A Quick Update from The Matinée

It has been a pretty busy September. Coming off the high that was the week at boot camp, we have been hustling hard to get everything on our ever growing ‘to do’ list done.

We’ve been really fortunate to reap the rewards that come with doing our charity work. The fine folks at the Coquitlam Animal Shelter have been so fun to work with and the animals there are a riot. Check out the first of our personal pet stories here.

Please help spread the word about our fundraiser at the John B pub on October 8th. It’s for the animals folks! Tickets available through the band at matt@thematinee.com or at the shelter (500 Mariner way Coquitlam).

We’re really looking forward to the show tonight – it’s going to be great to see these bands raise the bar again. If sex with strangers performance on breakfast television was any indication it looks like we will need our dancing shoes for sure.

We have been rehearsing like fiends and we’re really looking forward to playing for you on the 29th so make sure you’re there early as we go on first!

See you all tonight at the Red Room!

Geoff – The Matinee

Acres of Lions: Peak Performance Project Showcase #2

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

The Peak Performance Project pushes on with the weekly showcases at The Red Room on Richards in Vancouver, and now it has come to ours, featuring a few great bands in which we share this endeavor with, “Current Swell,” “Avairis,” and “Fields of Green.” This was the second showcase in the concert series and we couldn’t have been more excited. A program such as this only exists because of the kind hearts and brilliant minds of people who believe in the music and are willing to teach us the way, to support us crazy bands into our futures. We really can’t thank The PEAK, Jim Pattison, and MusicBC enough for all they have done for us, as well as all of the other Peak Performers. Here’s a recap of the day’s event:

9:30 am, Victoria, My house

I wake up to my alarm and am terrified by it, but accept the fact that the day I have will be one to remember always. I get ready quickly and the boys pick me up in van. To my surprise, our pals Matt Goud and Vince Vaccaro have joined us on our trek to Vancouver. I am quite happy about this as we drive to the ferry terminal. We talk about plans we have for the next year, surfing, booking shows. We listen to Sleigh Bells and I play air guitar. The ferry is always a nuisance, the only means to bridge the gap from the island to the mainland other than flight, but with friends like these joining us, does it really matter? On the ferry, Vince tells us of his travels down under, how amazing it was to be in his element and make so many great new friends and how he plans to revisit. I am captivated by his stories, as I always am. Vince Vaccaro is the greatest. He is wild, confident and oh boy, with his newly acquired mane and beard, definite eye-candy.

2:00 pm, downtown Vancouver

On the way into the city, we stop in Delta to “see to the van” as it has been a little ornery lately. While Tyson and Dan tend to it, I play Vince and Matt an acoustic rendition of our song “Reaction.” They sing along and Matt teaches me in turn, his song “Energy.” I am dazzled. We continue and drop Matt off downtown as he is in town on business. We head to The Peak and Tamara Stanners greets us warmly, like family. As much as I will try in this lifetime to match her enthusiasm, I will always be lacking. She is invincible. We chat on the radio with James Sutton for awhile about the evening’s showcase, our new album and the video following our new single “Reaction.” Carly joins us and Tamara and Dan Ball leave to buy amenities for an activity at The Peak called “Beer Club.” The two come back with some top choices and Dan proceeds to give us a brief, yet stern history on the ales, lagers and IPAs that have been purchased, what a champ. To this day, I am impressed with his knowledge.

5:30 The Red Room on Richards.

We arrive for soundcheck and Cody Beer is there, shiny and exhuberant as always, holding down the fort, a good friend and drummer. We listen to Current Swell set up for awhile as we load into the club. Steve, their manager, has a bull-horn and insists on yelling at the band through it to make them hurry up. It is annoying as all hell, but highly entertaining. Our check is solid, and Sven is there to back us up every step of the way. We step out for a bit and go to Chill Winston’s down the street for dinner with Current Swell. I eat duck tacos and go into a trance for about an hour. It feels great to be in this city tonight.

9:00 pm

The show begins with “Avairis” from Vctoria, a 70′s style rock band who apparently plays at The Fernwood Inn weekly, a block from my house and I’ve never seen them. That will change. They play a great set, which includes solid harmonies, harmonica and banjo, to an enthusiastic crowd. They are followed by “Fields of Green,” one of my personal favorites in this project. They are young and extremely creative and talented. I fall in love with them all over again as they play their tremendous progressive rock songs. There’s something about Kelowna that produces insanely gifted bands. We do, and I quote, “the worst interview ever” with James Sutton (his words) but it is stupid fun. There is talk about Duff from Avairis’ mustache, the PPP Boot Camp being boss and a high-kick competition in which Dan is the victor. Tyson also fell over in the process, but surprisingly enough, it didn’t make it into the video.I was worried for his hip.

11:30pm

We run into our pal Scott Johnson backstage before we go on and I get a pep-talk from him and Vince Vaccaro. Scott tells me “Don’t f***k up, whatever you do,” and Vince simply tells me to treat the performance as if I was paddling into a wave on a surfboard and to “HAMMER IT!” I don’t surf, but I try to imagine this as I walk on stage. Showtime. Our friends and fans make up the crowd and we feel right at home. They sing along and do an amazing job at it. I am so grateful. The set goes smoothly and our “Vancouver 125″ song goes over well. Laura Smith from “Rococode” joins us with vocals for “Reaction” and later Vince joins us for the finale on “Closer.” We have the best time in a really long time and are full of adrenaline, like we should be. We definitely won’t sleep tonight.

12:30

Current Swell closes the show with a set so incredible that can literally feel the energy they give off. I’ve just recently become a fan of these boys, but will now be for a long time after this. They play close to their hearts and it is amazing. Ghosty Boy is a dream. The night goes on until 3:00 am and we end up crashing at our pal Christine’s house where she gives us pizza, gatorade and a shower. Dan and I awkwardly hang out on her tiny balcony and talk about what a challenge playing slide-guitar is. We barely get to sleep before we are up again at 7:30 to play an acoustic set in Victoria at the University. We are busy and we love it.

- Love, Acres

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

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