New Blog at Exclaim magazine site

Hi folks,

The good people at Exclaim magazine have offered to host the Elliott BROOD tourblog once again at http://elliottbrood.exclaim.ca.
So for the remainder of the "Future Ghost Towns" tour the BROOD will be posting the blog there.
They are linked, so you can toggle back and forth if you wish.
See you there....

Elliott BROOD

PS it has been slow to get started due to the inglorious theft of much of our electronic gear in Montreal, but we are now beginning to catch up.

CMJ music marathonot

day 29 NYC The Living Room - Paste magazine showcase.

So there we sat at our motel in Stroudville PA, about 2 hrs West of NYC, just North of Philadelphia. We were watching a fantastic game 5 of the world series, and generally getting some well deserved R&R, until midnight, when our US publicist (from NYC) phones us from the club in Manhattan, "I'm here... where are you guys?". Oh oh.
On the CMJ website we are listed to play on Friday the 23rd at midnight (click on the picture). We had looked on their site to confirm that the show was on Friday. The website literally said, "12AM Friday... Elliott BROOD" (click on the picture above for close up). According to CMJ, Friday means anytime Thursday night from midnight on. We are pretty good at damage control, but this one got by all of us somehow.
After some quick phone calls to our agent and publicist, we decide that there will be no make-up show. My guess is that the best we would've received from CMJ with less than a days' notice is something like "Bill's Cafe at 2PM on the upper East side".
Thoroughly bummed out, Ryan and I went for a long walk and ended up at "Rudy's Tavern", an immaculate 1930's era bar that served pints for $1.25. Yes I said pints for $1.25. We had just made their last call, and that $1.25 pint was the perfect nightcap. Just the two of us lonely souls there, and a couple of locals. Then the door opens and in walks Casey. Perfect company for the brisk walk home, which was peppered by small groups of anxious young adults (or old kids?) out on the prowl in the pre-homecoming/halloween chilly night air. We should have been in Manhattan tonight, but something had conspired to keep us away. So be it.
The next morning we set off and pretty much surprised our loved ones by arriving a day early. To any New Yorkers who missed the Elliott BROOD show at the Living Room; hopefully you can make it down to Union Hall in Brooklyn on the 24th of November, where we will be rocking out like it's a make up show.

Cleveland - Beachland and the Waterloo district

day 27 Oct 21 Cleveland OH - Beachland Cafe

We saw today a small but complimentary review of Mountain Meadows in November's Mojo Magazine, done by by Sylvie Simmons. Anyways, back to the heart of Rock and Roll.
Have a little look around the Waterloo district and you'll see that this might be the coolest neighborhood in Cleveland. within a block of the club is a Mason's Hall, a used record store (called "Music Saves"), a couple of local art stores... you get the picture (no pun). Speaking of pictures I took some photos of interesting views in the block: one of a van wrapped up in colored plastic bags and another of a place with the suspicious title, "R&D Sausage Co.". If they are still Researching and Developing the sausage, I think I'm not interested in making a purchase.
This will be our last show of the tour with The Wooden Sky, and it is sad because we are not really getting (or giving) a proper sendoff. Tomorrow we will each be going to the CMJ festival in New York, but to different venues. we are splitting up, and tonight's show on a Wednesday night is not exactly the blowout event that we would have hoped to end this tremendous tour with those boys. It is in the plans to make this up by getting together in either New York or Toronto and really send off the tour properly.
On this night we also find out about a friend of the BROOD's, a musician we toured with last year, has become ill. Our hearts are with you Dave, and we pray for a full recovery.
The next morning we split out separately only to reconvene by accident at some random truck stop. Hello and goodbye again.

Chicago - Schuba's Tavern

day 26 Oct 20 Chicago Ill - Schuba's Tavern
Today we got a decent review in The Onion A.V Club. Being avid readers of this mag, it is awesome to see that they are writing about us. If you don't know The Onion, it's worth your bookmark, or follow them on Twitter. They will give you at least four gut laughs per month, with many other chuckles along the way. We also came in early to do a recording for a future videocast on Hearya dot com at producer Stephen Shirk's studio. Steve is a great guy and a fast engineer who we had the pleasure of working with on another occasion in the windy city.
Visiting Chicago this time was much like visiting LA this time: Get to the venue, set up eat, play, leave town. So much for the scenery. This time I hit a gag store across the street from Schuba's and picked up some gift toys for me kids. Ryan got to scoot over to the Chicago Music Exchange, which is the most extravagant guitar store I've ever been in (for example, in stock are no less than eight vintage Fender Jazz basses and sixteen P basses). But this store is still no Capsule Music (the band's personal favourite) from Toronto. Capsule has a great vibe and atmosphere and one can feel at home perusing their fantastic stock amongst a friendly staff who don't try to intimidate you are snob you out.
The show itself was a good one for a Tuesday night. Like LA too, none of my friends showed up, but they were well made up for by the enthusiastic crowd. One fellow who we know, named Paul, lives in Brooklyn , but has managed to see us now here, as well as in the past in Edmonton and Winnipeg (on the Wilco "Kicking Television" tour back in '06). Rock on.

Hot Springs AK - Maxine's

Day 24 Oct 18 Hot Springs Arkansas - Maxine's

Wow. Where to start with this one. Let's start by giving Maxine's it's true props as formerly the premiere brothel in Hot Springs. Hot Springs is also touted as the childhood home to Bill Clinton, and a notorious former Chicago gangster hangout. All this information led me for some reason to google Ronnie Hawkins. Everyone in Canada knows Rompin' Ronnie as the one man party transplanted from Arkansas who molded an incredible back up band for himself up here ("The Hawks"), then famously lost them to Bob Dylan as Dylan was making his infamous switch to electric music.
Our show here coincided with the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, though this was of little consequence to us. No famous directors were at the show, but their staff photographer Tim put in some quality time taking quality pictures .
Ultimately the Maxine's show was highly uplifting, as we had been trying our damndest since Portland OR to convert new audiences to our BROOD-like ways. Thanks Kevin, Agnes, Sarah and everyone else at the new Maxine's for preparing for and promoting this show with enthusiasm. There was high anticipatory energy thanks to these guys spreading the word around. South Arkansas could now easily become a stronghold for us in the central U.S.

Texas

Day 22 Oct 16 "Keeping Austin Weird"

We have come to Austin three times already for SXSW conferences, but this is the first time we will play here on our own. I gathered that it would be pretty much a more sober town than what we're used to, but I'd say we were proven wrong.
There's something about Austin that is inherently nutty. For those who haven't been here, this city is known to be far more left wing (and artsy) than the rest of Texas. If you haven't seen it, "Keep Austin Weird" is the popular slogan sold on many t-shirts and bumper stickers. It really is a music town, as evidenced by it's ongoing country music and festival history. See the Broken Spoke Legend for example. The power of the Austin scene is aptly validated by the long running live music show, "Austin City Limits". A coveted exposure milestone for any music group, it requires little mention here.
We are not going to be so priveledged to appearance on that show, but we did manage to do a feature interview and performance out of the same building as A.C.L. on the U.T. campus on a show called "Folkways", which runs on Saturday afternoons on KUT 90.5 FM. Also we did an appearance on Austin News at Noon (NBC), right after Blanch from Golden Girls, with a host quite reminiscent of Ron Burgundy. The extra media didn't do a ton to boost attendance at our show, but the exposure no doubt has it's esoteric benefits.
At Emo's we had people come from as far as San Antonio (thanks Rachel et al), but I couldn't help but feel a little envious of the band called "Thursday" in the adjacent room at Emo's playing to a packed house of moshers. There's something to be said for gratuitous banter. To quote the singer of Thursday as he throated to their roaring audience; "People get on the stage and try to preach to you... but what I say is not to listen to those people... you should just do whatever the hell you want to do !!!". His contradictory rhetoric was swallowed up by fans, some of whom even hanging shirtless off the rafters so as to jump upon their fellow audience members. Impressive. Also impressed upon me was the general enthusiasm for chaos and rowdiness abounding in Austin that night. Within short time of arrival at the club we were advised of where to get hookers and cocaine. Austin should have no problem keeping "weird".

Day 23 Oct 17 Denton Texas - Hailey's
Denton is a fine, if boring University town with a nice old town square. There are no street people visible (or payphones) and even the punk clad kids are buying expensive coffees at Jupiter's.
There seems to be a veritable gay/lesbian presence here too. We see posters for Canadian faves and gay concomitants "The Hidden Cameras" in a local pizza place around the corner from our club. That might be a fun show to go to, but tonight this pizza place proves to be our nemesis: they are hosting a free all ages CD release party for a local band. I don't know if there could be any more disheartening news to a visiting band (us) trying to charge cover just around the corner. Even though it is Saturday night, our attendance is hit. Also there is a massive football championship game (UO vs UT) going on downtown.
The only consolation for a less than awesome turnout is the nice staff, and everybody is a little nutty over the door girl, who is a studious 20 year old who is a taller and more voluptuous deadringer for Leslie Feist.
Because of the local UO/UT college football game, we are lucky to get rooms at the Days Inn, where we are honoured to be awarded with a generous Southern gift from The Beloved Wooden Sky: A 60 oz bottle of pure agave reposado tequila. What make this bottle extra especial is that is shaped like a Tommy Gun. They picked it up in Phoenix, of course (see blog). We are now gangsters for sure ! Gavin, Simon, Wyatt and Kip... the BROOD loves you !!! To date we haven't opened the bottle, though I think we agree that it should be shared between the two bands before the end of the Western leg. Failing that, New Years Eve at Lee's Palace, which we are hoping they will accept with us as a year end blow out gig.
We found out about a week later that Denton is hometown to a band we've been listening to with religious fervor in the van called "Midlake", who are modern day kings of smooth music, reminiscent of the original smooth music (aka Yacht Rock) movement of the 70's and 80's... check out Midlake if you want some great driving music.

Ghost towns and the *old road*

Day 21 Shakespeare (My Butt) Ghost Town.

Just on the inside of the Western New Mexico border there is a town called Lordsburg, and just south of Lordsburg on the map is a place called "Shakespeare Ghost Town". Being that we are on a tour that we have entitled, "Future Ghost Towns Tour", we are compelled to stop here, and maybe get a few photographs.
We are short on time, but since you can basically do 140 km/h across the desert at any time to catch up, we take the detour. Mark is immediately skeptical. As we cruise down the old road* towards the southern peaks, things look promising: the trail is narrowing, we pass an old cemetery, there is an old wooden sign with an arrow marked "Shakespeare Ghost Town". We have our hopes high that we will find an rickety abandoned main street, with empty wooden shacks and a few rusted old carts for good measure. As we crest over the final summit we see a camper/trailer and a big fence. In the distance there are a few restored sheds. A man comes out immediately to greet us. Somewhat enticing are the sheds, but not worth the admission price of $8 to cross those gates. What a let down. Mark was right when he said it would be "all made up". We have a Pioneer Village right in Toronto for that sort of histo-voyeurism. Rule of the day: If a ghost town is on the map, it isn't a ghost town. This compels me even more to do an old road* tour.

* the old road*
When you are travelling on a highway through the wilderness, remember that the road you are on was built over top of an older route, one initially used by settlers, trappers, explorers, natives. I am perpetually intrigued by the "old road" (ask my band or my wife, who have to suffer my imaginary musings on the topic).
The old road intrigues me, because once a new highway is built, it is often cut along a better topographical line, leaving segments of old road to wither, decompose and die. As you whizz along the new road, you get occasional glimpses of the old road, usually overgrown and winding into nowhere. Who knows what lays down those abandoned paths ... former rest stops, motels, restaurants, inns, ghost towns ? Like modern day rivers, roads act as the lifeblood to many communities, depositing wealth of all sorts onto it's gravel shores.
Old roads are especially evident in mountainous areas, where modern innovations in blasting and excavating have promoted more efficient highway infrastructure. On this tour I've tried to take a few pictures of them, in Northern Ontario, BC, California and Arizona. It's down these roads that I want to explore, finding ghost towns that didn't make the map, and maybe the occasional abandoned wagon or motel.

Phoenix - The Rhythm Room

Day 20 Phoenix AZ - The Rhythm Room (pictured: Gavin and Kip from Wooden Sky)

Promoter Jeremiah turns out to be a dream - promoting three shows in one night, the others being Yo La Tango in a 1000 cap room, and some apparently wicked African band playing to about 25 people. In spite of the crazy schedule, he manages to meet us at load in, get us dinner and see our show. The show itself was kind of funny.. a small turn out of curiosity seekers and a few fans of CanCon. one couple wearing the t-shirts of Canadian bands Sloan and Two Hours Traffic. Indeed Jeremiah himself was quite a fan of Canadian music, rattling off several names of acts he's booked in recent months from north of the border : Final Fantasy, Constantines, Cadence Weapon, Plants and Animals, Born Ruffians ...
The club itself looks on the outside like the last bastion of hope for a struggling band on the road (see picture), but once inside we are treated with utmost hospitality (drink tickets good for any drink), and perhaps the best sound of the whole tour.
The highlight of visiting this town, for sensational shock value, was our visit to the pawn shop/gun emporium right across the street. There you have your choice of Kalashnikov,Tommy Gun, Barreta, Glock, AK47, Taser, Smith & Wesson pistol.... whatever you need for whatever it is you're planning. Fortunately, my interest in firing weapons ended after I killed a chipmunk with my grandfather's pellet rifle. That said, I was quite taken by this display, which I reckon would be the envy of most gun collectors. Most guns there are listed "pre-owned" or "used", and clock in easily under $1000.
After such a long drive through the desert and arriving early to an empty parking lot at the club made us dilerious and goofy, culminating in Gavin's hilarious dedication during their set to "porno, guns, drinking and titties"(if you don't think that's funny... you had to be there).
After the show, we repeat the actions of the previous night in LA, leaving right away to get a leg up on the ensuing long drive of the next day. We have a day off coming, in which to drive 15 hours to Austin TX, where we will be performing on radio and on a local offshoot of NBCTV.

