About Whiners and Losers:
Listen to the album here.
The band:
• Keith McDonald: vocals, guitars, other “loop” instruments
• Jamie Manov: vocals, guitars, bass, other “loop” instruments
Tracks: (links are to lyrics)
Guests:
• Marc Silver - Organ “Love For A Woman”
• David Green – lead guitar on “Easy Money”
Produced, mixed and mastered by Keith at The Whiners Studio in Toronto
May 2011 – April 2013.
c. 2013 Keith McDonald and Jamie Manov
Jamie says:
A sensory time was had by all. Indeed, those moments huddled at The Whiners Studio, evermore searching for the perfect note, and sometimes finding it, a definitive progression of Whiners music hath been achieved on this particular outing.
Keith’s diligence on the mixdown brings out an air of tranquillity (sometimes) and aggression (at other times). And for this, I am eternally grateful to him.
Be it his trademark Tele “chugga chugga” rhythm, the mournful wail of a Dano and Mudslide combination, or the rustic embrace of acoustical Gibsons, strides have been made indeed. And, if our voices be anything at all, may they be perceived and received as honest and heartfelt.
I must take this moment to give special thanks, to say nothing of my deepest love, to my seraphic wife Naomi for her patience, lyrical spirit and contribution and ever-loving support throughout this process. She is my rock, my muse and my everything.
To my little darlings Eiliyah, Ari and Zarin, I cannot express how much your daily inspiration brings to both my life and my music.
To my driven, ingenious partner in crime, Keith, I thank pushing me to be better, driving me toward musical level before thought unreachable, and for giving me the gift of music and the ability to share it with others.
To dearest family and friends for never laughing (too much!!) at my chirping, harping and constant aim of reaching the standards of my heroes and those I set for myself.
And thank you Danelectro and Sterling by Music Man for always making me sound better than I probably am!
We can only hope that in listening to this record, and its variant shifts between the soft and hard, we may bring our faithful listeners moments of joy and contemplation.
Keith says:
Oh baby ... what a long haul! Figuratively speaking, making the album was like Jamie and family flying out to Calgary while I made the trip by foot! And, speaking of babies, Jamie managed to have two (well OK, it was twins but it still counts as two right?) while this album was in process. So, we celebrate three lives at this point adding “Whiners and Losers” to the mix of “new life”.
Actually, with two new sons and a daughter already showing music prowess, I think Jamie is trying to build a Whiners live band from the ground up here. But I digress.
Of course, the biggest impact on the album was Jamie’s move away from The Whiners home base in Toronto at the end of 2011. That rather took the Mickey (and maybe the Peter, Davy and Mike too) out of me. An oddity and piece of intimacy worth mentioning here: On the phone call from Jamie, I was able to pre-announce to him about his decision to, er, commute to Calgary, Alberta every day. To this day, I’m not sure how I knew he was going to say he was moving westward but I did. Perhaps that is part of our connection. While not always finishing sentences for each other (or songs), we do have a connection sure to produce more Whiners' material but that's to the future.
The thing about album #2 is that it was almost ready to go about 6 months after we released album #1: “Happy Accident”. Both Jamie and I were of the mind we’d be old school and do two albums a year. Now, some two years later, the second album is a different beast altogether. How so? Well, there is a theme apparent here that I wasn’t able to see or define until recently, Had events not happened the way they did, I would never have found it. What is it? Life! Or maybe I should say: Golden Life.
From school and the pressure to “be cool” to observing the life of the planet, to relationships, to work, to financial meltdowns, to travel, to strange neighbours on the floor above ... “Whiners and Losers” celebrates all of it!
I use the word “celebrates” very deliberately. Jamie and I found our stride here with real joy in the writing and recording process. Why, we even got to having a title track this time out. Though we named the album first and the song came second. And a special shout out to twitter and all the #whiners constantly complaining. The title song goes out to you. On this album, you’ll hear us trade off vocals and share pieces of the music puzzle that we weren’t doing on album #1. If we aren’t a “band” yet, this will do ‘till the real thing comes along! Or at least the rest of Jamie's kids join in.
I’m thankful for what we learned on “Happy Accident” and thankful we took things so much further with “Whiners and Losers”. But, I’m most thankful to Jamie for being a music partner like no other. Even after his physical departure, I felt his spirit in every song. As I finally did get to the mixes and mastering, Jamie’s spirit is what got me through the process. Back to the baby analogy, I could hear Jamie saying: “push” frequently to finally get this second album from us to you and out into the world.
Like life, any road you take should be long and filled with surprises. Of that, there are many found on the 46 minutes that make up "Whiners and Losers". I hope you dig it as much as we do.
A few shout outs to: Brenda and Betty, Fender guitars, GarageBand and to anyone who has given The Whiners a listen. Tell your friends!
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You can find The Whiners everywhere on social media including the proverbial facebook page: facebook.com/thewhiners and their website: thewhinersband.com – the lads would simply love you to be in touch!
Our albums are easy to buy right from here:
