Monday 16 December 2013

Live Los Furios Video

Here's a clip from Los Furios' most recent gig at Vancouver FanClub for X-Mas in Skaville #11

Monday 9 December 2013

No Island poster

I decided to wade into some new territory and try my hand at designing the gig poster for No Island's next show. Pretty proud of it for a first attempt. I've dabbled in GIMP a little bit in the past but have never really done much in the way of graphic design/digital art/photo manipulation/whatever you would call this, so I'm pretty happy with the result.

Sunday 24 November 2013

New No Island show announced

I am very excited to say that my main band No Island will soon be returning to the stage on January 4th after spending some time off writing. The new songs are sounding fantastic, and I'm very excited to debut them at what is certainly going to be an incredible show all around.



Friday 18 October 2013

Sunday 6 October 2013

Furios Gigs

No Island isn't gigging much at the moment because we are busy working hard on a bunch of new songs for our future album (and they sound freaking awesome!). Perhaps some shows will sneak their way into our schedule soon.


Los Furios, on the other hand, does have a few dates on the calendar:

Nov. 2 *Nov. 1* at the B-Ex (1143 Kingsway) in Vancouver
Nov. 29 in Victoria (venue TBA)
Dec. 13 at Vancouver Fan Club
Jan. 28 with The Toasters at The Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver

Friday 13 September 2013

Back in Town

I've been back in Vancouver for a few weeks. Played a super fun homecoming show with No Island at the Media Club with Dubai and Criminal Caterpillar, and then jumped right back into the groove again with Los Furios a week later at Fortune Sound Club with the Hellbound Hepcats and Creepshow. 

I've been doing a few clinics recently while figuring out my teaching schedule for the season. Looking forward to the new year with my students, old and new.

No Island is in the process of writing new material for our future album. Very exited for all the new songs to come!

Tuesday 18 June 2013

No Island's Big Tour

No Island's Cross-Canada Tour has been announced. Two months on the road playing our way from coast to coast and back again. I won't be updating my personal site while on tour, so be sure to check out http://blog.no-island.com/ and www.twitter.com/NoIslandBand for updates.

Friday 14 June 2013

ILB's Last Show Ever

Relating to my previous post... here's a link to details for The Ivy League Brawlers' farewell show at Fortune Sound Club: https://www.facebook.com/events/600440806646844

Monday 3 June 2013

ILB no more



Today, the Ivy League Brawlers announced that they will be folding up the band and calling it quits. It's an unfortunate development, but probably for the best. To be completely transparent, I had actually already stepped down from the band a couple of months ago. I had a blast with the Brawlers and learned a lot from them, but all good things must come to an end. The band's official release concerning the situation sums it up perfectly:

"Hello Brawlers and Brawlettes, your friendly neighbourhood ILB here with a big (but not necessarily good) announcement.
The Ivy League Brawlers have decided to call it quits as a band.
With time comes change, and for the 8 of us, that change has come in the form of new commitments, different priorities, and big life decisions.After 5 exciting years together as a band, we've experienced a lot together, played some amazing shows, and accomplished a lot, but now we've come to a point where our focus as individuals is elsewhere. Know that we're all still great friends, there's no animosity between members, no huge arguments, nothing like that. We've just decided that, since the 8 of us are all getting to a time and place in our lives where we can't commit as much time to this band as we'd like to, it's better to quit now and go out gracefully than to let it fizzle out and die.
That being said, we've still got some stokeworthy news! We're going to be playing a final farewell show JUNE 29TH AT FORTUNE SOUNDCLUB with our great friends Criminal Caterpillar and Fall Fair Car. This is gonna be a great show, and more importantly, it'll be the last time you can see us play live! So come on out and say goodbye to us in person, share some memories, or just cry in our arms.We'll be playing some old favourites, some new favourites, and even a couple songs that you may have never even heard. If you don't come to this show then you'll never be able to hear those songs again, so that's an incentive, right? Stay on the lookout for the event page for that show that will have all the details.
Equally if not even more exciting: We've been recording a FINAL EP for you guys to listen to after we're gone. This is a collection of some of our newer songs, stuff we've been working on after we got tired of playing Argyle Album songs all the time. We're doing it almost entirely DIY so it's slow going, but it's gonna be good! With any luck that will be available in time for the farewell show. So keep your eyes open for that.
This band has been a huge part of all of our lives, 5 years playing with one group is a huge undertaking and we've all learned a lot playing with ILB. It'll be sad to see it go, but we're not disappearing off the face of the earth. Here's a little insight into what the members of ILB will be doing after:Anuar, our sexy lead singer, will be continuing to sing with local choirs, groups, and is going to continue his acting career.Tom, our leading guitar man, will continue working on various music projects that “will hopefully see the light of day in the near future.”CJ, bassist extraordinaire, is going to finish school and then continue playing music in and around Vancouver.Nikko, the rumbling drum man, will continue playing with Dark Sun Profits (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Sun-Profits/129254880462467?fref=ts) and will definitely still be playing around town.Mat, the mohawked wonder, might be joining forces with a certain well known Vancouver band, but we don't want to spoil it, so just keep your eyes and ears peeled. Also, he's going to continue working with the musicians he's met through ILB.Jimmy, sax man with the ears, will continue playing and touring with his band No Island (www.facebook.com/noislandband) and Los Furios (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Los-Furios/189330161139990?fref=ts) as well as teaching lessons to little kids that want to grow up to be a rockstar just like him.Quinn “Quinn” Quinn, will be finishing school and then is hoping to travel across the world before coming back to Vancouver to continue playing music with the people he's met through ILB.Mike, that guy with the huge sax, will continue playing with his groups Big EviL (facebook.com/bigevilmusic), VaudeVille Vagabonds (http://www.mythmaker.ca/vvv.html) , Edarem (https://www.facebook.com/edaremband?fref=ts), and a bunch of other groups around Vancouver. 
Thank you all so much for supporting us for 5 years, you made this band what it was, we couldn't have done any of it without the support of our fans. You guys made it fun to play this music, and you drove us to keep going for long after any other band with 8 members would normally go for.
So thank you all so much, and we'll see you on the dance floor one last time on the 29th!- Ivy League Brawlers"That being said, we've still got some stokeworthy news! We're going to be playing a final farewell show JUNE 29TH AT FORTUNE SOUNDCLUB with our great friends Criminal Caterpillar and Fall Fair Car. This is gonna be a great show, and more importantly, it'll be the last time you can see us play live! So come on out and say goodbye to us in person, share some memories, or just cry in our arms.We'll be playing some old favourites, some new favourites, and even a couple songs that you may have never even heard. If you don't come to this show then you'll never be able to hear those songs again, so that's an incentive, right? Stay on the lookout for the event page for that show that will have all the details.Equally if not even more exciting: We've been recording a FINAL EP for you guys to listen to after we're gone. This is a collection of some of our newer songs, stuff we've been working on after we got tired of playing Argyle Album songs all the time. We're doing it almost entirely DIY so it's slow going, but it's gonna be good! With any luck that will be available in time for the farewell show. So keep your eyes open for that.This band has been a huge part of all of our lives, 5 years playing with one group is a huge undertaking and we've all learned a lot playing with ILB. It'll be sad to see it go, but we're not disappearing off the face of the earth. Here's a little insight into what the members of ILB will be doing after: Anuar, our sexy lead singer, will be continuing to sing with local choirs, groups, and is going to continue his acting career.Tom, our leading guitar man, will continue working on various music projects that “will hopefully see the light of day in the near future.”CJ, bassist extraordinaire, is going to finish school and then continue playing music in and around Vancouver.Nikko, the rumbling drum man, will continue playing with Dark Sun Profits (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Sun-Profits/129254880462467?fref=ts) and will definitely still be playing around town.Mat, the mohawked wonder, might be joining forces with a certain well known Vancouver band, but we don't want to spoil it, so just keep your eyes and ears peeled. Also, he's going to continue working with the musicians he's met through ILB.Jimmy, sax man with the ears, will continue playing and touring with his band No Island (www.facebook.com/noislandband) and Los Furios (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Los-Furios/189330161139990?fref=ts) as well as teaching lessons to little kids that want to grow up to be a rockstar just like him.Quinn “Quinn” Quinn, will be finishing school and then is hoping to travel across the world before coming back to Vancouver to continue playing music with the people he's met through ILB.Mike, that guy with the huge sax, will continue playing with his groups Big EviL (facebook.com/bigevilmusic), VaudeVille Vagabonds (http://www.mythmaker.ca/vvv.html) , Edarem (https://www.facebook.com/edaremband?fref=ts), and a bunch of other groups around Vancouver.Thank you all so much for supporting us for 5 years, you made this band what it was, we couldn't have done any of it without the support of our fans. You guys made it fun to play this music, and you drove us to keep going for long after any other band with 8 members would normally go for.
So thank you all so much, and we'll see you on the dance floor one last time on the 29th!- Ivy League Brawlers"

Thursday 30 May 2013

Post-Mexico Update

Wow, what a trip. The people in Mexico are amazing. The appreciation for music there is overwhelming. In comparison, it seems like people take live music for granted in Canada.

Check out http://www.youtube.com/user/jmjazzman for videos.












Sunday 19 May 2013

Mexico Tour with Los Furios

In three days I'll be departing for Mexico with Los Furios to play 5 shows (I think...) in and around the Mexico City area, including a couple of shows that by all account look like they will be the biggest shows in my life so far.

Needless to say, I'm quite excited.





