It’s been a while since we have played live and I’m excited to announce a hometown date: Friday, June 17 at Junction City Music Hall. Here’s a link to the venue website:
Also on the bill are the amazing Beams and The Nursery – two great Toronto fixtures worthy of your discriminating attention!
Maybe you haven’t seen us since we’ve gone all weird and metal or broodyor since I became a dad or stopped cutting my hair…Well, we’re not anymore “metal” or “weird” than we ever were – if you think that then maybe you never really got us anyway (well, maybe we’re a bit more broody, if anything) . Then again, who wants to recreate the same sound over and over again? People change. They grow. Don’t expect the same album from papermaps over and over again. Don’t expect the same papermaps either. BTW, if you love the old stuff, remember: music lives forever. It has it’s own place in the universe and most of it dwells right here, on the internet (and hopefully in some dusty playlists on some device of future’s past).
Anyway, come judge for yourself…come to the show…
Meanwhile, we’ve been working on this new album and leading up to finishing that I’ve been posting little sample “vignettes” of new music. Here they all are, all collected in one place.
We’re coming out of the woodwork, out of the woodwork, out of the woodwork, outa’ the woodwork, like a reluctant gargoyle …
Hello. We’ve been in studio-land head-space for a few weeks now and we are knee deep into that esoteric art form known as album making and I would prefer to stay there, exclusively if possible, if it were not that we have been called to duty by our very good friends, THE CHEAP SPEAKERS to help launch theirbaby into the world and so on Saturday Night, upon a very late announcement and with little or no rehearsal (and even less sleep), the PAPERMAPS trio will be hitting the stage at the stroke of half-past midnight inside the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern after said very good friends. It should be an evening to remember! I have no idea how much it costs of the top of my head. Maybe, like $8. Look it up here: http://showgopher.com/#!Toronto/2013-03-02/HorseshoeTavern We are “special guest.”
Another place to catch us live in the middle of album making season will be during this year’s Canadian Music Week (Fest) on Saturday March 23 at the Rancho Relaxo, 11pm sharp! Come to that show and you are sure to hear way, way more new material from our next record and there’s sure to be a surprise or two regarding band line up changes and sounds…
As for this dark and (at times) chilly studio – I’ve been laying down the guitar tracks (again and again) and doing a some keeper vocal takes for songs with titles like, “The Edge of China Town” and others (i.e., the same 3 songs mentioned last week). We work slowly. No photographic evidence this week, I’m afraid. Check back soon…
This is the first of what I hope to be a series of blog posts documenting the making of our forthcoming album. This week we recorded some bed tracks for three songs. We did this in our new studio, Echo Valley. Here’s the photographic proof:
I went into the studio on my own for a few hours last Wednesday to lay down some guide tracks (voice, guitar and metronome) for Bobby and Betty to play along to. On Monday night we all got together, along with engineer Nathan Vanderweilen, and discovered that I got the tempos all wrong – so we ditched those guide tracks and the three of us ended up just playing together which worked out splendidly. We worked until around midnight, about 7 hours, and got the drums and baritone guitar tracked for three songs. We are hoping to have this new album finished in time for a late Summer or early Autumn release. The working titles of these three songs are “Shadow Theatre,” “Edge of Chinatown” and “The Hedonist (Feels Right).” Those of you who came out to our last show at the Horseshoe Tavern got to hear all three songs. We’ll be sure to play them again at our next show.
Cheers,
-dean
PS
Here’s more photographic evidence from Bobby’s phone:
Bobby's drums are mic'ed and ready...
More drum set-up photos…This is as much a reference for us than it is entertainment for you… The Drummer’s Perspective …
One last ingredient to a good bed-tracks session is the ever-watching eye who tells you when you’ve screwed up …
Hi,
Some of you may have already noticed – we are not that band any more. In my opinion, this is a good thing. Bobby, Betty and myself have been working on new material as a three-piece for a few months now. It’s been a slow, and at times awkward, but very rewarding process. I know this sounds funny coming from the main songwriter but I finally feel like we are making the music I’ve always wanted to make – it’s just much more focused. That doesn’t mean we won’t be expanding our ranks – in fact we have plans to add a new member very soon but meanwhile we have established a great vibe that we want to continue nurturing.
Way back in June 2012, while I was finishing up the final mixes for Inferior Ghost, we moved all our stuff out of what was once Chemical Sound and into a new space. At first the space was an empty white-washed shell with no electrical outlets, harsh lighting and a big chaotic mountain of gear in the centre – a quite daunting scene actually – but eventually with the help of some friends (namely Cameron Harding and Owen Norquay of Mesa Mesa, Jay Sad and Nathan Vanderwielen) we began building our new headquarters and named the studio/workspace, Echo Valley. Unlike Chemical Sound, Echo Valley is not a commercial studio but rather a shared facility where cool producers work and cool bands rehearse and record. Now that the studio is fully functional I am cheerfully looking forward to committing our new songs and vibe to tape. I intend to document the process here at papermaps.net, so look for more updates about the new album – things like pictures, video clips, lyric scans, etc.
The upcoming show at the Horseshoe Tavern (Thursday Feb 7) will be the three of us and we are going to play at least three (maybe four) new songs that we plan to record shortly after that show. The rest of the set will be comprised of back catalogue songs that we still enjoy playing and work best in our new configuration. One song we will not play is “Reunion.”
What else??? Oh, we’ve moved our mailing list to a new mail service. If you want to subscribe to our mailing list just look for the form in the top right corner of this blog called, Email Love.
I want to thank everyone who supported these past 3 years, especially those who continue to support us – and all you newcomers!
I’d like to officially announce the release of our new record, Inferior Ghost!
This is an EP with six tracks weighing in at just over 23 minutes. We decided to release an EP instead of a full-length because, regrettably, these are the last songs we wrote and/or recorded at our studio, Chemical Sound (R.I.P.). That studio is gone now, but you can certainly hear its ambiance and magic in this record – especially on the tracks “Break,” and “Inferior Ghost” which were both recorded entirely there, from top to bottom. Those were the last songs to have benefited from the mystic combination of the studio’s amazing live room, vintage API console, tape machines and EMT plate reverb. Regarding the other tracks: “There Are Wolves,” “Nobody Gets It” and “Reaction Formation” were half-recorded at Chemical and half-recorded at Vespa Studios – a 20-plus-years old establishment owned by Harry Hess with it’s own special ghosts. The song, “Wait for Me,” was written at Chemical but entirely recorded at the new Central Audio, which now occupies the space where Chemical Sound was. The record was engineered mostly by me with help from Jay Sadlowski, Harry Hess and Todd Harrison. The whole EP was mixed at Central Audio by me and was mastered by Noah Mintz at the venerable Lacquer Channel. This is the first PAPERMAPS record to feature our newest member, Betty Dimo on bass throughout the EP. She played “Wait for Me” with a broken right hand, taking off her temporary cast so she could play properly- what a trooper! Bobby Lee played the drums. Wendy Leung played her Nord Stage 2 (and my Baldwin piano) and doubled my vocals in the choruses when she’s wasn’t singing harmonies. Todd Harrison played second guitar, his Korg Poly6 synthesizer and shouted a lot in the choruses. I played lead guitar and sang the songs. I would describe the production techniques as minimal – there are very few “embellishments” beyond the usual studio techniques I like to employ. OK, I admit there is one backwards piano arpeggio in “Nobody Gets It” that was written by me and played beautifully by Jay Sadlowski. Beyond that, there is very little “double tracking,” or “extra overdubs,” etc. This is the sound of five people making music.
To continue working on a full-length would have caused a creative schism in the body of work – so this new record not only documents where we are as a band right now, but it also represents a fresh start. Autumn seems like a natural time for fresh starts, doesn’t it?
Inferior Ghost will be available digitally (worldwide) and on CD (Canada) as well as a limited edition 12-inch vinyl record.
Inferior Ghost will be released by Sparks Music and will be distributed through Universal Music Group.
The virtual “drop date” for the digital version (iTunes/etc.) is August 14th.
The street “drop date” for the physical version (CD/LP) is August 28th.
We are offering PRE-ORDERS at a discount pricefor the first 50 copies of the limited edition vinyl throughhttp://papermaps.bandcamp.com.
And (because we are old-school) we will be celebrating the release of our new baby into the world with a nice little tour:
August 11 – Montreal QC – Divan Orange w/ Philémon and Ohara
August 16 – Halifax NS – Gus’ Pub w/ Wendy Versus and TBD
August 17 – Ottawa – Zaphods w/ Wendy Versus and TBD
August 28 – Toronto – Horseshoe Tavern w/ Little Barrie
Please join us and celebrate! CD’s will be available at these shows (vinyl will be available via pre-order and at our Toronto show).
If you are a radio host or music journalist, please contact Sparks Music orAudioblood Media to get your promotional materials.
