demos

demos

Greg and The Animal Kingdom

So Dude.....what's with you and all the dead animals? First the duck....now the bird? I seriously hope you have nothing to do with the deaths of these animals... We have already been down this road...and we are not going down it again. Leave the creatures alone....you're sick.

Get some sleep.
p.

Greg and The Animal Kingdom

baby bird and hungry cat

Today Rob, Emeri and I we were setting up microphones to record a few demos. We're working on a bunch of material - all of it resting somewhere between a wide spectrum of complete and incomplete. Paul wasn't with us as he was checking out a Rickenbacker bass in Mississauga. He loved it, but it was not meant to be so he didn't end up purchasing it.

At one point during the day. I had to head back home to grab a pair of headphones for the session. I hoped onto my ebike (I'm soooo fucken progressive) and set off down the street. After about 10 feet I noticed a bird on the road, directly in my path. Seeing as it wasn't about to move I slammed on the brakes and almost spilled the bike. My father would kill me for doing that, but it was my first reaction.

A closer look at the bird. Young and injured. Not going to make it. Movement from the corner of my eye - a cat under the nearest car. Stand in the street looking confused for a few minutes. Guide the bird to the boulevard and let nature run it's course.

G

baby bird and hungry cat

sunrise vs sunset

i've been scootering through the park around sunrise everyday this week. always an enjoyable and slightly sureal experience. earlier in the week I didn't see a single car and the world was completely silent. During the night the geese and ducks had made their way close to the edge of the park/road.

I felt like I was cruising through a world where the population of humans had just vanished. That, coupled with all the post apocalyptic novels I've been reading made it quite the ride. I had been watching the park to my left and when I returned my attention to the road I saw a crow feasting on the still steaming breast of a mallard duck. The crow didn't flinch as I passed by, it just met my gaze, and followed.

We keep weird hours. Emeri and I have mused that perhaps there are less brain waves, cell phone signals, etc floating around between 12am-6am. If anyone gives you a hard time about sleeping until 230 in the afternoon just ask them where they were when the sun came up.

g

sunrise vs sunset

Red Rooster debrief

Had a great time at the Red Rooster last night. Everyone at that place is so friendly: crowd, staff, bands, roosters.

Next show is June 5th in Waterloo. A few weeks off to work out some new material will be quite nice.

Cheers!

G

Red Rooster debrief

cat got your tongue?

why dont you comment?

...we have google analytics... we know you read it.

we believe we're not monsters

g

cat got your tongue?

Red Friday

So we'll be playing The Red Rooster on Friday night. It's always fun and they actually promote bands... yes I said promote.

It's a funny word... "promote." See I am going to try not to go off on a big tangent ...but I am pretty sure everybody knows the meaning of promote. For example... Your birthday is coming up... you host a big party... you tell no one... maybe people who know you enough show up... but that's it. Now say you told people... now do you think this might help the party?

My next question.... say your working title was Wedding Planner and the only actual planning you did was book the hall... now should you have to change your title to something like...um I don't know... Directer of Hall booking? and should you still make the wage of a Wedding Planner?...

See music is a funny industry too...

Anywhooo like I was saying we are at the Rooster on Friday and it'll be a good time had by all. Always a great crowd and if you were around for that crazy Mr. Rogers endeavor... you might have just heard a few new tunes wees bee workin' uprron. Saying that we might end up unleashing these bastard beasts on Friday.

Burlington is fun!!!
give us your money...

p.

Red Friday

Hosed

Last night we played the Rogers Spring Music Festival. We weren't televised, which was their angle for harassing us to promote like hell, and we were treated with a lot less respect than the other bands we were sharing the stage with. It was your typical crooked bullshit.

I won't go into anymore detail, because I don't like to whine. Needless to say, it was a stressful night.

Sometimes I get so caught up in the shit trenches I lose my head, but once we start playing it all makes sense again. Even with the fire alarm going off for half of our set was charming at that point. Playing to a wicked and enthusiastic crowd is a must too. You guys/gals all rule. We love you and thank you for the support.

BLR Entertainment has promised to make it up to us by guaranteeing us another show with them. Until then, I'll just sit tight and look forward to making them some more money.

Big shout out to Pete the soundman from last night. What a trooper. And as always, thanks to Jamie for bringing his fine visuals to the set.

G

Hosed

ITodd Lounge

This past Friday we hung out with Todd Donald from the ITodd Lounge. We talked about Cajun Sauces, Indie Music and a bunch of other stuff. Todd's a cool dude and feel pretty relaxed around him (because we're typically uptight twats, right?).

Click here to check out the live performances and interview. We even convinced Todd to join us for 'Beckoning'.

Also, hassle Todd about releasing his Wilburys cover CD. It's goddamn amazing. The man has played all the synth/key parts using a QWERTY keyboard as a MIDI controller.







