Myles and the Fuzz have hit the road today with the Sleepless Nights, bound for Ontario and the Pitter Patter festival.

The festival founded by Keith Hamiliton [booker at the Boat in Toronto, a dj, leader of his band Hamilton Trading Co. - probably lots of other stuff I don't know about] has a pretty great vision that is hard to not get behind:

The Pitter Patter Music Festival is based on a simple set of principals:
Fair compensation to the artists
Easy access for the patrons
The need to discover and cultivate new Canadian talent
The desire to expand the radius of support for new music outside of Toronto
By sticking with the above principals and the not-for-profit ideals on which the festival was founded Pitter Patter hopes to continue expanding and ultimately envisions itself as a national festival, setting the standard for how Canada supports the arts.

See that point about easy access for the patrons? Well if you have heard of any of the bands playing but maybe are tight for cash, don’t worry. The festival is now an entirely pay-what-you-can affair for the patrons!

Check out the Pitter Patter site for: A Brief History of the Pitter Patter Music Festival and the complete schedule

For Fuzz fans, this tour will also be the first chance to grab a preview copy of their new album “You Can’t Heal a Sick Riff” which was produced by Mike O’Neill. The album will be officially released this fall.

http://www.myspace.com/mylesdeckandthefuzz
http://www.myspace.com/thesleeplessnights
Facebook Event page for the guys’ tour

Complete Tour Dates:
22 May House Show Moncton
23 May Raw Sugar Ottawa
25 May Black Shire Pub London
27 May Red Dog Peterborough
28 May Marcello’s Toronto
29 May The Boat Toronto
31 May Trepid House Waterloo
1 Jun The Ship Hamilton
2 Jun The Jupiter Room Montreal
4 Jun The Capital Fredericton
5 Jun The Seahorse Halifax

In the bleak summer of 09, three pals with some time on their hands formed a new loud rock n roll band…..

And made it one of my favorite new bands to come out of Halifax in a while. Dirty low-fi power pop punk that KICKS!! Thanks in no small part to Meg’s instinctual beat down on the kit. For a first time drummer she plays with enough confidence and raw ommph to convince anyone this is not a) her first band and b) that she hadn’t played drums before.

The band is fronted by KC Spidle – formerly of Dog Day and still Husband and Knife [with BV's bass player Evan playing there too].

This is the band’s first tour beyond the Maritimes, show them some love!
It is also Meg’s first tour ever + first time traveling across Canada, so show them a good time folks!

You can follow tour updates at:
http://badviben.tumblr.com/

Check out some music and keep an eye for their future return via their MySpace page. My current fav track of the moment = “We’re Dead”
http://www.myspace.com/bdvbes

Tour Dates:

• 6 May 2010 FRIENDSHIP COVE w/ DRUNK DIAL & OMAN RA II MONTREAL, Quebec, CANADA
• 7 May 2010 TERANGA w/ BAG TAG & SOUP CANS TORONTO, Ontario , CA
• 8 May 2010 TRINITY LOUNGE SARNIA, Ontario, CANADA
• 9 May 2010 THIS AIN’T HOLLYWOOD w/ SAILBOATS ARE WHITE & RATTAIL & TROPICS HAMILTON, Ontario , CA
• 11 May 2010 BABYLON CLUB w/ CENTRETOWN CRIPPLERS, KNIFEMARE OTTAWA, Ontario , CA
• 12 May 2010 P572 HOUSE QUEBEC, Quebec , CA
• 13 May 2010 THE CAPITAL w/ CURSED ARROWS FREDRICTON, New Brunsw, CANADA
• 14 May 2010 THE PARAMOUNT w/ THE NUCLEAR & THE ROBINS MONCTON, New Brunsw, CA

Tickets on sale now at ticketpro.ca or Ticketpro outlets ($21.50adv/$29 day of show).

