jack white (the white stripes)
2. tanner matt (the tycoons)
3. todd o'brien (ganeshan will)
4. carey mercer (frog eyes/swan lake)

my two favourite keyboard players:
1. spencer krug (wolf parade/sunset rubdown/swan lake/frog eyes)
2. adam gold (ganeshan will)

ok? get it?
also, todd is my little brother, and just like me in all the right ways, and just unlike me in all the right ways. we used to play in a little band in our garage that we sometimes called white magnetic world-bridger. it consisted of me, todd, ryan hollett (also in ganeshan will), nathan hollett, and bryan hamre (also in ganeshan will). we never played any shows, except a few times at the cambie jam night. fraser johnson said we were good. nobody else said anything.

BAND PROFILE: GANESHAN WILL
together since: Shiva cut off our head. Mother got upset. Father found us an elephant head.
members: todd, ryan, jada, adam, bryan
bands they've played shows with: a picture of the beatles
bands they've been compared to: pixies playing glam-folk with an accordian, whatever band was playing in beethoven's garage, the velvet underground & nico, white magnetic world-bridger, a bunch of running scared buddhist monks, guru nanak's followers, pavement, the muppet babies, neutral milk hotel, a gabriel cover-band, portishead, sonic death monkey, and the beatles (all by todd)

meet the bash brothers

the bash brothers played a rad show tonight at fascinating rhythm with nardwuar and the evaporators, and head tomorrow to vic to play with david p. smith. here's a little bit about those crazy girls.

BAND PROFILE: THE BASH BROTHERS
myspace: www.myspace.com/bashbashbash
together since: 2002 or 2003
members: Kristjanne Vosper & Lindsay Coulton
cd: in the works
bands they've played shows with: David P. Smith, The Tycoons, Old Pheobe, Brat Attack, New World on Fire, Alpha Baby, Hot Birds & Bees
bands they've been compared to: Kaaarrraaaaazzzzzyyyyy

MEET LINDSAY COULTON
band/role in scene: 50% Of Bash, Newest member of the Tycoons, Member of Burlaimo, Party Thrower Extrodinaire, Hater of all Pay Parking
instruments: Keys, Bass, Guitar, Accordion, Drums, Sawblade, Axe.
previous bands: Comrade Kelly and The Superstar Jamborie, The Blues Factor
day job: Server, Art student
aspirations: stir the pot.
most recent cd/musical instrument purchase: DevotchKa - Curse my little heart, I bought a new amp instead of having a phone for a couple of months
favourite bands: DevotchKa, Sleater Kinney, James Brown, The Black Keys, Edith Piaf
favourite writers: Jeanette Winterson, Dickens
years in nanaimo: 4
first rad person met in nanaimo: So many rad people in nanaimo
local heroes: Bob & Rose
aesthetic values: North America is a shit box full of corrupt, money grubbing, heartless, evil doers. We're all grubbing around in it and we all smell pretty bad so it's easy to ignore. We can scratch shitty old sand over new shit and pretend like it doesn't exist or we can point it out. Pointing it out or digging it up is what art is. I try and do my digging with a sense of humour, it makes it a little easier to stomach.

MEET KRISTJANNE VOSPER
bands: bash brothers
instruments: drums, mandolin (brand new!), sing-song
previous bands: we've been had, apricot rock, + comrade kelly and the superstar jamboree
radio show: enthusiasm radio (thursdays 5-6pm on chly)
website/blog: http://deoxy.org/ct/index.htm + i have a livejournal, too
day job: studying english, clerk, sub at a daycare
aspirations: i just wish i knew everything i dont already, first of all, + marlaina and i are planning a month-long visit to the louvre sometime. id like to be a deckhand on a fishboat. i want to grow up strong and get things done and always stand up for myself. i want to make things happen and really inspire people and be inspired by them. and to smash the state!
most recent cd/musical instrument purchase: introspection by the end + a mandolin
favourite bands: i really like the weakerthans + cat power + julie doiron + old phoebe
favourite writers: francesca lia block + lucy maude montgomery for old times sake. jack kerouac + robert jordan for new.
hero: alistair cook (not the guy from masterpiece theatre)
years in nanaimo: three
first rad people met in nanaimo: isaac flagg, lauren smith, + ken mcleod
local heroes: mike thibodeau, lindsay shemming, curtis aguirre, chelsee damen, mel mundell, becky johnson + tim lander qualify
aesthetic values: love train, sous les paves la plage, every effort is absolutely important

meet the scene

I hope people come out to the show at cyber city on tuesday because it should be rad. I'm worried nobody knows who the bands are. I'm not really that familiar with them, but jamie plays in-flight safety on the playlist sometimes and they're good. raising the fawn has members of broken social scene, and I just read a good review of mico in exclaim! magazine. and maybe the under-agers miss old phoebe? I hope so. I miss dance dance revolution. somebody please come and challenge me to a match.

I got an email this week from a guy who just moved to nanaimo and wants to get in on the indie scene and meet some fellow artists and musicians. know anyone to introduce him to? wait! I just thought of about twenty people! so for andrew and anyone who wants to know who exactly is who or who they might like to meet, or start a band with or start a fanclub for I'm going to do a series of profiles of local people who are doin stuff and makin stuff happen and stuff. I'll start with mini band profiles for people in bands, and start it off with myself in case you are wondering who the hell I am anyway.

BAND PROFILE: OLD PHOEBE
myspace: www.myspace.com/weareoldphoebe
together since: november 2005
members: jamie anderson, erin o'brien, pietro (the bike)
cd: apartment rock (april 2006)
bands they've played shows with: dustin and garret, the bash brothers, the bike's mine, the sheds, colourbook, hot birds and bees, you say party! we say die!, ukulelele, the razoowah, fury and the mouse, the 97th airborne
bands they've been compared to: a punk rock cat power, joanna newsom, arcade fire (seriously, someone I work with said we reminded her of them), a pinch of the pixies, the shaggs
other info: won the cambie/got pop? battle of the bands (october 2006)

MEET ERIN O'BRIEN (that's me)
band: old phoebe
instruments: vocals, guitar, bike, typewriter
previous band: apricot rock
radio shows: the playlist (tuesdays 11pm-1am) and indiecontextual (thursdays 4-5pm) on chly
blogs: stay at home, indiecontextual/enthusiasm radio!
day job: I work in a photolab and a mall store
aspirations: indie rock star, improve the world
most recent cd purchase: scout niblett--kidnapped by neptune, and frank black and the catholics--black letter days
favourite bands: wolf parade, sunset rubdown, the white stripes, modest mouse, beck, nirvana
favourite writers: gertrude stein, william carlos williams, jacques derrida, j.d. salinger
years in nanaimo: 2
first rad person met in nanaimo: jamie anderson
hero: spencer krug
local heroes: kristjanne vosper, tanner matt
aesthetic values: artful incongruity, imperfectionism, raw honesty, rough enthusiasm, deceptive simplicity, intellectual exhuberance, the absurd

MEET JAMIE ANDERSON
bands: old phoebe, urbane decay
instruments: vocals, piano, bicycle, harmonica, banjo
radio show: the playlist (tuesdays 11pm-1am) on chly
day job: record store
aspirations: for old phoebe to make it to halifax on tour
most recent cd purchase: thanksgiving, tahiti 80
most recent musical instrument purchase: 5-string banjo
favourite band: black keys
years in nanaimo: several
first rad person met in nanaimo: christopher arruda
hero: wayne coyne
local heroes: everyone else above and below me on this page
aesthetic values: I just like to know everyone is having a fun time but being safe about it

now playing: scout niblett--hot to death

quinnterview

this week in rock:
oct. 13: the green line played first show at velvet underground. rad.
oct. 14: battle of the bands @ the cambie: bash brothers were rad. blood was shed. tycoons were rad. wilson pascoe got more votes.
so, oct. 21: battle of the bands final: johnny good, unlabelled, old phoebe and wilson pascoe FIGHT! and sing songs. come see.

and, it's all great to stay at home, but don't do ALONE! how about another voice? I had a nice discussion with quinn stacey about his band, the green line, and a little bit about other bands too.


stay at home says:
so, the green line had its first show on friday. how do you feel it went?
quinn says:
honestly, at first, I thought that it wasn't what it could have been. but then people starting talking to me about it, and the response was relatively positive.
stay at home says:
that's good, I'm glad you feel good about it. first shows rarely are all they could be, but I know you put it off a little while and put a lot into making it special.
quinn says:
i definitely used the best possible people around to help make the band what it was, everyone's contribution was amazing. there wasn't really any point, except for once, where i had to worry where a particular song was going.
stay at home says:
how long has this incarnation of the band existed? you started off your first eps just by yourself and keep adding members and changing the band's sound a little, sometimes a lot.
quinn says:
this incarnation, including blake has been around for maybe four or five practices. . .
stay at home says:
because you were playing at his house?
quinn says:
well, we hadn't been practicing at his place, we just recorded an album there. blake's coming into the band came directly from his playing on the Golden Wedding sessions. the green line as a Being has been around since february or so.
stay at home says:
so the Golden Wedding is the album you've completed but not released yet--how is it different from the other full length, You May Run So Far From Home?
quinn says:
well, they both have the same spirit in that they are completely improvised with only brief instructions to the musicians beforehand. lyrics and melodies are completely improvised on both albums. but the golden wedding took place in a very, very drunk 4 hour middle-of-the-night session that i recorded and then culled down.
You May Run.... uses 10 out of 11 recorded songs with only one outtake. the "genre", stupid word, is perhaps different on the two albums but the spirit is the same. one is just drunker than the other. You May Run... also has the band's first use of jazz session players and the first use of female voices.
stay at home says:
I like the joyful sound of what I've heard so far.
quinn says:
yeah, that album is really optimistic, we were all in very high spirits. the people that helped us out: Alyson, Natalie and Erin hadn't ever recorded with me; maybe hadn't recorded ever, so they were really excited by the whole thing. they are probably going to join us onstage for our next show.
stay at home says:
is changing lineups and sounds to be an integral part of the band's identity and/or do you have an overall manifesto or vision of what you want the band to sound like that you're working towards pinning down?
quinn says:
i guess the manifesto is just to make music that I would listen to for fun, like for my own enjoyment. i listen to our music all the time, because I enjoy the songs. there is so much great music out there, you only have so many waking hours to listen. and I try to make music that cracks my own listening lineup. that is how it passes the test. and i go to any means to create that music, using other musicians or whatever.
stay at home says:
yeah, people seem to think listening to your own music is egotistical or something, but you should be stimulated yourself by what you do right? if not why waste everyone else's time.
quinn says:
yes, i just try to make music that i like, that's the whole thing
stay at home says:
I want to bring up something you said at the party after the show that I have been thinking a little about.
quinn says:
uh oh. hopefully it was intelligent.
stay at home says:
you differentiated the green line from bands like the bash brothers and old phoebe saying that we are personality based bands. don't worry, I'm not taking offense, it is an interesting point.
quinn says:
this is what people have told me about you guys, is what i based that on.
stay at home says:
oh, what do you mean? I thought it was a personal observation.
quinn says:
david told me when he first saw you something like "i don't know if i like the music first or i like the people." it is a personal observation.
stay at home says:
you said that enjoyment of our music is more based on knowing us, which I disagree with--if you like me from listening to my music or seeing me play you are responding to the music and/or performance.
and I think personality is a very important aspect of art. I have begun to think of artists and works of art on similar terms that I think of friends--there's so many different levels of connection and chemistry and appreciation, it's never just how GOOD or skilled or nice somebody or something is. and bands like us, two-pieces that are more instrumentally bare, and less skill-based (speaking for myself there, not calling anyone else unskilled) rely more heavily on personality (which for me is very important and the reason I use the kinds of arrangements I do), but back to you. . . . do you think you are NOT personality based? in what ways does a band like the green line differ on that level?
quinn says:
well, our music touches on so much. live, like the other night, i would say less so personality - it's more like a collective, and people connect to the greatest degree with vocals, which were (that show at least) pretty low. some EP's i've done are very much personality-based. songs where it's my voice and not much else.
stay at home says:
yeah, some of those are my favourites, like Why Not Congratulate Yourself Sometimes.
quinn says:
yeah. the best music ever has some of the best people behind and getting some kind of relationship with these people is what connects music to people. i'm sort of working on another full-length that is going to have a lot of my singing on it.
stay at home says:
great!
quinn says:
but i find it really difficult to sing, i don't really enjoy it.
stay at home says:
