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Year of the Loop

March 20th/21st – Sackville, Moncton and Hopewell Rocks, NB

We made it to New Brunswick, but considering the size of the province, we had a lot of time to spend. One of the downsides of touring is that there’s a lot of waiting. And doing tourist-y things costs money – which generally keeps most musicians sitting in dark bars and venues hours before a gig. Thankfully, places like the Bridge Street Cafe in Sackville and Plan B in Moncton are also restaurants and very nice places to be in during the day!

Still, we yearned for something more with our day, so we took a drive to visit two interesting NB spots.

MAGNETIC HILL

Magnetic Hill, NB
Strolling - Magnetic Hill, NB

I was actually nervous at first because if for some reason there was a large deposit of magnetic metals, I didn’t want to damage any of my equipment. We looked it up, and it’s just an optical illusion (read more here). Since the attraction was closed we couldn’t drive it, but we walked, and weren’t ready to believe the hype. Apparently it’s very cool if you’re in a car, but since we were on foot, we’re glad we didn’t have to spend $5.

HOPEWELL ROCKS

Lookout point - Hopewell Rocks, NB
Closed - Hopewell Rocks, NB
Medium tide - Hopewell Rocks, NB

Once again, all the attractions are closed for the season, but we could still look out at the flowerpot pillars at Hopewell Rocks. Dangerous walks weren’t possible, but I’d love to come back so that I could explore some of the caves during low tide.

March 16th & 17th – London and Ottawa

Finally played at the Dude Ranch in London! It’s this awesome punk rock basement where they host shows on weekends, and I was originally scheduled to play there a while back, but the basement flooded. I was glad to be back in a little haven of Northern Ontario settled in the South. Seriously, everyone involved in that house is either from TBay, Schreiber, Marathon, Terrace Bay, etc. Unfortunately, they’re moving out / moving on, so this was the 3rd last show at the house. I only managed to take one photo throughout the whole night, but there was lots of sweat, singalongs and BBQ throughout the whole night! Big thanks to the fellow Ranchers for hosting me, and I’ve already been sporting my new shirt for the past few days.

Here’s the snapshot of Thousand Young, but Black Frame Spectacle and Arkham Dispatch also killed it that night.

Thousand Young at the Dude Ranch - London, ON

Ottawa was a fun time – y’know – hanging with Ignacio and Alicia (the usual folks I spend my birthdays with), but this time it was a St Paddy’s day partay. Josef Mieto (Ottawa), Redbird (Vancouver) and Portage and Main (Vancouver) also joined me at the Avant Garde Bar – where the theme isn’t so much green, but red – it’s a socialist Russia themed bar. Again, my pipes and shirt fit the theme well and I didn’t have to worry about colour coordinating with the occasion. Turnout was decent, but thankfully we didn’t get a lot of the rowdy green-beer-drinkin’ drunks. I think they were upstairs with Deaner from FUBAR.

Live at Avant Garde Bar

 

March 12th, 14th & 15th – Oshawa, Toronto, Port Perry

March 12th I hit up Oshawa for a guest spot at the EP Taylor’s open mic. I’ve come to know a bunch of the Music Business students well over the years, and they’ve been coming out to the shows for a while. It was a nooner, but I still had the whole pub joining in. So far this has been my most interactive tour yet!

Toronto has been one of the highlights of the tour – despite having some issues with gear during soundcheck, I was first up at The Supermarket for the Agency Group’s weekly showcase night. Not only did I have the biggest and loudest crowd there, but literally had them yelling and screaming for more by the time the short set was over. Combine that with everyone singing along, lots of handclaps, and some very kind words, it was a blast. Big thanks to all the other bands that played as well, especially The Franklin Electric from Montreal! Otherwise, I spent a full day walking around downtown shopping for hoodies, power adapters, and a belt with Sam, a British osteopath who now lives in Kensington Market.

Earlier that day, I also did an interview for CBC Radio Sudbury – IN FRENCH. Now, while my name may suggest that I am French, my heritage is Flemish (Belgian). I CAN speak some French, but my English – even Spanish – are obviously better. Needless to say, I knew the questions, so I had prepared some answers, and double checked them with Google Translate just in case. I used the translator directly for the question “How do you make your music?”, and luckily I caught it because instead of saying “I build my songs piece by piece”, it would have been “I build my songs with trucks”.

“I build my songs with trucks” – that’s an infinitely more interesting show to see. I’ll post the interview link once it’s up!

Ribs at Salvatore's in Port Perry, ON

On March 15th I rolled into Port Perry to play at Salvatore’s and of course had to have my usual ribs. Ribs you say? How about gigantic slab of ribs! About as long from my elbow to the tips of my fingers (I’m 6’1, so I’ve got long arms). I’ll be coming back, but next time, it might be a house show – exciting!

March 8th, 9th & 10th – Guelph, Hamilton, Windsor

The first southern Ontario component of the tour started in Guelph with a really great house concert put together by the Community Music Collective. Playing in a sun-room off of the house, it got packed pretty fast, with probably close to 40-50 people throughout the whole house. PA speakers set up in the room and even in the hall outside so that the whole house could enjoy (there are 8 bedrooms – so you know the size of the house roughly). They even served a big pasta meal earlier on!

Hamilton was a blast the next day and oh so funny in a variety of ways. First off, my sister Megan joined me and I got to embarrass her later on – details soon. Secondly, I was joined by Wax Mannequin, who we recently determined that after playing 4 shows together over 5 years we can now call each other ‘old friends’. Wax’s set was done sans backing tracks, but the energy was tough to follow. There was literally a balloon fight during the show – at his request of course! As I mentioned, his charisma is a hard one to follow, but I made up for it with storytelling, sweating profusely, and of course, interactions with a buttertart. For those of you that aren’t aware, there are many blog entries chronicling me singing to tarts on stage at the Pearl Company, however, this time, I invited my sister on stage to eat a butter tart on stage, and anytime I sang the words “She’s Happy”, during the song of the same name, she had to start eating quickly, and with as much gusto as possible, hamming it up even.

March 10th was Windsor, where I made a stop at the Dugout. It’s great to arrive and see your name on the marquee! And in HD?! What is this world coming to! It was Derek (the owner’s) birthday that night, so we had a blast, and I even ended up visiting my friends in The Birthday Cakes at the Phog Lounge a little later on. Combine that with late night chats with Murad from Learning and crashing at the mansion with Pumpkin, it was a great end to the first few days of tour.

Good morning, Pumpkin - at the Mansion

March 6th & 7th – Sault Ste Marie to Parry Sound

Back on the road! The ‘Year of the Loop’ tour has begun, and it’s already filled with old friends and new ones. I spent the night with the Pyette’s in Sault Ste Marie after playing at Loplop’s – invited back by popular demand (?) – to a bunch of appreciative listeners. We were hoping for some international hockey players from the massive tournament being held that week, but we didn’t notice any. Trust me, I think we’d notice if Team Russia walked into a bar.

The next night I played in Parry Sound for the first time ever. Started with some light dinner music, then moved my gear over to their blossoming pub night. There was a drum workshop/performance next door and we had some really great performers come in the door. Almost had them joining in, but either way, became friends on Soundcloud with some of the staff who were totally drooling over some of my gear – they’re heavy into electronica, and stoked to have me back anytime! Great start to the tour, for sure.