follow along, follow along

Mid-tour and a quick update. We're hanging out in Charlottetown waiting for our show at Baba's and I've finally got a spare moment to update this page........with links to some other pages.

We've been sending out updates a few other places, so if you want to follow along with this tour, there are a few options:

Twitter:

Officially, follow http://www.twitter.com/slowdownmolasse

but if you want the full experience, follow a few of the touring band's personal twitter feed:

Ryan - http://www.twitter.com/ryandrabble

Jeanette - http://www.twitter.com/jeansboots

Chris - http://www.twitter.com/chrixmorix

Paterson - http://www.twitter.com/patersonmonday

Tumblr:

Officially, follow http://www.tumblr.com/slowdownband

and again, individually, you can find a couple people at:

Ryan, blogging on road food, diners, and all the best places to eat if you are a band touring canada - http://apocalypsenom.tumblr.com/

Jeanette providing Jeans Boots updates at - http://jeansboots.tumblr.com/

Also, check the link on the side for our facebook page for links to videos, music, etc.

And stream (and buy) the entire new album at http://slowdownmolasses.bandcamp.com

Or order a cd copy at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/slowdownmolasses2

We are very happy to announce a full Canadian tour to coincide with the release of our new album. There are still a few details to work out, so a couple dates might be added, but here is a list of the places you can find us this spring.

March 10 - Saskatoon - Caffe Sola Walk Into The Sea All Ages album release w/ Dreaming of Electric Sheep
March 11 - Saskatoon - Amigo's - Walk Into The Sea album release & tour kick off!
March 12 - Edmonton - Wunderbar w/ Jeans Boots and Jessica Jalbert
March 15 - Vancouver - The Biltmore w/ Jeans Boots and Aunts & Uncles
March 17 - Calgary - Broken City w/ Deadhorse and Scars & Scarves
March 18 - Regina - O'Hanlons w/ Jeans Boots
March 19 - Winnipeg - The Lo Pub w/ Jeans Boots, The Empty Standards and The Slow Dancers
March 20 - Thunder Bay - The Apollo w/ Jeans Boots
March 22 - Toronto - The Horseshoe w/ Jeans Boots
March 24 - Halifax - Gus' Pub w/ Jeans Boots, Dance Movie and Klarka Weinwurm
March 25 - Fredricton - The Capitol w/ Sleepless Nights and Writer's Strike
March 26 - Sackville - The Royal Canadian Legion - Shotgun Jimmie's cd release!!!
March 27 - Charlottetown - Baba's w/ Jeans Boots
March 29 - Montreal - Casa Del Popolo w/ The Sunnies and Asthma Camp
March 30 - Ottawa - The Raw Sugar w/ Jeans Boots and The Ethics
March 31 - Peterborough - The Cannery Arts Centre w/ Jeans Boots and Typewriter
April 1 - Toronto - The Garrison w/ Forest City Lovers and Kite Hill
April 2 - London - APK Live w/ Forest City Lovers and Olenka & the Autumn Lovers

See you soon!

Walk Into The Sea

Finally, here we go.....a new album.

Slow down, Molasses - Walk Into The Sea

1. Sometimes We All Fall Apart - 1:54
2. Bodies - 6:55
3. Late Night Radio - 3:39
4. As Meant To Be - 5:10
5. Feathers - 2:59
6. Wake Me Up At The Coast - 2:13
7. Light - 4:03
8. Fade Out - 5:35
9. Walk Into The Sea - 3:24

After 14 months of work with a cast 16 musicians, 3 engineers and whole pile of late nights and long weekends, we have a new album - Walk Into The Sea.

Walk Into The Sea will be released independently on our Little Pictures label on March 15, 2011 to coincide with a coast to coast Canadian tour.

The record runs 36 minutes 30 second and will be released on both vinyl and cd.

We had the amazing opportunity to work with incredible people on this album. Julie Doiron joins us on the first single Feathers (have a listen below), Olenka & The Autumn Lovers join us with string arrangements on 2 songs and layers of vocal harmonies on 3 more. Toby Bond (Carbon Dating Service, No Birds) added viola on a couple songs, local trumpeter extraordinaire Claire Anderson played on 3 songs, and Nikki Schmid (of local goth-rockers New Jacobin Club) added some cello to a couple songs. Finally the wonderful Mr. James Bunton of Ohbijou came out and mixed it with us and our amazing engineers Jordan Smith and Mark Klopoushak. To cap it all off Harris Newman of Grey Market Mastering mastered the album for us.

It was a pretty crazy year with some of us having big things happen (kids, marriages, big moves across the country, crazy day job happenings), but it all came together with some pretty key help along the way. We have to send some huge thanks to the Saskatchewan Arts Board from whom we were fortunate enough to receive a recording grant and to the CBC and Sask Music who were kind enough to ask us to play a CBC Canada Live recording last March which helped fund some of the record and was a great way to re-focus us after a busy winter.

So here you go, a first taste of the record. This is the first single (....if naming a single really makes any sense anymore). Julie Doiron sings backups on it and we are so incredibly happy to finally share it with people.

Feathers by Slow down, Molasses

Recording Update

Soooo, it's been a while, we've had a busy, big year. One new child, one wedding, a couple changes in our day jobs AND a whole lot of recording.

We are nearly finished recording our next album. We'll finish tracking this month, then in December we will mix it with Mr. James Bunton (of Ohbijou fame).

Expect the album to be 10 songs over 42 minutes and it will be released on vinyl. We are very excited to have some of our favorite musicians joining us on this recording, including Julie Doiron and Olenka & the Autumn Lovers. The plan is to release the album in late March or early April 2011 and we will be doing some pretty extensive touring around then, potentially including some dates in the U.S. along with a full Canadian tour.

