Im happy to be able to say that I’m knee deep in work with the new record, and happier still to announce that the drumming duties are being handled by the legendary Kenny Aronoff. So far the tracks are turning out great, leaving me nothing but excited to get this stuff out and to you.


I realized a few hours ago that the super awesome Bigwood IV festival is creeping up quickly (August 27th), The New Weather Machine will be playing at 4:00 along with a hundred million other bands throughout the day and night. For $20 you get to see all hundred million bands and food as well, which is a hell of deal and kick ass time. They will also be collecting donations for the Lethbridge Food Bank so make sure you bring something good for the less fortunate.


We’ll also be playing during Arts Fest at 9:00pm on Saturday, October 1, which is a weekend long music and arts festival held primarily downtown. I’ll have more details on this on as it approaches.


In the CD player lately (I know I know, welcome to the 90’s) : Dio is still kicking ass and taking names, Holy Diver, the 2 disc, 2 set Dio Live at Donnington, and Heaven and Hell are getting a lot of play. The Darkness’ debut Permission to Land has made a comeback (as have the Darkness apparently), and I had forgotten how much fun this record is. Aces! Also on this months most played list is the Beatles mono catalogue (which is far superior to it’s stereo counterpart) and The Go-Go’s first album.

I know things have been quiet for the last little bit on the website, but I promise the gears are turning, levers and pulleys are being operated, and steam is flowing out of a giant smoke stack. Beside dealing with my never-ending spring and summer cold (you know the one with the flying dog/dragon thing), I have been preparing the for the first half of the album to be recorded and making sure there’s enough unstable atoms in the reactor core to keep the pinwheel spinning so to speak. Tracking starts in Los Angeles next week!

I’ve been out of commission lately due to a nasty bout of what is apparently strep throat and some sort of cold or crazy allergies combining into a terrible beast. Hopefully I will recover soon, but it’s been a few weeks and the antibiotics (which I typically avoid like the plague) have yet to start working. I do know, however, that the second New Weather Machine album starts production at the beginning of August regardless, and that the drummer doing the record is absolutely killer and I’m unbelievably excited to have him on board. I’ll have more details on this and another project I’m working on in the coming weeks.

The New Weather Machine will be playing the awesome outdoor Bigwood IV Festival this year on August 27th with a ton of other great bands including Phantom Creeps, Berserker, Leeroy Stagger, Dirti Speshuls, Duus Blues Band, Toques & Beards, Treeline, Kellianne, Mr:Personal, Blue Sensashun, Gravity Crash, Andrew Scott, Lustre Cream and The Horrorshow Groodies. Last year it was a kick ass party with lots of roasted meat, good times and proceeds going to the food bank. I expect this year to be no different!

The New Weather Machine will be playing in Calgary at the Distillery next Wednesday the 13th during Stampede week with Shred Kelly. Jesse and the Dandelions will also be playing. You can check out the facebook event here. If you’re in, or going to be in Calgary on the 13th it’ll be a great place to show off your brand new cowboy boots and hat, or conversely, find someone else in their brand new cowboy boots and hat.

I forgot to mention a couple other things in my Dio/Sabbath bit. I had misplaced, but recently found my copy of Past Lives, the only official live Ozzy-era Black Sabbath album and had a listen to it. Unfortunately, the first disc is terrible and probably doesn’t deserve to be released. Fortunately, the second disc has a couple tracks from the absolutely fucking amazing 1975 New Jersey show (Hole In The Sky, Symptom of the Universe and Megalomania) and has led me to re-locate and listen to the bootleg again. You can read about it and download it here, and I promise it’s worth it. If you’re only going to listen to one track, listen to Sabbra Cadabra, and yes, the whole thing. Actually, the whole second disc is quite good and well worth the listen.

If you only made it to the first disc of the two disc set (which is is the logical way to listen to a 2 disc album), you would realize it’s not very impressive or representative of the generally above average to excellent studio albums, and would probably keep you from bothering with the second cd. Because someone made the choice to have it be the first of two, I’m going to briefly and arbitrarily pit Past Lives Disc 1 against the newly released solo Ozzy live show coupled as a second disc to the restored reissue of Diary of a Madman that I’ve been listening to recently.

While I generally enjoy Black Sabbath songs to solo Ozzy material, Past Lives Disc 1 (Disc 1) has the shit totally kicked out of it by by Diary of a Madman Disc 2 (Disc 2). Disc 2 sounds better, the performance is superior pretty much across the board, and it’s overall a more enjoyable listen that I wouldn’t be completely embarrassed to show a non-fan. I can’t say the same about Disc 1. Although there are some awesome moments, it’s not presented in a flattering manner and at other times is so bad at times Im embarrassed for the Black Sabbath.

End result: Past Lives Disc 1 suffers a horrible defeat a the hands of Ozzy Disc 2, and if you have it throw it in the garbage and just listen to the second Past Lives cd or Ozzy Disc 2.

The interesting part (and roundabout point) came in my realization that there’s no way the best live solo Ozzy trumps the best Black Sabbath. It took the awfulness of Past Lives Disc 1 make me compare the two, but I’m glad it did because it led me to re-find the Jersey ’75 show. Have a listen to the New Jersey show (which is just a straight sound board recording), turn it up really loud, and you’ll understand what I mean. It’s by no means perfect. There are fuck ups and missed notes (looking at you Ozzy) everywhere, but the energy and approach is so bang on that it leaves even a non fan no choice but to appreciate the awesomeness of Supernaut. Apparently there were failed plans to officially release it in the late ‘70s and I wish they would have if not only so more people would be able to listen to it.

Till next time!

So after working through an intensive, several month long Black Sabbath kick, I’ve more fully investigated the range of Dio and have decided a couple things. First off, the best albums from the main Dio bands:

Dio - Holy Diver
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
Rainbow - Rising

Second, Im still unsure of which is the crowning Dio achievement, but Im leaning towards Holy Diver followed very closely, however, by a lengthy interview on the deluxe remaster (of Holy Diver) that rivals the entertainment value of the album itself.

I will be performing an acoustic set today at the Dragon Boat races at 5:45, just prior to the opening ceremonies. Im not exactly sure of where it is, but it will be on a big stage at Henderson Lake. See you at the....races? Really...? How often does that actually get used in context?

Summer feels like it’s finally here, it seems like it’s been raining forever! I’ve added a few new dates into the calendar, some of which are outdoors, and should be a lot of fun if the sun holds out.


I’ve been spending the majority of my time working on the new album/new album related things. I’m really excited for how things are coming together and even more excited to share it with you after it’s done!

I can’t say that I normally enjoy television advertising (or television much at all for that matter). A bunch of people I don’t care about, hocking loads of crap I also don’t care about. With the exception of the Timelife Nazis 6 dvd BBC documentary that came out a few months ago, I cant think of a time when some overly loud, bright, and irritating commercial has persuaded me to buy much of anything at all.


Print ads on the other hand, have been much more effective. If I’m ever flipping at a guitar or music magazine, I’ll read the rehashed article about whatever album/band I’m interest in and then more often then not I’ll only be looking at the ads. Ohh, Pete Townshend has another signature toaster (that list is far from complete). Some lame-o modern rock dude has “found what he’s been searching for” in some POS Ibanez with EMG’s. Some smiling old guy with a moustache delicately holds “the finest handcrafted acoustic guitar” you’ve never heard, while the adjacent page technology promises to fix my amp problems and take me into space. I mean really riveting, worthwhile stuff.

I remember a particularly good series of Gibson guitar ads from 10-15 years ago, one saying something along the lines of “15 minutes = 3 hours” and showed some blurry guy playing a very clear J-45. “Wow! I’ve played guitar for longer than I planned before! I could be that blurry guy! I must have a J-45!” Another had fantastic picture of a guy playing an ’61 SG reissue with one of the smaller teardrop pickguards, his hand wrapped around the bridge, the imagined sound was incredible! I must have a ’61 SG Reissue!!

None of this matters, however, as advertisements apparently reached their zenith in 2003, without my knowledge, and while selling water. I present the greatest advertisement known to man:

Ive posted a brand new live video of “Waiting for Tomorrow” pulled from our March 26th launch night. You can check it out below as well as on the video page. Special thanks to Leslie Ohene-Adjei and his crew for doing such a great job on the video!


Due to some unfortunate circumstances, my friend Will was not able to make it to Canada and as a result I was forced to cancel some tour dates in June, these have been updated in the tour section. Also a special thanks to Clayton Smith for picking up the drum slack and helping out! Go check him out at the Treeline CD release party this Saturday June 4th at the Slice.

I’m trying to make the best of the situation and make some moves on the recording front, hopefully it will yield some exciting results! I’ll keep you posted in the coming weeks.

**Because the video is widescreen the right side is chopped off a bit, here’s a direct youtube link**

This Thursday (May 19th) The New Weather Machine will be playing The Magnetic South Festival, which is a unique little event that takes places across several different Lethbridge locals and includes a ton of different bands from different music circles. For $20 you get a wristband that lets you go freely between locations and check out bands all day. We’ll be playing at the Slice, I’ll update with a time when I get it.

**Update - Our time slot is 11:00 at the Slice **

Ive posted a plethora of new tour dates - if you live in Alberta of British Columbia there’s a really good chance were playing in or close to your home town and it would be awesome to see you there.


I would also like to announce a very special guest who will be joining us for the dates in June. Will Sealy (in the picture below) will be coming in all the way from Somerset, UK and will be making some wonderful drums noises.

