Saturday, November 6, 2010

Recording Update

Soooo, it's been a while, we've had a busy, big year. One new child, one wedding, a couple changes in our day jobs AND a whole lot of recording.

We are nearly finished recording our next album. We'll finish tracking this month, then in December we will mix it with Mr. James Bunton (of Ohbijou fame).

Expect the album to be 10 songs over 42 minutes and it will be released on vinyl. We are very excited to have some of our favorite musicians joining us on this recording, including Julie Doiron and Olenka & the Autumn Lovers. The plan is to release the album in late March or early April 2011 and we will be doing some pretty extensive touring around then, potentially including some dates in the U.S. along with a full Canadian tour.

As a teaser for the album here are some photos from the last 6 months of recording.














Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Julie Doiron Day 2010!!!

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone reading this that we here at Sdm headquarters are huge fans of Julie Doiron and many wonderful indie venues across Canada....so last year, when our good friends at All Citizens declared June 7th to be Julie Doiron day in their small town of Bruno, Saskatchewan, we were excited to stop in and celebrate with them. Now one year later, we figured it would be great to commemorate that day with a Julie Doiron tribute show/fundraiser for All Citizens.....so without further ado, let me announce Julie Doiron Day 2010 in Bruno, Saskatchewan!!!





Join us for Julie Doiron Day, a celebration of Canadian independent music and one Canada's best songwriters, on June 7th 2010 in Bruno, Saskatchewan.... and maybe in your town too!


History: In 2009 All Citizens (art gallery/cafĂ©/community hub and soon to be legendary music venue) declared June 7 to be Julie Doiron Day in Bruno. The occasion was aptly marked by a performance by the women herself, playing a remarkable set to a capacity crowd of 21 Bruno locals and a few Saskatoon residents. The town’s Mayor was on hand to unveil a plaque dedicating All Citizens' front bench, on the town's main street, to Julie in commemoration of the event. The Mayor's husband opened the show with a set of old-tyme accordion tunes.

The event was one of those quintessential only-in-Saskatchewan (or maybe only in Canada) moments affirming how an amazing music & cultural scene can build up around a few dedicated, talented individuals and a small, perfect little cultural space.

Despite it likely being the smallest show Ms. Doiron played that year, it was the ideal way to reaffirm her status as "Canada's Indie Queen". Where else would you find one of the most celebrated songwriters in the country going out of her way to play in a small town of 600 people, a few kilometers off the main highway in one of the least populated parts of the country? If anything it just helps explain why people are so drawn to the music of Julie Doiron and why she has become a symbol of everything that is great about Canada's independent music scene. She's toured the country from coast to coast countless times, co-founded her own music label (Sappy Records), co-founded one of the Canada's most charming festivals (Sappyfest, which brings world renowned musicians to her small town of Sackville, New Brunswick, pop. 5411), collaborated with everyone from Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip to Attack in Black to French anti-folksters Herman Dune and released albums on celebrated indie labels Jagjaguwar and Subpop... all this while raising three children and remaining one of the most approachable, kind people you'd hope to meet.


The inaugural Julie Doiron Day was celebrated in a tiny town, but it received an enthusiastic response across Canada and abroad. Our hope this year is for it to spread beyond Bruno's borders. On June 7, 2010, Julie Doiron Day will be honored at All Citizens, this time with a tribute to Julie Doiron featuring performances by members of Slow down, Molasses; The Seahags; Jeanette Stewart; Pearson; All Citizens' co-owner/operator Tyler Brett (a.k.a. The Department) and more. The event will be a benefit concert with all money going to All Citizens to help keep it alive and able to present some of Canada's finest bands while acting as a unique cultural outpost in the middle of the prairies. What better way to celebrate the work of one of Canada's favorite independent artists than by supporting and celebrating the independent cultural spaces that provide a place for their music to be heard?

In a perfect world every town and city would have a space like All Citizens. Maybe June 7 could be the day everyone gets together and plays some Julie Doiron songs to celebrate Canadian independent music and the spaces that nurture it. If your town has a great indie arts space or indie record store or tiny, perfect venue it would be amazing to see Julie Doiron Day shows happening all across Canada in support of such spaces.



Sincerely,

Tyson McShane

Slow down, Molasses
http://slowdownmolasses.blogspot.com
(306) 381-4772



For more information about All Citizens:

http://www.allcitizens.org


For more information on Julie Doiron:

http://www.juliedoiron.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKlvVNS79gI


For more information on the bands playing:

The Seahags - http://www.seahags.ca

Pearson – http://www.myspace.com/pearsontunes

Jeanette Stewart – http://www.myspace.com/jeanettestewart

Tyler Brett - http://www.myspace.com/dept

Slow down, Molasses – http://slowdownmolasses.blogspot.com

Sunday, May 16, 2010

postcards

A quick post to give an update on what's new in the slow down camp....

Jeanette has recently completed her debut ep, watch for it later this summer. In the mean time, check out her new video:



Also watch for her at Caffe Sola in Saskatoon on May 20th, opening for the wonderful Megan Hamilton (http://www.myspace.com/meganhamilton)

Also at Caffe Sola, our good friends Olenka & the Autumn Lovers are making their first trek west and we are so happy to host them. The show is May 25th and I (Tyson) will be opening the show solo-ish (well see who's around to help out!).

Otherwise, we've been diligently working away in the studio and I have to say, we are getting very excited about the results. Hopefully we can provide a preview from the album in the next month or two....

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Vivefest 2!!!


Big show this weekend in Saskatoon, our good friends at Vive Music are celebrating two years of bringing some of the best bands in Canada to Saskatoon and they are keeping up their good work by bringing some of my favorite bands to town. Women, Eamon McGrath and paper beat scissors just a host of locals for a great night of music at the German Concordia Club (next to Amigo's on Dufferin Avenue).

It should be great fun and Jeanette will be playing with myself (Tyson) and Chad Munson of Golden Smoke backing her. Barrett Ross (of Foam Lake) and I will also act as Eamon McGrath's backing band for the night. It should be a great night, so if you are in the neighbourhood stop in!!

I still rave about the show Women played in our old jamspace with Mt. Royal a couple years ago....they are definitely one of my favorite live bands, so it will be great to see them again.

Check out more info on the show here:
http://www.facebook.com/faitour#!/event.php?eid=348843402591&ref=ts

cheers,
Tyson

Monday, March 29, 2010


Wow! What a weekend! Thanks to everyone who came out to the On a Cold Road show. It was taped for CBC Radio 1, 2 & 3, so watch for it in a couple months. We'll post when it is scheduled to play. Thanks so much to the CBC and Sask Music for putting the show together. We really can't thank you enough. We had a blast and I hope you did too.

Now it's time for a couple Jeanette Stewart & the Brodeo shows, Jeantte, Drabble and myself (Tyson) will be opening for B.A. Johnson at Amigo's this Saturday (April 3) and then Jeanette, myself and Chad Munson (of Golden Smoke fame) will be playing Vivefest 2 on April 17 w/ Women, Eamon McGrath, Feral Children & lots more. It should be great fun!

Then it will be back to recording. Since November we've been working on 6 songs for our next album, with a few of them getting pretty close to being completed. Later this spring we'll record a few more as well as getting some super special, secret guests to add a bit to the record as well....but that has to stay secret for now.

That's all for now...but watch soon for some tour and recording stories. It's been a hectic, exciting few months, even if we've been a bit silent recently!