TOUR DATES : Library Voices & Paper Lions

Belfast, PEI's Paper Lions and Regina, Saskatchewan's Library Voices have teamed up for a co-headlining tour sponsored by CBC Radio 3 starting on September 28, 2010. Paper Lions will hold down headline duties in the East and Library Voices will headline on the Western leg of the tour. Most of the dates will be supported by Vancouver favourites Bend Sinister. Tickets are on sale now.

Library Voices had been proclaimed  the “undiscovered band you NEED to hear now” by SPIN. They have been featured in The New Yorker. They’ve received generous airplay on the CBC and BBC. They have won a CBC Radio 3 “Bucky” Award. They have been nominated for a 2010 Western Canadian Music Award for “Independent Album of the Year.” They’ve been mugged twice and lost all their gear twice (once through theft, once through an act of God). Denim on Denim, their debut album, was released on April 13, 2010.

Library Voices

Paper Lions have sold over 12,000 albums independently and honed their live show by touring with some of North America’s finest acts such as Cake, The Rheostatics, Joel Plaskett, The Golden Dogs, and Hey Rosetta!. They have been nominated for 10 East Coast Music awards, taking home “Pop Recording of the Year” (2006), and been awarded the “National Touring Group of the Year” (2007, CAPACOA).

PAPER LIONS / LIBRARY VOICES – CANADIAN TOUR DATES –
**w/ special guests Bend Sinister

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 – St Catherines, ON – Mansion House **
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 – Hamilton, ON – Casbah **
Thursday, September 30, 2010 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe **
Friday, October 01, 2010 – TBA
Saturday, October 02, 2010 – Montreal, PQ – Petit Campus (POP Montreal)
Sunday, October 03, 2010 – Ottawa, ON – Café Dekcuf **

Paper Lions

Wednesday, October 06, 2010 – Charlottetown, PEI – Hunters Ale House **
Thursday, October 07, 2010 – Fredericton, NB – Capitol **
Friday, October 08, 2010 – Halifax, NS – Seahorse **
Saturday, October 09, 2010 – Sackville, NB – George’s Roadhouse **
Tuesday, Oct 12, 2010 – Sault Ste Marie, ON – Lop Lops **
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 – Thunder Bay, ON – Jacks **
Thursday, October 14, 2010 – Winnipeg, MB – Royal Albert Arms **
Friday, October 15, 2010 – Regina, SK – The Exchange **
Saturday, October 16, 2010 – Saskatoon, SK – Amigos
Sunday, October 17, 2010 – Moose Jaw, SK – Cultural Centre **
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 – Yorkton, SK – The Spot **

Friday, October 22, 2010 – Edmonton, AB – Avenue Theatre
Saturday, October 23, 2010 – Kelowna, BC – Habitat (*WCMAs – Library Voices ONLY)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 – Victoria, BC – Lucky Bar **
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 – Duncan, BC – Cowichan Theatre **
Thursday, October 28, 2010 – Tofino, BC – The Legion **
Friday, October 29, 2010 – Vancouver, BC – Pit Pub **

Library Voices will honour tour dates despite losing all gear in studio flood

This is just devastating. Regina's 8-piece pop band Library Voices, whom I had the pleasure of seeing last month while promoting their latest release Denim On Denim, had their studio/rehearsal space destroyed in a flood on May 6. A burst water main in the basement of the Regina Cultural Exchange, where the band stored all of their gear and then some, flooded the rehearsal space with some 598,000 gallons of water. The picture above shows the band sitting in (what I assume) the stripped and barren space where their gear used to be.

According to the press release, "literally every instrument and piece of gear was destroyed except for a saxophone and a Moog synth that miraculously floated to safety." Musicians and music lovers alike will cringe at the list of instruments lost in the flood, which includes: a vintage Roland Juno 6, a Korg SV-1, a Fender Jazz Bass, an Ernie Ball Music Man, a vintage Korg PS-900, countless guitars, amps, horns, drums, organs, microphones, reel to reel tape machines and tape, and a Casio Sk-1 circuit bent by Tablebeast with only 100 in circulation (other owners include Trent Reznor of NIN and Devo).

Other things destroyed in the flood include several thousand dollars of rented equipment, which is not being covered by the rental insurance, as well as band members' artwork, academic projects, massive comic book and record collections.

All that is to say, Library Voices will need all their fans, die-hard and casual, to party hard with them to cover some of those losses. The band have pledged to borrow, rent and extend their lines of credit to ensure they don't have to cancel any upcoming tour dates. That is not the only reason to see them, of course; LV puts on a phenomenal live show which lives up to their slogan "Pop as Fuck." There's good reason why Canadian indie fans voted LV into the shortlist for Best Live Act in the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards. Their upcoming summer tour dates are listed below.

LIBRARY VOICES – SUMMER TOUR DATES - 2010

June 11, 2010 - Winnipeg / Royal Albert Arms
June 12, 2010 - Thunder Bay / Crocks
June 13, 2010 - Sault Ste Marie / Lop Lops
June 16, 2010 - Montreal / Il Motore
June 17, 2010 - Ottawa / Maverick
June 18, 2010 - Guelph / Ebar
June 19, 2010 - Toronto / Horseshoe *NXNE Show
June 21, 2010 - Peterborough / Red Dog
June 24, 2010 - London / Call The Office
June 25, 2010 - Waterloo / Maxwell's
June 26, 2010 – Windsor / Phog Lounge
June 27, 2010 - St. Catharines / S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival
July 15th- 18th - Ness Creek Music Festival
July 22nd - 25th- Calgary Folk Music Festival

Library Voices announce tours, including stops in libraries

Although you probably won't find them in the silent reading section, Regina octet Library Voices are taking their brand of intelligent yet danceable, well-composed yet chaotic pop to libraries across Saskatchewan before setting off on a tour through Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Library Voices will also be making an appearance at the S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival in St. Catharines. This is LV's second consecutive tour since the release of their debut full-length Denim on Denim, which is chock full of infectious party music, which, upon closer listens, reveal lyrical gems by keyboardist Michael Dawson.

Here's what the band had to say about the inspiration for this tour:

It’s hard to believe that an entire generation has never had to hike down to the library to do research for school reports on tigers or the Canadian Shield. They’ve never had to plagiarize a 1976 Encyclopedia Britannica as if it were the ‘be-all-end-all’ on any subject. Search engines computing algorithms have replaced the card catalogue. Tiny dancing pixels at 72dpi have replaced the tactile experience of sifting through pages. The txt message has even replaced the love letter. The Wiki-generation may single handily be responsible for the extinction of the public library. This concert series is Library Voices modest attempt from keeping their favourite social institution from going the way of the woolly mammoth, the honeybee, and Star Trek TNG. It is our hope that, if even for just one night, communities with gather somewhere besides their local watering hole – that they will converse face to face, that they will share in experiences, and if all goes well maybe even sign out a book or two. Library Voices would also like to take this opportunity to publicly vow that you won’t find us performing in internet cafes a few years down the road...

Whether you share their sentiment regarding good ol' analog books, you should still catch them as Library Voices put on a heck of a show. When they last played in Vancouver on April 10, 2010 opening for We Are the City, they ended up on stage with sparklers and sweat was dripping everywhere - on stage and in the audience. Needless to say, any show with LV will be a great time!

Here are the complete dates:

LIBRARY TOUR DATES – MAY 2010
Saturday May 1 – Weyburn Public Library (2:30pm) – Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Saturday May 1 – Moose Jaw Library Theatre (7:00pm) – Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Saturday May 15 – Estevan Public Library (6:00pm) – Estevan, Saskatchewan


LIBRARY VOICES – DENIM ON DENIM TOUR – JUNE 2010
Friday June 11 – Winnipeg, MB – Royal Albert Arms
Saturday June 12 – Thunder Bay, ON – Crocks
Sunday June 13 – Sault Ste Marie, ON – Lop Lops
Wednesday June 16 – Montreal, QC – Il Motore w/ The Grates
Thursday June 17 – Ottawa, ON – Maverick w/ The Grates & Pack AD
Friday June 18 – Guelph, ON – Ebar w/ Besnard Lakes & Young Galaxy
Saturday June 19 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern (NXNE)
Monday June 21– Peterborough, ON – Red Dog
Thursday June 24 – London, ON – Call The Office
Friday June 25 – Waterloo, ON – Maxwell's w/ Off Victoria
Saturday June 26 – Windsor, ON – Phog Lounge
Sunday June 27 – St Catharines, ON – S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival (feat. Shad, Lights, & more)

(Photos courtesy of Michelle Edwards)

Plotting & Planning for Rifflandia

Exciting times; new school year (with new research endeavors), new bachelorette pad (with the sister), new job, new breath of fresh air. And through all that, concert / festival season continues!

Next weekend (Sept. 24-26) I'll be in fair Victoria, BC to cover the Rifflandia Music Festival for NxEW. Likely lots of tweets, lots of pictures, and lots of setlists (I've gotten pretty good at grabbing those).

Next Wednesday night before I depart for the weekend, I'll be going to Basia Bulat's show at St. James Hall, hosted by the UBC Alta Mater Society. This saves me the grief of missing her set in Victoria.

I love her Facebook fan club page name the more I think about it -- Basia Bulat Fan Club: We Love These Woodland Nymph Songs! (It's pretty descriptive.)

So here's my tentative game plan, not taking into consideration how I'll get around ...

Thursday Sept. 24
Hannah Georgas @ 8:00 @ Metro Theatre (1411 Quadra Street)
Final Fantasy (picture, left) @ 9:30 @ Alix Goolden Hall (907 Pandora Avenue)
Shad @ 10:15 @ Market Square (560 Johnson Street)


Friday Sept. 25
I'll likely just stick around at either Sugar night club or Market Square. Most likely Sugar. (Choices, choices...)

Sugar (858 Yates Street)
Library Voices @ 9:30  
Zeus (picture, right) @ 10:15  
Cuff The Duke @ 11:15 
The Most Serene Republic @ 12:00am

Market Square

The Dudes @ 10:30
Mother Mother @ 11:30



Saturday Sept. 26
A toss up between Market Square or Metro Theatre. If it's possible logistically I'd catch Char2d2's set then get to Jets Overhead after.

Market Square
Jon and Roy @ 9:00
Jets Overhead @ 10:00
Hey Rosetta! @ 11:00
Buck 65 @ 11:45

Metro Theatre
Char2d2 @ 8:45
Jon-Rae Fletcher @ 9:45

And now I gotta run this schedule past my good friend Roger who is graciously housing me for a weekend, entertaining me while putting up with my relative absence. He'll be able to tell me if my schedule involves running across town in an impossibly short amount of time...