as I thought about what you had said I realized that I do really connect with the songs that you sing, and I mentioned I was disappointed that you didn't do any singing on friday.
quinn says:
it's less difficult for sean to bring himself to sing.
stay at home says:
it's not that I don't like sean and dave's vocals--I especially love when dave goes ah ha ha ha in This Is A Story About Diamonds--but maybe the personality of the songs comes out in a purer form when you sing. or maybe my ex-boyfriend is right and I just like music best when the singer can't sing.
quinn says:
thanks. i definitely have one of those voices. like Daniel Johnston or Wayne Coyne or Lou Reed. not to compare myself to them. maybe more like Danny. the other two are pretty natural singers. plus i've only been singing for maybe just under a year. although I did sing in my first ever band, The Carters.
stay at home says:
I'm just kidding, I could go on for days explaining why bob dylan and neil young and jack white and conor oberst and kurt cobain are way better singers than, say, oh I don't even want to name somebody lame that has a "good voice."
quinn says:
Paul McCartney?
stay at home says:
yes, good example.
quinn says:
there's a reason people connected with Lennon moreso.
stay at home says:
fuck yeah.
quinn says:
I went to the Lennon memorial in New York and people were crying.
stay at home says:
Plastic Ono Band is one of my favourite albums.
quinn says:
Mother DESTROYS me.
but Lennon is a fabulous singer, he's got like a 3 octave range
stay at home says:
yeah, he is good. nobody says he can't sing, do they?
quinn says:
no, but he's a little more to the left than Paul.
stay at home says:
yes, and people don't get what he saw in yoko ono and everybody hates her singing, but that's a whole different thing to talk about.
quinn says:
he probably shouldn't have been even brought up in this context.
stay at home says:
ha ha
quinn says:
but yeah. "Mother" is better than anything he did with the Beatles. is that blasphemy? that's just the kind of music I go for.
stay at home says:
I'm not going to disagree, but it is bolder than I would go. but, like I said, I like that album better than any of the beatles albums.
quinn says:
I can't say that. I like George's All Things Must Pass better than any beatles album, but maybe that is in part because of the Phil Spector factor. who is one of my Production-heros.
stay at home says:
it's kind of in the indie rock genre before that existed as a genre (Plastic Ono Band).
quinn says:
yes, those two albums. kind of get near that area.
stay at home says:
I'll check that one out then.
quinn says:
You've never heard it?
stay at home says:
no.
quinn says:
My Lord.
Be Right Back, I'm going to put it on. . . . i took out one of my cd's from the player. if that lends any cred to what i was saying.
stay at home says:
lots of cred. I am listening to The Green Lion ep.
quinn says:
ha. it's silly. i wanted to be Spacemen 3 at that time. as shown by the Stooges cover.
i kind of wanted to get onstage and sing for the tycoons last night.
stay at home says:
you did! me too! were you writing lyrics in your head?
quinn says:
yes. Lou Reed-esque.
stay at home says:
me too, I wrote one down afterwards.
quinn says:
Jamie doesn't like Lou Reed, did you know that?
stay at home says:
well, I'll have a discussion with her. she didn't used to like bob DYLan.
quinn says:
Berlin. have you heard Berlin? by Reed?
stay at home says:
I think I have, but I'm not familiar with it.
quinn says:
he wanted to kill himself, and made an album about it. and it IS. that and the production is amazing.
stay at home says:
I get sick of him sometimes, my ex-boyfriend neill burned me a whole bunch of lou reed albums at one time, too much at once I think.
quinn says:
forget his solo albums. all of them. except Berlin. he needed the Velvets to keep him from becoming a total moron.
stay at home says:
ok, yeah, I have a pretty good selection of velvet underground and he is clearly magical.
quinn says:
they are my favourite band.
stay at home says:
I could hear it even before I heard the velvet underground covers.
quinn says:
maybe if i sing more it'll be more obvious even.
stay at home says:
oh, I was going to say, tanner said maybe the tycoons should have different people come up and sing or recite poetry with them.
quinn says:
yeah.
stay at home says:
and I was just thinking about the web of interactions between bands in our little growing scene.
quinn says:
i thought about that last night too. green line, bash bros, old, tycoons all have a direct connection to Pheasant Alley. this year coming up is going to be really something for me, recording-wise. I'm getting a real place and real pro gear.
stay at home says:
I like how you started out recording, and handing out cds to people and progressed into a full performing band.
quinn says:
i have very set goals. it all progresses.
stay at home says:
a lot of people were and are really excited about your band, partly of course because your music is rad and interesting, but also I think because that build up is exciting.
quinn says:
yeah, it was all thought out by me beforehand. because I live to "create" (music, writing whatever) and I kind of saw how a band comes to be in this town. it kind of lined up well in terms of the band that i was getting to be friends with the sort of other music people at the same time I was starting a band.
stay at home says:
yes, I think it's rather serendipitous.
quinn says:
i didn't have any friends for two years. i didn't hang out with sean for two years.
stay at home says:
most of my best friends now say similar things, and it was the same for me, not that I didn't have ANY friends, but that we didn't have many close connections and didn't feel like we had much of a place here, and then things have just gradually come together that now we have such a big group of amazing people doing cool things and getting excited about what each other are doing and building on all that collective enthusiasm.
quinn says:
yeah
stay at home says:
it’s kind of opening up the playing field to a whole lot of new types of opportunities.
quinn says:
exactly.

when you can rock and roll AND stay at home. . .

WAKE UP!
WAKE UP LITTLE BLOG!

O.K.

so, summer in nanaimo passed pleasantly, full of parties and shows and midnight bike rides. fall is well underway, students are already getting extensions on all their assignments and you are planning your halloween costume. ok, well, I am reviving my blog, fittingly with the decision to stay at home this weekend instead of going to vancouver like I planned. here's the story.
I was going to go to vancouver today and tomorrow. today is my good friend shalon's birthday and she is having a sushi celebration with her closest friends. toMORRow DUSTIN AND GARRET are reuniting to play one more show, and I know, you're thinking this event must be happening just for me! right, and how could I miss it? I know, AND sufjan stevens is playing in vancouver also, and my beautiful friend aleks actually offered me her ticket. sufjan stevens is on my list of artists I most need to see (list also includes: joanna newsom, regina spektor, the shins and hawksley workman, and I know I just missed hawksley workman agAIN fuck me).
BUT then there is the battle of the band at the cambie. which has been a pretty good time so far. old phoebe tied to advance the first round ANd the second round, so we will be in the final on october 21st with unlabeled and johnny good and WHOever wins tomorrrrrow night, which brings me to tomorrrrrow night at the cambie: the BASh brothers (I LOVE those girls), the tycOONs (I LOVE those guys, I REALLY do), and wilson PAScoe (who also scores particularly high in the ratings of fanTAStic members of the universe).
and then there is TONIGHT. the greEN line are playing their FIRST show. at the velvet underground at 9:00. I've been playing the green line's eps on the radio for quite a few months and tonight finally get to see them play. actually I also saw them play on tuesday night in the studio when they came on the playlist, which was rad. and tonight they will also be releasing TWO full-length cds. score three points for nanaimo.
the decision was actually finally made by some employment related complications which made it sensible for me to take out some resumes today and not spend vancouver amounts of money lest diminishing working hours leave me too hungry to rock. but that is just part of the real issue, that this is my home, these are my people, this is my life and I LOve it. HOW can you go away when your home is so rad?

by the way though, joanna newsom is coming to vancouver december 5th, so don't think any of you are going to plan a rad enough show to make me miss it.

in other news, I just heard the new swan lake album yesterday and it is more awesome than I expected and I expected it to be TOtally awesome. watch out top five albums of the year list. spencer krug + spencer krug = how can the universe be so sweet?! it comes out november 21st. I am actually going to pay money for it so I can cradle it in my arms.

now playing: of montreal - you'll never have me

Oh yoU aRe. . . Oh OK

watching colourbook last night I got a little wolf parade feeling in my belly. like, actually this is huge, really this is so good, does anyone REALIZE how good this is? why is not everyone just exploding from how good this is. perhaps it is the fact that colourbook is often pretty loose and laid back and joking around in their performances that pulls wool over ears and makes people not completely notice just how incredible every song is and keeps everyone from just fainting from awesome.
last night at the old chemainus firehall (remind me to tell you how utopian this venue is. . . free food!) colourbook's drummer couldn't make it and brock, everyone's favourite ukuleleleleleleist, filled in for a whimsical and magical show.
the evening started off with the bike's mine, who played a bike's mine set, yes, the mics are working, we just don't really sing into them.
then old phoebe played, for which most people sat on the floor and looked pretty comfy. it was like playing to a school gym of attentive children as we banged on the bike and jamie let loose on a radiator and the walls. she's getting wild, that girl. my parents also came to see us play for the first time, because they live in chemainus. they said we were unique.
ghosts couldn't make the show, but one of their members performed his side-project mousetrap instead, singing along to recorded beats and stuff. it would have been great with the addition of maybe adam gold on mini-korg or something.
fury and the mouse are old phoebe's new friends. fury and the mouse! they fucking rocked. I kind of regret that I was eating chili and salad in the band lounge (band lounge!) for the first part of their set. it was delicious though. because I really got into them and rocked out just a little bit when I did go stand in front of them and got hit in the face with it. I told tanner that the guy on the korg is a really great guy, based on the way he moved about as he played, and then found it to be quite true when I talked to him after the show. soon or eventually we will go to victoria to play with them again.
the old firehall in chemainus is a community centre and a very nice place to play a show. they cook food for the bands. there is a band lounge and a room downstairs with computers and pool tables and things. and everyone gets paid! and they were so nice! they apologized so much to us for the low turnout and low pay because usually there is a very good turnout and bands get paid much more. we don't even get paid for half the shows we play, so it was nice to have gas and slurpee costs covered.
we also had a very nice time stopping for slurpees with colourbook on the way home. and jordan assured me that their recording is going well (recorded in their house, the way indie rock should be!) and we should see a colourbook album pretty soon. good news for rock and roll!

the bike's mine is playing in port mcneil today. I almost went with them, but you can't do everything. sometimes I try. rock and roll is alot of work and you just have to take care of yourself sometimes. you can't let your roommate do ALL the dishes ALL the time.

which reminds me, I guess I have been too busy crying all week to mention the breakup of dustin and garret. garret seems to be finding the expenses and time demands of being in the band conflicting with survival. it's not easy, even when you're AWESOME. they played their final show in vancouver last night, which I almost canceled on our show to attend, but I decided instead to be even more determined to make my band my highest priority and not let ANYTHING get in the way of it. I hope they had a great rocking party of a sendoff.

I was also sorry to miss harry and the potters yesterday in vancouver, but wore my brand new voldemort can't stop the rock! t-shirt, which l'ren wisely and lovingly picked out for me when she saw them in new york last week. if you haven't heard harry and the potters, I like to describe them as if harry potter were conor oberst, however, they're actually alot more posi-core than that.

so the lineup on july 28th at the artspace has shrunk to just old phoebe and the bike's mine with d&g never to return, but don't worry, we have some special guests up our sleeves and will be adding to that lineup so please join us!

also next saturday (july 22nd) head down the china steps for the CHLY street party happening outside the station all day long with 1, 2, 3, 4. . . 10, 11, 12. . . . lots of bands.

now playing: colourbook - theme song