Querkus in January - we're everywhere!

2011-01-01T23:52:00.003-06:00

Hello my good fellows and a very very happy holiday season to you all!

So much news in Querkusland its hard to know where to begin.

‘Spaces between the Leaves’ surfaced on the UMFM chart in late November and is now enjoying the view from #9. It’s also recently debuted at #30 on CKUW with high hopes of rising on that chart as well. We were just at CKUW last Wednesday night for Shop Worn Angel (click to download the podcast). We’re back again on Monday Jan 3 at 5pm for Peg City Groove. It’s been distributed to most campus radio stations across Canada so please call in and request it wherever you are.

You may have noticed the sweet review our song ‘Oceania’ recieved in “the steely stylus” music blog. A wonderful comparision is drawn between my voice and a penis made of snow. To celebrate, we’d like you to help yourself to a free download of Oceania. Enjoy!

Also - www.manitobamusic.com is featuring our track Six Legs for free download on their website right now. Check it out!

So yes – shows out the wazoo. That’s what our future is all about for the moment.

The CD release show is shaping up really nicely. We’ve rented a wicked rehearsal space in the exchange and have been meeting there twice a week. Regular consipators at these functions (aside from the k-dog and e-cat) have included Carlos Copaban the miracle drummer, Sameul Mulimbwa of Clearvox (and now of Querkus – he’s playing bass for us!), the enchanting Debbie Girard on vocals, Keith Dyck the rock n’ roll wizard on guitar, the incredibly groovy Mark Klassen (Cantor Dust) on keys, and the lovely Natanielle Felicitas on cello. Joshua Stanton and Jagjeet Sroay came by last time to add some sitar and tabla action. We’ve also been working with out buddy Ken to develop some cued lighting concepts. All in all – very exciting times. Can’t wait to play for you.

Touring we’ll be stripped down to a slick and manageable 3-piece of Edgar, Carlos and myself. Here’s an overview of a few of the tour dates:

Thursday January 13 were at The Apollo in Thunder Bay with The Jon Cohen Experimental. These guys have got the dreamy psychedelic pop thing down pat. I love it. Jon C used to be in The Dears so you know he’s top notch. It will be a Thunder Bay album release party for both bands!

Friday Jan 14 – probably won’t be playing this night. Just driving. Lots of driving. HOWEVER – NOTE TO WINNIPEGGERS – The Jon Cohen Experimental is at The Cavern this night so GO!

Saturday January 15 we have our Toronto Album Release Party – Part I. It’s at The Central (603 Markham) and opening will be Undadogg (the sexiest triphop band in all the land). I’ve been chatting on Myspace with these guys since the days when myspace was cool. They are incredible and you need to go. I hear this place has kickass cheap Martinis too (WINNIPEG cheap! Not just Toronto cheap!)

Sunday January 16 is the Toronto Album Release Party Part II!! It’s at Mitzi’s Sister (1552 Queen St W) and opening will be 5th Projekt. These guys play an intense and beautiful psychedelic rock that will floor you completely – so go!

Seriously Toronto folks – go to both shows if you possibly can. They will be epic. If you do there’s a free CD in it for you.

Monday January 17 is the Kingston Album Release Party @ The Mansion (506 Princess St). Local rock band Weathergate hosts the “New Music Mondays” series and they have graciously allowed us to play on the bill with them this night. I have very found memories of this town when Jaimz and I were here a few years ago for the Reel-Out Film Festival – we

were very poor and they treated us like royalty.

I’ve got a bit too much to talk about I must admit. I was going to go into detail about all our tour dates, however you can check them out by clicking here. I’ll be sending out another letter in a couple weeks with details on some of the other tour dates. Again if you have friends or family in any of the locations we’re touring to, it would be super nice if you could invite them to come out. Thanks a million.

