...for the time being, anyway. 'The Fairmonts at Barney's every Saturday in October' has now become 'The Fairmonts at Barney's every Saturday in 2006'. Hopefully this will just become 'The Fairmonts at Barney's every Saturday'. The rock rolls on; catch y'all out there soon.
Honourable mentions to costumes from Saturday's gig go out to Mr. Rogers (scarily accurate), A.C. Slater, who sang half of What I Got with us, Gene Frenkle rockin' the cowbell down the street, and for best Bizarro world moment, a table full of Smurfs getting drunk, headed up by Papa Smurf himself. Far fucking out.
Wassup party people. Just a quick hey to say i'm heading out to T.dot/Cali tomorrow and will most likely be neglecting my blog/top 5 duties for a couple of weeks unless i get a few of chances to post some quick updates. The new place is taking shape just as i leave it in the capable and busy hands of my lady friend. I'll try and organize some type of proper shindig upon my return from the wild west. Also, just to keep the gears turning, the next 3 top 5's will follow the current pattern around the rhythm section to the bass, then guitar and vox, so there's plenty of time to think of bass players to fight over other than John Paul Jones and Jeff Ament. Play safe kids; catch you in a few!
"Here is the easiest way to explain the genius of Johnny Cash: Singing from the perspective of a convicted murderer in the song 'Folsom Prison Blues', Cash is struck by pangs of regret when he sits in his cell and hears a distant train whistle. This is because people on that train are 'probably drinkin' coffee'. And this is also why Cash seems completely credible as a felon: He doesn't want freedom or friendship or Jesus or a new lawyer. He wants coffee.
Within the mind of a killer, complex feelings are eerily simple.
This is why killers can shoot men in Reno just to watch them die, and the rest of us usually can't."
- Chuck Klosterman, Pop Culture Genius
I guess this isn't news to a lot of people, but i just read about it today, so i'm gonna pass it on anyway! The Pearl Jam lads are making their first single, World Wide Suicide, available for free download from their website for 48 hours starting the morning of March 7th, no strings attached. Get it while it's hot! Dig this article for more info.
Note: it's up!!
Every time i see Carter Beauford play live i can't decide if i want to quit playing drums altogether or dedicate myself to them exclusively. FANTASTIC SHOW!!
Sunday Dec. 4, 2005
Air Canada Centre
Don’t Drink the Water
#41
Granny
Louisiana Bayou *
Crash
Hunger For The Great Light *
Seek Up (like 20 mins!!)
Grey Street
Old Dirt Hill +
All Along The Watchtower +
Dream Girl
Stand Up
Crush
Don’t Burn The Pig
Stay *
__________________
Christmas Song
Ants Marching
Show Notes:
* Rashawn Ross
+ Eric Krasno
FYI for all Londonites: The Fairmonts are at the Poacher's Arms Thursday thru Saturday this week, culminating in Saturday's Lebowski-styled Halloween gig. Come on down, grab a white russian (drink or girl) and enjoy one of the most extensive musical catalogs in town.
In other news, C.C. DeVille is heading to jail. 8-(
Tenacious D are preparing to fully rock socks off in 2006, with a movie, album and tour all in the works. In preparation to rock as hard as you can, please follow these 10 commandments religiously until further notice from the D. Feel free to comment on your own commandments, but they'd better be worthy. Ho HOOO they'd better be worthy. \m/
10 Commandments of the D
- Never stop Rocking.
- Legalize all drugs.
- Quit your day job.
- All Religion should be taxed.
- Cut down on carbohydrates.
- Fuck her gently.
- Never believe what people tell you after a show.
- Always take a spoon full of Metamucil after a heavy day of eating.
- Get at least 9 hours of sleep a day.
- Eatin' ain't cheatin'.
