Stoolshed

I will man, I've been busy, then hit the road. Back on June 15th...4 months to hockey season!

Hey all, I'm coming through Ottawa again, this time with a band I'm managing (and playing bass/mandolin with on this little trip).

Jon and Roy are opening for the John Henry's at the Black Sheep on Friday June 6th. If you're a fan of roots/folk rock, Jon writes fantastic songs which you can stream or download at:

www.jonandroy.ca.

As well, though this is just spammy promotion, in march they did a tour of the UK w/ Buck 65 and just licensed the title track of their new album to Volkswagen, replacing Wilco during a nine month TV ad campaign...

Be well, hope to see a few of you there. I personally have never played the Black Sheep and am really looking forward to it!

Stephen.

Yo Shane, Stephen Franke here. I'm at COCA with Jon and Roy. See you there. BTW, thw COCA slots are private as in no public allowed...We're there on the saturday. See ya man.

Opening act will be Jon and Roy, from Victoria, withe me on bass/mandolin! (That being Stephen Franke).

check out Jon and Roy: www.jonandroy.ca

Chowder.

I have to admit, I did it. You know what the cold does to a woman...front and centre. Haha. Sorry Mike.

Sorry about the tub, what a weird thing, which HAS to stem from the company/employees/friends of employees somehow.

Thanks again for the dindin and the wonderful music by Slash. We actually watched the Paco De Lucia one the next day on the big screen. F-ing hilarious. Check out the bongo player, then the rhythm guitarist...

Stephen Franke here. I'm going to be in Ottawa during the last week of January, and I want to go to the Senators/Bruins game on January 31st. Anyone want to go? Got tix? It seems there's still lots for sale...

Outside Ottawa it's widely known and accepted that Ottawa is the second best team in the league, second only to the Vancouver Canucks. As the Sens are also my second favourite team in the league, I gots to hit a game up.

takers? PM me, or email stephen 'at' stephenfranke.ca .

Stephen.

Hello again from the Toolshed!

If you're on the island and in Victoria this weekend you can find us in Centennial Square as part of Jazzfest. Saturday promises to be a sunny warm day, and what better to do than head downtown for a free show in the square?

Saturday June 23rd, 3pm

Noises from the Toolshed

Centennial Square, Victoria BC

On another note, this summer we'll be dropping around locations on the island and Canada, but notably:

June 30th: Lesquiti Island, Lesquiti Island Arts Festival

July 1st: Courtenay BC, Outside, but I must admit to not knowing the location yet)

August 2-6: Antigonish Nova Scotia, Evolve Festival (featuring: Do Make Say Think, The Brazilian Girls, Keller Williams, Lotus and more)

August 17-19: Cumberland BC, The Big Time Out - Cumberland Village Works (Vancouver island festival featuring: Corb Lund, Spearhead, Sly and Robbie, Sarah Harmer, Five Alarm Funk and more)

Hope to see you at some of these. Be well.

Stephen

Well, Noises from the Toolshed are going to Cumberland, playing on the Saturday, and are thrilled to be there.

This is a Cumberland thread...no point in comparing festivals, especially not in this thread.

I'm personally stoked to see the above mentioned acts, and the ones not mentioned: Xavier Rudd (not yet announced), Mother Mother, Five Alarm Funk, and way more. Cumberland is beautiful, and the surrounding area is peaceful and full of lakes, etc.

Killer lineup. I can't believe all these acts are making it to the island,let alone cumberland.

Both festivals will be good times and good tunes. El Toolshed will be in Cumberland because we're islanders, we're stoked on it and because we're playing.

An all around good weekend on the island the the sunshine coast.

Stephen

Sitting in Victoria, loving what I see. Love the Nucks, like the Sens lots, it'll be great to see the two together in the final. Although, and I've said it here before, Nucks over the Sens for the cup. Haha. After a killer series, including an oldtime hockey fight between Naslund and Alfredson, swatting at each other.

Hellloooo everyone,

We're happy as hell to be coming out again! It's been over a year in coming, and we still haven't finished our upcoming instrumental release, but we're coming none the less.