The “Unplugged” show is going great, you still have quite a few chances to check it out if you haven’t already.

This Thursday at Vern’s in Calgary we started our trek around Alberta to play the Nirvana Unplugged album in it’s entirety and a lot of the the members material acoustically. I can guarantee you you will be happier to see it than I was while I was watching the election results.

Check out the poster for what’s happening in May:


The band will feature Andrew Scott, Paul Holden, Dino Scavo, Kyle Harmon, and myself and we’ll be doing all of the Nirvana Unplugged album as well as a selection of songs from members of the group.

As the school semester comes to a close, my diet is shifting from primarily black espresso and bananas to black espresso and oatmeal. I have been incredibly busy but can rest assured knowing everything will return to normal shortly. In the mean time, here’s my response to tonights leadership debate:

Ive been on a turbo Black Sabbath kick lately. Everyday for the last month or so Ive woken up, made coffee, and started listening to Exile on Mainstreet or a Sabbath album. I think Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is my favourite, but I’ve been listening to the Dio albums the last couple days and, although the you wouldnt be able to tell from the cover (below), Dehumanizer pretty decent and is growing on me like lightning bolts coming from a skeleton hand that rips through my white tee shirt and skull.





I’ve gone ahead and done a complete overhaul on the website, I hope you find it both effective and entertaining. Shirt pics are coming soon!

A big thank you to everyone who came out to the hugely successful Esper Records launch party on Saturday! As you may have noticed we had several camera people lurking in the shadows throughout the evening, and we’ll have some brand new live videos up in the next short while.

We also just got in some great new girls/guys shirts and tote bags. They’ll be available in the next couple days from the web store after I’ve taken some proper pictures.

I’ve modernized the music player, adopting HTML5 and ditching Flash, so it will now work on iPhones and iPads.

Here’s a sample shot of the girls shirt:

Check out the awesome poster for this Saturday the 26th’s Esper Records launch party.

The New Weather Machine will be playing, along with Jesse and The Dandelions and Church. Lots of brand new material, amazing new shirts, and great music! Here’s a link to the facebook event. We would love to see you there.

You can also check out a little preview at LA Beat

I will be playing a bunch of my favourite Bowie songs at The Owl this Saturday the 12th for their acoustic David Bowie tribute night. A few other local artists will be performing as well and should be an excellent night.

I am happy to announce the launch of our new Esper Records and the official launch party on March 26th. You can check out the Facebook event here and the press release here.

The show on the 26th will showcase great new music from The New Weather Machine, Jesse and the Dandelions, and Leon Twig. We will also doing a live recording and video taping of the evening.[]’
=p;p

With the spring and summer dates being booked, I’ve added a new section to the website so you know when we’re coming to your town. Ill be adding dates as they’re confirmed and details as they’re created.

It would seem that we’re approaching the time of year when worthwhile music starts coming out again. The pre christmas season, the one that typically consists of bad pop records and phoned-in albums from has been’s trying to cash in on holiday dollars, is over and the spring/summer albums are trickling in. Here are a few Im looking forward too:

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (May)
Wanda Jackson - The Party Aint Over (out already)
Radiohead - The King of Limbs (Saturday)
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (April)
Strokes - whatever the new strokes is called (and whenever it comes out)
Motorhead - The World is Yours (out already)

For those brave enough to face the cold, you can catch both the Low Flying Penguins and The New Weather Machine this coming week. Thursday February 3rd the Penguins will be playing at the Slice for Chinese New Year, and Tuesday the 8th The Weather Machine will be hosting the jam, also at the Slice. The band has been notably absent in past few months while Ive been working on new material, but you should be hearing a lot more of us in the near future, including the possible debut of new songs on Tuesday.

This Thursday (January 27th) I will be playing a short acoustic in the midst of several greats acts at the Slice. There is no cover and free breakfast food will be served from 8:00 till 1:00. You can check out the Facebook event here. Lethbridge’s Sheala Miller, the Necessities, Andrew Scott, and Rob Ursel will also be performing.

On another note, I went hunting for 2 early solo Ozzy albums yesterday and was terrifically disappointed at the near impossibly of finding any cd’s at all. The pawn shops that only a couple years ago had stacks of forgotten treasures and Kenny G, offered little more than an eclipsing shelf of Matchbox 20 and Backstreet Boys. HMV cd collection has been all but replaced with dvd’s and video games but, for better or worse, I did manage to find what I was looking for.

A couple weeks ago I entered The Who’s “Live in Your Living Room” contest by submitting a video performance of one of my favourite tracks from the deluxe Live at Leeds, 1921, and was voted as the winner! Check it out:

Youtube Video

'LIVE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM' CONTEST: WINNER ANNOUNCED

Update: