July 29, 2010

Hello friends,

A week ago I started my Western Canadian Candle Release Tour! I’ve been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write a bit about it until now. I call this my candle release tour because, in case you haven't heard, I have a new line of scented candles. They are shaped like my head (see figure A), and they are imbued with various restorative properties. Fragrances include Rose, Lemon, Lavender, Mint and Lemon-Rose. They take a long time to make, so I’m actually trying not to sell them very much. Even still, I’ve almost sold-out already. There are a few left and I’m going to try to hang onto at least one to have with me for the tour home.

I should tell you that I’m writing to you from the basement of the Raging Elk Hostel in Fernie BC. I’ve never performed in this town before last night because, to be honest, it always scared the shit out of me. It seemed Bourgey and alcoholic. Not good drunk, like Hamilton or Saint John’s -- more of a repressed, moneyed volatility with an international flair. 
On the fernie.com site there is a page called “Taking Care of Yourself“. It reads “Don’t trust the RCMP. Most are respectful, but some are young men looking to prove themselves through the abuse of authority.” 
Sound advice!
Fernie is lovely to look at, but it is close enough to the Alberta border to be a perfect, scary, blend of the two provincial cultures. You see, Albertan conservativism and the green leftiness of BC don’t mix well. Oil and water -- or maybe baking soda and Vinegar. That’s what I figured before I visited, anyway.

But in spite of my initial pessimism, I had a fun time here. The locals at the Brickhouse Pub were very friendly and bought all of my t-shirts. And they bought me beer. They were hippies with money, not the junior-RCMP-snowboarders I thought they'd be. I even met a table full of cheerful folks who were organizing a music festival in town. I think I will come back for that next year.

It's been a good tour so far. Among many other places, I got to perform in Thunder Bay, Bruno SK and at the Brandon Folk Fest. There I saw Buffy Saint Marie perform a set that was completely balls out... Balls. Out. 
Soon I will be in Wells where I will meet my lovely, super-pregnant wife, along with many friends -- The Burning Hell, Geoff Berner, D. Trevlon, Corwin Fox, Lisa Poushinski, Maria in the Shower and others. Maybe you will be there too. 

So here are some of the shows that I have in the coming weeks:

(Hint: As always, I recommend that you help promote your local Wax Mannequin Party by starting a facebook event and inviting your friends, and/or by putting up posters. If you do stuff like this, tell me. You will get presents). 

July 1, 2010

I had a nice time on my recent trip overseas. I travelled with new friends Tory, Tommy and Claire, making music in cities and towns throughout Germany and Switzerland. After a day of rehearsal in Frankfurt, we made our way to Mainz. We stayed in a hotel where they had left us bottles of bad but wonderfully effective wine in our rooms. In the morning we played at a town-wide music festival called the Open Ohr. We were lucky enough to perform in the early afternoon on a hilltop stage with trees, sun and lovely German people all around us. Shortly after our show, we hopped in our touring van and went to Trier. We arrived at the venue -- Exhaus -- at about 5pm. Exhaus is a pretty massive complex. In the seventies it was some kind of government consulate or something. Throughout the eighties it was abandoned, but it became a heritage building in the nineties and has been used as a sort of community funded youth centre ever since. So understandably, it has become a dangerous, graffitied, beer-soaked, glorious place. Our show was the next night but we were told there would be a comfortable place to sleep if we arrived a night early. The building was all locked up when we arrived, so we set up our equipment in the courtyard and practiced until it got dark. Then the kids arrived for a cool-ass rap show that was happening, so we packed up our things and went to a secret room upstairs for a thoroughly enjoyable set by Babel Fishh – a clever hip-hop two-piece from Texas. The guy with the key to the band suite never did show up, so we snuggled up on some sofas and blankets that we had in the van. The next night we played music in that same secret room and made a triumphant mess. 

Music venues in Germany often have exciting, decorative themes. In Hamburg there is a little place called Hasenschaukel (which translates to swinging hare, I think). Hasenschaukel is dressed up like an old lady’s Victorian-style house. There are cloth doilies on the tables and the lamps are made out of porcelain dolls. All of the music and the audience in this room need to be very quiet. Apparently there is an old lady who sleeps in the basement. If ever she is ever to awaken, everyone listening will turn into spinning children and the musicians will become screaming rabbits. We will all be trapped! 

I have a few Ontario shows coming up in London, Toronto and Hamilton. Then I will zoom west in late July. 

(Hint: You can help promote locally by starting a facebook event or putting up posters. If you do stuff like this, you get presents!)


June 15, 2010

Europe was delightful. I'll tell you all about it soon.
But right now I just want to tell you about a few upcoming shows:
On June 25th I will be in London at the Black Shire with Jenny Omnichord and Richard Laviolette.
On July 2nd my band and I will be in Toronto at the Rivoli with J. Omnichord and J.J. Ipsen.
Do as we tell you and go to these shows!

May 20, 2010

Hello, 

I'm in the midst of an an all-night party in preparation for my trip to Europe. It's less party, actually, and more tired scavenger-hunt. Soon I'll take a short nap and catch a plane to Frankfurt to start my tour. 
But before I go, I will do something far more important and life-changing than a silly trip overseas; I'm going to see blurry pictures of my baby for the first time! You see, there is this baby and it's growing inside my lovely wife. We have a child on the way. And if things go well, he or she will arrive in October. I've always known this would happen and I've always known it would change me in interesting ways. I already feel quite different. The main way that I've changed is that I'm thinking less about the stuff that I'm doing, and more about baby. I can't stop thinking about the little baby person, actually. I'm thinking so much that this time it's very hard for me to go away from my lady for another dangerous tour. 
Don't misunderstand me. I am excited for my travels and I will enjoy myself on this adventure. Indeed, it will be a good trip... but I will miss my home more than ever, I think, and it may be my last adventure over the ocean for a little while. This time, as I travel, I will collect odds and ends for my wife and for my baby. If you come to one of my shows, please bring a unique item for my my baby. Something unique to your country, city, town or person. 

Also, if you live in one of the following places, I would be grateful if you would start a local Facebook event, or otherwise help spread the word about my show. 
This is where I am going to be:

SPRING EUROPEAN TOUR:

Germany: 

May 22 - Mainz - Open Ohr Festival 12:30pm 

May 23 - Trier - Cafe Exact @ Exhaus \

May 24 - Chemnitz - Exil

May 25 -- Dresden - Societaetstheater 

May 26 - Berlin - Schokoladen 

Switzerland and Slovenia:

May 27 - Zurich - La Cantrina

May - 28 - Ljubljana - Tovarna ROG

May 29 - Trogen - Viertelbar

May 30 - Winterthur - Dimensione

May 31 - Castrop-Rauxel (Germany) - Baha de Conchinos

Norway:

June 2 - Oslo - Sound of MU

June 3 - Olso, Mir

June 5 - Oslo - Music Day Festival

In June I will be playing several shows throughout Ontario. I will be heading west in late July/August. 
These dates are on my myspace and website. 

Bye,

Chris
Wax Mannequin

April 23, 2010

Hello,

News:

That secret video for End of Me is back up. Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcUuHtrCBbE

I just finished touring western Canada with Mathias Kom (The Burning Hell) and Vish Khanna. We had an awful lot of fun. You can see our video tour updates and hear some of the podcasts from Vish's radio show, The Wrath of Khanna, at www.cbcradio3.com/thewrathofkhanna . 

In one of these podcasts, Mathias, Vish and I recorded songs for an upcoming 7-inch with our friend Corwin Fox in Courteney BC. We recorded one of my songs, one of Mathias', and then a special duet cover song. Fancy. 

It's been a pretty adventurous tour so far. 
Bruno SK is a town of 600. A fellow named Tyler opened up a little shop called All Citizens there. It's right next door to a tiny Senior Citizens centre. Tyler's place has lots of curious hand made odds and ends, coffee and cookies for sale. Lately he's been hosting a lot of musicians for quiet performances. Tyler prepares something special and rediculous for each musician. Julie Doiron got a day named in her honour. Geoff Burner and Bob Wiseman got a key to the city. For us, Tyler prepared powerful glass-and-wood turtle sculptures with our names engraved into them. I hope to retire in Bruno SK, or at least get a little job sweeping the streets there to carry me through my sunset years. 

March 26, 2010

It's been a pretty adventurous tour so far. Bruno SK is a town of 600. A fellow named Tyler opened up a little shop called All Citizens there. It's right next door to a tiny Senior Citizens centre. Tyler's place has lots of curious han-hand made odds and ends, coffee and cookies for sale. Lately he's been hosting a lot of musicians for quiet performances. Tyler prepares something special and charmingly rediculous for each musician. Julie Doiron got a day named in her honour. Geoff Burner and Bob Wiseman got a key to the city. For us, Tyler prepared powerful glass-and-wood turtle sculptures with our names engraved into them. I hope to retire in Bruno SK, or at least get a little job sweeping the streets there to carry me through my sunset years.

Vish and I are holed up in a little bar-hotel in Kimberly right now. Mathias flew to Vancouver last night for a show with Kim Barlow, but he'll be meeting up with us again today. This evening we will all head to Cranbrook for a show at Finnegan's Wake.

March 8, 2010

Hello,

My friend The Kettle Black moved to Hamilton recently. He is refinishing a space above my Mum’s art studio east of downtown. It’s a ragged old building in a broken part of the city. So far he has fixed the plumbing, patched the crumbling roof and built some walls that will cleverly divide up the space in order to make it a bit more liveable and functional. I’m surprised by how quickly things are changing there. It’s the kind of place where there might be tons stuff hidden in the walls from previous tenants. We’re not trying to expose anyone’s buried past. We mostly just want to make it into a good building for living and music-making.

Nick and I drove to Ottawa last night. I had a solo performance at Algonquin College and Nick wanted to pick up some things from his old place. I played the show with Billy the Kid. I met her a few years back when she fronted a punk band from Alberta called Billy and the Lost Boys. These days she performs her sturdy, resounding songs solo with a guitar and piano. She will be around Ontario for a couple of weeks . After the show, Nick drove us back to Hamilton. I napped and went to an afternoon teaching job where I pretend that nothing strange had happened the night before. 

In a few days I will be heading west for a big tour. This time I will be travelling with my friends Mathias Kom (The Burning Hell) and Vish Khanna (CBC 3 radio personality and fancy-pants percussionist). You can visit us at one of the events listed below. Over the three weeks, Vish will be documenting our travels, so all of our triumphs and embarrassing missteps will be featured each morning on national radio between March 10th and April 3rd on Sirius 86 or at http://radio3.cbc.ca .

If you'd like to help spread the word about this tour to your music and media minded friends, you can find more information here:
www.waxmannequin.com/tour epk
(copy and paste that into your browser)

I've found that local facebook events helps out a lot too. Would you consider starting one and inviting people to the show near you? I bet that would make us all feel good about things. 

Below I have listed all of my upcoming Canadian tour dates. 
In May and June I will be returning to Germany, Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands, so if you live there, check back soon.

December 14

I'm home from the East. We Rae and I had a really nice time out there. Jay Vauture and Mike Belyea were performing with me in the band. In Halifax we shared the night with my friends Julie Fader and Brian Borcherdt. Julie joined me on stage for an impromptu rendition of the Logdriver's Waltz. The song stuck and has become a semi-essential part of my setlist these days. In St. John's Rae and I joined forces with Mark Bragg again at the Ship Inn. Rae flew home after our second show in that fine town because he had tickets to Superdogs. That's a special show where dogs do tricks and win prizes. I have a couple of shows coming up. One in Guelph and one in Hamilton. Then I will be taking a little writing break until February. Then the traveling starts again.

October 25

Hello,

First, NEWS:

1. I did an interview with an internet TV show in Hamburg. We were on a balcony. I dangled my machine like it was Michael Jackson's baby. Here is the video:
http://www.balconytv.com/

2. Chartattack.com did a little interview with me recently. If you're interested, you can find it here: http://www.chartattack.com/news/75719/wax-mannequin-destroys-andy-magoffins-studio

3. CBC 3 has been playing my music a lot lately. Every time they play one of my songs, somewhere a fairy dies and turns into an indestructable zombie fairy. Right now Everything and Everyone is at number 17 on their top 30. If you happen to be snooping around on their website, you might want to email the friendly folks there to let them know how nice it is when they play my songs.
http://radio3.cbc.ca
(You can also join their facebook group by just searching R3-30 on Facebook).

4. Local facebook events have been created for shows on the eastern tour. If you want to invite friends in your city, you can go to the main Wax Mannequin group page and invite folks using the events that Heather made.
Or, of course, you can start your own event and be the coolest kid in town.

5. I need a little bit of help getting posters up and around. Let me know if you'd like to help in your town. I'll send you some stuff or, of course, you can design your own poster for the show.

In Rotterdam I picked up my rental car. I couldn't figure out how to put the thing in reverse. The standard transmissions always have a trick to them in Europe. For the first few days I thought it was broken. I'd just put the thing in neutral and push with my foot to back out of sticky situations. After Rotterdam, I drove down the western edge of Germany to reach Castrop-Rauxel. There I performed for two nights in a cozy little pub called Bahia De Conchinos – the Bay of Pigs. Cuban themed clubs are fairly common in Germany. I haven't figured out why yet. The place was run by a charming couple who set out traditional German breakfasts for me in the mornings – bread, meat, cheese and black coffee.

In Hamburg I performed at Hasenschaukel as part of a music festival. It's a very quiet, very busy venue, decorated like an old Victorian lady's home, with ornate rabbits and porcelain dolls set just so. Someone at this show told me how to put my car in reverse.

I played in lots of different places -- spooky little towns and stunning cities. The back roads wind through all sorts of villages that aren't on maps and weren't touched by the war... castles are still perched on hills over tidy old towns, but even the smallest places feel oddly metropolitan.

Much of Nurnberg was pummeled to bits during the war -- then rebuilt -- drab and boxy in the decades to follow, but the broken parts of the old, walled downtown were reconstructed to look very much as they did before being ruined. It's all medieval and castley. I performed in a tiny pub called Mata Hari. The venue was hard to find – hidden amid slopes and winding, cobbled streets. It was a small room with a wrap-around bar in the centre. Three narrow isles surrounded the bar. I was tucked into one of these isles while the audience sat around the others. It was one of the strangest, nicest shows I've done. Someone talked about how artists rebuilt the broken culture after those dark things happened. The friendly owner Stephan gave me a bottle of Hazelnut booze made right there in Nurnberg. It's one of my favourite bottles of booze. I'll never drink it. Now Nurnberg is my favourite place.

October 17

I made it home from Europe. The trip was even more debautcherous, glourious and exhausting than I had hoped it would be. The cobbled streets of old town Nurnberg are forever stained red with rose-juice. I'll go back there there within the year. For now I will rest until November. That's when I will be going east. See the dates to the left, and on myspace.

