Oh man

I have never wished I had my camera with more than I did last night. Library Voices played a joyous explosion of a set in the Millards' garage along with locals Willett, Eye Was an Ion, Bunnies in Berlin and Lightmares.

Willett's debut performance was extremely tight, showing a supreme knack for pop songcraft and subtle harmony. Reminiscent of groups like She & Him and Mates of State, Willett's presence on the Sudbury music scene is extremely welcome.

Eye Was an Ion also played a terrific set. Their music is dark-sounding, rhythmically propulsive, and emotionally distant, and yet it is extremely powerful and engaging. I am so happy that they are gigging around here. This five piece will be performing with Willett at the CKLU open stage on Mach 26th, and will be releasing their debut album on May 1st. If you're reading this, and you're from Sudbury, you must go see these bands!

Obviously, Bunnies in Berlin and Lightmares played excellent sets. On their home turf (the garage), they are untouchable forces of nature that barrel through their sets with reckless abandon. I can't say enough about these young bands. Also, Bunnies in Berlin finally has some recordings up on their myspace so you should check it out!

Honestly, a special place in heaven is reserved for Library Voices. This is one of the best bands I have ever seen. Not just in the garage, but ever. Plus, have you ever seen a 10-piece band in a garage? I have. Have you ever cried subtle tears of joy while watching a band in a garage? I have. I would put them on the same level of musical ability as large bands like Broken Social Scene and Most Serene Republic.

After the garage show, I took the Library Voices people to the Townehouse along with Mac from Eye Was an Ion to see their Saskatchewan friends in the bands We Were Lovers and the Sheepdogs.

We Were Lovers has a super hot girl named Elsa as their lead singer/keyboardist, and the Sheepdogs simply destroyed the stage with their tight harmonies and impeccably arranged guitar work. They played to a bar that was empty except for a few drunks, Library Voices, Mac and myself. I only caught the end of We Were Lovers' set, but I will be sure to catch them next time they come through! They're on their way to SXSW right now so I wish them luck at the border.

All in all, it was a great night.

Oh No Forest Fires Interview in Sudbury Star

Click Here to Read it!

They got some of the info wrong (they left out the fact that Life Size Dream is playing and they put that the cost of admission is $7 when in fact it is $5), but whatevs; still a good interview!

I'm pumped for Saturday, are you?

This Saturday

Last Saturday at Adanac was totally awesome! Malentendu, Ancestors, Lunchmeat and Bot all rocked Adanac with furious abandon. We had a great turnout, and I bonked my head off some other kid in the mosh pit. I was wearing my sunglasses at the time and I thought that the arm had broken in half and that it was sticking out through my ear, but as it turned out it was just the plastic tab from my earplugs. Why would I think that?

The after-show at the Millards' garage went really well too. Sadly, I missed Bunnies in Berlin's set because Carter and I went for coffee. By the way, check out their myspace; they finally have some songs recorded! (Just click on their name: it is hyper-linked with the HTML!)

However, I am glad that Carter got a coffee because he delivered the pumpinest drum performance I've ever seen him give!

I took Ancestors for Big Drippers at Sub City afterwards (a sandwich they won't soon forget, I'm sure), and I attempted and failed to eat an entire large vegetarian pizza. Annabelle showed up randomly, ate a slice, and then subsequently vanished into the night only to apparently fall over a fence into waist-deep snow while trying to take a shortcut home. (I offered her a ride but she wouldn't take it)

This Saturday, my seven-piece rock band Meadowlark Five and my band the Birthday Cakes will be playing a show at Adanac with the awesome band Oh No Forest Fires from Toronto. Also performing will be Life Size Dream and Lightmares.

Here is the poster I designed for the show. See if you can decipher the hidden meaning in it:










Just kidding, there's no hidden meaning.

Also, the Birthday Cakes were ranked at number 7 this past week on the CFOU campus radio charts for Trois Rivieres. We were also ranked number 8 on the CFBX campus radio chart for Kamloops, BC! So, good for us.

Last weekend

It was a blast! A ton of people came out on Saturday night at the Townehouse, perhaps more than ever before! It was awesome to see Dead Flowers play again. Even though two of their members were sick, they still gave it their all. Matt Ralph was Mick Jagger in snowmobile boots.

Not many people came to the all-ages show unfortunately, but it was still super fun. For once I didn't order too much pizza, and witnessing I Was an Ion's debut performance was a thing of beauty. They are playing a show next Thursday at the Townehouse with Life Size Dream (Formerly High Deaf).



Our friend Brandon Grey took some great pictures at the Myths show (though there are only a few of them). Here is the link to his flickr.

A special place in heaven is reserved for Mule Skinner. These two guys were awesome to hang out with all weekend and rocked the living shit out of every gig they played. Matt Davis' family was super nice, and hopefully Hotel Mule Skinner becomes a regular place to catch an underground show in Niagara Falls.

I'd also like to mention the band Spooky Scarecrows, with whom we played in Niagara. Their set featured ghosts, drums, a shirtless, scarf-wearing viking, trombones, confetti, synth and sax. Despite the fact that they never practice, they played a lively and powerful set at Hotel Mule Skinner. It must be nice to play in a band that doesn't need to practice. I will post some pictures soon of this show.

In short, even though I was running on about 4 hours sleep on Saturday night, it was an amazing feeling to get the audience response that we did at the Townehouse. To see people lined up seven or eight rows back is incredibly gratifying. In addition, Lightmares sounded amazing at the Townehouse! It was probably the best set I've ever seen them play (and I've seen them play a lot).

This Weekend

Meadowlark Lemon is playing some shows this weekend.

On Friday, we are in Niagara Falls:



(Poster designed by Damienfrom Mule Skinner)

Mule Skinner
Spooky Scarecrows
Le Stack

On Saturday, we are playing an early all-ages show at Myths and Mirrors at 6 PM with:


Mule Skinner
Eye Was an Ion (check these guys out-they are really good!)
Lightmares
Dead Flowers (no myspace yet)

Then, we are playing the Townehouse at 11PM with all the same bands except for Eye Was an Ion.



The above poster was designed by Matt Marager from Small Change, inc.

Please bring a non-perishable food item if you come to either of these shows as we are trying to help out the Laurentian University food bank.

Millards' Garage Tonight

The Birthday Cakes are playing the Millards' garage tonight at 459 Lasalle with the Coffins, the Hometown Hecklers, Lightmares and Bunnies in Berlin. Show starts at 7PM. We will be playing all new material.

I'm going to have my digital recorder on hand to try and capture Bunnies in Berlin's songs.

the Coffins: www.myspace.com/thec0ffins


The Hometown Hecklers: www.myspace.com/hometownhecklers

Poster:

Upcoming showZA

This one's for the Toronto Peeps:



This one's for the PA Cooperative. It's a fundraiser so if you care about the Sudbury music scene, please come out and support it:



This one's in Millards' garage at 459 Lasalle. So if you care at all about getting wasted and watching punk bands, then you should come out and support it:

Pictures from shows

Our friend Brandon Grey had his pictures from the Holly Springs Disaster show put in WGTS (we go to shows) online magazine:

Click Here

Some more pictures from that show taken by a man named Scott:

Click Here

Here are the pictures that I took of the Hoa Hoas and the Disrealis in Lightmares' garage:

Click here

This Friday and Saturday

Yo come to these shows. Look at all the work I put into making it look like my head and Jon's head were popping out of the poster. Also, look at how the smoke in the Holly Springs Disaster poster looks like two people making out! At least you should come to one of these shows. Also, check out the interview I did with the Sudbury Star:

Click here dummy!

Moved

The show on the 10th has been moved to the Millards' garage (what a relief! I was worried we'd have to cancel it). It's at 6 PM and the address is 459 Lasalle Blvd. Here's an updated version of the poster. Lightmares has been added to the bill:

Click here to see it

I know, I know, you can't even tell it was changed, right? In all seriousness, though, the photobucket.com image editing features are pretty good in a pinch, considering they're an online application.

I watched some of the repeat of the vice-presidential debate last night in the gym, but between the shitty speakers on the television and the terrible translation job of the closed captioning, I couldn't make out what was being said. Sample excerpt:

"M. Bid, what wo-
ld you say is the greats chlange f-
acin the United Stats with respect t-
o th Mid Easter?"

"Ira definitl iz concen, but we
rally must focus more effart on Afg-
anist and..."

Deaf people must think that people on TV are complete idiots...I guess they wouldn't be far off.

While I couldn't make out what the candidates were trying to communicate to each other, I could see that they were both trying to maintain an air of civility about them while they clearly loathed the very fibre of the other's being. Palin was trying not to come off as a bitch, and Biden was trying not to seem like an ogre attacking a little girl. It was like both of them were an angry drunk guy at the bar with a stupid grin on his face, seething with aggression; "You think you're tough or something, bud? Haha!"

While both of them sounded completely through a broken TV, Palin was clearly the more silly of the two. I'm pretty sure at one point she criticised Obama for having the nerve to consider meeting with the enemies of the US. She called it reckless and completely irresponsible or something like that.

How dare you think about meeting with the people who hate you to find out why they hate you? What could be more irresponsible than that? The solution to our problems is clearly to keep barreling full steam ahead into the unknown, never stopping to consider why we are cutting such a wide swath of destruction.

I could be completely wrong about what she said, though.