We had a day off planned for the 14th after Atlanta and before Cincinnati but we decided to play a show in Nashville. Fate had something very special for us that night.
We arrived and (as is our usual routine) found a coffee shop called Coco’s Cafe. It is a big place that has a front cafe and a back bar. That night was an open mic night. we had a lot of time before the gig so we got something to eat and hung around for a few hours. Being a natural explorer and general thrill-seeker, Rory ventured into the back room and caught a song by this girl named, as we would later learn, Lola. He came running into the front room where the rest of us were toiling away on the internet and said with an electric conviction "you guys have to see this girl". I followed and was blown away by this force on stage. I have never seen anything like her. Think Anthony and the Johnsons with the presence and spirit of a 19-year-old Nina Simone. We invited her to our show and she loved it as much as we loved her.
She was amazing. I cannot explain properly. We are now sitting in the car listening to her band A Parade and I am astounded. She is incredible and I hope she continues to do what she does.

Ok I am going to include a track from her CD, but I have no track names, unfortunately.

This leads me to another topic. It seems that sometimes these small shows allow for meetings with people that you wouldn’t necessarily meet at the bigger (green-roomed) venues. Why is that? It seems that aside from logistical thing, such as smaller audiences cheaper tickets and no back-stage beers, the smaller shows allow for different experiences. I really got this impression during our Nashville experience with Lola and. Perhaps the lack of pressure and expectations that inherently come with larger, higher profile gigs give room for strange, uncommon meetings and experiences.

With this said, however, there is much to say in favour of the scale of this tour with the National. We are paid well, fed, pampered and can always expect large audiences to play for. And in this instance, we get to tour with some really special people and musicians. We are enjoying this tour immensely.

Stream "White Beard," by a Parade
[Visit a Parade on MySpace]

June 5th

To Toronto today. Last night was with the National in Montreal. We are officially in the rock star world and I personally feel excited and completely out of my element. I sort of like the discomfort of the big time. The sheer fact that I’m calling this the big time proves how small fries we are. When the promoter asked us what kind of booze we wanted I froze and all the stage hands lifting our gear just threw me off. Plus, all of a sudden we are faced with all this bureaucracy that apparently comes with rubbing elbows with a life of fame and money, but not having enough of either to have a manager. So we’re asked to do merch counts, merch floats, follow strict load in times, call ahead to venues and generally be more organized. We are our own secretaries, sitting behind a dashboard desk writing dates in our dollar store day planner. I love it!! Really really really.

I think it’s because I am a little bit control-y. Or maybe I just don’t yet know how to live the life of an uncontaminated artist, uninhibited by chores and work of this world.

June 7th

Now we are in Chicago awaiting gail-force winds expected later tonight. It is the windy city. Last night we were joined by another band called Talk Demonic from Portland so now it is a huge posse of good people.

So an update on our exercise routine. Last night the club we played at had a bowling alley!! AHH. So good, except I truly can’t bowl. I have this wicked curve ball that I can’t control.

The new van is way cool, except for those annoying seat belts! But the noise level is soooo much lower so now when we have heated conversations both back seaters and front seaters can participate. We really miss the stove though… for coffee.

Today’s conversation was on whether the date of a certain music should influence our opinion of it compared to similar works of later dates. And furthermore, whether if unaware of which artists came first or not, would our informed preferences be the same as our ignorant preferences?

Why are we so fixated on chronology? I don’t know but I think we are.

Ok enough for now!

over

mmmmm shapes and sizes! such wonderful kind and sweet people, and such amazing artists! i remember the 1st time i saw them play a show was great. like really great! i was grinning wildly ear to ear the whole time. watching them all play together was really really delightful – i remember especially nathan clapping, as often as he possibly could he’d stop playing bass and start clapping! and i remember especially caila’s face as she sang, squeaked, hollered, and belted out the sings. i knew immediately that i loved their band! i was so honored and excited when they decided to mix their next album with me in san diego – super awesome! they came to town for a few weeks and we spent the time hanging w/my toddler son (teaching him to walk, even!) and mixing the record, which turned out A+++! it is a great balance of noise and structure and melody and trash. i’m really happy about how it came out and i hope that you (dear reader) like it too. it’s violent, beautiful, calm, outraged and super in love, and i feel like there’s so many delightful eye-of-the-hurricane moments in the record! i like that so much – i like for it all to live there and they do. seeing them live is supremely delightful, too, as evidenced by the sxsw loveliness, but i feel like this record is different from it, more dynamic, more range, more sonic depth… if i had to choose between the two, i’d see them live, because spending so much time w/the recording takes the suprises out of it somewhat (for me) and i’m always surprised by the live show. if you haven’t seen the show, find them and see them! whether you have or not, please please enjoy the album… i think they made it for you! i know that it’s a saturated world we live in, and your brain is full of stuff, but i think that this album is special enough to make room for it and invite it in to your brain! love rafter

Photo by Murat Eyuboglu

[Listen along here.]

"The Dumb Drums," Ohsees
The first time I heard or heard of the Ohsees was when I saw them open up for the Fall at CMJ this last year and immediately I was blown away: surf rock with male-female unison melodies that almost sound like outsider music. This song sounds like the Shangrilas meet the Shaggs.

"Fight Against the Darkness," Chet
Chet is a band from Victoria that we have always admired and been really close to. For years they have been writing these beautiful, heartbreaking songs that always move me.

"Bad Dreams," Weird Weeds
I never tire of hearing the Weird Weeds. They are an exceptional group that keep surprising and delighting me; my love for them can only grow.

"Zut!" Deep Dark United
Deep Dark United quickly to my consciousness. Within a couple weeks this group that was previously unknown to me came recommended by lots of good people and the songs have certainly made a deep impression on me. They are from Toronto and I put another song by lead-guy Alex Lukashevsky on this mix too.

"Bearded Clouds Pass Rainbows to Get By" Le Ton Mite
Our first show in New York we played along side a rare gem and king of the live show: McCloud or Le Ton Mite. His show was mostly improvised with the spontaneous creation of a little ditty called ‘Blood on the Wall’ possibly being the highlight of the night. Upon listening to his recorded music we were very blown away, possibly because we weren’t expecting it from our orange-wearing, outgoing and illusive friend, or possibly it was because we loved it so much.

"Spiral Golden Town," Deerhoof
I think all S&S members can agree to a mutual shining admiration of Deerhof. I think this song is hilarious in a really great way; it just sounds like Bollywood to me.

"The Highway," Peter and the Wolf
Red Hunter of Peter and the Wolf has been a real great friend and support to us since our first recordings came out. Memories of time with him reveal West Texas, dirt roads, camping out and searing, beautiful songs. His latest album, Lightness, is amazing and hosts a few absolutely perfect songs. The song I chose, the Highway, is a delicate beauty that displays his honesty and skill as a song writer.

"Dreadful Flutes," Dixie’s Death Pool
Dixie’s Death Pool is a Vancouver group that is no longer together; however, writer, Lee Hutzalic is still very active in the improvised, experimental community in Vancouver. We were lucky enough to have him do some very exceptional work on Split Lips also.

"Party," Kickball; "Blessed by the Bicycle," Mt. Gigantic
Mt. Gigantic and Kickball came to us as a unit. Kickball, from Olympia, Mt.Gigantic from Bloomington. Our first encounter was at the Smell in LA where they knocked the socks off our sorry asses. These are hard working, kind and talented people.

Who are your influences, musically/ artistically /visually / politically?
Deerhoof, Fiery Furnaces, Xiu Xiu, Leonard Cohen, Yoko Ono, Eno, Werner Herzog, Christo and Jean Claude, Jean Chretien (he’s a scrapper), paul nordoff, kashtin, le couple aveugle du mali, liars, Sebadoh, Nihilist Spazm Band (awesome Canadian noise band from the 60s/70s), Residents (recently)

Photo by Erik Osberg

Favourite movies and stuff?
Herzog. All his movies are good. Strozek, Even dwarves started small, Heart of Glass. . . – Nate
David-Gordon Green. Do you guys like? Well I do so screw you guys-Rory
I’m taking film studies How ’bout Goddard? Weekend, And Bridget Bardot, and those other ones we
didn’t have time to get through.
Aside: Nate worked at a video store. He can speak for hours on movies. Don’t get him started.
Masculine, Feminine, A women is a women (Nate continues)
Mathew Barney. Mathew Barney? Do you like him just because you think Bjork is hot?
No, I went to an exhibition in San Fran and saw Drawing Restraint Nine. Look into it. Gotta love petroleum and undigested shrimp.

Who chained a shopping cart to what? Caila chained a shopping cart filled with shopping bags to herself and walked around town. We should have videotaped it. But we did take pictures so we can prove it.

What were we trying to say? Nothing
End of arts tangent

Favourite Bands, Inspiration?
I don’t know if I’m inspirable.
Coffee and Niacin are my inspiration. And the New Yorker-I fancy myself a sophisticate but without the money to back it up.We can’t do this. I foresee Shapes losing all structure or association with other music in the future.
I like emotionality and the struggle of filling-out questionaires.

Totally unrelated (thanks for the help Rory)
I got hit by a car. Painted Sarah McClaughlin’s house. I guess you could say I’m stumbling towards ecstacy.

All I know is that Mark Rothko is for girls – Nathan
And interior designers – Caila
Basquiat is for boys.
I like Valie Export.
Duchamps is good, and yoko ono – Rory
I like Robert Bateman because he’s Canadian and we both like Wolves. He reminds me of my childhood because you could get prints of his art if you collected enough cheerios boxes.

How did you meet?
It was a very formal affair. Nathan called me up, I was a bit into Dixieland and tubas at the time so it took a bit of convincing. Nathan was relentless. He offered to let me spend all my money and play in smoky clubs to 4 people. I wholeheartedly agreed.

Why does every band in the world suck compared to us? [Editor's Note: I did not ask this question - MK] Why didn’t A&R Man ask a question like this? The other questions are too hard.
Perfection is lonely. People just don’t understand how advanced we are.
I think that hyperthyliminian modulation you put in that song went over people’s heads. Except in Dallas.
Yeah, but they’re hip in Dallas.
Totally.
Yeah.
Real hip.
And cool.
Yeah you said it.
I think we all agree then.
Yep definitely.
For sure.
For sure.
I’m in.
Me too.
What about you?
Yes.

Why do we spend all our money on avocados instead of cocaine like other bands?
It costs the same so what’s the problem?

End of Part I (Click here for Part II)

March 10

We are in North Carolina. Last night we played in Jesse’s Home town, so there we lots of people at our show. There was a very amusing gear-head in the crowd that kept asking Nate questions like "Just curious, my friends and I had a little wager going on and… is that a rosewood neck?" I think after one of the Castanets’ songs he yelled out "Memory Man Rules!!" It was funny.

Chapel Hill is a small place… lots of nice things: gardens, fences.

We (the shapes cru) had a riveting game of small midnight-coloured foam ball in the streets of Chapel Hill after dark. Our exercise regime has gotten under way; we are ready for good-health living. Taco night in Van-ada, hosted by the talented Rory S followed.

Touring with Castanets is really nice… it’s such a relief to know we will be opening for a good band every night. It is like night and day from our last tour. I’m becoming aware of the mental space that is freed up from not marveling at the world of bad bands every night- it is very liberating. I guess there is something about the "stand alone" kind of solitude that can empower, though. But, comfort is comfortable and that is good for us now. Plus their set is different every night, which is good to keep the juices flowing.

Jon and I are drinking cool Modelos in the back. We just had a heated and quite satisfying talk about art and science. Jon seems to be obsessed with practicality and anything that can’t serve a functional purpose (ie opening a can of beer) is under his scrutiny. That means stuff like paintings and songs are in the hot seat. We did however manage to come to some sort of terms. I think we agreed that science (sometimes practical) is similar to art and that scientists and artists are often driven by the same existence-questioning motives. we are brilliant, I’m glad I’m recording these gems of thought.

Ok, done. cool.

March 11.

Today is our first day off since the beginning of the tour. We’ve really become gung-ho and days off have kind of lost their charm. But we are thinking of seeing a movie tonight, which could be good.

The turn out last night was kind of disappointing, but I think we all agree that it was our best-played show yet. Athens on a saturday night is full of hot-headed college kids pickled in 3% beer. The liquor laws are weird here.

There is something about the south that really scares me. Of course it is the lore, history and reputation that is influencing me, not any concrete experiences; I just have to keep reminding myself that the one really bad red neck experience we’ve had was in Seattle. Anything goes.

March18th

It appears that I have been either slacking or omitting (due to lack of anything to say) the last few days’ logs. So update time. We have just lived the wonderful horrible SXSW festival: the notorious 4 day orgy of hand shaking, free beer and grid locks. upon arrival into Austin we had to go to the Austin Conference Center and get all the badge-y stuff. Waiting in line, the unavoidable celeb scouting and just general sizing up the crowd seemed uncannily like the worlds largest American Idol audition. It was a strange and somewhat tell-tale beginning to a festival that I resolutely loved and hated.

The good: shanty-town staple gun and plywood bars undoubtedly equipped with BBQs and concrete patios, schedualing out the days (haven’t been this organized or motivated since my days of music theatre rehearsals in Jr. high), many good and great acts (some favs were Lexie Mountain Boys, Dirty Projectors, Weird Weeds, Best Fwends).

The Bad: 6th street and St. Patty’s day/Saturday night crossover.

Credit: John Beeler

fully realized the greatness of Austin during SXSW. The east side (where we stayed with the very generous and awesome Nick and Meghan) is this over-grown collection of houses and taco shacks that seem to be the product of sunday afternoon half-baked construction whim-rampages. I mean this in the best best best way. It seems Austin has no building codes, or they aren’t enforced. But most buildings are a safe ground level.