This week on Sonic 102.9 FM DJ Layne Mitchell’s podcast Jeffrey K does a short interview and plays a live acoustic version of “Let’s Get Sentimental”.
To dowload this week’s episode you’ll need to have iTunes installed on your computer and click on the following link…
Monday, August 24th/09, 90 Glenmore Road, Toronto ONT
For those who don’t know me, I have two sisters, and I love them very much. Although, I don’t say it to them very often because that’s just the way we were brought up, close-mouthed, naive and hard-working (not on a farm, as probably expected) We just always understood love was there. They took care of me for most of my stupid years, when I was still figuring out how to tie my shoes, whistle, speak and walk properly, and then how to ride a bike and swim and other things they were doing at the time, you know, make fun of you for your purple or green hair and having acne or that time you lost your license, twice, and tell you to get lost when you need somebody to. I wasn’t the greatest brother, I liked to argue and whine and annoy when I didn’t get my way and try to infiltrate the parties they would have in our parent’s basement, their friends in-advertantly turning me on to punk music (MISTAKE) Yeah, I thought I was pretty cool, listening to The Offspring and Goldfinger. I was wrong, of course. They then moved away, while I was just entering into high school, to school and promising careers as Scientists and Web-designers, my sister Jaime to Toronto, who’s house we are currently squatting in, and my sister Jaclyn, who lives in Vancouver, and spends way too much money on me. They are both pretty amazing, my sisters, and in very different ways. I often try to wrap my head around the very separate paths we’ve chosen and worked towards in our lives, our trades, art, science and business. Who would have ever thought. My mom and dad must be baffled.
Another day off, in Toronto now, we had driven to my sister’s the night before, so we rented a rehearsal space across town for a few hours in the afternoon. We worked a few more things out, planned ahead for the return, new songs, new ideas, realized less drinking and a ridiculously good-looking merch-attendant is a good idea and pretty much a requirement at this point, that and a trailer, the kinds of things which are fun. Dan Ball suggested that we get sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon and beef jerky, even sent out a few emails and everything. He was disciplined, not badly, I wanted to make him run laps and spray him with ice water while doing so. I later thought it would be pretty legitimate, sponsored by a “great” beer and a salted meat product rather than a guitar, drum or clothing company. It makes sense. What also makes sense, is for Dan to be a butt-model, which lately, he’s been obsessing over and bragging about his perfect ass. His aspirations are true and I really do believe he’s got the talent to do so, like David Duchovny in Zoolander, different appendage, of course. Anyway, we bummed around the rest of the day and later found out that our amazing friend, Jeff Ojeda, from a Vancouver-based band called “Melody Unwinding,” was in town. You see, Jeff wasn’t up to much this summer, so he decided to take a job as a guitar-tech for an up and coming band called “The Latency” and low and behold, he had days off in Toronto when we had days off and a show in Toronto. Spectacular timing. Jeff will be a continuing role in the next few updates, let me assure you.
I would like to end this one, short and sweet, my sisters Jaime and Jaclyn are amazing, for putting up with my shit over the years. Like I said, probably wasn’t the best brother growing up, I was kind of insecure and obnoxious. They most likely have forgiven me, but I still thank them for everything I am today, for letting me stay in their houses, still be a re-occurring part in their lives, and supporting me and my “little band thing” as my grandparents and aunts and uncles would most likely call it. They come out to my shows and know that I am serious and sincere about all of it, and that I chose this over a million other things I could have pursued. Also, Greg, my sister’s husband, is an amazing dude too… I haven’t seen him so much, probably avoiding us altogether, which is understandable. We kind of drank all his alcohol and made his kitchen smell like an ashtray.
Sunday, August 23rd/09, John’s Basement, Kitchener ONT
It is important to be well-rehearsed, to know what comes next, what to expect from yourself, to recognize your capabilities and weaknesses ahead of time. Like most things involving public speaking, entertainment, acting, being a musician, having a plan and a routine is never a bad idea. In this industry, especially, I have found that there is a difference between us bands that bring out 50-100 kids, and the bands that pack out halls and stadiums, and it has mostly to do with stage presence, but not always. Sure you could go up there and sound exactly like your album, have sampled everything, but the real entertainers want you to move and jump and react to everything transpiring on stage, it doesn’t matter what it is, a hand movement, a kick, a clap-sequence, call and answer singalongs, the inevitable breakdown. It’s all something that comes with time and experience, the ability to sound immaculate and still be able to scissor-kick off your amp, or something equally as bitchin’. Every band or artist moves through stages in their career, starts out somewhere small and grows into something else, whether it is natural or practiced a million times. But I will tell you this, from my short and limited experience, my attention to detail, coming from where I stand in this current state of things, there’s nothing like a good train-wreck every now and then, from anybody (not literally, of course) You have to keep some things interesting.
No show today. We were in Kitchener, with our friends John Maksym and Natalie. They had put us up once again, and taken care of us, with seemingly endless beverages, great food and since we had a day off, even “Breaching Vista’s” jam-space for the day! It was a rough morning. We had stayed up until 7:00am, making bad jokes, drinking PBR and swimming in a pool that was much too cold for our bodies, massive shrinkage, but we wore robes and gold chains and felt amazing afterward, it was worth it. It was raining again, but I didn’t mind it so much, the weather hat been so hot. Tyson might have, it started to down-pour as he was in the middle of his daily health routine. We loaded into John’s basement and created musical fusion for most of the day, working on every aspect of our set, songs and banter, tones and tempo, changes and dynamics, everything. We made progress, had a wonderful time in the process. That evening, Jon’s Dad and Stepmother had prepared and awesome dinner fashioned from Lasagna and an assortment of lovely, healthy things in which we all enjoyed. We talked about the music industry and hitting the line-up for Blink 182 at the Molson Amphitheatre and the slow and interesting evolution of Dan Ball, swapped band stories of being in strange places and doing strange things. We also watched an AC-DC live dvd, I was a big fan of it, dancing and air guitar, the whole thing. On our way out, we thanked John and his whole family, again and again, for what they have done for us, for their support in our endeavors, for the time and effort put into helping us be well and happy. We hope to come back here again soon, as I would like to believe, we are all now extended family, in some strange way.
I would like to think that when I am older, I will have some interesting stories to tell, like that time I was driving to Toronto through a tornado and almost died,or that time I was in Beardmore and met the whole town, or that time I jumped in a really frigid pool of water with friends in bands I made 1000 miles away, or the time I slept on the floor… for a month or two, and then repeated it. Like most stories told, they have an effect on you, some wisdom and technique handed down, and then you experience it yourself. You watch what other people do and do the same, but put your own spin on it, and rehearse until you have something all on your own, an original representation of something that influenced you, a copy of a copy, just how things work today I guess. It sounds a little dull, but us kids had to learn how to do it from somebody, had to take over for something that died out, had to take painstaking measures to ensure something new and exciting and interesting would be delivered to a new crowd, new faces watching your moves and watching what you do, and so on and so on, repeating. Most stories I’ve heard, from other bands, other musicians on different levels of the industry, I’ve listened to intently, taking notes, so I could know what was in store for what is quite possible in the near future. But there’s another part of me that doesn’t want to know, that wants figure it out on it’s own, wants it to come as surprise and let it be what it is, which is more often than not, an unscripted mess of things. Fun times.
