So close!
It was within our grasp.
This last weekend, I was out in Toronto with a handful of friends including the boys from The Wheat Pool and Paul Bellows
as we banded together to form the Wheat Pool Wailers; a rag-tag group of musicians-turned-hockey players.
As some of you may know, my team, The Yellow Pencils are 0 and 20 this year... A perfect season. So you can imagine the shock that was felt amongst us who were there playing for the Wailers when we actually won a game. Shock and awe...
It felt even better to score a couple goals and get a 1st star of the game vote too!
I have to admit, the first goal was a spectacular feat of athleticism on my part when the puck was fired in by one of our defensemen, bounced off my ass and went top shelf, into the net! They gave me the first star for that, you ask?!!?? I'll tell you right now, I had to be in the exact right spot, with the exact right, ass-angle for that shot to have gone in. No one else's ass would have done the job.
At any rate, I guess we decided that winning was fun because we ended up playing in the finals against Dave Bidini, of the Reostatics and his team.
Apparently, they wanted it more than us because we lost 5-2. It must have been at least partially the fact that we were all doubting the reality of the situation.
It was fun!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
What a great tour!
Thanks to all of you who made it out to our shows in Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna and helped us to have such a successful tour.
We arrived in Victoria on Wednesday and managed to cram Dave, Nathan and I and all our gear into a sub-compact, hatchback. Naturally, the car we had reserved was not there...
At any rate, we made it into Victoria and were treated to breakfast at our new buddy, Ian Farish's place. Great hash browns Ian!
We headed over to our first of 2 shows that day; St. Michael's University School, or SMUS for short. What a kick-ass gig! The students were awesome to play for and were really positive.
Our second show was Ian's CD release. Great turn out and the audience was treated to an excellent show from both bands.
The next day, we squeezed into the car and took the ferry over to Vancouver.
There, we met up with Darcy (our new, bass player-extraorinaire) and Chuckles (drummy drummerson). That night was a real treat, meeting up with a tonne of former Yukoners including a couple members of the Pepper Sands, with whom we shared the stage. Vancouver-ite, Winston opened up the show, solo. All the bands had a great turn out and left feeling that we had seen a great show.
The next night in Vancouver at The Main, we played on the world's smallest stage. 5 of us crammed on to a 6' x 4' platform. Some how Nathan managed to have all the room at the centre while we were pushed to the edges... At any rate, it was a unique evening in that Chuckles played standing up with just brushes on a snare and Ride cymbal. It was a great vibe and I think fans will see that format again in the future.
At any rate, this is starting to ramble so...
Kelowna was a jam-packed show with tonnes of great fans. We made it hope in one piece and now I'm trying to recover....
We arrived in Victoria on Wednesday and managed to cram Dave, Nathan and I and all our gear into a sub-compact, hatchback. Naturally, the car we had reserved was not there...
At any rate, we made it into Victoria and were treated to breakfast at our new buddy, Ian Farish's place. Great hash browns Ian!
We headed over to our first of 2 shows that day; St. Michael's University School, or SMUS for short. What a kick-ass gig! The students were awesome to play for and were really positive.
Our second show was Ian's CD release. Great turn out and the audience was treated to an excellent show from both bands.
The next day, we squeezed into the car and took the ferry over to Vancouver.
There, we met up with Darcy (our new, bass player-extraorinaire) and Chuckles (drummy drummerson). That night was a real treat, meeting up with a tonne of former Yukoners including a couple members of the Pepper Sands, with whom we shared the stage. Vancouver-ite, Winston opened up the show, solo. All the bands had a great turn out and left feeling that we had seen a great show.
The next night in Vancouver at The Main, we played on the world's smallest stage. 5 of us crammed on to a 6' x 4' platform. Some how Nathan managed to have all the room at the centre while we were pushed to the edges... At any rate, it was a unique evening in that Chuckles played standing up with just brushes on a snare and Ride cymbal. It was a great vibe and I think fans will see that format again in the future.
At any rate, this is starting to ramble so...
Kelowna was a jam-packed show with tonnes of great fans. We made it hope in one piece and now I'm trying to recover....
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
BC Tour
Looking forward to getting out on the road again.
Next week we'll be playing 5 dates in BC. We'll be meeting up with some new and some old friends to share the stage with.
In Victoria, we'll be playing with a guy I just recently met named Ian Farish. It's his CD release concert and he was good enough to have us open his big night. Ian recently played a great show here in Edmonton at The Crown Pub.
The next couple nights have us in Vancouver, which is always a good, laid back time.
We'll be playing with a couple bands. Both of which I am a big fan of. The Peppersands is made up of a 4 great folks, two of whom are from Whitehorse, where I'm originally from. They're always a blast and I expect to get pretty drunk.
Winston is a great guy/band I've played a handful of shows with and as it turns out, he's actually on the same label as I am.
Winston will also be joining us at our Kelowna show. I'm pretty excited about the Kelowna show. We've been getting some really good radio and press there and I'm expecting a good turn out.
At any rate, if you're reading this and you live in one of the cities I mentioned, come on out to a show. And if you don't live in the area, tell a friend who does...
For more details, check out the website:
www.jamesmurdochband.com
Next week we'll be playing 5 dates in BC. We'll be meeting up with some new and some old friends to share the stage with.
In Victoria, we'll be playing with a guy I just recently met named Ian Farish. It's his CD release concert and he was good enough to have us open his big night. Ian recently played a great show here in Edmonton at The Crown Pub.
The next couple nights have us in Vancouver, which is always a good, laid back time.
We'll be playing with a couple bands. Both of which I am a big fan of. The Peppersands is made up of a 4 great folks, two of whom are from Whitehorse, where I'm originally from. They're always a blast and I expect to get pretty drunk.
