Tagged: Peterborough

JESUS CHRIST!!! Finally…….

Well, better late than never! Here’s the deal…

The Event:

We’ve been sitting on this tune for quite awhile waiting for certain things to happen, forming some new partnerships, and basically just deciding when to bring the rock! We came up with this idea that before we “release” this song into the abyss, we wanted to find a way to reconnect with all of you guys first, as you deserve to hear it before anybody! SOOOOOOO……

A private listening party came up! Basically, it’s free (but please offer up some dough at the door as it’s a pay what you can deal, with all of the proceeds going to The Unison Fund) and we will have little private listening stations set up so you can tune everybody out, and dig into this new tune properly! All you have to do is email redd@thephoenixconcerttheatre.com and boom, you’re in. We will also be reaching out to certain die hards to come down early to have a listen when it’s nice and quiet. Check your emails!

We will be milling around gabbing with everybody about the tune and then pop up onstage and play a whack of acoustic songs for you. Then obviously…. more milling around. Yes, i’ve been practicing my “mill”.

So overall, its a big thank you to you guys for always being so patient while we get our shit together and make our plans for an awesome 2015!

The Song:

First off, we love it…. and believe you guys will too! It’s not a typical IME song off the hop but of course eventually dives deep into familiar territory. We’ve had it finished for quite awhile but have been coming up with some cool concepts as to how to use this tune to get us across Canada so we can play for you! It’s been a really fucked up year for just about all of us on the personal side, and continually interfered with a lot of progress. We apologize for that but as you all know, that’s just life keeping you humble. Everything seems to be in such a good place now and it’s time to roll!

So, It’s a pretty tough song and we’re not sure who will play it at radio or what impact it will have. Of course, it’s long, it’s complicated, it’s heavy… We’re trying not to think too much about it and really focus more on how you guys feel about it. That being said, the response from the aforementioned industry folk has been incredibly (and surprisingly!) positive all around. It goes to show that individual mandates aside, good is good and there is a place for us!

We will of course need a huge push from you guys at radio as the tune might struggle to find it’s place amongst so much shit cluttering up the airwaves… but hey, let’s give it a go. It’s always been our style to kind of challenge the norm anyhow.

We promise to have a name for it by the event and will of course let everybody know on the day, and then the following week we are hoping to hit radio! This is where you guys come in….

Once it starts out there it will be available through usual means and then that’s that. Whatever happens, happens.

So fucking exciting!

Let’s get through today, and then I will outline the cool things we are working on. So much more.

Talk soon.

Ama a tu Mamá

jT

JIGGS SAYS HE’S GONE AWAY TO SPAIN

First off, I had been planning to release a new post right after the St. Catharines show to share some quick thoughts, and tell you what was immediately ahead, but it just wasn’t meant to happen. Sounds simple, right? My intentions were definitely good, but I became completely sidetracked and lost on this overwhelming journey of personal and professional discovery. It is only now that I feel focused enough to string more than two words together for you. I make no guarantees that they will make any sense but nonetheless, here we go.

I start this not at the beginning, nor the end, but right in the middle… sitting in a fucking plane and breathing hard. A release of stress perhaps, or anticipation of what lies ahead. All I feel is this strange turbulence… it will more than likely be a tad worse when we leave the ground.

It is only a couple of days after the St. Catharines show and my mind and body are finally starting to adjust. The chaos leading up to any IME show now, and the anxiety of just wanting to be a good fucking band for our fans seems to take a toll. More now than ever. I am not delicate in most ways, but I admit that keeping my fingers crossed hoping that we have our collective shit in order keeps me up at night. Lack of sleep and lack of rehearsal makes Jag a dull boy. (I feel a need to apologize for that third person reference! Sorry.)

Looking back at the shows, I really can’t be anything but satisfied. We now know that the “I Is Us” concept can work. I would be lying if i said we were supremely confident at the moment of announcing these shows, but as they approached, we just knew it would be okay. The potential for strange things to happen during an event like this is always one comment or question away, and has scared many an artist away from allowing a direct connection to their own fans. We aren’t perfect and don’t care if you know, so we put ourselves on display, invited you all to “have at ‘er!” and basically keep our fingers crossed. I have to say that we were completely floored by all of you once again. The intelligent and meaningful questions posed and a willingness to listen intently to our sometimes rambling, nonsensical chatter shows music fans everywhere that we have a really unique and special relationship with our audience.

Moving forward with this, we have more ideas and will be opening the lines of communication a bit more with all of you to see how you would like us to shape this thing! A huge thanks really has to go out to all of the people who helped us accomplish this:

Chris and Zeke, thanks for putting the entire thing together which I know was a huge pain in the ass. You kept all of us informed enough to keep us excited, and sheltered us from all of the bullshit that goes with your thankless job. Huge thanks, but next time I need directions to the venue. Daniel, Fatty and Chuck for continually showing up to rehearsals even though you either live extremely far away or work way too much! Our awesome crew of Mike, Adrian and Joe for putting in the long hours and making the best of bad situations and making the good ones even better.

This brings us to: “Why the hell were you sitting on a plane and breathing really hard?” Good question. In one moment I have this answer perfectly clear, and in the next, I am asking myself the exact same question.

You see, I don’t travel well. It is strange to say out loud sometimes but the facts are as follows: I don’t like loud sounds, I am totally uncomfortable and anxious around large groups of people, I don’t feel good in strange places, and I hate to leave home! Man, I really picked a solid career path! Yet here I was, sitting on a plane, on my way to Spain. (I hope it doesn’t rain, that would be a pain). Spain!! How did this happen!? I will try to explain Spain, the plane, the rain and the pain… as clearly as possible but it deals more with a feeling than any solid reason I can offer.

I have never felt compelled to do anything in my life more than go to Spain. Notice I use the word “compelled”, and not “want”. I feel like I had no choice in this. My personal and professional life has been greatly affected, even compromised by this obsession. I had let so many things fall by the wayside in this attempt to address what I now know was very necessary, to go. Simply put, an old obsession with Flamenco came back and hit full force right in my core and has basically taken over my universe. At this very moment in my life, something has opened my soul wide open and permitted me to absorb and understand this extremely deep and meaningful information. I know now that I wasn’t prepared to handle this when I was younger, but now it won’t let me look away, or allow me to treat it as a passing fancy… it constantly calls out to me, and I don’t know why. In order for my life to move ahead, I seriously need to find answers and understanding, and I need this to happen now.

People more or less know that i have a very obsessive personality but those close to me know that this is somehow different; the feeling is relentless, and in turn has made me relentless. I feel like I am on a strange quest, but one that my mind isn’t allowed to participate in. My body is just going where it is compelled to go, and my mind is really only along for the ride, and to deal with potential consequences. So off to Spain I go. Not Barcelona or Madrid mind you… there is only Sevilla for me, and hopefully there lies my truth.

So sitting on a plane and breathing hard seems pretty tame compared to what might happen when I get there… I really had no idea.

Sevilla, in the end, was all of the things I imagined it would be, yet my path to discovering this was absolutely different than I had imagined. I went into this feeling awkward and unsure as I have never done anything like this before, because it is totally outside of my comfort zone. Almost immediately though upon landing in Madrid and hopping on the train to Sevilla, (and completely stuffing my face full of Conguitos at the same time… fucking evil things!) I had an extremely strange sense of calm. Excited like a child yes, but surprisingly free of any of my usual anxieties. This is abnormal for me as I’m anxious just shopping for groceries at the local supermarket! It seemed to be the start of something good and an overall theme to the trip. I started feeling, well… normal!

My time there was probably the most interesting and enlightening time of my life. I had all of these plans to do this and to do that like a typical tourist, but soon realized that Spain had other plans for me. I lived very simply, controlled nothing and knew that other forces would now dictate my movements. Once I gave up this control and let things happen as they may, I felt relaxed and at ease with just about everything. I am learning that control isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be… as long as you have confidence and trust in the people around you (a foreign concept to me as of late, but hey, maybe in Spain! Go Team!!!). So a more authentic experience was offered and given to me via some truly awesome people, and I thank them all for this, even the ones I hated! (It meant more to me than you can imagine… en serio!) I had said many times on this trip that “I feel like I have been here before”. Never in my life have I experienced this sensation in all of my travels and even now I can’t explain it, but it had me by the balls and I couldn’t shake it. And even though I tried very hard NOT to be a tourist, unfortunately i’m cursed with the face of one! Thank god there were fucking Germans everywhere to distract the locals from my obvious whiteness!! I would have traded my baby blues in for browns in a heartbeat!

The search for Flamenco was of course, always in my mind throughout my trip, but I think I discovered fairly quickly that I was missing the point entirely. I needed to stop looking and just let Flamenco find it’s way to me. I don’t think it is a “thing” as much as it is a “feeling” floating in the air alongside you with every step. I believe that something inside of you must be willing to let Flamenco find it’s place alongside your deepest thoughts, and reach beyond the superficial of sight and sound. Now, the obvious thing to do is to just open your ears and hear it in every store, every passing car, see it in every image, etc., but I found the most meaning by just living alongside the people. Flamenco mimics the dynamic of their society: it resembles their conversation, their anger and frustration, the way they love, the easy way they treat each other, and in the way they move. (ok, and maybe in the way I screamed “Jodér!!!” every single time I ate fucking Salmorejo and Tostadas at Cinco Jotas!!)

Flamenco is the heartbeat of the Andalusian people, and it definitely reaches way beyond any single piece of music I could ever discover or performance I could witness. This is music with lineage, and one that gives great respect and admiration to past and present Masters. They are rockstars not for being “popular”, but for being the brilliantly gifted musicians that they are. There is a definite line drawn, and you are either a Master, or you are not. Mediocrity is not celebrated, it is scorned. Even the younger generation that was force fed the music of their parents and now only listen to other forms of music, still respect the music of their people. The same guy that worships Metallica would still stop and tip his hat to Paco De Lucia or Manolo Sanlúcar. Not because they are popular, but because they represent perfection. I truly love this. Even if this style of music isn’t a part of their lives, they are still humble and aware enough to recognize that it is in their blood, part of their identities, and there is no escaping it. Now, knowing this, how can I ever truly connect with this music unless I understand where it comes from? This music is so rich in history, and forged with the deepest of emotions that I truly believe it must be ‘experienced’ vs. ‘listened to’. You either get it, or you don’t. But be prepared if you do… trust me.

Okay, first off, let me clarify that this is by no means a declaration of my intent to take a huge left turn and go “Flamenco”! The last thing the world needs is another white guy trying to learn Flamenco, striving for mediocrity… there is nothing worse than bad emotionless flamenco, or bad Blues for that matter. These are styles best left to the masters unless you are blessed and have tapped into something special. The Blues is another pure form of emotion that people trivialized by attempting to play it having not lived it. These forms of music are sacred so just… well… don-do-dat!!!! However, that being said there is always something to be gained in absorbing the spirit of music from around the world vs. the notes. Inspiration never has to be so literal. If the Masters of Flamenco give me hope, faith and pride in being a musician, then so be it, i’m going with it! It is inspiration in it’s purest form. Joy.

I think that perhaps I have been extremely affected by rejoining the ranks as a “professional musician” in some of the best ways imaginable, but in some of the most horrific ways as well. Quizás, quizás, quizás! Not horrific in the classic sense, and I certainly apologize for potentially trivializing true ‘horrific-ness’, but to a musician, it does indeed ring true. This simple thought haunts me every day …Why do we do what we do? I should clarify, as this isn’t a commentary about all musicians (I already know this answer in a lot of instances), but more specifically, why do I do what I do? I always seem to be on this crazy search for this 14 year old kid-in-the-basement version of myself that played music just for the sake of music. Yes, he was an asshole too but looking back, it’s probably the happiest I think I have ever been as a musician. Think about it: I had no idea what success was, no concept of creative rights or wrongs, and could really give two shits about what people thought. It was nothing but dedication, inspiration, self innovation… and lots and lots of boners! Nothing has really changed actually, except the circumstances. I like to believe that I have had a career that was still based in these innocent concepts in many ways, but I am not sure I have entirely convinced myself yet. There is much more to learn, and so much more to do in order to make me a believer.

Please don’t think this is some “whoa is me”, or an “I’m such a fucking tortured artist” kind of story, it really isn’t. As humorous as I find some of those stories, like I said before; I’m not that delicate. (maybe a bit of a princess but hey, who isn’t!?) I can either drive a tractor, work in a factory or play music and still be a believer that life does indeed have meaning. I just wanted to share some things with you that I deal with everyday when I get out of bed in the morning, and hopefully you can relate in some way. My only real problem is the aforementioned “relentlessness” of my mind and how I need to cope sometimes. Maybe sometimes you feel the same.

Since the Re-Onion, I can honestly say it’s been fantastic playing guitar again. It has taken me 8 years of not touching a guitar to understand how big a part of me it is, and to fall in love once more. Internal and external horseshit aside, I’m feeling extremely connected to my guitar. It has become religious once again, and very similar to when I was a kid discovering new things everyday. Every single time I “step up to the plate” now when we play live, I feel I might finally be able to say something poignant and meaningful to you, or maybe even speak on your behalf. Maybe I am trying to convey an emotion you are having or perhaps one we share, or just massaging your musical souls… yes, happy ending included. Even if I fail, I’m always grateful for the opportunity to speak!

So where does this leave me? I have no idea. The future is of course yet to be written. I started to believe that this trip was a life changing event, but really it isn’t. It is only becomes life changing at the moment I decide to do something with the information and the inspiration obtained. Time will tell. For now, let’s just call it a game changer. Definitely a musical and personal game changer. Yep, that feels right! (is that a Judas Priest song? How come everytime I type it I sing it like Rob Halford?)

So for now, I leave for home packed to the gills with new ideas, new friends, and a new perspective… sitting on another plane and breathing hard, headed for home. This time, zero turbulence.

Andalucía, we will meet again… maybe… probably… later… soon.

love to all
jT

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The Legend of Johnny Reno (1941-2012)

Ok, I realize I haven’t said anything on here in a long time but I assure you the onslaught is a comin’.  For now though, it can wait, as I really just need to pay a proper and well deserved tribute to my biggest influence and mentor, my father Jack, (aka Uncle Jack, Sensei Jack, John, Johnny Reno, Jack Norris, the Summer Jesus, and of course, the Hamilton Hamaconda).

This week marks the passing of my dad after a crazy and mostly insane 5 year battle with prostate and bone cancer and I think writing about it to all of you today is A) incredibly therapeutic for me and B) a shitload better than some crappy ol’ facebook “R.I.P. dude, hevn jus gotza nutha angel yo!”.  Actually, I really don’t mind those but let’s keep it for the people we love as opposed to some whack job celebrity that people decide to suddenly care about.

