- For those of you, few & faithful, who may have awaited the return of regularly updated "news" pages here... I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAACK! My apologies for abandoning this here website so many months ago, in favour of the relative ease of my MySpace blog. I'll try to begin to again publish a new page here at least monthly.
- So much has happened in the past several months, that it would require six additional "news" pages for me to include everything. Good thing that I gave up sleep for Lent... and
in truth, I'm not even really Catholic. I guess I'm ecumenical in that respect.
- In December, we finished the recording and mastering of the "Snowball In Hell" CD, and mastering of the disk was completed on the morning of December 31st. Our sincerest thanks to Chris & Holly Nylen and the entire staff at Faders Music & Recording over in Brandon for providing us with a studio at which we usually felt quite at home, and for being part of our team for the 3 months it took to make our debut album a reality before the end of 2007. While I haven't had the opportunity to drop by lately, allow me to express our sincerest heartfelt congratulations on the first anniversary (or orbit) for the store/studio, and our best wishes for Fadersfest 2, which we will unfortunately be unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts. Both times we've performed at the store in the past were certainly enjoyed by all of us in the band, just as much as we've enjoyed watching other bands such as Saxton and Armed & Hammered perform at Faders.
- The fact is that I haven't set foot inside of any music store anywhere yet this year, I suppose for two reasons: a) I personally own so much musical equipment that I've decided to start selling some of my own gear, and 2) making that decision prompted me to decide to officially open my own music store here, seeing as it's been a hobby for years anyway. Ever since good old Matt Siemas passed away, Neepawa has been at a loss for anyone to supply musical equipment locally, and driving an hour to buy guitar strings is a pain. Mainly I'll be concentrating on teaching guitar lessons, as I've been asked to do so for years.
- In January we celebrated the release of the CD... almost, anyway. Fan Club President Karen had arranged for a dating website to sponsor the Release Party on the 12th, and we would play to an overflow crowd in a club in St. Boniface. Unfortunately, the UPS truck carrying the first 1000 copies of the CD was stranded in Ontario due to a blizzard.
- In February & March, both Trevor & Bill (who were then living together in some sort of Chandler & Joey/Bert & Ernie fashion) would announce their resignations and leave the band permanently, and have since moved away. We wish them both well.
- While Bad Alibi drummer Wayne Vandepoele had been asked to replace Trevor, we chose to enlist Wayne Aucoin of Brandon for several reasons. We should also congratulate
a rejuvenated Bad Alibi on their return to regular live performances this year.
- We purchased a slightly used "tour bus" (the retired McCreary & District Handivan), soon to be customized in order to transport the band and our equipment.
- A hometown CD release party was initially postponed due to yet another snowstorm, then effectively cancelled for personal (and personnel) reasons, following an extremely less-than-satisfying performance on local NACTV during the annual telethon broadcast live
on local TV from the Roxy Theatre, during a truly hellish week, at least for me. Instead, we shot film for possible future promotional use in the rented Viscount Cultural Centre.
- I spent March 5-8 getting a crash course in the modern music business at Canadian Music Week in Toronto, meeting with influential bigwigs from across North America & Europe. I was also able to take in the Hockey Hall of Fame, the CN Tower, Union Station, the Horseshoe Tavern, T.O.'s Hard Rock Cafe (I've been to H.R.C.'s in both Memphis & Las Vegas), and capped off the week with Irish bands at The Hideout. I left one of my own guitar picks at Jeff Healey's club, Jeff having succumbed to cancer the previous Sunday.
- Auditions for a new rhythm/lead guitarist ended with the new addition of Winnipeg's Elio Simone, although we were contacted by many from across the Prairies, including our old pal Dave Myer, whose schedule will only allow him to assist us behind the scenes.
- Andrew & I had both realized that personnel changes would need to be made in order
to promote the band and our music in the best way possible long before Trevor & Bill had left the group voluntarily. Inspired both by necessity and Wayne Aucoin's own questioning as to whether he was the right drummer for the band, we have attempted to part ways with Wayne in as amicable a way as possible, first offering him a different position within our growing organization. We thank Wayne for his participation, but it was time to move on.
- We have now finalized the starting lineup for the band with a professional drummer from Winnipeg. I'll be announcing just who he is with details soon. The applicants for drummer were just as numerous as those for guitarist, again based mainly on the original songs currently heard on our MySpace page. We appreciate everyone's interest, as we now welcome aboard the two newest members of The Blue Devils.
- April ended on a high note, as I set in motion a distribution agreement that will make "Snowball In Hell" CDs and all subsequent recordings available to consumers in Chapters bookstores and HMV locations nationwide. In the following weeks, we'll be releasing "Sing" to various radio stations as the lead single from the album, and early yesterday afternoon the entire band & I began the first of several rehearsals in preparation for a new "National CD Release Party" concert to be held at a venue soon to be disclosed, after I've spent a few days in Winnipeg, where I will once again be back on the renewed promotional campaign, now that I finally have the right band for this continuing endeavour. I'm proud to call each of them my friend, and promise to try to make their efforts worthwhile. |