Actually, we have alterior motives. We wanted to come see the Rheos do their last show because we're big fans and wanna pay hommage, but also, what is a band if not to play shows? Hence, here we are. In fact, we've been doing three days a week in the space, working on new stuff, revamping and rewriting old stuff, etc., so we've got lots of new things about. We hope to see a bunch of you at some of these shows:

Wed March 28th: arrive in TO, find gear, find live music and beer, make fun of Leafs to Jeff Carter.

Thurs March 29th: London, Fanshawe College, Noon show

Thursday March 29th: Peterborough, The Red Dog (evening show), w/ openers: Makita Hack and the Log Rollers (great oldtime acoustic act).

Friday March 30th: Toronto, The Now Lounge (189 Church St., a block from the Massey Hall Rheos show) w/ openers: Beyond the Pale. We play after the Rheos are done. ( http://www.jambands.ca/sanctuary/showtopic.php?tid/238786/ )

Saturday March 31st: Ottawa, Cafe Dekcuf, w/ our friends Inglewood Jack.

That'll be all for us, because we fly out sunday afternoon, back to home, after destroying Mike and Sharon's place. Huxtabooyakasha!

Stephen, el diablo del Toolshed.

Hey, I can't read through all the pages to figure out what's going on, cause I'm just writing a comment about Slowcoaster:

My favourite canadian band. Great band, great songs, catchy as hell, fantastic live show, great voice. Go slowco. I'm still not bored of them and I've seen them about 20 times, cause we've done a few joint tours with them.

Glace Bay junior high basketball.

Stephen del toolshedio.

Hey there,

If you're in the area and didn't already know, Noises from the Toolshed will be playing in victoria this friday:

Friday March 16th

Steamer's Pub

Hannah Georges (10.15pm-10.50pm)

Noises from the Toolshed (11pm-12.15pm)

Maurice (12.30pm-2am)

We'd love to see you and have a few new songs in the repertoire, so come enjoy a night of music.

Stephen.

Hmmmm....how did my undergotchies get in Ms.Huxtable's closet? Must have been the time I brought over a female of a certain eastern ... persuasion. I don't remember too much of that night. If I piece together my patchy memory, I think the two of them kicked me out of the bed while locked in embraces and I, still in shock from the overwhelming experience, walked the streets of hull, and later ottawa, naked. That must be where I lost the gotchies.

I deny the watch. Next you'll tell me I left lipstick there too. I swear it was Bouche's and I just borrowed it.

Can't wait to come back. Got the tub covered again?

Stephen.

Noises from the Toolshed will be opening, and as the person who booked most of the west cost tour, I can tell you the date has always been the 27th. I think the date mixup was just a case of telephone.

Stephen.

El gigo es este Vierdes, Janiero 12, 2007. Tocamos con nuestros amigos 'Hey Marmaduke'. El baro se llama 'Steamer's Pub', Calle 570 Yates. Hasta Luego.

Stephen. El Toolshedo.

(sung to the melody of Bryan Adams 'Heaven')

I'm finding it hard to believe, you're Eleven.

Haha. The underage thing only matters if it's a young girl. Recently after a hockey game, we were talking in the lockerroom, and one of the guys mentions he's about to become a grandfather. Well, he didn't look that old, so after quizing him a bit, we found that he'd 'put the puck by the goalie' when he was 13, and she was 23. Everyone laughed. No one thought it was wrong, or that he'd been statutorily raped. Then again, they grew up in rural alberta. I'll save you my farm animal comments.

I don't know why the Leafs are 30-1 and the Canucks are 40-1.

The Leafs won't make the playoffs. Haha. It's funny because it's true. Suck it up leaf fans.

The Canucks will make the playoffs, finishing 1st in the Northwest division (where they're currently in 1st).

Sorry Ottawa. Canucks over the Sens in 6 games for the cup.

Screw it. You're right Brad. I'm gonna get me a squirt gun filled with holy water and a bevy of young catholic girls, all in those little uniforms. Together we will .....oh oh. Temptation.

