The newspaper I work for published a fantastic tribute to David Bowie this week for his birthday. I might have had a little (or a lot) to do with it, but thanks to Beth for the killer artwork! I also took my first foray into writing buried in the entertainment section. Check it out!

Congratulations to everyone for making it to 2012, I hope your version of the holidays was everything you had hoped it to be. We ran off and took a few new band pictures yesterday before rehearsal that you can check out on the pictures page. See you tonight at The Slice!

The New Weather Machine would like to thank everyone for a great 2011 and wish everyone a safe a enjoyable secular holiday season, filled with beverages and music. Cheers!

Wow, I am constantly amazing at how quickly this year has gone by. It feels like it should be March or something when really its only a few short weeks away from my least favourite corporate holiday. I recently accepted a position as the Photo Editor at the University of Lethbridge newspaper, The Meliorist, and have been spending a bit of time making sure at least some of the pictures that make it to print are what I would like to look at everyday.

I haven’t had a chance to listen to the new Wilco album yet, but I think I am going to later this evening. I’ve noticed recently that I have be in the right mindset to appreciate a lot of records, so I’ve been holding off on listening to The Whole Love until I felt like I was in the right head space. I’ll give it a few listens and post back with my thoughts.

After further listening to the Pink Floyd remasters, I give the “Most Improved” award to The Wall and Wish You Were Here, with an honourable mention for Meddle. I don’t know if the other 15 versions of The Wall I have are different, but it seems like there is so much more revealed that I’ve never heard before on an album I’ve listened to about a gazillion times. Im particularly impressed with the new depth of field and re-focus on some of the background happenings.


A listen through a stripped down song like “Goodbye Blue Sky” now reveals all kinds of subtle synth work harmonizing the vocal and extra sounds effects that got completely buried/lost (on me anyway) before hand. I’ve noticed the same thing on the rest of the album as wel. I’m sure if I go back and listen to an older version I will be able to hear them, but only because I now know they’re there.

On a slightly different note regarding The Wall, I really appreciate the renewed strength in the instruments sounds. Particularly in the guitars, bass, keys, and kick drum (is there anything left?). Lot’s of the bass tones on the record are really cool as well; the more driven ones sound exactly like a Ampeg SVT, but it’s probably a Hiwatt of some sort. Actually, a Hiwatt DR103 head (a very clean high head room tube amp) sounds a lot like an SVT (a very clean, very high head room tube amp) on the normal channel. John Entwistle, of Who fame, used an army of DR103’s in the late 60’s and early 70’s when his tone was subjectively the best. Roger Waters studio bass tone doesn’t get talked about much, but I’m a really really big fan.

The Wall as a whole feels more cohesive and a little bit more slick, but in a very good way. This improves the presentation and adds both depth and interest (possible?) to the already killer album as a result. This same trend is evident in Wish You Were Here and Meddle as well. Aces in my book!


Last week I also had the amazing opportunity to play a couple of times with the amazing Danny Michel. Danny, who had a gig booked for Wednesday night, showed up a day early and made it to the Jam on Tuesday. He ended up sitting behind the kit to rock a few Bowie songs with us and great times were had by all we all. To my surprise, at his gig on Wednesday he asked the band if we would join him, after his awesome set, to play another set comprised of only Bowie songs. How many times does that happen? It turned into what was a second bizarre night and a hell of a lot of fun. I’ll see if I can dig up any “photographic evidence” *update, see blurry iphone pics below*. Thanks Danny!


On a second and more significant note, Mr.Michel has a great charity for school children in Belize, no middle man, no wasted money, no bullshit, all good. Please check it out here, and if your situation allows, throw a much appreciated donation in the pot.

A big thanks to everyone who checked out the Artwalk or any of the bands at Artsfest this year. Extra thanks goes to the Allied Arts Council, Jana McKenzie, and crew that put it all together. I had an awesome time checking out all the local artist and bands, and an excellent time playing.

For those of you who are up on your remasters and Pink Floyd, you’re probably still setting the controls for the hear of the sun deep in a pillow of winds while empty spaces are filled by pretty much any colour you like while listening to the Atom Heart Mother Suite. So far I’m quite impressed with the job that was done. I’m used to Dark Side of The Moon being a little bit flatter than this 2011 version, but trying to make changes to something you’re very very comfortable with can be difficult and I’l work on it. I think Wish You Were Here as an album is leaps and bounds better then the last cd version. There’s something awesome they did with the upper mid-range and super high frequencies that have brought out a lot of elements I’m surprised I missed and made it sound a lot more important and intentional, if that makes any sense. The 967th solo at the end part 3 of Shine on You Crazy Diamond (~7:35) is a pretty good example, in the room sound and guitar solo specifically.

This year I decided I would do some enumerating for Elections Alberta. While I divulge too much detail, I think that the feeling towards enumeration is highly influence on the area you’re designated. My designated area was less of a bowl of delicious cherries and more of a garbage can of two week old meat packages and the little packs that go underneath the meat to soak up the excess blood. You know, the garbages that not only smell terrible when opened, but let out hoards of disgusting flies at the same time. Blah.

The enumeration combined with the beginning of the school semester has been a bit of a time sink and as a result I’ve listen to a hell of a lot more music lately than I’ve recorded. I think it was a good thing. I listened to a few new albums and a couple long shelved favourites that I think I needed to listen to with a clear head.

Recording update: I’ve been doing some more writing for a quirky new project that I’m working on, I’ll have some of that stuff up soon enough as well and I think at least a few people will get a kick out of it. Now that my schedule has shed a layer of time suck skin I’m be resuming work on the New Weather Machine stuff I’ve been doing lately. Stay tuned in the next couple weeks and I should have something fun posted for you. Yes you.

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.

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 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**

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.

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:

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.

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:

I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season so far and will continue to do so. If you’ve been really good maybe Santa will bring you the deluxe Station to Station boxset in exchange for your baked goods and milk. I have heard his exaggerated size can also be used to clean the birds nests and garbage out of your chimney, and will keep that pesky chimney sweep boy from loitering on your roof.

After a very busy summer filled with all kinds of awesome things, The New Weather Machine will be taking a performance break during the fall and winter to work on new material, record a new album, and draw uneven lines onto evenly spaced pieces of paper. If you don’t already have a copy, you can now stream the first album in its entirety from the music page for a finite period of time. Thank you to everyone who came out and/or supported the band, there are lots of exciting things planned for the future.

Thanks to everyone who’s been coming out to the gigs lately, they’re all a million times better when you’re there! Remember tomorrow(the 19th of September) is outside for Artsfest at Galt Gardens. We play at 7:45 rain or shine, see you there!

Also coming up in the next few weeks:

October 1st: All ages show @ the Gate with Incura, Sinister Odis, and Where Forever Dies Tickets $10 in advance at Blueprint or $13 at the door.

October 8th: At the Slice with Jesse and The Dandelions and the Nix Dicksons. This is a theme show and I think the theme is space. Lasers and robots galore!

A few chances to catch the New Weather Machine live and see some of the new songs:

August 28th @ Bigwood III
Bigwood on Facebook

September 3rd @ The Slice w/ Kill Matilda from vancouver(soon to be of montreal)

September 19th @ Galt Gardens for Arts Fest, all ages outdoors
Artsfest Program

My hands and voices are finally coming back into shape after the few weeks I was away from playing music.
New songs are coming along nicely.
The tone of the new album in progress is taking shape.
The lightning and thunder tonight was fantastic.
I’m going to be reconfiguring my recording setup next week.
I’ve been listening to the bowie mix of Raw Power, the 1970-1978 Sabbath box, the wonderful 2nd disc b-sides and live tracks from the not supposed to buy Radiohead reissues, Mudcrutch, and the new Dead Weather.
Rickenbacker 330’s are not for me.
We will be playing this Saturday at the Slice with Edmonton’s Red Ram and Mattias Kroller for Red Ram’s cd release party.

Not that global warming needs any more arguments to support it, but +15 degree weather, flip your mobile home over winds, and snow should not happen on the same day. I heard something once about showers in april(and not the kind the guy down the street needs to take) and that saying just isnt holding up its end of the bargain. Showers dont need to be scraped off your car window. There are only a couple weeks left until of this shit ideally, and then for everyone that doesnt live in a hurricane zone, things can get much better.

Ive been playing around with the 51 tele reissue ive got for the last few days, and although its very primitive, unforgiving, and not that much fun to play, it is actually a lot of fun to play. Something about the weird overtones and “plank of wood with string”ness of it is inspiring. The finish on the neck is pretty gross though and seems to collect dirt like a sponge, but Ive managed to write quite a few songs on it in the last month or so for one reason or another, which in my book makes up for any short comings as a facilitating instrument.

Ive been listening to some albums I wouldnt normally put a lot of time into lately as a means to research some recording gear ive got. Among these are Pet Sounds, Van Halen 1, LA Woman, late 60/early 70 Frank Sinatra, and some favourites like Harvest. The specific reason doesnt really matter, but what does matter is that the 2007 Remix/Remaster of LA Woman is just terrible. Every subtlety of the record was bastardized and over exposed, as were the weaknesses of the band that previously slipped under the radar under the guise of intent. I dont understand the purpose of remixed albums for the most part. I mean really, a million years ago when the record was made they were in a moment of time and took a 40 minute snapshot of that moment, for better or for worse. A million years later, when the initial creative decisions have been long long forgotten, someone gets paid to strip all the uniqueness, charm and spark. Now, the awful remix is the only version you can buy and the mystery is gone. Ive always thought that I would like to hear a remixed Beatles catalogue, but this serves as a fierce reminder to be careful what I wish for. Garbage +1 - 2007 rev. of LA Woman 0.

An exploration of different creative perspectives today has both piqued my curiosity, and completely ruined the very little tv I watch. The basic idea is that there are 6 possible view points in a given scenario or dilemma. If you are aware of the classification, the roles are easily identifiable in most television shows and social situations. Maybe it’s just that insight into the creation of something I know nothing about stole a piece of the magic, but in any given scene of an episode of Law and Order the characters fall so perfectly in these categories that the obvious scene writing formulas ruin the sense of social drama. That being said, using perspective swapping as a creative tool out weighs knowing that a fictitious cop will side with a fictitious rapist. This supports ideas from a book im reading about how different personality types are perceived in social situations. The benefits and disadvantages of appearing shy, outgoing, mean, deceptive etc. exaggerate themselves over time and dictate the strange, awful, and wonderful the things that people do or dont accomplish as well as opportunities that present themselves. Anyway, on to music.

Now I know that last month I was talking about a side project album, so i might as well mention that. After the first 2 or 3 get togethers life and school regrettably intervened, and only a few songs were written. I wouldnt mind recording a couple of them in May or June just for a souvenir. Speaking of May and June, Im gong to start recording the next Weather Machine record in May, and planning to have it finished by July or August. Although I havent really come to any conclusions about who’s going to be playing on it or anything, Ive been enjoying the writing process and think this is going to be an somewhat of an oddball album.

If you’re looking for something new, try a mono overhead or check out my brothers sculpting site.

February is upon us and, as some of you know, its Record Production Month. The basic goal is to write and record 10 songs or 35 minutes of music solely in the month of February. Last year I had a go at it, but did start until the last few days and only really got 6 songs written and 4 recorded, which I suppose is a fail. This year I’m taking another swing at it, but I’m starting at the beginning of the month and have recruited 2 of my classmates to join in on the fun. We’ve got 3 songs written and, given that today’s the 2nd, I think we’re in relatively good shape . The group is yet to be named, but I’ll keep you posted.

Hmm what else, oh yes! There are a number of happenings being spoken about on the interweb that could lead one to believe that Mr.Bowie will actually be making a go of it this year. I am currently in the hopeful mindset that Tony Visconti is recording a record for him right now (check out his twitter account). There’s a ton of stuff online if you look around.

The recordings I’m doing for treeline have been turning out quite well. While I haven’t done any proper mixes of the tracks yet, I have been experimenting with a Michael Brauer inspired mix method that is quite challenging and quite powerful. If it works out the aural payoff is definitely worth it.

