off days in edmonton

We have had a few days off here in Edmonton. We've been parked outside of a friend's place. Tim Lee and Rachel took us out for most excellent Po Boys. Rob and I had Catfish.

This morning after Emeri, Rob and I vacated the bus, the police woke Paul up. apparently someone reported a number of suspicious looking men going in and out of a black bus carrying black cases, "photographing children". Holy Cocker Spaniel.

We also checked out Avenue Guitars. I almost traded my strat in for a tele of about equal caliber. When I returned to the store they were closing. Perhaps it was not meant to be.

Tomorrow we depart for Calgary where we will be playing at The Rusty Cage. After that we head into the mountains. Wish us, and more importantly Atlas, good luck.

For now: Bison Burgers.

g.

off days in edmonton

day off in edmonton

Laundry day in Edmonton. Hell yes. Much needed. Time to go thrift store hunting.

I smell like a human being.

g.

day off in edmonton

Calgary post

u
Awesome night in Calgary tonight. Played with two great bands. Matt Blaise Connection and The Lions. Very much fun. Good crowd at The Stetson.

The Ottoman Lounge in Medicine Hat was another amazing night. Super cool club. Awesome staff. Great folks all around. This tour is kicking serious ass.

Must hurry to pack up so we can follow Matt to his place. Couches are better than sleeping in the bus.

Had a bunch more photos to post but macs don't like it when you do not 'safely remove hardward' Corrupt files. Boo.

We crossed paths with a band that used to rehearse next to us - What's He Building in There? Crazy music and a great bunch of dudes. I have a cool muddy picture of that but it ended up corrupt. Will post later.

Paul is giving me the, "Dude we need your help packing the bus." look.

Tomorrow night we're in Edmonton followed by a few days off, a visit with Tim Lee and then we head into the mountains. Cannot wait.

Night.

g.

Calgary post

Onward Downward Episode IX: KILL THE FORMAT Part One

New video!

Join us in the Ice Forest.



Hope you're all doing well,

- e

Onward Downward Episode IX: KILL THE FORMAT Part One

snowy parking lot log 1

Atlas converts to sleep mode in a functional sense. As in, you will be able to sleep but you won't be very comfortable. Ian Smith of The Miniatures and Spirits said to me before we left, "Touring is a young man's game." He was referring to the fact that the older you get the less tolerant of hard surfaces your back becomes. It's true. Last night we parked in one of those lots you'll find anywhere in north america. You are surely familiar with the type. A few thousand parking spaces, a staples, a tim hortons, a walmart - all that shit. If it didn't make me so sick, I would feel right at home. To be honest the 24 hour washroom facilities provided by Tim Horton's are quite conveinient. (their coffee is still crap though). PS. I'm drinking one right now.

The entire band takes on a giddy tone when we're holed up in Atlas for the night. To be fair it is quite the spectacle. Giant piece of foam blocks out the windshield. Paul strains pasta in the parking lot. Mother of two stares in a mixture of fascination and horror. Mall security circle like hungry sharks. The comforting glow of a laptop screen streams Lost on Business Depots hijacked wifi. In my mind I can still see a crowd of elderly people dancing as if possessed to the Wolves outro. All the bullshit in between playing the music melts away pretty fast when we get on stage. Physical needs are superficial.

I've been fighting a pretty nasty flu type bug since we left. Up and down, better and worse. I even missed out on Rob's birthday celebrations in Winnipeg because of it. This morning when I woke up in Atlas and choked up some sick fluids I felt significantly better for the first time in a while. Stumbling across the snow covered parking lot, wind tearing at my face through my scarf, towards the smell of (bad) coffee and the salvation of brushing my teeth in a public washroom.

We are in Brandon Manitoba. When we were here in the fall it was sunny and breezy. Rob and I busked for a few hours. I got a sunburn. The local Green party MP gave us $20. Quite surreal. Too many experiences on the road that cannot be quantified. You come home and your friends and loved ones ask, "So how was it?" or "Tell me about the tour." And you mumble and rant incohesively. Maybe we need a scribe to follow the adventures and write things out sequentially. I will check with the financial department and see if it's in the budget.

