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

Red’s – West Edmonton Mall – Edmonton, Alberta – April 8th 2006

I always end up chatting with Mike Dilts the Promoter from Red’s no matter what venue I try to get the band into (Mike books multiple-venues around the city). Although I was trying to get the band a gig at a different venue, the only opening Mike had was for a headlining Metal night at Red’s (which evidently caused me to cancel our Supernova date). Now we’re not metal but I took the gig any way thinking that it would be cool to Headline again.

Lined up to play with us were The Neverending from Sedgewick and the boys from Cheat2Win (I requested that Cheat2Win play with us, that way I knew it would surely be a good night). When we arrived at Red’s we loaded in all our gear and started chatting with the other bands. It was good to see friendly faces and meet the new guys.

After chatting, as we started walking around Red’s, one of the guys from Cheat2Win noticed that the posters for the Show had a fourth band on it, Revega. This was the first that we had heard. We searched for a Manager to ask if there were three or four bands playing, without officially finding out until about an hour and a half later when the band list was put on the door of the green room.

So the bands set times had all decreased and our stage time had been pushed back a little. All in all it was okay, just a little last minute. Revega hit the stage and put on a good 30 minute performance, very heavy band. The Neverending hit the stage right after and they too put on a good set. The first two bands went by fast, they had very short sets but they got the crowd going for Cheat2Win.

Cheat2Win hit the stage and put on a good show, Brit (their guitarist) had to borrow my amp and half way through their set I had to run on stage and give him a hand with it. Other than that there set was pretty flawless, half the crowd was from St. Paul and really got into it. They also covered some System of a Down which was pretty sweet.

They tore down and by the time we hit the stage it was after midnight. The crowd was still pretty decently sized and we started off our set with the Space Odyssey 2001 Theme, which was pretty cool. We played through our usual 45 minute set with out a hitch. No broken strings, just good sound and an overall good time.

Once we finished I ran around selling CDs (props to Dave our Camera Man for helping too)… While I was running around selling CDs Jason was outside with the boys from Cheat2Win smoking.

One of the staff from Red’s came outside and walked through a mob of people where Jason was smoking and as he passed by some one said “Nice perfume man”. At which point in time the Red’s guy went back in and proceeded to get all the people standing outside kicked out of Red’s. Lucky for us Jason got back inside and wasn’t kicked out. All the boys from Cheat2Win got the boot though.

After that fiasco I ran upstairs got our pay and the band headed out.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

The Loft – St. Paul, Alberta – March 25th 2006

A couple weeks since our last gig we’re all ready and excited to be hitting the road for another out of town show. We’re going to be opening for Cheat2Win at the Loft. Brit Matthews from Cheat2Win scored us the gig. Jason produced their demo at Owensound Studios in Edmonton so it was a cool to be playing a show with them. Brit and I had been planning on doing something for a good four months so it was good to see it come to fruition.

We left Edmonton and headed for St. Paul around 3:00PM. Once we arrived I gave Britt a call and got directions to The Loft. We met up at the bar and the boys from Cheat2Win we’re already there; well into the liquor I might add. I could already tell that this was going to be a good night. We loaded in all of our gear to have our sound check. After that we went over to the restaurant Chez Lynn for a quick bite to eat. Good food and good service too.

We headed back over to the Loft; the doors still hadn’t opened to the general public. It wouldn’t be until around 10:00PM that we actually hit the stage. We began to drink out of our comped beer stash and proceeded to play some pool on the upper level of the bar. Everything was ready to go, all we we’re waiting for was the clock to roll down and people to begin entering the bar.

As the clock moved along people started to find there way to the Loft. Some of our bass players’ family and friends from Elk Point came out which was cool. The time to go on stage was almost at hand and I was well liquored up by this point. Knowing that I would be staying at Brits I didn’t hold back from the consuming of the alcohol. There was a good 60 – 70 people in the bar when we finally went on.

We played for an hour, Sean laid down a wicked drum solo and the crowd was cheering like no tomorrow. Nolan the bar owner was really into our music too, it was sweet. We put on one of our best shows to date and caught the whole thing on Video Camera (using a Digital Camera, Cannon XL2). The boys from Cheat2Win we’re also very impressed with our performance.

After we were finished and tore down we sold a good 25 CDs (which was pretty amazing) did a whole shit load of signing and was totally treated like home town boys by the crowd. Nolan kept feeding us drinks and we chatted with the boys from Cheat2Win until it was time for them to go on stage.

They took the stage and played a killer set, I already new a bunch of their material so was compelled to get in front and rock out to their tunes. The sound at the Loft was also pretty damn sweet considering it’s a bar in small town northern Alberta. Couldn’t tell when we were on stage but once I was in the crowd it came through like no tomorrow.

