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dining room studios

Feliz Navidad – New Christmas song

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Or should I say Feliz Skavidad?

What happens when you do a Christmas song with The Seaside Villains? You end up with a super fun punk/ska/reggae version of Feliz Navidad. Odd fact: this is the longest Xmas song we’ve done so far, yet it contains the least lyrics. How does that happen? Serious guitar solos, that’s how. This is part of Dining Room Studios and I’s annual project to record a holiday song with a featured guest.

Enjoy the free download and Happy Holidays from Jean-Paul, The Seaside Villains, and Dave at Dining Room Studios!

CREDITS

Originally written by Jose Feliciano

Produced by Jean-Paul De Roover and Dave Angell
Arranged by Jean-Paul De Roover
Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by Dave Angell at Dining Room Studios

Jean-Paul De Roover: Vocals, Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar, Organ, Aux Percussion
Eric Westelaken: Vocals, Electric Guitar
Dave Angell: Bass Guitar
Josh Hogan: Drums
Paula DiGiuseppe: Vocals
Justin Sillman: Electric Guitar
Deidra Ferguson: Trumpet

Go, Tell It On The Mountain

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Dining Room Studios and I have a new fun project: every year we’ll record a holiday song that I’ll arrange, produce and coordinate a guest performer to join us. You may remember last year we had Mark Potvin and the Potvin Horns join me for “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”.

This year we went with an old spiritual song “Go, Tell It On The Mountain”, but took a folk approach that quickly turned into folk rock! Of course, it just made sense to get Nick Sherman in as a guest vocalist. We even included a little “Oh Susanna”, which quickly turned into our own recounting of the evening’s events. Have a listen, and enjoy the free download. It’s the season of giving! On behalf of myself, Dave at Dining Room Studios and Nick Sherman; happy holidays and all the best in 2014!

Live at the Tomlinson Block

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It’s been a while, but I have some great news!

While you’re waiting for the new album, “Complexity in Simplicity”, I’m very proud to finally unleash the “Live at the Tomlinson Block” Video EP.

Over the course of two days this past July, we assembled a crew that transformed one of the empty spaces inside the Tomlinson building in downtown Port Arthur into an intimate concert setting. 20 fans and friends gathered in the very warm space for several hours while I poured my heart (and sweat) out on film. Since my live show now has so much more crowd participation, I found it only fitting that I share these new songs in a way that allows you to experience it like they did. All four of these tunes are going to be on the new album (out in March!), but here you get a taste of what my one-man-show is all about. Plus, now you can learn the words to sing along the next time you see me play!

ONE BY ONE

MAN WITH NO HANDS

SHE’S HAPPY

WE WILL BE

 

CREDITS (alphabetical order)

A huge thank you to Amy DeCorte, Chris Dorota, Curtis Jensen, Dave Angell, Matt Popowich, Michael Kee, Sarah Furlotte, Scott MacKay, Shannon Lepere, Steven Johnson and Tyler Sklazeski for their help as part of the crew that made this crazy shoot a reality.

Special thanks to Amy DeCorte, Apple Wagon Films, Armelle Sandford, David Zahodnic, Debby Jensen, Dennis Wood of Cinevate, De Roover family, Devin & Katie Pickett, Michael Kee, NineSixty, Laurie DeCorte, Per Lundstrom, Phil Walkden, Rachel Vandenassem, Sarah Furlotte, Shannon Lepere, The Walleye, Tyler Sklazeski and Westfort Films for all their assistance.

An additional thanks to the audience members that suffered through the hot temperatures and lack of air conditioning: Alex Maclean, Armelle Sandford, Carla Collier, Cassandra Specht, Chris Lamont, Dan Robere, David Hotson, Hannele Kormano, Jess Hochins, Jimmy Breslin, Jordan Lester, Lisa Kushnier, Lisa Monteith, Luke Blair, Max Paterson, Rachel Vandenassem, Randy Monteith, Rebekah Skochinski and Tyler Sklazeski.

Making of “Complexity in Simplicity” Videos

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So this past September, I pulled off something crazy. I recorded a full length album at Dining Room Studios in Thunder Bay in less than 2 weeks, between two big tours (one of Eastern Canada, the other of Western Canada/US). Not only was I performing for the bulk of the time, I also had some gigs during that 2 week stint, on top of planning a surprise birthday party for Shannon’s 30th! It was intense to say the least. Thank goodness Ben Leggett was at the helm.

Shannon and I both had cameras and phones running from time to time, so here are some videos showing the ‘making of’ of the new album, titled Complexity in Simplicity.

*Note, the songs you hear in the videos are my demo versions from the summer. The finished songs are still being mixed – you’ll hear them soon enough!

Rehearsals Galore

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Even though I told myself I wouldn’t be playing much this summer – it’s creeped in there. I’ve been rehearsing for festivals, random shows, and more since getting back from the Year of the Loop tour.

What you see above is my current rehearsal space in my parents’ basement. So what?! With my looping being based on foot pedals, I can’t really ‘jam’ in the second floor apartment I’m currently in!

I have taken some time to work on new material though. Finishing writing a slew of songs, as well as preparing others to be played live. I even took a little trip up to Sioux Lookout to rehearse with Dennis Dumphy, drummer extraordinaire.

Why, you may ask? Well, because he’s going to be playing on the new album!

Yes, it’s in the works. No, it’s not going to be ready any time soon. Trust me though, it’ll be worth the wait. I’ve got an excellent team of people assembled to help me get through the recording process in September.

Ben Leggett – recently produced Craig Cardiff’s Juno-nominated album ‘Floods and Fires’, and will be producing mine shortly! We’ve been hard at work since the spring, redefining, rewriting and reworking even the finest details of the songs that will comprise the new recording.

Dining Room Studios – my favorite studio and engineers; Chris Dorota and Dave Angell will make sure it sounds like ‘me’.

Dennis Dumphy and Chris Dorota will flesh out the ‘live band’ element, adding drums and bass overtop of my existing sounds.

As we get closer to the actual recording, I’ll be filling you all in on what it’s going to sound like, who else is involved, etc. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been rehearsing…for something big!

Thunder Bay Tourism Videos

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Many, many months ago, myself and Rob Benvegnu were assembled to collaborate on music for a series of commercials for Thunder Bay Tourism. Having always been an advocate for my hometown, I was honoured, and excited to work on a pretty big project with someone I hadn’t worked with in years. Rob and I used to play in a band together in 2003, but haven’t really worked on anything since. He was busy with his dance group CoNcEpTs while I ventured into the world of the one-man-band. He’s been producing lots lately though, winning an Aboriginal People’s Choice Award for Shy-Anne Hovorka’s album ‘Pseudo’ as well selling beats as his alter-ego, RaWb EaTs. Working with him on the music was a lot of fun, and we went through many different versions before settling on the one you hear there. We experimented with different sounds and styles, but I think you’ll agree that the finished product flows along quite nicely just as it is!

We teamed up with Dave Angell from Dining Room Studios to first record the music for the 3 spots, as well as the whole gang from Imaginarium Studios who then synced it to their finished video. The whole production was coordinated by Generator, with Robin Moss (a British songsmith himself) writing the script. There are more credits on each of the videos if you click through to YouTube, but give them a watch, who knows what people and places you’ll recognize! Here they are, broken up into the 3 main tourist seasons: Summer, Fall and Winter.

Feel free to leave a comment on the actual video pages or down below!

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