Finally. Yes, I hit the button ... submit. Done! The album is out of our hands and virally making the rounds to the on-line stores. We set May 15 for the grand releae date but it may trickle out before that. Will 'ya do us a solid and give it a whirl.? Leave a review? Tweet and/or otherwise celebrate with us? The Whiners and Losers release is something special, we think. Songs about life ... the not so hidden theme. We've got the needed bar code as well. In the tradition of this blog, …
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OK, I admit it ... I like Bombgirls. OK, I admit it ... I find a lack of attention the band gets to be frustrating. OK, I admit it ... I wish more of you were reading this. OK, I admit it ... I wish I could play lead guitar. OK, I admit it ... I wish I were 10 pounds lighter. OK, I admit it ... I wish I wrote Time Of Your Life. OK, I admit it ... I miss singing with Shannon. OK, I admit it ... I was wrong once. OK, I admit it ... I wish Dave and Margo would comment on The Whiners music. OK I …
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Saw the Australian Pink Floyd Show at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga on Friday, October 26. Giving it an 8 of 10. Loved the sound, the lights and most of the performances. Highlights were Shine On, The Fletcher Memorial Home, One of these Days, What Do You Want From Me and Comfortably Numb. Maybe a bit too much emphasis on the newer Floyd cuts otherwise but a good set list. The downside were some of the technical sounds they had - not being as Floyd like as the real thing. Some of this may have …
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Went to see John Fogerty in Toronto September 14. My reactions - though he is one awesome lead guitar player - were not too good. Where do I start? I was quite excited to hear Fogerty would be playing full Creedence albums on this tour. I was hoping I would land on a night when Cosmos Factory would be up. It was! Great so far. But, my most anticipated moment: "Heard It Through The Grapevine" turned out to be around 8 minutes less long than I expected and wanted. I just love that CCR groove on …
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Went and saw Backbeat the play last night at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Thought it was great! I could quibble about a few things but, when I say that, it reminds me how much I find quibbles irritating when it comes to my own work, haha. It didn't really remind me that much of the movie and I heard some lines out of a Hard Days Night and classic Beatle lore such as George talking about Geroge Martin's tie during a studio session. Speaking of George, I didn't find they leveraged his instrument …
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I went to see the Wall return Saturday, June 23. This time at the Rogers Centre vs. the Air Canada Centre. I wondered what differences you might get at the two locations and, sure enough, Torontonians got a taste of The Wall stadium show variety. A much larger wall to be sure. Waters seemed even more relaxed than 19 months ago. If he continues this way, he won't be recognisable as the same man who spat on a fan in Montreal - the incident that began this whole Wall adventure. Waters said as much with a: …
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Well, the Whiners and Losers album is almost mixed. It's so close. In fact, it's so close I can't finish it since I'm so close to it. I've been giving it some distance to see if I still like the mixes when I come back to them. So, we'll set the date shortly and off we go. Gotta' get it out ... stay tuned. Facebook Changes I did want to comment on Facebook's changes to the band pages. I'm warming to the concept of the time line now that I see you have some control over how the page layout. I did find it …
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Saw Brit Floyd at Sony Centre For The Performing Arts in Toronto last night (Macrh 1). They were simply great and it was a greatest Floyd hits show for song selections. Absolutely the best version of Great Gig in the Sky I've ever heard. Other stand outs were have a Cigar b/w Wish You Were Here - just like on the album. And their take on Animals was superb with Pigs 3 Different Ones. The only issue I might pick at was just a bit of guitar wanking on some songs. Sir Gilmour never goes all Eddie Van Halin …
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So the Grammy and Academy awards happened already. Check those off the list! There are too many award shows (don't you agree?) but, even so, it is a good thing for peers to recognise each other. We think so anyway. But, I wish there was an Internet or viral awards thing as well (and there probably is) but there are so many bands like us out there not even on the radar that it would be hard to judge it - let alone award anything. So perhaps the "Off-The-Radar" Awards . We'd take the "try …
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I've mentioned in a few places about gigging with some guys from the "day-job". We've played a high profile Holiday Party for the last few years and I wanted to post something from that. Unfortuantely (and typlically), we've never gotten a great sound recording form the live sets. But the track on this post is one form our rehearsals and it came out not too badly - considering it's live from the floor! We used this song as our centre piece to close out a set where the head honcho played a few …
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We say it outloud for those who celebrate Christmas: "Merry Christmas" (and especially to Reham, who argues we shouldn't get hung up about being too PC). For those who don't celebrate Santa or Christ or gift giving, or whatever ... happy all the rest! The end of the year is mastering time with a big push over the next five days to finish up the Whiners and Losers album. The songs are sounding pretty good to us. The album should have some more legs than the first album, We say …