So, as for this being some serious and somber O-bit… sorry, not gonna happen.  Dad would have hated that as it definitely isn’t the tone he wanted set with regards to his sickness or eventual passing.  He always enjoyed reading my blogs, cussin’ aside of course, and especially loved reading the comments from all of you!  What better way to pay tribute than to well, talk with you!  He really would have loved this!  I won’t go into too many deeply personal thoughts here as i’m still sorting through these particular feelings myself at the moment as you can imagine, so I’ll keep it based on what you guys are more in tune with and give a little insight into what makes us brothers tick. He was the mellow king of no-drama so a light hearted look it will be…

When I look back at my own history, there is no greater influence on my professional career than Dad.  While I always feel that I am in tune with the whole “where I come from” concept, a lot was learned or rather remembered this past week in the hospital.  It’s common for musicians to always site their influences and all that jazz in interviews, or to whoever will listen, and I am no exception (I wear them proudly on my sleeve at all times!!).  Going back a little further you have to ask yourself, “Why the hell am I even playing guitar? How did I get here?”  Was it as simple as hearing Hemispheres or Van Halen 1?  For me, no.  That particular bit of awesomeness happened a little bit later.  The gateway had to be pried open by somebody!  For me, it was Dad.

One of the biggest things that defined Dad for a lot of people was that he was a musician.  It’s one of those things that defines an entire household actually as it adds this really fun and crazy element to a home that a lot of people just can’t understand.  Very early in his life, his path was basically laid out for him, work in the factory by day, play music at night, and hope you make some money at one of them.  Growing up in Hamilton in the ’50s, and as the eldest of 7 kids, this was nothing new, just his everyday reality and some good ol’ fashioned survival, which never seemed to end!  I still remember him loading up the car after supper to get set up for a gig or rehearsal that night, not knowing then that he was, in his words, “busting his hump” just to support his three growing boys and stay at home wife.  Shit, I didn’t know we were expensive! Sometimes you would hear him returning home, dragging his gear back into the house after a gig, and with the smell of Moo-Goo-Gai-Pan wafting up the stairs, listen to him and Mom talk into the night, with a little bit of Van Morrison thrown in for good measure. The odd time we would sneak down to say hi, especially if he dragged one of his band mates along for some grub. (usually just some Italian guy wanting to add his homemade sopressat’ to the night’s haul!)   Biggest thing learned looking back: he was never late for work the next morning.

Outside of using music to support us financially, Dad was also the kind of guy never to shy away from playing, whether at parties or even a Saturday night barn dance with my banjo playin’ Grandpa.  These memories stick with me the most as it was the only way we got to experience Dad in his natural habitat, we were too small for the real gigs and these moments were like magic to us!  He somehow seemed taller, and well, more important. The memories of just how happy everybody was once the guitars came out really stuck with all of us through the years, and I would kill to witness just one more.  Now, for a time this was one of the traits that I could never get my head around, and as musicians we were at exact opposite ends of the spectrum in one respect: he always enjoyed making people happy with music at any moment and I selfishly believe I can’t make anybody happy with music but will begrudgingly try… when I feel like it.  I’ve since learned that music doesn’t work this way.  This bugged him I think although he would never tell me, but inside I think he was always thinking “Why are you being such a little asshole? Do you play? Or do you not play?”  No worries, he called everybody an asshole, even if he loved you!

Growing older it was pretty much the same week in, week out at our house until one fateful morning …

I remember the day I got my first instrument that WASN’T a cheap ass flute/recorder thingy like it was yesterday … it was a shiny silver set of Stewart Drums!  Yes, I was a drummer and yes, I kicked ass (feet o’ Ginger Baker, hands o’ Gene Krupa, attitude and hair… pure LARS).  Back at that time, this was a huge deal to a kid of 12 as you can imagine, even with the scientifically proven potential to shoot your eye out.  We had that thing set up in my bedroom and ready for punishment within 10 minutes flat.  Dad couldn’t afford the entire kit, mind you, so we used an old cardboard drum with a tin lid/tea towel combo for a floor tom.  Good to go.  A handful of lessons and one Carmine Appice instruction booklet later, (with included floppy 45 record) I was pretty much on top of Rock Mountain.  Dad kept the encouragement going even though I’m sure listening to me was akin to a baby giraffe falling down the stairs…  albeit with AWESOME hair!!!  “Wipeout” was my bitch, and will never be the same…for anybody.

And then on yet another fateful morning 2 years later…

“Son, have you ever tried this here guitar?”  I was conflicted but I guess the writing was on the wall.  Apparently, while I was out frosting my tips, Chris was practicing drums too, and he made it all the way to the SECOND chapter of Carmine’s book!!  WTF???  Dad had noticed of course and saw an opening: “You see son, with THIS thing you get to stand out front where the lights can shine down upon that silky mane and bring further notice to that formidable cod piece… Chris has red hair and freckles, he’ll be fine back there….”  SOLD!!  I was 14 I think, and still had lots of clay yet to be moulded, and I had Dad to get me started in the right direction, so why not?  From that day on, there were countless times Mom or Dad would come downstairs and tell me to stop playing and go to bed, “It’s a school night for christ sake!!”  I think Dad knew what he was doing, and with his simple promise of one day being able to melt faces, my future was pretty much set.

