Close to a month now we went on tour to Vancouver island with Philoceraptor. Between the 6 of us we got decent photographic coverage of the happenings over the weekend and once my super8 film gets back from being processed we’ll have some moving picture coverage as well! In the meantime here are some photos of our show in Victoria!
And Philocerpators Set
I was shuffling through my music tonight and this track by ‘Harlem Shakes’ came on. It took me back to about two summers ago – Riding my bike, taking the SeaBus to North Van, just a flood of summer nostalgia. It also reminded me of the night shift I was working at the time and how shitty it is to take busses through Hastings at 3-4am, but thankfully that’s more of a afterthought – It mostly reminds me of that Summer and the people I spent it with.
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It’s unfortunate to know that they no longer play as a band, but the silver lining is that they produced a really great LP before they disbanded in 2009. A short fun, but one that’s fully appreciated all the same.
BAND RELATED UPDATES
Weird work schedules have been making it a real challenge to get to the post office in time to send off EPs to those who we’ve promised them. I also have 50ft of Super 8 film I need to send off to get processed in Seattle, which hopefully holds some cool footage of our Vancouver Island tour that we did with Philoceraptor.
In the meantime here are a few photos that were taken on the mini-tour (and a few after we got back) with my phone. More updates to come. I’ll hopefully have some time to get to them around the end of the week.
PHOTOS – VIDEOS – STORIES
ALL TO COME.
STAY TUNED!
So as you may or may not know we’ve just recently finished recording, mixing, mastering, packaging our first 7-Song EP and after all that work, everyone involved is really excited about how it turned out. There was just so much damn effort put into this thing Blood/Sweat/Tears you name it (I guess there weren’t that many tears all around – Mark did most of the tearing, he cries a lot.) As far as the whole process went it was really difficult having the band essentially put everything on pause for close to 5 months. I mean, as any band would know recording entails nothing but playing and listening to the same songs over and over again leaving little free time to carry on with standard band practices, playing shows etc. Sure, we all know that that is what recording IS, but it doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and roses. Working a full time job in the day and then spending close to every free minute in dark small and stinky rooms, nit-picking about improving every little detail that stands out so the project that you invested a lot of your money/time into…man, it starts to wear on you. It’s enough to drive any sane person borderline insane and worst of all it leaves no time for the fun stuff! The Jamming stuff! The playing shows stuff! The writing new music that keeps us all excited about being in a band, stuff!
Here’s the thing though. When it comes to recording it can become a daunting task and sure it sucks up a lot of your you time, but if you don’t have the right people working with you it can quickly become much worse. It can quickly turn into a nightmare that makes you want to fully kill yourself. Thankfully, recording this EP was no nightmare… at least it wasn’t the kind of nightmare that has you waking up in a cold sweat. I think a lot of that had a lot to do with our friend 
Matt Gauthier being the one who essentially ran the show for us. Producing, Recording, Mixing – This EP is just as much a reflection of our bands music as it is a showcase of Matt’s skills and dedication towards making songs sound the way they should sound. Technical prowess aside he was so involved in all of our songs he was essentially a member of the band during the recording process. Hell, I’m sure he can still play every one of those songs off the top of his head now… Actually I know for a fact that he can.
The real reason for this post was to post a couple photos of one Saturday night that the Philoceraptor guys, Matt and all of us piled into our jam space to drink beer and play old punk covers. The reason? Well not that doing those things on a Saturday night really ever require a reason, however this night in particular had a reason. To carry on doing what he loves, Matt was moving to Toronto later that week. Of course the best way to send anyone off, is to drink beer and play Propagandhi covers. So that’s what we did.
It’s been about a month since the last post and the amount of happenings that deem interenet updating are staggering. At least they seem staggering to me. I actually find it hard to believe that an entire month has just passed.
Since there are so many updates that have been piling up and since I’m so tired from being away all weekend on our small tour around Vancovuer island, I’m going to spread it out through this week. A POST A DAY. Or, every second day. Let’s try every second day. And although I may not have the best track record when it comes to consistently posting on this thing, it sure won’t stop me from making empty promises!
In the meantime here’s a couple images of the finished album art/paper insert.
Front Cover Spread
Inside Album Spread
CD Template
Insert Side-A
Insert Side-B
WordPress likes to “date” entries by “day” and “month” which, under normal situations, may be considered a standard in informative posting. HOWEVER, I see things in a different light. Some may consider it to only house a negative effect on the lazy and unmotivated, but instead I would like to make a stand in defense of the busy and overactive.
A general brief of what we have been working on in the past four months.
1. Record a 7 Song EP. (That’s kind of a huge part of the 4 month lag, so it was a poor choice on my part to mention it first – let me elaborate)
2. Mix said EP.
3. Master said EP
4. Sequence said EP.
And more recently
5. Jam / relax from recording and write new songs.
6. Prepare and perform a new set at the “Philoceraptor” EP release party.
7. Finalize tour details for our island trip happening mid February. (GET READY NANIMO AND VICTORIA WE’RE COMING YOUR WAY SOON!)
And finally
8. Organize album art and prepare for our EP release show happening Feb.4th.
In summation, that’s the best I can do (in web-log form) to makeup for the lack posts. However, if your still agitated and need something more, come out to the EP release show (FEBRUARY 4th @ the Cobalt) and I’ll give you a high-five and possibly pity for actually reading this nonsense.
In fact, come out for high-fives regardless.
Digital media payment (for getting this far) below!!!
Two Tracks off the new EP (check our myspace for more) – The Rails & Worn Shoes
Photos by Rob Bannister and Vasho Pekar
We’ve been in the studio on and off for the past month and it’s been slow with updates since we haven’t found the time to post new and exciting stuff. However, that will soon change. Get your rest while you can, because soon there will be an offensive amount of postings pertaining upcoming shows, photos, videos, personalized telephone calls, greeting cards, career strategies, anniversary reminders, stock advice and automotive repair suggestions – All because we, the members of ‘Grey Empire’ care about you.
The Railway Club show with Broken Hands and Philoceraptor was one hell of a blast. It was the first time playing there and the way everything went it definitely won’t be the last. The venue sounded great, the bands killed it and the audience was awesome! Definitely the most fun we’ve had playing a show yet.
Our friend Vasho, helped with the visual side of things again by taking some amazing photos – As always, we are forever in debt to you, sir. Need us to play an acoustic set for your Mom’s birthday? Done. Need us to do your sisters homework? (with the exception of trigonometry) Done. Need us to kill a mail-man for always upsetting your dog? Done.
There’s been a couple youtube videos of our set floating around too, we’ll post more as they come, but for now here’s a video of the last song in our set, “War-Brides”.