Later,

G

ITodd Lounge

The Boat (picture format)

The Boat (picture format)

Rockin' the Boat

So we all had a great time in Toronto Wednesday night at the Boat. It's a very cool place, we definitely want to go back and kill it on a Friday or Saturday night.
I loved the atmosphere the people... it was great.
I like the idea of not having to fill a 350 capacity venue... and I like to see smaller clubs with great systems and great sound guys (Keith you rocked!)

What didn't rock was me leaving the interior light on in the van trying to get the stereo face plate off.... and later Emeri discovering a dead BABY! ....I mean battery.... oops ;) No good deed goes unpunished.

So we will have some photos up of the night...(Greg please insert photos ....i do not know how)
Thanks again to Jamie the "Video Artist" and his love of Dogs... for doing his thang...and shaken it as well!

Anyways we are gearing up for this Rogers Spring thing and we need you people to come to this thing and look pretty while we play an acoustic/electric set on this prehistoric device they call a television set. Yes you read this right... Vacuity on TV...

Come one, come all... get your ugly mug on Satan's Box and see us! May 9th at the Casbah, Hamilton.

P.S ....iTodd interview coming sooooooon....
p.

Rockin' the Boat

5th of Nov day 2

Yesterday we constructed a 12x12 blue screen frame, reorganized the hell out of our band hall, and setup/tested gear for a music video that the fabled Jamie Usas is making for us for the song, 'the 5th of november'.

Today we captured the footage. A very long, but also very productive weekend. Will keep you posted on the arrival of the finished product.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the 'talking' as I am on the brink of collapse.


Night.

G

5th of Nov day 2

5th of nov day one

5th of nov day one

We come out at night and we never give up

We're recording some demos at the stroke of Midnight tonight. Although there is nothing quite like a sunny day, we're night creatures for sure. Plus, Purgatory is only quiet at night.

Now, I know some of you may be asking yourselves (hell, someone even asked US in 'real' life) Why the heck are we recording new demos when we just dropped a 13 track full length? The answer is simple:

We are monsters.

The writing is on the wall people. Remember Emeri's post about monsters?

Anyways, we are indeed working on new songs. Quite a few too. Since 'At the Command of the Blanket Sky' was so ridiculously optimistically themed we've decided to move even further away from the light. Let's see what kind of material happens when your singer/lyricist reads post apocalyptic science fiction novels for a year. Don't worry, we won't become Muse. We don't like appregiators enough.

Well, this entire blog was just an excuse to post this sweet gif I made. UPDATE: the fucking gif doesn't even work. I guess it'll just be pictures.

I'll report back on the session tonight. Hopefully Rob and I don't get all pissy again. See? We don't always get along.

While I'm gone try to imagine this: someone else in this band posting a blog.

Lazy bitches.

Speaking of lazy bitches. I am working on a new website for our band. Just the other day these Really Important Record Label People came up to me and said, "Man, we were gonna give you guys a million bucks and a bus load of babes, but your website sucks so forget it." I've been checking out some of the sites I frequent and I think we're gonna go for a mix between nickelback.com and avrillavigne.com. I've just got to figure out how to make ads in Flash that speak in testosterone.

Talk about missed opportunities.

g

We come out at night and we never give up

Scene Magazine, London

Here is a review from Scene Magazine in London:

Vacuity definitely contradicts their name on At The Command Of The Blanket Sky, the second full-length album by this Kitchener-based band. Everything about this record is substantial: lyrics that avoid the baby-baby stuff and opt instead for confessional and catharsis, production values that give the proceedings a sort of warmly cozy wall-of-sound at times while leaving room for the silences and hushes that count, and a band sound that is sonically strong in all the right ways, working the dynamics of each track effectively. The overall tone of the album is generally one of dark stoicism and at times things get a little samey because of it; fortunately the musical landscapes are so carefully crafted that the melancholy isn't all that's on offer here. Promising.

-- Rod Nicholson B+

Scene Magazine, London

i keep my i keep my i keep my

10 hours of spycam shooting for Defender....err 5th of November.

I am bushed.

Goodnight.

G

i keep my i keep my i keep my

nostalgic musings

A full decade ago today/tonight we played on a stage for our first time ever.

The Refugee Cafe in Cambridge.

*Poof* (10 years gone)

Here's to the next 10.

G

nostalgic musings

PeteNema

The very kind and very cool Pete Nema has written some words about our CD Release show at Starlight in Waterloo over at PeteNema.com.

You'll notice instantly that he is lethal with a camera.

Thanks Pete!

Greg

PeteNema

THANK YOU KW

Thank you KW for giving us an awesome CD Release show!

There is a long list of individuals who are all owed a big shout out for helping us promote this show/record - you know who you are. We appreciate your help and support.

Once again, check out The Dunes & Slowking.

PS - If you have pictures from the show please please send them to us: vacuity [at] vacuity.net so we can post them up.

Cheers!

Greg

THANK YOU KW

song of the week?!

Check out Toronto's Homewreckords Entertainment Group. We've got song of the week over there so they must be cool ;)

Thanks Jen and Scott.

Indie Invasion + Projector Rehearsals:





g

song of the week?!