After the guys finished and the bar began to close down, Jason headed out to the after party with most of the guys from Cheat2Win while the rest of us picked up some off sales and headed over to Brit’s to play Guitar Hero for PS2. I kicked some serious ass. Mwahaha. We all passed out around 5:00am.

We met up with Jason the next morning at the Loft to pick up the rest of our gear and get our pay. Jason looked pretty hung, but said he had a good time. One thing I want to note right now is that The Loft in St. Paul is one of the best Venues we have ever played at. From the respect they give to the musicians and to all the hard work that they do to bring in bands, Nolan and Brit do an excellent job and treat the bands right.

After we got all our stuff from the bar we headed over to Smitty’s in St. Paul for round two of the Smitty’s breakfast. This time the food was actually quite enjoyable. Nolan shared many great stories and cracked us up. Good times. Once we finished our meal we got back on the road and headed back to ye ol’ Edmonton.

Touring is one of the best parts of being in a band.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

The Stetson – Calgary, Alberta – March 4th 2006

We wake up exhausted and a little hung over from the night before at Red’s. Two shows in a row, this will be a first for us, but definitely not the last. Our Roadie shows up in his Buick Rendezvous to pick us up and we begin our Journey to Calgary at around 1:00PM. We don’t actually leave until 3:00PM. Mark (our bass player) and Sean (our drummer) ride in another car and they’re way ahead of us.

We stop at a 7/11 in Red Deer and proceed to fill up our bags with the garbage known as road trip food. From beef jerky, to Doritos, to slushies and candy bags we pick up enough crap to tide us over till we get to Calgary. Once in Calgary we realize that we don’t have a map, nor do we have any idea where we’re going. I jumped on my cell phone and called Brent Gerlitz, a good friend whom lives in Calgary and our host for the night.

He informs us that he lives about 5 blocks away from the bar we’re playing at and gives us directions to his place. We go to his house and get directions from his girlfriend Tara on how to get to the bar. After dropping off our night time gear we head over to the Stetson and begin to haul in the gear for the show. After we finish the bar manager comes to talk to me about the show.

At this point in time he informs me that he has some bad news. He can’t get a hold of the headliners Hail Damage and he’s not sure if they’re going to make it. Ian (bar manager) tells us to hold tight order some food and he’ll let us know in the next hour what the plan is. All of us order food, score some free pool, and get some comped drinks.

Tonight we are scheduled to play with Hail Damage and Pin Dalls and as we watch another band begin to load in we find out that they are the Pin Dalls and not the headliners. Ian comes back and lets us all know what the plan is. The guys from Hail Damage got really sick and will not be making it. So instead of 3 bands there is only going to be two. We opt to open as the Pin Dalls are a little heavier than us.

Some friends from back on Vancouver Island whom now live in Calgary show up and looked stocked to see us play; we BS with them for a bit. The Calgary Flames hockey game ends, we get the signal and start to load stuff on stage. We get all our ducks in a row and get ready to start playing. Drums kick in and we begin our first song.

There are only about 50 people in the crowd but they all seem to actually be listening. People cheer as we finish our songs and look impressed. Half way through our set the bar tender brings us shots of Jagermeister which we proceed to shoot back. I ask for another beer which they bring and we finish out our songs with flying colors.

Once finished I haul my gear off stage and as always I run around selling CDs. About 25% of the crowd buys a record, not to bad at all. The rest of the band hauls their gear off stage, Mark & Sean head out because their on there way back to Edmonton. The rest of us on the other hand order more drinks and are happy that where we’re sleeping is only 5 blocks away.

The Pin Dalls start there set and we get even more drunk. We don’t stop drinking. We watch the band play and continue to drink the beer that is fed to us by the bar. The Pin Dalls finish out there set and start tearing down. We head around back to tell them that they did a great job. More drinks get ordered and Jason becomes an angry drunk. At that time the waitress tells us that she thinks we’re awesome and buys a CD.

Closing time is just around the corner so we bail and head back to Brent’s. It’s around three and we’re all hungry so we order pizza and wait for Brent to get back from his gig. Pizza arrives and Brent does about 45 minutes later. We all BS and eventually pass out at around 5:00AM.

The next morning we all wake up sporting a hang over and tired as hell not wanting to drive back to Edmonton. After all our shit is in the Rendezvous we start our journey back. Feeling hungry; we stop at a Smitty’s and proceed to eat $20 meals and get introduced to Earl the fish. Earl was cool, the food was garbage.

I can see how playing a show every night you could become an alcoholic.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Red’s (Edmonton Events Centre) – West Edmonton Mall – Edmonton, Alberta – March 3rd 2006

It’s been nearly three months since the band has played live. Between Christmas, Jason’s trip to Australia and my Vancouver Island journey there has been little time to get together and put on a live performance. Today is going to be our first show of the New Year and it feels great to be back at it.

