if you missed it, you can watch it online here (go to clip 3 if you don’t want [...]]]> so June Bug was just featured on Degrassi – i mean REALLY featured.  hello, Big D Dance Crew!  thanks to Degrassi, there’s basically a choreographed dance to our song now, featuring vuvuzelas and tubas and strange spastic emo dances.

if you missed it, you can watch it online here (go to clip 3 if you don’t want to, you know, indulge in all of the teenery):

http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/degrassi/episodes/episode1006.aspx

also, if you live in the states, you can check out the clip on Teen Nickelodeon’s website:

http://www.teennick.com/community/nsider.php?id=9208&tag=degrassi

if you hate clicking links, here’s an image from ‘our’ scene.  just hum June Bug while looking at it and you sort of get the idea.

and if you reaaaaaaaaaaallly love us, you should log in and make adoring comments about the song (you can or can not pretend you are a preteen LOL!!!LMFAO!) .

Big D’s for everyone…i mean…erm…hi kids!  LOLs for everyone!

love,

LFLF

it went like this:

it was fun!

there was a toga party in fredericton!

there was a fundraiser for AIDS in Africa in New Brunswick (the fundraiser was in New Brunswick, not the AIDS or Africa).

Isaac pulled the bumper off his car in Halifax!  then he taped it back on in [...]]]> hey!  we went on tour to the east coast!

it went like this:

it was fun!

there was a toga party in fredericton!

there was a fundraiser for AIDS in Africa in New Brunswick (the fundraiser was in New Brunswick, not the AIDS or Africa).

Isaac pulled the bumper off his car in Halifax!  then he taped it back on in Springhill, N.S.!  he did a good job, cuz it got us back home.  it looked like this!

we played a bunch of shows w/ Morris Code and the Signal.  they are awesome.  here they are with Isaac!

we saw the Potato Research Centre!

it was a great tour!

then we came back and played two shows for NXNE.  they were fantastic.  we played them w/ our new band member.  read about one of the the shows HERE.

learn more about the tour and our new band member in this lazy video blog!  and come to our show at the Cadillac Lounge this Saturday instead of sitting at home complaining about the G20 (Caddy is in Parkdale.  There are no fake lakes in Parkdale).

it’s been quiet for a couple of months, but we’re back with a vengeance.

1.  brand new single!  you can download it for FREE thanks to our lovely Steamwhistle friends.  go HERE and enjoy the fancy freeness.

2.  we play Canadian Music Week on Thursday at the Central.  Details/tickets HERE

3. feature interview broadcast LIVE this coming [...]]]> things, people!  happenings!

it’s been quiet for a couple of months, but we’re back with a vengeance.

1.  brand new single!  you can download it for FREE thanks to our lovely Steamwhistle friends.  go HERE and enjoy the fancy freeness.

2.  we play Canadian Music Week on Thursday at the Central.  Details/tickets HERE

3. feature interview broadcast LIVE this coming Monday on Indie Love Radio.  starts at 8.  listen online HERE.

4.  joan just got back from Costa Rica and saw a lot of monkeys.  here’s a picture of her watching monkeys do dirty things to each other HERE (below)

there.

remember when i used to blog?  those were heady times.  for real…we were touring.  touring is mighty heady.

we’ve been busy doing regular person things for the past couple of months, but have not neglected our rock n’ roll duty (it puts the duty in our souls).

highlights include:

- our song ‘marriage ain’t a promise’ is [...]]]> hey blog readers,

remember when i used to blog?  those were heady times.  for real…we were touring.  touring is mighty heady.

we’ve been busy doing regular person things for the past couple of months, but have not neglected our rock n’ roll duty (it puts the duty in our souls).

highlights include:

- our song ‘marriage ain’t a promise’ is featured on the Whistler/Blackcomb website on an episode of  ‘Snowcast’.  go to http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/video/index.htm and click on S3E1WB Snowcast to check out the EXTREMENESS.

-sometimes when we’re bored (and egomaniacle) we google ourselves, and sometimes we are pleasantly surprised.  somebody truly understands us.  *blushes*.

- we finally saw MONOTONIX.  it was easily the best show either of us have ever seen.  here is Isaac being Israeli rock n’ rolly with Bonanza! (seriously, that’s what he is called) the drummer after the show:

and here is Levi “Ha Haziz” (Yomtov) Elvis, the lead singer, rubbing his sweaty gym shorted bum all over me.  please note isaac behind me yelling to see if i was alright (?).  yes.  yes, clearly.   i was alright.   a truly interactive show if there ever was one.

- Steam Whistle continues to treat us like princesses! we entered Cherry Beach Sound last friday to record our new single, ‘She Looks To You’, all thanks to the guys at Cherry Beach and the bestest beer company  in the whole world (really, they don’t require us to say such things, we just really feel them, you know?).

Here we are in the studio, ‘working’:

seriously, though, we got a lot of work done.  well, all of the work, save for the mastering.  so look out for the new song soon (unless you have been one of the lucky people who has seen us in the last couple of weeks in either Toronto or Ottawa and saw the results of joan teaching herself how to play the slide guitar).

also, couldn’t neglect mentioning Hallowe’en, which was spent with our favourites the Bible All Stars in Ottawa.   Isaac dressed up as Morgan – the Bible All Stars’ frontman (fake tattoos and everything), and i was Vince from ShamWow fame…well, SEXY Vince (as i always enjoy taking the Slutowe’en trend of Kitty Kat Prostitutes a little too far).

in conclusion, we wish we were made in Germany, cuz then you would KNOW we were good.

Just wanted to say that our show this past Friday at Steam Whistle Brewery in T.O. was amazing, and we wanted to express our gratitude to Matt Weed and the rest of the Steam Whistle peeps for making us feel like such huge rock stars.  They started with the awesome-ness back in Calgary when we played [...]]]>

Just wanted to say that our show this past Friday at Steam Whistle Brewery in T.O. was amazing, and we wanted to express our gratitude to Matt Weed and the rest of the Steam Whistle peeps for making us feel like such huge rock stars.  They started with the awesome-ness back in Calgary when we played the Unsigned series there in July, and somehow they were able to top that vomit-filled (in a good way) rock n’ roll show on Friday…fog machines!  green rooms!  with gourmet sandwiches!  light shows!  huge projections of ourselves on multiple screens!  pay checks that allow us to pay off our visa bills!  the list goes on.

You can catch a little run down of the show, and some fancy pics, over at the Torontoist blog.  Here!  Apparently we “menacingly tore through a set of their bitingly sarcastic, gritty, bluesy rock.”  Yes, we do like to think of ourselves as menacing.  grrr.

So yeah, if you haven’t already, go buy yourself a delicious Steam Whistle beer.   It is made with love by lovely people who support the arts in a genuine, non-whorish way.

We’d also like to say hello to Chris Cornell.

No, not THE Chris Cornell.  Just some guy at the show who introduced himself to Isaac in the bathroom, then forced me to hug him later on, then probably hit on half the room after that.  All while stating his entire name, ceaselessly.

If you missed Friday…well, you suck.  You do have the chance to see us do a little show tomorrow (Tuesday) night, though, at the Bread and Circus.  There might not be fog machines or giant projections or hundreds attending, but maybe Chris will show.  And then you too can say that you met Chris Cornell.

We pulled back into the Big Smoke a few days ago, and [...]]]> Ok, the title of this post might win as most ridiculous of them all.  But that’s what you get when you’re attempting to recover from 3 months of of couch sleeping, long driving, bar hanging, loud noise making, Tim Horton’s drinking, and back pack living.

We pulled back into the Big Smoke a few days ago, and it was a special thing to unpack the old back pack and not think that everything would just have to be smooshed back in there in a few days.  It’s also sad (well, it’s sad several days after the fact, once regular living starts losing its charm).

Final tour shout outs have to go out to Charlottetown and all of its wonderful people – Fugato-related, as well as the brand new band, Box Car Dan and the Vagabond Strangers, of which Isaac (aka Back Bacon) was temporarily apart for their debut show with us at Baba’s.  The band’s main concepts are what songs would sound like if written by hobos, and just how much fun you can have with your facial hair.

It’s hard to say good bye, so let’s just finish with the video blog, shall we?

Apologies for the lack of updates, internet, for this final leg of the tour. Heading for the third time in one summer in the same direction has started to make us apathetic to the sites of the Maritimes. No offense intended to the east coast, of course.

