Live Video from Raw Sugar in Ottawa

Dog is Blue from Damp Digital on Vimeo.

Last fall we played at our favourite Ottawa hangout, Raw Sugar. As we were setting up a dude came up and asked if he could video our set. Sure, why not? Nice of him to ask–next thing you know he’s got some pretty hefty A/V gear and we’re suddenly being captured in HD glory!

That dude was Matt from Flat Head Dog Productions. He shot and edited this montage of our set that night, played to the album cut of “People.” It’s a pretty fun glimpse of the gear/demeanour of a Dog Is Blue show and we’re hoping to work with Matt on more videos in the future.

Live Review: Deanna Danger on our set at The Silver Dollar

Dog Is Blue Live at The Silver Dollar in Toronto on July 21, 2012, photo by Kara DennyWe’ve both been pretty busy with artistic endeavors of the 2-D kind lately, but it’s always a shot in the arm to hear that people liked our last show! In this case, Deanna Danger wrote a very flattering review of our set at The Silver Dollar on July 21 as part of the Music Maul CD release party (with The Leonids, who were fantastic).

Check out Deanna’s review here, suffice to say that bits like this made us all gooey inside:

“The evening began with a soft introduction that swiftly changed, making me realize how pleasantly loud a two piece can be. The evening was hilarious and sweet all at once, with beautiful music that reminded me of the Civil Wars and Blue Rodeo; a perfect combination of Canadian tales and sweet harmonies.”

Not to mention her enjoyment of our cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” a song we tried for the first time that night when I called an audible in the middle of the set, much to Laura’s dismay.

We’re hoping to set up a few more shows in the coming months so stay tuned for lots of updates.

Dog Is Blue Live: Rancho Relaxo with Hue, James & Blackburn and Illitry

Dog Is Blue Live at Ranch Relaxo, Feb. 16 2012Photo by R.Mirsky

  • When: Feb. 16, 2012
  • Where: Rancho Relaxo, Toronto ON
  • Who with: Hue, James & Blackburn, Illitry
    Set List:

  • Tortoise
  • Dusty Bones
  • Young Enough (Ukulele)
  • Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)
  • Southern Ontario
  • People
  • Raise Your Dead (Ukulele)
  • Laura’s Song (Ukulele)

Shows like this past Thursday at Rancho Relaxo are why we play live music. All the bands sounded great, the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves as much as we did, we didn’t have any technical difficulties AND the sound was amazing. We should probably retire now.

Something clicked earlier in the evening when we decided to start the set with “Tortoise”. We usually ease in to that one, so it definitely signaled a “show them that 2 people can rock pretty damn hard” approach to the set that was a lot of fun. We also brought out the ukulele again for a few songs, which seemed to go over well (especially during “Laura’s Song”).

The whole shebang was put together by the good folks at The Indie Machine, so we definitely recommend checking them out for future shows.

If you’re looking for a less biased recap of the show with some great pictures (not unlike the one above by our pal R.Mirsky) check out the writeup at Buyingshotsforbands.com. If nothing else that review reveals the scary fact that some people are actually listening to the nonsense that Paul says between songs. Scary indeed.

Show Recap: Broadview Espresso with Anna Atkinson & Our New Ukulele

Dog Is Blue live at Broadview Espresso with Anna Atkinson

  • When: Jan. 7, 2012
  • Where: Broadview Espresso, Toronto ON
  • Who with: Anna Atkinson
    Set List:

  • Dusty Bones
  • She Said
  • People w/Anna Atkinson
  • Young Enough (Ukulele)*
  • Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)
  • Southern Ontario (Ukulele)*
  • Alligator Song
  • Raise Your Dead (Ukulele)*
  • Laura’s Song (Ukulele)*
  • *First time

This recap has been a long time coming. I held off a bit to get our favourite albums of 2011 and gallery of pedals I built last year posted first before we were too deep into 2012!

When this poster went up around our neighbourhood people thought Laura was leaving the band*. I suppose we should have clarified that it was her farewell to Broadview Espresso (we live across the street though, so take “farewell” very loosely…). Suffice to say she sold her soul to Dog Is Blue a looooong time ago…

Speaking of posters, I always try to save the ones we tape to the counter at the coffee shop, as after a few weeks they look wonderfully grizzled and abused by all the drips and spills. Sadly, I’ve only actually been able to rescue one of them, but a vigilant friend took the photo above before it got tossed.

As for the show itself, what more can you say about Anna Atkinson than she’s awesome? This time around she had accompaniment in the form of stand-up bass and vocals, which only made the experience more ethereal and charming in the intimate setting.

We kept the atmosphere light by debuting 4 songs newly arranged for the concert ukulele (we’re working on recording these for fun, so stay tuned). Speaking of which, Laura completely one-upped me by running the uke through one of my fuzz pedals during “Laura’s Song” —I can jealously admit that the sonic destruction was magnificent!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dog Is Blue show if the audio/video equipment didn’t malfunction. We were set to record the whole shebang through multiple mics, but somehow only ended up with Anna’s set. The nerdy A/V gods are still mad at us apparently. We’ll sacrifice a VCR for them before the next show.

*They also thought someone drew that moustache on her, but that’s actually one of Laura’s self-portraits as is.

Show Recap: Live as Batman & Robin at The Central

Dog Is Blue live at The Central as Batman & Robin on 03-12-11

    Set List:

  • Tortoise
  • Dusty Bones
  • Batman Theme*
  • The Way It Goes
  • People
  • Song Written Upon Getting Cut By the Argos (CLF Sessions cover) w/Henry Adam Svec
  • Stan & Georgie
  • Jingle Bells, Batman Smells*
  • Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)*
  • Young Enough
  • Laura’s Song
  • Southern Ontario
  • Raise Your Dead
  • She Said
  • *First time

Years from now it won’t matter what songs we played at the 100 Days of Batman show last weekend, or even how hampered we were by technical difficulties for the first half of the set (check your cables, kids), because the above photo* will still exist in the ether of the internet as proof that we actually performed in full Batman & Robin costumes.

In fact, there was apparently some higher power at work (the spirit of Batman, maybe?) making sure that there was no further evidence, as BOTH video cameras we brought mysteriously didn’t capture a single shot and our audio recorder was never even turned on.

All told it was a fun, if sloppy, change of pace and we figured out the technical difficulties just in time to crank up the distortion for a rendition of The Kinks’ “Till the End of the Day” (using the latest of my Saturn electric guitars live for the first time…and promptly breaking a guitar cable at the end). Pulling out some Batman related tunes was also a hoot (we’ll probably record the three new songs listed to the left for a fun EP).

Henry Adam Svec and WL Altman put on a great opening set, as expected. I can never get enough of the subtle humour and great songwriting in Henry’s projects.

*Taken by our stalwart supporter/friend Justin Heldsinger
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