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March 13th – London – East Village Arts Co-op

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Shannon "Lace Ventura" Lepere - photo by Dana Brushette

Shannon had an excellent time in London. She met up with her old photographer friend Dana Brushette for a pin-up shoot.  “Lace Ventura” looks stellar in her roller derby skates!  She even gave me a copy of the photo to keep on the sunblocker on my car, similar to a war pilot.  London is also one of my favorite places in Canada, probably because Reggie lives there.  This time I didn’t have a bar show, but rather a smaller show at the East Village Arts Co-op. It’s a small hole in the wall, about the size of your grandparents’ living room, in a part of town that might be called a “rough neighbourhood”.  It was structured as an open mic followed by full sets from myself, Jef-Something and Mike Wolski.  I’ve known Mike for a few years (he’s from Dryden), and he started the second half of the show with some covers and an original.  Jef-Something came next, and I was stoked to find he was a one-man-band too!  His setup was mobile though, as he does a lot of busking.  I dedicated a Radiohead cover to him, as he did 2: Creep and another from Kid A (I forget the name).

Richard Modin - photo by Shannon Lepere

My set went over quite well, having Reggie join me on a conga for a few tracks.  It reached it’s apex on the last song when I picked up one of the strands of stage lights and wrapped it around my body as I finished the track by getting people to clap along with me.

photo by Shannon Lepere

You can also read Maggie McGee’s review of the show in the Interrobang (which is also my newest favorite punctuation, pushing the umlaut to 2nd). For those of you that prefer synopses, she found some of my songs “reminiscent of Nick Cave”, and that “De Roover manages to carve his own niche and express his personality and parlay it into a personal chemistry and stage presence that is something distinctly his own. If the innate optimism and excitement can be maintained and nurtured through experience, De Roover’s growth as an artist will be impressive and will come as no surprise.”

October 7th – London – London Music Club

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I came back to London once again, after getting a phone call from the London Music Club, asking if I’d like to open for another show. I said sure, and found out that it would be for Said The Whale. I was stoked, and even shaved off my ‘moustache’ that I had kinda/sorta/notreally been growing for 2 weeks. More like 2 weaks.

The show that night was awesome, as it was my first time hearing STW since having known about them for a few years. The room was pretty full, and everyone was really into it, even for my set!

That night, back at Reggie’s, I did some laundry, including a little cleaning rag for my guitar. But when I opened it up, I realized that something had been growing in it as there was some sort of larva in it. That’s disgusting for 2 reasons: a) it’s a larva. b) all I clean with that rag is my guitar, which is covered in my sweat, so technically, my sweat breeds larva? Gross.

October 3rd – London – Black Shire Pub

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After Guelph I drove back to London, crashing at Reggie’s again.

Shannon and I went out to Spaghetti Eddie’s, whose portions were monstruous, and even my big appetite couldn’t finish the last meatball.

That night I was playing at the Blackshire Pub, with Modernboys Moderngirls, a band I’d heard a lot of buzz about, as well as Jane Carmichael (who had a full backing band).

I went up first (as usual, I am the ‘solo act’), and had quite possibly the largest crowd there. Even old friends from Dryden came out to see it!

Here is a review given by Drew Whitson of the UWO Gazette

*photo by Drew Nelson

Jane Carmichael went up next, playing some awesome radio friendly pop-rock with a guitar player that had the best guitar tone I’ve heard on the entire tour.

Next was Modernboys Modernboys, who delivered a really groovy dance-rock set. Unfortunately, the evening ended on a sour note when tensions flared between MBMG and the JC crew over borrowing a floor tom. It was especially awkward for me as I tried to be friends with both camps.