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Been a whole six months since I wrote a post. In between lots has happened! First and most stunning is that Jamie is now in Calgary! Indeed, that has and will have an impact on the band. But, we plan to keep at recordings. The good news is the tracks for "Whiners and Losers" are done and now I just have to get to the final mixes. Shouldn't be too long for that so look for an early 2012 release. We found one single male bedbug in The Whiners studio shortly after the previous blog …
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I saw Supertramp June 12 and loved them. I'm sad, of course, we didn't get Roger Hodgson together with the band (and of course Dougie Thompson as well on bass). Still, the band was great with John Helliwell and Bob Siebenberg from the classic line up still around. Rick Davies plays amazing and they all looked great too. Well worth the ticket. Roger Hodgson is quoted as being disappointed too he wasn't a part of this 40 year anniversary tour. He's also pissed that the band is playing his …
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Just a few odds and ends to talk about as we near the end of May. @thewhiners and @thewhinesband We've been tweeting a lot more recently. Decided in April to start RT-ing whiner references as well - even if they weren't about us. Made some new friends this way. Of course we had the recent Canadian election and did some on the fly tweets during the debates which was quite fun and gave a real sense of being in the moment as others were watching/tweeting too. Whiners and Losers We've been …
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My momma always taught me "if you don't have something nice to say about someone, don't say anything". I know politics is a dangerous game and all, but I really am growing to despise attack ads. The one by the Conservatives against (not the Liberals) but against Ignatieff is the most current example. It was running before the election was called and seems to be running triple time now. Each time I see it I grow more and more offended by it. If you want to be Prime …
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While searching Google for pick ups of our new release "Happy Accident", I came across a link to a web site of health tips around the Common Cold that featured our video from "Wear Your Socks to Bed". It's a connection for sure Lol. I did a screen capture of it featured here. We've taken the video off line so it's not available anymore which I guess puts a wrinkle into the content there, but I find it hilariously funny that we would be linked to a site talking about cold …
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So, we have an album out. That's just cool to be able to say that. The Whiners as a band goes back to 1998 when I (Keith) linked up with an old high school chum to tutor me on guitar. Playing guitar was something I always wanted to do but never got to. Who better to teach you than someone you hung with? That was good but we have to fast forward 10 years or so later for me to get good enough and persistent enough to get the preverbal shit together and find a partner with a similar mind set to …
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So, we Whiners are checking our lists and files more than a few times to make sure everything is a go for Happy Accident. I know several musicians who proof read their materials over and over and over and still ended up with mistakes once released. That's what I fear will happen with us! So, I've been reluctant to throw the switch, give the green light and let these babies go. But why do I say fear is the same as being risk adverse? Anything you do is going to have some risk attached to it and if …
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None of the other late night dudes are really doing anything that I find as "can't miss TV". Being a Beatles fan, this segment is level 4 awesome. Saw Paul on Letterman a year or so ago and it was good but no comparison to what happened on Fallon. Cheers to 'em both.
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I often say I'd like to come back as a cat. When I saw my two cats (Pink and Tarzanne) getting some liquid sunshine this weekend, well it just solidified that view. Cats know how to chill in the sun better than any living creature I know. I wanted to join them in their enjoyment. If we work for the weekends, then cats don't work for nothing.
Alert to all Garage Band users - there are bugs in ILife 11 on all the items: iPhoto, IMovie and GarageBand. In short they very much iSuck! The issue with GarageBand (found so far) is when deleting a track you see the visualizations for the other tracks disappear! The music is still there but the visuals are gone. Can't figure that one out? So, it's buggy and I very much recommend holding off on the install until Apple presents some fixes. The boards are a buzz about the issues with iPhoto …
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I attended all three Wall shows in Toronto and, even a week later, the music is still escalating through my veins. I can't get it out of my head really. The entire presentation was stunning from the visuals on down to the actual construction of the Wall in the arena. You knew it would be happening but to see it was something else! I tweeted through the entire first show - knowing I would see it again made it easier to tweet actually since it does take your attention away from the show …
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Keith caught the first two Waters Wall shows at the ACC (Air Canada Centre) and he has a one word review of both: "wow". He'll be at show 3 as well and tells Admin he will post some pics and a few more detailed reactions. 'Til then we are
waiting for the worms.
Anyone remember Dana Carvey on the premier of an all new cast SNL show? It was years ago now. Sigorney Weaver was the host and she, Carvey and Phil Hartman (RIP) were in a sketch about a record company taking a chance on a singer/songwriter who'd become somewhat wasted over the years (Carvey). Derek Stevens I think the character's name was. Anyhow, the character was supposed to have finished a new album for the execs to hear. He hadn't and started improvising on the spot some of the …
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