Los Angeles

Day 19 Los Angeles - Hotel Cafe
I will start the blog with the good news that the BROOD has made it into the Americana Music Association top 40, being the top debut album (debuting at #38).
And now, news from the darker side of things ...
As we drive southward on hwy 5, the incessant rain gets worse. This is apparently the remnants of some asian tsunami we haven't heard about because on the road none of us reads the newspapers. The drive is stressful... as the rain lets up we hit a desert dust storm for about an hour, then resume to pouring rain and sharing mountain driving with transport trucks for a couple hours more. This is one reason I took out life insurance shortly before the tour.
Our arrival in LA is delayed, and it pours rain the whole time we're there, which is literally only 6 hours.
By midninght, we'll be in a motel 6 in an Eastern suburb of LA aptly named "Ontario". So this is touring. Welcome to Los Angeles. I hope you enjoyed the alley between the van and the club. We didn't even stop at In 'n' Out burger, though the next morning I did enjoy driving through the thousands of wind turbines near the entrance to the mojave desert in the East.
As for the show.. to be honest, we've finally hit a tour low point. No offence to the LA audience, but when we hand out kitchen percussion, it's nice if you could stand up and participate a little, not just give them back after one song and sit down again. Too cool for school I guess. Plus in full LA fashion, virtually none of our guests showed up. I really want to like LA. Next time I motion we play in Silverlake instead of Hollywood.
In defiance of LA not seeming to care so much this time, I am posting several pictures of our live show that were taken by Gavin of Wooden Sky during our recent show in Edmonton. Thanks G !

Day 18: San Francisco - Cafe du Nord
pictures: Shasta Lake (Northern Cali)+ the band on break near Mt. Shasta
Here is a review of the show in SF Weekly

We roll in to town with a couple hours to spare to explore the Castro district, near Twin Peaks. Just our luck (not), it is Columbus day, so many stores are closed. That conveniently reduces things to mostly food and drink. Casey spots a comfortable bar with patio and hauls us in for a beer. My throat is sore, so beer is not so good. I opt for a walk around the neighborhood and take my chances that I'll find something I like better. Within half an hour I was relaxing at the El Flore patio, with free Wifi (got to send out the entire Alberta blog). And there I was in full San Francisco style, eating pumpkin bisque, sipping sangria and keying away at the laptop.
This one looks like a bust with an early Monday night show. It would help if the third act scheduled tonight was local. I check: the extra opener, Rosi Golan is from Brooklyn , and Rosi expresses the same wish that the other bands were local.
Anyways, somehow the room fills up... Wooden Sky sound amazing again, and we manage to pummel Monday night into feeling like a Saturday. Thanks for getting everyone dancing Kip. Amongst the fun crowd were peeps who found out about us online, purchased our music on itunes and drove from as far as Sacramento and Big Sur. It's always great to meet people who have come from far and wide to see you. Makes it feel like we're doing something right. These people have insight too as to where we should play next time we're in the area. Suffice to say we now have plans to play at the Fernwood in Big Sur next time we hit California, ideally in the spring on the way back from Australia, if things go as planned.
I really like the staff at Cafe du Nord. Extemely friendly, they provided us with a buffett of lasagna, steak and salad on arrival, and were very accommodating at the bar (staff=Rob and Lana for personal reference). I learned that this is one of the older bars in town. It is attached to the Swedish American Hall, and it indeed has an old vibe to it. For anyone from Toronto, I would say it compares to a cross between the Latvian House and the Cameron House.
We knew the house soundman, Ross, as he is the drummer from Emily Jane White who we met on tour in France last February. The sound at this club was so good, Ryan had us all dialed in within half a song at soundcheck.
After the show, Mark somehow comes out with a hot fresh pizza he just got down the street. Perfect timing.Then we roll out of town and let GPS take us towards the #5 highway. No scenic Pacific Coast Highway for us. We are directed back across the Bay Bridge into Oakland. For a while it seems like there are no hotels. Finally we find a Motel 6 within 5km of the highway, near the Oakland airport.
As we drive through the neighborhood, it begins to take on resemblance to the setting for the TV show "COPS": high fences, some with barbed wire, no one around, a few deserted buildings. A great place to leave your vans full of musical gear. The Motel 6 itself provides a good defence to the surroundings: High fences, and a security gate where you get screened before checking in. We are safe. The next morning at the local gas station we overhear a pizza delivery woman lamenting that between the pouring rain and the gunshots she heard this morning, she'll be overwhelmed with business. Everyone will stay indoors on this day in Oakland.

Portland

Day 16 Portland OR - Mississippi Studios
This is our last day of 17 in a row with one day off. Tomorrow we get one more day off, but must try to get to San Francisco in that day. This show is without our amazing friends "The Wooden Sky", as it was booked as a double bill with one of the many offshoots of Black Mountain, this one called "Lightning Dust" (also feat. members of Ladyhawke and The Organ) , who are closing up a five week US tour. The show sells pretty good for an early show, and the audience is very receptive too - eco consciousness prevailing in that they gave back all of our pots and pans. I really liked the promoter Jeremy, a gregarious fellow and true music lover.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, Gavin of Wooden Sky gave me some photos he took of our shows. The one at the end of the Victoria entry (of Casey from behind) is from him. One must give credit where credit is due.