Running out of writing steam. Almost noon. Time to go wake up the other fellas. Convert Atlas to transport mode and head west toward Regina. After 3 days off we have a show at The Gaslight tonight. My amp was on the fritz and an amazing gentleman named Don repaired it in just a few hours. I cannot wait to fire it up and go through the set tonight.

update: no wifi when this was relevant. posting anyways. off to saskatoon tonight.

g.

snowy parking lot log 1

pictures and a few words

Tonight we are sleeping in Atlas. It is cold. We are going to watch Lost.

Last night at The Cavern here in Winnipeg was amazing. Sold out room. Awesome venue in every way.

We also hooked up with Chris and Evan from Amped Up TV. We did an interview with them and then drank some beers and made prank phone calls to the home shopping network. Juvenile? Yes. Awesome? Yes.

Much more to tell but after even a few days on the road the brain turns to mush. Find venue. Find food. Play music.

pictures and a few words

Amped Up TV

Just a quick note to inform you all that we will be on AmpedTV for a live podcast interview before our set at The Cavern Club in Winnipeg tonight.

If you would like, tune in and ask us some questions.

www.ampedup.tv

Cheers.

G.

Amped Up TV

Coch's Corner (please vomit in the parking lot)

9am. I awoke confused and bedraggled in the basement of the Coulson Tavern. The battle between my immune system and the cold I have had is nearly over. My immune system wins again. Manuka Honey reinforcements must of done the trick.

We packed our gear into Atlas, made a strategic call on propain and departed for Sault Ste Marie. Sickness and massive lack of sleep had caught up with me so I climbed into the loft and slept for the entire drive. The loft is a space above our gear hold. We plan to sleep in Atlas some of the nights we do not have hotel rooms. Right now all of our luggage gets stuffed up there. I had about a foot and a half wide bed to sleep on. When the brakes were applied forcefully I would hang on for dear life. Eventually I wrapped a few bags around my wrist as an anchor though this probably would only have resulted in myself and a number of heavy bags pouring out of the loft and onto the bench seat where Rob was sleeping peacefully.

We are playing at a place called Coch's Corner tonight. It was our first stop on our last jaunt into Canada's west and I must confess something. The entire band, perhaps feeling slightly overzealous, ended up getting completely drunk after the set. Paul Coch is the owner and we sat around in the bar and he kept feeding us alcohol. I can still picture Emeri leaning against the wall of Thor while I drove us to Marathon the next morning. He was passed out against the gear hold because his bunk was too bouncy, a damn of tissue surrounding him to keep the vomit from running all over the bus. Yes, that is ugly, but sometimes the road is ugly...

Tonight we have all sworn to be more responsible. There are two extreme trouble areas on this trip when it comes to us refueling. One is from Sault Ste Marie to Thunder Bay, the other is from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg. There are very few propain stations in between there. We will surely be using our emergency bbq tanks. The next few days will be stressful but we have great shows to look forward to. We'll get through it with minor damage I'm sure. Northern Ontario is very deceptively large.

It is a bit surreal to see some of the same places and faces on this tour. Perhaps it will eventually become like a home away from home. Right now I am in the exact same spot as Paul was in Onward, Downward Episode I when he is joking about his 'offices'.

This afternoon, shortly after our arrival, we went shopping for a few items and a bite to eat. Malls are a bit gross. No matter where you are in North America, it is the same stores. I find it slightly frightening. After lunch we went took full avantage of the hotel swimming pool then took a break for naps.

Now it is time to eat. A well fed band is a good band. Yum.

I have just received word that the staff intend to feed us alcohol until we pass out. Uh oh...

g.

Coch's Corner (please vomit in the parking lot)

"what I thought it was it isn't now"

Night one of the tour is about to end. Pretty soon I will put my head into a questionably clean pillow and pass out. We are underground. In band room #6 at Coulson Tavern in Sudbury. To be honest I am not even sure that is what this place is called. There are a few different signs on/in the bar.

We departed Kitchener around 1130am. Within 15 minutes Atlas' temperature gauge was climbing skeptically high. As we pulled into one of those giant space station motorway places, coolant rushed out of our grill and steam flooded the cabin. Emeri, thinking it was surely a fire, almost kicked open the door on his way out. I haven't seen him exit a school bus that quickly since the beginning of summer holidays when we were growing up.