Sorry Shane, we're pretty much fully Christian and we're not into drugs at all. In fact God is our only true friend. Hence going to Amsterdam would be visiting the devil in his own domain, and that would be wrong.

God doesn't smoke hash you know.

Looking forward to seeing all of you out there Dave!

Canned Beats: I shouldn't say money loser everytime. It's more than that. It's just that it's hard for band's to get established in Ontario at first, if they're from somewhere else. Midweek gigs are typically low paying, and it's hard to get people out to small shows. Big cities love the big acts, etc., and there's also many other reasons for all of this, but in places like the Maritimes, everyone knows each other, so things take off a little quicker. As well, the live scene thrives out there, as it does in Alberta too (believe it or not - what'll C-towns have to say about that?). Once bands are established, it seems Ontario becomes a GREAT place to play because big population=many people to go to shows if you can get the word out.

Plus of course, the drinking factor.

Actually, we had ontario dates set up. We were at the Gladstone Hotel on Friday October 20 and at the Rainbow in Ottawa on Saturday October 21st. Unfortunately, those are the same dates as JSB's CD release shows, and we didn't want to play in the same cities on the same nights as someone's CD release so we cancelled. I'd hate it if someone did it on ours. Especially unfortunate for us though, as we had this stuff booked 4-6 months ago and we hardly ever get a chance to come out because of the friggin kilometres. If only there was better thought and communication between promoters and bands (I egotistically do not include the Toolshed in the statement-most often people have heard far too much from me).

As for Ontario being where the bread's at? Sorry, but no. It's potentially the most necessary place to play, a cultural hub, and great exposure and we love it, but a money loser everytime, unless you live in SoOn. The maritimes and Alberta are the biggest money makers, that is until you're on the cover of Now magazine. Then you're world famous.

We're coming out to do makeup dates in March. Can't wait. Plus go see the Rheos. If only everything wasn't so damn far from victoria.

Canadian Coastal Music Ambassadors Cape Breton’s SLOWCOASTER and Victoria’s NOISES FROM THE TOOLSHED visit one another’s neighborhoods during 14 date October tour.

“(Slowcoaster’s) mix of rock, pop, reggae and funk guarantees an evening of fun, while also ensuring you won’t hear anything else like it around.†– Stephen Cooke, Halifax Herald

“Beyond category, (Noises From the Toolshed’s) thoroughly entertaining collection of original material ... brings together elements of Latin, Cuban and Gypsy jazz with some off-the-wall song writing.†Edmonton Journal

In January of 2006 Cape Breton’s Slowcoaster and Victoria, BC’s Noises From the Toolshed teamed up for a wildly successful 12 date tour of both the West Coast and Maritime Provinces. Fans of improvisational music lined up at sold out venues to take in the unique and explosive combination of Slowcoaster’s irresistibly catchy, undeniably danceable funk and reggae songs and Noises From the Toolshed’s virtuosic instrumental performances, lush soundscapes interspersed with intelligent vocals, and infectious grooves and hooks. Now the two bands have planned a 14 date repeat performance for October 2006 that will see them travel British Columbia and Alberta during the first two weeks of the month before returning to the east coast the week before Halloween.

October 5th - Garage Showroom (Duncan BC)

October 6th - Steamer’s Pub (Victoria, BC)

October 7th - Fairview Pub (Vancouver, BC)

October 11th - Canmore Hotel (Canmore AB)

October 12th - The Rose and Crown (Banff AB)

October 13th - Vern’s (Calgary, AB)

October 14th - The Sidetrack Café (Edmonton, AB)

October 15th - The Tongue n Groove (Lethbridge)

October 24th - The Jester’s Court (Fredericton, NB)

October 25th - The Paramount (Moncton, NB)

October 26th - Nep-Tunes (Saint John, NB)

October 27th - Myron’s (Charlottetown, PE)

October 28th - The Marquee (Halifax, NS)

Slowcoaster was honored with the “Alternative Album of the Year†award during this February’s East Coast Music Awards and the “Alternative Group of the Year†during Nova Scotia Music Week in November of 2005. The band has been featured at well-known festivals like the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Stan Rogers Festival (Canso, NS), Evolve Festival (Antigonish County, NS), the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival (Fredericton, NB), the Peace-A-Chord (St. John's, NL), and the Shoreline Festival (Prince Edward Island).

