Boot Camp: A Retrospective

I been almost home for two weeks , I have had time to reflect on my experience at Boot Camp.

The magical warm glow has now warn off considerably but the lessons and revelations that were learned, I think will stay with me for a lifetime. As cheesy as it sounds not only did I learn a lot about myself musically, but I felt like the experience actually changed me as a person. Boot Camp truly is about forming a network and a community and the culmination of meaningful relationships I formed over that week, was a prize in itself. On the last night of camp, before we all exploded into a totally all inclusive dance jam party, we also had the wonderful opportunity to sit down together in the club room and listen for the first time to everyone’s Vancouver 125 songs. SOCAN awarded prizes to the top 3 songs, and I placed third! The lovely Lindsay Bryan came second and The Matinee first, although I think the Never Surprise‘s brilliant “Beatle-esque”song produced by Winston Hauschild was the artists overwhelming pick. All of the songs were so good, and I was amazed by the caliber of the recordings by all the producers and the Nimbus staff. Behind Sapphire and The Belle Game (One of my serious peak favorites, you guys are awesome) really stepped it up, but true love was found, when I heard Fields of Green‘s recording. (I even got to sit in on their recording sesh..) See the picture here.. [they have no website, but watch this vlog!! amazing] We were also encouraged to write positive affirmations for each other and drop them in mason jars with our band name on them. The idea being, that when we made our way home and were missing bootcamp, we could open our mason jars and read 100 positive affirmations about ourselves and our music from the rest of the campers. Some of my favorites included just simply, “Sex Icon”, and “When I listen to your music it makes me pee a little, and I never do that”. I think that one was from Swamp. All of the Vancouver 125 songs will be available thru thepeak.fm in the following months.

I’m really looking forward to my showcase at the Red room on Oct. 6. A lot is happening for me, I’m releasing my second full length album “Songs In Sea” on October 17th, and there is a potential cross-Canada tour in the works thru October. One of the amazing privileges that was granted to me by being in the PPP this year, was the opportunity to produce a documentary as part of my viral video challenge, which has already had over 1200 views in two weeks(see here) and accompanying EP (download here). I’ll be launching a new website this month as well! I have learned that in order to make music your career, it really is a full time job. I would have not learned this if it was not for Boot Camp!

Adios!

See you on October 6th!

Acres Of Lions added as support for Ten Second Epic Tour

September 14 – We’re excited to report that we’ve been selected to support Ten Second Epic on the band’s upcoming Canadian tour. The tour is in support of their new record, Better Off, and will hit most major centers across Canada.

Confirmed tour dates are as follows:

November 4: Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
November 5: Lloydminster, AB @ Phunkin Gruuve
November 9: Calgary, AB @ The Republik
November 11: Victoria, BC @ White Eagle Hall
November 12: Vancouver, BC @ The Media Club
November 16: Saskatoon, SK @ Walkers Night Club
November 17: Regina, SK @ Riddell Centre
November 18: Yorkton, SK @ Ukrainian Orthodox Hall
November 19: Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
November 22: Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee’s
November 23: Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
November 24: London, ON @ London Music Hall

More dates will be added in the coming weeks so stay tuned.

Acres Of Lions ‘Collections’ album released!

September 13 – Acres Of Lions sophomore album entitled “Collections” is officially available now through all major retailers!

The album features 10 brand new tracks produced by Adam Sutherland at Infinity Studios, Victoria.

iTunes Canada – Buy
iTunes US – Buy
iTunes UK – Buy

Physical CDs are also available now in stores across Canada through our distributor, Fontana North. Mail order is also available through Cordova Bay Records and MapleMusic.

A full album streaming preview is available now on the Acres Of Lions Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/acresoflions

Peak Performance Project – Showcase #1

Check out the photos from the first Peak Performance Project Showcase at the Red Room – ft. The Never Surprise, Hilary Grist, Jasper Sloan Yip, and The Belle Game…

Click the photo below to see the set!

Red Room -part1

Brilliant night in Gastown last night, made it down in time to catch The Never Surprise start the whole showcase event with a great gig, they’ve added a keyboard player to the line-up. Looks and sounds good.
Jasper Sloan Yip took to the stage with style, love his glasses and the bit where Stephanie and him harmonize together is quite beautiful!!
Hilary Grist was elegantly sexy and added a whole horn section to her show …they were very cute too!
Loved The Belle Game rocking out at the end, got a good groove on for their last couple of songs.
We are super stoked to play on the 22nd..thanks Rod for the unofficial poster…see everyone again next Thursday at the Red Room !!
adios

The Belle Game is Super Excited for SHOWCASE #1!!!

Could we (The Belle Game) be any more pumped up for this?

The answer is “no”. This is going to be an awesome night to kick off the PEAK Performance Showcases. So excited to see Hilary, Jasper, and The Never Surprise again, and even more excited to be sharing the stage with them!!!

The Belle Game has been practicing every day since we returned from Boot Camp in preparation for this show. You’d think we’d be tired by now, but I believe the delirious… ity… has set in. The fact that we get to be on a bill with three awesome artists and play for so many awesome people also helps — a lot! Looking forward to it!

As of now, I’m off to go find an acoustic guitar to rent since mine has (sadly) been falling apart in the last few weeks. Long & McQuade on Terminal and Main, anyone?

Really, really hope to see you all there tonight!!!!!

So much love,
-Alex

Victoria’s Times Colonist Talks with Acres Of Lions

September 8 – With the release date for Acres Of Lions new album, Collections, rapidly approaching we’re starting to catch the attention of media outlets around the country. Mike Devlin from Victoria’s Times Colonist was the first to get the scoop on the new record and the band’s plans for the future.

Check out the article here:
http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Acres+Lions+seek+Peak+performances/5369708/story.html

Montage

Sex with Strangers – Boot Camp 2011

Reaction single hits #22 on Alt Rock Chart

September 7 – Acres Of Lions brand new single “Reaction” just hit #22 on the Mediabase Alternative Rock Chart in Canada!

In addition, the new low-budget video for the single, shot entirely by the band, just hit 2000 views on YouTube. The video features a ton of great bands including: Vince Vaccaro, The Dudes, Current Swell, TheSet, Maurice, Behind Sapphire, Chris Arruda, Northcote, and many more.

PEAK Showcase #1

Well, it seems like just yesterday that we left RockRidge Canyon and the unrelenting PEAK Boot Camp… actually, it pretty much was yesterday! Anyhoo, onwards and upwards – to the Red Room Ultrabar! This Thursday is our big PPP showcase and we’ve been practicing our rock-star stances, hair flinging and stool songs.

Seriously though – we’ve been working on revamping our songs and set, streamlining our visual onstage image and creating a cool stage atmosphere (decorating… fun!! My Mom would be so proud!).

Plus, some fun surprises – BIG SURPRISES!!

We’ve also been tweeting to the twittersphere, blogging to the blogosphere and Facebooking to the… uh… Facebook about the show.

Lastly, because I like to draw, I decided to make my ‘stageplot’ and ‘technical requirements’ a little more fun than the standard fuddy duddy technical document it usually is. Hopefully this gives our soundperson (and you) a little chuckle:

Yours with heaping tablespoons of heart,

Hilary

P.S. Buy tickets to the show… it’s going to be a gooder!!

http://peakperformanceproject.com/tickets/

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