THE MERRY-TIMES
August 4, 2009 at 7:36 pm | In news | 2 CommentsTags: toronto, sappyfest, sackville, new brunswick, bridge st, rain, garbage, ladyhawk, wintersleep, timbertimbre the durbervilles, ohbijou, struts gallery, julie doiron
It’s raining again in Toronto. They’re calling for severe thunderstorms today and tomorrow. This seems to be the story of the summer of 2009! I don’t mind but I think the squirrels are getting tired of being soaking wet. Late last night we crept among the last of the rotting garbage and returned to our houses. We had been in Sackville, New Brunswick (my favourite town in Canada) for the last five days, where we hung out and enjoyed the Sappyfest music festival. If you’re not familiar it’s a lovely festival that is curated by some really great people (Julie Doiron, Struts Gallery, Paul Henderson and Shotgun Jimmie amongst the amazingness). Although we were all there for the weekend, we didn’t play this year BUT Kyle rocked the bass in the D’Urbervilles and Mika played some lovely strings for Timber Timbre. It’s all about supporting the family, y’know?
In between swimming in the ocean and eating treats at the Bridge St. Cafe we took in some great music including wicked sets by our dear friends Ohbijou, the Magic and Snowblink, as well as seeing some amazing bands kill it such as Ladyhawk and Wintersleep. Pretty much every show rocked. We hope to be there next year!
Our affair with the maritimes was brief this time, but we hope to be back soon to play some shows in the not so distant future. We need to write this record first. I assure you, the wait will be worth it. These rainy days can only be productive.
On our way home we found this amazing sign, which illustrated that there is nothing that New Brunswick can’t do:
xo
kb
p.s. right now the garbage trucks are on our street and it smells like barf and rotting hamburgers is invading our whole house :(
The Midnight Sun
July 21, 2009 at 8:25 pm | In news | 8 CommentsDear Yellowknife,
Thank you for showing us amazing hospitality, cooking vegetarian food in the land of caribou and moose burgers, hosting parties under the midnight sun, showering our ears with fantastic drums and throat singing, combining hip hop culture with old tradition, for bringing us new friends and old, for having a fantastic musical and arts community, for the EartH artist collective and lastly, thank you the most for inviting us to experience this all!
Yours sincerely,
Forest City Lovers
Our private jet. Mika flew on her own jet.
the Yellowknife baggage claim is terribly cute!
Lots o' Sun
With our new friend Old Man Leudecke
On the shore of Great Slave Lake
There is no way we couldn't do this.
Holy mama mia Batman, it’s a new vlog!
July 15, 2009 at 4:37 pm | In tour, vids/phots | 2 CommentsTags: batman, european tour blog, forest city lovers, Italy, salerno, sorrento, the phonemes
Vlog? I don’t think I’ve ever typed that before. Well, it’s Wednesday and that means you get to check out a new video from the band’s European tour… this tasty morsel takes you into the creepiest place we’ve ever stayed in (including questionable sheets) and gives you a few insights into Southern Italian driving (it’s nuts.) Please enjoy responsibly! xox kat
p.s. we’re leaving for Yellowknife tomorrow for Folk on the Rocks festival and we are PSYCHED!! First mission – get Sam Roberts to play tambourine for Country Road….
Well it’s Wednesday….. (sorta?)
July 9, 2009 at 4:28 pm | In forest city lovers, tour, vids/phots | 4 CommentsTags: austria, coldplay, germany, Italy, mustache, tour, wicked toilet
So here is the third installment of our European tour diary. This one is almost like a musical montage. You know, like the ones that always appeared in episodes of Full House in 1999? This video takes us from Amsterdam to Germany and into Italy. Kyle takes on Coldplay and Christian loses his mustache. And if you understand German you’re in for a comic book adventure…read aloud.
Enjoy!
Also – anyone in Toronto should check out an art show that Kat is partaking in. The White House presents Lunar Landings is running from July 9-18 and the opening is THURSDAY JULY 9 (tonight) at Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen St W) so check it out or go here for more information.
xo
FCL
Martin Streek
July 7, 2009 at 2:32 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: martin streek, 102.1
Thought I should mention that it was pretty saddening to hear that Martin Streek, a DJ on local radio station 102.1 here in Toronto, took his own life yesterday. I’ve grown up listening to his voice on the radio and it’s quite sad to hear that he isn’t here anymore. He was a great music ambassador and a familiar voice in an ever changing musical landscape. It’s amazing how used one gets to hearing the same voice for years and then one day you realise it belongs to a living, breathing human that makes mistakes like everyone else. Rest in peace Martin Streek.
HAPPY CANADA DAY!
July 1, 2009 at 2:05 pm | In forest city lovers, vids/phots | 3 CommentsHAPPY CANADA DAY HAPPY CANADA DAY HAPPY CANADA DAY! For the rest of the world, Happy Wednesday! As promised, as it is indeed Wednesday, here is the second video installment of our Euro adventures. Chapter Two takes us from Paris through to Belgium, Rotterdam and then to Amsterdam…
Tonight is full of BBQs and a free concert at the waterfront! Wheeee!
xo FCL
Tour Videos (finally!)
June 24, 2009 at 2:44 pm | In tour, vids/phots | 4 CommentsTags: forest city lovers, frank zappa, jian ghomeshi, paris, sonny and cher, toronto, tour
So a month ago we went to Europe. We took a lot of video while we were there… and it’s finally edited into some chunks. So, now we’re ready to show you! Once a week, starting today, and every Wednesday for the next month we’ll be showing a new vid.
So, I hereby present to you the first installment of our post-tour-tour-video of Europe:
EPISODE ONE: Toronto – Paris or “Christian Gets Lost”
silliness in Paris, Christian’s view on Zappa, eating a lot of cheese, Sonny and Cher, Jian Ghomeshi and Kyle gets accosted by some drunk French guys…
RECORDING BLOG #003
June 20, 2009 at 2:41 am | In forest city lovers, recording | 2 CommentsTags: angles up, if i were a tree, james bunton, phodilus and tyto, recording
Whee!! What a fun weekend. We worked really hard this weekend and everything is sounding really great. I’m quite excited to share the songs. They are a step up from the songs from the last album. Poppy but put together. That’s all I can say, but we’re excited. I can also say that. We will still go into the studio one more day to get Mika’s violin and my vocals done. We shall keep this blog posted and up-t0-date. Or you can always follow our Twitter account if you are into birds.
<—— Kyle laying down some hot bass lines.
<———–Kat being bored sitting around waiting to sing. Decided it was fun to fill her mouth with water and take a photo of it.
RECORDING BLOG #002
June 19, 2009 at 5:43 am | In forest city lovers, recording | 2 CommentsTags: angles up, james bunton, nxne, recording
So today we actually recorded! For realz for realz. It was an early morning, so Kyle and I made peanut butter-on-baguette toast and amazing espresso coffee (with my awesome stove top espresso maker that rocks) and hopped in the van to drive to Angles Up studio. Christian was already there, with his drums mostly set up. We’re working with our dear and talented friend James Bunton for this weekend’s session, and he is always a pleasure to work with.
This is James in all his professional glory, talking to us about how the day’s going to go down:
This is a photo of how we listen really well to Jamie:
So Jamie and Christian spent the morning getting the drums to sound really good. Kyle and I watched. Here is a photo of Christian and Jamie setting up the sparkly-tacular drums:
The drums finally sounded amazing and so we got the piano ready. Kyle lifted it with one hand. Jamie watched. We recorded the first song (tentatively called Phodilus & Tyto) and it only took a few takes. There was even a Kat-and-Mika-sized piano beside the real one, check it out:
We were happy with how the beds sounded for the first song so we moved onto the second song (tentatively called If I Were A Tree) and after twenty three takes (no jokes, we counted them) we got the guitar/drums tracks down. There is no excuse why Christian and I will ever mess that song up again. I promise. Jamie coaxed me into doing some power chord chugs on top of the other guitar line, so I obliged.
So, as I said, it took twenty three takes to get the drums and guitar properly done… It’s a really short song, but Kyle still fell asleep and wouldn’t even wake up when we poked him. We thought it was funny and took photos.
After the day’s work we went to our label guru’s house and had a couple beers and talked about our plans. Stuart was covered with dust because he was stucco-ing his house. I thought it was funny so I took a photo:
We are excited to head in tomorrow. It’s a bass day, so it’s probably best that Kyle slept today because tomorrow he must work work work. We are also very excited for Mika to return from her Brazil trip and add her magic to the mix!
fulla beans,
kb
p.s. it’s NXNE here in Toronto and there are a lot of amazing shows. Tomorrow night especially has a lot of stuff going on….google away and find a new band to check out (let’s see…. The Magic, Ghost Bees, Ruby Coast, Olenka and the Autumn Lovers to to name a few. They might turn into your new favourites…)
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