Band Business

Good day

The boys and I have recently upgraded our band practice studio and all I can say is: wow a little paint goes a long way! It is essential having a creative space that has proper ambiance to inspire the artistic visions to manifest themselves and come into fruition within comforting walls. Who said heavy rockers don't know how to dust every once in a while? This recent upgrade was asssisted in a big way by our drummers sister Caroline, who has become one of my best friends over the years. Caroline manages an interior design compnay and was able to provide really top quality paint at a very low buddy rate.

We have a neighbouring band that is next door, Hey Pilgrim!, and typically we schedule our jam days so we dont over lap and cause sonic overload through the walls, as both our bands play through pretty heavy hitting amp stacks. It worked out great this time, however, because Hey Pilgrim! showed up right after my band, Last Relapse, finished a 4 song quick set. Usually we pass the torch when we are both practising with a 3 song band battle with excessive cheering and high fives after each of our 3 song sets--usually turns out to be hilarious and alot of fun. But this time, we had all the paint supplies and having the band show up really gave us the motivation to put down our guitar and pick up the paint rollers while we rocked out to our neighbours epic indy rock set. The cheering and hilarious comments were still in full effect of course and I must say, it was a hell of a fun way to paint a room with the whole band doing their part.

Our drummer came up with a great idea to put the tape of our band logo on the wall as we ran over it with paint rollers, leaving behind an incredibly epic band logo. I'm sure we will go over it again to make it stand out a bit more and also some of the paint peeled off when we removed the tape, which actually gives it a really cool grungy look.

This is just another fun creative project that the band has undertaken together. It will make a great scene for montage shooting this weekend.

Also on the band agenda, we are in talks with a local promoter to play a benefit concert for Mental Health Awareness week commencing May 6th to 12th. The concert will have participating bands cover Elliot Smith songs, an artist that was deeply affected by mental health issues and took his own life October. 21st 2003. I have been a huge fan of Elliot for a long time, he has been the soundtrack that has comforted me through hard times the way a close friend would lend understanding. I will be truly honoured to pay homage to an artist that has given me so much and raise funds for a great cause at the same time. Here is a little taste of one of the cover songs we plan to play for the benefit concert.

http://snd.sc/16yPznp

Have a great one guys!