Papermaps at NXNE !

Hello!

It’s been a while since I’ve logged in – we’ve been super busy creating our new studio space in a top secret location where Papermaps (and some friends) will be creating a majority of our music. I promise some pictures in the near future.  Meanwhile…

We’ve got a couple of hometown show announcements:

First, a chance to see our classic lineup, again:

Friday May 25th – EL MOCAMBO with Mercy Now, Goodnight Sunrise, Rulers of the Moon
We are very happy to be supporting our friends Goodnight Sunrise at this excellent TWM Presents event.  Please note:  because Betty Dimo will be away on vacation in some exotic locale, we will be reprising our classic lineup with Todd on bass guitar duty. This means this set will be heavy on the “classic” material.  Our set time:  10:45 / Doors at 9 / $7

http://www.facebook.com/events/181026985352158/

Second:

Thursday June 14th – Rancho Relaxo – TWM Presents NXNE
Here’s what Dan over at TwoWayMonologues had to say about us:

“Papermaps are Toronto’s best band, but they are criminally underrated as so many of Toronto’s show-going music scene are busy chasing after the next hip thing.  Nationally, and even internationally, people are taking notice in a big way about just how great this band is.  Sooner or later Toronto is going to do the same.  If you are going to see one set for NXNE, this should probably be it.”

Thanks Dan!

Our set: 11PM Sharp! $10 at the door.  http://nxne.com/tickets/

That’s all for now folks!

-d

Springtime for Papermaps

While I’m waiting for my morning toast to slightly burn, I thought I’d write an update here to let you know what we are up to here at camp Papermaps. It’s springtime and for us that means buckling down and working on more new material from the next album… SO we will be taking a break from playing live in April with the exception of a solo show I will be performing at the El Mocambo Club on Thursday April 26th.  This will be just me and my guitar performing Papermaps songs from the past and future! Here’s a facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/events/132363823557351/

I hope to see you there! I’ll also be playing guitar with Tin Star Orphans and also appearing will be the excellent VISTAVISION !!!

Meanwhile, we’ll keep writing songs and attempting to record them.  Shows will be sparse between now and July — but we’ve got something REALLY BIG planned for JULY/AUGUST 2012… stay tuned for more hints and announcements!

The toaster just rang . . .

-dean

Friday the What?!

Hey Londoners of Ontario!  We will be playing London on Friday April 13th,  at the APK Live presented by Half a Dino and the folks at APK.

Also on the amazing bill: Hands and Teeth, Kids and Explosions and TBD.

Here are the details (taken from the FACEBOOK EVENT that you should join if you FB):

Half a Dino & APK Live Presents: FRIDAY THE WHAT?!?!
with
HANDS & TEETH (Toronto)
http://handsandteeth.com/
Fresh off dates at SXSW and are still riding the waves of their awesome debut ‘Hunting Season’
KIDS & EXPLOSIONS (Toronto)
http://kidsandexplosions.com/
Josh Raskin does intense mash-ups coupled with out of this world visualizations behind him. He’s been here before, he wowed everyone and he’s coming back to get some bodies moving.
PAPERMAPS (Toronto)
http://papermaps.net/blog/
Papermaps are a pop-rock band on a mission. In 2011 they toured behind their debut ‘Papermaps’ and played CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, and two showcases at Halifax Pop Explosion where they shared the bill with other notable Canadian acts: Dinosaur Bones, The Reason, Plants and Animals, Carmen Townsend and Stars.
TBD (London)
Yes TBD is the band name, it is NOT an acronym. Everyone knows APK Live’s owner MARC GAMMAL, but did you know he’s in a band. Come and see our resident playboy, badass, and heartthrob Marc along with his band mates in TBD, play their first show at the bar. Get here early, you don’t want to miss this.
///////////////////
Friday, April 13th, 2012
APK Live
8:00 p.m.
19+
$2 before 11 // $5 after
//////////////

CMW Maddness!!! (the recap)

Wow what a week.
Thank you, Toronto (our beloved hometown) for being so fucking amazing and supportive.  We got to play not one but two great CMF/CMW showcases this year.  The first was at the Hardluck Bar (a first for us) and we were thrilled to see you in such great numbers.  Our second showcase was a last-minute add to the amazing CMW finale at Rancho Relaxo.  We were proud to be the last band to play this year’s festival and to such an enthusiastic bunch – kudos to all who stayed behind for last, last call!  We also got to meet some great bands, like the amazing Royal Canoe and Topanga and got to catch up with some good friends like the Elwins.  All and all, a good time.

See you next time, Toronto!

Meanwhile, we have our sights set on you, Ottawa: Zaphod’s this Friday (30th) w/ Fire and Neon & Aardwolf.
Maybe we’ll crash the  Juno Fest while we’re at it!

-d

CMW Madness!

It’s that time of the year again and we’ll be making the CMW rounds this week.

On the exciting agenda are:
An upcoming interview with Raina Douris for Rain’s World blog
An upcoming interview with Tiana for Ride the Tempo blog
An upcoming interview with Patrick and Drew for local London ON TV show,  London Calling
… (probably regarding our April 13th show in London) …
A upcoming phoner interview with Joe Reilly from CKCU FM Ottawa
An interview with Emma Godmere for “Now Playing” on CHUO in Ottawa
… ( both probably regarding our March 30th show in Ottawa) …

And our SHOWCASE on SATURDAY March 24 at the HARD LUCK BAR, 10PM!!!

We’ll be playing a mixture of new and old material: 5 songs from our forthcoming album and 4 songs from our current self-titled album .

We hope to see you there!

-d

The Joker – The Latest Installment of CMAL

My latest installment for CMAL (hosted by theindiemachine.com) is about subversion in music. Here’s an excerpt:

There’s something freaky about the Joker. Not necessarily the character from the Batman franchise, but the actual playing card. You know that image has been in our collective consciousness for a very long time. He’s in Shakespeare (King Lear), countless songs, poems and countless creepy medieval woodcut prints.

It’s unsettling – the way he smirks at us, knowingly.

Carl Jung declared the Trickster (or the Fox, Jester, Clown, Fool, Joker or whatever you want to call him) an archetype found throughout human culture. He is both stupid and observant, foolish but wise – a rebel.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) believed that stupidity is so prevalent in society that it ought to be examined, in his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989) he proclaimed:

“Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it’s so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe…I say there’s more stupidity than hydrogen and that that is the basic building block of the universe.”

[Click here to read the rest of this installment]

-dean

We are Everywhere!! (Well, Almost)

March and early April will be the time to catch Papermaps live! We plan to woodshed in the rehearsal studio / recording studio to finish our next album (currently 53.33% done). Here are the dates so far. The tentative ones are unconfirmed (I will be updating this post, so check back).

Thursday March 8th, La Sala Rosa, Montreal (w/ Montreal’s MAK $10)
http://www.facebook.com/events/300390863361058/

Saturday March 24th, Hard Luck, Toronto (CMW Showcase, 10pm, Wristband or $10) First Toronto show of 2012! Let’s go HOMETOWN!

Friday March 30th, Zaphod’s, Ottawa (“Eug-Know Fest” w/ Fire and Neon, Aardwolf – $6 – doors 8pm)

Tuesday April 10th, Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto ~~~ Tentative!!!

Friday April 13th, APK Live, London (w/ Hands and Teeth)

cheerio,
-d

Can’t Make a Living

Hi,
Well, I’m now a columnist.
Toronto’s the iNDiEMACHiNE.COM have decided to add regular columns to their already excellent website and they’ve asked me  (along with some other local characters) to contribute! My soon-to-be-weekly column, CAN’T  MAKE A LIVING starts today.  As a special introduction CMAL is scheduled to run for the next 5 weekdays and will appear weekly thereafter.

CMAL is about surviving the world of indie music.  I plan to make it mostly anecdotal and opinion driven, but I will use real world examples and quotes to back me up from time to time. My first topic of discussion is what I call The Big Why, of making music – you know, that sinking feeling you get every once and a while when you wonder if you should quit and start leading a “normal” life.  For me, this is a very complex, perplexing, quixotic issue – so why not tackle it first? Good thing they are running the first 5 installments daily, because it’s going to take me 8 or 9 segments just to touch on this topic (and without using words like quixotic).   WARNING: If you are one of those people (and I know there’s a lot of you out there) that make music “for the pure love of it,”  and don’t see yourself as an artist – you might not dig the first 6 installments or so, but I implore you to stick with it.  I will (eventually) champion your point of view but not before getting some of the header stuff out of the way first.  You’ll know what I”m talking about if you keep reading.

Anyway, I’m really excited about this! Here’s an excerpt from my first installment: Perseverance Part 1: The Big Why:

There’s a great lyric from the Walkmen song, We’ve Been Had:
Well I’m a modern guy I don’t care much for the go-go
or the retro image I see so often telling me to
keep trying maybe you’ll get here someday
keep up the work, kid. ok
I close the book on them right there
Sometimes this verse epitomizes how I feel about music. Every so often I’m hit with what I call The Big Why – basically, that moment of existential crisis when you ask yourself, “why am I still doing this?” If it hasn’t happened to you yet (oh fellow indie musician), I guarantee it will at some point. It might be on some sore and hung-over morning after a tour or during a family function when your cousin (twice removed) asks why you’re over 25, not in school, and still working at Starbucks. Let’s face it – being an indie musician these days can seem like a lot of hard, thankless work…
Here’s links to the rest:

[click here to read the rest of PART 1]
[click here to read the rest of PART 2]
[click here to read the rest of PART 3]
[click here to read the rest of PART 4]
[click here to read the rest of PART 5]

cheers,

-d

More Shows

H A P P Y  * V A L E N T I N E S ! ! !
FROM
P A P E R M A P S
<3 <3 <3

We have a string of shows coming up in early 2012, starting with a support slot with Amos the Transparent at Maxwell’s in Waterloo on February 23.

Dates in Waterloo, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa are confirmed and we have our eyes set on London, St. Catharines, Kingston and (maybe) Toronto again. After this burst of live activity we plan to disappear again for little while to finish up the new album, which is 43.33% done – so come out and see us!  Show information is updated here: http://papermaps.net/blog/shows/

-d

Feb 23 – Waterloo

Hello,

Our first show in quite a while will be at Maxwell’s Music House located in Waterloo ON, Thursday February 23rd supporting Amos the Transparent. Here is the facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/352790104732442/

We hope to see you there!

More future dates will be posted soon.  Expect us at this year’s Canadian Music Week in Toronto as well (sometime between March 21st and 25th).

-dean