Tuesday 7 May 2013

New No Island songs/videos/recordings

No Island has released a new pair of songs recorded live in the studio.









Download the songs for free here:
http://music.no-island.com/album/off-the-floor-live

Wednesday 17 April 2013

New Alto!

After struggling with a student-level alto sax for the past year and a half, I finally have been fortunate enough to find myself able to acquire a new one. This isn't just a better horn, but pretty well my dream horn: a silver Yamaha Custom Z in near-mint condition. It's powerful, free-blowing, has a tone that I quite like, and is a nice match with my silver YTS62 tenor to boot. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked. I've been needing a horn like this for a long time now.



Thursday 11 April 2013

No Island media

It's been a busy few weeks for No Island. We played a charity gala for GirlsCAN, a student party at The University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, and a super fun show at The Savage Beagle in Whistler. Somewhere in there, we managed to squeeze in an early morning photo shoot too!



We have a video project in the works too, so stay tuned for that!

Sunday 31 March 2013

No Island at UFV April 5th, Los Furios in Mexico

It's been a while since I last posted. Things have been very busy, especially with No Island. Check out www.facebook.com/NoIslandBand for recent photos.

We have another show coming up for Big Bangs 2013 at Aftermath Public House at the University of the Fraser Valley. Facebook event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/226332687491951





In other news, Los Furios will be playing a in Mexico in May. More details to come.


Thursday 7 March 2013

Busy Month Ahead...

No Island is back with a bang, with shows coming up in Vancouver, Victoria, Sun Peaks, Rossland, and Whistler, and more!




Saturday 2 March 2013

ILB opening for The Slackers tonight.

Should have posted about this before. Playing a big ska show at the Korean Hall (1320 East Hastings) tonight with The Ivy League Brawlers opening for The Slackers. The show is all ages with drink sales available for the adult folk. The EWI may be on hand.


Friday 22 February 2013

ILB EP Update

I am pleased to announce that on Sunday I finished recording the last of my parts for The Ivy League Brawler's impending digital EP. One of the tracks features the super fun (and super difficult) E.W.I., or Electronic Wind Instrument. Now that I think about it, this was the first time I've ever really recorded with this device. We ended up trying a number of different things with it in the studio, so I'm curious to hear what makes the final cut and how it gets mixed into the track.


Wednesday 13 February 2013

No Island News

In less than a month, No Island will be officially re-launching with our new line-up and a ton of new music. We're hitting The Railway Club in Vancouver on March 8th and Lucky Bar in Victoria on March 9th. The following weekend, we're doing a mini tour of some local ski resorts. It's going to be a fun month.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/341304375979124/

Here's a little taste:



Tuesday 29 January 2013

New Los Furios Single, Gigs

Los Furios recorded a new song called "Bad Waters" in December and released it last Friday at The Rickshaw Theatre. It was a super fun show, and I was glad to be back on the stage again for the first time since early December. The crowd was super energetic and never stopped dancing. I also really enjoyed having the chance to hang out before the show with Chris Murray and chat with him during dinner. He had some pretty incredible stories from his travels all over the world.

Los Furios will be playing on Tuesday February 5th at The Savage Beagle in Whistler, and Friday February 8th at Micky's Irish Public House in Coquitlam.
 



Saturday 19 January 2013

Thursday 3 January 2013

+ 2012 in Review

Wow, what an exciting and rewarding year it's been! If my math is correct, in 2012 I played 65 shows (71 if you count playing in 2 bands at the same show) with 8 different groups (9 if you count a solo gig...), and participated in 10 different recording sessions. Jazz, rock, reggae, R&B, punk, Motown, electro-funk (or, something...), and even a bit of choral music were all in the picture. Additionally, I graduated with my music degree, embarked on my very first tour, had 2 EPs released, and taught a ton of lessons and clinics.

Some of my personal musical highlights of 2012 include:
  • Playing with all 3 of my rock bands on the same night (at 2 different shows).
  • Performing twice with Criminal Caterpillar. It is always an honour and a pleasure playing with bands which I am not a member of.
  • My Graduation Recital in the Birch Theatre at Capilano University. Or more specifically, just the fact that I graduated.
  • Performing with the Capilano University A Band at The Banff Centre.
  • My experiences with Los Furios: recording and releasing an EP, playing the big outdoor stage at the Victoria Ska Fest, being featured on Urban Rush, opening for The English Beat.
  • My first ever, self-booked, and entirely successful tour of western Canada with No Island.
  • Finding regular and rewarding work as a private music teacher.
  • The return of The Ivy League Brawlers at the end of the year, particularly the 2 gigs they shared with Los Furios. Those shows were insane, and they were magic.
  • A new digital EP with No Island, our first release since our debut CD.
It's been a great year full of amazing new experiences and awesome times. Here's hoping that 2013 might be even more grand.