The band has been a side project for everybody but me. Max and Mike formed Charlemagne more than two years ago. The Bucks formed at the beginning of 2006 as a once-in-a-while thing, and became serious in May when Charlemagne began to slow down (their drummer got a job in another city for the summer). Meantime, Dan Griffin has been writing and recording his own record for almost three years. The album is done and being mastered and pressed for a February release, and he has formed a new backing band (tentatively called The Wisemen, and including yours truly on the pedal steel) to gig with in support of the record. Dan also plays keys and recently began doing so with Charlemagne, who have parted ways with the old drummer and found themselves a new guy. The five of them just wrapped the recording of a 6-song EP at Sleepytown Sound (Ryan Mills' new place in Scarborough), with Dan producing. In the meantime, I don't want to announce anything prematurely, but I'm talking with a band from out East about lending my services on the pedal steel during a cross-country tour in the first half of next year. I'll also be playing with Dan and have a new band coming together in Toronto; we expect to be gigging by the new year. I've also been doing some writing with a fellow by the name of Wes Knight, of the BC group Trike. We've got a few tunes on the go and hope to expand the catalogue in preparation for gigging the tunes a bit. This particular project is a little different from what I usually do, but it's been fun and we'll see where it takes me. Why then, you might ask, don't we keep the Bucks around as an occasional thing? In my opinion, we already need more rehearsal than we have time for, and I don't think it will be worth it to rehearse extensively for the occasional gig we would hypothetically take. I think Dan's new band will have a similar sound and a similar vibe (he was, after all, sharing the Bucks' writing with Max) but will be somewhat more polished, and will therefore take over whatever role the Bucks are perceived to have. The Charlemagne EP will be released at a party at Casbah on January 15th. Dan's LP will be released - and the The Wisemen debuted - at a party at Casbah on February 12th, with The Canaries and Matt Paxton & The Mountain supporting.