Seattle, home of the Tractor

Day 15 Seattle WA - Tractor Tavern
Located in the former fishing village known as Ballard... The Tractor is nestled in an ultra hip zone of the city, just on the verge of being pummeled into gentrification. To someone who is into art or old guitars or vintage clothing, or home cooked food this is a must visit part of the western hemisphere. As I published in Twitter, I was able to purchase a neat coat and hat combo within about 43 seconds of arriving here. I am grateful for adjacent shops in the neighborhood, "Twenty 20 clothing" and the bar/eatery "Hattie's Hat" for being there for our perusal any time we play here and have to wait for the club to open.
The Seattle show is pretty rockin' for a US date. KEXP exposure has definitely helped here. And tonight we learned something to apply to the rest of the US: reduce merchandise pricing. This is a new market for us, and price point is much less important than sales.

Victoria BC rocking the church

Day 14: Victoria BC - Alix Goolden Theatre
I don't want to jinx it, but this is a pretty fun blog. It's kind of like, oh, every day is great... things are rosy... bla bla bla... Well Victoria is no exception. In fact in one way this date is kind of exceptional: we are playing in a cavernous former church that was built with acoustics for unamplified music. In other words, once you play loud in there, things tend to get lost in the mix. As Ryan, our sound tech reiterated, he could not get a clear sound in this room (sometimes in theory you can just turn it up to essentially make the PA sound compete over the natural reverb). Not here, because the reverb is just too great.
The room acoustics gave openers The Wooden Sky a tremendous edge in this room, and indeed they received a standing ovation. That's the other thing, being a church, it is full of pews and everyone is sitting. This is very anti-BROOD like. Also, my mom is here with her husband Gerhard, and 3 other couples in their 60's. They are sensitive and cautious about volume , so I am careful to hand out earplugs to them ahead of the show. Damage control: I don't want to receive the guilt afterwards of having made an elderly person deaf, or even angry at us.
So for this show, we slightly adjusted the set to incorporate some quieter tunes, but this isn't a theatre tour this is a rock tour. We can only do so much to alter the set.
Fortunately, a certain BROOD phenomena occurred during the performance that I haven't seen since Hugh's Room (Toronto, May '07). About halfway through our set, people start to get the jitterbug and gather near the stage. At first maybe four people come out and unashamedly start dancing to a tune. Within a short time, there is a complete turnaround to the 'seated' notion, and everyone is standing, with a large component right up front, ready to receive their ritual sacrament of pots and pans to hit.
This feels good, and it sure makes blogging fun....

Vancouver

Day 13: Vancouver BC - Biltmore Hotel (sold out)
picture of Osoyoos BC from high atop the Crowsnest Highway:

The news that this show was sold out for 3 weeks is reassuring. Booker/Promoter Aaron Schubert coincidentally used to be our Western agent at Paquin. He's got it going on, and is a good match for this room, because he knows the talent.

I am still with no voice, and despite still putting a microphone in front of me every night, I still cannot sing. No problem there, Mark and Casey are the main guys anyways, it just means Vancouver won't get to hear my glorious harmonies. This show does turn out to be a bit of a boondoggle for us, issues like monitors getting mysteriously too loud, and us making insidious musical mistakes. There are gremlins invading our set, but the audience is pretty much on autopilot, and don't seem to mind the errors that we are beating ourselves up over. In fact, we (and The Wooden Sky) even got a pretty sweet review for the show.
The next day we took BC ferries over to Victoria, home of my mom.

Kootenay East Shore rules

Day 12: Nelson BC - Hume Hotel (sold out)

There is something in the water here. Every staff member is gorgeous, and so are much of the patronage. Just a side note, noted by everyone, not just me. Maybe the natural beauty of the landscape transcends...
There is a ferry that crosses Okanagan Lake, just east of Nelson (see picture). many people come to our show from the East Shore of this lake, known affectionately as "East Shore". We learn that our record was the theme album for many an East Shore harvest this year (for whatever that is they harvest that BC is famous for, ha ha). Now that is an honour.
Literally, Nelson gives us the best response of the tour, and on a Tuesday night ! The stage is very wide and literally surrounded and packed with people (did I mention they were good looking?).
Could the Vancouver show end up being anti-climactic? Find out in the next blog...

Oh Alberta 3 - Lethbridge

Day 11: Oct. 5 Lethbridge - Henotic Lounge
This is where I rip my jacket on a nail at the back of the stage. I have absolutely no voice tonight, which is a drag in place where you know a lot of people. Lethbridge is the first place that we played outside of Ontario back in June '04, and the night went so well that we've maintained a love affair with the town as an entity ever since. It is a funny town, kind of shunned by Calgarians and seems to be forever changing hands, but very dear to the BROOD.
This time a discount grocery store and the Tim Horton's beside it were shut down. much of the downtown in under the hands of entrepeneurial first time business owners. We have had allegiances with such types, as they also are main bar owners in town.
The community is small enough that you could say there is a bit of territoriality between the local businesses. I say this because this time we played the Henotic Lounge, seeming to reflect a change in loyalty, but truth be told we are still very fond of the other club owners with which we've had dealings: Jesse and Tyler at "The Slice", and Corey at "Tongue 'n' Groove. Reasons for the switch in venues due mostly to the numbers you can cram into the joint to see the show.
Hotel Lethbridge - It's only a Days Inn, but the view of the valley from within a few metres of the hotel was worthy of some pics. Shown here, my view from the jacuzzi, and some signage just outside the back of the hotel. As it turns out, we have a half hour to chill at the hotel, so I rush into my bathing suit and indulge in the whirlpool. Much needed. Today is the first day of what will be several with no voice. I blame Saskatoon (I mean myself, for staying out in Saskatoon). At least the show can go on when I can't sing, but it would be nice to be able to share conversation again, especially when I meet the parents in Victoria in a few days.

Oh Alberta 2 - Calgary

Day 10: Oct 4. Calgary - Dicken's Pub
Starting to feel further under the weather. Begin to search out asian food and luck out with an elegant sushi dinner with a Calgarian gal, Mary, who I've known since we played the final Waynefest (5/5) back in '06. As an aside..."Waynefest" was a town festival put on by Kris Demeanour and his Edmontonian friends in the virtual ghost town of Wayne, Alberta (pop. 40). It is right alongside the CP Rail tracks, and literally in the heart of the badlands and dinosaurland - right near Drumheller. As a result of visiting this town, we returned in '07 to record in the town hall for the Mountain Meadows album. Many of the real train and hall noises made it to the final mix (heard in Chuckwagon and Write It All Down For You).
Back to Calgary, Dicken's pub is a basement Irish bar that holds around 400 people, and we managed to pack the place right up. People already coming in at 6PM, and the merchandise line starts shortly thereafter, pummeling Ryan and the boys with constant work. This will be the last night that I have a voice for awhile. Mark and Casey won't miss it because they don't hear me in there monitors anyways. But will the audience miss my lush harmonies? Just putting it out there...
The next morning, I am relaxing on the balcony by myself, and after a while of silence, three magpies sneak up and circle around me. They literally are a shy and curious bird, peaking at me from behind the branches before flying off. However, I've also heard that they can be fierce, so I was a little unsure when they surrounded me.

Oh Alberta 1 - Edmonton

Day 9 Oct 3. Edmonton -
Starlite Lounge - The Wooden Sky put on a really good show this night, breezing through their songs and generally rocking it up. Perfect sightlines, too according to Ryan, who had a premiere viewpoint of Starlite's hugely raised stage from his balcony soundbooth. Ed. note * check the LA blog for pictures of this rock experience

This is one great club for a band of our size because you can cram about 700 people into it and give them a great show. We got about 550 peeps, but that still means more than doubling our guarantee in 'overages' (financial techtalk). Steve Derpack and Brent Oliver: We've had ourselves a good run with these promoters over the years. On this occasion, Steve came to both the Edmonton and Calgary shows, and was more than accommodating in every regard of show production.

Thanksgiving Day (Canada)

Oct 11 - Thanksgiving Day (Canada)
Jumping ahead in the blog for a moment to real time (most entries lag a few days). Currently sitting at the Oregon - California border. I won't take a picture, but they are treating this like a national border. This is no highway toll. Every car is getting stopped. We have nothing to hide, especially when we find out what they are looking for: fruits, vegetables, plants, animals, hunting and fishing products. We have none of the above... free to go.
So for thanksgiving lunch, we stop at an Appleby's restaurant and eat steak. A distant second to what I would've loved today which is quality time with my wife Beta, our two young children Kaspar and Stella, and Beta's sister, husband and child who are visiting from Latvia. A full on get together with one of my step siblings' families would make it even better.
But today, we digress, and plug on through the mountains of Northern California. Not too bad as a consolation prize, I guess.
PS as of this posting, we went to another Appleby's for dinner.
PPS the BROOD just received a link with a very poetic review of our Winnipeg show.

Saskatoon

Sold Out show - Amigo's
Earlier in the evening we do a little set for CFCR at the Great Western Brewery. Due to some misunderstanding, the doors get opened an hour late, to a cold and grumbly crowd, but no one will leave a lineup for free beer. Thanks for the beer GWB. Now I'm no graphic designer, but I think there's a consensus here that your brand's design could use a bit of a facelift. Thoughts?
The show at Amigo's is killer, and we received commanding feedback from the audience. Something about our Dollarama swag drives people crazy (inflation has supposedly made it Dollar-twenty-five-arama).We've found this little niche where we hand stuff out to people to play along with us. A little kickback to the peeps for coming out. Maybe one day people will bring their own stuff to play and we can relieve the 'rama from selling us so much percussive kitchen gear.
After the show, Mark and Casey are exhausted and make a beeline for the legendary Senator Hotel. I am wired, and Ryan joins me to kick back with the staff at the bar. Somehow this place gets away with sometimes discreetly serving a few more selects after closing. We are grateful to hang out with the staff, who turn out to be friendly and nice.

Birthdays in Regina

Day 7 Oct 1 Regina SK - the Exchange
Birthday girl, poor birthday girl... doesn't realize that this is the slow song. Maybe due to the drink. "Twill" is probably the one BROOD song that you can't really boogie down to. Nonetheless, that's when said bd girl thought it best to come up and ring in that birthday by dancing onstage. It was a tad awkward, especially because she seemed like a pretty non threatening individual. Unfortunately it resulted in an eviction from the stage. Sorry 'bout that. At any other time, you might have even got a BROOD rendition of "Happy Birthday".
We had not yet designed a code word to securitize the stage, should the need arise. It might sound a little extreme to do that, but Mark and Casey have both suffered microphones in the mouth already this tour. Suffice to say that if you are somehow endangering one of the BROOD boys (or yourself), and you hear the word "Lebowski", you may want to shape up and behave. That codeword could've been used for prevention at The Borderline (London UK) a few months ago when an exuberant fellow came up and didn't leave the stage before stepping on both Mark's banjo and ukelele.
Later that night in Regina, we got invited to a house party by the birthday girl's friends (b.g. herself had already left for the evening). It seemed like a nice idea to unwind at someone's house, so off we all went. The funny thing is, after the invitations were handed out, it seems the invitees went home to bed. The tenants of the house were kind enough to let in the two bands anyways, and there we all were, in a strangers living room, playing giutars and singing away. My favourite was Wyatt of The Wooden Sky: Rocking out classics like "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, and "Crocodile Rock", he could've turned a hospital emergency room into a cheerful singalong. Two thumbs up.

Warning: tech talk

day 6 Sept. 30 Winnipeg MA - West End Cultural Centre

The tour is now hitting stride. It's seems we're getting our shit together now with lighting cues, and pacing. Mark's voice miraculously came through for us. We could have had CBC record the show after all, but how were we supposed to know.
The new WECC is a dynamic arts centre, rebuilt with acoustics in mind, not to mention artist load-in and secure parking (always a plus). The total bonus, though was that on arrival, sitting there having a smoke was none other than John, a middle aged soundman, and probably my favourite in this country, though I don't know his last name. We first met him back in '04 at the Dawson City Music Festival, and it turns out he lives here in the 'Peg. This guy is so laid back, seems to love music, and always churns out great sounding shows (I will try to generally lay off techtalk, but good sound is obviously a primary concern to a touring band). Bear with me. The WECC is sporting top of the line Digidesign mixing consoles with total recall for monitors, and front of house. As chief acoustician for the venue, John stocked the room with these magnificent digital consoles, but still laments that he would've preferred analog. So Ryan no doubt got pretty excited about the equipment in front of him, and before we knew it, Ryan was mixing in Front of House, and John took care of our monitors. What a coup ! This will set the stage for the rest of the tour. Ryan has fully earned cred as our soundman, and I expect he will want to mix every show following (not to mention selling the merch), and relegate house sound engineers to lights or monitor duty.
As I've promised, there is a photo of our "Future Ghost Towns" tour stage set (affectionately known to insiders as the "shit show").
-Steve

promoters, crowd surfer

Sept. 29 Thunder Bay ON ROXY

Great show - hard to sell out this 700 capacity room on a Tuesday, but we do pretty good. Extra openers "Old Man's Beard" and "Cuff the Duke" put on tremendous sets, in addition to The Wooden Sky's awesome set.
Promoter Frank Loffredo, once again comes out with full on BROOD support (example, in contract it says the BROOD goes on from 10:45 until "as long as they want to play". A better example is this: during the show, he emails our agent and gets tacit approval for us to play this coming Halloween. He will fly us up for the show. "Will you do it guys?", he eagerly asks, while the crowd is anticipating the encore... "uh, yes", we reply. "Can you tell the audience now, during the encore?". Done and done. this guy is a huge music fan, and again it's hats off to Frank ... Now I will have to explain to my 4 year old son Kaspar that I won't be taking him out in his elephant costume this year. Maybe Frank can come down to Toronto and sub for me as dad.
We are still sick, and Mark has decided that based on the terrible condition he is in, we will have to forego a CBC live recording of tomorrow night's show in Winnipeg. A sad but necessary concession. We try to pass it off to the Wooden Sky boys, but CBC prefer to take a rain check with the BROOD. Fair enough.
The next morning, we get up early, bundle up and take on the 7 hr journey. There is frost on the ground, and here's a few photos from North of Superior.
.... and the relentless crowd surfer was none other than Jesse of Old Man's Beard... inspirational
-Steve

moving right along....

Sept. 27 Lop Lop's Sault Ste. Marie ON

If we are lucky, rock photographer/Sault Star Arts editor Donna Hopper may post the first pictures of the Future Ghost Towns Tour. One can only hope with all the snapping she did up front of the stage.
Lop Lop's show was great, a small club made into a real production by non other than George of Crank Sound "We're Not Happy Till Your Not Happy" . Ask our man Ryan... the sound was excellent.
With one day off ahead of a 12 day consecutivve run, we made sure to stock up, hitting "Station Mall" across the street, while Mark waited at the hospital walk-in clinic for a prognosis on his illness (outcome: viral... sorry can't help). My purchases included Oil of Oregano, 6 pairs of socks, 1 undershirt and 3 prs underwear. While waiting for Mark, we also made a good long stop at the Sault's only vintage guitar shop, "Music Depot". They also had some vintage drums. I have my eye on a partial set of Fibes Crystallite.
-Steve

PS Rockognized: Casey at Tim Horton's Peterborough, Mark at Pancake Bay Trading Post (way cooler)

Introducing... more friends

Day 2: Fri. Sept. 27, The Townehouse, Sudbury

As we're pulling up to Point Au Baril on the 69, about 1hr out of Sudbury, I implore Casey to pull over. I have just spotted a very special old friend in the parking lot of the gas station; Michael Granka. Granka is an old friend who was an enigmatic bandleader and role model. As I introduce the BROOD to him, he immediately launches into stories of the good old days of us in a cover band together (The Michael Granka band), playing divey bars all over southern Ontario. Those stories need not be repeated here. This guy is good, and rest assured, if you ever break down just south of Sudbury, you will be in good hands with Michael at the helm of the CAA there. Just ask Falconhawk.
So the story goes, The Townehouse in Sudbury is not only the club where Stompin' Tom penned "Sudbury Saturday Night", it is where Nickelback signed the record contract that turned them from a mediocre bar band who play shinny into much maligned megastars with an indoor hockey rink.

BROOD tour manager Ryan Fields is currently manning the board at the Townehouse for us, quickly setting up sounds because the house soundguy didn't arrive until a tardy 9:30 for soundcheck. We actually met Ryan here in Sudbury about a month ago, and at that time he instantly proved himself to be our tour manager. by nature assisting the band, tuning guitars, putting away cymbals, carrying amps. This is the man you want for help on the road. He can also keep a driver awake for hours with conversation (a big asset), and hasn't repeated a story yet.

Certain students showed up like Nathan Lawr, a great drummer come songwriter. Enviable that someone can go from providing beats for the likes of King Cobb Steelie and Royal City, then go to releasing several excellent albums of original material, and receive a masters in History.
After the show, one kind geologist major purchased all of our albums plus a t-shirt. While I was signing them all with his friends circled around me, he informed me that he and said friends had visited Mexico this past April, and they all returned with the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus. Proof of survival right there, but no comfort to Mark and I, who as I mentioned, are already a little sick.
-Steve

Let the "Future Ghost Towns" tour begin !

Day 1: September 26, Montreal House, Peterborough ON

Well, after suffering a crushing defeat earlier this weak to Polaris Prize winners Fucked Up (just kidding... congratulations boys and girl), Elliott BROOD has embarked on the "Future Ghost Towns" tour. This is a major one for us, and we have enlisted BLOGSPOT to enter the highlights into the blogosphere.
Unlike last years Mountain Meadows tour which had us all over Canada and Europe, this tour takes us in a figure 8 all over North America (first half only showing as of this writing). Map courtesy our uber prepared tour manager Ryan Fields. On the first part of our journey we will be joined by the illustrious "The Wooden Sky", from Toronto Ontario, with the inimitable "Deep Dark Woods" on the last half, from Montreal onward (Nov 6).
Our (Polaris Prize nominated) record, "Mountain Meadows" is to be released in the US on October 6, and we hope to sell many thousands of copies and/or at least convert a few hundred souls into the ways of the BROOD. check the new light show.

Peterborough - Montreal House tavern:
Jason, the owner of the MoHo is one serious dude. He loves good independant music, as could be evidenced by this weekend's lineup: Thurs: Sunparlour Players, Fri: Elliott BROOD, Sat: Golden Dogs.
Last week the MoHo had Trooper. Everyone makes mistakes. The MoHo is very dear to the BROOD because we seem to start every tour there. This is no exception (though we did rock Detroit the night before with The Weakerthans).
Our relationship with the MoHo goes further: They have ceiling tiles inscribed with the names of people (mostly deceased) who have been regulars there over the years during the tenure of this 125 year old club. Last night, Jason presented us with our own tile. This is a huge honour. Also, my last Elliott BROOD suitcase is immortalized on the wall (see picture, which also shows the famous ceiling tiles). I have been using a real kick drum since July '08.
-Steve