Paul made a quick phone call and help arrived "Faster than CAA." He sped off to Canadian Tire and bought us a new T joint. This was a very minor repair. Given my complete lack of sleep the last few nights, I slept in the loft through the entire affair. Paul's greasy hands were a sure indication of a successful repair. Yes Paul!

So after a few hours we were back on the road. I should tell you that Atlas gets horrible mileage. The bus runs on propane (which we call proPAIN). After almost running dry we coasted into a station just outside of Sudbury. A cockerspaniel pumped our propain. Panic. Panic Panic. Hello, sorry I would just like some pain please.

Finally we arrived at Coulsons/The Nightclub/whatever it is called. Nice stage and friendly staff. We setup and went for dinner. Since we hadn't touched the food budget for the day we went for Italian at a place called 'Respect is Burning'. Not fancy, but not bottom of the barrel either. Rob and I both ordered the 'Werewolf at Night' pizza. Fantastic.

The set went well. Played some new songs and a small encore for a small crowd and then we watched a female acoustic duo perform. I forget the names (I feel like a jerk, but I have a cd and it's written down) but they were excellent. We got to hear Neil's, 'Comes a Time'. Tomorrow they are playing in Sault Ste Marie as well and I think they might come to our show at Coch's.

There is a different air about the band this tour. I think we all know what we're in for and we're pacing ourselves. I recently listened to a podcast in which a booking agent compared touring to prison except on wheels. I think it's a lot more fun than that but it can be trying. It is many miles away from resembling a road trip.

I'm gonna try to document this tour in a more cohesive manner (for my sake and your amusement/enjoyment) but you never know when we'll be stranded or whatnot and updates will be impossible. Also, sometimes I just want to be here as opposed to writing about being here.

The fridge in this room hums like an engine. Suddenly the lights just flick on and I turn to see Emeri in his underwear, wrestling the beast into silence. Well at least he wasn't singing Rod Stewart... ;)

Sleep.

g.

"what I thought it was it isn't now"

life for 7 weeks

atlas is black

everything is in a bag

now i live in a bus

g.

life for 7 weeks

Stress Fest

Our show at WLU was very cool. Big room. Big sound. Dual projection. Very good times.

We're here in the zero hour and I can inform you that the stress is mounting. Very soon we will leave the comfort of friends, loved ones and general familiarity for the daunting behemoth of a country that is Canada. True, we are only headed west, but even without the east this country is rather large.

I usually like to use my words, but tonight/this morning I am simply too tired to function properly. Pack. Pickup shirts. Paint bus. Pack bus. Say goodbye. Do too many other things to count.

Night.

g.

Stress Fest

Jimmy Jazz

howdy folks.

Just a quick post then i'm off the the WLU Athletic Complex to soundcheck for tonight's show. A few months ago Sean Campbell contacted us. He was wondering if we would be willing to donate our services to a fundraising event for Free the Children. Being the diligent and good natured citizens that we try to be we said - yes of course! So tonight Vacuity teams up with Scott Hammell - world famous escape artist - and Marc Kielburger - executive director of Free the Children. Tickets are a mere $10 and the money goes to a great cause.

Big thanks to Tim for having us back at Jimmy Jazz last night. Massive shout out to our good friends in The Dunes. Thank you for sharing the stage with us. Guelph - we love you. See you again soon!

(The Dunes and Vacuity - thanks for the picture skills Cassie)

Tonight. Duel projection, big sound, big room, big cause. Then it is time to pack and head north.

g

Jimmy Jazz

3...2...1... BLASTOFF

Big thanks to everyone who made it out to the boathouse tonight. It was excellent to see you all out and we certainly do appreciate you listening to us play our songs. With the exception of those of you I will see in Guelph tomorrow night, I bid you farewell. I hope to see you all at the El Mocambo on May 23rd. In fact, if you're there that night I'd like to sample some audience claps for a song we've been doing called 'Got You'. If you've seen us in the last 8 months you've probably heard the song.

