halloween show in milton

Photo credit: Erin O'Connell
www.thestarsinmyeyes.com

Beards vs. Beers

It's Friday the 14th and I can't sleep in. The show last night at the Kathedral in Toronto was amazing. What a night. All the bands were stellar! The crowd was pumped and Means received an incredible response and the final sending off from Toronto that they deserve. It's been such a pleasure playing with those cats. So much heart! Matt Means wizard beard also rules!

Now that we're back home and finishing the final two shows of this tour it all seems like it went by so fast. I'm going to try and re-cap some of the highlights thus far:

1. THE SHOWS AND THE FANS!
2. Matt Means beard
3. Hauling 250+ sacks of potatoes for some high-strung Cape Bretoner
4. Fixing the van with a can of soup
5. Free tire and install in P.E.I.
6. P.E.I.
7. 1 for 1 pizza in Ottawa (best pizza Dean and I have ever had!)
8. Breaking Dean's tuning peg
9. The Kathedral home coming show
and..
10. Dan Hand

The best part of all of this is that the tour still has TWO days left! So there is much more to come! I had a nice big blog planned but I can't get last nights show off my mind. So I'm just gonna keep this one short. 2 days left. Get your ass out to one of these last shows!

all for now
blackie

Shout outs!

11.08.08 – So it’s Day 5 of the Maritime portion of the Unity Tour w/ Means and I thought I would drop a quick line to say thank you to some people who’ve been helping us out thus far on the tour.

Big thanks to our friend Yannick in Quebec City for putting us up for a night. I’m sorry your roommate moved out the day after we slept over. I really hope it didn’t have anything to do with us!

Thanks to Adam and all the Syracuse Me dudes for helping us out with our trailer tire, and to Al Douglas for putting on a rad show in PEI. Jen, I’m sorry I had to cut our conversation short due to my physical illness... still haven’t figured out whether or not I had food poisoning or the flu. That’s beside the point. The point being that throwing up for 48 hours on tour sucks.

Big thanks to all the kids in Glace Bay for rocking out to our set and for buying so many of our “Let’s Start A Riot” lighters! Who would have thought they’d be such a hit in Glace Bay?

Halifax was a really cool show for us because we got to reconnect with some awesome friends from the Swellers tour. Huge thanks to Nellie, Manduh, Shayla, Thera, Nicole, Sam, Lauren, Jillian and Britney for making it out to the show again and hanging out. You guys are too awesome. Thanks to Mark Drifter for doing a kick-ass job with the sound again and for showing us around the city afterwards. I have to say Blackie and I are pretty bummed we didn’t get to sing any Journey or Brian Adams at Karaoke at the Oasis bar but we’re glad Alex got to sing a stellar version of a Mighty Bosstones tune! Finally, thanks to Hemeon for letting us pull up to your place at 5:30am after driving all night from Glace Bay. We miss you in Toronto bro!

Last night’s show in St. John was really something special since neither Means nor ourselves have ever played St. John before and it ended up being one of the best shows of tour so far. So thank you Jared for putting on such an awesome show. It was really cool for us to meet people who drove from all over New Brunswick to catch the show. Finally, thanks to Mel for taking such good care of us again! You are amazing. Can’t wait to be back!

I think the Wizard in Means put some type of elf ornaments in my travel bag. I’m not quite sure what they mean yet but they might be stirring up some bad Ju-Ju in The Artist Life camp. I think he already performed some type of Wizardry that caused me to 1) break a guitar strap in Halifax and 2) break a tuning peg off my guitar in St. John I must find a way to prevent the Wizard from damaging any more of my guitar gear. More on this later...

Driving in the rain and listening to Belle and Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister” may be one of my favourite things to do. You should all try it the next time it rains. It is sure to make you smile.

Deaner

A little bit of Karma... I guess?

We've driven through four provinces in three days and almost blew a tire on our trailer. But sure enough the good people of P.E.I. have proved yet again why they are some of the nicest people in this fine country. After realizing that our trailer tire was about to find its new home in tire heaven, we thought rather than do what most bands do which is leave the tire to the last minute when you're driving at 4 am across the Trans Canada Highway and it blows up eventually leading to arguments between the two members that didn't really get along and then 2 months later you play your finale show and become so jaded you spend all your free time watching American Hardcore and agreeing with all the old sad dudes that say Punk Rock is dead that we would take care of it before it became a massive problem. And sure enough Dean's mom's boyfriend came through in the clutch. He actually had a tire (exact size) kicking around in his garage and ended up giving to us for free. But it doesn't stop there. Adam from the band Syracuse Me knew of a great tire shop in town and said that he could help us out. His Dad actually runs the place so it was more than helping us out, Ernie (Adam's Dad) put the tire on our trailer rim for free. Free tire + free install = never happens to a band. I don't know HOW this happened but we scored big time on this one. So thank you P.E.I. for helping us out!