Dad then went on to build us a bonafide rehearsal space in the basement which we then proceeded to abuse every…. single…. day.  We called it ‘the Cooler’ because he made it out of white styrofoam panels and it was either -20 or +100 degrees in there.  Maybe ‘the Thermos’ was more fitting.  It kind of smelled like glue but overall a pretty damn-cool-super-wicked-awesome place for us to hang with friends and play music.  Almost every single day after school, it was rehearsal. Rehearsal for what? Nothing, only to be better than we were the day before.  Dad would come home from work everyday and sit in the kitchen directly above us and read the paper, waiting for us to finish to give us either props or silence.  Props good… silence bad.  We always got good kitchen reviews for our Maiden covers, but I think it was just because he really liked Maiden.  (our first experience with a biased reviewer!)  He never really gave a negative criticism, except telling me that I sing like a cat with his tail caught in the screen door.  I was like Peter Brady for crying out loud at that time and I was changing… my cod piece barely fit anymore, my voice was warbly, and I was getting these crazy velvetine little ‘staches under my arms!!  Tough times indeed.  For this, I thank you dear Father, I have thought of you every single time I’ve stepped up to the mic for the past 30 years.  You and well…. chicks.

Work ethic was king to Dad.  This is exactly why Chris and myself work the way we do and the way we have always approached IME.  We rehearsed every day no matter what, and always got the work done before fun.  This applied to my Dad’s days in a shitty factory, my own days in a shitty factory, and most of all, as musicians (in a shitty business!).  Basically, you make your deal, and approach it the same way every day regardless of personal benefit.  Rule #1: If you accept the work, don’t let anybody down.  There are no sick days.

Funny story: one day later in high school or just after, I started seeing this ‘chick’ who kept hanging around rehearsals at the house, kind of getting in the way of what Dad considered to be our ‘work’.  She was a little older than me and smelled like Pina Coladas, a deadly combo.  He must have had a really bad day at the shop because when he heard us horsing around and playing just awful day after day in the basement, accomplishing nothing, he busted into the room pointed at her and basically said “YOU… get the fuck out, don’t come back, and YOU guys, get back to work and stop sucking!!”.  Man, he was really angry!  We had a Yoko before we even had a real band, or even understood what a Yoko was!  Dad did though, and thankfully handed down his Yokometer (pat. pending) to us as we moved along.  More bands should have this. Outside forces fucking everything up… sound familiar?  All things in life must be approached the same way, you are either in or out, including life itself.  Approach life as a ‘no dabble’ zone and things will always work out.  Outside of personal hygiene, we have approached EVERYTHING the exact same way and I’m reminded of this every time I smell coconuts.

One last funny thing about Dad.  He was a black belt in Judo and ran his own Dojo at one point in our basement (until the great flood of ’73) and right up until the end, he always insisted on wearing pants with a 29.5″ inseam.  He was about 68-69 years old when this topic came up again as we all never really understood why he was so uptight about his goddamn inseam.  His dead serious answer, “What if I was walking down the street and had to defend your mother’s honor?  I wouldn’t be able to roundhouse kick anybody if my foot’s caught in my pants!”  Lesson learned: no matter how old and seemingly crazy your folks get, there is always some nugget of wisdom on offer.  “With ears open, mouth closed, you will then be able to feast upon the knowledge buffet.”

So there you go, just a little bit of info on my Pops.  Just thought I would share some simple anecdotes about our sometimes crazy family and tell you that he was a good man.  A damn good man.  I kind of feel good sharing this with you all as he wasn’t really concerned with very many things outside of his family and friends, the band, and our fans.  He was always really happy when you guys seemed excited, and pissed when something was even remotely negative. (yeah i’m looking at you edLov3R1996!)  Believe it or not, through all of the years of us playing, all of the conversation online (all the way back to the Palace Chat!) and the countless shows he went to, he still recognized and remembered a lot of the names and faces he has met along the way.  He says continue to be nice to his boys and he’ll always back you up with all 29.5″.  Don’t be afraid, just breathe and be very still.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about lately is that a lot of you guys have actually grown up alongside us as well.  We all have parents or other family members advancing on in years and it kind of puts us all in this same crazy boat… this really weird zone of inevitable heartbreak.  My family isn’t any more special than yours, and we have and will continue to face the same types of crises as all of you… this is just our moment.  It seems that every day/week one of you guys loses somebody as well, and I just wanted to let you know we’re thinking about you.

If you feel so inclined, send a little shout out this way to my Mom, who’s been with Dad since they were kids, and has taken care of him for years and years dealing with this complete douche of an illness.  She’s got your back now, but she’s keeping her inseam a mystery.

Thanks gang… I feel really good writing this, and you are much appreciated as always.  Today is a new beginning for many things, and I am now more energized and ready for the new concepts coming for IME and myself.  We’ll talk soon but for now, it’s all about Mom and Dad.

So, while I admit that Johnny Reno wasn’t a household name or a true legend, he sure as hell was to us.

Be good to each other and love your mothers… for realz yo.

P.S. Dear Dad, I don’t know where you ended up, but if it’s any shade of white with lots of comfortable seating, don’t roundhouse kick anybody in the face who has a beard, just to be safe.  (pretty sure Jesus is a ninja or somethin’)  And if you smell coconuts… uh, yeah, good luck with that.

Love you always,

jT

 

 

Creative Minds United! IME pays it forward…

Alrighty gang… time to run some new ideas past you to see what y’all think, and try and get you more involved creatively in all things IME.

I have always believed that there are way more creative people out there that you haven’t heard of vs. the ones that you have (or maybe I should say the ones that you are allowed to hear about?). Throughout my own career I have been consistently surprised and wowed by the creativity that many people possess, while at the same time deeply bothered at the chances that anybody will ever know them. To me, this is an unacceptable and unfair situation that really needs some solutions.

I really believe it’s all about opportunity, and that anyone can shine given the right set of circumstances. The same rule applies across all artistic mediums: put the right talent in front of the right audience at the right time. There isn’t a successful artist out there where this rule hasn’t applied. Ever wonder how some obviously god awful band, singer or actor became successful? Yes, the proverbial casting couch still exists, but really all it took was catching the right audience (who has something to offer) at the right time, and relating to them in some way. Seems kind of simple no? At this point in my own career I really think that IME and my company SegmentX, have enough resources to get more creative people noticed… why shouldn’t this happen to you?

Here is what I’m thinking:

We are looking for creative people to get involved with us on many different levels (including live visuals, merchandise, videos, photography etc.) and allow us to help you strut your stuff. We want to gather as many of you together for this project and use our own resources to get your work and ideas in front of as many people as we can, and perhaps help you advance your career, maybe find you some additional opportunities, and hopefully find ways to make you some money along the way! This isn’t about ownership of you or your work in any way, but we now have the opportunity to take our own good fortune and pay it forward to the people who helped make us what we are today.

IME has always been about working together with our fans to accomplish our goals, so why not make it more official? We want to take the idea of “fan participation” to a pretty serious level and allow you all to add your own creativity to what we do. I would actually love all other creative aspects of what we do outside of music, created by our fans (or somebody that our fans know). Can you imagine gaining some notoriety or even making money back from all of the bands that you are into? I may be dreaming but I really think there are some possibilities here, and we are currently working on some scenarios in which you just might!

We do not care about where you come from, what experience you may or may not have, who you know, or what your cat does in its spare time… Just be incredibly creative and be seriously involved in the concept! (it kind of goes without saying, don’t be an asshole! Natch!)

Current IME needs:

Merchandise
We will take as many designs as possible: shirts/stickers/posters, etc. We have upcoming shows and need a ton of ideas. Can be as simple or complicated as you like. Would like to pick 5 asap for upcoming touring throughout the summer so hurry. We also know many other bands looking for ideas and will gladly connect you with those opportunities.

Additionally, we will need designs for things like single artwork, web images etc. as do a ton of other bands. Even if what you design doesn’t fit our own immediate needs, your style may fit better with somebody else we know.

Visual Artists and Filmmakers
As IME moves forward, we want to include a lot of video within our live show and are looking for short films, graphic compilations and all kinds of other cinematic weirdness/awesomeness to play along with our tunes. Absolutely no rules here outside of making something fit within the timeframe of a tune. Brian and I are also going to start this new deconstructed idea/tour and want to include a ton of visuals within the set.

We Got The Love… and the next batch of tunes are begging for videos, not in the traditional sense mind you, just visual interpretations of our songs. We may even make ourselves available to be filmed for the right concept if it helps. You totally have our permission to go nuts and make something groovy with our tunes. We will promote the ones we like where and whenever we can. Hopefully getting you some attention from other artists needing visuals!

Photographers
We would love to find some really creative photographers across the country that we can work with to grab things like live shots, promo shots, candids, etc. When we get to your neck of the woods, we will grant you whatever access you need to help you get what you need.

Media
Even though we are currently “screaming” up the charts, (lol!) we still have yet to approach mainstream media to further capitalize on this momentum. I have a feeling that we probably won’t, actually. Here is our media plan: if you know of anybody with an independent blog, if you know of a writer you respect and trust not to be a douche, if you know of any business blogs that want to talk indie music strategy, or any other media person who ‘gets it’, just reach out to us and I/we will make time available to contribute. Mainstream could be cool too, but only with the right people interviewing, of course. Let good people know where to find us.

Web Designers
I have had a lot of talented people reach out to me regarding this but sadly have lost the contact information, so reach out again, please! If anybody has a handle on this, or any other good ideas that you would like to see, let’s work together and build something cool and unique for all of us. This is another area where bands always have a need, so let’s connect and see what’s out there for you.

Okay. I think that you get where we are coming from. We actually want to make IME the conduit for as many creative minds as we can find, and show the industry that the path least travelled has way more creativity on offer IF you put some effort into finding it. In my own experience, the label of “professional” is overused and meaningless, but to some it’s still important. Just remember: all it takes is one job to join that club.

