Hinterland's blog

2011-02-20T01:59:00.000-08:00

There's a nice little retrospective mention of Hinterland on the Air Atlantic Underground Radio blog. Check it out.

2011-02-19T20:59:00.000-08:00

Michaela and John are now recording as the Hope Slide.

All of the Hope Slide's music is also available on Bandcamp:

2011-02-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

All three of Hinterland's albums are now available on Bandcamp:

2011-02-19T18:03:00.000-08:00

Does anyone still visit this ancient blog? The reason it is no longer kept up to date is that Hinterland no longer exists. The band broke up after launching Pan Pan Medico with one final show in 2008.

There may, however, occasionally be Hinterland-related news, and I will do my best to post those things here. In the meantime, please visit Submerged Records on Twitter.

2009-01-31T11:59:00.000-08:00

Submerged Records now has a video channel on YouTube. Click here to check it out.

2008-01-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

The cover of our brand-new album (designed by the Wax Museum).

2008-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Some recent promo photos. Not all of these will be used, but I thought it would be fun to post them here so our friends could see them.

2008-01-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

2007-09-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

2007-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today we spent some time at Canadian Memorial United Church, checking out the Casavant Freres pipe organ for use on our new song "Geometry". In Greg's words, it sounded "f**king awesome". So we'll be back soon to actually record it.

2007-07-23T23:06:00.003-07:00

A couple of shots of Greg playing the piano at Vogville during our last day of tracking there.

2007-07-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, Greg and I put his Larivee to work, and I realized just how terrible I am at acoustic-guitar rhythm parts. Sigh. Oh well.

2007-07-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

We're back at Vogville this weekend. Fun times. Michaela finally got to do some recording today, including her kick-ass Moog bass parts, and even some vocals.

2007-07-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

While at Vogville, we also indulged in what we called the "noise plow", which involved setting up our gear and using it to make unholy amounts of noise. Read why here.

2007-07-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

I did some guitar tracking (and yes, I did get a haircut). This is where the science part came in. For reasons that might have had something to do with a power or grounding issue, and might also have been related to the quirky open tuning I use for the song "Magellan", I couldn't track a certain part without getting an audible buzz. To work around this, someone had to act as a ground, by touching both me and the bridge of the guitar while I played. For some reason, Robb seemed almost too eager to take on this responsibility.

2007-07-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

We were back at Vogville again last weekend to work on our album. We pretty much finished all the guitars and indulged in a bit of studio science. Here, Gregg uses his ancient beatbox to lay down a rhythm part.

2007-06-17T00:02:00.000-07:00

2007-06-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

2007-06-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

2007-06-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

2007-06-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

2007-06-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

From June 6-10, we were at Vogville laying down the bed tracks for our next album. We got the drums and bass done, and we had some time left over to start on guitars. One of the days we were recording happened to be our producer Caleb's birthday, hence the cake shot.

2007-06-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

I know this blog doesn't get updated very often, but as of tomorrow we are in the recording studio working on our next album. So expect a lot of pictures from that. Very soon.

2007-05-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Our next show is a big one: the first Submerged Records showcase at NewMusicWest.

2006-09-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hinterland has been popping up on other blogs lately:

Pogo a go-go
Milk Milk Lemonade
Mars Needs Guitars

Thanks for the love, everyone. Sure beats some of the crappy reviews we get. Nice to be reminded that not everyone hates what we're doing.

2006-09-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

Due to various flakes and supposed headliners disappearing, we opted to bail on our Saskatoon show. Instead of playing, we had dinner and many drinks with the folks from Storyboard.

2006-09-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Robb with his "brother from another mother", Rob from Paper Moon. In addition to their similar names, they share an affinity for the colour brown, they both play bass, and they both wear glasses.

2006-09-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Robb hangs out with Alli from Paper Moon and Nano from Storyboard.

2006-09-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here's me at the Pyramid with Mike from UMFM, who has given our music a lot of support (and airplay).

2006-09-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

In Winnipeg we played at the Pyramid Cabaret (formerly called the Spectrum, judging from the old sign inside) with Storyboard (of course) and Paper Moon. The club inexplicably has an ancient-Egypt theme. Very nice stage, though!

2006-08-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

2006-08-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Nano from Storyboard took some pictures of us playing in Regina.

2006-08-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

Storyboard rocks the Distrikt. (Note Nano's Hinterland shirt.)

2006-08-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Rock 'n' roll involves a lot of waiting, as Emily from Storyboard demonstrates.