Noises From the Toolshed are poised to be Canada’s next break-out electric progressive jazz

project. From Victoria BC, these west coast musicians are creating a large buzz, playing a blend of gypsy jazz, hard bop, and New Orleans zydeco/funk with occasional politically charged lyrics. Driven forward by virtuosic instrumental performance, their energetic live shows have earned standing ovations throughout numerous national tours while sharing stages with John Scofield, Antibalas, Jim Byrnes, Zubot and Dawson, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jackie Washington, Little Feat, Ritchie Havens and Spearhead.

www.houseofrock.ca/slowcoaster

www.stephenfranke.ca

My favourite canadian band for many, many years.

My favourite memory was in around 1990 when they'd released Melville All we had was one tape of the album that we were passing around, living in Kingston at the time. Ian the owner/manager/fuzzbrain of the Toucan in Kingston had sold 200-250 tickets to the Rheo's show at $3 each, in advance (if you can believe $3 advance tix). However the bar was capacity at 99 people, so when the cops came and gave Ian the word to clear some of the people out (show hadn't started yet and we were already packing the tiny dancefloor), Ian got mad and told the crowd that the band, who were standing on the stage with him, wouldn't play until a lot of people left. Dave Bidini walks up to another mic, looks at Ian and says 'You sold them the tickets. Why should they leave?' Crowd cheered, and no one moved for an hour. Finally they played, after we waited literally for a hour in place, like sardines, what's worse, NO BEER! Killer show, the first of many Rheos shows I saw. Then I moved to BC a few years later, saw them in Victoria where people hadn't really heard of them yet, just after they release Whale Music, giving me my first taste of west vs. east scenes. Needless to say, next time they came through, a year later, SRO, and a great show.

Other Rheo's moment...We got to open for them at Evolve 5, and during our set, I look over and Martin is lounging on the side of the stage watching us, smiling. I got so stupidly nervous, though I know I shouldn't, I had to start the first verse three times to finally remember the lyrics.

Love them, thank them for some incredibly beautiful and pontific songs, and wish them all well with other stuff.

The Rheos. You never sounded like the Replacements to me.

Great post Jeff. I couldn't agree more.

I think I'm older than all of you, but I still like playing music and touring. Love it. The things that have changed for me over time, as mentioned by El Pab-Nero is that as you get older you want to do more things with permanence, live in a home, have a kid that you don't leave for 2 month tours, etc. Now when we tour, we do it 5 days at a time, then I rush back to see the little pooper. I couldn't imagine not watching every step of her evolution because I was touring said barren wasteland.

BUT, I'm still glad I did every tour I did, met the people I did, and if this jam scene turns into a good music scene, great! I used to be wary of telling people of my jamband roots because inevitably you got pigeonholed, but lately I realize that jam has pervaded all music. And all music has pervaded jam. A shit-mix, as it were.

Here's to continued music, and here's to finding the balance between home and tour, so it all works. It's easily possible. I think jambands maybe just need to learn that constant touring is also not normal. Phish and the Dead didn't tour constantly. Instead, they did a few sets of dates a year. Granted there were long sets of shows, but in between were long periods of home life. Modern young bands just stay on the road. While there is the occasional success story, more often bands get worn and don't get anywhere. Home is important, even just to practice and write. Writing and practicing on the road is mostly a myth. I don't need to hear another song written about being on the road.

A side note: the most important thing I've learned about the music biz is that there are far better ways of exposing your music to the masses than touring 7500 kilometres each way 3 times a year. Here's to planes, rented minivans, and writing some goddamn music that can be played on the radio, hence exposing a deserving artist to the public ear.

Ciao, Stephen