I’m a little intrigued to see how many people actually show up. Mike Dilts the promoter at Red’s and myself threw together the show in just under 10 days so the promo materials didn’t really hit the streets or our friends for that matter until about 3 days before the show. We got out about 60 promo tickets; hopefully the other two bands did the same.

Tonight’s band list consists of Fusebox, Living Illusion and Gameshow. Fusebox is the first band on this evening and by the time we arrive they’re already set up. We haul in our gear and make our way to the green room. Once inside, we comment on how the green room is literally painted green. I run to find the evening manager and tee everything up. I grab a free beer and BS with him about music and his band Deep Fine Grind. Nice guy.

After finishing my conversation Jason grabs me and we proceed to get a couple rounds of pool in. (Red’s is huge and has a bowling alley, pool hall, arcade and bar) People start to slowly drizzle there way in and I see some friends that I invite to join us for a round of pool. We drink and play a few more games before Jay and I decide to go check out the first band that just started playing.

There are a good 15 people in the crowd as Fusebox plays; they look like there having fun. I decide it’s time to go get my gear together as we’re the next band on. I make sure all my stuff is good to go and head for a pre show smoke, but not before grabbing a couple more beers. Jason joins me outside and says that more people are starting to show up.

After we’re done we head back in to watch Fusebox finish and begin to load our gear on stage. There are a good 75 people in the crowd now, which is always a good sign (well a better sign). As always it’s like a house party, surrounded by friends all there to party, watch us play and have a great time. We start to play and every one is digging it.

As we make our way through our set we get to one of our only covers, Stinkfist by Tool. The crowd cheers as we start to play. The song is going awesome and sounds superb. We get to the bridge of the song and Mark kicks in his bass solo. We build and build slowly to get to the heaviest part of the song, then once it hit the Light Tech at Red’s kicked on the strobe light. We start jumping up and down to the beat of the song and get the crowd going. Lights are flashing, crowds going hardcore, it’s wicked.

Once we finish our set we tear down and I run around like a mad man selling CDs. I head out front to have a rette and say goodbye to some people who aren’t staying for the last band. I head back in and sit with the crew. The crowd has gotten smaller but we sit and enjoy the last band. They put on a good show.

As they finish the bouncer’s start to kick every one out, but not before they mention to us that they think we did an awesome job. The band loads up all the gear and we all head home. It’s nice to be knee deep into the music again.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte

Red Brick Theatre – Edson, Alberta – December 9th 2005

Time for a road trip; we pile in the car and head our way going west out of the city towards Jasper. It’s a quick two hour drive to Edson from Edmonton and there is going to be a Theatre with over 100 screaming teenagers waiting for us to headline in there small town. The drive is very nice considering its December. There’s little snow on the ground and the temperature is on the plus side (weird ass Alberta winter).

When we get to Edson we all meet up at a 7-11 and proceed to drive to our final destination the Red Brick Theatre. We’ve arrived several hours early to make sure we’re all good to go and so we head to the green room to talk with the other bands. Tonight we’ll be playing with My Erection and Fresh Apples. I ask the other bands where to go to pick up some beer and they direct me to the closest liquor store. The store smells of old socks and cheap women so we grabbed our case of beer and b-lined it back to the Red Brick Theatre.

We crack open some brews and talk with the promoter from Gravel Pit Productions. She’s very nice and has put together an awesome event considering she’s not even out of high school (couldn’t have done it better myself). The first band My Erection goes on and gets the crowd warmed up with a little Nirvana and some Bob Seger, the crowd is happy to be there and excited to listen to all the bands.

After their quick set the next band, Fresh Apples, a pop/punk band hits the stage and does an awesome job. They’re all under 18 but there rocking out like veterans. They’re quite enjoyable to watch. I’m starting to feel the beer and realize I best slow down as were going on stage in the next 20 minutes. I go for my final smoke before we’re on and get prepped to go on stage.

We open with a new song and totally rock the crowd, they’re stoked and cheering. Our second song comes in and the energy is flying, it’s incredible, then all of a sudden I bail over top of the speaker behind me and land on my ass, the band keeps playing as I make a quick recovery to cheers of the crowd (and to think we didn’t get it captured on film). Jason is laughing hysterically (as am I) but the band keeps it together. We play our entire set and every one is having an awesome time.

We finish up, sell & sign a whack load of CDs, shoot the shit with the rest of the bands and head out (stop at Tim Horton’s for coffee first) for our ride back to the city. Thanks to all the hard work of our promoter. Edson is a town we won’t forget.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte