Show Report - North by NorthEast!

Thursday June 14 - Detour Bar, NXNE Showcase
with Jet Black, Alright Alright, and This Mess

Notes from Cyn:
- Detour Bar is one of those awesome little nooks that is perfect for party people. but it looks like it's usually packed, so please don't tell anyone about it. SHUSH.
- OMG the staff are all super hot. seriously, we beg of you, do NOT tell anyone about this bar.
- the stage was small. "the drums were halfway up my ass, but other than that, i'm perfect!"
- in London we dressed British, for Laura Rock's CD release we dressed rocker, and for Detour... we dressed to match the disco ball. for realz.
- it felt like we played REALLY well. everything felt like it was on fire. or was that just the extreme heat? but people were bouncing and dancing and cheerleadering (hush now, it is too a word) and yelling with fists in the air.
- we even had two sexy dancing girls mashed onto the front speaker for the last two songs.
- afterward, a girl said that i reminder her of Joan Jett and I nearly burst into tears. i'm sort of a dork.
- HOLY MOTHER OF BOB THE POUTINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mandy, please explain the awesomeness of Bon Jovi & poutine...

Notes from Dug:
-what we played NXNE! It all seems to blur together from Wednesday evening to Sunday morning.
-keeping up with these young cupcakes will be the death of me...but what a way to go!
-consumed more alcohol in 5 days than all month...but still relatively sober...DAMN you tolerance!
-the gig was fantastic, 3 sparkling lunatics, rocking out in black and silver from head to toe!
- the fact that whoever put the drum kit together and didn't know back from front of a bass drum didn't deter us from given 'er our all!
Nothing that a cinder block and sparkle boots couldn't fix. (see pic)
-all in all it was a killer night with killer bands. We came, we rocked, We had sex with your moms! \m/

Notes from Mandy:
Uhhh, the dog ate my show report.

OMGPWNEEEZE! WE PLAYED NXNE!!!

We played NXNE and I worked my Artist pass like show-playing, seminar-going, line-jumping jerk that I am.
So. Much. Fun. With a disco ball...

The cool thing about the Artist pass is that you get to go to all these fancy-schmancy industry seminars, which were either kinda not-quite-as-advertised, or interesting, or frikkin' cool, depending on how you choose...or how many of the family-sized gins the very friendly bartender has served you.
In between seminars we got loads of people chatting with us 'cause of the jackets, and every time we turned around, all of the earplugs we'd put down were gone! People love swag. I hope they look us up on FB.
While the seminars teased us with cookies on Wednesday, there were none on Thursday or Friday. RIP OFF! I DEMAND COOKIES! I HAVE AN ARTIST PASS, DAMMIT!

Super huge thanks to Charles Whaley of torontoliveclubhub.com for the Video!




Photo Set - and Review of the show thanks SO much Amber!

Show Report - NOW Lounge

Thursday June 7 - NOW Lounge, Toronto

Sarah Smith, Laura L'Rock, and High Heels Lo Fi

http://lipstikindie.wordpress.com << Review of the show from Nik Beat

Notes from Cyn:

- NOW Lounge is clean and pretty and doesn't smell like a bar. more of a lounge. it's really nice. i'm surprised they let us in.
- bartenders, sound man, and all staff were really sweet and helpful. they seemed to dig our schtick. keen.
- Sarah Smith has a brilliant voice & should do a blues album. Someone please hand her a briefcase full of money to make that happen.
- Laura Rock & her band were on fire, and were an awesome great time! Drummer Owen is cuter than a duck wearing a hat, and is a bundle of bouncy happy energy. very inspiring.
- lots of friends & fans came out - was a great crowd!
- we played really well, i held the long note for 57 seconds, and people screamed along!
- at the end of the night, Mandy & I were hauling gear in high heels & mini skirts. some of the staff nearly yelled at us for doing this, & rushed to help. so sweet! but chicks in bands must haul their own shizz. chicks must never act like girls!

Notes from Dug:

-to follow the likes of Sarah Smith and Laura L'Rock is no easy task. But the crowd that stuck around to see our schtick seemed to really enjoy us. Yay...new fans.
-and for the first time with the cupcakes, Cyn was directly in front of me for a change. I could see the look of relief in Mandy's eyes. Yes, I always look Mandy straight in the eyes!!!ALWAYS!!!
-Cyn in her shortest skirt yet didn't help and it wasn't t long before I extended a SLAVEdrummer welcome via drumstick!
-getting compliments from Laura's all star line up of real, full time musicians was humbling at most. When Owen Tennyson calls you "da shit" you must be doing something right! Alcohol might have been a factor, but ya gotta love Owen. He's REAL!
- Nik Beat of the Howl on CIUT was M.C. for the night and he also gave us kudos for the show. And a nice little review!
- I missed the after gig poutine. :-( Oh well, there's always next time...

Notes from Mandy:

*a bluebird flies by the window*

Apparently Mandy is off on special assssssignment. Something involving experimental bass techniques and pyrotechnics using mescal as a base. I don't know, I wasn't really listening dude, Steel Panther was on at the time. You expect me to pay attention? I bet bassist Lexxi Foxx doesn't turn in his show reports either, but in his defense, he spends 10 hours a day on his hair and makeup, 10 hours a day screwing groupies, and 2 hours for soundcheck and the show. So time is limited for show reporting.




Super huge thanks to Charles Whaley of torontoliveclubhub.com for the Video! click HERE for Video!

Show Report!

Saturday June 2 - The Richmond Tavern, London

Notes from Cyn:
- for this trip we had a groupie / roadie / buddy come with us, who shall henceforth be known as FancyPants.
- had to cram all of our gear, including drums, into Mandy's Mom's car. usually when doing a show the hometown band will supply the drums. drummers ALWAYS share drums. but apparently the special little princess from K.R.A.W. didn't want to share his brand new (but cheap and generic) drum kit with strangers. fuckin' mary.
- the drive to London was full of great conversation and buckets of laughing. then we fueled up (ate WAY too much) at East Side Mario's. 8 layer lasagne? hell yes.
- The Richmond Tavern is a fabulous bar full of people who understand us. don't you just adore bars that feel like coming home?
- thanks to the many friends who came out to see us! and to Jason Roorda who took some amazing photos
- since we were in London for the Queen's Jubilee, we dressed as British mods. Doug even brought a Union Jack flag that had belonged to his grandad! we made him wear a tiara. yes, we're douchebags.
- the show went really well - i think we rocked it! there seemed to be a general sense of approval, fists in the air, and people prancing & dancing about.
- shots? yes there were!
- middle of the night chips & pretzels run? yes there was!
- back at the hotel.... should we say who Doug got to share a bed with, or just let that one hang?
- Mandy & I were total assholes in the morning and sent Doug and FancyPants down to fetch coffee and cinnamon buns while we warmed up with chips and Red Rain. yes, we're douchebags.
- we all lounged in bed watching the Queen's Jubilee boat parade. trust me, we were funnier than the snotty newscasters. read back in our Twitter feed if you don't believe me.
- goddamn those cinnamon buns were good!
- in the morning when we went back to the bar to fetch our gear, one dude, having been there until last call the night before, was enjoying a noontime beer. he raved about how crazy it was that i can hold a note that long, and was bugging me for my secrets. heh heh. also something about how his mother is Welsh and his father is Hungarian, so that makes him Well-Hung.

Notes from Dug:
-putting a full 3pc band with gear, overnight bags, and a roadie/groupie into an Accura crossover required some Tetris/Jenga combo skills. But we made it all fit! Thank you K.R.A.W. (cough-douchebag-cough)
-setting up the gear / sound / stage wasn't as challenging as I thought it was going to be. Actually made the room sound good, with ample monitoring and nobody lost their hearing. With us at least!
-Sitting down to start the set I noticed the fuzzy pink tiara resting on my snare drum. First words out of my mouth were " Are you frickin serious?" But I already knew the answer! So I was the "pretty princess" for the evening. At least I wasn't "handlebars"!
-the set went great, the shots were flowing, had my first Irish Car Bomb! Tequila, Jager, Gin & Tonics, beer...a bit of everything, yet still relatively sober, as usual!
-Even bought Mandy a couple of extra shots, knowing well that they might help her "sleep" better since she was taking one for the team and bunking down with SNOREdrummer! I hope she at least slept for a couple of hours, I only remember one maybe two shoves that night!
All led into a lazy morning of TV watching, breakfast fetching (still the new guy) and general lounging around. (NOTE: Cinnamon buns with bacon heated up in the microwave are delicious)

Notes from Mandy:

*crickets chirping*

It seems that Mandy has been practicing bass so hard this week that she simply cannot waste energy on typing. Also, she may have injured her pinky finger by overextending it in British teatime form. (PINKIES UP! is the new HHLF code for "We Need a Cocktail") Therefore, the Management would like to state that she had a lovely time in London, and was a perfectly behaved (*cough cough, no, i can do this with a straight face...*) perfectly behaved young lady who enjoyed a charming time in this fine city.

The ass shaking upskirt video footage has yet to hit the interwebs.


Photos from the darling Jason Roorda Photography: