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.

6. Dropping My Homemade Amp/Silver Dollar with Bellevue

It’s no secret that I’m very proud of my homemade Fender Princeton 5F2-A amp. It’s also no secret that I dropped it off the stage at the Silver Dollar before the soundcheck of its very first show (while also splitting my pants). Why would this be a favourite band moment? Because it still worked afterwards and only required minor repairs—that’s buildmanship, baby! Oh, and the show was a lot of fun. Bellevue kicked ass.

7. Playing/Recording at a Farmhouse in Adolphustown

The Daverne Farm, Adolphustown, By Joey BruniExpect a slapdash piano-laden demo from our time at the farmhouse in Adolphustown soon! Suffice to say that getting out of the city for a few days of art and music in the countryside was just what we needed. Getting to play along with Anna Atkinson is always amazing. We’re hoping to do it again soon, only this time we’ll be better prepared to record more than just demos.

8. Intimate Project 165 Show with Pat LePoidevin

We didn’t drop any gear, split any pants or employ any flashing lights at this show…and that’s exactly why it was great. No over-thinking, no excess, no flashy gimmicks—just 3 acoustic acts performing for an attentive audience at an intimate venue (with a great homemade stage). Pat LePoidevin and Tiny Mountains killed it. We love us some blinking lights, homemade pedals and crazy old gear, but we’ll be playing pared-down shows like this more often to be sure.

9. Getting a Studio Space/Getting Evicted from Our Studio Space

For the blink of an eye in 2010 we had a great studio space—the only problem was the crazy landlord. Turns out that’s a big one. We weren’t there long, but we managed to do a live demo of “Southern Ontario.” It also lit the fire for us to get another space soon…

That’s it for 2010 folks! Thanks for a great year—lots to come over the next twelve months, including a bunch of shows and a new album…

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