Canadian Bands Support Radio 3

I just wanted to take a moment to send out a special thanks to the bands that have come out, in one form or another - to support CBC Radio 3 and encourage their fans to Sign up for the Facebook think and sign the petition. Both the Diableros of Toronto and the Wet Secrets of Edmonton have sent out messages to their fans on Facebook and, according to reports the Library Voices or Regina are giving the campaign shout outs at live shows. If you happen to know of anyone I've missed let me know so I can give them props as well.

Wavelength Turning 9!

From February 12 - 15 Wavelength will be celebrating it's 9th Anniversary with 19 bands at 5 different venues over 4 days!

February 12 at The Music Gallery at St. George the Martyr Church, 197 John St. Timbre Timbre, the Ghost Bees and Dorit Chrysler.

Also February 12 @ Cameron House, 408 Queen W. the Diableros and Loitering Heroes

February 13 @ Wrongbar 1279 Queen St. West Slim Twig, Bonjay, Child Bite and the Magic + DJ Benjamin Boles

Saturday February 14 at Polish Combatants Hall, 206 Beverley St. $100, Brides,
Hooded Fang, The Luyas (featuring Jessie Stein with members of Bell Orchestre & Torngat), Element Choir + DJs Greg Ipp & Ian Worang

Sunday Feb 15 — Doors 9pm Foxfire, I Am Robot and Proud, Thank You, and Mi Ami + DJ Babylon Telecom, With your host, Doc Pickles and Projections by General Chaos Visuals

So come out and wish Wavelength a happy birthday! Admissions are $10 or PWYC, at the door only.

New Diableros Demos

The Diableros are working on material for a new album and have two new demos up on their Myspace.

"In the coming months, we will be preparing to record our next release. To give you a taste of what's to come, we've posted two demos we recorded "motown style" this past weekend. What that means is that we only used 1 microphone for the drums and 1 microphone for ALL the instruments, and that both the drums and instruments we recorded at the same time, or "live-off-the-floor". The vocals were added after, using only two mics as well, and just a couple takes. While this recording style is technically inferior to the standards most bands adhere to these days, we really like the bare-bones "live feel" present in these two recordings, and hope you do too.

http://www.myspace.com/thediableros"

Bicycles and Diableros on the Road

Summer touring season may be over, but that just means that fall touring season is starting. the Diableros and the Bicycles are both hitting the road (note the Bikes also have a new album coming on November 4.) Check out some of Toronto's finest wherever finer shows are sold (or at least inexpensive beer.)

Diableros

October 21 | Sydney | Maxwell's w/ Rich Aucoin

October 22 | Halifax Pop Explosion | Coconut Grove w/ The Spades, Shortpants Romance

October 23 | Fredericton | Capital w/ Matthew Barber, The Spades

October 24 | Charlottetown | Baba's Lounge w/ Parlovr

October 25 | Ottawa | Zaphod's w/ My Dad Vs. Yours

October 26 | Toronto | Pedestrian Sunday 5pm set outdoors on Augusta

Bicycles

October 23rd - Ottawa @ Zaphods

October 25th - Halifax @ Coconut Grove (part of Halifax Pop Explosion)

October 26th - Fredericton @ The Capital

October 27th - St. John, NB @ Backstreet Records (instore performance)

October 28th - Moncton @ The Paramount

October 29th - Sackville @ Mount Allison campus pub

October 30th - Quebec city @ Le Cercle

October 31st - Montreal @ Friendship Cove

November 1st - Kingston @ The Grad Club

November 4th - Toronto @ Soundscapes (instore performance)

November 6th - Peterborough @ Montreal House

November 8th - Toronto @ Lee's Palace (CD release show!)

November 11th - Thunder Bay @ The Apollo

November 12th - Winnipeg @ Lo's Pub (tentative)

November 13th - Saskatoon @ Amigo's

November 14th - Edmonton @ The Pawnshop

November 15th - Vancouver @ Di'Metric Studios

November 18th - Cumberland @ The Waverly

November 19th - Kelowna

November 20th - Calgary @ Broken City

November 22nd - Regina @ The Club

November 23rd - Kenora @ Inn of the woods

November 24th - Marathon @

November 28th - Waterloo @ Trepid House

November 29th - Brantford @ The Ford Plant

What I Learned at Eyes on Toronto

Alot of good news came out of last nights Eyes on Toronto.

First Jeff McEnery is funny. Not really that suprising, but in case you didn't know...also quite the ladies man if you're in the top 40%.

Second Ed-Glass Donnelly's acclaimed film "This Beautiful City" is finally coming back to Toronto and beginning a run at the Royal on May 23!

Third the newly redesigned Diableros are as good as the old Diableros, possibly better! Definitely check them out at Lee's Palace on May 21.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss last nights show - make sure you're there next month when Stephen Eyes and co will present: A debate between Stephen Harper, Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien, and Brian Mulrooney. The debate will be moderated by Stephen and special guest Mike Myers and each PM will have to do a tequila shot before they answer each question. Also appearing will be sketch comedy troupe the Kids in the Hall and musical guests Broken Social Scene....ok, not really, that's all bullshit but I'm sure they have something equally good planned (No pressure Steve).

Do Your Homework Before the Next Eyes on Toronto

Before you go to Eyes on Toronto this monday (and I know you're all going) there a little extra background for you. First there is an interview with Pete from the Diableros on CBC Radio 3. Also, for those of you with Facebook (and that should really be everyone by now...seriously) there is an awesome new hi-light video from the last show at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=36664510289&ref=share. (For some reason it's not on YouTube yet.)

Diableros Preview at Eyes on Toronto

Earlier I mentioned that the Diableros (with the new lineup) are playing at Lee's Palace on May 21. Before that though, if you want to get a sneak peak, they will be doing a mini-set at the next Eyes on Toronto on May 5. Also on the bill for that show are comic Jeff McEnery and a "Very special guest" - who Steve is being all mysterious about. Stay tuned...

Jeff McEnery

The Diableros Are Ready for the Country, Again

For a little while it looked like the Diableros were done. But, Pete Charmichael quickly filled in the holes and announced the bands return. Now, after a little rehearsal and time to mesh the band is getting ready for a return to the stage. May 21 at Lee's Palace in Toronto the Diableros will make their return official. Also at Lee's that night will be Snowden and Colour Revolt.

The Return of the Diableros

It was only a month ago that Pete Charmichael announced the departure of 3/5ths of the Diableros. While everyone hoped for the best, and Pete said they'd be back, losing 3/5ths of a band is never a good thing...

But, Pete didn't lie. The Diableros are on the way back!! Mike Duffield and Keith Hamilton of the Postage Stamps and Craig Gloster of Fjord Rowboat have stepped in to replace Ian Worang, Matt Ruba and Phoebe Lee. New dates are not far off - stay tuned.

Got Keys?: Established Bands looking for Keyboard players

Vancouver's Said the Whale is looking for a keyboard player ("must have chops, and be able to tour your ass off"" and Toronto's the Diableros are looking for an organist. I hate posting email address' on a blog due to the spam factor but if you are interested or have a candidate for either get in touch with me here or here and I'll pass along the contact info.

The New Diableros?

Pete Carmichael announced on the Diableros Myspace blog that bass player Ian Worang, organist Matt Ruba and drummer Phoebe Lee are all departing the band, leaving only Pete and Ian Jackson from the original lineup.

"Suffice to say that as we indie rockers get older, some of us have a shift in priorities. Devoting all your free time to a band, jumping from entry-level job to entry-level job, it just doesn't work anymore. I understand this and feel very sad about them leaving. I almost decided to pull the plug on the band, I know it will never be the same.

However, I still have the desire to move ahead... I have put too much work into it over the past few years to let it go. So the band will continue, but in a different form, to say the least. I am already working on it and I feel that in spite of the setback, this change will be for the best in the long run."

This is sad news for Toronto, as we have also seen the end of Republic of Safety and Ninja High School in recent months.