Thanks to all who contributed to the stripper songs collection, some of you 2, 3 or 4 times! Glad you like to dance naked. Hopefully Killer will pass the info onto the proper peeps to get The Candyshop slammin'! To keep on rockin' through these troubled times, i'm keeping it light again today with a listing of the 10 Greatest Rock N' Roll Myths. Most of you will agree with some of the listings which for the most part you have heard of and are completely accurate to the best of my knowledge. Confused? So is the mud shark! "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Indeed.
My friend Todd, who i played with in the Tea Thieves during my stay in Budapest, has some songs on his site available for download. They are of the folk/pop genre, and are fantastic. His latest song, Hoo, is my new favourite. Check out his stuff, download and listen, and drop him a line letting him know what you think. Todd's site is here.
I love setlists. I love making setlists, or calling out the song order, and like to think i do a fair job of it. There is a definite flow to it, not unlike a mix tape, but there's also some fun to be had. For the adventureous there's also the combining of songs, either one within the other or the jam right into the next, as indicated by the > on a setlist. For the really out-there lists, there's alphabetical order or full albums played in sequence. For bands like The Dead, Phish, DMB and Pearl Jam, there's always the 'what rarity or cover song will come out this tour' game. Check out The Science of the Setlist for all this and more.
The Fairmonts Forum, a message board if you will, is now available for public consumption. There's a link on The Fairmonts homepage as well. The board, for those of you who drop by here on occasion, isn't for general ridiculousness and shit-shooting such as this weblog, but for a bit more 'band-oriented' yammering - the shows, song requests, etc. Head over, create a user and have at'er!
G.Love and the funky Special Sauce were on Kimmel Wednesday nite. Dig the funky jams here!
Rising from the ashes of obscurity, rock activist, gentleman, (oxford) ballet enthusiast, scholar, concert pianist, roadie and all-around good guy Andrew "Biff" Murray has returned to shed some light on the dark days of cock rock madness he survived with revered 80's high school hair band Toxic Angels. Featuring Skinny Pete, A.Parr Esq., Scotty F and the one and only Sean "Tool" Taylor, who lost the head of his bass in a freak bottle toke accident, the band rocked as hard as they could on a daily basis for one reason, and one reason only: girls. and beer. and metal. and girls. My only advice to you before climbing into Biff's handbasket and venturing on into the depths of hell is: stay away from the brown acid. Take it away Biff....
Hello. My name is Biff and I am a Roadie. My career started with a tragically misunderstood group known at one time as the Toxic Angels. The music industry in 1989 was simply not ready for the agressive style and rebellious, take-no-prisoners attitude this quarrelsome quartet unleashed on a completely unprepared music scene.
After two years in the womb developing their skills, the Angels exploded onto the scene in 1989-90 with their breakthrough demo release "Who Cares?". Their sound was unlike anything Westmount had ever heard. The reverb-drenched, alcohol and stripper-lust fueled genius of legendary engineer/producer Paul Venesoen distilled the raw energy of the group into a focused, auditory blitzkreig.
The band was riding a wave of fame and success. But fame is a cruel, fickle, spiteful bitch. Little did the idealistic young Toxic Angels know that disaster was waiting just around the corner.
After a two week, non-stop, intense recording session for the "Who Cares" EP, the Angels (and their producer/engineer) were both emotionally and physically exhausted (and wildly drunk). It was time for everyone to take a break and regroup. Everyone went their separate ways. So naturally, everyone headed to the Forum to clear their heads and renew their creative energies.
But this was escapism at its' best... there was work to be done. The 'Who Cares' EP was on tape, sure, but it needed to be mixed... it needed the golden touch. There was work to be done. The Toxic Angels had a date with destiny at Studio 107 to groom the beast they had created.
Seizing the moment when their producer had sobered up, the Toxic Angels reluctantly returned to Studio 107 to finish what they'd started. It wasn't easy. The mixing and re-recording sessions were an ongoing labour of love and hate. Comprimises were made, girlfriends interfered, parents complained, and finally after many debates over pitchers at Hanovers, the final changes were accepted. The producer still demanded more cowbell. And in the end, after all the fighting, all the strife and confusion, the group, exhausted again, came back together and agreed on what history will record as the "WHO CARES" EP.
