Those shows went extremely well, particularly in Fredericton. For some reason Cousins opened and SexWolf closed (actually the latter thing makes sense) so it was an odd lineup, but it was very well-attended, especially for it having been the on stage debut of both Stephen Hero and Whale Skin. Whale Skin is a poppy and awesome electronic band with live instruments led by my good friend Willow Bell, with the classic rhythm section of JuHang Sin on bass and Dan Tweedie on drums. That's a rhythm section you can't really beat (nudge, nudge...get it? Har Har!) Actually all three members of that band were at one point in my band, David R. Elliott & the Novellas, the halifax edition.
I played the Stephen Hero set with Willow Bell standing at his laptop hitting play, essentially, as we were unable to put together anything better in time for the shows. Regardless, it was an awesome show, and people seemed to legitimately love it. On top of the fact that the shows went well and were a lot of fun, it was great to spend a weekend playing shows and hanging out with those guys for the first time in a while, their incarnation of the Novellas was a very fun and solid band to be in, and I was very sad for it to end as abruptly as it did.
I brought a lot of people on stage during my set, and there was a lot of 'Swag' chanting, championed most enthusiastically by Brydon Crain, which brings me toward the current state of affairs.
Saint John was a good time as well, mostly because I got to see an excellent group of Hip Hop performers from my hometown, and also got to perform my brand of hip hop or them and my best friend and fellow hip hop obsessee Jeremy Smith. But of course attendance wasn't stupendous for two nameless acts in our fair port city. After the shows, and the completion of the Stephen Hero mixtape, and album (although I still haven't released this album online) my enthusiasm for the Stephen Hero project waned, with the coming of the fall, and I began to return to country music once again, and pick up the guitar for the first time in almost a year.
It was a little slow at first, of course, but I began writing again and getting into more country music I hadn't heard, while further exploring things I had heard, such as Woody Guthrie, whom I experienced a slight obsession with just in time for my slight involvement in Occupy Halifax.
I experienced some frustration attempting to explore new music that wasn't hip hop, which I've mostly given up on now, aside from some tracks here and there that were pretty decent. I wrote a new album, which I've yet to record (the plan at this point is to record it with Clinton Charlton in his home studio, which I'll hopefully start doing soon) called 'Just Down the Tracks,' which is about my family. I also started recording a three-song ep with Tynan Dunfield, which is also not finished, but I do plan on releasing a song from those sessions as a single with a music video I'm planning on doing with Dan Culberson, currently brainstorming for a treatment.
One thing I particularly appreciate about this past fall was my growing musical relationship with Jordan Doucet, who became my dude to trade songs with this year. We spent a lot of time talking about records, playing songs to each other, getting drunk, etc. This is something I sorely need in my life, creatively. I hope to record his album in the March-April era this year, and hopefully release a short run of them for shows. Slinky (as he prefers to be called) and I got drunk and walked to a park in Halifax to pass a guitar back and forth and drink a colt 45, sometime before it got too cold for that kind of thing, and I think that was one of the best nights of my 2011.
I started getting to know Motherhood this year, a band from Fredericton formerly known as the Elephant who've been involved with foodclothingshelter for some time now. We ended up playing the same mini-festival and getting drunk together a number of times, which led to Brydon and Kaylee contributing harmonies on the Tynan sessions (along with Jordan Doucet). This led to the idea of having Brydon, Kaylee and Motherhood's drummer Adam Sipkema perform as my backing band. This seemed like an awesome idea to me, so we played The Capital on New Year's Eve, and it was excellent.
We had to cram a bit, leading up to it, but it was worth it, and I hope to continue that lineup for some more shows in 2012. I moved to Saint John, which was something I decided I needed to do earlier this year, and so far it's been excellent. I like the music dudes who live here, and I like the record stores, and I fucking love this city, and I feel peaceful and creative here, in a way I haven't in quite some time.
Since I moved here I recorded an EP called 'Blue Sky Country Gold,' which is available for name your price (no minimum) on the bandcamp, and I'm working on a new ep which I hope to get some collaboration happening on, which I'm calling 'Sam Hill.' I'm planning some shows with Motherhood and Jordan Doucet hopefully by March, and I have an instore at Backstreet coming up, among a few other things I can't really mention yet, as they are not yet set in stone. I plan on starting three bands this year; a noise band, a three-piece akin to a band I was in years ago with a 90's drunkrock sorta thing, and I plan on drumming for Jordan Doucet in his band. I plan on doing all of this with the involvement of one of my favourite musicians to work with, Cameron Evans, who also just so happens to be in the port city.
I'm excited about music right now, excited about rock bands, listening to a lot of punk and noise, and also rocking the shit out of classic Saint John releases, among which are Hospital Grade, Babs, The Organizers, Clinton, and of course, the incredible Adam Mowery, who just released an excellent album. I feel right, being here. I'm home.
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