Kings Knight Pub (Jet Nightclub) – Edmonton, AB – Sept 1st 2006

This was quite the show. Why you ask? Because previous members of the first incarnation of Living Illusion were at show and it was tons of fun. Some friends from Vancouver Island were at the show, including Brody Slater, Stacy Mack and Christina Cholfi.

So any way, we got the gig through the previous bass player of Stereo Therapy, Phil. We we’re playing with a bunch of bands for an Indie Rock weekend… As a side note, the Kings Knight Pub is now The Jet Nightclub. We played with Okacadet, Face First, Lipht, and The Omega Theory.

It was like any usual gig, except with more drinking, partying and rockin’ out. This was not the first time we played the Kings Knight so sound check along with every thing else was a breeze. When we were ready to play the crowd was full and the drinks were flowing.

We played some songs that we don’t usually play that night in honor of the previous LI members… You Got to… is 6 years old.

After the usual set we sold some CDs and hung out for the rest of the bands… well at least until Brody got kicked out for being toooo drunk. That was quite the experience. I swear to god the bouncer was going to kill him, but luckily I was there to save the day and get him the hell out of there before shit got outta hand.

Was definitely an interesting night.

If I could remember more I would write about it… hah…

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Edson Festival – Edson AB – August 18th 2006

What can I say….

So we got this gig through our friend in Edson Lee Freezen who was doing the sound for this event. It was the Carnival that was held once a year in Edson. When we left Edmonton to make the trek to Edson it was windy and grey skies were every where. Speeding like no tomorrow to make it on time I’m surprised I didn’t get stopped for speeding.

When we arrived at the event, the clouds were coming in… this is never a good thing for outdoor gigs. There were other bands also playing to a group of Carnival goers, whom had been watching… When they were done we started loading our gear on stage.

There was going to be no sound check for this. 15 minutes later we were playing our songs and rocking out. There was a big crowd, nice size, every one was enjoying it… Until it hit. Thunder crashing you could hear the rain coming. Huge amounts of rain and what may have been hail started coming down.

Half way through our set all of the gear was starting to get wet and malfunction, my amp and pedals were going wacky as all hell…. But that didn’t stop us, our sound guy Lee was running around like a mad man cover gear with Tarps and doing his best…. As they say, the show must go on.

Aside from the complications, we had a solid crowd of hard core fans that stuck around and watched us finish our set as best we could. They even asked where they could find the tabs to our songs. Edson is such an awesome town.

Props to Lee for calling us out and to every one who stayed to watch, it was hella fun and maybe next time we’ll bring a bigger tent to play in.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Sidetrack Cafe – Edmonton AB – Aug 15th ’06 – Past

I got an email from Brent Oliver the former promoter for the Sidetrack (I say former because sadly the Sidetrack Café has closed down for good, and it will be missed, 25 years of serving the Edmonton rock scene). So I got an email, and it was Brent asking me if we wanted to Headline a gig at the Sidetrack Café. We agreed right away.

After finding parking right down town we loaded all the gear inside into the non-existent green room (pretty much a hallway next to the stage). As always the Sidetrack looked amazing inside and there stage size was nice and big. We we’re playing with the bands.. yah I forgot there names, but they were both great.

Playing so many gigs over the summer everything started to feel like second nature to us. Getting prepared, talking to the promoter, sound guy, grabbing a drink, waiting for our set. All these things now that were so new at one point were now very familiar. It was nice to be back at the Sidetrack almost exactly a year since our CD release party there.

Our set was great, great crowd, great bands that played alongside us and an all around awesome time. We played the usual 45 minute set and ended heavy and hard. After our set Brent (Sidetrack Promoter) came up to us and told us that he thinks we’re one of the best hard rock bands in the city of Edmonton, it was totally awesome coming from a music scene veteran like him.

Even though we didn’t know it, this was the last gig that we ever got to play there (as it’s now closed as of February 15th 2007) I’d just like to say that all the staff there were amazing. The promoters, managers, bar tenders, and servers all treated the band well and even the owner came out during our CD release party and told us that we put on a great show.

We loved this venue and the Café will be missed; were happy that we got to play at an amazing venue multiple times (at multiple locations).

Thanks for everything, Rest in Peace.

- Shane Lamotte

The Northern – Terrace BC – July 30th ’06

This gig should definitely be classified as a journey. Terrace, for those of you who don’t know, is on the east side of British Columbia, about an hour from the north pacific coast. Its closest city is Prince Rupert, which is a fishing/harbor town (at least that’s what I hear).

The drive from Edmonton was long but we still drove it in one day… that’s not accurate, I drove it in one day, hyped up on Red Bull and Rockstars. The drive lasted about 17 hours, was about 1500 kilometers and was intense. Although, after Prince George the drive became depressing, seeing all the tree’s that have been ravaged by the Mountain Pine Beetle is not a happy sight to see.

We eventually arrived in Terrace and took some time out of our day (well the next day) and postered the entire town, not that it took a long time. It’s definitely a small town; I think the biggest building was the Wal-Mart. Through all our postering travels we found a giant river that goes through town, so we went down there and chilled.

The next day, we attended our drummers’ wedding (Ohh yah I forgot to mention he was getting married) which was fun. It was basically a whole lot of getting dressed up, and a whole lot of getting drunk… but not too much as we had to play the next day. (Side note: Don’t drink shooters of Scotch).

So finally came our night to rock out at “The Northern” (Terrace’s most happening bar and hotel). Considering the size of Terrace, and the fact that we were playing on a Sunday, the amount of people that came out to see us play was pretty good. We we’re the only band playing that night and we had two sets of 45 minutes.

I think Jason’s favorite part of this event was the ability to smoke in the bar (something which no longer exists in Edmonton). It was a very laid back gig and we got to rock out and have fun at our leisure. Everyone there loved us, especially the staff whom invited us back for a Saturday night gig when the place is packed.

In the end we drank all our free booze, sold a stack of CDs, crashed in the comped hotel rooms and didn’t want to get up in the morning and drive back… but in the end that’s what we did… or should I say I did as no one else drives. Hah.

Happy & Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Stripdown @ REDs – Edmonton AB – June 21st ’06 – Past

Just a little back story first off here… Stripdown was a Showcase event put on by the radio station The Bear 100.3, the venue Reds (now the Edmonton Events Centre), PunkTV and The Sound Radio. In order to be in the event you had to receive online votes at The Sound Radio and you were also judged based on the songs that you posted on your profile. Sixteen bands in total we’re selected (out of a hundred or more) and of the sixteen we we’re one of them. Thanks to every one who voted.

The event was over a two day period, a Thursday and Friday night; eight bands would play each night. The Thursday consisted of Living Illusion (Edmonton, AB), Stereo Therapy (Edmonton, AB), Flood of Fire (Vancouver, BC), Disaster Bloom (Edmonton, AB), Face First (Edmonton, AB), AutoBody (Calgary, AB), Cold Driven (Armstrong, BC), and Gone Savage (Edmonton, AB). Playing on the Friday was The Omega Theory (Edmonton, AB), Chyshuga (Calgary, AB), Keep 6 (Edmonton, AB), Lipth (Edmonton, AB), Radio for Help (Sherwood Park, AB), Jets to Theory (Edmonton, AB), Strada (Calgary, AB), and Whitfield (Vancouver, BC).

Jay and I arrived pretty early at Reds (the venue where the showcase was taking place); I chatted with Mike Dilts (promoter) for a bit and discussed the night’s events. There would be a group of Judges watching all the bands and giving critiques (also the best band would win radio airplay plus other stuff). After my conversation I made my way into the game room to play some Drum Hero (like guitar hero), just basically needed to kill some time.

While I was there I saw Billy Nickel, the lead singer from Cold Driven, I started up a conversation and we hit it off and talked for a good while. Eventually, I got hungry so I headed down to the food court to grab some food with Mark (our bass player). While there, we met up with the Shane (also from Cold Driven) and basically talked about the music industry for the next hour.

Once we got back to Reds all the bands had to pull their play times from a hat (we got a decent set time) followed by getting some pictures taking by Dixon Christie. Our set time wasn’t too bad, it was at 9:00 and the event started at 7:00. I told the guys what time our set was and we just basically had to wait around til the show started, I gave Mike Dilts a hand setting up stuff to kill more time (lots of waiting around).

Once the bands started playing and we headed to the green room to get ready for our turn to hit the stage. We watched and listened to some of the bands that played before us, every one at this event was good; it was essentially a showcase of some of the best independent bands in Western Canada.

When it was our turn to hit the stage we hit it hard. Played lots of our fast hard hitting songs and rocked out. Kept our energy high and just had a wicked time. I even used a beer to play my guitar; after our set was over I felt that we had set the bar for the rest of the evening and I think the crowd even thought so too.