As far as whats going on with The New Weather Machine, I still working on new songs and sounds. The other day I got a couple of new pieces of gear that are going to have a pretty significant influence on said sounds in very positive way. Especially if you like 1964-1968 british invasion music. hoorah!

Hope everyone is having a david bowie new year. As long as the weather stays warmer I’m peachy. Working on some great new music I’m excited to share with you in the coming months. Im also doing some recording for a local band called treeline that may surface in the near future and is definitely worth checking out.

It's been a month since my last update, time flies! I've been very busy working on a bunch of new songs and with school. If anyone who really really wanted a copy of the free "November Basement Demos" Cd I was giving out through the Facebook group and didn't get one, I found a few more copies in my travel bag. Email me and a copy is yours. Some of the songs found on the Cd are on the music page and should be up for a month or so.

The tough part of this next album is just keeping focused with a genre. As far as new songs go, they're stylistically all over the board. I've got a good idea of where I want to end up, but I'm also not going to stop myself from working on song that isn't going to fit into that idea so I'm just going with the flow. The coming months will tell which direction it goes.

If you haven't joined already, check out The New Weather Machine Facebook group. I just gave away some free demo Cd's through the group, and will have more exclusive stuff in the future.

I'm trying to add and update a few things on the website including the addition of comments to posts, and updated bio/faq, and a few other things. If you find something that isn't working properly please let me know so I can fix it.

Currently listening to:

Get Yer Ya Ya's Out Remaster - Stones (1969)
Is There Anybody Out There - Pink Floyd (1980-1981)
The Airborne Toxic Event (2008)
Rory Gallagher (1971)

I was looking through some pictures i took a couple months ago and found this one. I must apologize. I should have alerted everyone immediately that jetpacks were finally available. I was keeping it to myself all this time but can keep the secret no longer.

In the next few weeks I have a couple fun shows. The first being an opening slot for Dr.Hook(Cover of the Rolling Stone, Sylvia’s Mother, etc) at the Blarney Stone on Thursday September 17th, I think tickets are $30 and can be picked up at the venue. I know I said the last show was going to be played as a 3 piece, and it wasnt, but this one will. Some new songs and different arrangements, good times! On Saturday October 3rd I will also be playing at Henotic for Meester Lethbridges Birthday Fundraiser as well.

I put a decent amount of new pictures up as well from last weekends gig if you’re looking to kill time at work or something!

Jon

I just read in some sleazy email that summer is over. There’s always a moment or two of disappointment every year when that realization occurs. My mind always goes directly to halloween and frost, the months between the summer and the snow have a tough time creating an impression against costumes and and scraping windows. On the bright side, maybe i can get a new jacket...

Let’s see what do we have coming up.... On September 5th at the Slice, The New Weather Machine will be playing alongside a huge roster of local talents including Planet Telex, whatever Shaela’s band is called with an extra person, Treeline, and the Skillet Lickers. Itll be a first playing playing as a 3 piece with the fabulous Brad Brouwer and Taylor Ackerman. The idea of the night is relatively compact sets, so there’ll be a few new songs and a few old songs.

Speaking of new songs, Ive been doing demos and things, and one way or another will start proper recording next month. Ive also put up some new music on the music page, including a couple live tracks.

Other than that, I made the decision to jump ship on the day job and pursue a music degree, so we’ll see how that plays into the equation. Its looking like it will open up my schedule a little bit, and im ready for the change. Until next time

June has been a rather interesting month. For some reason when you make plans to get certain things done, life has a way of interrupting and replacing. Hmm notable things in June.....

We’ll the most fun and disappointing was my crazy week writing and recording a theme song for a new animated tv series for Marvel’s Avengers. Unfortunately for me my song did not get selected for a very silly and fixable reason, but thats life. You can judge for yourself, the song should be posted on the music page by the time anyone reads this. **Please note that I had lyrical and content guidelines to follow!!** There are some cheesy moments, but really, its for a cartoon for 35 year olds and the song is supposed to sound like the foo fighters, ac/dc, and led zeppelin. hmm

Ive been working on 3 particular songs that will definitely be on the next album, which hopefully will be sometime before the end of the year, maybe early fall if im lucky.

Im also finishing up the mixes on an instrumental album that im part of, which should be released sometime in the near future. Ill have more details as it approaches.

dont forget to wear sunscreen and listen to your fair share of david bowie. actually this week you can have a pass to listen to emotional rescue a few times too.

jon

I have been extremely busy over the last few days and especially the last few weeks but would like to make a delayed special thank you to everyone who came out the the cd release. it was very successful and I appreciate the support. I recorded the show and a few good pictures were taken. Possibly in the next few days or weeks i will make a little section on the website for those of you who couldnt make it

Just a reminder for everyone about the all important CD Release Party next friday february the 6th at the slice bar and grill in lethbridge. I will be doing a live recording of the show so i look forward to seeing you all there! heres the poster to check out:




i also added some new pictures to the photo page.

I have added a new section to the web site to help answer some questions that I get frequently and/or to give you something to read because youre probably trying to kill some time at work or school or something. I will update it as necessary in an effort to keep it relevant so check back with it often.

I will performing a brief 30 minute solo acoustic set this Saturday at the Slice Bar and Grill in support of Treeline. For those of you who want to pick up an early copy of the album so you can familiarize yourself with the songs before the big cd release party on February 6th, that would be a great opportunity to do so. Also, I updated the music page and there are a few new tunes to check out.

Keep warm, there are at least a few more cold days in this stretch.

Hello everyone. Hope youve had an acceptable holiday season and start to the new year. Next week we finally get(close) to what we’ve all been wanting for the last 8 years. I know a rod stewart stomach full of people are as excited as me about it and rightfully so!

On friday we did Dennis 9:The Worst Dennis Ever out at the CMI in Coaldale. Thanks to Paul, Kyle, Jason, and Tyler for putting on a great show! Look for some new pictures on the picture page soon.

With the current state of the economy and the global recession, its easy to look at the glass as half empty. Compared to the impending eruption of the super volcano in yellowstone, the time bomb of the mayan calender, and the idea that Israel has the second largest store of nuclear weapons in the world (see pic) - loosing some money or getting an extended holiday from work looks like a walk in jelly stone park.

On a more important note the date for the Official Cd Release Party of the album is February 6th. It will be at the Slice Bar and Grill in Lethbridge and will tentatively feature Treeline, Crystal Kid(from Calgary), and of course The New Weather Machine. This will be the first performance of the album in its entirety and should be fantastic!

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!

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 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

So Christmas is finally over. All kinds of things have been exchanged, the economy has been stirred, another Bee Gees Greatest Hits album was released.... I hope everyones Christmas was a safe and enjoyable time. If you didnt get what you wanted for Christmas, just remember David Bowie is playing at coachella in 2008, and thats a better present than anyone could possibly buy you.



My new website, though hideous, is now stable. I have the technology. The album, what of the album? I wont bother going into boring details, but i have a couple songs to do vocals on, a few songs to mix, and one little piece to do from the beginning, and the theoretically i should be finished. I know it may be tough to believe but i do actually have a bunch of tracks finished and mixed and everything. no, really

I did a show a couple weeks ago with a pseudo band called Dennis. I had a great time and perhaps in the coming months we will do another gig. If we decide to do a bowie theme maybe ill put some video up for those out of area or unable to attend.

Ive been doing a bit of writing lately, and although ive been going out of my way not write to until im finished with this current batch of songs, it exciting to hear new things and different sounds.

Well its late and i should probably go to sleep at some point - so im off put on my inside copy of Diamond Dogs.

Jon

Well here we begin. Officially my new project The New Weather Machine is a go. I’ll bring anyone who cares up to speed.

-Im working on a mildly ambitious concept album
-In the last 3 months or so Ive written roughly 30 songs for the project and have demo’d about a third of them
-The album will be 40-45 minutes long
-I will be doing as much as I feel comfortable with for the project including all the writing, mixing, and producing
-Touring and live performances of the album will happen at some point, right now its impossible to tell when - but sometime after the release of the record
-The album will be released sometime before the fall(sooner rather than later)

I guess that about sums up the current state of the project and the “band”. I thank you for checking out the site and the music, and hope you’ll stay tuned.

Cheers,

Jon