2006-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Lana from Generals and Majors, before soundcheck.

2006-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Members of Hinterland and Storyboard loiter around the back door of the Distrikt.

2006-08-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

More to come: I'm taking off for a few days, but I'll post tons more photos upon my return.

2006-08-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

In Regina we played at a sweet venue called the Distrikt. It was sort of in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by warehouses and light industry and a big bakery that made Wonder Bread. But it was cool, with a nice big stage. We played with Storyboard (of course), and Regina's own Generals and Majors. The show was sparsely attended, but it was fun.

2006-08-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

After not nearly enough sleep, it's a quick breakfast at Smitty's (no endorsement implied) and then on the road again...

2006-08-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

Joining us on tour were our friends in Edmonton's finest dreamo band, Storyboard. Here they are on stage at Broken City.

2006-08-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here we are hanging out at Broken City.

2006-08-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Robb snapped these photos of me doing my hair before our Broken City show. Hey, ya gotta look beautiful in this rock 'n' roll business.

2006-08-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

The first show of our tour was on August 3 at Broken City in Calgary. It's a very cool club, and I hope we play there again.

2006-08-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

More scenes from the road.

2006-08-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Scenes from the road: when you're on tour, your diet and sleeping habits sometimes go right out the window. That's part of the fun, of course. Well, that and seeing this big, beautiful country of ours.

2006-08-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

More sights from the Prairies.

2006-08-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hinterland recently returned from a tour of the Prairie provinces. For some of us, this was our first time in that part of the country. I'll post some photos from some of the shows, but first, a few images from the Prairies.

2006-05-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Our next show.

2006-05-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

2006-05-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos, which I found here.

2006-03-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo by Shannon Hemmett, taken for an article that was to run in a local publication. Sadly, neither the article nor the photo ever ran, for political reasons that I can't really get into.

2006-03-13T22:39:00.000-08:00

For the rest of this month, everyone who sends a friend request to the Submerged Records page on Myspace will be entered into a draw to receive the following prizes:

one copy of Hinterland's new CD, The Picture Plane
one copy of the new Windows '78 CD, The Window Seat
one Hinterland T-shirt
one Windows '78 T-shirt
a full-colour Windows '78 promo poster
whatever other swag we have handy

The contest closes March 31 at midnight, and the winner will be notified via Myspace. Good luck!

2006-01-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

Some recent stuff about us has surfaced on the Web. Here's a bit about us on a German blog. And over on Scene and Heard, Michaela offers her opinion about musicians and politics.

2006-01-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

Comments seem to have disappeared. Weird. I haven't changed the template, so the problem must be at Blogger's end. Hmm...

2005-12-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

Cam took this funny/weird picture while we were doing a photo shoot at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I guess I'm doing some sort of Kraftwerkian man-machine march. Anyhow, the photo shoot was aborted early due to some technical problems... but that's a whole other story...

2005-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

Check out the article about Submerged Records on the CBC Radio 3 blog.

2005-11-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

I'm reposting this because it got such an underwhelming response last time:

OK, everyone. We need your help. We are putting an album out next spring and then we are planning to tour, in a few short bursts. Later on in the year, we hope to return to Calgary and Edmonton and then hit the West Coast of the U.S., but our first trip will take us to cities in Ontario and Quebec. I was hoping to do a somewhat more extensive tour of the region (two weeks, perhaps), but when you're dealing with the calendars of five people who have careers, school, and/or families to attend to, you have to squeeze in what you can. Because of people's tight schedules, these dates are pretty well set in stone, but we are hoping to get your suggestions about cool venues and bands to play with, preferably ones that can draw a big crowd, as we are brand-new to most of these cities.

Here's the itinerary:
Thursday April 27th - Toronto
Friday April 28th - Ottawa
Saturday April 29th - Montreal
Sunday April 30th - Quebec City

We appreciate any help anyone can offer. Thanks!

2005-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Apparently Mogwai is about to release the greatest album of all time.

2005-11-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

We are playing at the Media Club on Wednesday and you will be there.

That is all.

2005-10-25T00:51:00.000-07:00

More of Nick Tan's photos of our WCMA set on October 21. Incidentally, Nick is a member of the band Astoria.

2005-10-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

The fabulous Nick Tan took some photos of us at our recent Lamplighter show. And here they are.

2005-10-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight. Lamplighter. 9 p.m. Be there.

2005-10-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

OK, everyone. We need your help. We are putting an album out next spring and then we are planning to tour, in a few short bursts. Later on in the year, we hope to return to Calgary and Edmonton and then hit the West Coast of the U.S., but our first trip will take us to cities in Ontario and Quebec. I was hoping to do a somewhat more extensive tour of the region (two weeks, perhaps), but when you're dealing with the calendars of five people who have careers, school, and/or families to attend to, you have to squeeze in what you can. Because of people's tight schedules, these dates are pretty well set in stone, but we are hoping to get your suggestions about cool venues and bands to play with, preferably ones that can draw a big crowd, as we are brand-new to most of these cities. Here's the itinerary:

Thursday April 27th - Toronto
Friday April 28th - Ottawa
Saturday April 29th - Montreal
Sunday April 30th - Quebec City

We appreciate any help anyone can offer. Thanks!

2005-10-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Watch this and then try telling me you don't want to see Iceland before you die.

(By the way, Transbuddha is my new source for cool videos and links.)

2005-10-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you in Vancouver, please pick up today's issue of 24 Hours. There is a small article about us, plugging Friday's show, on page 18.

And in this week's Georgia Straight, the Local Motion (on page 85) is all about our very own Cam. The article mostly discusses Solarists, but Hinterland does get mentioned. Solarists are also the live-music pick in the "Go > Vancouver" column in today's issue of Dose.

I haven't checked either of the big dailies for any Hinterland-related content... perhaps someone else can do it for me and report back?

2005-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

This video is utterly demented but somehow bizarrely brilliant. Do not watch if you are not a fan of The Silence of the Lambs or if you are easily creeped out.

2005-10-01T14:12:00.001-07:00

Our upcoming gig in Victoria.

2005-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Updated poster for the Backstage Lounge gig on October 7.

2005-10-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

An upcoming show featuring Hinterland's extended family.

2005-09-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I just wrote an extended rant about how I don't get to go see Sigur Ros tonight like everyone else I know is doing, and about how this is because I have to work, and about how being a musician is not considered a legitimate vocation for those who are not either classical virtuosos or millionaire pop stars, and how the world therefore sucks donkey balls. And then I hit "Publish Post" and instead of being posted, my ranting disappeared into cyberspace.

Great.

2005-09-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone gets to go see Sigur Ros tonight except for me. Boo-hoo. Why do I have to work, anyway? Shouldn't the state be supporting my musical endeavours? Think of how much more I could accomplish if I weren't chained to a desk for so many hours per week. But, if you're not a classical virtuoso or a millionaire pop star, choosing to be a musician is not considered to be a legitimate vocation. This is because the world sucks donkey balls.

2005-09-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

So here's the plan. We're putting out a new CD early next year, and then we're going to play some shows in Central Canada, namely Ontario/Quebec. I mention this now because we are going to need some help from our friends, especially bands, promoters, and venues. You will help, won't you? Specific dates to come.

2005-09-23T20:02:00.000-07:00

We love getting props from other bloggers.

2005-09-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

Our next show. No, we are not responsible for the cheesy graphics. Holy crap.

2005-09-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

We have some shows coming up:

Friday, Oct. 7 at the Arts Club Backstage Lounge (Granville Island, Vancouver) with Hejira and Portico
Saturday, Oct. 8 at Logan's (Victoria) with Portico and Windows '78

2005-09-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

Click here to read a story about Zunior, which is selling the digital version of Under the Waterline.

Does anyone still read this blog? We haven't had a comment from someone outside the band in months. I'd guess that people have switched to reading our Myspace blog instead, but that one doesn't get very many comments either. Maybe I need to stir up some shit by posting controversial opinions or something.

2005-09-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

After spending some time in Europe recently and being exposed to lots of German pop, I have a new guilty pleasure. Tokio Hotel can best be described as teenage neo-grunge, but their song "Durch Den Monsun" is such a catchy bit of angst-pop that I really started to like it. Basically, he's on about closed windows and empty rooms and black clouds and all that: "I must fall through the monsoon/behind the world, at the end of time/until there is no more rain/against the storm" etc. You can watch the video for it here.

2005-08-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

I like this game: Gridlock.

2005-08-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Our involvement with the Never Lose That Feeling compilation made it into this week's Georgia Straight Music Notes.

2005-08-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Vote for us in the Best of Vancouver!
Time once again for the Georgia Straight's Best of Vancouver poll. Please vote for us in the category of best local indie band.

2005-08-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

We just got our first play on BBC! Radio 6, to be precise. Our cover of Lush's "For Love" was played on Jane Gazzo's Dream Ticket on Thursday, August 4. You can listen online here, but be warned that the playlist doesn't actually include everything played on the show, for some reason. Our song was played between the Pixies and Queens of the Stone Age. You can also hear the song at the Club AC30 site, or listen (and vote!) for it on Vertigo Shoegaze Radio.

In other news, I have been neglecting this blog lately. This is partly due to the fact that our Myspace page has been quite active, and partly due to the fact that I haven't been particularly happy with this blog since I changed the template and switched the comments over to Blogger's own system. I'm chagrined by the fact that you can no longer tell who has posted things. I will work on this soon and get it fixed up better than ever, or my name isn't... well, what is my name again?

2005-07-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

For all of you who are into the podcasting thing, you might be interested to learn that one of our songs is a part of the latest CBC Radio 3 podcast. The playlist is here, and info on subscribing is here.

2005-07-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Hinterland actually has another blog? It's true. It's right here, on our Myspace page. No one ever reads it (I can check the stats) or comments on it, but it's there.

2005-07-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

OK, now you have no excuse. Parasol, which carries Under the Waterline, is having a sale: 20% off everything, including this little number. So whether you buy our CD from Tonevendor or Parasol, you'll be getting a great deal.

2005-07-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is William Reid. You might remember him from the Jesus and Mary Chain. He posted some nice comments on our Myspace page. Is it really him? I don't know. I was under the impression that William Reid was married and had at least one kid, but his Myspace page says he is single and "undecided" about children. His profile gives his location as East Kilbride, which is indeed where the Reids are from. However, I thought William was living in the U.S. Whatever. Whether it's really him or not, here is his comment: "You guys are really good. I'm starting to get into the indie scene a lot more lately. Seriously though, you guys are good."

2005-07-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

If anything about this blog looks different, that's because I have made some major changes, specifically in the way visitors leave comments. Way back when I first set the blog up, Blogger did not have an option for visitors to comment on posts, so I set up an account with Haloscan. Unfortunately, Haloscan has been very unreliable, what with its server going down all the time, comments disappearing, inaccurate comment counts, etc. In fact, all of our comments have been wiped out on a couple of occasions. Annoying. But Blogger has allowed comments for a long time now, so I have ditched Haloscan and gone with Blogger's built-in comment system. I might also tweak the template if I'm feeling creative.

2005-07-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

For fans of cross marketing stunts check this link out. Select "Take Me Out" (MTV2 Video Mod) featuring characters from Star Wars Episode III.

2005-07-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

Still don't have a copy of Under the Waterline? Well, the fine folks at Tonevendor are having a sale, and guess what album has been marked down? Supplies of UTW are dwindling, so you might want to order your copy sooner rather than later.

2005-07-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

Did the world really need to see this pic of Greg and Gregg in the hot tub at Alan and Cindy's house? Probably not, but here it is anyway. Yes, this is the life we lead on the road.

2005-07-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

Here we all are in front of the van, parked at the home of Gregg's brother and sister-in-law, who were kind enough to let us all stay the night. It actually snowed a little bit that day, if my memory serves me well.

2005-07-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

Greg onstage at the Starlite Room.

2005-07-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

A blast from the (recent) past: here we are at the Starlite Room in Edmonton on April 30. Too bad every stage we play on can't be this big! It was truly awesome.

2005-06-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here's Windows '78 drummer Michael at work at Vogville. If he looks familiar to Hinterland fans, that's because he filled in for Gregg when we opened for the Album Leaf in April.

2005-06-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

As if I didn't already have enough things to occupy my time, my other band, Windows '78, has started recording an album. This photo offers a tantalizing glimpse of what we're working on.

2005-06-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ah, yes. Well, here we have a photo of the top half of Fretless's head. You can see the rest of him when Paint plays at Crush on Friday night.

2005-06-29T01:02:00.000-07:00

Equally apropos of nothing, here is Michaela on the corner of Granville and Pender. She will hate this because she has wet hair, but I like it because of her big rock-star sunglasses.

2005-06-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

Apropos of nothing, here is Michaela and her cat Hastings. He is a rock star.

2005-06-29T00:57:00.000-07:00

Michaela outside El Mocambo with Fretless from Paint.

2005-06-29T00:56:00.000-07:00

This is me next to the Kensington Market sign on Spadina. Yes, my eyes are closed. Classic. Michaela failed to warn me before she took the photo.

2005-06-29T00:51:00.000-07:00

More from T.O. Here is Michaela before our show at a Japanese restaurant on Spadina called Ibo. Apparently decent sushi is next to impossible to find in Toronto.