The Lead up ….

Usually when you do these festivals you fly in, SORRY, drive your beaten, barely running van, in on the day you perform. We have the luxury of having an apartment in Toronto and we have been here a few weeks already so Erin has been busy preparing for the show for quite a while. We don’t have a regular band and use musicians wherever we perform, happily in Toronto we already know a great guitarist who we used in the past named Jeff. When we played in Montreal in October we had one of Erins’ oldest friends guest on Double Bass and it sounded so cool we decided to try and get somebody in Toronto, a quick ad in Craigs List ( thanks Craig ) we have an amazingly talented new bass player, Andrew. Its such a joy to work with young musicians who love music and havent been through the ringer 5 times.

So we decided to do one rehearsal on our own without the guys just to remind ourselves of how the whole thing worked and as Erin hadn’t sung for a while. We also thought we would try a new rehearsal room which was the first mistake…. Unfortunately I have the luxury of having been in some big bands in my career and being pampered when it comes to facilities, Erin doesn’t care and is used to working in shit holes with no heat and no soundproofing … So we froze our asses of and had a few arguments hahah then we decided to go back to our normal place.

Its always nice to hear the songs live again and hear them how they are supposed to sound and with these guys its perfect, like I said talented, dedicated and enthusiastic. The srehearsal studio we use is called Brockport by the way, if you are looking for somewhere nice in Toronto.

Erin is great at doing promotion and dropped of a package at the local University radio station CIUT ( www.take5.fm ) . I always think its a waste of time but hey what do I know ! The next thing we get an email asking us to come in and perform a live set on the morning drive in show at 8am. Jeff couldnt make it as he was working but Andrew brought his double bass in on the subway and we played three songs in the basement studio. The sound in the headphones was absolutely the worst I have ever heard but like the troopers we are we soldiered on…. Erin was a bit surprised to be asked questions but she sounded very at home and was even compared to a bottle of Chardonnay ( which she isnt hahah, I wnat to say shes a Campari and Soda hahah not sure why that just popped into my head, now shes trying to decide what she would be if she were a drink hahah )… W got a cd from the nice sound guy, Steve and listened on the way home in the car and it sounded great. Friends and family from as far away as Devon and Pheonix managed to listen thanks to the internet.

For some reason that we cant work out Erin seems to have become something of a media darling in Toronto and appeared in The Sun, luckily not on page 3 and the National Post … So things are warming up nicely.

Next I will tell you all about our first day at the conference … Cant wait can you hahahhaha…