Winston is a great guy/band I've played a handful of shows with and as it turns out, he's actually on the same label as I am.
Winston will also be joining us at our Kelowna show. I'm pretty excited about the Kelowna show. We've been getting some really good radio and press there and I'm expecting a good turn out.
At any rate, if you're reading this and you live in one of the cities I mentioned, come on out to a show. And if you don't live in the area, tell a friend who does...
For more details, check out the website:
www.jamesmurdochband.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I'm a Star!!....Well...Kinda...
I answered my door today to find a UPS delivery guy standing there with a very heavy box.
He asked me what the hell I was receiving that was so heavy. I told him, once I examined the shipping label that they were CDs.
He says,"You're THAT James Murdoch!!??". I was a little surprised but sure enough, he knew who I was. He bought a CD right then and there.
Now, if only the J.W.'s were so savvy!...
He asked me what the hell I was receiving that was so heavy. I told him, once I examined the shipping label that they were CDs.
He says,"You're THAT James Murdoch!!??". I was a little surprised but sure enough, he knew who I was. He bought a CD right then and there.
Now, if only the J.W.'s were so savvy!...
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Last Sunday At Mark's
Thanks to all who made it down to the Crown Pub aka: Mark's Place, on Sunday night.
We packed the place for a great concert with Nick Perreault w/ Krispian Schmidt-Paborn and from Victoria, The Ian Farish Band.
Crown Pub is always a great hang out. Watch for more shows coming soon.
Ian Farish has been gracious enough to set up a couple gigs for me and the trio in Victoria in March. We'll be playing an afternoon show at the auditorium at St. Michael's University School and then, later that evening, opening for Ian at his CD release at Hermann's. Looking forward to it!
Check out the website for more details
We packed the place for a great concert with Nick Perreault w/ Krispian Schmidt-Paborn and from Victoria, The Ian Farish Band.
Crown Pub is always a great hang out. Watch for more shows coming soon.
Ian Farish has been gracious enough to set up a couple gigs for me and the trio in Victoria in March. We'll be playing an afternoon show at the auditorium at St. Michael's University School and then, later that evening, opening for Ian at his CD release at Hermann's. Looking forward to it!
Check out the website for more details
Friday, February 15, 2008
New Dates!
I'm pretty excited about all the dates that are coming up. They seem to be flooding in.
We're going to be hitting B.C, Alberta and Saskatchewan in March.
April brings us up to the Yukon! I haven't played up there in at least 4 years!
This summer we will be playing festivals and hitting Eastern Canada!
Continue to check the Tour Dates link on my website for constantly updated info.
www.jamesmurdochband.com
Thanks, J.M.
We're going to be hitting B.C, Alberta and Saskatchewan in March.
April brings us up to the Yukon! I haven't played up there in at least 4 years!
This summer we will be playing festivals and hitting Eastern Canada!
Continue to check the Tour Dates link on my website for constantly updated info.
www.jamesmurdochband.com
Thanks, J.M.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Thawing Out
I have many pet-peeves. One of them is the misuse and mispronunciation of words or just simply, making words up all together. Amongst these, I would include: "dethaw", "expresso" (that one really pisses me off) and the inability of people to distinguish between "they're", "their" and "there".
Yesterday, I was watching Deal or No Deal. The woman on the show insisted on calling the cases, "cages". She went on to turn down $540,000 and won close to nothing. Definitely among the world's chosen few...
But, speaking of the former, "dethaw", we have finally hit a thaw here in Edmonton and holy crap, am I glad of it.
My car has started a total of 3 times this month and close to the same last month. It's a diesel, so it doesn't like the cold but usually if I plug it in it's fine. So I plugged it in. Still, no-worky. I finally noticed that one of the wires on the block heater was cracked. So in minus 43 with a wind chill that was more like a balmy day on Pluto, I replaced the plug. The car started an hour later and the next day it was minus 3...
Just finished mixing David Aide's new CD. For those of you who don't know, David is the piano/organ player in the band.
The record was a long time coming. We started tracking over a year ago... It sounds great though. I'm sure it will be ready for the masses in the next couple months.
The studio has actually been pretty busy. This month we plan on finishing the "Songs From The Ave." record.
I have a song on it called "Letters From Home". It turned out pretty cool. Very mellow.
It actually got me thinking about all the songs I have recorded but have never released.
Maybe I'll try to make them available on itunes or my website. Let me know if you're interested.
Yesterday, I was watching Deal or No Deal. The woman on the show insisted on calling the cases, "cages". She went on to turn down $540,000 and won close to nothing. Definitely among the world's chosen few...
But, speaking of the former, "dethaw", we have finally hit a thaw here in Edmonton and holy crap, am I glad of it.
My car has started a total of 3 times this month and close to the same last month. It's a diesel, so it doesn't like the cold but usually if I plug it in it's fine. So I plugged it in. Still, no-worky. I finally noticed that one of the wires on the block heater was cracked. So in minus 43 with a wind chill that was more like a balmy day on Pluto, I replaced the plug. The car started an hour later and the next day it was minus 3...
Just finished mixing David Aide's new CD. For those of you who don't know, David is the piano/organ player in the band.
The record was a long time coming. We started tracking over a year ago... It sounds great though. I'm sure it will be ready for the masses in the next couple months.
The studio has actually been pretty busy. This month we plan on finishing the "Songs From The Ave." record.
I have a song on it called "Letters From Home". It turned out pretty cool. Very mellow.
It actually got me thinking about all the songs I have recorded but have never released.
Maybe I'll try to make them available on itunes or my website. Let me know if you're interested.
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