Category: Non classé

This blog post is coming to you from grey and cool Niagara Falls Ontario where the missus and I spent a few days unwinding after a fulfilling but tiring 2-month stint back in the workforce. I am quite happy to be back to retirement mode and hope to be able to get the recording project in full swing after the holidays.

While here, we caught my favourite cover band, The Lonely Hearts, at the 365 Club which is the bar nested deep within the almost hallucinogenic environment of the Fallsview Casino. People here certainly know how to cut loose.

The band put on a great show for an enthusiastic and sometimes exuberant audience.

---

Thanks to friends and family who came to the Duke Live this past Tuesday to catch us and Monkey Fightin’ Snakes. It was our best show to date! Neil, Chris and I want to thank MFS and specifically Matthew Davies for the opportunity to open for them. Thanks as well to the staff and sound tech at the club for taking such good care of us. Hope we can do it again.

Only one thing to talk about this week!

We’re even rehearsing for this show so be there!

Before getting deeply into the subject of this week’s post, just a quick report on the Félix & the Cats show at The Dock on Queen this past Friday. It was a fun night for all. A big thanks to supporters who came out and a special recognition to Tim, the Dock’s most loyal music fan! Thanks as well to the club for always making us feel welcome.

The really exciting news is that we are slated to open for The Monkey Fightin’ Snakes on Tuesday December 18 at the Duke Live! This is a huge thrill and honour for FatC to be on the same stage as the MFS in all their awesome simian and reptilian goodness, and will be our first time at the Duke! If you don’t know Monkey Fighting’ Snakes, here is some background gleaned from their site.

The Monkey Fightin’ Snakes are a blues rock band from Toronto. This band is the brainchild of singer songwriter Matthew Davies. Their blues sound is little bit jamband-pop, a little world-folk-twang.

Think Eddie Vedder with Neil Finn and Tom Waits.

The key members are:
Matthew Davies – Guitar, Dobro, Banjo, Ukelele, Pedal Steel, Lead Vocals and Songs
Dave Stoyles – Bass, Guitar, Button Box, Souzaphone, Trombone and Backing Vocals
Daniel Szabo – Drums, Backing Vocals, Guitar
Eric Szabo – Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Bass
Darren Atkinson – Drums, Percussion, Mayhem, Backing Vocals

Monkey Fightin’ Snakes put out their first album of original music “Finish What You Star” in 2014, produced by multi Juno Award winning producer Michael Philip Wojewoda. Recorded live off the floor (through an old Neve desk to 2” tape, no click track, lead vocals and guitar solos captured within the take), the album featured 9 original songs written by singer and guitarist Matthew Davies. After extensive touring, the band returned to the studio to record “Broken Off-Switch” in 2017, this time with 14 tracks also penned by Davies. 2018 saw the arrival of brothers Eric and Daniel Szabo, and much new writing in preparation for the third album.

For a taste of MFS, check out the video below and click over to their YouTube channel.

I hope you can make it out to catch us on the 18th at the Duke, and if not already a fan, become one of Monkey Fightin’ Snakes! Until then, be well!

Most of the musicians I have written about are people I have encountered at various shows and open mics in the city, but occasionally, these encounters take place in another context. Such was the case recently when I met two great artists at work, in an entirely unrelated context.

First is Andrew Moljgun, a saxophonist and keyboardist who has made a name for himself as part of Blues/R&B band Bad Luck Woman and Her Misfortunes, as well as an impressive list of performances with a variety of top artists such as Jenie Thai, Peter Elkas, Tommy Youngsteen, and Colin James. If the planet can align, I hope to have Andrew in at ManCave Studio to be featured on a song on the upcoming and somewhat slow-moving Félix & the Cats début EP. It might be tight as he is heading off for a 10-country European tour with Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar right after the New Year.

Even more serendipitously, just this week, a singer-songwriter best known as Ditt happened into the front office on school business, and as I overheard him talking about music with the staff there, I had to find out more. Starting off as a drummer at a young age, then touring as tech support with his brother all over Ontario and Quebec for the band Swan led him to dedicating himself to being a musician. Building on his expertise on drums, he taught himself the guitars and began writing his own songs.

Ditt wrote, sang, produced and played on his début CD A Boy Can Dream, with Jake Kolodziej engineering. He exemplifies the kind of dedication and enthusiasm it takes to persist in the music business these days and I wish him well!

---

Gig Imminence

This Friday, Félix & the Cats are back again at the Dock on Queen, one of our favourite little places to perform. Come on down for a civilized 8:30 start and stick around for the evening. The guys in the band have asked me to feature the quieter acoustic material in set one, the rock it up for the next two, so you can adjust your stay to taste. Great beer too!

Looking forward to seeing you there! Be well!

This will be the final instalment of the diary, for now. Perhaps the next ones will be on the recording the Cats and I are working on. Should be fun!

