Tales from Toronto

I've been putting off writing this blog. Not because we had a terrible time in Toronto (far from it) but because since we arrived back in the UK on Wednesday I've been wondering how on earth to write it all down as there were so many highlights. However, my overriding feeling is that I couldn't have spent those six days in finer (or funnier) company than Robbie, Rob and Martin and that's a very good place to start.

From the outset our schedule was wildly optimistic. The flight landed on Thursday afternoon and our first gig was booked for the very same evening. As it was the timing worked out fine. A quick snooze at the hotel, some cheeky Red Bulls and off we went to the Boat, on Augusta. This was the first of our nights at the Pitter Patter festival run by Keith Hamilton - demon booker and ace bassist of The Postage Stamps. He kindly let us share his backline (including the big brother of my baby Roland Jazz Chorus - hurrah!) and we played a fun gig. In complete contrast to Paris where the bands were indulged in their soundchecks we noticed in all the shows we played here that the bands just turn up and play, apart from maybe the first band on. I actually quite liked this as it keeps you on your toes and was easy for us as we have a simple set up. Next up on the bill were Fjord Rowboat who I was very much looking forward to seeing after hearing their myspace tracks. They didn't disappoint and played a blinding set. Throughly lovely guys too... more on that later. Diamond Sea from Montreal followed with dreamy My Bloody Valentine-esque rock and the night was headed by the most excellent Postage Stamps, who I sadly couldn't stand up for, for more than a few minutes at a time as I was exhausted but they had a great sound going on. It was a fine night all in all and as we headed out into the cold Toronto night (in the minus region, frickin freezing) we got offered another slot the next night at another Pitter Patter show. Well thank you Keith!

There was no time to rest the next day as we had meetings at the Royal York Hotel - centre of Canada Music Week. The event itself was a media circus and certainly catered for the oily business end of the industry. Some people thrive in that environment but I can't cope with such insincerity - holding conversations with people who are looking over your shoulder to find someone else more interesting to talk to. However, there were of course exceptions to that rule and I did meet some genuine and decent people that day. Most surprisingly, and something that completely threw me was that those people who said they'd come to our show - even those I'd just met - came to our show! I was utterly amazed and heartwarmed and made a mental note not to promise to go to a show again if I didn't mean it.

So, Friday night we showed up at Central Bar as had been hastily arranged the night before. When we arrived at the venue things didn't bode so well. It seemed that none of the other acts had backline and Keith hadn't been able to get through to us to tell us the situation and had booked another act. The night could have gone either way and we could have just cut our losses and left at that point but instead the situation morphed into something quite special. It turned out there was an old drumkit behind the stage and there was a bass amp we could share.... phonecalls were made and set times were shifted. Everybody rallied round and helped everyway they could to get us to play. Special thanks to the sound engineer and to Mickey who we'd met the night before and who headlined the night. We were very touched that people went out of their way to help, especially those who were playing that night. It meant a lot. Highlight was when Craig from Fjord Rowboat and his lovely lady Ann and her friend turned up and danced at the front with a tambourine... it sounds a bit naff now but at the time it was just one of those lovely moments.

Saturday was in a way the big day. It was the reason we'd got the funding to come over from the UK and was the 'main gig' in our minds. It was the official CMW showcase at Clintons and we had a fairly restful day in the run up, I had another meeting at the Royal York and the guys had a wander round town and checked out the venue in the afternoon. They came back pretty chipper - the venue looked fine, the staff were friendly and the engineer was a Canadian carbon copy of a sound guy in Bristol so all was good. We turned up nice and early and hung round for a bit as we knew we weren't getting a soundcheck. The first two bands were charming and friendly, however we had a hard job going on after them as our style of music was so different to theirs and they'd played loooonng sets. Also, the Fender twin backline amp blew up which wasn't great news. Fair play to Dave the stage manager who rustled up another amp before our set and was delighted to hear our set was shorter than the previous bands, getting him back on schedule. We were boosted to meet Bob from itsnotthebandihateitstheirfansblog and Andrew from Scene and Heard and to spot another few friendly faces before we went on. However, it was an odd gig. The crowd was there but we had to work hard and it was the least enjoyable show of the lot for me. I'm lazy - I like it to be easy!