This entry finds us stranded (yes, hoorah! Stranded! [...]]]>

Apologies for the lack of updates, internet, for this final leg of the tour. Heading for the third time in one summer in the same direction has started to make us apathetic to the sites of the Maritimes. No offense intended to the east coast, of course.

This entry finds us stranded (yes, hoorah! Stranded! What a lovely word.) at the PEI ferry (on the mainland side), after spending the night in Cape Breton after our gig in Port Hawkesbury. Camping is great and all…unless there’s a storm caused by an offshore hurricane to contend with. We are soggy and pretty tired. Ah yes, the glamourous rock star existence. Jealous?

Let’s see, highlights of this tour so far… Last week found us in Amherst again with our friends Nicknameless. Loading into the venue proved to be extremely memorable, completely due to the greeting I received as soon as I walked in:

“Hey! It’s Tanya Tucker! Handjob! Handjob! Give me a handjob!”

Folks, if you ever want me to remember you forever, simply greet me with those words.

If you actually want a handjob, though, you might have to think of something else.

We were all quick to note that it’s interesting that the fellow aimed relatively low. I guess that sometimes people from small towns have to pare down their goals.

Also, if you are not famililar with Tanya Tucker, she looks like this now:

And she looked like this in her earlier days:

So yeah, I’m not sure which version this gentleman had in mind at that moment.

I am mostly familiar with Tanya thanks to a dance song I quite enjoyed when I was very young, by some weird group called KLF. Upon viewing it again after all this time, I am once again reminded how one can accept the weirdest images when you’re young as completely normal.  This shit is effed.  Country Star.  African Tribes.  Hooded People with horns.  Ricardo Da Force.  WTF?:

**EDIT:  apparently that is Tammy Wynette, not Tanya Tucker.  It’s still an effed up video, though.**

Suffice it to say, we had to change our name to Tanya Tucker and the Handjobs for the remainder of the evening, which turned into a pre-emptive fundraiser for the impending Hurricane Bill. Bill obviously turned out to be quite the bust (especially where we ended up during the supposed heart of the storm – St. Andrews NB was mild and sunny by Sunday afternoon), so we ended up embezzling all of the funds raised on luxuries such as ‘food’ and ‘gas’. It’s funny to think that the life of a struggling touring musician is similar to that of a storm refugee. Nomadic, living out of a vehicle, surviving on takeout food and the kindness of strangers, sleeping on floors or in tents. Like I said people, GLAMOUR.

It is also important to note that at our show in St. Andrews, a fan of ours showed up with a severed finger…he had accidentally cut it off THAT MORNING.  He hung around till the morphine wore off.  I am still regretting that I forgot my camera that night to document him forever.

I should probably stop there for now cuz our current storm swept, ferry-cancelled, tired frame of mind is not so conducive to coherent blog entries. We will conclude this broadcast with a taste of how we killed the afternoon a few of days ago waiting to play our show in Saint John. Hold on to your hats folks. It’s a wild tale that shall be shared as a legendary road story for years to come:

But we are back…back again.  In Toronto.  Our brains are mostly soup now due to the Edmonton to Toronto stretch of roads.

To summarize the remainder of the tour would be difficult, aside from using the usual ‘awesomes’ and ‘funs’.  I guess I’ll specify that the Vancouver show at [...]]]> Why I just quoted Eminem, I do not know.

But we are back…back again.  In Toronto.  Our brains are mostly soup now due to the Edmonton to Toronto stretch of roads.

To summarize the remainder of the tour would be difficult, aside from using the usual ‘awesomes’ and ‘funs’.  I guess I’ll specify that the Vancouver show at the Railway was perhaps the best show we have ever played…it was also the sweatiest.  Before that show, I would look incredulously at Isaac every time he complained that sweat stings his eyes when he plays.  Well, now he can look at me incredulously when I complain how the sweat stung my MOUTH, and I practically CHOKED on it that night.

All that sweat was worth it though, and you can read a review of that show here.

Other point forms for the rest of the western tour:

- They do not have bags of milk out west.  Just cartons.

- When somebody asks to take a picture with me right after a show when I am pretty sure I have sweated off my face, my hair, and most of my dignity…I should really learn to just say no.

- Isaac has discovered the beauty of an airy kilt:

-In the depressing department, some parts of BC are starting to look like Arizona:

- You know when the weather forecast say it’s going to be 28 degrees, but it will ‘feel like’ 35?  Those ‘feel likes’ ceased to exist in interior BC:

- Thunder Bay has some serious social problems:

- A very interesting (it’s written like a poem!) review of our 2nd show at the Pyramid in Winnipeg can be found here

- Knowing you still have one leg left of this summer touring season (we leave for out east again next week…check as always in the live shows section for Maritime dates) while you are doing insane 14 hour drives across extremely flat land lead to a odd mind set that lead to video blogs like this:

As I write this, the hottest day in Vancouver’s history is less than a day old, and I am one of its recovering victims.  Coming from the humid and hellish summer that Toronto has to offer (except for this year, apparently) should mean we were well equipped to handle the almost week long heat wave [...]]]> Hey Blog,

As I write this, the hottest day in Vancouver’s history is less than a day old, and I am one of its recovering victims.  Coming from the humid and hellish summer that Toronto has to offer (except for this year, apparently) should mean we were well equipped to handle the almost week long heat wave  that’s been sticking (literally) with us since Edmonton.  However, neither Edmonton, nor Vancouver (especially not Vancouver) really know how to burn the hell out of an air conditioner, or even a FAN, so we’ve been mostly stewing in our own juices (ew) for the past week or so.  

We did get a brief respite while crossing through the rockies.  We opted to do the touristy thing and drive all the way through Jasper and Banff on the Icefields Parkway.  Our decision was not a regrettable one.  

Although pictures do not, of course, do justice to one of the most beautiful drives in the world, here’s a couple:

Yeah, I was pretty over it by that point.  Yeah yeah, turquoise water, mountains, trees, wildlife…what ELSE you got?

Just gearing up for the big gig at the Railway Club tonight in Vancouver.  Promises to be a good one (and perhaps a sweaty one, depending on how much of this much welcome ocean breeze makes it into the downtown core.  Let’s hope it does).  

Big live action documentation of our rocky adventures in the video blog below.  We had obviously spent wayyyyyyy too much time in the prairies judging by how excited we got at the site of distant hills and big trees.

Writing from Edmonton, AB.  We’ve now been heading in a westernly direction for a week, but it feels more like a month (mostly cuz of the distance that has been covered and the amount of Stephen King’s The Stand we have gotten through on audiobook…we’re deep into the stuggle between the Dark Man and [...]]]> Hey Blog Readers,

Writing from Edmonton, AB.  We’ve now been heading in a westernly direction for a week, but it feels more like a month (mostly cuz of the distance that has been covered and the amount of Stephen King’s The Stand we have gotten through on audiobook…we’re deep into the stuggle between the Dark Man and Jebus).

Things have been going swimmingly well.  For some reason we were expecting to be awoken from some lovely friendly dream into the harsh reality of Western bookers/bar managers (cuz we figured it just doesn’t get more friendly than the Maritimes), but we have been fortunate enough to meet some of the most supportive booker types out here that we have ever encountered.    So nice that both The Pyramid in Winnipeg and and The Apollo in Thunder Bay will be having us again on our journey back east.  Hoorah!

Other hoorahs: Check out this sweet sweet review we just got in national music paper Exclaim! HERE .   Also, we’ve been super pumped (I really hate that expression, and yet here I sit, typing it.  Honestly, who wants to get ‘pumped’, let alone ‘super pumped’…ok, i should just stop.  We’ve finally found a heat wave here in Edbmonton and it’s definitely affecting me.  DIGRESSION) for a while now for our Steamwhistle Unsigned showcase at Broken City in Calgary this Friday (check out the fancy website featuring us HERE), and now we have the excellent fortune to also perform at the Steamwhistle Brewery itself in Toronto at the Roundhouse on September 18th!  So be prepared to hear more about that one soon.  It will be our first show in T.O. since the CD release at the Rivoli (who knows, maybe we’ll even bust out Isaac’s grade 10 Jewish History video project again?).

And, of course, we cannot end this entry without another video blog.  This one features killer butterflies (nobody suspects the butterfly…) and a near death experience in Winnipeg.  Enjoy.