September 20

Hello,

I've been napping in the back room of Exit – it's the dark, empty rock club in Rotterdam where I'll be performing tonight. The cleaning lady just left. The night staff won't be in for a couple of hours. I've got some time to write stuff down.
I arrived in Amsterdam at 11 am on Wednesday morning. I snuck a lot of things past the baggage check -- way too much to carry. Nothing elicit. Just my merch and gear. Things I probably should have declared. I inched my stuff over to an information booth down the hallway. The lady behind the shatterproof glass spoke decent-enough English (better than my Dutch) and directed me to other side of the city where I would catch my overnight bus to Berlin. I only had three shows in the first week, so to save a few euros, I opted to bus from place to place, rather then rent a car for this time.
I slouched towards the underground train that, after a couple of hours and mistaken transfers, finally took me to the station – a small facility where I could sleep for a while as I waited.
Sprawled across my packs and cases, I napped, fitfully for most of the day, waking only occasionally to use the nearby Internet station and the pay-to-piss washroom. At one point a patient transit staffer said that I had to move because my campsite was upsetting the flow of passengers to-and-from the front desk. She directed me to a small bench in the back corner of the station. Here bewildered travelers would frequently stand inches from me as they read the city map perched on the wall above my camp. 8 pm rolled around. I balanced my precarious load up and around me and hobbled to my bus, where I continued to peacefully sleep off my jet lag as the dark dutch countryside rolled by.

I arrived in Berlin at 7 am and I took the underground across town. I met my friend Mathias not far from the stop and we brought my stuff to the apartment where he and his band – The Burning Hell – had been staying. We went for breakfast at a little place in a low-income, arty district -- Treptow -- southwest of downtown. The rest of my morning was spent making funny things happen with some new German friends, and looking for a used pair of dress shoes.

After a few hours of napping, it was time to head to Zapata for our show. The band took a cab over. Kim Barlow and I foolishly decided that we'd bike with all of our equipment. I took my backpack filled with stuff and a huge guitar case that I balanced on one of the handle bars all of the way. It was an incredibly treacherous and exhilarating 40 minute ride. Berlin drivers are used to dangerous cyclists, so they all calmly steered around my erratic swerving without so much as a honk. We did get some polite swears from other cyclists. Germans aren't afraid to tell you what they think of you, and they do it in a very direct yet oddly respectful way. I'll be renting a car on Thursday for the rest of my trip.

We arrived at Zapata – a beautiful, trashy old squat on a very popular strip in downtown Berlin. The interior of the venue is decorated with dark metal pipes and sculptures. There is a makeshift bronze dragon that towers above the bar with an acetylene torch perched in its mouth. After every song the bartender pulls the cord and the dragon shoots fire over the crowd.

I stayed in Berlin a couple of days, biking from place to place and visiting friends. On Sunday, I piled on my heavy gear and took the overnight bus to Rotterdam. When I arrived, a cleaning lady let me in to the venue early. I stowed my gear and have been napping here ever since.

Hello,
I've been hiding out in France for a couple of weeks.
In Paris they've got these underground tunnels that are filled with skulls. Two centuries ago they decided that the cemeteries were full, and not nearly scary enough, so they started putting the dead people in caverns under the streets. It was a clever solution, because now the skulls make money for the city. If you have fifteen euros and a couple of hours to burn standing in a sweaty, meandering line, you get to see the long- dead people and take their pictures. Paris has lots of greasy secrets like this.

This town has a great tradition of low culture – trashy cabarets and street performers, drug-addict artists painting dirty pictures on their patron's dollar. But all of the opportunism and self-destruction of the past has now been idealized into untouchable high-art.
I'm probably not looking in the right places, but I can't find modern examples of this desperate but essential low culure. There are hardly any rock shows; the artists are all hiding out; the cabarets have become safe, ironical tourist affairs. Fancy culture is going to starve in a few decades if there are no corpses for it to feed on. Dig up the skeletons. They should pour out of the catacombs and cemeteries. They should line the streets and play their bones to scare off us crappy, crappy tourists.

September 8th, 2009

Now I'm home and heading to Europe soon. I'm in the midst of a series of southern-Ontario performances with a cuban art-grunge band -- Popeye's Golden Theory. They are very thoughtful and witty off-stage. When they perform, they scream and wear big red machines made of cardboard on their heads. Tonight we'll be performing in Windsor. I'll be in Guelph on the 11th with the band. Europe soon.

August 16, 2009

The Toronto record launch is happening at the Horseshoe on Thursday, September 3rd, with Parlovr and Sister. Exclaim! Magazine in Canada wrote some nice things about me here We are in Medicine Hat tonight. The stage lights up and it makes my legs sweat. Things are fierce crazy times!

