It’s always a fun year when you’re in a band. Being the season of year end lists, we’ve put together our favourite moments of 2010. I should preface this by saying that our definition of “Favourite” is a bit odd, as some of our most-revered shows have been the worst ones—the sort that if you can get through and still want to play another the next day then you know you can hack it. Keeping that in mind, here are Dog Is Blue’s top moments of the year in chronological order:
1. OndaRock Compilation
The year started off with a bang as, after writing a great review of our debut album …Makes Ghost Noises, Italian music magazine, OndaRock, asked us to send a brand new song to be part of a sort of “bands to watch” compilation. “Hot Air Balloons (and Submarines)” was born. The compilation was a great collection of music and it lit the fire under our butts to start the next item on the list…
2. Hot Air Balloons EP
We couldn’t let the Italians have all the fun. Taking a crack at a few of our favourite songs written by friends of ours and a remix of the title track by Gorf, we released the Hot Air Balloons EP in February 2010 (with all proceeds going to the Daily Bread Food Bank). Our version of The Burning Hell’s “It Happens in Florida” has gotten great comments and was even reviewed by Herohill.
3. Playing In Campbellford
“There’s a pile of stuff in the women’s bathroom…”—that was what we were told at the venue in Campbellford when we asked about a sound system. All we found was an old Traynor amp and a broken music stand. That would have been fine if it was an intimate, attentive crowd, but most of the good folks that night were there to drink and holler. Suffice to say, Laura’s kick drum got a good workout trying to keep us from getting drowned out. In retrospect, this has become one of our favourite shows to tell people about.*
4. All Night Art/Music Party for Nuit Blanche—with lights!
Our good friends at Project 165 asked us to play as part of Nuit Noir II, their second annual all night art/music event that just happens to coincide with Nuit Blanche. Laura was exhibiting some giant teeth paintings there and we went on around 2am, so it was a long night, but well worth it. Our set was sloppy and loose, but probably the most psychedelic we’ve ever played, as we had a blinking band sign (that I’m stil working on), hands full of light rings and the venue had created a huge cardboard black hole. I’m told there are some good photos from this show, but for now check out the one to the left by Karol Orzechowski and this link for our favourite band photo yet.
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That’s it for the first installment of our favourite band moments of 2010. Check back later this week, as I’ll be posting more! Thanks for a great year.