Bellevue – Dog Is Blue

January 11, 2011January 26, 2011

Show Recap: Kingston with Bellevue, Brad Sucks & Sticky Henderson

When: Jan. 7, 2011
Where: The Mansion, Kingston ON
Who with: Bellevue, Brad Sucks, Sticky Henderson

Set List:

Dusty Bones
Southern Ontario
Seacaptain
Tortoise
Young Enough
Happy Hallowe’en
Raise Your Dead

We arrived at The Mansion in Kingston early*. Early enough, in fact, that they were actually building the stage (there was a circular saw under the merch table most of the night). Once it was all setup everything looked great. The crowd filtered in and eased our doubts of playing to no one.

Our set seemed to go over well. Of course, wearing light-rings and having a blinking sign helped to get people’s attention (as did my beard…here I was about to shave, but audience catcalls about my facial fur have me thinking twice). Volume wasn’t an issue this time around either, as I was armed with a larger extension speaker for my homemade amp (and I didn’t drop the it like last time).

“Dusty Bones” (to be recorded soon) has been our go-to opener lately—with a folky first half that abruptly turns raucous, it’s sort of a condensed version of what you can expect from a Dog Is Blue show. Although, we might want to actually start writing set lists beforehand, as we got lost in the excitement and forgot to play a few of our other new favourites.

As for Bellevue…ahh, Bellevue. Great people in an even better band. Playing with them back in November at the Silver Dollar was such hoot that we were very happy when they asked us to join them for this show. Their set was amazing—upbeat and tight while showcasing some great new songs. They had us dancing at the merch booth.

Rounding out the bill was the talented and authoritative Sticky Henderson (who commanded the stage like a veteran and launched a campaign against the 3(!) noisy snare drums behind her), and Brad Sucks—self-proclaimed “one man band with no fans” (who actually had a band and a bunch of fans) whose tight sound had his diverse fan base rockin’ out at the front of the stage.

Check out some photos from the entire show by Matt at Kingstonmusicreviews.ca. Here are a few of us:

*We actually got to Kingston around dinner time. Trying to be healthy, we ate salads at a pub down the street. Unfortunately, these “salads” were really just piles of cheese with the odd piece of lettuce thrown in that sat like soggy bricks in our stomachs.

December 30, 2010January 26, 2011

Best of 2010: Favourite Band Moments Pt.2

Dog Is Blue Band Photo By Luther Mallory

Picking up where we left off earlier this week, here are the rest of our favourite moments of the year (in chronological order). Oddly enough, these all take place in the final stretch of 2010…

5. Going Analog

This one may sound like a vague hippie sentiment, but it’s not. Digital is great—we sometimes just like to get away from the computer. Case in point, this year we started demoing on an old cassette 4-track, but then came across a great setup including an 8-track Fostex R8 reel to reel recorder with tons of tape and a huge matching 812 mixer. A bit of crazy glue later and we had an entire reel of new demos, including the live demo of our new song, “Tortoise.” Most of this is probably gibberish to you non-gearheads (like Laura), but I assure you, it’s awesome.

Continue reading “Best of 2010: Favourite Band Moments Pt.2”

November 11, 2010February 4, 2011

Show Recap: Bellevue CD Release at the Silver Dollar

Bellevue CD Release Party at the Silver Dollar on Nov. 5, 2010

When: Nov. 5, 2010
Where: Silver Dollar, Toronto ON
Who with: Bellevue, Tight Ship, Leonids

Set List:

Alligator Song
Seacaptain
Tortoise
Southern Ontario
Dusty Bones
Stan & Georgie
Happy Hallowe’en
Raise Your Dead

What can you say about a show where the first thing you do is split your pants?

Oh, and I dropped my never-before-gigged, homemade tube amp off the stage right before soundcheck (it still worked, but only propped at the perfect angle).

Great show otherwise! Good turnout to celebrate Bellevue’s excellent new album, What You Want and they rocked the house.

Nothing new or experimental in our set this time. We tried to keep it pretty simple–A pretty even split of stuff off …Makes Ghost Noises and our soon-to-be-recorded follow-up.

I’m going to build a bigger amp for shows like this (and not drop it). It was definitely great having Laura’s kick drum mic’ed.

I’ve always loved the stage lighting at Silver Dollar too. It’s been on our list of places we must play for a while now. check.