FYI: Every Thrush Hermit show will feature a different opening act, sorry I have no details on the others right now.

www.mypsace.com/mylesdeckandthefuzz
www.myspace.com/thrushhermitrox

Complete* Reunion Dates
8 Mar 2010 The Manhattan Club Moncton, New Brunswick
19 Mar 2010 The Paragon Theatre Halifax, NS
20 Mar 2010 The Paragon Theatre Halifax, NS
23 Mar 2010 Starlight Club Waterloo, Ontario
24 Mar 2010 Red Dog Tavern Peterborough, Ontario
25 Mar 2010 Capitol Ottawa, Ontario
26 Mar 2010 Lee’s Toronto, Ontario
27 Mar 2010 Lee’s Toronto, Ontario
* might be missing an all ages show….

Thrush Hermit – Complete Recordings- 7 DISC BOX SET-  to be released on New Scotland.  An epic project.  Scrambling madly to get it together for the Hermit reunion tour in March (fingers crossed!).

Disc 1- Clayton Park

Disc 2- Sweet Homewrecker

Disc 3- Smart Bomb and The Great Pacific Ocean

Disc 4 – All Technology Aside – 22 songs – outtakes, b-sides and unreleased

Disc 5 – Hits and Giggles – 23 songs – early singles, eps and unreleased tracks

Disc 6 – Embarrass Ourselves Awake – hodge podge of really early material from Nabisco Fonzie, The Hoods, The Hermit and The Tim Robbins

Experience.  Truly embarrassing stuff to keep you awake on long drives

Disc 7 – DVD consisting of Learn to Party documentary (1999) and lots of extra never before seen footage from 1990- 1999

Will also include a 24 page booklet with lots of photos and liner notes written by Rob Benvie.

Nov 11 TROIS MINOT     Montreal, Quebec
Nov 12 THE BOAT w/High Mother, Chang-a-lang and ‘It It     Toronto, Ontario
Nov 13 OSSIA w/Sons of Thor     Peterborough, Ontario
Nov 14 THE PHOG LOUNGE w/High Mother     Windsor, Ontario
Nov 15 MOON OVER MARIN w/High Mother     London, Ontario
Nov 18 THE LEGENDARY RED ROOSTER     Burlington, Ontario
Nov 20 THE MANSION     Kingston, Ontario
Nov 21 SCANNER     Quebec, Quebec

If you are curious about checking out the band, feel free to download their releases to date beforehand to help you decide:

01 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Beware! The Fuzz
02 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – California Man
03 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – I Love My Baby
04 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Thrill Seeker
05 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Filthy Addiction
06 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Master of the House
07 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Watch Your Job
08 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Ain’t Worth Tryin’
09 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – Halifax is Burning
10 – Myles Deck and The Fuzz – It’s a Long Walk

Police Cops cover art

01- Myles Deck & the Fuzz – Police Cops
02- Myles Deck & the Fuzz – Ayatollah
03- Myles Deck & the Fuzz – Boom Boom

EP as a zip

New 7″ Split with the Cuban Assassins

The weekend after they return from tour they are officially release their new 7″ split with the Cuban Assassins!!! This will be a limited pressing hot red vinyl piece of magic you should get your hands on!!! Have a listen:
01 – Myles Deck and the Fuzz – Lights Out Electric Co
02 – Myles Deck and the Fuzz – The Healing Power
01 – Cuban Assassins – Money
02 – Cuban Assassins – Dead Dead Dead

You’ll be able to catch the Fuzz and Assassins at the end of November in Halifax and Moncton:
Nov 26 THE PARAMOUNT LOUNGE w/Cuban Assassins    Moncton, New Brunswick
Nov 27  GUS’ PUB – Split 7″ release! w/Cuban Assassins     Halifax, Nova Scotia

HEROHILL REVIEW
herohill: “It’s obvious the band has found their stride”
herohill gave the 7″ a great review ending on this note we agree the guys deserve:

With more and more people embracing that grit of garage rock, Myles Deck and the Fuzz should be getting more attention and hopefully that will start soon.

Visit herohill for their song by song take on Police Cops.

EDIT [late Friday afternoon]: Herohill just compiled a list of 10 bands from the Maritimes they think you need to hear – Myles and the Fuzz are one of the 10.  East Coast Rocks:: Ten Artists to Watch gives you the complete list.

THE MUSIC
You can download the tracks individually below [all MP3s] or as a zip folder with front and back covers included as JPEGs.

1    Police Cops
2    Ayatollah
3    Boom! Boom!

UPCOMING SHOWS
Nov 3rd    The Capital – Fredericton, New Brunswick
Nov 14th Cafe Chaos – Montreal, Quebec
Nov 15th Le Scanner – Quebec City, Quebec
Nov 26th Reflections – Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nov 29th Hell’s Kitchen – 7″ release – Halifax, Nova Scotia

At risk of breaking some rule of band PR I am taking a quote off a message board – a fan’s review of the Fuzz’s live show at Gobblefest in Sydney, Cape Breton [I knew & liked the guys and was open to working with them, heard the music, was down with that, saw them live and it was  a done deal]:

After this it was time for Myles Deck and the Fuzz. This was what I was waiting for. Old-school garage punk played by the nicest guys in the world. I had only seen them once, over a year ago at Rocking4$ in Halifax. They were awesome then and I could only imagine they’d be better now. The did not disappoint. By the end of their set, they had won everyone over. Everyone in the bar was on their feet and dancing along, due to the band being fucking amazing. The cool thing was how all the people who were there to see a particular band were all into Myles and the crew. I can pretty much say without a doubt that this band were the best band I’ve ever seen visit this island. Charismatic and tight, the[y] won the night. If anyone missed them, they should be ashamed of themselves. Once I get some cash, I’m getting a record and a tshirt. You guys should do the same. – From a “Half-assed Partial Gobblefest Review“.

Myles Deck and the Fuzz online: Their Website | Myspace | Facebook
Download their debut full length “Beware! The Fuzz” here

Fortunately they brave forward anyways. Head to Radio3 and check out a tour diary with Steph and find a link to some videoblogging she has going on on their myspace page

Openers Olympic Symphonium are extremely talented musicians, great vocal interplay. But so low-key/mellow it bordered on boring. Very little dynamics from song to song there set pretty much stayed on one level ——— the whole time. I know they can play, I know they can sing, but I can’t really recall anyone song over the others now from last night.

After an announcement from IDOW festival producer Heather Gibson regarding a request from Hayden regarding photos, Hayden took the stage and made a comment on how his request came across, apologized, talked about robots, made it sound like he didn’t like robots, said he did and then started performing. Someone near me commented on how the show was already more lively after OS based on that opening interaction alone.

From there we were treated to a selection of songs spanning his career, including a “less creepy” update on “Bad as they Seem” [Hayden is 33 now].

He has to have some of the best self-depreciating stage banter of any performer. At the end of the night when he had to ask people to stop clapping as it messed him up because he has horrible timing and that is the reason he is a solo artist.

His Woodie/Starbucks story was pretty hilarious [someone complained to SBs about the song being about him masturbating in his backyard with his best friend.....].

The show has been getting rave reviews, and you can add this to that pile – I don’t think anyone left that show unsatisfied last night.

Jenn Grant hits the road with him too for future dates, so that will be a treat for folks out west.

And Ms Shannon Webb Campbell had the honor to interview Hayden for this week’s issue of the Coast – check it out.

For more videos see www.seanwainsteim.com/

The guys had a great year last year, pretty impressive – they’ve clearly worked hard. I try not to cut and paste press releases too often but not many easier ways to sum up the year they had better than what was sent out, and they deserve the props, so:

2007 was an incredible year for Two Hours Traffic. After releasing their Joel Plaskett produced second full length album “Little Jabs” in July, the band found themselves the proud makers of one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year. Little Jabs has appeared on numerous top ten lists while the band won two PEI Music Awards, a CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award for Best Road Trip Song, and currently hold down 3 East Coast Music Award nominations. The album stayed on the top 20 national college chart for 10 weeks, (are STIIL on charts 6 months later), and it hit # 1 on the CBCR3 30 Chart in September staying in the top 5 for 4 straight weeks. Two Hours Traffic was voted the #13 Hottest Band In Canada in the annual year end iheartmusic poll, had 3 songs on recent episodes of the TV show Gossip Girl, as well as songs on Smallville, The Ghost Whisperer and The OC. and their “Road Trip” viral contest/campaign received over 500,000 unique hits.

The band is nominated for ECMAs [ congrats] next month in New Brunswick and have found themselves with three showcases as part of the event before heading off across Canada.

CBC Radio 3 Present Two Hours Traffic Nighthawks Tour Dates
Feb 02 – Halifax, NS @ The Seahorse
Feb 06 – New Glasgow, NS @ North Shore Education Centre
Feb 07 – Fredericton, NB @ UNB – The Cellar – ECMA Showcase
Feb 09 – Fredericton, NB @ Delta Hotel – ECMA Showcase
Feb 09 – Fredericton, NB @ Nicky Zee’s – ECMA Showcase

Continue reading for remaining cross Canada tour dates
Feb 14 – Quebec City, QC @ Le Bal du Lezard
Feb 15 – Montreal, QC @ Club Lambi
Feb 16 – Ottawa, ON @ Zaphods
Feb 19 – London, ON @ Call The Office
Feb 21 – Guelph, ON @ Bookshelf Ebar
Feb 22 – Brantford, ON @ The Ford Plant
Feb 23 – Toronto, ON @ The Horseshoe
Feb 28 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Loplop’s Gallery & Lounge
Feb 29 – Thunder Bay, ON @ Kilroys
March 01 – Winnipeg, MB @ Royal Albert Arms
March 05 – Edmonton, AB @ Pawn Shop
March 06 – Calgary, AB @ The Gateway
March 07 – Kelowna, BC @ Doc Willoughby’s
March 08 – Vancouver, BC @ The Railway
March 13 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s Cantina
March 14 – Medicine Hat, AB @ The Doghouse
March 15 – Regina, SK @ The Exchange
March 20 – Peterborough, ON @ Red Dog Tavern

Dion’s outdoor concert in Halifax cancelled Breaking News

Quebec-born diva Celine Dion has backed out of a commitment to perform in Halifax this summer.

The concert’s promoter, Gillett Entertainment Group, says the singer will not perform at the Halifax Common on Aug. 23 because the venue is “not appropriate.”

The Quebec-based company says Dion’s “elaborate production needs” can’t be met at the downtown site.

Tickets were supposed to go on sale Nov. 24.

The concert was originally announced on Nov. 7 with Dion confirming she would play the Halifax Common as part of an 85-city, five- continent tour.

Halifax regional council approved behind closed doors the spending of up to $150,000 to bring her to town.

While pricing never even had a chance to become an issue here, we might see some more cancellations because of it elsewhere:

Cline Dion Tickets
Is Celine Dion gonna give birth on stage? Does every attendee get a blow job by either George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, customer’s choice? Is John Lennon gonna come back from the dead to duet with her on “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”? If not, why the fuck do I have to pay $500 a year in advance for tickets?
- Bob Lefsetz
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Celine Dion is asking me to make a commitment NOW to a show on January 30, 2009? She wants the use of my money for 14 months? She wants $1000 a couple up front; $400-$500 in the middle – for the privilege of locking in more than a year out? I couldn’t tell you what I’m doing 14 days from now, let alone On Jan. 30, 2009. Total insanity. -Debbie

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You think that Clapton and Winwood at 250.00 is a scream. Well it only gets better. I received an email today from AEG notifying me that I am a preferred member (don’t know how) and I am eligible to purchase advance tickets to see Celine Dion on October 20, 2008 for prices ranging from $62 – $512. Shit, if I cared, which I don’t, those greedy bastards would have my money, perhaps as much as 500 + bucks times the amount of friends I want to go with, in their coffers for near a year – multiply that by 20,000 bums in seats. That’s greed? What like Celine needs a guarantee that she will sell out the ice rinks – NOT! Crazy crazy industry!

Garrett

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Celine Dion…..Vancouver Canada, Next October….
$82.00 to 520.00. She and Rene can go fuck themselves.

Darrin Buchanan

Way to go City Council. Way. To. Go.

She reminds me of a banshee. Coming to terrorize us all.

Just so you can see I am not a complete hater though I will give her props for making her hair bigger than this other diva’s. Good job Celine!