July 29, 2009

After much toil, hard work and shenanigans it pleases me to announce that Saxon, my new album with Black Blood (Mark Raymond and Aidan Campbell) is ready.

You can buy either the MP3 or FLAC downloads from Zunior.com here or order the CD with an instantaneous MP3 download here

July 26, 2009

I've been hiding out in France for a couple of weeks.
In Paris they've got these underground tunnels that are filled with skulls. Two centuries ago they decided that the cemeteries were full, and not nearly scary enough, so they started putting the dead people in caverns under the streets. It was a clever solution, because now the skulls make money for the city. If you have fifteen euros and a couple of hours to burn standing in a sweaty, meandering line, you get to see the long- dead people and take their pictures. Paris has lots of greasy secrets like this.

This town has a great tradition of low culture – trashy cabarets and street performers, drug-addict artists painting dirty pictures on their patron's dollar. But all of the opportunism and self-destruction of the past has now been idealized into untouchable high-art.
I'm probably not looking in the right places, but I can't find modern examples of this desperate but essential low culure. There are hardly any rock shows; the artists are all hiding out; the cabarets have become safe, ironical tourist affairs. Fancy culture is going to starve in a few decades if there are no corpses for it to feed on. Dig up the skeletons. They should pour out of the catacombs and cemeteries. They should line the streets and play their bones to scare off us crappy, crappy tourists.

THE BLACK BLOOD TOUR:
On August 4th, I'm releaseing a new record called Saxon. I'm touring the hell out of it in Canada and Europe for the forseeable future. It's the best thing that I've made.
You can get a couple of tracks for free here:


July 4, 2009
The album will be released in early August. I've been piecing together the last few dates of my Western Canadian and European tours. Things are feeling fancy. You can download a couple of free songs from the record at www.zunior.com.
You should see what I did to my face. It's pretty neat.

June 18, 2009

I started using the internet twitter so I can tell you generous things about my own life experiences. Twitter, as it turns out, is a new piece of computer software invented by Ashton Kutcher. Actually, I almost probably have some even more interesting feelings than him. If you join me, I will give you news about all of the luxurious things that I have happening right now, and about the ways that you can make yourself have better, more refined feelings. With time, you can be a luxurious person, with nuanced feelings and an overall better face.

We all like to feel less empty when you read my messages. My messages have the power and the glory that can fill you up.

I won't send you an advertisement about anything but me and my important feeling activities. I will offer you special incentives for living with pain-free and serious abilities. I will just make you think about these things more and more all of the time. And the more you think about things, the more you will think about me. And the more you do that, the more I go inside of you... and that's good for both of us, because I can tell you many more important things about yourself and about what you should do to be more honest with your innermost parts.

May 20, 2009

Two new tracks are available from www.zunior.com. You can get them. They have a sing-song way about them. You get to dance with friends, and then you can make mistakes all over one another. Tomorrow I am visiting the House of Miracles one last time to finish my new record. It will be out in the summer. But don't forget to get those songs from Zunior. They will be on the new record, but for you, today, they are free.

March 27, 2009

I will be releasing a track from my new record soon. It will be available for download from this site, and at www.myspace.com/waxmannequin.
It is a song called End of Me. It's about traveling and decaying in this crumbling country.

December 29th, 2009

I performed two nights in Rotterdam with my friend Mark. The first was a silent disco party -- part of a ritzy festival taking place downtown. It was disorienting to walk into a room with dozens of people moving and giggling to invisible music. I was a change of pace from the dance music. The listeners stoicly bobbed their heads and made quiet grunting noises. It wasn't much different from a Toronto crowd. That made me homesick. The next night we performed at the Ridder -- a tiny folk pub that was uttlerly rammed with mature poets and artist types. There was nearly no room to open the front door, let alone bring in any equipment, yet I managed to perform, as did my friend Mark Lotterman, an opera singer, various poets and a jazz quartet. Things have a way of working here, however improbably.


December 22, 2008

There. I got this thing up and running again. We just got back from Amsterdam where Mark recorded some stuff for his new record. It's really something. I'm gonna get Mr. Lotterman back over to Canada for a tour. I'm trying to figure out gifts to bring home, but wooden shoes just won't cut it. I need something that really sums up this place and what I'm doing here. I'm in the right place. Tomorrow we'll be in Tiel at Jam Inn. A couple more shows have been added for Rotterdam too.

December 19, 2008

I skipped out on updating this site for a while, but I've still been doing lots of things. I finished my tour with Buttless Chapps, then did a run with the seering and awe inspiring Kettle Black in October. I just finished traveling through Ontario with Rae Spoon, and now I'm flying to Munich in the midst of a snow storm for a run of shows in Germany and Holland with Mark Lotterman. Check www.myspace.com/waxmannequin for dates and updates.

September 28, 2008
I'll be starting up my tour with the Buttless Chaps. By day I'm a mild mannered grade two teacher!

August 30, 2008
I'll be at the Pepperjack in Hamilton on Sept 6th with The Kettle Black. He's great. Have I really neglected this page for a full month? Impressive. I was on tour, so I didn't get to be all internetty all of the time. I'm home now. I'm going to get back into the studio soon. People with no pants on are coming to get you!!!

July 31 , 2008
We're going to be at the Sappy Fest soon in Sackville. The tour is neat. I'm traveling with a whole group of people. So much for the long lonely drives. We had to change a tire on the way to Ottawa. Rich and I did it very quickly, because we're so good at roadside calamaties. I'm heading west soon. I'll be at the Railway Club in Vancouver on August 5th. Spread the word.

July 26, 2008
Hey! I update my myspace and facebook way more than this crappy site! You should always check there first.
I'm leaving for the East with Richard L, The Burning Hell and others now. Life is super fun and scary all of the time.
I'm probably playing music near you, on you and in you soon. I hope to see you when I do.
You can help promote the parties by starting a facebook event for your town, and by printing this poster:
www.waxmannequin.com/posters/Generic August Tour.jpg
If you help, let me know and you'll get a firm
bonus!

June 22, 2008

We're in Cranbrook tonght playing at the Baker. We are leaving Nelson now. This town is different than it used to be. It's still beautiful and wholesome. They have moved the buildings all around. The people are more suspicious but say more meaningful things.

June 12, 2008

Tonight we're at the Sirdar Pub in Sirdar BC. We're not playing Cranbrook just yet... soon though (show is TBA)

June 8, 2008

You can help me put posters up for shows! Download a tour poster here: www.waxmannequin.com/posters/
BrokenFriendsTour.jpg

May 26, 2008

I'm travelling soon with Andy Magoffin. He makes thinky/feely pop songs of the finest grade. He's a neat guy. Andy will be playing drums for me on some of the shows. We're almost done making an album together. We're going west and back. The gas makes travel tough, but when we tour in pairs, it's a bit easier and cheaper.

May 1, 2008
I worked a lot on my new record the other day. Recording with Andy Magoffin is very easy and fun. He gets up late and works till a ridiculously late hour. That's when the ideas get spooky and warm... and drunk. I'm doing a bunch of shows in Ontario with BA Johnston in May. Then I'm traveling west with Andy Magoffin in June. There are still some dates open for June. Let me know now if you want to set something up.

 

April 15
Hello again. I feel good about everything. I ran out of the feel-nice pills that the dentist gave me a while ago, so it can't be that. My normal job is proving good for my soul. It makes the rest of my life more strange and superheroish. I'm going to be heading west in June, East in August, and to Europe in September. If you're interested in helping me set something up in any of these places, now's the time to get in touch.

April 1, 08
I got a wisdom tooth out. What I lost in wisdom, I gained in little 'feel nice' pills. It's a whole bottle of them.

