Author: Paul

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Dog Is Blue Fuzz Pedals Are Here (Video Demo)

I’ve been teasing this for a while, but the first batch of the limited run of custom Dog Is Blue fuzz pedals is finally ready! The design is basically a more efficiently laid out version of the kickass little Bazz Fuss circuit that is all ballsy, synthy and nasty fuzz. Check out the video above for a quick demo of the prototype (the only one with the power jack mysteriously on the front…) and there are in-progress photos below.

The first four will be available off the stage at tomorrow night’s show at The Silver Dollar for the Music Maul CD release for a measly $40, so get them before they are gone!

Dog Is Blue Fuzz PedalDog Is Blue Fuzz Pedal

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DIY Effects: Delay Pedal in a Fossil Watch Tin with Gas Can Amp


I’m a sucker for delay. Some guys can’t get enough fuzz or will pay a gazillion dollars for the ‘perfect’ overdrive, but my weakness is for anything that let’s my guitar get repeated ad nauseam in all manner of zaniness*.

I usually have at least one delay pedal with me on stage, but I’ve always wanted one that really pushed the envelope, which is where guitarPCB’s ‘D’lay’ circuit comes in, as there are some really zany mods that can be added with the stomp of a switch. See the video above for what I mean, as I added as second stomp switch that, when held down, lets the repeats in my signal ramp up like crazy (you can read about the mods here). It’s already been a lot of fun at the last few shows.

Not only is it a very fun pedal to use, but take a look at that awesome tin! Fossil was kind enough to send me a box full of their watch tins after I expressed that they were perfect for building pedals (in my humble opinion, anyway). You’ll be seeing a lot more of these beauties!

Not only that, but I recently found a weird old amp at Goodwill called “The Can” and couldn’t resist checking it out. It’s a solid state amp from the 80’s that’s shaped like a gas can. Made in the Crate factory in St. Louis, there were supposedly only 10,000 of these made. It’s actually pretty cool sounding too!

Fossil Watch Tins

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iPad Animated Music Video for “People” Is Here!


Holy crap I can’t believe it’s finally finished! After 3 months of painstakingly animating each frame on my iPad 2 using the Animation Creator HD app the video for “People” is ready!

Clocking in at around 1670 frames this quirky video sees a baby picture (of yours truly) that we had hanging comically in our studio take on a life of its own.

I can’t express how happy and excited I am to finally unleash this quirky beast on the world!

In retrospect, I guess this is the answer to the age old question of “how do you follow 100 drawings of Batman?”

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Goodbye, Old Red Rug Studio

Dog Is Blue's Old Red Rug Studio/Jam spaceAfter a year of recording and writing at our “Old Red Rug Studio,” named for obvious reasons, we’re closing the doors. It’s been great to have a dedicated space to work on new material and build fun pedals—Laura also had her own art room—but we’ve got our eyes on a bigger prize that will require putting all our pennies together for a while.

The good news is, Dog Is Blue is a two-piece that lives together, so rehearsal/writing is as easy as turning off Game of Thrones (which is actually really hard to do) and turning on the amps.

If nothing else I just wanted to share the above photo so you know just how much stuff we’re going to try and fit into our apartment!

Songs that were recorded here include our Big Star cover, “Thirteen” :



Our Gordon Lightfoot cover, “High & Dry”:



Not to mention our combo Stan Rogers/Flaming Lips Christmas song, as well as yet-to-be-released tunes like a ukulele version of “Raise Your Dead” and several gazillion attempts at The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait.”

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Art: Dog Is Blue Play Massey Hall?

Dog Is Blue and Anna Atkinson at Massey Hall by Tom YeoYou heard it here first, folks: Dog Is Blue and Anna Atkinson are live at Massey Hall on July 1st (ahem…year to be determined). Sure, we haven’t actually spoken to anyone at Massey Hall about this (or even Anna for that matter), but a band can dream, right?

Our good friend and amazing artist, Tom Yeo, created this poster (along with a ton of other excellent images we’ll be sharing with you eventually) to test out some print methods he’s working with. This one in particular has also been selected as part of a juried show of concert posters at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. The show opens on Friday, May 4 and you can read all the details here.

You really should see the 15″ x 19″ poster in person though, as my poorly taken photo doesn’t do it justice at all (I love the little ghosts coming out of our instruments!). Needless to say, we’re rooting for Tom to win the jury’s vote—He’s the Andy Warhol to our Velvet Underground!

Besides, with no year on the poster there’s still a chance we can use this at a real show at Massey Hall with Anna Atkinson down the road. How does 2022 sound?

UPDATE: Tom’s poster won second prize in the juried show! Awesome!

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Music Video: Handcar Slideshow from House of Miracles

It’s been just over a year since we spent a few long, scotch and coffee filled days at the revered House of Miracles (when it was still in London, Ontario) recording Tortoise with Andy Magoffin and special appearances by Anna Atkinson. To commemorate that milestone here’s a little slideshow of all the photos from that session set to the song “Handcar.”

I put it all together using the Avid iPad app while stewing on finishing touches for the animated “People” video that is coming very, very soon (I promise)!

Buy CD and digital from Zunior | Bandcamp | iTunes | emusic

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Dog Is Blue Fuzz Pedals?

Dog Is Blue Fuzz Pedal Circuit Board

Here’s a tease of an idea we’ve been toying with lately—custom Dog Is Blue fuzz pedals! They’ll be really small in size, but big in destructive fuzz sound.

The photo to the left shows the initial prototype circuit boards we had fabricated that even include our band name (that’s limited to first few pedals only)!

More details to come, but just like the limited run of custom paintings we sold after …Makes Ghost Noises came out, these would be available at shows with download codes for Tortoise (and maybe more).

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