We want to show people that good is good, no matter where it comes from. Time to shine a light on people who we feel deserve it. Time is of the essence so let’s get at it.

Send EVERYTHING you think we should have to ideas@imotherearth.ca and let’s see what happens… then you and your cat can come sit on my couch and tell me all about it.

jT

Songs, Shows and the current “STATE OF THE ONION”

Okay folks, it’s time to give a little update on where we are at with all things IME. Sorry it’s been awhile but hey… I was fishing (and golfing, and ATVing…. and napping).

Obviously a lot has happened since we played the Toronto shows and especially after releasing the song. So you’re not exactly alone in wondering what the next steps will be as we were wondering the same… methinks a plan has been hatched.

THE SONGS

“We Got The Love”… who knew? After being firmly entrenched in the top 10 across the country for weeks (and still climbing!) the obvious next step is to release another song. We absolutely didn’t see this coming and figured that as we aren’t really in the game in the traditional sense, this song didn’t even have a chance! Automatically, this is a deviation from the original plan as it forces us to acknowledge this very fortunate situation and actually do something about it! Do we walk away from it or continue? Hmmmm… I did swear that I would never do anything in music again if I ever felt that I was being forced to do something, but I think I have dug my heels in long enough, fought some of those old useless competitive urges, and can honestly say i’m really dying to get more music out… integrity still intact. (whew! that was close!)

That being said, I would like to note that the downloads on our site have been incredibly steady since the song came out. This again proves that if you give any music fan something to believe in, and keep the relationship simple and honest, they will always do the right thing and find a way to support it in one way or another. Your overwhelming support for us with this song through all of the downloads and radio requests compels us to do more for you. I mean seriously, how can we not? Trust me, we’re on it!

I would love to take a second to thank the radio stations across the country as well for really going for it, listening to your audience (requests have been a huge influence in getting us played) and for just being a part of what we are trying to do. It rekindles a little belief again in the system from us, and from music fans across the country. Hope you like the next one. Warning: it might be 26 minutes long, but i’ll edit the middle section out and get it down to around 4:12. Also note that the constant badgering from our fans will not stop! IMEnation, please make sure you take a sec and send some props along as well to the DJs and Program/Music Directors that you know are supporting us (and you). There are some really good music folk out there and they deserve a pat!

THE SHOWS

After the success of the Toronto shows, and the song all of a sudden being everywhere, it got us thinking of more ways to reach out sooner rather than later. Our initial plan was to try and put on some shows around Sept/Oct but some unexpected opportunities came up that allowed us to get out and play again. Here’s a little run down of the shows and how they came to be:

Owen Sound (June 30): We honestly weren’t sure about doing this one as our personal schedules were getting in the way. With Bruce living/working in Florida, it’s tough to just do a one off show like we would have in the past, not impossible mind you, just a little tricky. The other thing being that we are only playing for 45min which is around 5 songs for us! Lol! How could we make it work? Things really started taking shape when some other shows started to be added around this date, and being as the day consists of some really great bands and friends of ours, we decided to go for it! Really looking forward to it and can’t wait to rock! Of course the next day is……

Newfoundland (July 1): The idea of once again playing Newfoundland has been on our minds since this whole thing started up again. The offer to play in NL has been an on again/off again affair and it was actually the last piece of the July plans to come together. One minute we had a show, the next we didn’t… this went on for awhile, and we were beginning to think it wouldn’t happen this year. Thanks to all who are getting us back to the Rock! The shows are about as good as they can be for us out there and for Brian to return home, you can only imagine how pumped we are to make it back! Coolest thing about it is that we are headlining and can give our fans the 2.5 hours of music they deserve! Not to mention it’s Canada Day and it will be an absolutely insane crowd that’s ready to rock. They have always treated us like gold there and you have no idea how excited we are.

Moncton/Ottawa/Toronto w/Nickelback (July 7/9/11): Now these shows really came out of nowhere! When you get to shows of this magnitude, you can only imagine the politics involved in just trying to be a part of it, and being as we have none surrounding us, what chance would we have, right? Believe it or not, it was a surprisingly simple process of just asking. Really refreshing. The only thing we have to lose is a bit of pride if we were refused, so why not give it a shot! We actually share the same agent (Ralph James at The Agency Group) and figured it wouldn’t hurt just to float it out there just to gauge interest! Much to our surprise they said yes and to top it off, gave us an awesome slot as direct support in front of around 35k people a night (except Moncton of course which has our friends Three Days Grace between us). Many thanks to them for giving a band with no management, no label and no traditional industry backing a chance to do their thing in front of such a huge audience. This speaks volumes, to us, and to our fans. Thanks to all who made it happen.

It’s funny (and slightly ironic), but we had tried to play with them as far back as 2002 if I remember correctly, but with so much of the industry between us, I doubt the request even made it to them. With the industry not involved in our current existence, now we’re playing together… go figure! Lol! Love it! We always thought that although our styles may be different, we are both still rooted in basically the same thing: big rock, big shows and giving audiences something to remember… oh, and zero shoe gazing! Nothing better than an evening full of that, and I absolutely believe that their fans will be able to draw this same conclusion.

It’s a given that we will do our best for their fans on these shows to make the nights rock and we really hope to make quite a few new ones of our own along the way to join us on this new phase of our career. This is what it’s all about people! Reaching out! We are really amped to be involved and look forward to meeting the fellas and having a great time.

London, Belleville w/Slash (July 25, 26): These two shows were on the table even before we played the Toronto shows! It was really hard for us to commit to anything as we had to make it through these first shows and see if we still felt it. Obviously, we did! The London show is really special for us as the first radio station to jump on We Got The Love was FM96! Their support for us has been incredible and we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play there. We don’t forget this kind of thing… bigger plans for London to follow. I don’t even know how long of a set we get to play, but we are just happy to be there! (to top it off we’re playing with Slash! I mean, c’mon!!)

Belleville will rock as well. I don’t think we have ever played there and it’s going to be great to finally do so… and again, with Slash! Really looking forward to it!

That’s all to report for now but there are many more things to add. No details just yet but things are taking shape.

MOVING FORWARD

Who the hell knows? Lol! Once we are done with the July shows, there are a few concepts we are working on. One that I am really excited about is myself and Brian getting out there and doing some intimate/interactive shows where we deconstruct our tunes and present them in really different ways and get you involved in different aspects of it … get your creative minds and voices ready.

I am also about to do a follow up post that expands on this concept, as I want to get as many creative people involved as possible. Yes, this means all of you! Watch for it…..

Ok…. I’m spent and I now have to ice my iPad elbow.

Jt

WGTL at the WOLF

Ok gang… Just wanted to tell you that theWOLF in Peterborough responded in spades to your requests and polite badgering, and gave IME some spins… And yes, Mom heard it and is officially off my back! Yes, the system works!! Thanks for the help!

Also, big thanks to everybody at theWOLF for coming through for us and because you “Listened…. To…The….Listenerrrrrrrrs!”. (sing it to the tune of ‘the Mothers’ and you’ll understand that one!) Now the IMEnation can send some good old fashioned love your way! Now let’s get to work and do something cool for this town! Awesome!

Also, if anybody is ever in Peterborough, head down to the Red Dog and Pat will hook you up! (especially on Shirtless Tuesdays!) Great place that supports a lot of good artists, and full of IME friends!

Now i’m going to the mall to strut…….

Jt

HOLY SHIT! #1 for second straight week!!

Crazy! For the second week in a row, stations across the country are adding We Got The Love more than any other tune. What the hell is going on? We were just hoping to play some shows and you know, have a wee bit of fun with y’all! The truth is that we are blessed with a killer fan base that just won’t let up, (which also happens to make us tops in requests across the country as well!) Thanks a ton, it really means a lot.

It’s funny, but even stations that aren’t currently playing it are being inundated with your requests to play the song. One station even reached out to us to see if we could get you to ease up … Seriously, wtf is up with that? Oh, i get it, you actually DON’T want to play what your “listeners” want…sorry, i misunderstood. I get it, and i’m sorry we haven’t spent any money on advertising lately, we’re a little tapped at the moment… being “indie” and all.

On a more positive note, we really have been making some new friends in the radio world and have obviously found a whole bunch who get it! There are more good people out there than I initially thought… my apologies, i stand corrected! It’s funny but the idea of our independence is actually kind of cool to these folks, and we are thrilled that they are ‘taking a chance’ on us! Lol! Brian has done some really awesome interviews lately with a couple of stations (London, Ottawa, Edmonton) and the discussions have been spot on, and WAY cooler than they ever use to be. Definitely feeling ‘the shift’.

One thing to note is that we haven’t released an official bio or information package that outlines the strategy behind this, as we really have none. So in order to talk with us, we ask people to first read the blog, read your comments and actually become a part of this ‘happening’. They are responding favorably to the idea and it of course leads to good conversation. We just don’t have time for the fluff you know? Kudos to them for sure. All it takes is a little effort and it really makes us want to get to that city and do something in return for them. Seems like a solid game plan.

Want to hear something hilarious? Every station is playing the fuck out of the song except a couple of stations… One of them being The Wolf, right in our hometown of Peterborough! Fucked up right? 3/4 of IME actually live and have businesses here, and we all do things with our personal time to promote and build the reputation of this town wherever we go and for some reason they just won’t support us. (they never have actually, I don’t get it!) Sure they’ll play the usual stuff and even play some fucking band that draws 40 people to the Red Dog on Shirtless Tuesdays but c’mon already! To tell the honest truth, I’m beyond caring, but if I hear my Mom ask about it one more time I’m going to snap. For some reason, it matters to her and if you make my Mom upset, this will end badly… trust me. Don’t you love your own Mothers? Lol!

www.thewolf.ca, @thewolfca … You know what to do. Be kind… Sort of.

So thanks to all for the continued support. It’s really turning a lot of heads in the industry and you have no idea how wonderfully uncomfortable it is making people!

There is a bigger picture thing really taking shape here, and you guys are the reason it’s happening. Thanks to you all.

Strange this radio ‘success’ thing… wasn’t supposed to happen.

Jt