Sidetrack Café – CD Release Party – Edmonton, Alberta – August 30th 2005

Walking into the empty Sidetrack Café at 3:00PM for sound check with no one in sight but the sound guy and the rest of the band: it was kind of weird knowing that the bar was (hopefully) going to be packed full of people in 6 hours. It was also kind of weird to be in a bar before it opened. Our openers, Hazeldean, arrived after we had finished with our sound check and took their turn with the sound tech.

The band went to Red Robin for some good eats and to kill time before the show. With a stack of CDs in the bag with me and knowing that we had already sold around 60 tickets I felt pretty confident as we headed back to the Sidetrack. People were begining to trickle in and Hazeldean was about to hit the stage by the time we got back. Slowly more and more people entered the building. My cell phone began to ring off the hook as people wanted me to bring more and more tickets to the door to sell to them.

Show time. With over 125 in the crowd, including a slew of people I never expected to show up, we started our set. The bar made sure we had alcohol at arms length and as we played the drinking continued. We started to play our title track “Living Illuion” and I got the crowd going. There were over 75 people directly in front of the stage dancing and rocking out. It was awesome.

After our first set we went to the green room and the owner of the Sidetrack came out and told us that he thought we were doing an amazing job. The Sidetrack is one of the best venues in the city of Edmonton by far, so this meant a lot to us. After a couple smokes and another beer we were back on stage. My drunken hysterics kept the crowd going between songs and we were almost done for the night. As the crowd died down and slowly dwindled away, we played “For Whom the Bells Toll” during which I forgot the lyrics and slurred my way through to the end.

The Sidetrack Café treated us really well, awarded us for our efforts and kept us drunk and happy. It was an amazing show. Special thanks to all of you who made that night possible.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte