Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM PAPERMAPS!

We had too much fun at Wolovick’s 30th B-Day Party/Halloween Bash/P’maps Homecoming! Thank you to the Rancho DEVOtees.   Special thanks to Dan for inviting us to play and The Love Machine and Honheehonhee for being awesome!  We had fun dressing up as DEVO and playing Whip It (one of my life-long fantasies fulfilled!).  Here are some pics of our set (thanks to those who snapped pictures):

http://twitpic.com/77zmv2/full

http://yfrog.com/z/ocioignj

http://twitpic.com/77z3qy

http://twitter.com/#!/atomdivision/status/130486465942663168/photo/1/large

It’s a wild and crazy weekend here in the city!

-dean

On the Road: Part III HPX Olympic Hall

Saturday October 22, 2011 will be a day to remember in Papermaps history.

Back during our (van)adventures we learned (via text from Toronto promoter Dan Wolovick) that Halifax Pop Explosion decided to relocate our second show due to the Occupy Halifax protesters who had set up camp in the original outdoor venue, the Grand Parade Square.  The new venue would be the spacious Olympic Community Hall.  The only hitch being that the CBC had to take over the building by 4pm for the live broadcast of the Chad VanGaalen show, therefore the whole show got shifted three hours back and we would be on at noon! “No problem,” we said although I was a bit worried.  As it turned out the HPX staff did an amazing job alerting the public (this was a Free all ages show).  Word spread throughout town quite quickly.  It didn’t hurt (of course) that the headlining acts were Montreal’s Stars and Plants and Animals.

Olympic Community Hall

We arrived at the venue for our 10:30 AM load in.  We had a long wait before we could set up and sound check because we were the first act (first acts always check last).  Luckily, the Stars had sound checked the day before, which made things much simpler for the remaining 3 bands.  Nevertheless, I was a little worried that we wouldn’t get enough time for a proper check.  Finally at around 11:30 (just before the 11:45 doors time) we got on the stage for set up.  We are a complicated band, despite only having four members for this show.  Before we were finished our sound check the stage manager told me “there’s about five hundred kids waiting outside, we need to start letting them in,”  and I was like: “that’s fine, we don’t mind.”

Set times!

When about three hundred people (maybe more) show up to a show that has had a time/venue change  (the day of) you want to give them your all and that’s exactly what we did.  Our set may have been short, but we made up for that in energy! It’s hard to believe this was happening at lunch time!  We love you Halifax!

Dean rocks out!

Bobby Lee on drums!

The amazing Betty Dimo

We played a shorter set than usual and had great fun doing it.  More people arrived as we made it to the half-way point and played our first single, Reunion.

Dean and Wendy

Halifax, you're Amazing !

From the pit . . .

Scottie runs the fancy sound console

Our last song was You are My Gallows.  By this point the crowd was at it’s peak.  We had to drop two songs from our set list, but it didn’t matter because we were very happy to be there!

After the show we needed to chill out and get some proper lunch.  We found a great Vegan restaurant across the way from the Hall.  We returned to the Olympic Hall to watch Plants and Animals give it and then retired back to the hotel for more rest and dinner. Later that evening, Lesley and I paid a visit to the Occupy Halifax site (our former venue) and found the people there to be very friendly, organized and peaceful.  We were glad that everything worked out in the end.

Later that night we returned to the Hall again to check out my friends, the Meligrove Band, Miracle Fortress and Chad Vangalaan.  I did a short interview with Graham Wright for his CBC3 Radio program Radiograham. It was good times.  This year’s Halifax Pop Explosion was the best yet! We look forward to next year!

All five members of Papermaps have lunch (Todd pictured on iPhone)

The next day we got up early for the 20 hour drive back to Toronto! If you are following these posts and live in the Toronto area, come to our next show!  Saturday October 29!  At Rancho Relaxo.  It’s Dan Wolivick’s Birthday and a sort of  homecoming for us!

On our way home!

No Moosies!

AAhhhgg! Fun with Dean in the van . . .

On the Road: Part II Onward to HPX (Or Die Trying)!

So about an hour outside of Halifax (Truro, NS)  the check gauges light came on in the van.   It was pretty clear we were going to overheat soon.  Luckily there was a service station near by so we stopped there.  The problem turned out to be greater than just putting more coolant in the rad.  So we called CAA to send a tow truck.  This is mere hours before we were to load in for our next show at The Music Room, Halifax.

This tow truck driver was nice enough to give us a ride to Halifax

Luckily the dispatch guy knew about Halifax Pop Explosion and made sure that our tow truck had a large enough cab so we could all hitch a ride to Halifax with the van in tow.  Next stop:  Downtown Halifax — Canadian Tire.

Lucky for us the local CT Service Center was not too busy and got our van inside for a checkup right away.  So we called for a van taxi, but we were already late for our show at The Music Room.  We waited and waited until it became clear that their may only be a few van taxis in Halifax and they were probably busy, it being HPX. There were a few regular cabs kicking around and we managed to rally two of them, splitting the gear and people between them.  Lesley (photographer extraordinaire) stayed behind with the van while we hightailed it to the venue.   For his courageous taxi corralling and haggling, and for her cool headed approach with the CT people, our sound tech Scottie and photog Lesley both deserve a Medal of Rock Honour.

What are we going to do now?

Taxi drivers in Halifax are the best,  just sayin’.  We used two cabs to get to the venue and both of them turned out to be friendly and gracious about it.  What were the chances of that happening in Toronto?  Wendy flew into Halifax ahead of us and was able to do all the admin stuff and have food waiting for us at the venue — yeah Wendy! Medal of Rock Honour!

Safe and Sound at the Music Room

Shortly after we arrived we learned that the van had been repaired, we had something to eat and drink and we felt much better.

The people who work The Music Room are chill.  We had time to set up for recording and then relax before the guests started arriving. This show was put on by Jeremy G Lutes who is a fine fellow and an artist (poet) in his own right.  Everyone organizing this show was very gracious — there was even wine in the green room waiting for us.    This show was very special because it was more of a recording session.  We were told we could even do retakes of songs if we weren’t happy with the first take, but we decided to perform as if it were a live show.  The room is beautiful (both esthetically and acoustically) and features an upper balcony in addition to seating on floor level.

There's a joker on the balcony

A few dozen dedicated fans showed up and we started the set by having just me and Wendy play some older EX~PO material and some of the mellower PAPERMAPS songs — me on fuzz guitar and Wendy on the beautiful Steinway grand piano.

Eventually, Betty and Bobby joined us for the rest of the performance — possibly the loudest recorded performance at The Music Room.

From the balcony

We finished our programmed set, but the audience wanted more so we performed Exit as an encore (a song I thought too loud for the venue). After the show we met with and chatted with some of the great people who attended our session.  It was a great experience all around!  After much shmoozing, we were happy to check in at the hotel and relax a bit before heading out for dinner.  I had planned to attend Graham Wright‘s showcase at the Seahorse, but the place was too packed — so we ended up going back to the hotel to catch up on some zzz’s.

Chillin' in the hotel room

The next day our second HPX show was a much bigger and louder affair.  Originally, we were slated to play the Grande Parade Square (outdoors) at 3pm, but Occupy Halifax protests had taken the space over earlier in the week, so the venue was moved to the very large Olympic Community Hall for 12PM!  We found out around the time our van broke down.  How were the kids going to know about the venu/time change in time?

Setting up at the Olympic Community Hall

On the Road: Part I NYC/CMJ

Hi.

So much has happened in the past 5 days that I’m going to break it down into three blog posts.  On Wed October 19, we departed (at 8 in the morning) for New York City to play our Canadian Blast showcase and be part of the CMJ Music Marathon 2011.

All these great photos were taken by photographer extraordinaire, Lesley Marino.

At the studio, packing the Van full of gear and luggage

The car ride was 8 hours (maybe more).  We only got lost once.

Scott rocks his new look -- driving through NY State

We basically made it to Manhattan (Lower East Side) at around 7:30pm — just in time to locate Arlene’s Grocery, quickly drag our gear inside and onto the stage. The doors had been open since 7 and the club was already nearly packed.   The first act, Bikini was about to go on and were already set up.  Luckily, they are an electronic duo and so the excellent stage manager, named Danny Owen, was kind enough to let us put our gear up there before they went on. Danny was amazing.  He knew where the amps went and had already positioned them correctly.  He even remembered that Bobby plays drums left handed (reverse) and so the drum kit was already set that way.

Our showcase at Arlene's begins

We basically arrived, threw our gear on the stage.  Parked the van (which wasn’t easy), changed clothes and by the time all that was done it was our turn to play.  We played the best live version of complicate things to date! The sound system at Arlene’s is amazing.

The show was well attended and it was nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd — including our friends Matt Sweeney and Feurd from the Elwins, members of the Reason and Dinosaur Bones among other Canadian music movers and shakers.

Here we are hanging with our NYC peeps (the people who put us up for the night). There’s a great noodle bar across the street from Arlene’s at the corner of Orchard and Stanton.  I think it’s simply called Noodle Bar and it’s simply delicious — even though we were the last customers.

Post show noodling

Arlene's Grocery after our show -- everyone's still inside for The Reason!

We spent the night in Brooklyn at Wendy’s brother’s place.  He lives in a converted industrial building full of wicked lofts.  Attached to the building is an amazing Taco bar which you can access by going through a maze of corridors and stairwells and then stepping outside for 3 seconds. We were contemplating taking that Vespa for a joy ride but opted for a group photo instead.  Time to hit the road (again) but not before some breakfast and legendary coffee from the Blue Bottle Coffee Company.

Chris Leung snaps a photo of the whole gang. This is the building where Chris' loft is located.

Dean's turn to drive

Our next gig was in Halifax, NS for HPX 2011! We drove for many hours — days in fact.  Passing through the gates of Bangor, Maine.  We made it all the way to St. John NB that night.

The next day we hit a little snag!  The beginnings of our (Van)adventures! Coming up: Part II: HPX or Die Trying!

(R)october!

Hello,

Enjoying the Fall so far? We have much activity to report. I’ve decided to do things chronologically.

Thursday October 13, Toronto, ON
We will be playing the El Mocambo 11:30 PM!  This is our hometown sendoff before we head out East.  Joining us will be Garage Baby and the Tudors (the band, not the TV show).  This is OUR BIRTHDAY SHOW of sorts, since it was on Oct 10th, 2010 that we first announced ourselves as PAPERMAPS on stage.  Please spread the word around.  We want to see your beautiful faces!

Wednesday October 19, New York, NY
We’ve been accepted to the CMJ Music Marathon.  Wow!  We will be playing a showcase at Arlene’s Grocery (95 Stanton St., Lower East Side) as part of the Canadian Blast segment of the festival.  Remember that movie Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings? Arlene’s is the first club featured in the movie where Nick’s (Cera) band, The Jerk Offs play a gig. We are on at 9pm (second).  Also appearing on the bill: Dinosaur Bones, and the Reason.

Friday October 21, Halifax, NS
As part of Halifax Pop Explosion, we will be appearing at the very fancy Music Room.  Supporting us will be the excellent  Paper Beat Scissors.  This will be an interesting show for us because it’s being recorded and then released as a “live album.”  More details about that will follow. The show starts around 6pm.  Tickets/Admission is $10, free with an HPX bracelet.

Saturday October 22, Halifax, NS
Our second HPX show (our “official” showcase) is so awesome, it took me a week to believe it was actually happening!  This will be a FREE open air concert in the Grand Parade Square.  Here’s the schedule: 3pm Papermaps, 4pm Carmen Townsend, 5pm Plants and Animals and 6pm Stars!!! Need I say more?

Saturday October 29, Toronto, ON
One last show in our home turf : Rancho Relaxo.  Dan Wolovick’s (of TwoWayMonologues) birthday party! Also appearing will be Ottawa’s The Love Machine! Come celebrate with us!

In Other (R)octber News:
We recently released our music video for our first single Reunion (youtube) — DIY by the fans and the band — but we have another “more MTV friendly” video for or second single,  Complicate Things coming out — you should see it very soon. This new video features all five members of the band (gussied up to look nice) and these weird light thingies that swing around and explode.  It took us more than 12 hours to shoot!

Want to win a free copy of our debut eponymous album?  Go here (limited, while supplies last):
http://www.badtemperedzombie.com/2011/10/dont-listen-to-evil-guidance-counselor.html

-d