Jean-Paul De Roover
While I was on the European Tour in November, I stopped in at RadioWeser.TV in Delmenhorst, Germany to record this live version of “Break My Soul.” It was VERY early in the morning, so you might hear some morning voice peeking through!
Thanks to Mark Sender and the rest of RadioWeser.TV for the interview and live performances.
Photos by Shannon Lepere.
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.
Now that I’m back in the swing of things, I figured I’d share some of the photos that Shannon Lepere took while with me on the last US tour, as well as some of my iPhone “photography”. This includes the trek from Thunder Bay to Victoria, BC, then south to Santa Cruz, CA, back up to Portland, OR, then east to Duluth, MN before coming back home. Of course you can always look through my instagram (@jeanpaulderoover) feed to find some other random gems.
Scroll towards the end for some shots from the Y2KX+2 International Live Looping Festival in Santa Cruz, CA.
A big thank you to everyone I met on this leg of the tour, and the random friends we made while you let us sleep on your floors. Cheers, until we meet again in the Fall!
Live at the CB Booking Fest in Victoria, BC (Lindsey Blaine)
Greg Rekus representing Canada in Napa, CA
Live at the ArtLab in Fort Collins, CO (Shannon Lepere)
Live at Side Door Lounge in Omaha, NE (Shannon Lepere)
Alicia of The Love Technicians at the Side Door Lounge in Omaha, NE (Shannon Lepere)
Live at the NorthWest LoopFest in Portland, OR (Shannon Lepere)
Live at the NorthWest LoopFest in Portland, OR (Shannon Lepere)
Live at The Greater Good in Sonora, CA (Shannon Lepere)
Jumping near Big Sur, CA (Shannon Lepere)
Shannon jumping near Big Sur, CA
Admiring the view near Big Sur, CA (Shannon Lepere)
Watching over the shore near Wolf Point, CA
Live at Tycoon’s in Duluth, MN (Shannon Lepere)
Jellyfish display in the Monterey Aquarium, CA (Shannon Lepere)
Belated birthday dinner in San Francisco
Y2KX+2 LIVE LOOPING FESTIVAL: Santa Cruz, CA
With over 55 artists from 7 different countries, I certainly felt at home and in my element performing at this festival for the first time.
Jean-Paul De Roover (Canada)
Stanosaur (US) – didn’t actually use a looping device, but had three separate amps that created feedback loops. Had to leave the building it was so loud!
Whoolilicious (US) – think Cuban/Latin dance music with a looper and a live drummer
Bill Walker (US) & Mandoman (Japan) – a definite highlight! Bill plays guitar and Mandoman plays mandolin, but Mandoman built both instruments, so this was the first time that these two ‘brother’ instruments performed together!
Krispen Hartung & Aaron Davis (US) – Krispen runs the improvised music festival in Boise, ID, but this was live looping dance music to the extreme.
Laurie Amat & Rick Walker (US) – Rick runs the whole festival every year, so for the final performance he and Laurie did an experimental performance, incorporating not one but two vibrators (used musically) into the performance!
Brief update from the road – I’m touring all over the US at the moment, playing some neat intimate shows, festivals, and much more! If you haven’t caught me on this leg of the tour, there’s more coming up, just check out the Tour page. But in the meantime, please check out this cover of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine” that I did at The Study this past September. Thanks to The Walleye for capturing it on video!
As some of you may have heard, some of my work was recognized at the 2012 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards at the end of April.
I had a hell of a time, driving down to Sudbury with my good friend Nick Sherman, playing the showcase, the awards, and bringing home the nomination plaques! Not to mention hanging out with some of my new/old friends like Faraway Neighbours, Kalle Mattson, Faye Blais and many, MANY more.
I was nominated for the ‘Best Vocal Performance of the Year’ category for the song Fix from my a cappella EP. You can still download it for free on my soundcloud! I was up against Faye Blais (who took the award) as well as Cindy Doire, two wonderful and deserving singers – they’re touring Canada if not now then soon, so check them out!
Also nominated was Chris Dorota of Dining Studios for engineering my ‘Pitch Pipes’ EP and Piotr Skowronski for editing the ‘You’ music video (he couldn’t make it, unfortunately). Chris is always a classy man, but still the life of the party.
Here are some other photos of the festivities, my performance at the Great Hall as part of the Awards ceremony and a collection of others. A big thanks to everyone at Music and Film in Motion, and I’m looking forward to attending again next year!
You can check out the final list of winners, etc here.
Yep, it’s been busy here at the Nick Sherman camp – it really feels like I haven’t even touched my own material because I’ve been working so closely with him. However, this stuff is wicked fun to be a part of!
We’ve had 2 packed CD release shows (Thunder Bay and Sioux Lookout), with still one more to come in Fort Frances, and people are loving the disc and the full band live show.
Here are some photos:
You can now download the album on iTunes!
