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Besnard Lakes news, dates - LONDON TONIGHT


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Still my favourite disc of 2007. This band is great. Beach Boys meets early Floyd.

The Besnard Lakes will continue to spread the gospel of their excellent new Are the Dark Horse LP on tour this summer. The Montreal sextet have announced quite a few new U.S. dates for the month of July to follow some previously scheduled Canadian dates, the first of which takes place June 20 in Ottawa.

The band will then release the "Casino Nanaimo" 12" via Jagjaguwar on September 11. The single features the title track on the A-side and "Devastation (alternate version)" on the B. The latter is the unedited, nine-minute, straight-to-two-track version of the Are the Dark Horse standout.

Dates:

06-20 Ottawa, Ontario - Zaphod's

06-21 London, Ontario - Call the Office

06-22 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe

06-23 Hamilton, Ontario - Underground

07-05 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis

07-12 Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear's Place

07-13 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

07-14 New York, NY - City Sol *

07-15 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's #

07-16 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's #

07-17 Washington, DC - Black Cat (backstage) #

07-18 Chapel Hill, NC - Blend #

07-20 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center for the Arts #

07-21 Bloomington, IN - Uncle Fester's #

07-23 Chicago, IL - Schubas ^

07-24 Chicago, IL - Schubas ^

07-25 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick

07-26 Cleveland, OH - Beachland

07-27 Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit's Soundlab

* with Les Savy Fav, Land of Talk

# with Dirty on Purpose

^ with Handsome Furs

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you've always been cool. :)

hope the ottawa show is good, haven't seen them for a while but last time was a one-off and it was great. this time they'll be starting a tour, but they've been touring all spring too.

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There has been some chatter on this board about Jade McNelis, but I've never seen her (that I can remember.)

Here's some hype I found

Outside/ Jagjaguar Recording Artists

THE BESNARD LAKES

"Your new favourite breakout Montreal indie rock band." - NOW, Toronto.

+ From Montreal via Tallahassee, Florida

Good Fences Recording Artist JADE McNELIS

+ From Ottawa SOVIET STATES

Thursday, June 20, 2007 (Doors 8pm)

Zaphod Beeblebrox

www.ZaphodBeeblebrox.com

27 York Street, Ottawa, Canada.

Age 19+/ General Admission

ADVANCE TICKETS: $8.00 for a limited time, at TicketWeb.ca

(http://www.ticketweb.ca/t3/event/EventListings?orgId=10505)

or by phone 1.888.222.6608

"...the galloping turbo-charged explosion of their 'Are The Dark Horse' debut...A colossal faceoff between 70s guitar rock operatics, delicate vocal harmonies and intimate string arrangements, the Lakes' Dark Horse nails the perfect balance between big-canvas psychedelic grandeur and headphone-friendly details. An early contender for the best of 07."

- NOW, Toronto. January 2007.

Rich with Beach Boys style harmonies, Roy Orbison reverbs and orchestra, Pink Floyd's pacing and Freddy Mercury's falsetto, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse is a luxurious foray into sound and music. This is the second record by The Besnard Lakes, Montrealers by way of Western Canada. Their independently released previous record, Volume I, came out in 2004, and it was noticed by critics but was largely overlooked by the public at large. On both records, The Besnard Lakes have shown that they are masters of finely-honed experimental pop songs that invoke the eerie Lynchian setting as aided and abetted by the music of Julee Cruise. But, on The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, the band throws into the mix a mad dash of Fleetwood Mac proportioned swagger and ambition. Not so incidentally, the Besnard Lakes have created a masterpiece that will resonate within all quarters, amongst critics, casual and not-so-casual rock listeners, garden variety pop fans and headphone junkies.

The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse was recorded by Jace Lasek at the Breakglass Studios (whose production credits include Wolf Parade, Islands, Sunset Rubdown and Stars, amongst others) with his wife and band member, Olga Goreas. The other members of The Besnard Lakes, Steve Raegele, Nicole Lizée, and Kevin Laing, contributed as well. Nicole wrote dark string and horn parts, Steve wrote dark guitar solos, Kevin, dark drumming. Also joining in on the making of this record would be George Donoso III from The Dears, Chris Seligman from Stars, Sophie Trudeau from Godspeed/Silver Mt. Zion and Jonathan Cummins from Bionic/Doughboys.

As an interesting aside, the completion of the album seems to have conjured a bizarre series of unexplained events. When the six-person live band, that includes Lasek, Goreas, Raegele, Lizée, Laing and third guitarist Richard White, began performing this new material (usually accompanied by a five person choir, French horn, flute, and violins), strange things began to happen. During the quietest section in the song 'Disaster,' a bartender dropped a load of dishes onto the floor. On another occasion, while opening for Wolf Parade, during the same quiet section in 'Disaster,' the front-of-house console actually turned off (!) then on again creating a thunderous crack throughout the theatre. And Kevin Laing, (drummer)suffered second degree burns on his face the day after completing drum tracks for ... The Dark Horse. Coincidence? Maybe. This is The Dark Horse; this is The Besnard Lakes...

************

Blending Gershwin's style of symphonic masterpieces, Beethoven's skill for intricately crafted melodies and a passion for Radiohead, Yo La Tengo and Sparklehorse, Jade McNelis proudly unveils her debut EP, All The Fables (Good fences), and readies herself to overturn every stone and set straight the fact from fiction while winning over the media and the masses, alike.

As myths are passed and stories told throughout the ages, the words become more and more ornate while the memories lose their meanings. On All The Fables, McNelis weaves her way through a collection of noirish lullabies, electronic verses and sexy preludes to form her own anthology of life lessons, childhood souvenirs and memoirs left untouched by neither fib or foe nor wild invention.

Twenty-year-old singer-songwriter Jade McNelis was born in Taiwan, adopted by an American couple at age one, and began learning the piano at age five. Discovered when she opened for Stars in her hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, McNelis' raw talent made her an obvious standout. She was soon after approached by new Montreal label Good Fences, who quickly signed her. McNelis came to Montreal in the summer of 2006 to record All The Fables. Co-produced by Chris Seligman (of Stars) and Drew Malamud (the Dears, Death From Above 1979, Stars), All The Fables EP was recorded at Studio Plateau and masterfully mixed by Ryan Hadlock at Seattle's famed Bear Creek Studio.

************

Audio:

THE BESNARD LAKES - http://www.myspace.com/thebesnardlakes

JADE McNELIS - http://www.myspace.com/jademcnelis

SOVIET STATES - http://www.myspace.com/sovietstates

Web sites:

THE BESNARD LAKES - http://www.thebesnardlakes.com

JADE McNELIS - http://www.good-fences.com

SOVIET STATES - http://www.myspace.com/sovietstates

ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX - http://www.zaphodbeeblebrox.com &

http://www.MySpace.com/ZAPHODinOTTAWA

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i'm gonna go for 8 to get tickets / stamps. not too sure of the schedule. first band is probably around 9 though (soviet states open, then jade mcnelis, then the besnard lakes) 11 pm curfew still applies.

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i loved it. there was one bum song in the middle of the set, but it was a good breather. they played 7 songs (out of the 8) off ...Are the Dark Horse. Encore was You Make Loving Fun (Fleetwood Mac). Probably played 9 or 10 songs total. Sound was really clean where I was standing, maybe a bit light on the keys. Bass sounded really clear and defined. Jace (lead dude) had a cold it looked like but all his vocals, especially the falsetto stuff, sounded great once he was warmed up after the first tune. 3 guitars, bass, drums, keys. 4 singers. too much smoke machine.

awesome show, i really like this band a ton. big crowd out as well, looks like this Capital Idea! festival is off to a great start.

Opener Jade McNelis was a prissy bitch, complaining about her mix the whole time. Boring as shit songs that sounded exactly like Emily Haines.

Saw Stapes, Trev and Rosie out. I think Stapes was a bit less enthusiastic than I about the show.

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