Alrighty folks, our tour ending show went well!
And happened almost a month ago. Seems like only yesterday though...
We had a bunch of our Victoria diehard fans tell us it was the best show they'd ever seen of ours, and that makes me proud of the time we put in on the road. Anyways, Adam's been gone with the Gruff for almost a month and he won't be back 'til almost December so no doubt whatever tightness we gained on tour will have to be figured out again when he returns ....
What ELSE makes me proud is that when we got home, we found that we had been awarded the touring grant we applied for. Flippin' eh! To know that what we're doing is valued not only by the normal every day human beings who enjoy our music, but also by a panel of distinguished grant issuers and ostensibly the government of British Columbia, is a pretty kickass feeling. So I'll say it now:
Fish & Bird acknowledge the financial support of the Government of British Columbia. Thanks MusicBC for making our modest earnings less modest!
As for plans for the future, Fish & Bird is looking at a tour of western Canada in May, to Winnipeg and back. Things are vaguely falling into place for that as we speak, and a few concerts closer to home are nearing through the fog. But really, winter is setting in... our summer has been a plethora of performances, but as the leaves die their spectacular autumnal deaths and the hard rains begin to fall, Fish & Bird turn their focus toward another album. As proud as we are of our current album, we are about 200 times more kickass now than when we recorded it and can't wait to watch that translate to digital sounds. What that means is that this winter, Adam and I will be traveling to an unnamed 5 mile square island in the Pacific, and staying in a small log cabin. For at least a week, we will spend our time playing music for the wildlife, the trees, and a handful of microphones. Surrounded by rain, snow, green, and creativity.
What are we up to until then?
Adam's on tour with the Gruff, helping them make a name for themselves at conferences around the continent,
and Taylor's buying tacky rugs to hang on his wall and building stereo amplifiers with cigar boxes.
We love you all!
11/6/08
10/2/08
well!
Okay folks, yes I know it's been a while. I know you're all rabidly refreshing this page every 30 seconds hoping to hear new news of our tour, so here goes!
After Wawa we made our way to David's parents place in Thunder Bay, where we were fed scrumptious if copious quantities of ribs. That night we played our last show with David: a strange but splendid multi-floor house concert extravaganza. This other fellow named Clay, a spectacular singer and guitar player, played as well. The next day Graham and Adam and I bid David adieu and set off on our western leg as three.
Our next stop was Winnipeg. We rolled into town listening to the Weakerthans, and got to Candor Music & Books where we met up with Marshall and Sheldon of the Wild Turkeys, performing as a duo under the name "The Boot Hill Crooners". The show was awesome! I grew up in Winnipeg and got to relive some childhood memories after the show, hanging out eating at Robin's Donuts with my Dad and some old friends.
The next day we drove to Brandon and played another show with the Boot Hill's at the Lady of the Lake, spent our meager earnings there on alcohol and laughed the night away in our hosts' kitchen.
The next day was off to Saskatoon. We crashed out the night we got there, and the next day we played at an open mic at the Yard & Flagon, got some free drinks out of the deal and watched in horror as a dreadlocked man with a trombone trashed his MacBook. The next day we made a sweet veggie oil score at an italian restaurant, but somehow while we were filtering oil behind the restaruant the van became full of flies. I actually don't think I've ever seen so many goddamned flies, and don't know if I've ever been as enraged in my life. I was feverishly swatting at them as we drove to the venue, and hit the pinnacle of rage when I caught a couple of them mating on the ceiling. It came time to load all the gear into the venue, so we had to leave them swarming in there... the show upstairs at Lydia's with Melissa Nygren opening the night up. Thankfully when we got back to the van after the show all the flies figured that the van wasnt the best place to be on a chilly autumn saskatoon evening. In all we spent 4 nights in Saskatoon and by the fourth day we were starting to feel restless... a lot of moving along made staying in one place seem weird.
Finally we made our way to one of our scary gigs, Edmonton... we didn't think anyone would show up ... but lo and behold, showtime rolled around and a nice number of people were suddenly there. From there, it was off to Calgary. Our house concert at Prarie Sky Co-Housing was awesome - we sold the most CDs at that show of all the shows on the tour. I got to see a whole bunch of family I dont usually get to see. My one complaint is that my friend who was supposed to show up to the show in Lantzville on the sailboat tour was supposed to show up in Calgary but didn't there either. Bummer! Damnit Jamie!
The drive west from Calgary was a relief... watching the mountains emerge from the earth after days and days of prairie. Spectacular! We got to Salmon Arm for our house concert there at the Vivians' honey farm. Their place is a beautiful farm in a valley surrounded by mountains, and that night before our show there was a thunderstorm I got to go for a walk in. Feeling that cleansing BC rain I definitely started to feel closer to home... the show that night was an intimate affair. Not a whole lot of people, but everyone there was definitely stoked to be there.
The next morning we picked plums from the Vivians' trees and hit the road. Penticton was another of our scarily uncertain shows... but again by the time showtime rolled around people started filing in and the show ended up being really good. And free italian sodas at he venue!! We saw a bunch of folks from Artswells, and stayed with that festival's head honchos, Paul and Julie. Julie fed us whisky and Paul showed us his vynil record of trains going through thunderstorms. The record was all scratched so it would get stuck and accidentally make the sweetest beats out of train sounds and thunder crashes.
The next day, the drive to Vancouver. We got into town nice and late and met some friends for some Sushi. Adam and Graham and I all high-fived for a tour well done and went off to stay at different friends houses for the night. That was a month in the life of Fish & Bird and a mighty fine successful one at that.
To cap off the tour we have a homecoming concert in Victoria on the 11th, fresh from the road and more awesome than ever. We're hoping to cram all of Victoria into the Orange Hall, so be there at 8:30, or be square!!
Taylor
After Wawa we made our way to David's parents place in Thunder Bay, where we were fed scrumptious if copious quantities of ribs. That night we played our last show with David: a strange but splendid multi-floor house concert extravaganza. This other fellow named Clay, a spectacular singer and guitar player, played as well. The next day Graham and Adam and I bid David adieu and set off on our western leg as three.
Our next stop was Winnipeg. We rolled into town listening to the Weakerthans, and got to Candor Music & Books where we met up with Marshall and Sheldon of the Wild Turkeys, performing as a duo under the name "The Boot Hill Crooners". The show was awesome! I grew up in Winnipeg and got to relive some childhood memories after the show, hanging out eating at Robin's Donuts with my Dad and some old friends.
The next day we drove to Brandon and played another show with the Boot Hill's at the Lady of the Lake, spent our meager earnings there on alcohol and laughed the night away in our hosts' kitchen.
The next day was off to Saskatoon. We crashed out the night we got there, and the next day we played at an open mic at the Yard & Flagon, got some free drinks out of the deal and watched in horror as a dreadlocked man with a trombone trashed his MacBook. The next day we made a sweet veggie oil score at an italian restaurant, but somehow while we were filtering oil behind the restaruant the van became full of flies. I actually don't think I've ever seen so many goddamned flies, and don't know if I've ever been as enraged in my life. I was feverishly swatting at them as we drove to the venue, and hit the pinnacle of rage when I caught a couple of them mating on the ceiling. It came time to load all the gear into the venue, so we had to leave them swarming in there... the show upstairs at Lydia's with Melissa Nygren opening the night up. Thankfully when we got back to the van after the show all the flies figured that the van wasnt the best place to be on a chilly autumn saskatoon evening. In all we spent 4 nights in Saskatoon and by the fourth day we were starting to feel restless... a lot of moving along made staying in one place seem weird.
Finally we made our way to one of our scary gigs, Edmonton... we didn't think anyone would show up ... but lo and behold, showtime rolled around and a nice number of people were suddenly there. From there, it was off to Calgary. Our house concert at Prarie Sky Co-Housing was awesome - we sold the most CDs at that show of all the shows on the tour. I got to see a whole bunch of family I dont usually get to see. My one complaint is that my friend who was supposed to show up to the show in Lantzville on the sailboat tour was supposed to show up in Calgary but didn't there either. Bummer! Damnit Jamie!
The drive west from Calgary was a relief... watching the mountains emerge from the earth after days and days of prairie. Spectacular! We got to Salmon Arm for our house concert there at the Vivians' honey farm. Their place is a beautiful farm in a valley surrounded by mountains, and that night before our show there was a thunderstorm I got to go for a walk in. Feeling that cleansing BC rain I definitely started to feel closer to home... the show that night was an intimate affair. Not a whole lot of people, but everyone there was definitely stoked to be there.
The next morning we picked plums from the Vivians' trees and hit the road. Penticton was another of our scarily uncertain shows... but again by the time showtime rolled around people started filing in and the show ended up being really good. And free italian sodas at he venue!! We saw a bunch of folks from Artswells, and stayed with that festival's head honchos, Paul and Julie. Julie fed us whisky and Paul showed us his vynil record of trains going through thunderstorms. The record was all scratched so it would get stuck and accidentally make the sweetest beats out of train sounds and thunder crashes.
The next day, the drive to Vancouver. We got into town nice and late and met some friends for some Sushi. Adam and Graham and I all high-fived for a tour well done and went off to stay at different friends houses for the night. That was a month in the life of Fish & Bird and a mighty fine successful one at that.
To cap off the tour we have a homecoming concert in Victoria on the 11th, fresh from the road and more awesome than ever. We're hoping to cram all of Victoria into the Orange Hall, so be there at 8:30, or be square!!
Taylor
9/24/08
Swimming in the Supe!
Hey folks! Greetings from Robin's Donuts in the middle of nowhere. We had a wonderful house concert at the Rock Island Lodge near Wawa, Ontario last night next to the crashing waves of Lake Superior, and stayed up late on the beach drinking wine, laughing, and talking about some quasi intellectual bullshit.
Today David and I got up around 7:30, stripped down to our underwear, threw ourselves into the lake and bodysurfed under grey morning skies. Adam and Graham soon followed and we all frollicked and froze in the waves and killed our feet on the sharp sand. Hard to believe its not the ocean. For the second or third day of Autumn the water was surprisingly warm. Warm of course is a relative term.
Incredibly refreshing to be here after so many days of the rest of Ontario. We are lucky lads.
Anyways we're all happy and soggy, and off to Thunder Bay, with Adam's jockey shorts air drying out of the sunroof.
Today David and I got up around 7:30, stripped down to our underwear, threw ourselves into the lake and bodysurfed under grey morning skies. Adam and Graham soon followed and we all frollicked and froze in the waves and killed our feet on the sharp sand. Hard to believe its not the ocean. For the second or third day of Autumn the water was surprisingly warm. Warm of course is a relative term.
Incredibly refreshing to be here after so many days of the rest of Ontario. We are lucky lads.
Anyways we're all happy and soggy, and off to Thunder Bay, with Adam's jockey shorts air drying out of the sunroof.
9/23/08
Marathon Blog Post!
Well, it's been a few days since I've sat down and blogged, and we're about a half a country along by now.
After our house concert in Halifax, we played another at Jude's dad's place in West Dublin, and played at a house party the next day. The next morning after partying relatively heartily we got up around 6 in the morning to prepare to leave Nova Scotia for our first really long drive.
Adam loves mornings!
Me, Adam, Jude, Steph , Graham, Meg (who we picked up in Halifax and gave a ride to Ottawa)
Judy and Stephy seeing us off.
That day we gave'r through Nova Scotia, and into New Brunswick where we stopped in Moncton for veggie oil. We stopped at a pub, and found the guy who worked there who was in a band, and he was stoked to help us out. Laden with good golden veggie fuel we sped out of New Brunswick and into Quebec, where we stopped at a random clearing by the side of a road and set up camp for the night.
The next morning we drove to Levis, Quebec and found a sushi restaurant there who was willing to part with their waste veggie oil. Again it was all about finding the guy who worked there who was in a band. They were really helpful, and their food was amazing to boot. Here's Meg and Adam digging in their bin:
From there it was off to Montreal where we met up with our good friend and musical compatriot Mr. David Simard, and I got to see my friend Clayton. We had the night off in Montreal and the entire following day to run around and explore, and Adam and I talked at length about the differences between bigger towns and smaller towns, the west coast versus further east, et cetera, and we both came to the conclusion that we have the vague intention of someday living in Montreal. We got to brush up on our French and walk around ordering things sounding like a couple of idiot foreigners. The night of the 17th we played at Montreal's L'Inspecteur Epingle with David's power trio and a fellow named Leif Vollebekk, and both acts were awesome. At the end of our set we had David, his drummer Daniel, and Leif up on stage with us. Here's Clayton and his roommate Becca after the show:
And here's Adam fiddling with David during his set:
I shed a single tear as I bid Clayton adieu, and we made our way back to David's to sleep. The next morning it was a slow start and a short drive to Ottawa to play a house concert at a place called the treehouse. It was full of politically aware anarchist hippie type folks who seemed really cool, further proving the theory I devised in Halifax that if a household has an extensive collection of mason jars for drinking vessels and bulk food storage, the people who live there are probably really cool. Before the show, David and Graham and I made a sweet veggie oil score behind a sushi restaurant:
From Ottawa we swung by Kingston to pick up my good friend Robin (who was coming along for the ride til Toronto), and then made our way to Peterborough, where we had a show at a little art gallery called the Peterborough Arts Umbrella. After the show we ran around Peterborough hopping from place to place until we finally discovered the cool bar there - sadly after Adam had already given up and gone to sleep. Here we are before Adam conked:
That night the five of us, David, Graham, Adam, Robin, and I, all ended up in different places to sleep. Adam in the van, Robin and I at my friend Sally's, and Graham and David at Dave's friend Mel's, and in the morning we reconvened over breakfast at Wimpy's and made our way to Toronto. On the way there Graham was poking his head out the sunroof and his glasses whipped off, and so he is now a blind man stumbling across Canada with us. Here's a photo of him moments before his glasses took their leave of his face:
We had a few hours in Toronto before our show, so we went and lounged around in Kensington Market where we had tasty food and looked at vintage and army surplus stores. I saw way too many sweet western shirts, and received some unsolicited fashion advice from a strange bearded man. Our show that night was a house concert at a psychiatrist's penthouse apartment just off of Yonge street. A few of our very favourite people in the world are currently living in Toronto and came to the show, and some old friends of mine from high school surprised me by showing up. Our friend Anna shed the splendor of her viola on a few of our tunes and we got encored into playing a much longer set than we intended, so the show itself was a lot of fun, but the night took a somewhat nasty turn when David and I were trying to move the van and one of our jugs of veggie oil sprung a leak and spilled into the back. Luckily I was able to keep most of it from spilling everywhere by catching it really quickly but it was still a godawful mess - we had to cut some oil stains out of the foam mattresses in the back and do some serious oil spill clean up using kitty litter - and all this is in a hot parking garage. Anyway, we did manage to get the situation under control, not too many things got veggie'd - a couple of coats got soaked, but they were fine after a run through the wash. So finally after that fiasco we all got to sleep. The next morning over brunch we bid Robin and all of our Toronto friends adieu -
- and we made our way to Guelph. We met up with David's friend Kelly of David and Kelly, and after a frustrating drive around Guelph finding no veggie oil, we played at the Cornerstone. After terrorizing the streets of Guelph and battling with orange pylons, we stumbled back to Kelly's where we stayed the night. The next morning after a fairly slow start we commenced the 12 hour drive to the Sault, stopping in Sudbury where a friendly man from the laughing (smiling?) buddha led us around town on his scooter, us following behind with the van. He led us to a bunch of chip shops, and we finally found one with some waste oil to spare for us. He also gave us some sturdier containers for the oil which hopefully won't burst and spill all over our crap if we slam on the brakes too fast. Anyways, by about 3 in the morning we made it to the house of the Wild Turkeys in Sault Ste. Marie, which is where I am now, being told that it is time to get going on finding more fuel and making our way to Wawa.
And THAT, folks, is Nova Scotia to most of the way through Ontario, in one ridiculously long blog post. From here on in I will hopefully be a little bit better about being on top of these things - so perhaps you can look forward to shorter, more frequent posts, hopefully less riddled with poor grammar.
Anyways, hope all is well for all of you! See you in Western Canada!
Taylor
After our house concert in Halifax, we played another at Jude's dad's place in West Dublin, and played at a house party the next day. The next morning after partying relatively heartily we got up around 6 in the morning to prepare to leave Nova Scotia for our first really long drive.
Adam loves mornings!
Me, Adam, Jude, Steph , Graham, Meg (who we picked up in Halifax and gave a ride to Ottawa)
Judy and Stephy seeing us off.That day we gave'r through Nova Scotia, and into New Brunswick where we stopped in Moncton for veggie oil. We stopped at a pub, and found the guy who worked there who was in a band, and he was stoked to help us out. Laden with good golden veggie fuel we sped out of New Brunswick and into Quebec, where we stopped at a random clearing by the side of a road and set up camp for the night.
The next morning we drove to Levis, Quebec and found a sushi restaurant there who was willing to part with their waste veggie oil. Again it was all about finding the guy who worked there who was in a band. They were really helpful, and their food was amazing to boot. Here's Meg and Adam digging in their bin:
From there it was off to Montreal where we met up with our good friend and musical compatriot Mr. David Simard, and I got to see my friend Clayton. We had the night off in Montreal and the entire following day to run around and explore, and Adam and I talked at length about the differences between bigger towns and smaller towns, the west coast versus further east, et cetera, and we both came to the conclusion that we have the vague intention of someday living in Montreal. We got to brush up on our French and walk around ordering things sounding like a couple of idiot foreigners. The night of the 17th we played at Montreal's L'Inspecteur Epingle with David's power trio and a fellow named Leif Vollebekk, and both acts were awesome. At the end of our set we had David, his drummer Daniel, and Leif up on stage with us. Here's Clayton and his roommate Becca after the show:
And here's Adam fiddling with David during his set:
I shed a single tear as I bid Clayton adieu, and we made our way back to David's to sleep. The next morning it was a slow start and a short drive to Ottawa to play a house concert at a place called the treehouse. It was full of politically aware anarchist hippie type folks who seemed really cool, further proving the theory I devised in Halifax that if a household has an extensive collection of mason jars for drinking vessels and bulk food storage, the people who live there are probably really cool. Before the show, David and Graham and I made a sweet veggie oil score behind a sushi restaurant:
From Ottawa we swung by Kingston to pick up my good friend Robin (who was coming along for the ride til Toronto), and then made our way to Peterborough, where we had a show at a little art gallery called the Peterborough Arts Umbrella. After the show we ran around Peterborough hopping from place to place until we finally discovered the cool bar there - sadly after Adam had already given up and gone to sleep. Here we are before Adam conked:
That night the five of us, David, Graham, Adam, Robin, and I, all ended up in different places to sleep. Adam in the van, Robin and I at my friend Sally's, and Graham and David at Dave's friend Mel's, and in the morning we reconvened over breakfast at Wimpy's and made our way to Toronto. On the way there Graham was poking his head out the sunroof and his glasses whipped off, and so he is now a blind man stumbling across Canada with us. Here's a photo of him moments before his glasses took their leave of his face:
We had a few hours in Toronto before our show, so we went and lounged around in Kensington Market where we had tasty food and looked at vintage and army surplus stores. I saw way too many sweet western shirts, and received some unsolicited fashion advice from a strange bearded man. Our show that night was a house concert at a psychiatrist's penthouse apartment just off of Yonge street. A few of our very favourite people in the world are currently living in Toronto and came to the show, and some old friends of mine from high school surprised me by showing up. Our friend Anna shed the splendor of her viola on a few of our tunes and we got encored into playing a much longer set than we intended, so the show itself was a lot of fun, but the night took a somewhat nasty turn when David and I were trying to move the van and one of our jugs of veggie oil sprung a leak and spilled into the back. Luckily I was able to keep most of it from spilling everywhere by catching it really quickly but it was still a godawful mess - we had to cut some oil stains out of the foam mattresses in the back and do some serious oil spill clean up using kitty litter - and all this is in a hot parking garage. Anyway, we did manage to get the situation under control, not too many things got veggie'd - a couple of coats got soaked, but they were fine after a run through the wash. So finally after that fiasco we all got to sleep. The next morning over brunch we bid Robin and all of our Toronto friends adieu -
- and we made our way to Guelph. We met up with David's friend Kelly of David and Kelly, and after a frustrating drive around Guelph finding no veggie oil, we played at the Cornerstone. After terrorizing the streets of Guelph and battling with orange pylons, we stumbled back to Kelly's where we stayed the night. The next morning after a fairly slow start we commenced the 12 hour drive to the Sault, stopping in Sudbury where a friendly man from the laughing (smiling?) buddha led us around town on his scooter, us following behind with the van. He led us to a bunch of chip shops, and we finally found one with some waste oil to spare for us. He also gave us some sturdier containers for the oil which hopefully won't burst and spill all over our crap if we slam on the brakes too fast. Anyways, by about 3 in the morning we made it to the house of the Wild Turkeys in Sault Ste. Marie, which is where I am now, being told that it is time to get going on finding more fuel and making our way to Wawa.And THAT, folks, is Nova Scotia to most of the way through Ontario, in one ridiculously long blog post. From here on in I will hopefully be a little bit better about being on top of these things - so perhaps you can look forward to shorter, more frequent posts, hopefully less riddled with poor grammar.
Anyways, hope all is well for all of you! See you in Western Canada!
Taylor
9/13/08
Halifax part two!
Back at Paperchase in Halifax. Just said goodbye to Adam and Daniel from Fredericton who we might see when we pass through there, and while we're waiting for Graham to swing by, thought I'd post a couple pictures of Adam and me playing the Lone Ranger in West Dublin. Wish I had more time to put up more but we have some thrift shopping to do. Important business you realise!
More pictures later folks!
9/12/08
Halifax!
Sitting here in Halifax sipping sweet fern tea. I spent the morning walking around Wolfville gathering various supplies (thanks to some of which I am now clean shaven). We drove into Halifax, and Adam and I visited the Haifax Folklore Centre, and I got to meet the man who built my banjo, Mr Tom Dorward. Currently I am debating whether I ought to leave the banjo with him to get it fixed up to proper working order and have it then shipped back to victoria. Decisions decisions. We do have another banjo with which we could finish the tour so it's a matter of my financial status to be considered. Adam tried out some bows, and I played and fell in love with my dream guitar. I've always said that my eventual guitar will be something small and old, and this particular instrument is from 1880 and is a small bodied parlour guitar. It sounds, plays, feels, looks amazing. I think it might be my soul mate. Now only a large sum of money stands between me and my true love. Blast!!
After the folklore centre we lounged around downtown at an internet cafe and then made our way here to the house we played at tonight. We played a lovely house concert to a small but very appreciative audience. The rest of the crew is out in the backyard around the fire mingling and my friend Adam Hodnett just arrived after hitchhiking here from frederickton!! So I better go socialise. Hope all is well in the world of those who read the Fish & Bird blog. Good night! I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.
Taylor
After the folklore centre we lounged around downtown at an internet cafe and then made our way here to the house we played at tonight. We played a lovely house concert to a small but very appreciative audience. The rest of the crew is out in the backyard around the fire mingling and my friend Adam Hodnett just arrived after hitchhiking here from frederickton!! So I better go socialise. Hope all is well in the world of those who read the Fish & Bird blog. Good night! I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.
Taylor
9/11/08
Wolfville!
Howdy folks!
On Wednesday, Adam and I got to watch the sun rise in Victoria as we got to the airport, and three takeoffs and landings later, got to watch it set in Halifax as we arrived. On the plane we sat in our seats transfixed by the televisions in front of our faces. On MuchMoreMusic I heard the song "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry for the first time. It's so catchy! Apparently it has been top of the charts for a couple of months now. Nobody ever told me about it! I guess I should watch TV more often... anyway, I have since worked out a swing version of it, and it's pretty spectacular.
Anyhow, Jude and Steph met us when we arrived at the Halifax airport and drove us down to their place in West Dublin. There, we feasted on chili and I played Jude's dad's amazing old Gibson guitar which plays like a dream, and this unbelievable handmade guitar called the lone ranger that plays like a nightmare.
The next morning we got up and bought and filtered a bunch of veggie oil. It's amazing, it's like alchemy! We filtered out little bits of onion rings and batter and stuff through the filtering system Jude built. It's pretty ingenious. I'm still amazed that our touring vehicle runs on organic waste. We have a pretty amazing set-up, really - the van is fueled up pretty much cheap or free, depending how much work we want to do. The stereo system in the van is pretty wicked too - I got a new, tiny laptop (one of those 'netbooks') and we've been playing music with that via an 1/8" auxiliary input. Since I finally found some internet and downloaded "I kissed a girl", guess what we'll be listening to non-stop!
Anyways, we arrived and unloaded our gear at the house concert house in Wolfville with enough time to chill out and walk into town. Nova Scotia so far is incredibly beautiful to me - I have seen a lot of green and a lot of beautiful old buildings and a lot of the atlantic ocean. Mind you, Main Street Wolfville looks kinda like Main Street USA at Disneyland in this odd, manicured sort of way, and that's a little unnerving. Back at the house, the show tonight was awesome, a really good start to the tour. The audience seemed to really like us, and despite the fact that we prepared a really long setlist they hounded us for more tunes. We had to pull out all the stops! We met some cool folks during the break and after the show, played a tune or two, exchanged a few jokes and stories. A positive tour kick-off experience to be sure.
Now we have a long month ahead of us, people to see, places to play, and for now, I have a couch to go sleep on, so I will bid you fine people adieu, and dream about catchy top 40 tunes as I drift off to sleep...
'Til next time!
Taylor
P.S. If you don't know what song I'm talking about: http://www.imeem.com/people/-x_Akp/music/S2AWOw1z/katy_perry_i_kissed_a_girl/
9/2/08
September
All the schoolies are back to their schools, and summer's on its very last legs. I got myself a nice jacket.
We wrapped our summer up with a couple of really awesome shows - last monday we did a house concert with our best friends Anna and Rachael (Blue Richard and the Apricots) and a bunch of condenser microphones. It was a pretty beautiful evening, trading off songs and playing on each other's material. The recordings are sounding pretty good, Adam's been working on some mixdowns. You can hear a sweet version of "the letter" which we played as a duo of fretless chemainus banjo and viola - so neither Adam or I were in a comfortable space instrumentally and I think that comes through as a fresh and rough version of that song. We also played a new song for the very first time, and that's up there too, it's called "Sun Just Shines". Had the music for that one kicking around for almost a year now and the words finally came to me a week or two ago and through the wonder of technology monday's version is up and available for you to listen to in its rough state. More to be added later - BR & the A's stuff gives me goosebumps - I don't know if they've even heard it yet but hoo boy is it grand.
We also opened for the stomp club later that week at their CD release party, and I came away from that inspired to learn how to swing dance (and slightly done in by half a bottle of wine). Good times! And there are more to come!
Upcoming we are playing at the solstice cafe's birthday party at the solstice cafe (of all places), and then on the 10th we fly to Halifax to kick off our tour back across the country! I will post those dates very soon - please inform your friends across canada that we may well be pickin' a tune somewhere close to their hometown! I will also attempt to do as much blogging as possible on the way, so you will hear much about our zany adventures if you keep an eye on this page!
Bye for now y'all!
Taylor
We wrapped our summer up with a couple of really awesome shows - last monday we did a house concert with our best friends Anna and Rachael (Blue Richard and the Apricots) and a bunch of condenser microphones. It was a pretty beautiful evening, trading off songs and playing on each other's material. The recordings are sounding pretty good, Adam's been working on some mixdowns. You can hear a sweet version of "the letter" which we played as a duo of fretless chemainus banjo and viola - so neither Adam or I were in a comfortable space instrumentally and I think that comes through as a fresh and rough version of that song. We also played a new song for the very first time, and that's up there too, it's called "Sun Just Shines". Had the music for that one kicking around for almost a year now and the words finally came to me a week or two ago and through the wonder of technology monday's version is up and available for you to listen to in its rough state. More to be added later - BR & the A's stuff gives me goosebumps - I don't know if they've even heard it yet but hoo boy is it grand.
We also opened for the stomp club later that week at their CD release party, and I came away from that inspired to learn how to swing dance (and slightly done in by half a bottle of wine). Good times! And there are more to come!
Upcoming we are playing at the solstice cafe's birthday party at the solstice cafe (of all places), and then on the 10th we fly to Halifax to kick off our tour back across the country! I will post those dates very soon - please inform your friends across canada that we may well be pickin' a tune somewhere close to their hometown! I will also attempt to do as much blogging as possible on the way, so you will hear much about our zany adventures if you keep an eye on this page!
Bye for now y'all!
Taylor
7/4/08
Oh yeah, blogging! Oops.
Man, I totally fail at this blogging thing. Tour's long since over. Let me give you a little recap. I think we left off in Nanaimo, on the way to Hornby Island. The Hornby show was at the Joe King Hall with not only our pals Meg and Dave, but also PeSt, who lives on Hornby. Lots of folks there, and the hall is awesome. Jude and Steph hooked us up with a place to stay that night with some folks they know. We got in late, long after these folks had gone to sleep to find a note and some treats left out for us. In the morning we saw them for about a minute and a half, just long enough to down some glasses of orange juice before zooming off to make the early ferry. Nonetheless, thank you to the Rogalskys!
The next show was at Moss Dance's farm in Courtenay. Moss picked us up from the ferry terminal and there was a brief scare about a lost backpack full of valuable and irreplaceable things, but that was retrieved. We got to walk around Moss's beautiful property among floating bits of cottonwood. The concert that night was great - a very appreciative audience and just a lovely show.
We took the train that morning down to Nanaimo with best intentions. We got into Nanaimo and took the boat out of the harbour, and were then faced by big waves and a runaway dinghy. After a little thought and a few passes with the boathook, we retrieved the dinghy and thought it best to go back and anchor in Nanaimo rather than anchor off of the dockless wonder known as Lantzville in sketchy conditions. We took the bus up to our show in Lantzville that night, which was a major disappointment, because my friend who I was hoping would come down from Qualicum Beach didn't show up. Tragedy! I basically moped the whole night because of that, but our small audience seemed very happy to have us. That night we got back to Nanaimo for what was thankfully our last night in Nanaimo. We didn't even have a show in Nanaimo and yet somehow we ended up stuck there for days.
The next day was pretty much what made the whole tour worth it; we kissed Nanaimo's sorry ass goodbye and sailed almost all the way across the strait solely by sail in just a few hours. We got near Gibsons before we turned down toward Vancouver. At that point we lost our wind, so we had to turn on the iron sail. The waves were no longer in our favour, and they started to rock us in a most unpleasant fashion that caused Adam & I to liberate our luncheons into the briny deep. When we got to Vancouver we got a call from some friends who were hanging out at Jericho Beach, so we decided to anchor and row in to meet them. Coming at jericho beach that way was a very surreal experience; we felt like severely foreign explorers. We hadn't seen big crowds for almost 2 weeks so the people running around and playing volleyball seemed very bizzarre and alien. I managed to communicate with one of the natives in an improvised form of sign language and they prepared one of their local delicacies for me, known as a "Veggie Burger". we found our pals and hung out for a little while before rowing back to the mothership, and mooring ourselves near granville island.
The next day, June 15th, we had three shows. First of all, I had to carry every single piece of musical equipment we had while Adam & Ryan anchored the boat in false creek. I would have actually been able to manage it if not for the mandolin (or if the mandolin case had had a strap). June 15th was Vancouver's car free festival, so I took all our gear down to the Davie Street portion of the festival. Ryan and Adam met me there a bit later and we played a short set there, taxied (on car-free day - awesome, huh?) over to the Main Street part of the festival, played a short set on stage 2 or something there, and then made our way down to Our Town Cafe for our show there that night. The Ben Kelly Experience opened the show for us, which was an absoloute blast, because those guys are awesome. I was actually kind of nervous about having to follow them. But our set went really well, and we had Ben himself come play drums with us on a couple of tunes, so that kicked ass. There were a ton of people there too, (thanks Carla!) so that helped subsidize some of the money losing shows (ahem, Duncan), and at that point we ended up at something like 100 dollars behind for the tour in general. Considering that paid for three guys to eat and sleep and have an amazing sailing adventure (and drink) for 2 weeks, not half bad. So therefore, the verdict on the tour is:
Success!! W00t.
The next weekend, we made the money back biking to the Sooke Potholes campground playing at the Land Conservancy's Pedal to the Potholes event, so you could consider that a part of the tour. Which put us in the green! Not too shabby for a band's first trip out into the world, especially on a sailboat.
Soon I will post pictures, too, so you can have not only the Fish & Bird Sailboat Tour textual experience, but the Fish & Bird Sailboat Tour pictorial experience as well.
Toodles for now, kiddies!
The next show was at Moss Dance's farm in Courtenay. Moss picked us up from the ferry terminal and there was a brief scare about a lost backpack full of valuable and irreplaceable things, but that was retrieved. We got to walk around Moss's beautiful property among floating bits of cottonwood. The concert that night was great - a very appreciative audience and just a lovely show.
We took the train that morning down to Nanaimo with best intentions. We got into Nanaimo and took the boat out of the harbour, and were then faced by big waves and a runaway dinghy. After a little thought and a few passes with the boathook, we retrieved the dinghy and thought it best to go back and anchor in Nanaimo rather than anchor off of the dockless wonder known as Lantzville in sketchy conditions. We took the bus up to our show in Lantzville that night, which was a major disappointment, because my friend who I was hoping would come down from Qualicum Beach didn't show up. Tragedy! I basically moped the whole night because of that, but our small audience seemed very happy to have us. That night we got back to Nanaimo for what was thankfully our last night in Nanaimo. We didn't even have a show in Nanaimo and yet somehow we ended up stuck there for days.
The next day was pretty much what made the whole tour worth it; we kissed Nanaimo's sorry ass goodbye and sailed almost all the way across the strait solely by sail in just a few hours. We got near Gibsons before we turned down toward Vancouver. At that point we lost our wind, so we had to turn on the iron sail. The waves were no longer in our favour, and they started to rock us in a most unpleasant fashion that caused Adam & I to liberate our luncheons into the briny deep. When we got to Vancouver we got a call from some friends who were hanging out at Jericho Beach, so we decided to anchor and row in to meet them. Coming at jericho beach that way was a very surreal experience; we felt like severely foreign explorers. We hadn't seen big crowds for almost 2 weeks so the people running around and playing volleyball seemed very bizzarre and alien. I managed to communicate with one of the natives in an improvised form of sign language and they prepared one of their local delicacies for me, known as a "Veggie Burger". we found our pals and hung out for a little while before rowing back to the mothership, and mooring ourselves near granville island.
The next day, June 15th, we had three shows. First of all, I had to carry every single piece of musical equipment we had while Adam & Ryan anchored the boat in false creek. I would have actually been able to manage it if not for the mandolin (or if the mandolin case had had a strap). June 15th was Vancouver's car free festival, so I took all our gear down to the Davie Street portion of the festival. Ryan and Adam met me there a bit later and we played a short set there, taxied (on car-free day - awesome, huh?) over to the Main Street part of the festival, played a short set on stage 2 or something there, and then made our way down to Our Town Cafe for our show there that night. The Ben Kelly Experience opened the show for us, which was an absoloute blast, because those guys are awesome. I was actually kind of nervous about having to follow them. But our set went really well, and we had Ben himself come play drums with us on a couple of tunes, so that kicked ass. There were a ton of people there too, (thanks Carla!) so that helped subsidize some of the money losing shows (ahem, Duncan), and at that point we ended up at something like 100 dollars behind for the tour in general. Considering that paid for three guys to eat and sleep and have an amazing sailing adventure (and drink) for 2 weeks, not half bad. So therefore, the verdict on the tour is:
Success!! W00t.
The next weekend, we made the money back biking to the Sooke Potholes campground playing at the Land Conservancy's Pedal to the Potholes event, so you could consider that a part of the tour. Which put us in the green! Not too shabby for a band's first trip out into the world, especially on a sailboat.
Soon I will post pictures, too, so you can have not only the Fish & Bird Sailboat Tour textual experience, but the Fish & Bird Sailboat Tour pictorial experience as well.
Toodles for now, kiddies!
6/10/08
Nanny mo part two
Back at the Vault, still in Nanny Mo'.
So dudes, here's the plan. We called Jude, and because he's amazing, he's coming up to Nanaimo in the Veggie Van to drive us up to Hornby. It's gonna be a party! The boat's staying here at the stinkiest dead-seal-and-poop smelling dock ever for a few days while we go to Hornby and Courtenay, then we're coming back for a night on the boat, and then we sail to Lantzville! We saw an awesome movie made by a bunch of punks from San Fransisco who fixed up an old sailboat and went sailing in the bahamas. It was awesome and it makes me want to go back out on the water! Well, friday morning. Then Vancouver on the 13th, woohoo!
Anyway, Judy's comin' so I gotta go! See ya's later!
Taylor
So dudes, here's the plan. We called Jude, and because he's amazing, he's coming up to Nanaimo in the Veggie Van to drive us up to Hornby. It's gonna be a party! The boat's staying here at the stinkiest dead-seal-and-poop smelling dock ever for a few days while we go to Hornby and Courtenay, then we're coming back for a night on the boat, and then we sail to Lantzville! We saw an awesome movie made by a bunch of punks from San Fransisco who fixed up an old sailboat and went sailing in the bahamas. It was awesome and it makes me want to go back out on the water! Well, friday morning. Then Vancouver on the 13th, woohoo!
Anyway, Judy's comin' so I gotta go! See ya's later!
Taylor
6/9/08
Nanny mo
Hey Y'all!
Guess what's awesome about Nanaimo: they have buldings which have no rain inside! And food, too!
A couple days ago in Chemainus, we bought a broken banjo for 30 dollars at a yard sale, made a bridge and nut for it, and took all the frets off. Fish & Bird now has a mascot! I wish I could show y'all a picture of it. It sounds amazing! Yesterday we boated over to Ladysmith from Chemainus and played a nice little house concert there to a few adults and a bunch of rowdy kids. We met Meg there and she came down to the dock and crammed onto the boat with us for the night.
Today we took off from Ladysmith harbor at about 8:30 in the morning as it started to rain. We got to Nanaimo at around 12:30 and stopped for gas and a burger. We took off again from Nanaimo harbour at about 2 o'clock and actually headed into fairly open waters for the first time (check it out on a map - everything thus far between Mayne and Nanaimo has been pretty sheltered). As we turned our faces to the pounding rain, big grey sky, and huge ocean swells, we heard a cold robotic voice on the VHF issue us a wind warning, and had to quickly weigh our maturity level against the reality of the situation, and how far it was to the next place to moor. We decided at that point to make like Sir Robin and bravely run away away. We pulled back into the harbour at Nanaimo, a ragtag group of soggy sheepdogs. When Adam went to pay for overnight moorage, the wharfinger told him that we'd made the right decision. I'm happy we made that call. We probably would have made it, but we don't really have anything to prove, so we decided to go for definitely won't drown rather than probably won't drown.
Anyway, tomorrow night we're booked to play on Hornby Island. At this point, even if it's a beautiful day tomorrow making it there in time for the show by sailboat isn't really doable. We're considering leaving the sailboat here til we have to sail to Vancouver after Lantzville, and taking a greyhound and a ferry tomorrow morning to Hornby and seeing where we're at from there. Right now all I can tell you is Nanaimo is awesome for its buildings that rain doesn't get into, which have big warm mugs full of coffee. The coffee shop we're in right now has an open mic night tonight which we're gonna play at, and hopefully sell a couple of CDs. So hey, this is what the world has thrown our way for now and we'll see what happens from here.
I sincerely hope you're all a lot less soggy than we are.
See you at Hornby, Courtenay, Lantzville, Vancouver, or a next life!
Taylor
Guess what's awesome about Nanaimo: they have buldings which have no rain inside! And food, too!
A couple days ago in Chemainus, we bought a broken banjo for 30 dollars at a yard sale, made a bridge and nut for it, and took all the frets off. Fish & Bird now has a mascot! I wish I could show y'all a picture of it. It sounds amazing! Yesterday we boated over to Ladysmith from Chemainus and played a nice little house concert there to a few adults and a bunch of rowdy kids. We met Meg there and she came down to the dock and crammed onto the boat with us for the night.
Today we took off from Ladysmith harbor at about 8:30 in the morning as it started to rain. We got to Nanaimo at around 12:30 and stopped for gas and a burger. We took off again from Nanaimo harbour at about 2 o'clock and actually headed into fairly open waters for the first time (check it out on a map - everything thus far between Mayne and Nanaimo has been pretty sheltered). As we turned our faces to the pounding rain, big grey sky, and huge ocean swells, we heard a cold robotic voice on the VHF issue us a wind warning, and had to quickly weigh our maturity level against the reality of the situation, and how far it was to the next place to moor. We decided at that point to make like Sir Robin and bravely run away away. We pulled back into the harbour at Nanaimo, a ragtag group of soggy sheepdogs. When Adam went to pay for overnight moorage, the wharfinger told him that we'd made the right decision. I'm happy we made that call. We probably would have made it, but we don't really have anything to prove, so we decided to go for definitely won't drown rather than probably won't drown.
Anyway, tomorrow night we're booked to play on Hornby Island. At this point, even if it's a beautiful day tomorrow making it there in time for the show by sailboat isn't really doable. We're considering leaving the sailboat here til we have to sail to Vancouver after Lantzville, and taking a greyhound and a ferry tomorrow morning to Hornby and seeing where we're at from there. Right now all I can tell you is Nanaimo is awesome for its buildings that rain doesn't get into, which have big warm mugs full of coffee. The coffee shop we're in right now has an open mic night tonight which we're gonna play at, and hopefully sell a couple of CDs. So hey, this is what the world has thrown our way for now and we'll see what happens from here.
I sincerely hope you're all a lot less soggy than we are.
See you at Hornby, Courtenay, Lantzville, Vancouver, or a next life!
Taylor
6/6/08
Chemainus... Giver of Life
It is a fine rainy morning as I sit at the front desk of Renaissance Books in Chemainus, BC.
On the evening of the 3rd in Deep Cove (after my previous post) we received word of a gas station 15 minutes down the road from the marina. We imagined something townly and hoped there might be a pub nearby (with burgers!), so we made the trek down the dark suburban street past sinister houses, only to find a closed gas station and a closed grocery store and a whole lot of nothing else. When we got back to the boat we made a kind of disgusting curry chicken broth soup thing in an attempt to supplement our recent diet of granola bars and instant noodles. We knocked it back and hunkered down for our first night on the boat. Adam snored a bit but it was okay.
The next morning we woke up to hungry bellies and extremely low tide, weighing the risk of hitting bottom while exiting the marina against the promise of a pub (with burgers!) in Cowichan Bay. Ryan scouted the area in our sketchy $75 dinghy and decided we should be fine, so we cast off from Deep Cove with our bearings on Cow Bay. As soon as we had the fenders out and the docking lines tied we headed for the pub just up from the dock, and feasted upon an enormous ceasar salad, our much anticipated burgers, and a beer apiece - on mostly empty stomachs no less. We staggered down the road to get some slightly more nutritious rations for the boat, a bilge pump for the dinghy, and some gas. That night we made our way up the channel between Saltspring and Vancouver Island and moored for the night in Crofton. Pub food for dinner again (but not burgers), and a nice walk along the waterfront.
Thursday morning (the 5th) we got up at 8:30, marvelled at how useful coffee can be, and set off for Chemainus. We were in Chemainus harbor at about 1 o'clock. We went to the thrift store where I bought some socks and a pair of jeans and Ryan got an extremely classy three piece wool suit for 6 dollars. We also bought some speakers and a handheld VHF for the boat. Peter picked us up and took us to the bookstore/house with our gear, and there we ran into Dave and Meg, with whom we had a show that night. That night they and we outnumbered the audience at the Duncan Garage Showroom. Oddly I've never played to an audience bigger than 10 there but I always seem to play my best in that room. Maybe because the stakes are lower and it's more relaxed.
Anyways, we got back to the house in Chemainus that night and all sat around the table with beer and scotch, and later Adam and Ryan and I verbally abused eachother over a game of scrabble whose stakes were that the loser would have to go get the thermarest from the car. We played with double points for dirty words, but I think the best we came up with was "twat". I tried to argue that "oral" was dirty but the boys wouldn't agree. We only had so much consciousness left in us at this point, the time being about 1:30 in the morning and us having been up since 8:30, so the game ended with nobody really caring and me just sleeping with a couch cushion, a blanket, and no thermarest on the floor.
Anyway, we're having fun! This ain't the worst trip I've ever been on. Hooray for BC, its beautiful coast, its small towns, and playing tunes.
Til next time,
Taylor
On the evening of the 3rd in Deep Cove (after my previous post) we received word of a gas station 15 minutes down the road from the marina. We imagined something townly and hoped there might be a pub nearby (with burgers!), so we made the trek down the dark suburban street past sinister houses, only to find a closed gas station and a closed grocery store and a whole lot of nothing else. When we got back to the boat we made a kind of disgusting curry chicken broth soup thing in an attempt to supplement our recent diet of granola bars and instant noodles. We knocked it back and hunkered down for our first night on the boat. Adam snored a bit but it was okay.
The next morning we woke up to hungry bellies and extremely low tide, weighing the risk of hitting bottom while exiting the marina against the promise of a pub (with burgers!) in Cowichan Bay. Ryan scouted the area in our sketchy $75 dinghy and decided we should be fine, so we cast off from Deep Cove with our bearings on Cow Bay. As soon as we had the fenders out and the docking lines tied we headed for the pub just up from the dock, and feasted upon an enormous ceasar salad, our much anticipated burgers, and a beer apiece - on mostly empty stomachs no less. We staggered down the road to get some slightly more nutritious rations for the boat, a bilge pump for the dinghy, and some gas. That night we made our way up the channel between Saltspring and Vancouver Island and moored for the night in Crofton. Pub food for dinner again (but not burgers), and a nice walk along the waterfront.
Thursday morning (the 5th) we got up at 8:30, marvelled at how useful coffee can be, and set off for Chemainus. We were in Chemainus harbor at about 1 o'clock. We went to the thrift store where I bought some socks and a pair of jeans and Ryan got an extremely classy three piece wool suit for 6 dollars. We also bought some speakers and a handheld VHF for the boat. Peter picked us up and took us to the bookstore/house with our gear, and there we ran into Dave and Meg, with whom we had a show that night. That night they and we outnumbered the audience at the Duncan Garage Showroom. Oddly I've never played to an audience bigger than 10 there but I always seem to play my best in that room. Maybe because the stakes are lower and it's more relaxed.
Anyways, we got back to the house in Chemainus that night and all sat around the table with beer and scotch, and later Adam and Ryan and I verbally abused eachother over a game of scrabble whose stakes were that the loser would have to go get the thermarest from the car. We played with double points for dirty words, but I think the best we came up with was "twat". I tried to argue that "oral" was dirty but the boys wouldn't agree. We only had so much consciousness left in us at this point, the time being about 1:30 in the morning and us having been up since 8:30, so the game ended with nobody really caring and me just sleeping with a couch cushion, a blanket, and no thermarest on the floor.
Anyway, we're having fun! This ain't the worst trip I've ever been on. Hooray for BC, its beautiful coast, its small towns, and playing tunes.
Til next time,
Taylor
6/3/08
Holy crap!
Holy crap, we're actually touring on a sailboat!!
We're hanging out on the boat at Deep Cove private marina. Not the real deep cove, the small one on Vancouver Island. Adam forgot his power adapter and we're pretty hungry, so I'll keep this pretty quick.
Saturday we played on Mayne Island with Blue Richard and the Apricots, which was a lot of fun because they are amazing. Rachel and Anna played their Violas during our set too, making for some really special moments. Sunday we played on Mayne to a small but awesome audience at the community centre there. Then on Monday morning we headed to the sailboat which was moored at Horton Bay, and headed out through some pretty intense tidal action and then some huge waves in Plumper Sound, much to the quickening in heart rates of all involved. Made it alive to Port Browning on Pender Island, where we hung out the dock for a while until it was time to go to our show at Dan and Everest's amazing house. We played there to an even smaller and more intimate crowd and had a really good night. Everest lent me this amazing antique briefcase silkscreening kit, all wood and brass. I'm really excited to try it, it's just about the most incredible and gorgeous device I've ever seen. I'm gonna try and do the next album art with it, I think.
This morning we lazed around for awhile at the house, had breakfast on funny rhyming animal plates, and then set off from Port Browning. We had some very .... interesting sailing for a while. Again with the heart rates. We also saw a pod of Orca whales, which was completely stunning.
Anyways, so here we are at the Deep Cove private marina like I said, and here's some pictures:
Next Stop.... well... who knows. But then, Duncan! Oh yeah, we're playing at the garage on the 5th! With O'Mally and David Simard! Wheeee!
See y'all!
Taylor
We're hanging out on the boat at Deep Cove private marina. Not the real deep cove, the small one on Vancouver Island. Adam forgot his power adapter and we're pretty hungry, so I'll keep this pretty quick.
Saturday we played on Mayne Island with Blue Richard and the Apricots, which was a lot of fun because they are amazing. Rachel and Anna played their Violas during our set too, making for some really special moments. Sunday we played on Mayne to a small but awesome audience at the community centre there. Then on Monday morning we headed to the sailboat which was moored at Horton Bay, and headed out through some pretty intense tidal action and then some huge waves in Plumper Sound, much to the quickening in heart rates of all involved. Made it alive to Port Browning on Pender Island, where we hung out the dock for a while until it was time to go to our show at Dan and Everest's amazing house. We played there to an even smaller and more intimate crowd and had a really good night. Everest lent me this amazing antique briefcase silkscreening kit, all wood and brass. I'm really excited to try it, it's just about the most incredible and gorgeous device I've ever seen. I'm gonna try and do the next album art with it, I think.
This morning we lazed around for awhile at the house, had breakfast on funny rhyming animal plates, and then set off from Port Browning. We had some very .... interesting sailing for a while. Again with the heart rates. We also saw a pod of Orca whales, which was completely stunning.
Anyways, so here we are at the Deep Cove private marina like I said, and here's some pictures:
Next Stop.... well... who knows. But then, Duncan! Oh yeah, we're playing at the garage on the 5th! With O'Mally and David Simard! Wheeee!
See y'all!
Taylor
4/22/08
Black Stilt
So the other day, Adam & I played a show at the Black Stilt which was slightly random. The gig was passed on to us after the original band for reasons unknown to me could not perform. Up until actually being in the cafe, I really didn't know what was going on. Turned out we were featuring at an event that also had poetry. So that was cool. It went really well, and I must give credit for that in part to our pal Ryan Boeur, who brought his guitar wizardry to the show and helped us rock out.
If you don't know Ryan, let me tell you a few things about him:
a) he is a guitar wizard,
b) he is a sea captain,
c) he will fix your anything.
Here's Ryan on his boat:
The three of us will be taking the Fish & Bird show on the open sea in June, and it is going to be amazing.
If you don't know Ryan, let me tell you a few things about him:
a) he is a guitar wizard,
b) he is a sea captain,
c) he will fix your anything.
Here's Ryan on his boat:
The three of us will be taking the Fish & Bird show on the open sea in June, and it is going to be amazing.
4/19/08
Bless The Weather
Today (well, technically yesterday... but I'll say today) a neat bit of synchronicity happened in the Fish&Birdiverse. There is a song of ours entitled Hail, which is actually the first song Adam & I ever performed together. We played around with it when we were recording our first CD but no satisfactory recording of it came about at that time. Now that we're into recording our second CD, we decided to include Hail this time around, and so today finally sat down in the studio to revisit it in that context for the first time in well over a year. It rained early this morning but by noon it was looking like it was shaping up to be a clear sunny day. So, Adam and I met in the village for coffee and then set off for a day of recording. We originally planned to do work on the track "My Garden" but for whatever reason ended up trying a live and organic recording of Hail instead, much the way we did Mark My Grave a few weeks ago.
Then, at the end of maybe our fourth or fifth take, I heard a noise, which at first I thought was somebody trying to open the door, but when I turned to look out the window I saw that just as Adam & I had struck our final notes it had begun to hail, loud and hard. Small hail, and not quite the kind I wrote the song about, but still something that I scarcely see in Victoria and that has never interrupted us recording before, let alone during songs about it. After taking a few moments to register the fact that, as Adam put it at the time, it was "...fucking hailing", we decided one more take, during which the hail died down, having lasted about a minute and a half. That recording, hail and all, is the one you'll hear on our album. It's maybe not the most technically perfect performance we've ever done of that song, but it's got a certain energy to it, and just about the best performance from mother nature we could've reasonably asked for.
Then, at the end of maybe our fourth or fifth take, I heard a noise, which at first I thought was somebody trying to open the door, but when I turned to look out the window I saw that just as Adam & I had struck our final notes it had begun to hail, loud and hard. Small hail, and not quite the kind I wrote the song about, but still something that I scarcely see in Victoria and that has never interrupted us recording before, let alone during songs about it. After taking a few moments to register the fact that, as Adam put it at the time, it was "...fucking hailing", we decided one more take, during which the hail died down, having lasted about a minute and a half. That recording, hail and all, is the one you'll hear on our album. It's maybe not the most technically perfect performance we've ever done of that song, but it's got a certain energy to it, and just about the best performance from mother nature we could've reasonably asked for.
2/10/08
New Recordings
Yeah, like Adam said (in his first blog post woohoo!) we spent today tearing through a really good take of "Mark My Grave". I had all these intricate ideas of how to orchestrate that song, like my idea of having a huge brazillian percussion ensemble, or trying to record it around a camp fire, or putting in the sound of frogs croaking on Mayne Island, but we decided today to try it right off the floor. We had the banjo running through to a guitar amp in the bathroom, threw out the click track, and it sounds awesome. Rock n' Roll, baby!
Last night we did our last show at Mo:Le for a little while, and the night before we headlined the penultimate night of Solstice Cafe's midwinter festival. One more show til Adam goes away, so come on out on the 17th.
Alrighty everyone, cheeers!
Last night we did our last show at Mo:Le for a little while, and the night before we headlined the penultimate night of Solstice Cafe's midwinter festival. One more show til Adam goes away, so come on out on the 17th.
Alrighty everyone, cheeers!
New Recordings!
We have been working on some new songs of late, and have now commenced to record them. If you have seen us play recently you might have heard them. Today we did a sweet live of the floor take of "Mark My Grave". We just started working on Taylor's newest song, "My garden" and we are pretty much done "Lydia" and "Plane Filling Motif". These will all be on our new album that we are hoping to release in June.
2/6/08
CD Baby!
You can now order our CD online from CDBaby.com! Go to cdbaby.com/cd/fishbird to get your copy today!
2/2/08
1/30/08
Bluegrass Association
On Tuesday we featured at the Victoria Bluegrass Association and it went really well, considering a couple of things:
a) my throat is unwell and likely diseased, and
b) we are not a bluegrass band.
Speaking of which, did anybody get video or pictures of the show? Those are always appreciated. Email info@fishandbird.ca to share.
Also, the Orange Hall is a splendid venue (fully acoustic!), and one I believe we'll be returning to in the future, perhaps for some sort of seedy release.
Speaking of seedy, very very very soon our CD will be available to buy online at CDBaby.com, so if you're desperate for a copy and are nowhere near Victoria, you are soon to be in luck!
Also, for those of you addicted to facebook, Fish & Bird can now be integrated into your online social networking experience. Go to our facebook page and show your fanship!
Friday the 1st and the two following Saturdays are Fish & Bird's feature at Mo:Le restaurant, interspersed with an appearance at the Solstice Cafe midwinter festival. After that, Adam's shipping off with the Gruff for a month and a half of touring. Check out the gigs page for more details on our next few shows. Hope to see you there!
P.S. I still gotta try to convince Adam to do some posting on here.
a) my throat is unwell and likely diseased, and
b) we are not a bluegrass band.
Speaking of which, did anybody get video or pictures of the show? Those are always appreciated. Email info@fishandbird.ca to share.
Also, the Orange Hall is a splendid venue (fully acoustic!), and one I believe we'll be returning to in the future, perhaps for some sort of seedy release.
Speaking of seedy, very very very soon our CD will be available to buy online at CDBaby.com, so if you're desperate for a copy and are nowhere near Victoria, you are soon to be in luck!
Also, for those of you addicted to facebook, Fish & Bird can now be integrated into your online social networking experience. Go to our facebook page and show your fanship!
Friday the 1st and the two following Saturdays are Fish & Bird's feature at Mo:Le restaurant, interspersed with an appearance at the Solstice Cafe midwinter festival. After that, Adam's shipping off with the Gruff for a month and a half of touring. Check out the gigs page for more details on our next few shows. Hope to see you there!
P.S. I still gotta try to convince Adam to do some posting on here.
1/11/08
January and beyond
Alright folks, this blog has officially got going. Tried to figure out what the hell an RSS feed is and how to put it here but eventually just used this iframe thingy. Looks a bit awkward to me, but I think that's a case of me being picky.
Anyways Fish & Bird at the current moment looks like this: I'm in Mexico listening to the steady sound of crashing waves on the beach near Ensenada, and Adam is in Victoria in the cold, grey British Columbia January that I'm skipping. I've found some WiFi floating around so I took the opportunity to debug the website a little bit, add a fancy new title page, and get the blog going. In future you may also see Adam post updates here if he so decides.
The near future sees Fish & Bird playing four friday nights at Victoria's finest restaurant, Mo:Le, starting January 25th. We're also featuring at the Victoria Bluegrass Association's Open Stage/Feature night on the 29th. So it'll be a busy if late start to 2008 for us, as we'll also be finishing up some more recordings. The very slightly distant future may also see a bicycle/sailboat tour of B.C. and its little green islands. But that is yet to be seen.
Bye fer now Fishies & Birdies!
Taylor
Anyways Fish & Bird at the current moment looks like this: I'm in Mexico listening to the steady sound of crashing waves on the beach near Ensenada, and Adam is in Victoria in the cold, grey British Columbia January that I'm skipping. I've found some WiFi floating around so I took the opportunity to debug the website a little bit, add a fancy new title page, and get the blog going. In future you may also see Adam post updates here if he so decides.
The near future sees Fish & Bird playing four friday nights at Victoria's finest restaurant, Mo:Le, starting January 25th. We're also featuring at the Victoria Bluegrass Association's Open Stage/Feature night on the 29th. So it'll be a busy if late start to 2008 for us, as we'll also be finishing up some more recordings. The very slightly distant future may also see a bicycle/sailboat tour of B.C. and its little green islands. But that is yet to be seen.
Bye fer now Fishies & Birdies!
Taylor
1/10/08
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