Will Currie and the Giant Beaver

Will Currie and the Country French stopped along the roadside in Alberta to file a video diary about the World's Largest Beaver and celebrate Amada's 24th birthday. If you're looking for some listening, grab a copy of CBC Radio 3 sessions podcast with Will Currie and the Country French (one of my all time favorites.) You can also grab a few free MP3's from the band here.

Happy Birthday Amanda and enjoy the big beaver everyone!

24 Hour Canadian All Star Jam Session

According to a note in my inbox this morning Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club, Will Currie of Will Currie and the Country French and Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians and Skeleton Me along with Dean Marino (a.k.a. Ex~Po) will be heading into Chemical Sound Studio for 24 hours to record as many songs as they can squeeze in in that time.

The plan is to take whatever results come out of the session and release them for free. "I think the songs will get a lot more interesting around four in the morning" says Will Currie. "As we get tired, more creative things will start to come out in the music. Lack of sleep makes your brain think differently," he jokes.

Documentary filmmaker Wade Vroom is going to be documenting all of this as it happens and will release the final film on a, as yet unannounced, website. The actual date all of this is happening wasn't in the note but it is bound to be an amazing session and, in one way or another, we all get to be there.

Stay tuned! I'll let you know when/if I hear any more.

Will Currie and the Country French in Session

When I first launched Publicbroadcasting.ca more than three years ago one of the first bands to approve putting their music in the download section of the site was Will Currie and the Country French who I stumbled across on Myspace one day by accident.

Things have gone well for them since then. First there were the stellar reviews Will (who is still just 21) has been compared to everyone from Elton John to Paul McCartney to Ben Folds. I said at one point a few years ago that if I started a record label the first people I'd sign would be Will Currie and the Country French and Sloan apparently agreed with me. When they relaunched their label Murder Records the first band they signed (other than themselves) was Will Currie and the Country French. (By the way the second band Sloan signed was Pony Da Look - also in the download section.)

Today Will Currie and the Country French joined the impressive and ever growing list of artists to appear on the CBC Radio 3 Sessions podcast have a listen and if you want to keep up with the sessions you can subscribe by visiting the CBC Podcasts page, there is also a Facebook Group and a Facebook Page you can follow.

Free 7" From Will Currie and Sloan

Later this fall Will Currie and the Country French and Sloan will tour the west together. In the mean time, and as a preview of what you may hear - a new song from Will Currie called "Push Pins", recorded as a duet with Sloan's Jay Ferguson is available for free (along with artwork) at sloanmusic.com.

Free Downloads from Pony Da Look

When Sloan relaunched their Murder Records label they signed two bands (other than themselves) - my friends from Waterloo Will Currie and the Country French and Toronto's Pony Da Look as of today both of those bands have music in this site's Podsafe Download section.

Pony Da LookPony Da Look is composed of Temple Bates (composer/keyboards/vocals), Amy Bowles (lyrics/vocals/keyboards), Rebecca Mendoza (drums) and Catherine Stockhausen (keyboards/vocals) art students turned art professionals has been playing together since 2003 and according to Chartattack.com

"While drawing upon such musical influences as The Cure, Frank Black, Kate Bush and Billy Idol, each band member brings something different to the table. Through their artistic backgrounds — Bates and Bowles are painters, Stockhausen is a photographer/television producer and Mendoza is a dancer/choreographer — the quartet create an audio/visual kaleidoscopic tour de force."

Give them a listen at publicbroadcasting.ca/download/PonydaLook.

Pony Da Look - Flatlands (live)

Video Tour Diary: Will Currie and the Country French

If you're one of the few people that really think Canadian musicians ride around in limos, eat at 4 star restaraunts and shop at expensive boutiques, there is evidence to the contrary. Thanks to inexpensive easy to use digital video, there is a growing collection of video documentary that shows the reality: 7 people sleeping in a hotel room, eating sandwiches in the van and shopping at army surplus stores.

If you read this blog on any kind of regular basis you already know about the Superfantastics Video Blog (or you should). Now Will Currie and the Country French have started their own video blog, or vLog if you will, you can follow all of the 'action' (such as it is) on YouTube or Facebook.

It sometimes looks like this:

This Saturday In Toronto: Kate Maki and Country French

Kate Maki and Will Currie and the Country French will both be playing this Saturday in Toronto. Unfortunately they are not playing at the same venue.