Shamus Mathers might be the most excited dude I’ve ever met in my life and brings an extra touch of young blood to this tour. Usually it’s just Jake running around and finding new and exciting ways to occupy his busy mind but now we’ve got two dudes equally as crazy! After driving a few hours north/east towards Cape Breton Shamus decides to pull over at a Lobster Supply shop... Which we later learned was actually called “Lobster Supper” not “Lobster Supply.” Shamus barely had the van in park before he jumped out the door and sprinted towards the shop pleased as punch hoping to find a lobster harmonica. As much as I’d like to go straight in to detail I’ll just keep it short and sweet. Ever seen the movie Psycho? Imagine that movie but with 4 dudes (Dean was sick in the van) and 350 sacks of P.E.I. certified potatoes. The owner of the shop eerily reminded me of Patrick Bate’s except a bit older and much crazier. We tried to leave but were coaxed in to moving all the sacks of potatoes from outside to the inside. I have no idea how this happened or how we got ourselves in to this horror film-like situation but I guess we all figured we should just get this done and get the fuck out of there. We’ve got some video that I’m sure Dan hand will be putting up eventually so you can all experience what we did! We made it to Glace Bay which is just north of Sydney just in time to load in and eat some seriously amazing pizza! Glace Bay ruled and the kids we’re even cooler! This tour is reminding me every day that Punk Rock still flows through people’s veins.



There is still Halifax and more to come. Shamus and I drank a Brewtender last night to ourselves. If you don’t know what that is... Ask the Flatliners!

All for now

Blackie xo

Four wheels and five dudes...

Driving straight to P.E.I. was never really on my "bucket list" but hey, you only live once and you might as well try it... I actually can't wait to get out of the van and place my shoes down on Island soil. Charlottetown is a beautiful place. Full of houses you see on post cards that you get from relatives. You know what I'm talking about. Our first show of the Unity Tour was in Milton, Ontario and it proved to be another great small town show to add to the list of many that The Artist Life have had the pleasure of playing. We had the second night off because our bassist Chuck Leach got married! Congrats big guy! The wedding was amazing and I had the honor of being the best man to Mr. Leach. After driving for 9 hours yesterday we stopped in Quebec City and stayed with our friend Yannick. We also noticed as we were driving around Quebec looking for parking that our exhaust pipe had separated and cracked just past the engine. As if it's not ignorant enough already what with the lack of French in my vocabulary let alone the 3000db subwoofer that is our exhaust system blasting underneath us. Sorry Quebec... On a side not, I think it's funny that some people pay money to have their vehicles sound that way. Check out these sweet photos Dan Hand took of me repairing the exhaust in the Canadian Tire parking lot.







"C" clamps and a soup can. Who'd of thought soup cans were so versatile? But seriously what would a Punk Rock tour be without the breakdowns? It's 8:36 now and we're almost in Moncton. Only a couple hours and we'll be driving over the Confederation bridge that connects New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. Can't wait to get playing again! All for now. See you at the show!

blackie

before the Unity tour….

‘…the bird would cease and be like other birds
but that he knows in singing not to sing
the question that he frames in all but words
in what to make of a diminishing thing.’
- Frost

Sunday morning at eight thirty a.m. we left to meet up with tour. It had been a late Saturday night and the wind in Regina was burly…made loading backpacks and piling into the van happen in record time. Todd drove us from Regina to Providence college in Otterburne Mb, an hour into nowhere south of Winnipeg….the location of our first show back from the break.
We passed towns along the way to Winnipeg that we had played over the years. Moosemin, Sk with the Reception and the Fortunate,….. when we toilet papered the Receptions van, and to this day they blamed it on drunk kids…Brandon, MB where we played countless goth shows…Brandon has a reputation with us as being the worst place to be for more than a couple hours. (am I wrong?)…Mcgregor .. where we played a drop in center a couple times and had many laughs...Portage,Mb where we played in the church hall basement (we rocked material from ‘more than watchmen’…I shredded the full stack….ha) Rivers, MB…where Todd played his second show with us…..we shared the stage with Anew and The Fortunate in a bingo hall…that show was just days before our first tour together as a four piece…in support of Rosesdead.
We pulled up the venue in Otterburne on a series of dirt roads…where the hell are we?....someone said…we made a joke that the venue was going to be refered to as ‘the superdome’ for the remainder of time. (the billy ray cyrus superdome!??!) It turned out we were playing in a large chapel named after Ben Affleck.. (not actually…but gotta give cred where its due)…I remembered a show we played in a chapel years ago and I had made a crack about covering an Aerosmith tune..(we actually didn’t)…..apparently after that joke the promoter got shit from staff for having a band perform with questionable influences….too good to be true!
We hung out upstairs at the superdome.....it had been a long drive and a short night before. We chatted with some friends…but for the most part worked on our guitars and chatted about set list ditties…typical first day of tour stuff…nerves…when I get nervous I just walk around the venue aimlessly....trying on every shirt in my backpack.
We got on stage a little after nine and immediately I felt like the show was going to be something special. The room had gotten pretty packed…I was recognizing many of the first few rows from the past 6 years of playing Winnipeg area shows. (Harper was stage driving immediately). When the chorus of the third song hit…the crowd was singing so loud I had to fight back a bit of emotion…we dance pretty hard... it was such a fun show.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the show at Prov….many Winnipeg people came out…and made it a great show to kick off this final tour. It was really neat for each of to play that show. Special thanks to Blair for coming to the show… Hailey for your kind words after the show….the guys for having us in the dorm and playing poker with us, and for your act in helping the family of your fallen friend.
We drove from Winnipeg to Chicago last night….all we had on our minds was watersliding!!! We haven’t gotten to it yet….but believe me… we will!! (unity tour…if your reading this…get your watersliding faces on!) Regarding watersliding: ‘A loaded gun can only sit so long before it goes off.’
We have a couple nights in Chicago area with family and friends until we head up to Guelph to join the Unity tour. (Lifestory monologue and Farewell to freeway…we want to see you!!!) We have done some shows with KTO…. And are looking forward to the tour…. We are super excited to meet and hang out with the Artists Life… I fully support you Dean!!…. and we are finally going to be tourists together buddy.
On the drive last night we pulled out some old letters that friends have given us on past tours for encouragement… we read them out loud….Avery K. (ex: The Fortunate…currently in LIFE IN HAND) took the cake for most hilarious note..! It was soooo funny dude…love you lots man…
That reminds me…..If you are coming out to any of these shows…. Bring notes..!!!!!.... We love them…. and we keep them and read them every once in awhile in the van…. Its hard to talk to everyone after these shows… and it would great to have a few mementos from you..
Ok…talk more later…
…looking over everything.
together,
matty means

Eastern Canada rules. Plain and Simple.

The pre-tour blog... Eastern Canada rules. Plain and simple. The drives are much better too. I swear to god you can be driving through Ontario for the better part of 30 hours and STILL BE IN ONTARIO! So it's safe to say The East Coast is my most favorite place to tour in Canada. We are so stoked about everything that has been going on these past few months with the Underground Operations family and we're even MORE stoked to share a bunch of new songs and a brand spankin' new ep with all of you. We will also be selling a whole new whack load of merch on this tour so be sure to check out all the new stuff! Chuck unfortunately will not be joining us this tour on Bass guitar duty as he is taking on a duty of his own; getting married and going on a honeymoon. We'll miss you Chuck, don't get too sunburned you pasty bastard! We've asked friends and fellow label mates Hostage Life if we could borrow their bass player Mr. Shamus Mathers. You might know his brother Pat Mathers, also known as The Flatliners fill in guitarist! It's kinda funny actually, it's like you can rent members of Hostage Life... I think I'd rent Colin if I needed someone to yell at a landlord... or at anyone for that matter. Anyhow, we've rented Shamus and we couldn't more happy to have him fill in for this tour! Underground Operations has set up this tour blog site for all of you to check out while we're on the Unity Tour, and I believe Dan Hand of U.O. himself will be updating it every day with all sorts of videos and news. So make sure you keep checking back everyday after the tour kick-off. Someone is bound to make an ass of themselves.

All for now because we haven't left yet and I've run out of things to say. Stoked to Start A Riot with you Eastern Canada. See you in two weeks.

love and rock
ian - T*A*L