+ New EP from No Island

(from blog.no-island.com)

Our new digital-only mini-release is here!

The Waiting Game EP is a sample of how No Island's sound developed during 2012, and serves as a teaser for our new full-length album to be recorded in 2013.

This EP is a pay-what-you-can download. If you are unable or unwilling to pay, we are still offering this music freely for you to enjoy and share. If you like what you hear and want to support us in our music-making efforts, you can do one or several of the following things to help us out:

• You can tell your friends about us, and share our music with them.
• You can choose to pay what you can for downloading this EP. Whatever you think these 3 songs are worth. Every cent we receive will go towards future recording.
• You can come see one of our live shows. We would love to meet you and entertain you in person. We usually play in and around Vancouver, BC, but be sure to check our schedule for tour dates (especially in the summer).
• You can like/follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, or our blog for updates and bonus content.
• You can also take the social media thing to the next level and share a link to us and/or our music on there.

Thank you for every little bit of your support, and enjoy the music!

 - No Island

+ December Update

Been pretty busy lately. Here's an update.

Xmas in Skaville show was one hell of an event. Super fun, great energy, awesome performances. It was one of those amazing nights that I continue to live for as a performing musician.

Los Furios is going into the studio again tomorrow with Doug Fury to record a new single, "Bad Waters". We've been playing this song at a few of our shows lately and it's been getting a good response. The Furios also have a big show coming up January 25th at The Rickshaw opening for Chris Murray with Heads Hang Heavy and The Bone Daddies.

The Ivy League Brawlers have a show booked the night after the Rickshaw gig, opening for Jesus Krysler at The Fairview Pub. The Brawlers are also plotting to make some new recordings in the new year. We've been long overdue for this... the band's sound and songwriting have changed a lot since our first album, which was recorded before our new lead singer Anuar and myself joined the band.

And speaking of new recordings, No Island will finally be releasing our new digital mini-EP "The Waiting Game" any day now. This will be our first release since our debut album, and showcases the band's most recent sonic developments while serving as a bit of a teaser for our new full-length album that we will begin recording in the new year.

Click here for more details: http://blog.no-island.com/2012/12/new-release-out-soon.html

+ Xmas in Skaville Double-Bill

My next show is December 8 at the Shark Club in Vancouver with both The Ivy League Brawlers and Los Furios. I played at this 8th incarnation of this show with the Brawlers and the 9th one last year with the Furios, and I'm definitely looking forward to doing another one with both this year. Doors at 9pm!

Facebook event page:
www.facebook.com/events/545563695469239

+ November Update

I never had a chance to post about the ILB/CrimCat collaboration at the Railway Club earlier this month. The Brawlers horn section got together for a final rehearsal earlier on the day of the show to essentially decide if we would be able to pull it off. This was a pretty big decision, as we absolutely wanted to make it happen, but music that Eric writes and arranges for Criminal Caterpillar is quite complex, and we didn't want to be taking up time and space during their set unless we knew we were going to pull it off perfectly.

Fortunately, the rehearsal went super well, and we went ahead with the collab. It was super fun to share the stage with CrimCat once more, and I would be glad to relive that experience again any time int he future.

The Brawlers' set went super well. It was a high-energy party with a crazy fun atmosphere, and elicited one of the best responses I've ever seen during my time with this band. There were many who said it was the best ILB show they had ever seen. The only thing that detracted from the evening for me is that I somehow managed to damage the neck of my saxophone late in the set. I have no recollection of what happened, all I knew was that during the last song before the encore, my horn stopped working. Fortunately it was extremely minor damage that was easily fixed the following monday when I took it in to Massullo Music, but it had me rather worried because any damage to the neck of a saxophone can easily irreversibly alter how it plays, or even render the instrument entirely unplayable.

Fortunately, all is well now and I was able to use my horn for a house party No Island played on Friday night for the birthday party of a very good friend of the band. Unfortunately we were down a member because our bass player Sara had been injured during a workout session just a couple days before, but the 4 of us played a rockin' set and had the whole house dancing until the night grew late. It didn't hurt that our go-to bass sub Malcolm Wanless (of Criminal Caterpillar) was also in attendance, and he was happy to fill in on a few tunes that he'd played with us in the past.

No Island's Movember fundraising efforts have been going well. To date, we've raised over $300, and we'll continue collecting and growing until the end of the month. To donate: http://ca.movember.com/team/702841

+ Movember

This November, I have been participating in Movember with the rest of No Island. It is an awareness and fundraising campaign for men's health, particularly Prostate Cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect Canadian men. One in seven men will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.

The awareness part of this campaign comes by growing a moustache (which provides a good way to start the conversation, such as "Why are you attempting to grow that hideous moustache?"), and the fundraising part comes by encouraging everyone to make a donation to the official Movember charity page. You can contribute to Mo Island's team fundraising effort here: http://ca.movember.com/team/702841. Even a small donation is greatly appreciated for this worthy cause. Why not chip in $5 and think of it as buying a fancy Starbucks drink for a good friend? Except instead of a friend, it's a Cancer-fighting moustache. And instead of coffee, it's research.

If you want to check out our mo-farming progress, hit up http://blog.no-island.com.

+ No Island Summer 2012 Tour Flashback: Van Life

A little taste of what I got up to this summer...

+ Next Weekend

click here for Facebook event page

Very excited about a show I'll be playing at The Railway Club next Saturday November 17th. The Ivy League Brawlers will be playing at 11pm, and if it's anything like the insanity of our performance last Friday then it'll definitely be a show worth catching. Opening up the night at 10pm is the super talented art-rock/prog-rock group Criminal Caterpillar. I had the privilege of performing with them once before on a special arrangement of one of their songs featuring a horn section. I'll add a video of that performance to the bottom of this post. I won't make any promises, but the ILB horn section does happen to be the right configuration for this arrangement, and half of us have already played it before... so special things might happen at this show. Also on the bill is the always thought-provoking Redrick Sultan, who will be altering thought patterns at the stoke of midnight. I've also had the pleasure of playing with them in the past, jamming with them some years ago and then subbing in for a weekend mini-tour once when their former sax player became unavailable. I had hopes of perhaps sitting in with them on a tune or two at this show as has sometimes happened before, but they've got a newly revamped line-up now so I'm just excited to watch them do their thing and not get in the way of them taking things in new directions. Wrapping up the bill at 1am is a group called Random Dander. I have heard the name before, but know nothing about them. We'll see if I can make it until 1am to catch their set.

Also of note, Los Furios is playing a fundraiser the night before at the Croatian Cultural Centre. Click here for details.

Criminal Caterpillar + horns: Before The Wind Swept You Away

+ Busy Start to November

Three gigs in a row (or four, depending on how you count them):

Thursday Nov 1 - No Island at the Roxy, playing a set at 10pm, $10 tickets available from the band, more expensive at the door.

Friday Nov 2 - Playing with both The Ivy League Brawlers & Los Furios at Seylynn Hall in North Vancouver. All ages welcome, $10 at the door, first band at 8pm, ILB at 9pm, Furios at 10pm.

Saturday Nov 3 - Los Furios is playing a Mexican Day of the Dead show at 136 Powell Street in Vancouver. Event starts at 6pm, but The Furios probably won't be on until later. I really don't know any more details about this one at the moment.

+ Recording MissingNo

Some very talented friends of mine have formed a band that caters to a bit of a niche market: Instrumental, sometimes-jazz, video game music covers. Their name is MissingNo (http://www.facebook.com/missingnoband). I saw them perform on Friday night, and even though I'm not really into video games and didn't recognize a lot of the pieces, the arrangements and performance were enough to have me thoroughly enjoying the music for its own merits without the added nostalgia value.

This weekend I got to play the part of recording engineer for their a 5-song demo they're putting together. We hit a technology snag with our plans to do multitrack recording and ended up opting for a live mix off the floor. Rhythm section was recorded on Saturday, and I'm heading back into the studio tonight to track the horns. I'll post a link to the final product once it's finished.

+ The Brawlers Are Back

Rehearsed with The Ivy League Brawlers today for the first time in quite a while, it was fun being back at it. I'm very excited to be playing a show with them again soon, the last time ILB performed was back in March. We have a gig with Los Furios on November 2nd, an all-ages show in North Van. These two bands are a good fit for each other, I'm surprised that they've never done a show together until now. Event info is on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/359404030808460/

Two more Brawlers shows have been booked before the end of the year. After that, we're planning to do a small recording project in January.

+ October Update

I have a couple of quiet weeks without gigs coming up, but plenty of other things to keep me busy. My teaching schedule has filled out a bit more recently, and I've been finding that work quite rewarding.

The show on Friday with No Island & Los Furios was super fun. The venue was packed, including several friends and familiar faces. The energy was fantastic for both bands' sets, and I had a blast.

Here's one of No Island's newer recordings, featuring our keyboardist Andy Rice on vocals. At the show, Keith broke a string and had to swap guitars right before we played this one... only remembering at the very last second (during the count-in) that this other guitar was set up with a different tuning. He nailed it, solo and all.

+ Next Two Shows

From http://blog.no-island.com:

Hey folks, just taking a break from writing some new songs to let you in on the details for our next couple of shows. First one is a bit of a last-minute booking at the fabulous Layback Lounge in Harrison Hot Springs this Saturday the 29th. It's a fantastic place to hang, less than a couple hours out of town. We'll be playing a couple sets and enjoying the night out at the lake. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/105736389584307/

The second show is a double-bill at Joe's Apartment with Los Furios. It'll be an early show, with music starting at 8pm and done by 10:30. We've heard that there is going to be a cool band added to the bill as a surprise opener. Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/199597720172538/

+

Playing a couple sets at the Layback Lounge in Harrison Hot Springs this Friday night with Los Furios.

No Island and Los Furios will be playing a show together on Friday October 5th at Joe's Apartment on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. It will be a busy night for me, but I've done a few of these double-bills before. A fun time will be had by all. Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/199597720172538/

+ LOS FURIOS - Live at the Rickshaw - Ska in Mexico

+ This Saturday

https://www.facebook.com/events/440246002692225/

+ New Gigs TBA

I'll be back from tour with No Island early tomorrow morning. I have some shows booked with my other bands that will be added to the calendar soon. I'll probably write a post here about the tour within the next week or so, but in the meantime you can read all about our road adventures at http://blog.no-island.com

+ No Island's Western Canada Tour

Rehearsals started today for the tour. I'll be with the band non-stop from now until September. Very excited to be heading out on my first tour with these guys.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/215678605224632/

+ Opening for The English Beat

This Thursday:

+ On Tour With No Island

Just two weeks away!

+ Hey man, look at me rocking out, I'm on the video

Band intro begins at 0:45, music starts at 1:20

+ Steady As You Go

Probably my favourite track from the new Los Furios EP.

+ No Island Vlog #16: Dude, where's my band?

From http://blog.no-island.com/2012/07/no-island-vlog-16-dude-wheres-my-band.html

+ Los Furios' View From the Stage

A couple videos I shot last weekend at the Victoria SkaFest with Los Furios when I was able to spare a hand on-stage.

+ Two Shows on Saturday

Los Furios is doing double-duty on the 21st. We're at the Surrey Fusion Festival at 6pm, and then heading over to the Cobalt to share the stage with Easy Big Fella.

Feacebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/249048581877376/