Tourwise this means that the band's planned appearances at SXSW are off. The last appearances of this incarnation of the Diableros will be

22 Feb 2008 9:00 pm Zaphod Beeblebrox Ottawa, Ontario

23 Feb 2008 9:00 pm Club Lambi Montreal, Quebec

26 Feb 2008 9:00 pm Foundation Nite Club Barrie, Ontario

27 Feb 2008 9:00 pm Starlight Waterloo, Ontario

28 Feb 2008 9:00 pm Casbah Hamilton, Ontario

29 Feb 2008 9:00 pm Salt Lounge London, Ontario

1 Mar 2008 7:00 pm Mod Club Toronto, Ontario

But, as Pete mentioned, this is not the end of the Diableros - only a new chapter. Consider the return of the Diableros to be 'in the works.'

Your New Year's Present from the Diableros

If you go, right now, to theDiableros.com you can download a free acoustic remix of "Broken Barns" the closer on the new album "The Diableros Aren't Ready For the Country.

Free Downloads from the Diableros

I've talked about them quite a bit lately, the new album "The Diableros Aren't Ready For the Country" is brilliant so, obviously, I'm thrilled that The Diableros are the newest addition to the Podsafe Download section. That means, for those of you who haven't been following along, that there are two free songs from the Diableros that you can download for free (and add to your podcast if you do that sort of thing).

RVT: Diableros - Tropical Pets

the Diableros from MTV Live

Breaking Links: Thursday, December 6

New Diableros write ups in Eye Weekly and Jam this week.

"The Diableros generally come off as leaders of the next generation of no-bullshit rockers — ones who just happen to enjoy Echo and the Bunnymen and Dinosaur Jr. in equal measures, waxing nostalgic one minute (“No One Wants To Drive”) and stoically wry the next (“Any Other Time”). “I don’t care how punk rock you are, but it just isn’t anything new to me,” sings Carmichael in “Kicking Rocks.” Not caring about genres and all the posing that goes with them? Now there’s an idea"

It's a little odd, but Feist has been nominated for a Grammy for 'Best New Artist'. Possible Canadian contenders for next year's 'Best New Artist' include Kingston, Ontario's the Tragically Hip.

"Vancouver crooner Michael Buble scored a nod for best male pop vocal/traditional pop vocal. Legendary power trio Rush is nominated for best rock instrumental and Montreal's Arcade Fire for best alternative music album."

Not directly related to Canada but Gibson is set to roll out the world's first self tuning guitar.

"he guitar allows different tuning presets to be stored in its memory, meaning players can push buttons to flick between presets without altering the string tuning by hand."

Breaking Links: The First One

These are busy days for me, and even on less busy days there is always so much more that I want to comment on than I really have time to, so sometimes I'm just going to post a bunch of stuff together without much commentary - news, blogs, and whatever else I decide to add...

Telefilm Funding Frozen - Canadian box office receipts down in 2006

R3TV Episode 28 - Episode 28 of what should be a TV show: The Halifax Pop Explosion with a video from Pride Tiger.

The Blood Lines are giving away CDs in celebration of their WCMA win.

Junior Pantherz Go Old School With Vinyl Release - Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Natalia Yanchak of the Dears on the Environment and Big Brother

Jason Collett is getting ready to take up a three week residency at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto with undisclosed "suprise guests"

Torontoist on when historic churches go condo - people say the west has no moral compass but we most certainly do, it's currently trading at $1.04 against the US dollar!

Saskboy on why Ottawa doesn't want you to have a made in Canada Electric Car - we're already making them, they are selling in the US and Mexico and cost about $14k Canadian but Transport Canada says you can't have one.

If you love Toronto you'll love this shot from daily dose of imagery

Have a free MP3 from the Diableros

Alberta increases oil royalties - wealthy oil men everywhere cry, then decide they still want the oil.

The Diableros: New CD + Release party and web site coming.

A new album "the Diableros Aren't Ready for the Country" is due out is due out October 16. A few tracks from it are currently available on the groups MySpace and the whole album will be streamed on their website thediableros.com when the site launches October 1. Until the new site is ready you can also hear some Diableros at New Music Canada. The release party for the new CD will be at the Horseshoe Tavern on October 26 and there is a show coming to Saphir in Montreal but New Music Canada says it's on October 6th and the band's MySpace says the 5th so if you're interested probably best to call Saphir to find out.

To help you stay up to date with further happenings I've added the Diableros to the Band Blogs. Also - through a link I found on the Diablero's Myspace - the Hungry City Blog has been added to the News feed on this site.