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'Not A Band' - The Best Thing You've Seen On The Internet Since That Gorilla Waved For A Snack At The Zoo

Yeah yeah, we know... it's confusing. When you give your band a name like Not A Band it's like calling yourself Special Guest or Event Cancelled... it's gonna cause some confusion... especially when you end up on a festival poster.

I guess with this bunch, they're hoping people will turn up to the show expecting anything other than a band, only to be shocked when *poof* a band arrives. Let's just hope the audience didn't come because they specifically don't like bands, eh?

I thought about calling this post, 'Don't Read This'. It's this kind of viral genius that helps 15 second clips of gorillas at the zoo, frantically waving for some idiot to throw another biscuit into the enclosure, go viral.

It's hard to predict what is going to be a success these days. Sometimes it's the opposite of what you might think. And when you think about it even more, it's only a matter of time until we get smart phones to wild gorillas so they can film short clips of each other and upload it to the cloud for all species to enjoy.

Mark Zuckerburg would love that. Just like he loved to encourage musicians to create band pages on his cutting-edge social network, so that he could encourage fans to waste their time following the bands they like. Once all that information was gathered, Zuck executed his 'Kill Culture Make Money Plan'.

To execute said plan, all you have to do is gather a bunch of data and sell it to anyone who will buy. At the same time, you charge the bands to show their content to their own fans who follow. That way, the majority of fans don't see what they want and the bands have to pay for advertising.

"We've got your data baby" - Zuckerburg whispers to himself as he pretends to shave his child-like face in the mirror (despite not a single hair having ever grown on his cyborg chin).

And don't get me started on Spotify, in their emerald castle eating all manner of green themed sliders. Although, when I think about it, given 10 second clips of cars running red lights is our new preferred form of entertainment, I kind of agree with Spotify that musicians deserve to be paid nothing. In fact, musicians should have to pay Spotify a "creation" fee to even consider picking up an instrument.

Don't get me wrong, I am 100% ranting here and it is all rather incoherent. Mainly, I just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention. Sometimes when the winter is on your shoulders, the only thing you can do is bury yourself in art. And that's exactly what we've done here...

Frivol is a banging new track from Not A Band. Yes, getting back on the Not A Band train, we've got a little glitter for your afternoon coffee.

So shut out the rest of the internet for at least four minutes and fifty-nine seconds... if you can indeed go that long without seeing someone react to a burrito being assembled.

So who are Not A Band?

"What started as a carpe diem home-recording project for a duo in quarantine, quickly grew into a cast of friends from different disciplines and perspectives, building on a communal spirit of we’ll try everything once."

We're so stoked to have captured Frivol live from our little bank vault studio in downtown Toronto. We're sure you'll agree that the energy from Not A Band is electric.

There will be another live video from the group coming soon, so if you Subscribe on YouTube they might notify you when the next one is released.

Oh, and you can catch Not A Band LIVE at The Garrison very soon on March 2nd. If you didn't know, The Garrison is now Toronto's undisputed premiere venue, now every other spot in the city has been "cancelled" for various nefarious reasons.

Not A Band Leona Hell

It's a killer lineup that also includes Leona Hell, who will be releasing a new EP, plus Only God Forgives. Don't miss it.

Thanks a bunch for reading.

I'm fine, I promise. Send me memes.

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Bill Cutbill's New Year's Resolution Project Gets a Reboot

Bill Cutbill has returned with Resolution Remastered - a New Year's resolution for 2024 that starts today and will either be kept or broken.

Many years ago Bill set himself the task to write, record, mix and master one new song with accompanying video every month for the whole year.

The rule was: each video had to be released before the end of the month. It was quite ambitious, and spoiler alert, there are 12 videos on the internet you could watch immediately if you have the right detective skills.

Speaking of the January track entitled, Treat Yourself, Bill Cutbill said -

“Here we are once again dealing with the January winter blues. Personally, I find a lot of comfort in sleep and that’s what this song is about.

Back in yesteryear when I was struggling with harsher mood instabilities, I found that by committing to a good sleep pattern I was able to start days with a better mindset.

I also find that tea helps… not with sleep necessarily cos of the caffeine, but a good cup of tea helps with every stress; any difficult moment life throws at you.

So yeah, brew yourself a mug and take this time of year to relax and recuperate. There’s a reason why animals hibernate.” - 💙 Bill Cutbill

Bill will be revisiting each track to give it a fresh burst of instrumentation/ mix/ whatever the hell he want.

Just like with the original RESOLUTION project, these REMASTERED songs will be released once a month with a fresh cut of the original video, formatted for the mobile phone age.

The real question is, will Bill be able to keep his Resolution?!

Only time will tell.

StillWaves New LP Undiagnosed Is Out Now!

Today marks the release of the incredible new StillWaves LP, Undiagnosed [SS122].

It is available worldwide via streaming and also on strictly limited Safe Sounds cassette. Listen to Undiagnosed on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music or your preferred music platform today!

Lead singer and bassist Dan Carlyle sat down with us to discuss what it was like to record Undiagnosed with engineer/producer Josh Korody at Candle Recording Studio, and also how the album came together with the late guitarist Eric Pentz -

"In all honesty, I almost pulled the plug on recording the album because Eric and I had fallen out of touch. We drifted apart when he started to hang out with new friends who liked to party a lot, but ultimately we decided to push on and record the album over 4 sessions.

Undiagnosed is very personal for a few different reasons. I was going through a divorce and hard times when we were recording it, and Eric passed away shortly after completing it.

Eric's fingerprints and influence are all over the album; songs like 'I'm Haunted' and 'Reform' we built around his guitar. Another track that really encapsulates Eric and his playing is the title track 'Undiagnosed' - it's a beautiful guitar melody yet still somehow morose."

StillWaves returned to work with the engineer/producer of their first album, Josh Korody, who you might know as the frontman of 90s nostalgia group, Breeze (check out the Breeze live sessions we recorded in our bank vault here).

Speaking of the relationship and recording process with Josh, Dan continued...

"He knew exactly the sound and direction we were going for, so that made the whole process pretty seamless.

Andrew Heule recorded live drums for all the songs, but Josh liked the sound of the original electronic drums I programmed on the Korg Electribe, so we ended up using a combination of both with the digital drums being more prominent.

Everything was recorded at Candle during the covid pandemic, and it was a huge energy release to be in there during that period of abnormality.

Eric was a character. A memorable studio story is when he complimented Josh... "Josh, I have to say, I just love your vision."

Josh, taking it to mean his artistic vision, replied, "ah, thanks Eric."

This was followed by Eric exclaiming, "Yeah, I don't know how you can see all those tiny little tracks on the screen while you record."

Eric was hilarious and always lit up the room. When recording our first album, he was doing vocal backups on the track 'Trust Yourself' and kept blurting out weird things. I was going to go into the vocal booth and get him to stop, but Josh said to let him keep rolling and we laughed our heads off at all the wonderful gibberish."

Speaking about the meaning behind some of Undiagnosed's tracks -

"'Aurora, CO' is about Elijah McClain. He was the young African-American youth that was killed by police officers in custody, for doing nothing wrong. I read the story of his death and it made me so angry the only thing I felt I could do was write a track. He used to go and play violins for cats in shelters - he was a gentle soul.

At other times the songs don't have any profound meaning at all. 'Redlines' I wrote about a road trip to Nashville - we were driving towards Windsor where all the giant wind turbines are, and the red flashing lights were in time with the song that was playing on the car stereo. I like that track, it reminds me of closing time at the bar. Eric's guitar in it, both tone and playing are fantastic.

'Somewhere I'm Happy' is about Eric and myself and our breakups that coincided at roughly the same time. We were a good support system for each other, albeit we were also each other's demons too at times.

Releasing this album will be cathartic. At the time everything was so disconnected and life felt like it might never go back to semi-normal again, so it feels good to finally have it come out, and showcase the wonderful lost talent that was Eric."

You can catch StillWaves celebrating the release of this album on Saturday at The Monarch Tavern in a very special Class of 2024 show brought to you by Exclaim! View the event here.

Strictly limited edition StillWaves cassettes will be available to purchase at the show, or for those of you further away you can grab one on bandcamp.

Class of 2024 StillWaves Album Release

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Don't Miss Idious Carrie at The Baby G on Sunday!

You can catch Idious Carrie performing their first show of 2024 this Sunday at The Baby G, Toronto.

And what's more it's absolutely free and includes performances from Ace of Wands and Rosie Wyse.

Sunday 21st January
At The Baby G. Doors at 8PM
Facebook Event

StillWaves Celebrate Album Release with Class Of 2024 Show

StillWaves are getting ready to celebrate the release on their brand new LP, Undiagnosed, which arrives digitally worldwide on Friday 19th January and on limited editing Safe Sounds cassette!

Just 24 hours later, you'll be able to celebrate this release with us...

20th January at The Monarch Tavern
Doors: 8PM
StillWaves
w/ La Sécurité, Olga and Arenas
Purchase a ticket via Showclix
RSVP via Facebook

Presented by Exclaim! & Dan Burke NEXT.O Shows in partnership with the City Of Toronto's Music Office and Proudly Supported by Mary Brown's Chicken. Made possible by the support of Ontario Creates.

Releases

Album
SS122
StillWaves
Undiagnosed
Album
SS121
Your Grandad
Your Grandad
Single
SS120C
Your Grandad
Your Grandad
Single
SS120B
Your Grandad
Poison
Single
SS120A
Your Grandad
CERB
EP
SS119
Dark Tapes · Bill Cutbill
OBELISK
EP
SS118
RUM DO
You Just Have To Be
Single
SS117
Theo Vandenhoff
Alles Ist Besser
EP
SS116
World News
New Era
Remix Single
SS115
World News
AMFTK
LP
SS114
Provincial Parcs
Scenic Equilibrium
Double A
SS113
Your Grandad
Juice Opinion / Fake News
Double A
SS112
Idious Carrie
O
EP
SS111
Theo Vandenhoff
Heartache Is An Empty Room
Double A
SS110
RUM DO
Confetti and... / A ↝ B
Remix Single
SS109
World News
Descenending
LP
SS108
Bill Cutbill
AMAZONAS
EP
SS107
Loji
Gather
EP
SS106
World News
The Chosen
Remix Single
SS105
World News
Black Cat
Single
SS104
Bill Cutbill
Joy Ride (and then I wake up)
Remix Single
SS103
World News
A Bit More Mellow Back Then
EP
SS102
RUM DO
Why
EP
SS101
RUM DO
lay down, lovers

Artists

Bill Cutbill

Dark Tapes

Idious Carrie

Loji

Provincial Parcs

RUM DO

StillWaves

Theo Vandenhoff

World News

Your Grandad

Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds
Safe Sounds