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Episode 2 – Devon Sproule
Devon is one of my favourite music makers around. I don’t say that lightly. Her new collaborative record with Mike O’Neill (“Colours”) and her last record (2011’s “I love you, Go Easy”) both pretty much blew my mind. Even though we are pals, I got a little starstruck and excitable a few times. Nonetheless, it’s worth a listen to hear how Devon’s brain works and to hear her deftly flip the script at least a few times. www.devonsproule.com
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Episode 1 – Samir Khan
Samir Khan has a band called Tusks who have released an LP called “Total Entertainment”. He has been heavily involved in the bands Kepler and Weights and Measures. He has played bass with Snailhouse, and also with Jim Guthrie. Who knows what he’s got lined up next? I’ve known Samir most of my adult life, and so it makes great sense to kick off Mind Parade with this chat. Over the years, we’ve worked on a lot of music together and talked countless hours about songs and music. Here, we get almost a little formal and talk about these things in a way that we hope you’ll find entertaining, informative or at least funny. www.tusksforever.com
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Pre-tour, home time update
WOODEN STARS BOOK
This is a crazy trip down memory lane. Filmmaker, writer and musician Malcolm Fraser (you may know him as The World Provider) has written a not-so-small chronical of the trials and tribulations of Wooden Stars – one of my longest running and most formative collaborative musical projects. We made a lot of music off and on from about 1994 until 2007. Some of the music is amazing, and some of it is ridiculous. Some amazingly ridiculous and some ridiculously amazing. The details are foggy for us, and Malcolm really did his best to make sense of our story. So far, it’s weird for me to read it [Update: I read it and liked it very much, although it never stopped feeling weird – though not in a bad way]. I don’t know what else to say. If you are interested, you can find it at Invisible Publishing.
SINGER SONGER
If you’ve been following along here, you know I’ve been working on a collaborative record, where I’ve written and recorded songs for guest vocalists to sing. That record is tracked and mixed – and will be mastered this week. Plans for its release on Headless Owl Records will be finalized in the coming weeks and I’ll be sure to fill you in as soon as there’s something to share. It features vocal performances by: Mathias Kom, Bry Webb, Devon Sproule, Leif Vollebekk, John K Samson, Jessie Stein, Jim Bryson, Angela Desveaux and Laurel Sprengelmeyer. I am really happy with the way it has turned out.
EUROPE TOUR
As you may or may not know, I am embarking shorty on a fairly extensive tour in Germany and Austria with Paper Beat Scissors. I’ll be opening almost all of his shows, and I also get to play guitar on sweet, large, full-band arrangement of his gorgeous music. The PBS tour runs from Nov 14-26th and then I’ll be staying on to do a bunch of shows on my own in Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Check all the dates if you want to come and listen. More dates are on the way, even at this late stage, so stay tuned.
PINBALL SESSIONS
Speaking of touring with PBS, last time I did so, we ended up doing a fun Pinball Session in Guelph. Tim (Paper Beat Scissor) played on my songs and I played on his. It was a great way to spend a grey day. Have a listen to what we ended up with at the link above.
Thanks so much to Shawna and Daniel and co. for the document and the afternoon.As happy as I am to be home for now, sleeping in my own bed and working on music in my little “office”, I also really can’t wait to see old friends and make new ones on road in the coming month.
Take care, everyone – see you out there . . .
xo MF