Kate Maki "& Guests" will be playing at Mitzi's Sister. The Guests in this case include Nathan Lawr (obviously) as well as Cindy Doire, Ryan Bishops, Andrea Ramolo and Sean Pinchin.

Will Currie and the Country French will be playing at the Horseshoe Tavern with The Golden Dogs and 6ixty8ights.

Have a hard time being in two places at once? I know. It's hard but North by Northeast is just around the corner - time to hone those skills!

Go Over the Top in Toronto This Weekend

The Over the Top Festival is coming to Toronto this weekend.

"April 30 through May 4th at select venues, which includes film premieres, rare musical performances and exciting theatrical productions. Each year the festival continues to grow, having started with just three events seven years ago and now it numbers nearly three dozen."

Many of the events this year are being sponsored by CBC Radio 3 for a list of their sponsored events visit the R3 blog. A full listing of the events, as well as venue and ticket information can be found at http://www.overthetopfest.com/2008/. For specific dates see

Film Schedule

April 30

May 1

May 2

May 3

Music Schedule

May 1

May 2

May 3

May 4

Hilights, in my opinion, include

Rock Plaza Central at St Stephen in the Fields

Woodhands with Bobby Birdman May 1 at Sneaky Dees

the Wooden Sky with Rebekah Higgs and Major Gray May 2 at St. Stephen in the Field's

DD/MM/YYYY 7" release - - -> w. Shpilberg, Revolution Love, Machetes at the Whippersnapper Gallery May 2

A Balancing Act - Film - TorontoPremeire at the NFB

Will Currie and the Country French + Laura Peek at St. Stephen in the Fields May 2

The D'Urbervilles at Ukula May 1

Will Currie and the Country French CD Release Party

Long time friends of this website Will Currie and the Country French who recently signed to Murder Records are not gearing up for their first official CD Release party at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto on April 29 ( 431 College Street (College & Bathurst). Opening for Will Currie and the Country Frency, who once listed amoung their influences Bellewoods. Tickets are "$7 OR $12 for superfan combo package including entry+CD+pin". The Facebook event page is at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=11849001906. If you can't make that show, in particular, try one of these:

April 19th in Guelph at Jimmy Jazz w/ The Coast
April 25th in London at the Alex P. Keaton w/ The Coast
April 28th in Hamiliton at the Casbah w/ The Coast.
April 30th in Ottawa at Zaphod Beeblebrox. Us headlining with 2 local openers to be announced.
May 1st in Peterborough at the Montreal House
May 2nd in Toronto at St. Stephen-in-the-fields Church for the Over the Top Festival.

You may also want to check out The Chart Report Card on the band.

Will Currie and the Country French Sign to Murder Records

Just for background purposes Will Currie and the Country French have been on my favourites list for a few years now. They were one of the first bands to be included in the podsafe downloads part of publicbroadcasting.ca. I never understood why it was taking so long for people to take an interest in the band. Will is, in my opinion, the closest thing Canada has to Ben Folds (except for when Ben is here on tour).

So today I'm listening to the CBC Radio 3 podcast and I find out, not only that Sloan has relaunched Murder Records but that the first people that they signed (other than themselves) were Will Currie and the Country French (and Pony da Look).

So to the Country French: Congradulations! You absolutely deserve it. To everyone else (I've been saying this for a few years now but) seriously, go see them while you can still get tickets (and see them in a small venue).

Will Currie and the Country French - Surprising Me

At the Drake Last Night: Will Currie and the Country French

There were all of 30-40 people last night at the Drake Hotel to see Will Currie and the Country French - which is a damn shame because they will one day play sold out shows and you won't be able to get tickets.

Still, I guess the lack of buzz isn't that surprising. They don't have an album out yet, not even an EP and, being students, they have a hard time working around their summer job schedules to play gigs during the summer.

The fact that they are still students though is one of the most intriguing things about them. They are all very young, but the band is very tight, their musicianship surpasses their years and they write songs that get lodged in your head for days, but in a good way. Given a little time and luck they are going to be huge. If you get the chance, go check them out while you can still get in to the show.

Will Curry & Co: Tonight at the Drake

For awhile now I've been singing the praises of Will Currie and the Country French though they are all still very young (as far as I know all of them still attend Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont.) they already sound..well more like Ben Folds than anything else. There are hints though of Elton John, Wilco and the Beatles.

Anyway, tonight will be my first chance to see them live. So, have a look at the video below, listen to a few songs in the download section and if you like what you hear, and are looking for something to do (in Toronto) come hear them tonight at the Drake Hotel.