New songs cure summertime blues

We’ve been working hard at our rehearsal space these past few weeks on new songs. Expect to hear some of them at our upcoming shows this fall.

The new stuff has a bit of a different feel than the tunes on Yonder. Traces of the twang remain, but the scope and the sound is a bit bigger. The arrangements are along the lines of some of the other newer songs we’ve been playing for the past few months, like “Jaw Wired Shut” and “Someday Tourniquet.”

Maybe it’s lame to say something like this about music by a band you play in, but whatever: I friggin’ love these songs. They’re just so…epic. Even the short ones. Playing them makes me want to jump out of my skin.

Hope you’ll like them as much as we do.

– Todd (July 29, 2009)

Bold as love? TSO at Axis on July 18

We’re playing a free show on Saturday, July 18th at Axis Gallery and Grill in the Junction (3048 Dundas Street West).

You can click on the poster to see/grab a bigger version of it. Perhaps it would look nice on your corkboard at work, right next to that tenacious kitten hanging onto a branch (who put that there anyway?).

After the intensity of NXNE, we’re looking forward to playing a show that’s truly “ours” — where we can stretch out the set a bit, and not have to frantically set up and tear down our gear. Expect to hear at least a half dozen new songs, including one that we’ve never played before (well, actually, Zach played it during our NXNE showcases at College Park and the airport, but this’ll be the official unveiling).

We learned a lot from our festival experience. We learned that five showcases in three days is a lot, but is the kind of thing that makes or breaks a band. We were also reminded that, although it’s fun and comfortable and in many ways logical to play gigs with bands you know and love (which is what we almost always do, especially for Toronto shows), it’s often valuable to expand the circle a bit and play with people you might otherwise never think to work with. Cue that “the more you know” rainbow they used to show on TV.

See you in the Junction on July 18th. Come at 9pm, and use what money you might have otherwise earmarked for a cover charge — and then some — to avail yourself of the fine refreshments offered by our gracious hosts.

Five NXNE showcases

We’re playing five times during this year’s NXNE festival.

On Tuesday, we’re at College Park at noon and Terminal 3 at Pearson Airport at 3:30pm. These sets will feature a super-stripped-down version of the band.

All five of us will be at Supermarket at 9:45pm on Wednesday with The Lovely Feathers, Derek Miller, and The Reason.

Then, on Thursday (though, technically, it’ll be early Friday morning), we play two late-night sets on two different stages in three hours. Call it our Extended Last Call Celebration Tour of Queen West. Drinks are served ’til 4am at most Toronto bars during NXNE.

We start at the Cadillac Lounge (1296 Queen St. W.) at 1am, following Ayla Brook, Bowery Boy Blue, David Newbould and The Hunting Horns. Then we pack up our shit and flee like jilting lovers down the street to the Horseshoe (368 Queen St. W.) for a 3am set, preceded by Spookey Ruben, The Burning Hell, United Steel Workers of Montreal, The King Khan & BBQ Show, Health and Opopo.

We were worried for about five seconds that playing two shows so close together would have disastrous consequences. But the Beatles played for, like, 12 hours straight in Hamburg, big bands in dance halls routinely do three, four full sets in a night, and the Vivian Girls had 18 showcases at SXSW earlier this year. We like to think of our NXNE shows as a slightly less insane variation on this theme. See you in the wee small hours.

– Todd (June 6, 2009)