Now in the can, the only thing left to do was to take it on the road.
When we return, the Angels take it on the road, but how will the public react?
Wow, is this really me posting here? As usual, many apologies to Killer Dave, Pauls, Mandy, Matty, etc. and those who actually pop on here from time to time to see what's (not) up with my bad self. Thanks to Matty for contributing some recent posts - some good info there for all to enjoy. Also, please ignore, as best as possible, the comment spam shit that is infiltrating my site. I have been advised on how to fix this, but i must first upgrade my MT version, then apply the fix, and blah blah blah i hope to grab the spare time to do it eventually!!
So now onto the actual reason for my post, the new little website i've posted for one of my bands, The Fairmonts. Check it out, take the poll, download a few mp3s and drop back in occasionally for some new shit. If you're in town, check the shows listing and drop in for a pint! Hope all of you out in blogland are well, and i do drop by your blogs when i can - i'm still alive!
I played my first gig at the Brass Door Pub last night with Justin. I was rocking the djembe drum and he was singing and playing guitar. A slick duo if i do say so myself. We played a little Dave, a little Jack, a little Ben, etc. etc. We recorded the show for future demo purposes so i'll post up a couple of good tracks here when i snag them off Justin. The funniest part of the night was at the very end, and we're playing some Skynrd, Tuesday's Gone, which as y'all know is a pretty slow jam, and also the "no more beer" song when the keg runs dry in Dazed and Confused. Ironically enough, the bartender has cut some guy off (no more beer for him!) so he sends his friend up on a covert op to snag him another pint. The bartender obviously sees this and gets pissed and goes to take the guy's beer back, and a fight breaks out - during Tuesday's Gone! That was the capper on a fun night of jamming for me. Thanks to J for setting up the gig - here's to more goodness!
The Salads show down at Call the Office ruled last night! I was looking forward to this show for some time, and with the new CD just out and some radio and video play for their first single going on, the turnout was great even if a bunch of them were kids that only know them from this CD and first single. The hardcore fans amongst us were stoked that the band is finally blowing up, and also that we knew the older stuff that the kids didn't. You know, the usual music snob "we liked them first" attitude we all like to carry. :) A double encore sealed the deal, complete with a haphazard version of Motley Crue's Kickstart my Heart to end the night. Fun stuff! Check their website for some music and info - it'll be worth your while! Go Salads go.
Last night's gig was a little off the wall for us. Our singer Louie had a wedding to attend, so the remaining 3 of us decided to do the gig anyway (as The Meat Sweats) and switch it up a bit, so Steve went from guitar over to bass, and Justin went from bass over to guitar/lead vox while i still rocked the kit. The setlist was adjusted accordingly, away from the hard rock tip over to the groovy pop rock country bluesy tip, and produced some interesting results. We traded in our Weezer for DMB, Tool for Tom Petty, Alice in Chains for Ryan Adams, and G n'R for Jack Johnson.
We caught a few people off guard, and some others surprised us by knowing some shit we didn't think they would know. Not surprisingly, nobody knew the Ryan Adams stuff. :) It was still fun anyway. Justin correctly predicted that set 2 would be the ladies set, and they would shit when we played Crash Into Me. He was correct - a dance floor filled with ladies and no sausage! One guy (the "Play some Bush!" guy) finally wised up and realized all the ladies were up front and ventured onto the dance floor to join them. Other tunes in the ladies set included Kiss, Faith and the biggest singalong of all, Sweet Caroline.
