"Fightsong" video online now!

From Paul Thompson, the director of "The Prisoner" video, comes our latest for "Fightsong". A great vid of a couple's relationship unraveling, the story's told backward a la Memento. Lensed by Juan Montalvo and shot on a high-end RED Camera, it features the full band plus a sexy debut from Deniz Reno. There's even two different cameos from Elena Vardon, star of "The Prisoner" vid. See if you can find her!

Making “Fightsong”: The Shootist’s Adventure

Alright. No shootists were involved. Although I suppose you could say I was a shootee.

We shot the video for “Fightsong” on Friday, March 13th (not being a superstitious lot). The video was a great chance for Paul Thompson and I to renew our Martini MacGuffin film collaboration. Paul shot my first video, for “The Prisoner”, and together we’ve made a few short films with him directing, and me throwing words together in a semblance of writing.

The “Fightsong” concept is pretty cool. The song’s a moody, apocalyptic love-song. In the video, we watch a relationship unraveling as a musician (that’d be me) succumbs to the trappings of success. Except that the scenes play like Irreversible or Memento, occurring in reverse. So we begin with me alone in my now empty apartment, and work our way backward through the relationship in crisis to happier days to when the couple first views the apartment together. The video’s being edited right now, but that’s what we’re going for, and I think we got it.

We had a lot of luck getting the video off the ground, and got to work with a bunch of great people and familiar faces. Juan Montalvo was our cinematographer, back after lensing our short Quarantine. Album producer Marc Koecher joined my bandmates Scott Hannigan and Zack Mykula to round out the onscreen band. And Elena Vardon, featured in “The Prisoner” video, was a huge help, connecting us up with both the studio where we shot the film (Walnut Studio), and our gorgeous leading lady, Deniz Maria Reno. A great bunch of friends and newly cast strangers rounded out our cast, and the crew was capable, efficient and a pleasure to work with. Our art director Rahema Mohamed did a wonderful job creating the apartment, with much help and driving around from Carmela Versace.

The capper was the Red Camera Paul managed to lay hands on through David Woods. That thing is a **monster**, a magnificent, gleaming black beast with a resolution vastly superior to Blu-Ray. Geeks can feast on its specs here. That camera alone will lend the video incredible cinematic depth and luster.

The shoot was long, brutal and loads of fun. Of course we blew out the power in the studio at one point, frying some fuses in a terrifying old-school circuit box. By fluke, one of our extras was an electrician’s assistant, and helped us to track down the right fuses to replace, which Carm, ever intrepid, had to source at 11pm on a Friday.

In the party and photo-shoot scenes, energy and exuberance were in abundance, fuelled by a little of the ol’ alkey-haul, natch! The people that came out fell right into the spirit(s) of the shoot, and had themselves a blast. Can’t thank them enough for being part of it.

The couple scenes played really well, too. It’s strange, falling into instant intimacy with someone you barely know. But Deniz was a beautiful trooper, and I managed my acting neophyte status the best way I knew, with fits of blazing dorkiness.

The band played great – so what if half of it was pantomime? One of the night’s many magic moments that stood out for me was a scene we shot in the wee hours, when the band was working out “Fightsong” as if for the first time. Scott hunkered on his bass and Zack took drumming notes (evincing the possibility of consciousness in a drummer!), as I played guitar and Marc the accordion. The accordion’s reedy sound drifted haunting over the strains of the track as we played together, gathered on the couch of my fictitious living room, and sang the song together. A perfect film moment, concocted, artificial, yet for a fleeting moment amazingly moving and real.

With the great contributions we got on Friday, and a generous dollop of luck, “Fightsong” will feel the same way.

Salvo EP Preview Vid

Yes ladeez and gents, the Salvo EP is in the can, and trickling through the virtual ether. The follow-up to All of Us Cities features five expansive and melodic new tracks. We're also introducing the live band The Deed on the EP, adding some extra bang and thump to the proceedings. Luke, drummer Zack Mykula, bassist Scott Hannigan, and studio whiz Marc Koecher are all here in this clip of our time in the studio, set to the instrumental rumblings of "Hadron and the Supercollider".

Demo of "The Real Heart" up at MySpace

Well we're **still** plugging away in the studio. It's amazing how long it can take. Especially with a couple of compulsive perfectionists in the band! ;p

I can tell you that the EP is close, but you may not see it till the new year. We've got five super-solid tracks coming together, that are 90% done, but there's a lot of finishing and finesse in that final 10%.

You can get a sneak peak at one of the songs at my MySpace page. This is a production demo of "The Real Heart". The final version will sound similar, but with new vocals, drums, bass, guitar, etc. etc. So yeah a totally different song! Nah, it'll be close. Just more polished.

I'm really enjoying working with the band, bringing Zack on drums and Scott on bass into the collaboration Marc and I have been developing over the past few years. The end result should be pretty cool. And a wee bit massive!

What the hell we're up to....

Posting's been infrequent, I know. And there hasn't been much new going up. I'm glad to say that it's with good reason. The band's in the studio again with producer Marc Koecher. Yep, we've started work on new tracks at long last!

There'll be some samples of tracks coming soon. Right now we've started work on what's either a very long EP or a very short album, depending on your point of view.... One track we've broken out live a few times called "Wheels Come Off" is a rolling romp about plans gone awry. But man it's going to sound a bit different from those first live approximations! I'm pretty excited to be back in the studio, especially working with a few new collaborators this time around. Marc's signature production will be in full effect, but I think there's going to be more oomph, more rockness igniting the epic complexity. Zack's drums are pure thunder, and Scott's bringing some great melodic bass-lines to the table. I'm babbling, but you'll know what I'm talking about soon enough.

Here's a figment of studio life....

Live at the Horseshoe

Thanks to the peeps who came down to our Horseshoe gig! It was pretty awesome of the provincial government to give everyone a holiday for Zack's birthday.... Aside from a wonky backing tracks situation, we had a solid show. Did a great interview with TorontoMusicScene.com, too. More on that later this week. Thanks to the guys from Downsview for the gear-swap! Enjoy the pics, courtesy of Marc Koecher!

Open Hearts Pics

So last night was Open Hearts, the benefit gig in support of Amnesty at the El Mocambo. Fun show. A good gamut of bands put on a great night for the intrepid souls who opted out of the usual Valentine's shenanigans. I got to break out the Sneyd band v. 2.0, which was solid as far as cherry-popping on stage goes! Lindsay's decided to follow her muse with Classic Albums Live, and Marc was down in NYC for a photoshoot, so it was up to les amis de Zack to save the day. Stepping up to the plate, one Nestor Chumak on guitar and Scott Hannigan on bass. Oh, and my trusty iPod nano to deliver some crucial backing bits. The boys delivered, as you can partially see below (Nestor's preferred spot was lurking behind a column that occupied most of stage right, hence he is sadly shotless. This time!).

After our set, Joel Lightman and his band put on a head-boppin' set of rollicking piano pop. Good stuff! They were followed by the Hallelujah Drummers, a Moroccan drum ensemble who did a brief but thumpin' good passel of percussive playing. (I know, but it was so fun to type....) then came Chris Bottomley and Brainfudge, a slow-groove funk band that was ultra-tight and dance-floor inspirational, and last up was headliners and event organizers Blurred Vision. A good time was had by all, for a very good cause.