Sometime in october Red Rock Rebellion wrote and recorded a special Christmas song. Here’s a little background:

The song was initially a jam we recorded to test out some new recording equipment but setting up and getting the recording going, we didnt have enough time to do record a proper song. It would have been a shame to not finish anything at all, so we ended up just leaving a vocal mic on and doing 2 or 3 passes through the jam we had recorded. The end result was for one reason or another a Christmas song with the express purpose to make the listener feel uncomfortable. Without further ado I present

Ham Santa - C 2008 Red Rock Rebellion

Jason Oakes - Guitar/Percussion/Vox
Shad Chollack - Drums/Percussion/Vox
Jon Martin - Bass/Percussion/Vox


Feel free to enjoy, hate, share or delete!

A big thank you to everyone who has shown their support and bought a copy of the album! Then initial response has been really good and in the next couple weeks there will be an article in the Lethbridge Herald about myself and the album.

Speaking of the album, it is now available to purchase in physical and digital formats it can be purchased at

http://cdbaby.com/cd/newweathermachine

it will also slowly trick out on amazon mp3, itunes and the like.

This thursday December 11th Dennis will be performing at the Slice Bar and Grill. This Dennis adventure features the biggest Dennis lineup yet, and even more David Bowie! See you there!

So after 2 and a half years The New Weather Machine album is finish and is now available. Starting today it can be purchased for $12 from gigs and my web store. Within the next couple of weeks it will also be available at a few local shops as well as online from iTunes, Amazon, etc.

The first track, Sink Like A Stone, is now available to listen to on the music page to listen to.

The official cd release show will be tentatively be held on January 30th at the Slice.

Enjoy!

So the album is finally finished. It was mastered last week and after some mastering revisions the music is ready to go. I am still deciding on the album artwork however so the final record still a couple weeks off.

I think its amazing how different it turned out as a complete piece that what i had though initially, or even than what I thought 2 weeks ago. There is only one song left from the original batch i was going to use. There are 11 tracks in total, several of which were added, written, and/or recorded in the last couple days of completion. Nobody has heard it except for me and the mastering engineer so i am excited to get some feedback. Stay tuned - brand new music and more info in the coming days.....

Jon

I will be performing an acoustic set in support of Treeline at the Blarney Stone in Lethbridge this friday, come down early to catch some of the new songs!

Jon

So this will probably be the real last pre album update. I am diligently working to put the finishing touches on everything, adjusting the mixes and changes things just for the hell of it. I have yet to decide on the final track list, but there will be 10 songs, maybe an extra one or two if it swings that way. I ended up deciding on recycled paper digipaks for the physical copies and an excellent mastering studio in toronto for the mastering.

Ideally i will have some sort of cd release party at the end of november or early december depending on a whole pile of different factors(including assembling a band :p) but im not going to start getting into that for a few more weeks.

Jon

ps no one is going to get upset if you listen to a david bowie record right now

So I think this may be the last pre-completion album update. So my finger has finally recovered from its sliced and gashed state, and I just have 2 little lead guitar tracks and a vocal to do and then the album will be completed. All the tracks but one have been mixed and are ready to go. I am figuring out what I want to do as far as album art goes, it’s a lot more difficult than I was anticipating. The record has changed drastically since its original inception. I think only a song or two are still remaining from the original track list. I had some indirect advice from Brian Eno which led me to let the project go in a different direction than I had planned - for better or worse i suppose.

I have some stuff to figure out about mastering and replication, and then theoretically I should have the album for sale on the website.(As Im writing this an 80 year old Chuck Berry is playing on Leno, awesome!!). As a bonus Ive added a new beatles song to the music page. I should note that all the beatles songs are recorded one take, no fixing, barely mixing, so you get what you pay for. haha

Anyway more info later

I got a shiny new camera today so while going through some old pictures, I thought id add some more to the site. So in addition to yesterdays music player, today ive added a ton of pictures from as early as 2004 up until now. They should come up in cronilogical order, but no promises. Check out the photo page while you listen to some tunes in the pop-up music player.

Jon

So i have added a music player to the site. you’ll need flash to use but in some peoples opinion its worth the trade off. It will open a new window so you can use the site and listen to music at the same time.

My finger is re-covering from a knife based injury, but there will be lots of new music soon.

So Jason from red rock rebellion and I got together tonight to play some beatles stuff and for a challenge we decided to learn, record, and mix a song in under an hour. we only did one take of everything in order to get it done it time, but we did do it. i thought somebody might find it interesting!

*update*
i spent another 5 minutes on the mix, so this is a revised version.
*now on music page

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late, here’s a little bonus. Last week we recorded a version of Changes, its just a quick mix that i did and it hasnt been mastered and all that but you may find it enjoyable.

*now on music page

Jon

So if anyone attended Dennis 7:Lucky Number Dennis (last wedensday) or Dennis 8:A Tribute to Dennis(last night) congratulations. Dennis 8 i felt was one of the better Dennis spectacles , particularly because my new Hiwatt made its debut. The show was recorded so perhaps I will find the best combination of Hiwatt and David Bowie and share it with you.

So I apparently this Saturday the third is actually Dennis 6, which I will call "Have Six with Dennis". Dennis seven will be somewhere else. The material for the show is pretty interesting, really good themes this time around. Due to even more personal changes, there will still be 5 sets, but 3 full on band sets and 2 acoustic sets from myself and taylor. Songs from the upcoming album will be featured among others. I have finally picked a title for the new record, it will be called(unless I change my mind, ha) title has been removed I have a few titles in mind, and I think this one will work best, but you never know.
Anyway, see you on Saturday!

Just to let everyone know on May 3rd there will be a special Dennis show. One of the members cant make it so we will be getting another guy or 2 and doing 5 mini sets. For one of these sets im looking at doing just songs off the upcoming album. Speaking of which, as we speak I have some of the tracks being mastered. Exciting!

Anyway the May 3rd show is at The Slice, where one can see music and eat delicious pizza as often as needed and I think we might have the show recorded as well, in which case Ill have some live stuff to post here. Stay tuned i guess!

So it turn out there are a few live dates all the sudden so I may be adding a new portion of the site to post them. One coming up this weekend with my old band Red Rock Rebellion, and several with Dennis.

Anyway......so if you live in Lethbridge im sure you are, were, or know a bunch of people who got sick. I am included in this list and have been reasonably ill for the last few weeks with what im going to call laryngitis and a cold at the same time. I was being quite productive up until then and now my voice is shot/recovering. Oh apparently I have to go practice now, will update again soon.

Jon

Here's a couple tunes from last weeks Dennis 4 gig for those of you that missed it or just cant get enough. enjoy.
*now on music page



If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the show email me and ill email it to you. If dennis does make a return there will be some original music. They are very short notice shows what we play can be limited. Im making good progress on the Weather Machine album, Ill have some more information about it in the coming weeks.

Jon

ps i put a some new pictures up as well

Thank you to everyone who attended Dennis tonight. After just getting home i feel that the gig was very successful and perhaps enough of a boost to warrant a planned Dennis show. After i review the recorded material from tonight, i will post a song or two. Paul, Kyle, and Taylor did an excellent job, again thanks for everyone for coming out.

Jon

So the pseudo band Dennis will be making a return to the stage this Friday January 11th at the slice. Everyone is encouraged to come down and support the drinking habits of a some local musicians.

There is also some sad news regarding David Bowie, the gig at the coachella festival was a hoax. I have been hurt personally by the bastard(s) who made the fake bill, I will set an example and not write an song about my sadness.