Louie showed up for the third set, so we switched back to The Tribbianis full rock mode and brought the night home with the Power Hour set, which was a nice change after the first 2 sets. All in all a fun night, and many thanks to Janelle, Mandy, Tanya and Melissa for making it out and having a good time with The Meat Sweats. Also to Larissa and Ana, the dynamic Russian duo, even though they aren't currently speaking to me after we couldn't fit their requests into our one full rock set. :) They'll come around i'm sure.
Don't save all the "dancy chick tunes" for the last set. If the ladies aren't up dancing you're left with a sausage fest, and the dudes don't wanna dance with themselves to summer of 69, wanted dead or alive or got you where i want you. Need to save some heavy rockin' stuff for exactly this scenario. A half decent recovery was made when we pulled out some alice in chains and some old g n'r, and then finished with the big jam on new orleans is sinking, which some dude had been yelling for since the middle of the second set, complete with Lou's signature bits of ice ice baby, i like big butts and roadhouse blues. It all fades to distant memory when you get paid, and you set your sights once again on the following saturday, with visions of sugar plums dancing in your head, or on the dance floor, which would be preferred.
p.s. - Go Raiders!!
"Creed have issued an official "apology" to fans who were disappointed by the group's Dec. 29, 2002 concert at Chicago's Allstate Arena at which lead singer Scott Stapp was reportedly high out of his mind and could not sing, nearly falling down numerous times during the performance."
Thanks to Uffish.com for bringing this farce to light.
I played my first full gig in a while last night downtown at GT's. The students were back partying in full force spending all their xmas cash on booze before they have to buckle down and attempt to pass some courses. The band i'm currently playing with, The Tribbianis, like to play some solid rock stuff. We ran the spectrum from some old G N' R, Alice in Chains and some Twisted Sister up to newer stuff like the Foos, Weezer and Queens of the Stone Age. Some fun stuff to drum for sure. The band also loves me since i'm into a self-imposed "dry January" so they get to split the bar tab 3 ways instead of 4. I'll probably be fired once i start drinking again. :) You don't realize how boring a bar scene really is (between sets when you're not playing) until you are standing sober amongst a teeming mass of drunks. Thank god for the salvation of getting back on stage and rocking it out a bit. Closed out with a couple of good sing-alongs to the bar classics Wanted Dead or Alive and of course the Canadian bar staple, New Orleans is Sinking. Kids go nuts for that shit. When all is said and done we actually get paid for that mayhem so it's all good! Long live rock and roll.
Caught a few great bands down at Call the Office last night. We went down to catch The Salads, who always provide a funky good time for all, and they once again did not disappoint. A new album is in the works there and it should kill! The surprise of the evening for me, though, was a Toronto band called Grindig. I'm not sure how i'd exactly describe their sound, and their website kinda cops out with the "alt-rock" label, but it is definitely rock, very groovy, and the singer-guitarist has energy to spare. He was laying down some classic rubber-legged shimmy moves that i haven't seen since the James Brown concert a few years back! The percussionist adds a nice touch to the whole sound as well. Hit their site and check out a few sound clips if you get a chance. Infectious indeed. I love checking out new bands and being totally blown away by them. I wasn't sure what to expect as the night opened on a sour note with a band completely ripping off No Doubt fronted by an Avril Levigne-looking chick busting out moves straight out of rock school. Just bad. But Grindig killed, as did The Salads and the headliners The Mudmen, who feature not one, but TWO bagpipe players! Interesting to say the least, and actually really good. They played a killer cover of Spirit of the West's Home for a Rest that brought the house down. A good night for sure, followed by a not so good day of headaches and bad football. I just can't put'em back like i used to, but i still don't learn. I pray that one day i will.
Hope everyone had a fun and spooky Halloween. It was quite cold and rainy here so not as many kids out as usual, but i suspect Malloween was pretty well attended due to that fact. It's actually a pretty good idea for the smaller kids and their parents - bus them to a mall and have them trick or treat around to all the stores that give out candy and perhaps a promotional flyer too! Fun for the whole family.
So I spent my Halloween downloading a selection of live material that my buddy Todd over in Budapest had assembled for our friend Jamie, guitarist extraordinaire, when he made the move for Budapest back to England. Todd, Jamie, Mike and myself had a sweet little band called the Tea Thieves during my time in Budapest, and we actually became quite proficient with the recordings, putting out 2 studio demos and a selection of live stuff during my time there. The live tracks brought back some great memories of weekly gigs at the Fregatt pub, an ex-pat bar where you could be guaranteed a decent crowd of english-speaking friends and patrons. These guys were some of the best singer/songwriter/players that i have had the pleasure of jamming with and it was definitely one of the many highlights of my stay. Downloading the songs reminded me that i had posted our first demo from back in December '01 online for my friends back home to download when i was over there, so i will post the link here for any interested souls looking to check out some new music. With 3 songwriters in the band the material spanned a wide range of styles, from folk to blues to white-boy reggae to pop rock and some funky jams. The demo online comes up the middle as far as our material went. Nothing too heavy, but you can hear the 3 distinct songwriting styles over the first 3 tracks. Todd doubles up and gets the fourth track as well as the first. The demo can be downloaded online here. It was recorded and mixed over a short period of 2 days, so it has a certain "cleanliness" to it that you sometimes lose in a pile of overdubs and effects when locked in the studio for months. No overdubs except for backing vocals and a maximum of 2 takes on any track. Right click and save as, and change the extension to .mp3. I don't remember why this had to be done, but it did.
My plan is to have an extended musical section of my site when it expands, where i will be posting a selection of musical nuggets from a variety of bands i've played with, spanning back to 1994. But for now, this will have to do!
I was never heavily into Pearl Jam. When i went over to Europe i had taken my 200 favourite cds over in one case, as did my buddy Killer Dave. One quickly tires of the same cds over and over, so we would raid each other's collections for stuff we hadn't been listening to before we got over there. Dave is an avid Pearl Jam fan. He has every official release, including any soundtracks they've had tracks on, B-sides, as well as many bootlegs and a nice start on the 70+ live shows they officially released on their 2000 tour. These live concerts became staple listens, and i gained a new respect and appreciation for the band. They are a live band, one that still changes up the songs, the setlists, and jams. The Touring Band 2000 DVD also got decent play as our only exposure to seeing a current North American band "live" over there. (I missed an apparently killer Roger Waters concert by two weeks due to my return home.)
So I was recently dumping a bunch of my old bookmarks and came across an incredible article on the whole history of Pearl Jam, by Spin Magazine. I remember Dave saying to bookmark it and read it when i have some free time, as it's 9 long pages, i believe. It is an interview-style piece, with the history of the band chronologically unfolding as told by quotes from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Dave Grohl, Mudhoney, Cameron Crowe, and many other players at the time, including managers, agents, producers and directors. If you are a fan, or even just interested in the Seattle scene at the time, this is a highly recommended read.
"Phish fans are a peaceful, intelligent group of people who respond better to courteous, respectful requests than to aggressive bullying. The typical Phish audience does not mosh or body surf. They will, however, dance and twirl in any open area made available to them."
And so on reads the Phish security procedures manual. The Chili Peppers need a meditation room and clean tube socks, among other things. What are the socks for, you ask? To cover up their big....... feet of course. Ever wonder about the beverages of choice, the eating habits or relaxational methods of your favourite artists? Then this site is for you. Check out the backstage rider requests of over 134 big-name artists. Be prepared to spend a few minutes here - it's addictive! Feel free to comment on any funny requests you come across - i've barely scratched the surface.
...and now here it is!
Required reading indeed.
Mitsy (Matty Dewar), a good friend and touring companion from days gone by, has informed me that his 80's band - B.A. Baracus has recently joined the online community with a pretty nifty, Warhol-esque website. Drop by and check them out, live or online - you won't be disappointed.
"They pity the fool who doesn't check out their site!"