After quite the wait, we've finally released our new EP, Hope Is All We Know! Three new songs that we couldn't be more stoked on.
We've been a band for about 4 years now, and we've never thought of it as an avenue to make money. We believe in writing music that we love, and passing it along to people who hopefully feel the same. We have some of the best friends and fans in the world, so rather than asking for your money, we've decided to release the new EP for free.
Thank you all so much for sticking by us, you're the reason we're still here.
Click the album cover below to download your copy of Hope Is All We Know!
Been a while since we've updated. Lots going on these days, we start recording our new record next week and we're all stoked as hell. We also just put up a few new backgrounds for your computer and iPhone over in the downloads section if you feel like having our ugly faces all over your electronic devices. Here's the newest one, click the picture to enlarge.
Stay tuned for a bunch of studio updates coming soon.
Did you know we have a BlackBerry app? It's been downloaded over 8000 times in its first three weeks, download yours now FOR FREE! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!
"ANCHORS ONLY WEIGH YOU DOWN" MUSIC VIDEO ONLINE NOW!
Check out the official music video for the first single off "Villains" - Anchors Only Weigh You Down feat. Jamie Schoch. See more videos at our YouTube page!
First off, have you seen the trailer for the "Anchors Only Weigh You Down" music video yet? Watch it right now!
Also, head over to our MySpace page to listen to our cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream". You can download the song for free by clicking on the sexy picture of Robb. Don't have too much fun with that...
Stay tuned for news on our upcoming music video release party dates in both Waterloo and Sarnia, as well as a ton of other show announcements on the way.
Well, we made it. The last show of the tour was tonight, in lovely Sudbury Ontario and I couldn't have asked for a better end to such an awesome ten days. The crowd was absolutely phenominal and treated our bands like family. We sold out of almost all our merch and met some rad new friends...we all left with big smiles on our faces. We'll be back soon, promise.
Right meow Jeff and I are pulling the nightshift drive back home. I was pretty much 98% asleep a few minutes ago, but we just made a gas and energy drink stop, and thanks to this bottle of NOS beside me I am buzzing once again. We're about 45 minutes outside of Barrie at the moment, which means in another three hours or so we'll be back at home in Waterloo. The best part of it all is I get to work all day as soon as we get home, so I won't even be able to enjoy my nice warm bed for another long while. You know what though? As tired as I'm sure I'll be, I won't regret a single second of it, and I'll probably be missing tour already. I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am to get back on the road.
Before I finish off my last Avatour blog, I just wanna throw a whole bunch of thank you's out there to all the people who made this tour possible and such a rad experience for us. First off, our tour manager/booking agent Andy Schoch for putting everything together. Despite his constant nudity and lack of shorts that are a decent length, he put up with a lot and was awesome to have along with us. Robb's amazing extended family in Sault Ste. Marie for putting delicious food and adult beverages in our bellies, giving us a place to crash, and being so supportive. All the promoters that put the shows on, and the bands we had the pleasure of sharing the stage with. Our friends in Kingdoms and Farewell To Freeway - it was amazing seeing some familiar faces on this tour and those guys are all our dudes for life. Tim Hortons' large double doubles for helping us stay awake for all the long drives, Wal Mart for all the parking lots we crashed in, Rob Clendenning, everyone at Mazzfest, Northern Ontario and all the moose (Mooses? Moosi? Still dunno). Of course our boys in Set Anchors - Jamie, Ben, Jesse, Evan, and Todd - you guys are family and the best dudes to share our first tour with. Finally, every single person that came to the shows and gave our band a chance - you're the reason we do this and never want to stop.
Joschka's Tour Blog #6: Finally, a fully charged phone!
Thursday, May 27 10:43 AM
Here I am, kicked back in the van again for another lovely 8 hour drive. Last night we slept in a WalMart parking lot in Thunder Bay, and I slept in the makeshift bed we made up in the back of the van on top of some of our gear. Consequently, my back is now shaped like an "s" and it's making me appreciate the awesomeness of the middle bench I'm now laying on.
Last night we played this place called The Black Pirates Pub in downtown Thunder Bay. I have to give the biggest shoutout to Sean the Soundguy, I haven't played a venue with stage sound as good as that in a long time. If you play in a band you know how much good stage sound means to your set, and this dude did it right. Mad love @ Sean and Marie the promoter, and the cool-as-hell bartender who's name I have already forgotten because I'm a retard. Anyways, the show was sweet, we met some new friends and hung out with some old ones, and the city itself was awesome. Beautiful lakeside view, nice downtown area, and delicious sandwiches courtesy of the local Safeway. There was some pretty...let's say interesting...people as well. One dude commented on Marc's tattoos and proceeded to tell him how he got all of his tattoos while he was in prison because he "shanked a cop". Another dude came up to us as we were loading our gear up after the show and asked for a smoke. We said no, and his response was "Okay, no worries. I'll just smoke some more rock." First time I've ever witnessed someone smoking crack, so thank you Thunder Bay for being my first.
Right now we're heading back to Sault Ste. Marie to stop in at Robb's grandparents' place. Apparently there's gonna be a wicked lasagna dinner waiting for us, as well as a hot shower and a more comfortable place to sleep. Can't tell you how stoked I am. Our last show of the tour is in Sudbury tomorrow night, and it bums me out a little that our time on the road is winding down. I'm gonna miss waking up in a different city every morning, and not really having anything planned out until we hit the stage that night. Despite the lack of food and decent sleep, there's something addiciting about the experience, and I can't wait to do it all again. There is certain things that are gonna be amazing about being home though...clean sheets and a nice bed, showers whenever I want, and being able to see my girlfriend rather than texting her from across the country. It'll be good to be back, but it won't be long before I'm itching to be back on the road.
I'll make sure to do at least one more of these before tour is up, so check back tomorrow for one last pile of verbal vomit. Love y'all.
So it's been a while since my last update, my apologies. I've been really busy playing Pokemon. I dunno what happened, I just started playing and kinda got sucked in.
First off, I just wanna state how rad this tour is. We're having the time of our lives, and everyone we've met and hung out with have been so awesome to us. When you're a band from super far away that plays a completely different style of music than pretty much every other band at the shows, it's an amazing feeling to have kids stick around and watch your set and then come and hang out afterwards. The scene out here (at least at the shows we've been playing) is 100% metal and hardcore, so we tend to be the black sheep on every bill. It just seems like people out here are always willing to listen to something new, and I'm so happy we get to have the experience of playing to these crowds.
We've also had the pleasure of meeting so many rad people in other bands - Fall City Fall, As Bold As Lions, Fame, Fall In Archaea, The Kick Off, among plenty of others. I'd have to say though, my favourite shows so far have been our last couple with our friends from home in Kingdoms. As some of you may know, Gracefield, Set Anchors, and Kingdoms all played our first show together in Kitchener about a year and a half ago. It's really cool and a bit surreal to be so far from home but still have your old friends around to hang out with.
So yeah, I guess other than having a blast playing these shows, we've just been doing a whole lot of nothing. Had our first shower in four days yesterday at the Yorkton Community Center (probably one of the best of my life), discovered the magic of the $1.39 McDonalds McDouble, realized how gay Andy really is, and did lots more driving. Today we have a day off, and I've been up all night driving with Robb and Jeff so I'm probably gonna use most of it to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow we play Thunder Bay with Kingdongs and then we get to stop in at Robb's grandparent's place again in Sault Ste. Marie afterwards. Super stoked for that, and to not have to sleep in the van for one night.
I'm outtie for now, time for a hearty nap. Much love!
Joschka's Tour Blog #4: (Insert witty blog name here)
Sunday, May 23 9:03 AM
Okay so last night we played a rad show in Altona, Manitoba with our old buddies in Farewell To Freeway and our new buddies in Fame. It's always awesome meeting new people on tour, and these dudes were no exception. Great tunes and always down for a party, this is definitely a band you should go check out after you finish reading this. The crowd was awesome, and the venue was really small and intimate - my favourite setting for shows.
Since Fame were also heading to Saskatoon to play Mazzfest, not to mention the massive rainstorms that hit us last night, we decided to make a three-van caravan and truck the next 10 hour drive together. The best part about the drive was that, because of the way we packed the van after the show, we were able to make a makeshift bed in the back so there was a spot for everyone to lay down and get a good sleep. So, after mine and Andy's graveyard driving shift at 5 AM, I got to curl up in my sleeping bag and catch a whole bunch of z's. Amazing.
I just woke up and we're now in Regina making a stop for gas and Hortons...and it's freakin' freezing! Weak.
Now it's straight prairie driving until we hit Saskatoon, where we'll be playing the big annual hardcore music festival called Mazzfest. As far as I know, we are hands down the least heaviest band on the bill (which consists of 22 bands I believe), which means we'll stick out like a sore thumb. I'm really stoked for it though, we'll be able to mix it up a bit for the crowd and give them something different to listen to. Plus there's tons of other rad bands playing that I'm excited to see. We're playing the next three Avatour dates with our friends Kingdoms from back home, it's gonna be super fun to play and hang out with them for the next couple nights.
Anyways, Robb just chucked a full cup of coffee at Set Anchors van and started a massive van vs. van war, so I'm gonna wrap this up and brace myself for the worst. Dirty underwear throwing maybe? Mooning? Who knows. I'll update you all after Mazzfest and brag about how sweet it was. Until then, I'm gonna listen to some blink because they always brighten my day when it's rainy out. One love.
We just rolled up to the venue in Altona, and I'll start this off by saying this is the smallest venue I have ever seen. It's like the size of the basement in my parents' house, only it's a building all on its own. We just finished the LONGEST drive, all the way from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Altona, Manitoba - we left at 2 PM yesterday and arrived at 9:30 AM this morning. In Altona, if you have tattoos and piercings you might as well be an alien. No one is hesitant to stare down a bunch of dudes walking down the street with long hair, tattoos, and shorts that are entirely too short for anyone's good.
The drive here was probably the most fun we've had so far. Driving through Northern Ontario called for a new term in our driving vocabulary. First, we have the driver. Then we have the navigator - the trusty GPS. Finally, we have the Moose-igator, the person who rides shotgun whose sole purpose is to be on the lookout for moose (Mooses? Mossi? I dunno). We actually saw one, but it ran away in a hurry, probably because of us screaming "MOOSE!!!!" as loud as humanly possible. Some more highlights included some more amazing scenery, seeing an inukshuk wearing a bra, the invention of a new hardcore dance called the chicken wing (yeah, it's what you think, flap flap flap), and the look on Andy's face when we hit the first Tim Hortons in 500 km's.
Tonight we're playing The Station in Altona with our buds in Farewell To Freeway, and like I said, the venue is suuuper tiny so hopefully the place is packed. Next stop is Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for Mazzfest, probably the biggest show we'll be playing all tour. There's a zillion other awesome bands playing, so go check the lineup out on Facebook or something. Or don't, and I'll tell you about how rad it was in another one of these dumb blogs. K my phone is dying and I have to save some battery to take pictures of more MOOSE!!! So I'm gonna go play football with Marco. Peace!
We finished the first stretch to Sault Ste. Marie in one piece, rolled in around 7:30 this morning. We all looked so haggard and tired when we got out of the van, I swear we would have made good extras in a Romero zombie flick. The plan was to hang out at Robbs grandparents place for a few hours before we started the next stretch to Thunder Bay. However, the Tour Gods had another plan for us...
As we pulled into the driveway, Evan noticed that the brakes in their van weren't working properly. So we took it to the local mechanic, and came out with the diagnosis of faulty brake and transmission lines - a cool $400 fix. Now here's the real kicker - we drove our van to the mechanic as well, in case they needed a ride back if the fix was going to take a while. By chance, it was brought to our attention by Jesse that one of our front wheels was slightly angled, off-centering it from the rest of the alignment. Diagnosis for that you ask? A near-busted front suspension that could completely shit the bed at any time. Sure, we could have left it, but what's better - paying $500 to fix it now, or waiting till it breaks on the highway in the middle of nowhere and possibly dying a horrible van-crash related death?
The van is taking until tomorrow at noon to be fixed, so luckily for us Robb's family is kind enough to put us up for the night, feed us massive amounts of delicious pasta, and just be awesome to us in general. We spent the day drinking beers, playing frisbee, jumping off docks into freezing cold water, and catching up on sleep (unsuccessfully). Our original plan was to stop in Thunder Bay to stay the night but now it looks like we're crashing here and then making the long haul to Altona, Manitoba. Freakin' 19 hour drive. Wowwww. Couldn't have asked for a better place to be stranded though, these are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Okay, I've been up for two days and I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Goodnight world, stay gold.
Joschka's Tour Blog #1: Cabin fever results in blogs
Thursday, May 20 4:02 AM
So it's day 1 of Avatour, our first out of province adventure with the lovely lads in Set Anchors. We're somewhere between Barrie and Sudbury, and Robb and I are the only ones awake. We're listening to The Early November and slipping into a nostalgic and heavily caffeinated coma as we make the first of many long drives. Jeff, Marco, and Andy are all passed out in the back benches of the van, I haven't heard a sound from any of them in hours. Set Anchors started the tour off with a show in Guelph tonight with Misery Signals, so we left a bit earlier to try to make some headway on the drive so we could sleep for a bit while we waited for them to catch up. Marco and Andy went with them, and when we finally met up with them in Barrie, Marco, Andy, Jamie and Ben had crushed a 24 of Carling in about an hour. Needless to say, late-night drunken shenanigans ensued (involving a whole bunch of cheeseburgers and the misplacement of Andy's pants which led to a lot of scantily clad public urination) before we hit the road again.
Next stop is Sault Ste. Marie, where we'll stop in at Robb's grandma's for a good sleep, a quick visit and hopefully some food that isn't potato chips. Just drove past a sign that said it was 29 k's to Sudbury, so we probably have at least another 3 hours ahead of us. Which means three more hours of finding a way to entertain myself. There's only so much one can do with a Blackberry, and I'm quickly running out of words to type into my MemoPad. Maybe I'll resort to counting roadkill to see if I can get to 100 before the sun comes up. So until the next update, I'll leave you with these words of wisdom: the road can look long at the beginning of the journey, but there's always someone watching over you, making sure you're alert and aware, and above all else enjoying yourself. His name, dear friends, is Tim Horton.
First things first. There are six dudes in mine and Joschka's apartment right now, we've been making attempts at playing basketball all day, and there are beers everywhere waiting to be consumed. So, you can probably guess how difficult writing a blog must be for me right now...and how much this apartment reeks.
Anyway, I bet you've been wondering where the hell we have been for the last few months.
