The tour began in Montreal at Quai des Brumes, a quaint little bar off a main street that served good beers (any beer is good beer with solid mates) and held a tiny stage in the corner. They say sweaty, gritty, energy is the key to a good rock show, and we feel that all of the bands that night, including ourselves delivered just that to a rather abundant Monday night crowd. It was a great first impression and one hell of a precursor… a wonderful indication of how we would all get along nicely and share some stories at the end of it… and many more sweaty and crammed stages, we assure you. Did we also mention that we got share a stage with Spenny (From Kenny VS Spenny)? Well we did! His band, The Besides, ruled hard and our pal Jesse Modz and him did a bit of a banter back and forth before our set in Kingston:

The energy did not slow as the tour continued to some very familiar places (Ottawa at Maverick’s, Kingston at The Mansion, Saint Catharine’s at The Mansion House) It was nice to share some old memories with new faces this time around and experience a professional lifestyle and setting, to commiserate over past struggles and hardships of living day to day with extensive travel, to talk about the basement shows and make fun of each others hair cuts, singing/drumming faces and power-stances while performing and discuss future plans that would hopefully involve each other as solid friends. And hey, we were all loopy and sleep-deprived and insane and had caffeine-for-blood at that point anyways from all the early morning press and performances, so it was wonderful to be in that state together:

By the final night in Toronto at Hard Luck Bar, a gig which featured some cameo appearances by Jeff, singing a Hot Water Music cover with the boys in Thunderhawks and a couple choruses in Kingsfoil’s single “What Your Mother Taught You,” (Catchiest song in existence…) and also, by our dear friend Martin Macphail of Toronto’s Theset attacking some vocals in our finishing number “Signs And Wonders,” who is also featured on our new album “Home(s).” Even Frankie Muniz (the drummer from Kingsfoil and also, Malcolm In The Middle DUH) and the Thunderhawks boys came up and sang with us on a couple numbers. It’s a shame it was the end of the line for all of us together… could have been magic the rest of the way!

It was a great gig to finish off the tour and as is always expected of a short, sweet, to the point rock tour… it is over too quickly. We really want to thank all of the boys in Kingsfoil and Thunderhawks for letting us tag along on this wonderful trip… it certainly won’t be the last time we cross paths, or share the same one in the future! We wish everyone the best of luck in everything they do!

Also, a big world-size special thanks to Mitch Brown and Jesse Modz… two of the best people we know… tour managers for all seasons… “You’re not the boss of me now?”

We came. We saw. Dan didn’t quite get red dirt in his eyes, which apparently is an expression from around these parts that he made up, but we played a great gig at the renowned Hunter’s Ale House for a stunning crowd of locals who made us feel right at home even though we were almost at the furthest point from it. The boys in The Town Heroes and Coyote made sure we had an excellent time while in Charlottetown by A) providing homemade lasagna and wine, hours of the finest quality of East coast Youtube sensations and lodgings, B) A solid gig at an awesome venue where the “Acres Of Heroes” came in second in the Saturday night Music trivia and paying us for our travels, and finally C) FRIENDSHIP. We honestly cannot wait to set foot back out in these parts and play some more gigs!

From then on we said goodbye to the East with a few tears in our eyes and headed to Quebec City for a night to prepare for a big day in Montreal, the kick off day of our 5 day tour with bands Thunderhawks from TO, and Kingsfoil from Pennsylvania, featuring Frankie Muniz of Malcolm In The Middle. Yes, you heard us right!

And by prepare, we meant check into a swanky hotel for the night, eat 20 dollar poutine, duck wings and steak tartar, roam the streets of Quebec with 40s and speak bad French to strangers all night long… it was a good night we had been looking forward to for what seemed like ages…

PS, Jeff got Vine recently… You’ve been warned…

We raced through a rainstorm of mist from Moncton to get to work on time, and Hey! Whaddya know!? We were successful in doing so! We would just like to thank the fine individuals at Live 105 Loud in Halifax for having us down at the station for an interview and a quick song. We have and will always appreciate the spins and the support!

Later that night we headed to Michael’s Bar to set up for the Friday night gig with The Town Heroes and a fine group of young men from Charlottetown PEI under the name “Coyote.” This band blew us away in an instant: powerful vocals, great rhythm and guitar work, catchy numbers, lots of fantastic energy that just sort of shines… especially when they play an absolute explosive cover of “Lovers in a dangerous time…” They are East coast charmers, through and through, and we can’t wait to come back and see them… or bring them out to our neck of the woods!

The show was most excellent, and considering the competition we had for a Friday night in Halifax, we were so happy to see so many good folks, friends old and new, out and enjoying… On to Prince Edward Island!

For more information about the competition visit: http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners

It was a long trek from Thunder Bay to Saint Andrews New Brunswick, with a couple stops in Sudbury and Quebec City, but the van held up and did an outstanding job with the 20 hour drive and as always, she got us right where we needed to be, and much earlier than expected, leaving us a good amount of time to explore the rainy streets, warm pubs and the seaside at low tide in the quaint little town of Saint Andrews next to the Bay of Fundy. According to the locals, this wasn’t the ideal time to be playing monster gigs around these parts, but it was a solid night of tunes and good brews at The Red Herring Pub down by Saint Andrew’s Wharf. We were also joined by local song-slinger Randy Lavigne and his homemade telephone receiver microphone… and did we mention our hotel had a giant pool? Seems strange, but most welcome! It was almost on par with the view from our balcony…

The next day we made a trek up to Moncton, New Brunswick, another charming town with some of the friendliest locals we have met so far! A large French population mixed with east coast accents greeted us into the town as we combed the local farmer’s markets and prayed for some sun to peek out at us. We were excited for another gig in uncharted territory, this one being held at Plan B Lounge, a remarkable little venue on the corner, mixed in with the houses and apartments. It had a classic small stage with signatures of all the touring bands and nomads to have come through and performed scrawled all over it with sharpie (we signed of course…) The staff featured an all-star roster of kind people with big hearts and stories, and they even let us crash in the two-bedroom apartment located directly above the venue, rented for the live bands they have 7 DAYS A WEEK. We definitely thought venues like this existed only in our dreams… we can’t thank them enough for their hospitality and the party that ensued… still feeling that one boys…

The gig was also the first of 3 we would be playing with our good friends Mike and Bruce of The Town Heroes from Halifax. They were kind enough to help us book the gigs out this way with them, and it turned out to be quite a fantastic little show in Moncton… we can only expect the rest of our adventure here to be equally as beautiful, full of local micro-brew and Cape Breton humour and of course, the charming sounds of two good dudes making incredible music.

In a recap of the past week, we saw Saskatoon again for the first time in a long time! We actually had the pleasure of sharing the stage with some good friends, our boys in Fisticuffs and 2012 Peak Performance Project Winner, our homie Jordan Klassen! A band from Whitehorse called Old Time Machine opened the show at Vangeli’s Tavern… and as far as we’re concerned, they could have played all night long and we really wouldn’t have minded… make sure to go give them a spin on whatever music tech you own… totally worth it, and great guys too! Big thanks to everyone who came to the gig and stuck around to see us!

