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.

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.

As another year closes in...

We are pleased to present Weapon, a live session filmed inside the bank vault here at Safe Sounds.

The track is taken from Breeze's latest record, Sour Grapes. You'll find Josh Korody front and centre of the band, surrounded by Robyn Phillips, Julia Wittmann, Braeden Craig and James Kearns.

The time and date the video was filmed is forever etched into the grainy CCTV camera footage you'll see within. It really was a joy watching Breeze perform these tracks up-close and personal, and we're stoked with how they turned out and what we were able to capture. A fragment in time.

You can enjoy a full playlist of all our live sessions here.

If you like what we do, please consider subscribing on YouTube and then systematically go through our entire video discography, liking and commenting on every single video we ever released. It really is the least you can do. After that, we suggest you write to your local MP to ask why American bands get a relative free pass to tour Canada, but Canadians have to pay a small fortune to tour the sanctity of the United States. Once he/she/they see the clear injustice of the situation, organize a meeting to discuss it in person, pausing to listen to them occasionally before suggesting vehemently that they lobby this matter urgently in parliament. Finally, close the door, but turn just before doing so and beg your MP to subscribe to our YouTube channel as well.

Sour Grapes is out now on Toronto label, Hand Drawn Dracula. The new wave / Britpop inspired album was recorded at Candle Recording studio and Hotel 2 Tango.

Grab a copy on hot wax at your local record store or online here.

There has been so much Safe Sounds stuff happening of late, and were stoked to tell you the year is just getting started... well kind of!

Toronto band Breeze dropped by the bank vault recently to perform two tracks from their upcoming record, 'Sour Grapes'.

We're stoked to share the first of them with you today — Heart Attack Waiting To Happen is a new wave Britpop anthem. Watch it now.

Originally a solo project led by Toronto-based producer Josh Korody who has worked with the likes of Tess Parks, Dilly Dally, Fucked Up, Weaves, Dirty Nil, Beliefs, Breeze has evolved into a full band with the addition of Braeden Craig, James Kearns, Robyn Phillips and Julia Wittmann.

Heart Attack Waiting To Happen has already been released as a single from the Sour Grapes LP, which will arrive in its entirety later this year via Hand Drawn Dracula.

This session was recorded and filmed in downtown Toronto here at Safe Sounds inside a real disused bank vault.

We've got a load of interesting content up there on our YouTube Channel so check out our previous live sessions and releases from Toronto favourites. Oh and if you could Subscribe that'd be great... it's like a modern day blood pact but on the internet and not involving blood.

As always keep your eyes peeled for more!

Animal Party came and recorded a live session with us last year, and today is the day we finally share it with you all!

The project of experimental electronic solo artist Sinéad Rua, this twelve minute music extravaganza also features accompaniment by Paul Geldart on drums. Animal Party is a wonder on harp - it must be seen to be believed.

Watch it now!

It really was a pleasure to experience this live in the room - Animal Party are so awesome at what they do and to be able to capture it in such fidelity is highly satisfying. The result is jaw droppingly beautiful.

And what about these 35mm shots from the session taken by Desiree Das Gupta...

The live session was recorded by Bill Cutbill and Idious Carrie inside the Safe Sounds bank vault.

When you watch the video, you may notice that this was filmed in November 2022. That is correct, so perhaps a moment to explain why it took so long for us to release this work of art...

Well, we're currently running this operation without funding, which means it really is a labour of love.

We like to be ambitious and when it comes to recording sessions if you look at the timestamps you'll notice that this one, Pretty and Deanna Petcoff were all recorded three days straight.

That certainly made us realise how much work it is to create this content from beginning to end, because it's easy to underestimate how much time it takes to mix, edit and properly release that number of videos!

And whilst we have been inundated with interest from a whole bunch of super talented bands and artists who want to do a live session with Safe Sounds, we just wanted to take a moment to thank them for their interest but to also place on record that we will not be filming any new live sessions now until at least the middle of next year.

Hopefully we can get some funding to run this as a more regular thing - keep your fingers crossed for us!

That said, don't you worry - we've got more live sessions in the can that we will be releasing in the coming months. ;) So make sure you go subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

But yes, this is all about community. We hope by capturing magical musical moments like this from Animal Party that we're impacting our local scene in a positive manner.

Go and enjoy them further on Bandcamp or Spotify.

And just like that, a new record is set as five-piece Toronto psychedelic band, Pretty, join us for an intimate session in the Safe Sounds bank vault. Boom!

This one will tastily melt in your mouth like the death of a rich relative you barely even knew.

For a space just over 6ft x 6ft, we were a little apprehensive about fitting so many musicians in our walk-in safe, but the result speaks for itself... Inheritance is a lush psychedelic track performed here with folk instrumentation and tones that glue together cohesively. Thank hell for that!

Pretty is Torin Craig, Eliot Rossi, Will Macquarrie, Brian Heyes and Morgan Zych.

The band has made quite a name for themselves with a string of high quality, high impact releases. Their normal rock approach takes side-stage for this session as they replace the familiar electric instrumentation for acoustic and steel string guitars, bass, percussion and even an accordion.

Folking hell, it's pretty cool.

Check out the video now and visit the SS YouTube channel to subscribe and be notified with each new video. This isn't the only thing we've got coming from Pretty, plus they've also got a hot new EP which is due to drop July 28th 2023.

So mark your calendars, scrawl across your walls and dream about the future. It's pretty.