Busy, Busy, Busy!

Can’t believe its been almost 6 months since our last post! So much fun has happened since then!  The Mtn Dukes are no more. We’ve rejoined TooNice for the 3rd time (is the 3rd time the charm?…haha) and still playing with Hayley Carro as well.  We’ve relaunched our ska radio program, SKA PARTY that is sporadic but a hoot when it happens!  Great times away from the blog indeed! Shows have been a plenty and here’s some video evidence with the reggae band:

For new gear, we’ve got a new TC Electronics BG250 amp that is lightweight and is great in all situations!  We’ve also added some light percussion instruments for our acoustic shows. A tambourine we can kick at and a stomp box… yes, a stomp box!  It gives us a great kick drum sound that keeps the acoustic shows pumpin’.  Our Cajon is still a heck of a lot of fun to play as well!

Also, been groovin‘ to some great new/old tunes recently so here’s 10 recents that we just can’t seem to get enough of & we are diggin this month.  Feel free to add in the comments what has been tickling your ears of late!  We are always on the look out for new music!

talking heads – the big country
lindi ortega – high
iceberg – les barques
emile simon – desert
cartoon violence – better
dilip & the davs – like a king
flock of seagulls – wishing
spoon – mystery zone
pixies – alec eiffel
ini kamoze – wings with me

Til next time & see you on the dancefloor!

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September 2 Remember!

August flew by.  The relative lack of shows was nice & enabled us to gear up for a September 2 Remember!

First up, some dates with “Raised on Promises“!  Tis a deeeelite to strip down some classics & deep cuts to their cores & give them a stompalong/singalong take!  hope to see YOU out for some of the dates!

3 shows in Sept!

of which the last one is opening for the Dukedebut of Mtn Dukes at One Cue!  that night will be just about 3 yrs in the making according to our calculations.  we might be a month off since we think our first jam was in October or November but its close enuff for us to say 3 yrs in the making.  the Mtn Dukes road has been filled with stop/start, stop, stop, start, start, start, stop, start, start, stop, start again. the band has recently gotten into the show mode with the finalization of the lineup and the addition of a singer/guitarist.  hope to have a full 2 sets worth of dukealicious covers ready to devour that night for those in attendance.  more news on the prep for that show in the wks ahead.  with the summer vacays in the rearview mirror, its time to put the pedal down and rock it out Duke Style!

last but not least, some Those Handsome Hooligans news!  yes, there’s a Sept show on the 22nd!  our drummer is back for one weekend only so we’re gonna take advantage, melt some faces and celebrate some milestones.  can’t wait!

 

 

Hives: Concert Review?

the hives wore tophats & tails. a ninja tackled a fan on stage. everyone sat on the floor. they married us. it rocked. – tweet

The Hives have always been a band that we somewhat followed. their debut disc is about as solid as any released in the last 20 years. we were instantly captivated. after that first release though, the songs have been hit and miss so our interest waned. but when the chance to go see them in concert came up, we jumped at it! literally!

pros: great songs, great crowd, great fan interaction, cool mosh pit, roadies were ninjas, we ALL sat down

cons: too much talk not enuff rock, left us wanting more

we will never forget how they managed to get the entire joint to sit down. that was an epic moment! they played essentially their greatest hits. we were holding out to hear more of the first cd but ahhhh so many songs, so little time.
loud rifftastic rock is never a bad thing.

so glad to have seen them and no matter what, we’ll always be a diehard fan from now on. man, the sweat that dripped from us that night! still can’t believe we lost our shoes twice in the pit & fell over once. crisis averted thx to everyone around us though!

here are a slew of pics that hopefully capture some of the energy of the HIVES night of June 26th at the Sound Academy in Toronto.

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the Chamber door closes

just an quick update. things are moving fast here at the Hills (as u likely guessed) due to the lack of posts.

we had a killer show with Rosalita and Mollys Chamber on March 2nd at Duffys. Playing the drum kit for the Rosas has been wikked fun & we are enjoying the vibe immensely. Mollys Chamber’s new singer was on display for the first time with the band & hit a homer out of the park. great times all around!

here’s a megamix of some slightly distorted viz from the nite:

Mollys Chamber Megamix

Sadly though this was 2 be our last official show with the Chamber as we had to give our notice just this past week. it was a great 7 month ride with the band & we learned a helluva lot of new songs & we also learnt a lot about bass along the way. can’t wait to see the band at their next gig as we are 100% sure they will have no probs finding an eager replacement! if u know some1 interested apply at their website. more posts soon!

fly by July!

wow.  july flew by!  where to begin?  how about where we left off?

TooNice played 3 shows in the middle of the month.  the Friday was an intense hr long set at the British Arms in Barrie as part of the New Music Fest.  the joint was packed and much to our delight, ppl started movin and groovin the moment we started.  that is twice now we’ve played BA and gotten a great response.  only time will tell if we’re lucky enuff to play there again soon!  the Saturday was a full night at the Iron Horse in Cookstown.  just us and a few choice regulars made for an intimate and interactive evening.  great time and lots of tomfoolery!  we do recall having to swat a lot of mosquitos during our playing as we were nestled right near the patio doors.  the next night we were back again at the Barrie New Music Festival to play a 20 minute set during the awards show.  TooNice was nominated for “best reggae” and though we were the only act to play and not win, we got to chat and network with a lot of varied artists.  that made the evening all worthwhile.  if you like Sloan, u gotta check out Sweet Mack!  great band!

the following weekend was the triumphant return of Those Handsome Hooligans!  we were playing a mash up summer bash-bday party-buying a new house celebration outdoors.  but the rain made us start the evening inside and then we made the shift outdoors once the skies cleared up.  that was sonically odd to us as we got used to how the band sounded inside for a set and with the move outdoors not only was there more room to groove but we sounded so much different!  it made for a great evening of live music in a fairly spacey area beside a pool and a fire.  talk about picturesque! every1 in attendance was blown away by our hooligasm sets and much dancing was had. pretty much every1 said they could not believe how much of a difference it made having a real band play at a party. take that ipods! we were happy with our playing for the most part.  we hadn’t had much jam time in the lead up with members being away on vac etc but the tunes sure felt REAL darn good to finally let loose on!  we also played an epic set of 19 songs in a row that felt like 5 mins went by.  gather that must be a good thing.  we coulda played til the sun came up!

the last weekend of the month was back to reggae with TooNice.  we played a quaint lounge on the Friday in Woodbridge.  a few ppl danced but many regulars were away for the long weekend.  we made the most of it though.  we got to go over in a live setting a lot of material we hadn’t done in awhile.  that will help us in August as the band has many more high profile gigs on the radar.  one track nearly killed us and our finger tips.  time off followed by a lot of playing was finally catching up to our poor fingers.

looking back, july was busy month musically and to think we even squeezed some downtime and some horseplay in there too!  crazy!

sizing up the competition

Strummer Nights 2011

Forget summer nights in Hamilton, Strummer nights are way better!

We were lucky enough to experience 2 straight nights of Joe Strummer songs at This Ain’t Hollywood this past weekend.  Great crowds (the first night was capacity packed, second one almost) and a way better experience than having to live thru an evening of Gorillaz or Big Audio Dynamite to get your 2011 Clash fix.  It was so good we already can’t wait for the next version on Good Friday and Easter Saturday of 2012.  There wasn’t a bad act amongst the lineup with a heap of supergroups, one-offs, reunions and special guests appearing.  Folk, Punk, Celtic, Rock, Reggae, Rockabilly, Thrash genres and everything in-between were all covered.  Personal highlight had to be seeing the Letdowns (ex-Wetspots) play.  Ah, so many good shows they’ve had and all the memories just came flooding back the moment they hit the stage!  Our fave song, Straight to Hell got a sweet treatment and hearing Burning Lights from the soundtrack of I Hired a Contract Killer was fantastic!  Top marks for The Saints Are Coming for bringing a great Celtic twist to some songs that we wish the video we took did more justice.

and speaking of video, this event got us thinking about investing in a better camera to take videos of live music with since our current setup is hit and miss. its just an everyday digital camera and not meant for live music.  ahhhh, there’s always a reason for more gear!

Here’s some pics and some of the best of the video evidence.  Visit our youtube site for all the vizness. More videos still being added as we post this.  Thanks for the memories Strummer Night #9, we’ll see u again for 10!

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How Would U Like UR Reggae TOOday Sir?

 

woke up 2 more snow!

ok, so its just a dusting of snow this morning but last night we travelled to our TOONICE jam thru a full on blizzard for 20 mins.  that was right on!  can’t wait to hit the slopes again!

nothing quite warms the soul like reggae does.  the sweet, sweet sounds and rhythms can ease the burden of many a Canadian shield inspired winter.  TooNice has been focussing jams of late on new material which is fantastic!  there are about 5 new originals in the pipe and they are all highly addictive!  “Jon-O” was the focus of last night and its becoming a mix of reggae and full-on rock with very distinct parts which got us to thinking this morning about how we like our reggae.  just plain and hot buttered or with some “rock” spice?  we thinks u gotta spice it up when the spirit moves ya but to go down that path too often can qucikly get annoying.  much like too much spice!

thinking about catching the great SLACKERS tonight!  U should too!

Ari Up will be missed! a great reminder that “thru music we can live forever“