Anyways – hope you’ve been enjoying the holidays. I’ve been really busy with promotions and practicing but have found time to spend some time here and there with family and friends which is important too. In Edgar news – he had his big 4-0 last week on December 22 so send him some well-wishes next time you see him or just post them to our Facebook or Myspace.

Have a very fun, happy and safe new year and I hope to see you soon.

Cheers!

Karen

CDs are Here (in my house!)

2010-10-18T07:11:00.004-05:00

So the most exciting news that the band could have has come to us over the last week... our long-awaited CDs have arrived from the manufacturer. They came in on Wednesday October 13th and things haven't been the same around here since.

If you are not as close to this project as I am, here's a brief history of the process -

1) 2001-2006 - the songs were written (they've been changed, tweaked and produced at every other step of the process).

2) October 2006 - Recorded drum track template.

3) November 2006 - Recorded Animata Strings

4) December 2006- Edited the drum template beat by beat until we had an outline of exactly what we wanted. Recorded scratch tracks for the whole album. Tried out a bunch of drummers to find the right sound.

5) January 2007 - Recorded Steve Martens (with assistance from Craig Boychuk) to make our drum dreams reality.

6) February - March 2007 - Edited / Mixed the drums down. There were about 10 mics on the drums.

7) April 2007 - Recorded / Edited / Mixed Bass Guitar.

8 ) May 2007 - July 2007 - Recorded piano, off and on.

9) August 2007-August 2008 - Recorded the guitars, off and on. We were really busy with film work.

10) August - December 2008 - Recorded Harp, Organ, and Karen's vocal template.

11) April 2009 - Recorded Karen's vocals.

12) April 2010 - Recorded Clearvox vocal group for 1 track

13) May 2010 - Recorded Edgar's vocals and additional vocals form Karen.

14) June 2010 - Final mix completed by Edgar.

15) July 2010 - Mastering completed by Allen Hunnie.

16) September 2010 - Album Art finalized and sent to Ironstone Technologies for manufacturing.

17) October 2010 - Albums arrived!

That actually didn't take as long as I thought - seemed to me we started recording in 2005. A pleasant surprise.

I just went to myspace and scanned all the old blogs from over the process... such high hopes of adhering to an ever-morphing schedule...

When I say 'template' throughout the process event list - that's a nice way I'm choosing to refer to hours of studio bloodshed that ended up being unusable (we were trying to get good takes that didn't end up coming out). While they didn't make the final cut they did prove very useful in communicating what we wanted (and didn't want!) in the final versions. We've come a long way through this process, having high expectations all the way. It's taken time, patience, training, practice, tears and many a blistering high and murderous low.... but we've managed to hold true through it all to our expectations and deliver. I'd rather it have gone this way than to have tried to get the whole thing done in a month and not be happy with the quality. And the quality is definitely apparent!

Please take a listen to the first three tracks from our album here on Soundcloud. When you bring up the page you'll see a wav file for the 1st track (which is Don't Stop the Rain). Below the big greay wav file image is a blue bar... wave your cursor over the bar and you can actually leave time-based comments (so if you are struck by a particular guitar passage or lyric etc you can let us know about it in real time)! It would be very exciting for me to hear what you think of it all so if you have something to say, go for it! You need to sign up for an account but its free. If that's a bother you can easily leave us a comment on Facebook or Myspace or this blog. Ah the infinate flavours of the internet..

In other news... Edgar has departed for Europe for the next month so we won't be playing live until mid or late November. He's checking out France, Belgium, Latvia and the UK. Lucky bastard... hope he's having a great time! Also Jackie the pomchi broke her front leg at Assiniboine park by being a little too hyper while jumping on and off a park bench... she's a pro at the 3-legged dog routine now and hardly notices it.

Next time you hear from me -

- Winnipeg Release Plans!

- Tour!

- Album Name and a nice high-res photo of the cover!

xoxo from Karen, Edgar, and a hyper dog wearing a cast .

QUERKUS

Querkus in January - we're everywhere!

CDs are Here (in my house!)