This recording features Leanna Yamada, whom I’ve written about on before, notably here and here. Leanna also appeared at the ABC Songwriters’ Circle back in March of this year. Here is her bio.

Leanna Yamada is a Toronto-based singer and songwriter. You can usually find her playing around the city with her band, which includes her creative partner and lead guitarist Chuck Majic. Together they write popular music with folk, blues and jazz influences. Leanna will taking advantage of the Songwriters’ Circle to introduce more personal material she has written as a solo artist, which comments on her own life experiences. (show #18 – March 13, 2018)

Leanna and I met when she started working at a school in North York. As we discovered we were both songwriters, this became a frequent topic of discussion. From there, catching each other’s shows followed. As I was starting to develop ManCave, I asked Leanna and Chuck Majic (her guitarist in the current project at the time) whether they would be interested in having some recordings done at my fledgling studio. They agreed, and were able to put down a few songs with her band.

Fast forward to a few months ago… Leanna had a collection of romantic songs better suited to a keyboard-driven approach. We agreed to see what they could sound like fully produced.

This one is my favourite. Early in the recording of it, I suggested that real strings would sound amazing on it. Leanna had been thinking the same and knew an amazing musician to fit the bill. Enter Daniela Gassi on violin and viola.

Daniela plays viola regularly in the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra, as well as in semi-professional orchestras in and around Toronto.  She also performs with Brampton Music Theatre, playing violin in the pit orchestra for their musical productions. Outside of the classical realm, Daniela also performs as part of pop rock ensemble Three Seasons and the Move, and plays violin in many other indie bands, most recently with Ryan Bonner (Tides On Earth) and with Leanna live.

The concept from the beginning was to make the arrangement as sparse as possible to feature Leanna’s singing, but have a rich tone. Keyboard and vocals were done first, then strings were added at a later date. That session was a very creative one, where Daniela  doubled the signature piano riff, added harmony, and counterpoint to further enhance the song. Finally I played bass in a few spots.

Track List:

• Electronic piano on Grand setting
• Violin 1 panned right
• Violin 2 panned right (on selected sections)
• Viola panned left
• Bass through “Modern Amp” model
• Vocals: single track through the Rode NT-1A panned slightly left
• Vocals: same as above through the Sennheiser MK-4 panned slightly right
• Reverb to taste

Enjoy!

River Town ©2018 words and music by Leanna Yamada – (SOCAN)

---

New Gig Alert

I’ll have more to say about this show in a blog later, but for those who like to plan ahead, December 18 at The Duke Live should definitely be on your calendar!

Until next week, be well!

I had hoped to post about another recording at the ManCave this week, but things are on hold until SOCAN registration can be established.

In the meantime, for your amusement, here I am trying to channel AC/DC‘s Angus Young for Halloween at the school where I have been working for the last few weeks.

None of the kids got who I was, except one “old soul”. The closest from the rest were a few who said, “You’re that guy from School of Rock.” Close enough.

I think I’ve got the look more or less right, but not the intensely snarly attitude. Nobody does it like Angus.

Which reminds me of an oft reprised topic of discussion: can (or better still – should) you play guitar wearing shorts, unless you are Angus or Jimmy Buffett. Discuss…

Anyway, that’s all for this week!

Be well!

Or maybe I will.

This week’s feature is John Mahler. I came to know John as the spouse of a friend who shares the same athletic activity I do. I came to find out that he was an aspiring songwriter, and after some coaxing and a few shared stages, John came to ManCave Studio to lay down some tracks. It seems to be going well, and we are working on our fifth.

Here is a bio of John from the old ABC Songwriters’ Circle.

John Mahler asked himself a few years ago what he wanted to do with the rest of his life — music had always been his passion and songwriting his dream. Since his teen years, John had played guitar and written on and off, but life’s demands had invariably gotten in the way. Four years ago, he bought himself a new guitar, and re-engaged in the long-aspired-to commitment to finishing the songs of his youth, and to daily practice developing his own fingerpicked folksy-jazzy-bluesy style. With a growing catalogue of completed songs and renewed skills to play them, a friend said to him, “Now you have to perform them. After all, a song isn’t a song until it is heard.” Now John is applying himself to the craft of performing and sharing his songs with a growing and appreciative audience. (show #7 – Tuesday, December 5, 2017)

This song is I Won’t Tell You, which is a reflection on how the things unsaid can erode a  relationship, assuming I understand it correctly.

On this track, John sings and plays guitar on the first two tracks listed below. I play all other electric guitars and bass. The drums and percussion are Logic programmed with some tweaks.

Track List:

• Guitar 1: Taylor T5 plugged in direct panned slightly right; light delay + reverb
• Guitar 2: Taylor T5 plugged in direct panned hard left; repeating echos staring on second chorus
• Electric guitar 1: I think I used a Gretsch Electromatic direct, amp emulation with chorus and a very light reverb. It comes in on the verse verse
• Electric guitar 2: same Gretsch for slide on the bridge section; overdrive and delay
• Electric guitar 3: as above with harmony line
• Bass direct” only EQ and compression
• Drums: Logic Brush Train Drumset loops
• Percussion: Logic internal EXS24 plugin – Latin
• Vocals: single track through the Rode NT-1A panned left
• Vocals: same as above through the Sennheiser MK-4 panned right; slapback delay

This recording is a good example of the aim of the studio. Critical ears will catch the flaws for sure. At this point, it serves the purpose of putting the “flesh on the bone” for John’s song. And I’m always fine with going back to improve the product, especially with increased experience and fresh ears. Happy listening!

I Won’t Tell You ©2018 John Mahler

---

Dock on Queen Show Rescheduled

After sorting out the confusion (on my part mostly) about the canceled October 27 show at the Dock on Queen, the lovely folks there found a new slot for us on Friday December 7. So there will after all be another 2018 Félix & the Cats performance before the New Year. Best of all, early birds can catch the show because of a very civilized 8 PM start.

Put that in your calendar now! Thanks for reading and listening!

Be well!

Just a quick one this week. It’s been busy and this is my second attempt to upload after finishing a full draft and seeing everything wiped out 😦

Things have been busy again at ManCave Studio. While it’s not my goal at this point to produce radio-ready recordings, it still hope to produce quality demos that clients (and I) can use to secure shows or realize a fully produced song. As such, I’ve made some enhancements as shown below, which include a better storage system, a new cheap and cheerful set of matched Apex 185B microphones for drum overhead recording (and using the ORTF configuration which I have just learned about), and a spiffy new recording desk which you can see better below, and makes for more ergonomic and airier setting.

 

With that as a preamble, and some recording sessions looming, I will be starting a new series on the blog hopefully next week, and will feature songs already recorded here by other artists pending SOCAN registration. Thanks in advance to the artists for going along!

The blogs will talk about the process of recording, the choice of instruments, some technical details, and production choices. A final mix will of course be included.

So please come back and check it out. Until then, be well!

Thanks to Fraz Milne for that title and the poster above he prepared for our combined show at the Linsmore this past Tuesday for their Indie Music series. I won’t say a lot this week on the blog, as Canadian Thanksgiving preparations are a priority, but there are a few people who deserve a special thanks.

First of all, to Mary Elizabeth Gilbert for her trust in putting this show together (it isn’t the first time either), for her tireless promotion of independent artists and the videos posted below. Thanks as well to the aforementioned Fraz, along with Sal Indigo for agreeing to do this show. Finally, and most certainly not least gratitude to my superb rhythm section, Neil Morris and Chris Bender who worked the whole evening for only modest compensation. Kudos to Sal for having the inspired thought as an experienced busker of putting his case out for tips. It helped a lot!

Hats off too to everyone who made it out and for the nice words after the performance.

Here is a sample of the night from each of us. We must have been loud as the phone that recorded this is a bit overdriven, but still worth a listen.

---

Fraz Milne

---

Sal Indigo

---

Félix and the Cats

 

Our next performance is October 27, 2018, back at the Dock on Queen. The last few shows there were acoustic, but for this next one, we are fully plugged in so it should be rockin’ fun!

Happy Thanksgiving and be well!

In this case, the title of this week’s blog does not refer specifically to the creepy greeting from The Handmaid’s Tale. Rather, it describes how I felt playing last night and earlier in the week for two of my favourite songwriter friends, Michael Sheen Cuddy and Jody Ferrer.

---

Relish Show: September 29, 2018

After a week of working trough the songs, I was as well prepared as could be to do justice to Michael’s challenging yet fun songs, but still felt the pressure to do well, given that many of the song recordings I used to prep were produced by and featured guitar work by the great Tim Bovaconti, which I was hoping to satisfactorily emulate. On top of that, playing with Paul Brennan (drums), and David Macmichael (bass), two players whose taste and ears I massively respect, further drove the need to excel. It did not make things easier when another superlative guitarist, Cam McInnes of Cadre renown walked in and sat a metre away from me. Still, I think I held my own, certainly enjoyed the night, and I’d love to do it again as I’ve learned the material now!

---

Leadfoot Studio Session for Jody Ferrer: September 26, 2019

Recording for Jody Ferrer (Jody and the Friendzone) last Wednesday turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected. Although I had prepared for it, with charts and a mockup recording to work out the riffs, for some reason I could not get through a full song without making a flub somewhere along the line. Hopefully, digital recording magic and patience from engineer Mike at Leadfoot Studio should fix things. We’ll see…

---

Three Guys – One Rhythm Section

Looking for a fun night this coming Tuesday, October 2? Make it down to the Linsmore Tavern for a great evening of original music (and some covers) by friends Fraz Milne and Sal Indigo, and with the Cats and me. As you can see from the poster, drumming and bass will be shared amongst the three acts, ably performed by Chris Bender and Neil Morris respectively. Can’t wait!

Until then, be well!