March 26, 08
I just woke up from a dream about a totalitarian state. There were still good ragged folk around, but we were so, so suspcious of one another. And even the most minor transgression -- the sort we thrive on -- needed to be confessed to the state. They'd probably know about the misdeed already, but they make us tell just to keep us honest, and in case they missed something.

March 18, 08
I got a normal job that goes well with my music job, but it keeps thretening to suck me in for good. I won't ever be happy again if that happens. Now I'm trying to find a way to resist its pull. Why do they make jobs so cultish? Where did my poverty go? My sweet, enabling poverty.

March 8, 08
We're in Halifax now. It's been a pretty nice little tour, but BA and I are both pretty screwed up and tired. My fingers and my voice are aching. I'm turning into a fragile old man who drinks too much... so I'm recording a lot of folky material for my new record. I'm going to try to book a tour where I don't destroy myself each night. I need to keep making shit for at least a couple more decades. I've got a pile of shows in April that I haven't announced yet. They'll be up soon.

Feb 29, 08
I'm heading east with BA Johnston. We're leaving Sunday afternoon and driving for a long, long time. We'll be in Sackville, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Halifax and other places. It's scary to know bad things, but it's really for the best.

Feb 7, 08
I just got back from Thunder Bay where mum and I set up the art at the Definitely Superior Gallery. It will be up there for a month. On the way home I crashed Joey's van. Then I got parts from a scrapyard and fixed it. I bent the frame back into place with a hammer and painted it. He'll never know. I'll be in Hamilton on the 8th at the Print Studio on James st, and I'll be in London on the 9th at Call the Office.

Jan 24, 08
I played at the Rockey Saugeen house in Hamilton the other night. The rock was anything but soggy. I stopped being sick and scared. Now I'm ready to hit the road again. I'll be heading up to Montreal for the 25th and Ottawa for the 26th. Then it's off to north western Ontario. I've got some shows along the way, but I'm mainly going becuase Mum and I are setting up an art show in Thunder Bay at the Definitely Superior Gallery. The show opens on February 1st and will be up until March.

Jan 15, 08
I'm sick in bed and I'm scared of something. It's like a breathin or sumthin. I'll get over this scare soon. I'm sure. I'll clear up my own damn skin. Now I know for sure there ain't no doctor gonna clear it for me. I got a lot more stories to tell, and I ainna gonna tell'm through sick, scared lips.

Jan 3, 08
I'm holding onto my skin with all that I have. I have a new instrument. Back in the studio soon. I'm playing some of the new songs at the shows. That helps me make them better before I record them.

3.Dec.07
Myspace made me a featured artist for this week! So if you like seeing my face all over the place as much as I do, go to myspace.com and visit the music section... and there it is. My face.

20.Nov.07
They gave me a Hamilton Music Reward the other night. They said I was the best. Try as I might, I can't help but feel nice about that. I don't believe it though... don't worry. I just feel nice about it. I'm heading east with Spiral Beach in early December. I'm putting the dates up now. I hope you'll be there with me.

30.Oct.07
New shows added. I'm playing a good few with my friends Spiral Beach in November. I'll be touring East with them in December. We moved recently, and there's a place near by that has a rotting carton of milk in the window!

15.Oct.07
Whew. I finally got this intershit happening again. This isn't really a blog site. It just looks like one. I have a bunch of shows coming up, and I've got some stories for you... some I wish I could write about, and other's I wish I couldn't.

.Sep.07
I'm recording again. I'm working with my friend Andy at the House of Miracles. My voice gets ruined whenever I'm on the road singing my loud songs. I try to use all of the clever singy techniques that I've learned over the years, but still, my voice can only hold out for so long. When I get home I always wonder if I'll ever sing again. So far it's always fixed itself, but there's still that fear... So I'm recording a lot of pretty quiet song nows. That way I'll get to keep my voice for longer. I'll also be able to trick all the folk festivals into letting me play. I think my father will really like these new songs too.

2.Sep.07
You should join my facebook group by going...

here

(log into your facebook and it'll take you to my group). That way I can harvest your information... and your spine.