Over the next few weeks we’ll be releasing some videos we made to accompany each track on Stories of Brothers, Tales of Lovers. Check out the first one for The News!

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We arrived back in Vancouver on the 14th. We were initially coming back to play the Arts County Fair and Telus Ski and Snowboard Fest. Due to the powers that be, those shows fell through and now we are basically here for a few weeks to hang out with the ladies and friends. We’re also continuing to write new tunes and playing one show out in Maple Ridge next weekend. I will also be working on finding some artwork for a new EP that we should be releasing very shortly. It will include the three tracks we recorded with Howard in February as well as two live versions of songs that will be coming out on our next full length.

Anyway if I go back to where we left off, we were on our way to play Ottawa, Montreal, and London at the beginning of April. Opening for Dragonette shows turned out to be great crowds for us in London and Ottawa, but the highlight was spending time in Montreal. We only had one day, but we met up with a large posse of friends and decided to have a picnic up on Mount Royal in the old graveyard… We didn’t plan it but it turned out that hanging out in front of the Molson (beer) families mausoleum was the best spot, and believe me we all tipped a beer or two for the Canadian beer tycoon.

Our Montreal show was a last minute thing but it turned out great. We met an awesome band named Trevor James and the Perfect Gentlemen who helped us to bring out a crowd, only promoting the show two days beforehand. Check out Trevor playing solo here:

When we returned to Toronto after the weekend, we had time booked in the rehearsal space all week. As a four piece (since Henry was still in Europe) we kept writing and working on new songs. In the past I’ve often brought more finished arrangements of chords/lyrics to the band, but since we all had lots of time in Toronto I tried to get everyone as involved as possible in the writing process. We came up with some pretty sweet new songs which we are still working out the kinks on. Joseph brought some lyrics to the table as well.

We had one last weekend of shows lined up and so on Thursday, April 8th we headed to Windsor to play the Phog lounge with a band called Huron. It was great to see the owner Tom and chat after almost two years since our last show there and the turn out was great. Huron reminded me of a cross between ZZtop and Lynyrd Skynyrd and were really awesome as well. Be sure to check out their MySpace.

We stayed in Windsor that evening. The following day we had to try to sort out a dentist for Joel who was having massive problems with a much needed root canal (which he could not get until we returned to Vancouver). His face puffed up massively. So while he went to get some sort of medical attention, the rest of us went out in search of a used window (to replace the one that got smashed) in the car capital of Canada. With luck we found a cheap window and after picking up Joel and the window we headed back to Toronto where our Friday night show was at the Bovine.

In preparation for a going away/after party, we bought over 75 beers and some vodka to leave at Dave Hollander’s house (where Dana stayed), which was right across the street from the bar. After we played our set and watched Darlings of Chelsea, we spread word of the party and had one hell of a hurrah.

I woke up with a cold on Saturday and felt pretty bad, but before I knew it we had to grab our gear from the Bovine and head to Waterloo for one more show with Will Currie and the Country French. When we got to the show and started to soundcheck, I was so sick I was worried I couldn’t sing. Joel was still in immense pain from his tooth. To kick it up a notch, Dana dropped a drum stool on his foot which immediately swelled up to a giant blood swell of a few inches. We debated what to do and ended up heading to the emergency room to fix him up. I was there with him for two hours and after the ‘Ice and Advil’ remedy, the doctor suggested we headed back to the show just in time to walk in and play our set. We were a bit of a rough group of guys that night, but Will’s amazing set made up for it. We all sat back and enjoyed his tunes a lot.

Check out this live version of their song ‘Flowers’:

So after this show we had our plane tickets booked for the 14th to head back to Vancouver. We figured since we’d be back touring around Ontario in May, it was better to fly back than drive across and back again. We met up with Henry at the airport hotel the evening before our 7am flight. However, the one big change was that after we played around eight or so shows as a four piece and started to write and work that way, all of a sudden the dynamic of this seemed to be working better for the band. I approached Henry about this via email while he was away.

While Henry has been a great member of Bend Sinister, it seemed his heart was also more in his own project Henry and the Nightcrawlers. The other four of us were also feeling like we were liking the vibe as a four piece live. Thus with equal sadness and excitement for both our futures, I have to inform everyone that Henry has left Bend Sinister to pursue his own endeavours and I wish him the best! There is a chance we will try to find a singer/multi instrumentalist to take over for him, but that is up in the air. So I will keep everyone posted soon about more news but until then, take care.

Dan

So we have now made it to Toronto and I have some time to recap our trip across. We played a handful of shows on the way out to Ontario, stopping in Kelowna, Olds, Calgary, Saskatoon and Thunder Bay. Kelowna was a bit of a warm up after being in the studio and we hadn’t rehearsed as a band for a few weeks. Our involvement in the show was also unknown as we got added to the bill last minute. We were happy to take part though thanks to our friends in the band TV Heart Attack. We stayed at my folks place and had a nice breakfast before heading out early in the morning.

When we got to Calgary it was the usual long drive through the mountains and then we had to head right to the university for a radio interview. The show was awesome too, especially for a Wednesday night. We were the only band and the rest of the time it was a rock n roll dj pizza party. But I think the funnest of the bunch was definitely Saskatoon where we played with the Calgary band The Dudes. They really got the place going, and I stepped in to do their light show which was a lot of fun.

Traveling in a van about two days and 16 hours later, we got to Thunder Bay only to find that the promoter screwed up and had our show advertised a day later then stated on all the contracts. We had given ourselves two days to get to the next show in Peterborough where we were connecting with Hot Hot Heat for some dates, so we decided to stay an extra night in Thunder Bay and leave directly after the show at midnight to drive 16 hours through the rocky Canadian Shield. The promoter guilted us into staying with talk of all the promotion he had done but we should have know better then to expect much from a Monday night anyway. Nevertheless, the 15-20 or so people that were there all came right up front and danced so it was still a good time.

By the time we got to Peterborough to meet with Hot Hot Heat, we were all exhausted. After each evening show the following two days (Peterborough and Kingston) we had to drive back to Toronto to be at CBC Toronto for a 9:30 am call time. It was a split venture between Bande Apart and CBC Radio 3 where they connected French singers and English bands to collaborate on sets filmed live to air for the show in Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. We were working with French singer Antoine Gratton (who was great) and there was also the Toronto band Fucked Up playing with Marie Claude of the Montreal band Duchess Says.

We had one day of rehearsal with Antoine before heading to Kingston to play another Hot Hot Heat show. Then we were back the next morning for several dress rehearsals and the show live at 7 pm. It was a real trip for me to hear our songs sung in French but Antoine did an amazing job and had all the piano parts down too. I’d also recommend everyone to listen to his tunes as he is a great songwriter. Check out these short clips here of our set and of Fucked Up:

After the dress rehearsal I played a solo show at the supermarket for CMW and then got a chance to check out Timber Timbre and Dan Mangan at a beautiful venue of which I forget the name.

The next day after the first good sleep in a while, we got to play our Horseshoe showcase for CMW. I was worried that people might not be there at 8:30 pm but as soon as they opened the back room it filled to almost capacity. Dana was having some drum issues before the set which stressed everyone out but as soon as we hit the stage it was all good (apart from the power bar on Henry and my amp crapping out during the second song).

After the set and some hellos and all that jazz, I booked it over to the Drake to check out our friend Edo’s band Brasstronaut and then booked it over to the Bovine to see our old drummer Kevin Keegan’s band Barn Burner play with fellow Vancouverites Bison B.C..

It was the first night I really partied cause we only had one show left and I didn’t have to worry about my voice giving out. I stayed out until around four and woke up the next morning with a bad hangover, just in time to head to our show at Call the Office in London. Of all the Hot Hot Heat shows, this was definitely the best and we ended up selling loads of merch and selling out of our cds too. After the show we had one last hurrah with Steve Bayes and the boys in our room at the Comfort Inn, but soon the night escalated (or retracted rather) into a giant YouTube party until 6 am in the morning. Sound pretty rock star?

