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Canadian Music Week (in closing)

To pick up where the last entry left off, the Sask / Alberta showcase was an awesome night. The Gladstone hotel was the venue for the evening and the room just sounded amazing. The bands on the bill were Andy Shauf, Nuela Charles, We Were Lovers, Sidney York, Foam Lake and Wool on Wolves. I've never seen a performer that makes a room fall silent like Andy Shauf. When he plays, everyone shuts up and listens. A musician's dream.

One of the highlights of the week was a trip to Joao Carvalho's Mastering studio. Both of our albums were mastered here, and our jaws were on the floor during this tour. The place just felt comfortable and creative. His mastering room is one of the most acoustically precise rooms in the world, complete with beautiful woodwork and the best equipment money can buy. We gave him a copy of each album, and were happy to sign them upon his request. Once we had seen all the rooms, we went across the street to see the 'Revolution Recording' studio. Once again, our jaws hit the floor when we toured this building. Pictured above is Studio B. It sounds just as good as it looks. We heard a girl singing in the next room and he informed us it was Serena Ryder recording something new live in studio. Pretty cool. It would be a dream to record here, and we left this place buzzing with new ideas and inspired by all the possibilities. Joao's one of the best in the business, a true master at what he does... get it? I'd say he's also one of the nicest.

The last days of our trip involved more learning at the conference, and lots of opportunity to talk with major players in the music industry. The nights were pure music, and the last band we watched was Edmonton's own Shout Out Out Out Out at the Horseshoe Tavern. The place was absolutely packed, and their show was awesome. A great way to end the festival.

The whole week was a blast, and we didn't really waste any of it. We played our showcase, met some of our idols, made some contacts, made some fans, ate lots of street meat (great hot dogs in TO), drank beers, saw a Leafs home game, and had an endless supply of great live music. It was a cold week, but we missed Edmonton's winter apocolypse so can't complain.

We're proud to be part of a city (and province) that's full of really good bands, and it felt good to represent that in Toronto. Now that we're home and getting some sleep, the focus moves to our next show. We are playing Avenue Theatre on April 4th. We open for Two Hours Traffic and Rah Rah.. Can't wait!

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Canadian Music Week (so far)

We have been in Toronto for 3 nights now. The plane ride got a little interesting when we were told we could bring our guitars on the plane if overhead storage allowed for it. A few of the plane's clientel got really heated when they saw us tucking our guitars in, and it got pretty heated. There was a lot of swearing and name calling.. towards us. I've never felt so ganged up on. It was an odd start to the trip but we ended up moving our guitars into the fragile storage, and they were still in one piece when we got to Toronto.

We did a little touring the first morning here.. you're never more than a stone's throw away from a pub, so.. we saw a lot of pubs. It really felt like the longest day ever, as our showcase was at 1am that night at Cherry Cola's. We were pumped to find out it's a common hang out for bands like Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, etc.. Them Crooked Vultures played the same stage. We were worried we'd have a dead bar with a 1am showcase in a city that's foreign to us, but to our surprise, it was pretty packed, with a really attentive music crowd. Our set felt good and we had a good reception.. it's really all we could ask for. Some old friends of ours sacrificed sleep that night to come support us, big thanks to them!

Wednesday day and night were awesome. We did a lot of downtown exploring, and ended up at the Horseshoe Tavern and saw some killer sets by NQ Arbuckle, Jim Cuddy/Danny Michel to name a few. I (Justin) was standing beside Luke Doucet and his wife, and as a fan I was really excited and bought them both a beer. Later that night, we met Dave Foley, Jim Cuddy, and Rachel McAdams was in the bar. Not used to seeing so many well known people in one place. There's so many bands playing at night, and we've been hitting as many venues as possible. So many awesome bands, I haven't seen a bad one yet.

We've been hitting the CMW conference all day for the last couple days, and soaking up all the knowledge we can. There's big names and important people everywhere, so there's great networking opportunities. Had a sit down with Alan Cross today and learned all I could in 15 minutes with him. The schedule is pretty gruelling, as the shows run until 4am, and the conference starts by 9am. And it's Effing COLD here.. that kind of cold that just soaks into your bones. That's my only complaint.

Tonight is the Alberta and Saskatchewan music showcase, which we're really looking forward to. Doors are in a few hours so we're going to take a nap and head out for the night!