As a teaser for the album here are some photos from the last 6 months of recording.

Julie Doiron Day 2010!!!

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone reading this that we here at Sdm headquarters are huge fans of Julie Doiron and many wonderful indie venues across Canada....so last year, when our good friends at All Citizens declared June 7th to be Julie Doiron day in their small town of Bruno, Saskatchewan, we were excited to stop in and celebrate with them. Now one year later, we figured it would be great to commemorate that day with a Julie Doiron tribute show/fundraiser for All Citizens.....so without further ado, let me announce Julie Doiron Day 2010 in Bruno, Saskatchewan!!!

Join us for Julie Doiron Day, a celebration of Canadian independent music and one Canada's best songwriters, on June 7th 2010 in Bruno, Saskatchewan.... and maybe in your town too!

History: In 2009 All Citizens (art gallery/café/community hub and soon to be legendary music venue) declared June 7 to be Julie Doiron Day in Bruno. The occasion was aptly marked by a performance by the women herself, playing a remarkable set to a capacity crowd of 21 Bruno locals and a few Saskatoon residents. The town’s Mayor was on hand to unveil a plaque dedicating All Citizens' front bench, on the town's main street, to Julie in commemoration of the event. The Mayor's husband opened the show with a set of old-tyme accordion tunes.

The event was one of those quintessential only-in-Saskatchewan (or maybe only in Canada) moments affirming how an amazing music & cultural scene can build up around a few dedicated, talented individuals and a small, perfect little cultural space.

Despite it likely being the smallest show Ms. Doiron played that year, it was the ideal way to reaffirm her status as "Canada's Indie Queen". Where else would you find one of the most celebrated songwriters in the country going out of her way to play in a small town of 600 people, a few kilometers off the main highway in one of the least populated parts of the country? If anything it just helps explain why people are so drawn to the music of Julie Doiron and why she has become a symbol of everything that is great about Canada's independent music scene. She's toured the country from coast to coast countless times, co-founded her own music label (Sappy Records), co-founded one of the Canada's most charming festivals (Sappyfest, which brings world renowned musicians to her small town of Sackville, New Brunswick, pop. 5411), collaborated with everyone from Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip to Attack in Black to French anti-folksters Herman Dune and released albums on celebrated indie labels Jagjaguwar and Subpop... all this while raising three children and remaining one of the most approachable, kind people you'd hope to meet.

The inaugural Julie Doiron Day was celebrated in a tiny town, but it received an enthusiastic response across Canada and abroad. Our hope this year is for it to spread beyond Bruno's borders. On June 7, 2010, Julie Doiron Day will be honored at All Citizens, this time with a tribute to Julie Doiron featuring performances by members of Slow down, Molasses; The Seahags; Jeanette Stewart; Pearson; All Citizens' co-owner/operator Tyler Brett (a.k.a. The Department) and more. The event will be a benefit concert with all money going to All Citizens to help keep it alive and able to present some of Canada's finest bands while acting as a unique cultural outpost in the middle of the prairies. What better way to celebrate the work of one of Canada's favorite independent artists than by supporting and celebrating the independent cultural spaces that provide a place for their music to be heard?

In a perfect world every town and city would have a space like All Citizens. Maybe June 7 could be the day everyone gets together and plays some Julie Doiron songs to celebrate Canadian independent music and the spaces that nurture it. If your town has a great indie arts space or indie record store or tiny, perfect venue it would be amazing to see Julie Doiron Day shows happening all across Canada in support of such spaces.

Sincerely,

Tyson McShane

Slow down, Molasses
http://slowdownmolasses.blogspot.com
(306) 381-4772

For more information about All Citizens:

http://www.allcitizens.org

For more information on Julie Doiron:

http://www.juliedoiron.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKlvVNS79gI

For more information on the bands playing:

The Seahags - http://www.seahags.ca

Pearson – http://www.myspace.com/pearsontunes

Jeanette Stewart – http://www.myspace.com/jeanettestewart

Tyler Brett - http://www.myspace.com/dept

Slow down, Molasses – http://slowdownmolasses.blogspot.com

postcards

A quick post to give an update on what's new in the slow down camp....

Jeanette has recently completed her debut ep, watch for it later this summer. In the mean time, check out her new video:



Also watch for her at Caffe Sola in Saskatoon on May 20th, opening for the wonderful Megan Hamilton (http://www.myspace.com/meganhamilton)

Also at Caffe Sola, our good friends Olenka & the Autumn Lovers are making their first trek west and we are so happy to host them. The show is May 25th and I (Tyson) will be opening the show solo-ish (well see who's around to help out!).

Otherwise, we've been diligently working away in the studio and I have to say, we are getting very excited about the results. Hopefully we can provide a preview from the album in the next month or two....

Vivefest 2!!!

Big show this weekend in Saskatoon, our good friends at Vive Music are celebrating two years of bringing some of the best bands in Canada to Saskatoon and they are keeping up their good work by bringing some of my favorite bands to town. Women, Eamon McGrath and paper beat scissors just a host of locals for a great night of music at the German Concordia Club (next to Amigo's on Dufferin Avenue).

It should be great fun and Jeanette will be playing with myself (Tyson) and Chad Munson of Golden Smoke backing her. Barrett Ross (of Foam Lake) and I will also act as Eamon McGrath's backing band for the night. It should be a great night, so if you are in the neighbourhood stop in!!

I still rave about the show Women played in our old jamspace with Mt. Royal a couple years ago....they are definitely one of my favorite live bands, so it will be great to see them again.

Check out more info on the show here:
http://www.facebook.com/faitour#!/event.php?eid=348843402591&ref=ts

cheers,
Tyson