Following Saskatoon, we made our way down to Regina for the night, which we all know was the host city of 2013′s Juno Awards and the inevitable Juno Fest that permeates the city with good vibes and modern Canadian music… We had the night off so it only seemed logical to be in a city alive with so much energy and musical things. It gave us the chance to catch up with some old friends and see some great acts in good places in the industry at the moment. The highlight definitely being Yukon Blonde, Hannah Georgas, Rococode and locals, Indigo Joseph. An immaculate show, accompanied by our friends in Fly Points, and an amazing man by the name of Dave Rosin…

In the next few days, the trip brought us once again to Thunder Bay, where we played a pretty neat little Sunday night gig at the Black Pirate’s Pub, which has become a bit of a staple venue in our tenure as a touring Canadian band. Apparently we had been following the tail end of an April blizzard (they exist now…) that had hit Thunder Bay hard, so the weather was not the most welcome or chipper, let’s say… But it was a hell of a show and rather inviting to the gloomy and brooding streets to come inside the tavern for a few pints and warm up with some solid tunes… we even got to catch the Juno Awards on the tele and see some familiar faces. It was simply marvelous and congrats to everyone of our friends who were nominated this year! Also, big thanks to Tim and his crew in Thunder Bay for showing us another truly excellent time!

Thanks to Daisuke and Bullion Records for helping Acres Of Lions find an audience in Japan.

We just wanted to let you know that recently we were featured on Breakfast Television Edmonton!

Thanks to all who tuned in to City TV last Friday morning at 8:00 am to catch the performances! For those of you who would not dare to wake at such an early hour, please check out the following videos of our songs PRAIRIE FIRE and an acoustic version BRIGHT LIGHTS online!

We even took the winter tires off of the van thinking it was going to be bright and sunny for the rest of our days… SO not the case. We made it to Calgary just fine, no potential accidents or close-calls… but hey, when in Canada, probably best to keep your vehicle being Canadian and ready for anything… like black ice and wind gusts, or high mountain roads and unpredictable and sudden weather changes, even in the summer. DUH.

The gig in Calgary was quite the spectacle! We were two bands into the six band show at The New Black, and a transformer exploded and took out power on the entire block. All of us, including all of the cool kids who came out for a rock show, were forced to hang out in the dark mixed with dim emergency lights. Instead of waiting for the power to be restored, us bands took up arms (acoustic guitars) and entertained the members of the extremely patient and shadowed audience. It was definitely a great musical moment and we were actually so stoked to do something different! All the bands were great and we want to apologize again to the people who came out to see us and did not get a show… we will gladly make it up to you on May 10that The Palomino in Calgary!

The next day in the early morning, we had our premiere on Breakfast Television Edmonton at 8:00 am… therefore we drove and stayed up all through the night to be sharp for what turned out to be one of funnest television experiences we have had so far. It was a stress-free performance and all of the people at City TV are such beauties! Excellent times!

After a short nap that was not very effective, we zombied ourselves on down to The Pawn Shop (one of the best venues in Canada ;)) and prepared for a night of great music, great brews and even better friends! It was a tour kick-off gig for an incredible band called Fire Next Time, in which we had the privilege of being direct support for their headlining set! We were feeling so good about the night and it was so satisfying to play for such an amazing Edmonton crowd built out of our best friends and fans to date. We owe you a lot, Edmonton. We do not know when we will be back, but we want to tell you, we are already looking forward to it!

An adventure of West Edmonton Mall, particularly Galaxy Land, ensued the following day… which was sadder than you would think, mostly because it was the last few hours we got to spend with our good friend Lindsey Blane, who spent the last week on the road with us taking some FANTASTIC PICTURES and selling our merchandise… She is a saint and a pleasure and we will miss her dearly the rest of our SPRING TOUR… Please check out her WEBSITE and give her praise!

As you may or may not know, on April 3rd we performed once again, our 3rd featured edition of Victoria House Concerts B, in the house of our dear friend Andy! We played two sets for an absolutely wonderful and enthusiastic Victoria audience, comfy and cozy in the living room. There have been some people messaging us during that time and even weeks later, expressing their regret that they could not catch the show… BUT NOW, thanks to our good buddy Darren Ho, we have some great footage from the house concert for all of you who missed out to peruse and enjoy at your leisure! Check them out!

Old Town

Signs and Wonders

Indian Summer (Pedro The Lion Cover)

For more and more videos of our acoustic set, CLICK HERE. Thanks again, Darren Ho!