(day one of the tour and we're pushing the bus. is this a sign of things to come or are we just working the kinks out?)

In perfect Vacuity fashion (there are rumours of a curse) Atlas (our tour bus) stalled after we arrived at The Boathouse tonight. We initially thought the alternator was broken, but it turned out to simply be a faulty wire. Let me reintroduce Schmitty - also known as 'Ground Control'. Paul telephoned him at work and within minutes he was on the scene and able to repair Atlas. What would we do without you Schmitty? Truly, I do not know. Thanks x1000000.

Last thing - whomever that loud, obnoxious laughing man was - shame on you. I would hope a gentleman your age would have better manners. I am glad that you are having a good time but please have some consideration for the people around you - not to mention the band spilling their collective guts before your eyes...

peace.

g.

3...2...1... BLASTOFF

TIME OF DEATH: 7:39AM

Time was starting to become a bit spurious for a while there… and now I think we’re all starting to feel it sink in. The countdown is on (like always) down to the last min… though we are definitely more prepared this time around, problems do occasionally arise… (well a bit more than occasionally). However we have been confirming up some last minute dates and getting a little ahead on the bus work… So only one week left till we set sail on our second endeavor across this fair but massive land and I haven’t even thought about doing laundry yet or coming to the realization that I will be spending the next 7 weeks with a whole lot of Man B.O and hitting up a stupid amount of 7-Elevens.

We have been touching up on some older tunes… they're starting to sound fairly decent... I’m impressed. Also, finishing up on some new songs and their structures all while trying to promote as much as possible. Saying that, Boathouse tomorrow night… March 19^th … we are getting excited to kick this thang off… we'd love to have you out and maybe we can squeeze in some new ones.

Thanks.

Kill the Format Spring Tour 09’

… wish us luck!

p.

TIME OF DEATH: 7:39AM

shirts. annie's. lack of sleep.

Played at Annie's on Queen with Make Your Exit and Jay Spectre tonight. Not many people there but they seemed to be listening quite intently to our set. That is always cool. We bagged off on any keyboard/sequencing songs and therefore setup and loading were a bit more leisurely. For me it is sometimes nice to just setup my guitar stuff and just play guitar. I really like the piano and have been inching more and more keyboard stuff into the songs when it's called for but let me tell you it is not a fun thing to move around.

After unloading the Fiver (our trusty Astro van) Emeri and I headed back to my place to work on a new shirt. It is a tv with large fluffed out wings probably on heather black shirt. yes, little death metal-ish but we all really like the design so we're going ahead with it. I'll post some pictures when we get the shirts back from Civilian. I am very happy we've started using American Apparel shirts. They are fairly manufactured and feel a lot nicer to the touch. The company also uses "team manufacturing" which pools the strongest workers towards priority orders. Each team functions autonomously and determines its own daily production schedule, giving them control over their own hourly wages. After its implementation, garment production tripled and required a less than 20% staff increase... I took that from Wikipedia, but it's a neat fact I remembered reading about the company when we switched over. I swear I don't work for AA.

Well. Busy day tomorrow.

Night.

g.

shirts. annie's. lack of sleep.

15 sleeps

I keep telling myself that I am going to be prepared this time. I think it is the truth but I try hard not to underestimate the subtle art of self deception.

In 15 days we will depart for our next tour of western Canada. The energy is intense. Sweat, fear and excitement are abound. We are working 8 days a week to let people know about the tour and get our music prepared accordingly. Atlas (our trusty short school bus) is in the shop being tuned up and made road worthy (in the opinion of the people who sign the papers and give you license plates). We are in our rehearsal space getting tuned up and being made road worthy. Haha. See how I made us sound just like machines? Well the road made little bitches of us last time so this time we need to be machines. And we're ready.

See you out there.

g.

15 sleeps

TORO review

The lovely Livia from TORO has reviewed blanket sky. You can check it out here.

Tonight. Toronto.

g.

TORO review

Toronto - Wednesday Night - Tattoo Rock Parlour

We are playing Tattoo Rock Parlour Wednesday Feb.25th. We are opening up the show for The Murder City Sparrows and The Parlor Mob.
Doors at 9pm.
$10 Advanced
$15 At the Door

We had a great time on Friday night at the Boathouse, good to see all the local support. Murder City were great and we all can't wait to share the stage with them again on Wednesday night.
Hope to see you there.

p.

Toronto - Wednesday Night - Tattoo Rock Parlour

Posthouse

Big thanks to you Kitchener and The Boathouse for having us and Murder City Sparrows last night.

Cheers.

g

Posthouse

boathouse! friday!

howdy folks. before I crash into the softness of my bed I must remind - we are playing at The Boathouse this Friday. we're switching up the set quite a bit from december. Swapping some songs in and out. it will be fun and keep it fresh. we've got some friends in town and are looking forward to a good night. please join us if you are around.

Tuesday was the first rehearsal in a few weeks due to recording. the songs were a little rough around the edges but we were prepared and expected it. everyone is happy just to be playing again. the recording process is a lot of fun. i am glad we do it ourselves. ultimately it would be good to meet some people we really gel with who have great ears to aid, but it's a process i'm happy to be involved in. of course we did have a pool going to see who would turn into Jack Torrance from 'The Shining' first. No one did. *tip: all bets were on Emeri ;)

night.

g

PS - we're still encouraging people to download 'Blanket Sky' for free. I bet if you take 1 minute right now you can think of one person to send it to. If you can, please do it! Thank you.

PPS - really, thank you.

boathouse! friday!

St. Pete Nema

Pete Nema has posted a very cool bit on what we have been doing and what we are getting up to in the next little while. If you haven't already visited Pete's site... shame on you.

Thanks Pete

p.

St. Pete Nema

Snob's Music

Peter from Snob'sMusic.net has posted a great little write up on us, you should all check out his site.. very cool.

p.

Snob's Music

Onward, Downward VII

I don't think this was ever properly posted here. Shame on us. Enjoy!

g.

Onward, Downward VII

best of 2008?

We have been planning another tour from Kitchener to Vancouver and back again. A lot of the booking is already done, but we're still waiting on a few key dates to come together before we can announce the beast officially. It's a trick to pull together.

I'm here putting together/updating our press kit. Some places still want physical paper press kits mailed out in manilla envelopes.The trees cry out in frustration! band desk work is sooo not rock and roll, but welcome to Indie Band Land. be warned! the paperwork can kill you. (art and capitalism will you ever be best friends?)

It is very flattering and quite difficult to play it cool when blanket sky starts showing up in 2008 album lists.

Pete Nema - The Best Of 2008

My 2008 albums - M82

it increases my excitement for the year ahead. we will be releasing a slew of music and touring more than ever before.

download 'At the Command of the Blanket Sky' here.

peace.

g.

best of 2008?

great for landing a jetpack

pilotwings dancey chaos. lot of drums lot of noise. recorded some rob on guitar tonight. we agreed that went too smoothly. no doubt the both of us expect it to be completely detuned, vocoded and phase shifted next time the project is opened. guarantee it. the song we're working on has a lot of drums in it. i think 3 kits of emeri, 1 kit of a computer playing emeri's drums and a whole lot of other percussion. i like the drums. who doesn't like the drums? turn up the noise please.


i said turn up the goddamn noise!

g.

great for landing a jetpack

the moon owns me

recording is into week 3. midnight to twilight schedule is full blown and we're making good progress. we are working with a good mix of impulsiveness. a neat and different environment for us. exciting progress.

our computer crashes. a disheveled tascam 4 track collects dust in the corner. we dont use tape, but the imagery is better. here are some 'clippings'.

studio clippins 1.mp3

There are a good number of shows coming up in February. We will be playing a few shows around southern Ontario with a band called Murder City Sparrows. We will also be hooking up with Jay Spectre in Toronto, whom we've been trying to do a show with for a some time now. Our good friend Jamie will be mixing live video for these shows. he doesn't like it when rob points him out on stage and i'm not sure how he feels about it on the blog... just to be sure: he's that really tall guy in the side picture and he mixes live and stock footage along with our set. it is a quite a spectacle.


there is too much snow outside my house. I am going to stare out the window and try to melt it with my gaze.

g.

the moon owns me