Thanks to Bob for the lovely review. More photos on Bob's Flickr page

Three gigs down, one to go and a change of scenery to Hamilton, an hour's bus journey down the QEW. At this point we'd got the majority of work out of the way, we hadn't disgraced ourselves and we were determined to have fun and let our hair down for the last show. As a treat we'd booked two rooms in the Sheraton and as we bundled into the hotel we met a lady who ended up giving us complimentary tickets for the Canadian Curling Championships which happened to be wrapping up that night at the arena to the back of the hotel. Couldn't pass that up (well, actually Martin passed it up in favour of a snooze on the enormous duck-down quilted hotel bed, fair enough). I'd never been to a curling match before and probably never will again but it was a hoot - the arena was enormous and passions were running high amongst the supporters. We stayed for half an hour and then headed off to the venue.


Absinthe bar was closed when we turned up so we piled in to the pub two doors down, which from the front looked fairly dubious. Half an hour later, with beers lined up, the jukebox stoked, pool table loaded and conversation flowing with the charming old barman we saw locals peering through the door and scuttling on from the scene inside. It was a great bar and we had a ball. Bad toilets though.....

Absinthe finally opened around 8.15 and we wandered in to suss it out. Nice place, wasn't much happening, no sign of the soundman but Nassau turned up and were charming. They were another band I'd heard on myspace beforehand and was looking forward to seeing. They're fronted by the McCann brothers, and one of them's the ex-Guided By Voices drummer, now singer/guitarist. The soundman eventually turned up and we shuffled onstage again without any sort of soundcheck but we were used to that by now and were confident using Nassaus excellent backline. From the first song it was my favourite show of the lot. The place wasn't especially busy but everyone connected immediately and that's the best feeling. Craig and Ann and Sandy turned up too which was gorgeous of them. Nassau went on and rocked after us, I recall dancing like an eejit to them with Sandy, I was on a high.

As is often the case in such situations, things turn on a sixpence. Rob started saying he felt really bad, and by the look on his face I knew I had to get him back to the hotel smartish. We stepped outside and I went to grab a cab when I heard a commotion behind me, turned round and saw Rob lying flatout on the pavement. He'd blacked out before he fell and had hit his head smack on the concrete. Sandy and Craig to the rescue - they drove us to the hospital where Rob got checked out and we got to experience the Canadian Healthcare system first hand. He was fine the next day but it was a bit of a shock at the time.

Monday we headed back to Toronto and with the flight not leaving until Tuesday night we had some time to do the touristy things, CN Tower, Kensington Market, Queen St West. We also met up with our new friends and they took us to some great bars. Toronto is a mighty fine city.




And that was that. We said our goodbyes, our promises to return or to at least return the hospitality in the UK and then to the airport. The less said about the flight home the better - suffice to say it nearly got grounded due to a drunkard sitting behind us, the seats were horribly cramped and it felt like hell.

It was worth it all though, and here comes the Jerry Springer conclusion. It was wonderful we got the funding to make this trip, and that we got selected by Canada Music Week to play. To mix it up with the industry moguls was an insight and we were lucky that our organising and plans came to fruition. However, the overriding and residual warmth from the trip is from the Pitter Patter shows we played where the bands and crowds combined to create very a special and unique atmosphere on each night. We were lucky to be a part of it and I'm very proud we had this experience.

So, this was a real rambler of a post. More than anything it's a reminder to ourselves of what we got up to, although I doubt we'll forget these few days in a hurry. We should have a busy few months ahead too with the single and album release in May/April, live dates in Austria in June and then the planning for Japan. Now that will be an experience!
Rowena