Long story short, we didn’t win the event, and neither did Cold Driven. The winners were mostly on the Friday night, but all in all the entire event was a great experience. For me, other than playing the show itself, the entire night was spent hanging out with the guys from Cold Driven, drinking beers and discussing different ideas for our two bands to work together on future ideas so even though we didn’t win the event, I’m sure something great will come of it.


Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Heart of the City Festival – Edmonton, Alberta – June 10th 2006

A year later, two battles of the bands won, and over a dozen shows played, making our way back down town to play our 2nd Heart of the City Festival felt very good. Packed full with gear and people in my car getting ready to play at the event, we hoped that the dark clouds that were making there way downtown wouldn’t start to down pour until after we had we’re finished our set.

This event, like last years, was put on by Terri Rambold, Danny Coady and a great group of volunteers and was hosted again at the Giovanni Caboto Park. When we arrived there were other bands performing, we had been given an awesome evening set time. The other bands playing consisted of: Axiomatik, iHuman, Millusk, The Digs, Urban Coyotes, Gail Tuftman, Asante, plus many more.

When we took the stage we found out that our sound guy was the same guy that does the sound for the huge Edmonton Folk Festival every year, so we knew that we would have awesome sound. As we began playing, the skies turned darker and darker. As our music got heavier and the crowd got into it, thunder started rumbling and added an awesome dynamic to the music experience. During our last song the skies were completely filled with black rain clouds and the down pour was in full force. People kept rocking out in the rain and it was great.

After the show the sound guy complimented us on our growth in the last year as he had seen us play at the Heart of the City Festival in 2005. It was cool to see old faces that made it out for a second year in a row and to work with such awesome people at the festival. We’ll definitely be back for a 3rd year and hope to watch the festival grow with more and more people coming out to take part.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Supernova – Band on the Run – Edmonton, Alberta – June 9th 2006

Despite an edmonton oilers play off game, many fans actually showed up to watch us and the other six bands compete in Supernova’s Band on the Run (Battle of the Bands).

The guys and I got there right as the band “Incarnadine” started off the night with a short set. The fourth place winner “Black Burden”, a three-piece was next, they put on a good set. After that while we we’re busy in the back setting up a band called “Unbalanced” took the stage and gave the audience a good show. Next was the band who took home second place “Last Chance Hollywood”.

Third place winners “The Vanilla Villins” followed, but did so with ease despite technical difficulties. The winner of the night was “Living Illusion” (us), we got quoted as being “a talented and experienced 4-piece who’s musicianship impressed the crowd as well as other competing bands”.

We we’re followed up by “Our Wasted Youth,” a metal “Maiden Stlye” band with potential to make noise in the Edmonton scene.

Finally, the night was topped off with a performance by “The Set” a band from Victoria. Playing songs from their newest album, ‘The Philosophy of Time Travel’ the guys captivated audiences with their haunting-melodic rock.

It was great fun and twas nice to take a break from the hockey craze..

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

(Contributions to this post from Kate Reiger the Supernova Show Promoter)

Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB – May 18th 2006

Right after we got back from our St Paul Battle of the Bands I got a call from Elias a rock group based out of Vancouver. They told me that they’re coming through Edmonton and need an opening act for the show. The gig was at the Starlite Room at 10030 – 102 Street in Edmonton, another Mike Dilts venue, and as we hadn’t played there yet we humbly obliged.

The Starlite room is a very unique venue, the stage is pretty high from the dance floor and the floor is on an incline leading up to the stage. So it’s almost like your playing on the top of a hill, the sound was very good in that room. The show started at 9:30 and we we’re first to go on, it was nice for a Thursday night.

The crowd was small but the longer we played the bigger it got. I told every one to come around 10:00 so our crowd was a little late to see our full set. None the less, we played a really good show, Mark Stephens (our Bass Player) rocked out hard core and we were tight as a whole.

After we tore down we sat back and watched Elias and Fields to Flood (the other band we played with). They both put on really good shows; I even got a copy of the Elias CD. During their sets I also had a chance to BS with Mike Dilts about the industry in the city which was nice.

After we consumed all of our free drinks and we’re thoroughly rocked out from playing and watching, the evening was over and we headed home.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

St Paul – Battle of the Bands – St. Paul, Alberta – May 13th 2006

A couple weeks since our last gig and all the guys in the band are pretty pumped to be playing our first Battle of the Bands. Organized by our buddy Brit in St. Paul (from Cheat2Win), the show is taking place at the St. Paul Recreation Centre. There is around 7 bands playing, and Judges include a Recording Studio Owner, people from The Goat (Llyodminister radio station), and people from the local news paper.