Anyway I’ll fill everyone in on more times in Toronto and what’s been going on recently. Highlights include trying to learn some Rush songs to play solo on piano at a gala next week where Rush will be in the audience and a trip to Niagara Falls. Our next actual show is the 25th at the Rivoli and then we are doing some dates with Dragonette through late March/early April!

Cheers,

Dan

As I promised, I am going to give a bit of a recap of our time in Vancouver for the Olympics. I got laid-off from my job as an audiovisual tech about a week before the Olympics started in order for our building to be turned into Germany house. It’s mildly amusing to think that the Olympics promised to bring lots of work for locals but instead many people were in a similar position to myself, getting laid-off while the companies that took over their spaces and so on outsourced to their own workforce.

Nevertheless, while I was hurting for cash, especially weeks before leaving for tour and quitting my job forever, it did give me more of a chance to focus on our new recordings working with Howard Redekopp. In the past I’ve worked almost exclusively with Shawn Cole of Fader Master studios. I have always considered him a genius and would recommend any band to work with him, however this time around our label and team thought we should try someone new which I think is also a good idea. You never know what your going to get when you work with another artist or producer and I think learning and working with new people is very important to expand your artistic horizons. Anyway, we went to work the Monday after the opening ceremonies which I watched up in Whistler where my girlfriend has been working for NBC for the Olympics. You could definitely feel the excitement all around Vancouver and Whistler, but we went to work at the Armory Studios where I was most thrilled to see a YES song progress chart up on the wall in the tape room.

We recorded everything to tape and worked there for two days straight, focusing on three new tracks. We had a bit of time too to record some live versions of three more new songs, however we have yet to mix them. Howard definitely payed close attention to performance as we worked takes of some songs 20-30 times… However, after every five takes we would listen to them while we transferred from tape to pro tools. We’d also head upstairs to watch the Olympics on the big screen television until we were needed again.

The following day we had off from recording to rehearse and head to Surrey to play a show at the Olympic site they had out there. It was a huge tent with around 3000 people watching and we fought hard to win them over as many were unfamiliar with our music. Halfway through the set we busted into our version of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, which I dedicated to Canadian athletes competing in the games, and the place went crazy… I think I saw about 500 cellphones turn on to start filming in the audience. You can check it out here:

We were set to leave town in a week and a half. Before that, we got back to working on new songs. First Joseph and Henry laid down any guitar overdubs we though were necessary, though Howard wanted to keep as much of the live band from the initial session as possible so they didn’t put too much more on. Afterwords I laid down the lead vocals over two days and we had three days left to finish backup vocals and any other ‘colour’ parts. I spent one last weekend seeing my lady in whistler and then got back to Vancouver just in time to watch the USA vs Canada hockey game at a friend’s house. I’m not a sports person but I sure got into it, and every time Canada scored you could hear the roar of cheers across the city. After the game I rode my bike to pick up the van at Henry’s place and every person or car I passed was honking or waving or cheering.

Overall, I didn’t really party too much downtown for the Olympics cause we were focused on recording and I didn’t want to screw with my voice, but I walked around a few times downtown and the surge of crowds were ridiculous. I wanted to check out some stuff but you had to wait in line for an hour or two just to get in to any of the pavilions or see any shows so it was a bit of a write off. Only show I saw was Usher up in Whistler because Abigail had complimentary passes. Usher rules.

So now I’m writing this on day seven of our journey out to Toronto but I will fill you in with that in a few days! Here’s a pic from my time with the Olympics!

Dan

Stuck On Midnight
Words by Matt Cote and music/arrangement by me!

Check out this song Worried Ways (She Lost Her Rock And Roll)!

This was part of our pick covers contest. You can pick a cover for us to do too at our Facebook street team group. Just do a group search for Bend Sinister Online Street Team!

We’ll pick the top 3-5 and then let you guys vote on which one the whole band will do!

This is due to be out in the new year! I shot it in 2007 with Edo from Brasstronaut!