Wrecking Pennsylvania

As we walked off the stage from our show tonight, one of the event programmers (think of him as a VP or CEO of this rock festival) grabbed my hand, shook it passionately and said:

"You guys are the best band in the festival. Bar none."

"That was...f#&*!ng religious!!!"

What a difference a day can make.

Whether any of that is true or not is beside the point. It was just nice to hear. Last night we were the ugly step sister and today we were Cinderella (Mick has always had a thing about wanting to be Cinderella. Or Prom Queen.) Maybe the pet cemetary shrine (it guarded the washrooms in Senorita Burrita where we played last night) in a mexican restaurant should have tipped us off that things were amiss and evil was in the air. But hey...we're optimists. You have to be in this business. We played our show, regrouped and came back today looking to leave our mark on Pennsylvania. Preferably something in black and blue. But almost immediately after our arrival at the conference hall, several of the event organizers made an effort to find us and apologize for the misunderstanding (but no mention or apology for the creepy shrine). And how can you not understand? These guys were ambitiously mounting the inaugural Launch Festival. 150 bands in 15 venues is a lot to chew on. As Alex said, "You're going to break a few eggs making the omlette." All in all they did a remarkable job. We met some great folks, saw some great bands and did our best to leave our mark in Pennsylvania. Hopefully we didn't wreck it too much. But if we did, it's as much the fault of our host, Jeremy, as it is our own. Despite the fact that he'd lost his voice, he insisted on buying us drinks, taking us to see another one of his favourite acts, having passionate discussions about music and the music industry and stopping anyone of even the vaguest importance to introduce us. Ie.

"Paul! Paul. This is The Free Press. Best band at the festival!"

At which point he'd give away one of the cds he bought from us and repeat the cycle in another two minutes. He's good people.

Some futher Saturday highlights were a few panels, including a demo derby. This is where you put your cd in a box and they draw out cds. Then severl panelists (music biz experts) proceed to dissect them. Usually pretty thoroughly. They drew us second last and we had submitted, "It's Killing Me That It's Killing You." It's always interesting to hear these cats talk because they hear music ALL the time. If your stuff isn't up to spec your experience can go pear-shaped for you very quickly. We've been on the other end of the Simon Cowell stick and it's a painful place to be. Today however, they loved us. They used phrases like 'bright future,' 'these guys are going to sell a lot of records' and 'maybe they can lend me some money after they're rich.' Again, really nice things to hear from a panel of pros.

We also did some wandering around Lancaster. This included a trip to the Central Market. It's like the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto - a lot of stalls selling their goods ranging from meats and cheeses to baked goods and hand made clothing to amish furniture and jewellry. However, the Lancasterians (and perhaps all Pennsylvanians) are a lot more serious about their celery than we are in Canada. There was one stall dedicated ENTIRELY to celery and literature on celery. There was even a $6 (US!) bundle of celery. I didn't look closely but my guess is that it washed your car and made you dinner before dicing itself and submerging itself in a nice soup. Mmm. Soup. There was also a stall that sold vegetables and 'herbs.' I know the question has been posed, "What's in a name?" In this case, I believe the answer is, "a lucrative side business." Note the sign in the bottom right. I'm not sure he imports, but give him a call if you're in a jam.

Amish Stuff Etc.

Maybe it's the beer talking.

Maybe it's the hour of the day (it's 2:30 am).

Maybe it's that we're 8 1/2 hours from home.

But we're baffled.

It's been a baffling day. We were in our Toronto beds this morning and now we find ourselves in the Olde Amish Inne (I'm not kidding) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's off the highway just past the store called Amish Stuff Etc. (Again, not kidding).

We're here playing at the Launch Music Festival and it's proven to be a wild ride so far.

The problem with playing these festivals is that they're run by musicians. Musicians don't tend to be fans of reading, logic or reality. So. When you tell a festival (that's 8 1/2 hours from home) that there are five of you in the band and that you need five microphones, five microphone stands and all the equipment that would typically accompany five guys who make music you're taking your life in you own hands. But you hope that they'll get it. You hope when you type a lengthy letter detailing (in detail) what you need for a show that SOMEONE in the festival will prove to: a) speak english, b) read english, c) live on the planet earth. So. When you arrive in said town (may I remind you that it's 8 1/2 hours from home) and find a stage the size of a postage stamp, with two mics, two stands, a hope and a prayer, you get baffled.

The story only gets longer, angrier and more quizzical from here. So. Let me summarize.

1. Everbody at a festival starts late. That means if you're playing at a Mexican restaurant (which is where we were playing) and you're last, you're going to get screwed after you get baffled.

2. Staff at a festival are akin to Tim Horton's employees. That is to say; simple, challenged and baffled.

3. When point #1 meets point #2, there is bound to be fireworks. In this case, #2 happened to be a youngish fellow who looked like Mitch Hedberg. (Mitch is a dead Minnesota comedian who isn't that funny, at least not since he died. Neither is his Lancaster doppleganger.) He decided to unplug ALL of our gear after 4 songs (and I'll take this opportunity to remind you that we drove 8 1/2 baffling hours to play here). This is what Mickle would call Triple Plus Uncool. That is to say that when five men drive 8 1/2 hours to play a rock and roll festival, they want to PLAY at said festival. If some young Mitch Hedberg who makes a career serving tacos unplugs your shit after four songs, you tend...well, you tend to lose your shit and get loud, angry (baffled, of course) and hostile. So. We got all those things because that's exactly what happened.

Needless to say, that was not cool. It sort of soured the delicious Pennsylvania/Amish Etc. taste in our mouth. But we headed over to a place called the Chameleon Club to see a Winnipeg band called The Duhks. After a few beers and some good, Canadian, music life got better.

This whole diatribe is slightly unfair, though. (But only slightly) Just before we played was an incredibly cool band called Parkwright. Really nice and talented lads from Philadelphia. One of the reasons you make these trips is to make new friends and find reasons to keep going. It's easy to put those guys in both of those categories. But beyond Parkwright, The Duhks and Yuengling Lager Etc, this place needs Billy Bob Thornton to come in and shit on it. And you know what that means. A lot of mashed potatoes. With gravy.

PS - We've just returned from a late sojourn to the Waffle House and just so we don't waste Billy Bob's time, he doesn't need to come here and shit. Some cows or horses have done a thorough job for at least two square miles around our Amish hotel. Of course I'm not kidding.

In Like a Lion

April is almost upon us and The Free Press is well rested (after experimenting with hibernation) and ready to cause some trouble in your neighbourhood all spring and summer. Some of you might be lucky enough to remain trouble free until the fall.

There's a bunch more podcasts on the way, a pile of shows up on our tour schedule (with more coming) and we're shooting a video this month for, "It's Killing Me That It's Killing You." We're working with longtime friends, Steve Burley (director) and Alex Nadon (if you were dazzled by the lights and video at most of the big Canadian award shows or rock and roll tours in the last three years, chances are that Alex did it) and all the plans are very near completion. It should co-incide with a spring release of a digital single for "Killing Me" which will have a new tune and a live tune included.

So rake your leaves, plant your gardens and hide the bananas. Chances are we'll be in your backyard soon.

TFP

Winterlude

After a short time of rest, the TFP machine has begun to make steam again. We're playing our first Toronto show in a good while at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern next Friday (January 30, 2009). We're supporting our good friends, Jets To Ground who are releasing a much anticipated EP.

We're also trying a bunch of new things this year. Every Monday starting on February 2nd we'll be airing a new episode of the podcast we've been working o. It's entitled: Internet! The Podcast!! It took a two thousand dollar marketing team to put that name and the whole package together, so hopefully you'll enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. The idea was for us to talk about music, sports, news, food and life every week and then play a song for you. One week it'll be a song you recoginize instantly and the next it'll be an artist that we love who you probably haven't come across. There will be special guests, inflammatory remarks and pointed misbehaviour. It's everything that we, the band - good and bad - do. Sort of like Regis & Kathy Lee meets Conan O'Brien meets VH1 Storytellers but in Alex's house. We hope to have both Regis and Triumph the Insult Dog on in the near future.

Hope you're all having a happy new year so far and hope to see you soon.

TFP

A Skyline Christmas (with HD video)

I've lived in the city a long time now but I still remember being baffled by my first christmas in Toronto. I would walk one block downtown from the university I was attending and there was beauty everwhere; lights, decorations, music and laughter. But if I walked one block in the opposite direction, there were things that made me feel ashamed; cold, hunger, quiet and despair. It was an incredibly powerful dichotomy for a 19 year old to take in. And despite the fact that I've been here more than ten years now, I can't let it go. I probably shouldn't. That said, anyone who's been here long enough finds it all too easy to walk past a person asking for change. But this is supposed to be the time of year we think less of what we want and more about helping others. Particularly those in need. A musician has little to offer other than music. So, the lads and I wrote a song for christmas. Of course, we wrote it the way we write most of our stuff; the bitter mixed in with the sweet. It's up on Facebook or Myspace if you want to have a listen and we've prepared a little video for you...it's a little "christian-children-funds-25cents-a-day" in its tone but the message is still an important one:

I'd encourage you to go to you tube page here and watch it in hd by click 'watch in hd' on the bottom right corner of the player. It's worth it.



The main reason we wrote it is because there are a lot of folks out there in genuine need of a meal, some clothes or a warm place to sleep. We don't want any money for the song but we'd love it if you gave some - whatever you can - to help out people who are really struggling. Here's a few links to people doing great work in and around Toronto. Or maybe there's someone closer to home - wherever that is for you - that you feel more comfortable helping out. That's cool, too. My cousin recently got the idea to give to a native charity on the reserve where our family is from and he said words couldn't express the gratitude those people felt at even the little amount of help we were able to give. Make a difference if you can, folks. That's what christmas should be about. Happy holidays.

j.d.

www.covenanthouse.on.ca
www.kidshelphone.ca
www.toronto.ca/homelessness

New Video: Live: National Pride : Kitchener, ON

Facebookers, click 'view original post' to see an embedded video or click here to go directly to the you tube page.



Also available in HD so click "watch in HD" on the bottom left hand corner of the player for beter quality.

Video Episode: The Free Press in "How Hard Is It To Use A Camcorder?"

Facebook viewers please click 'view original post' for emebedded video.

This is what happens when you don't spend a lot of money on your camcorder. Hoorah!