We left Saturday afternoon to head out to gig not knowing when we would be playing (you usually don’t find out your time slot until you get to the Battle of the Bands). After arriving, the band got together and met up with Brit to see if there was anything he needed help with, he was good to go so I grabbed a table and put out Living Illusion CDs and other Promo material for people to take.

Sean (our drummer) pulled straws and we got a pretty good time slot, around 9:30PM. All the bands competing were Grassdorf, Se7en Sided, Three Seeds, Hasik, Methodical Breed, Grey Matter, Living Illusion and Acclaimed Candid (We’ll at least that’s whom was on the poster). The show started and bands started playing. The Venue was massive, and it was a concrete room, the sound quality I must admit was not very good, for any of the bands.

One of the DJ’s from The Goat did all of the introductions and there was a DJ playing house music between each band. The switch from band to band took about 5 – 10 minutes. We started getting our stuff ready in the green room as our time to hit the stage was soon to be upon us. Se7en Sided (the band before us) finished off there set and we started loading in as they teared down.

The Goat DJ introduced us and we started our set. The sound in the room was border line horrible even though we were very performing well to the giant room. At some point of the night one of the girls on the floor started stroking Jason’s Mic stand, gotta love small towns. The crowd was good, we had a bunch of people that saw us at The Loft last time we were in St. Paul and they came out a second time for another dose. We played are last song hard and heavy said thank you and had to rush off the stage for the next band.

After that we all met up in the green room and chilled as we had to wait a couple hours until the winner was announced. We killed time via drinking and bullshiting with other bands. We also found out that the singer from Methodical Breed, one of the competing bands, used to be in a group with our drummer Sean Kaminski.

So after what seemed like forever Cheat2Win (the headliners who weren’t competing) were about to take the stage, but before they went on The Goat DJ announced the winners of the Battle of the Bands, 2nd Place: Se7en Sided, 1st Place: Living Illusion. Needless to say we were all pretty stoked about winning and ran out to the floor to rock out to some Cheat2Win tunes.

After the gig we headed over to Brits (as we were crashing there) and chatted with him about the event and what not. Needless to say he also agreed that the sound at the Recreation Centre was horrible. It wasn’t long after that that we all crashed and went to bed.

The next morning we got up, hit up Smittys for breakfast and headed home. Another show well done.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Kingsknight Pub (Jet Night Club) – Edmonton, Alberta – April 27th 2006

I got a call from Phil at the Kingsknight Pub in Edmonton, he asked if we wanted to Headline an Independent Music Night featuring From the Ground Up, The New Vain, and us. Well, naturally I agreed. All the boys in the band got back to me and we were all set to play the venue.

I picked up Jay and we got to the Kingsknight with plenty of time before we had to start playing. We loaded our gear into the building and proceeded to get some McDonalds. The two of us watched some of the Oilers hockey game and then had to drive back to Jays place. He needed to get some different clothes to wear on stage.

When we got back the first band hadn’t even gone on stage. Some friends showed up to watch us so we killed time catching up with them. After the screen was rolled up and the game was over the first band starting loading on there gear. It was about 10:00PM by the time they actually got going. They put on a hard hitting set and were very tight.

During their set I discovered that Kingsknight has a very good sounding room and also that the speakers outside of the building play the live entertainment from, which is very cool. From the Ground Up tore down and The New Vain began to load onto the stage. I grabbed a couple free beers and gave one to Jay as we watched The New Vain kick off their set.

(As a side note a guitar teacher that I took one lesson with in Parksville, BC engineered The New Vain’s latest album) The New Vain have a male and female vocalist, it was pretty cool to see in the indie scene, as most bands just have male vocalists. They put on a great show and by the time they were done it was already after midnight. We didn’t start loading our gear up until about 12:30AM.

When we eventually started our set at 1:00AM I was amazed at how many people had actually stuck around. There were a good amount of people still in the bar; they were all enjoying our music. (Especially the guy from Axe music, he later bought a CD). We put on a really good show; the sound guy did a great job and every one was impressed.

After our set I chatted with Phil about his band Stereo Therapy whom I had a hunch we would be playing with very soon. I sold some CDs, grabbed all my gear and called it a night.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte