Adieu, 2007! Adieu!

Friends,

2007 has been a great year for Canadian Invasion. We've played some fantastic gigs, meet great new people, spent good times with old pals, and recorded what we believe is the greatest rock album since the first Wham record (hopefully you will feel the same when it comes out early next year).

To close out the year, we played a special gig with pals Slo-Mo at Chaplin's Music Cafe in Spring City. Chaplin's is a wonderful old vaudeville theatre that the current owner has converted into a fabulous music hall. As a treat for all your love and support, here's a clip of four songs from the show, recorded by audience member and CI pal Jason Saltzman:

CI @ Chaplins 12.8.07



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Yours,

Andy Canadian

Milton & The Devils Party CD Release Party!

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of playing a CD release party for our friends Milton & The Devils Party at World Cafe Live in Philly. MDP have just released a great record called "How Wicked We've Become" which they recorded with Brian McTear and Amy Morrissey, the same folks at the helm of the next CI record. Check them out on the internets by clicking here!

Below are some great pics of us from the show taken by photo master Yaron. Enjoy!

Inside My Brain Right This Very Instant

As wiser (and perhaps less wise) people have already said, blogging is the zenith (or the nadir) of our culture's obsession with the "individual." Be that as it may, I want in. So, in shortorder, here are the things floating around my transom as this very moment:

Bitter Bitter Weeks

Looking to change up CI's sound, we approached Philadelphia producer Brian McTear about helming the next CI record. We'd heard his work with The A-Sides and Matt Pond PA and been big fans. What we didn't realize at the time was that Brian's own band, Bitter Bitter Weeks, is completely awesome. Their latest record, Peace is Burning Like a River (High Two), came out in between the sessions for our next record, and when we came into the studio for the last bits of tracking I really considered just covering Brian's songs instead of doing my own. It's been a long time since I was so enamored with every track on a record. Peace... is some really intelligent guitar rock, and if you get a chance, at the very least check out the tracks "Terrified" and "Sincerely, Last Century", and while you're at it just get the whole record cause it's incredible.

The Walkmen - "Another One Goes By"
Speaking of covering other bands, Brian actually told me an interesting story about how his pals in Mazarin received the cover tribute from their pals and tourmates the Walkmen. The tune in question is "Another One Goes By", a brilliantly simple, powerful song that would leave Bob Dylan jealous of the way it makes the everyday poignant and transcendent. Below is a live clip of the Walkmen's cover version, which turned up on their A Hundred Miles Off record.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes featuring John Mayer

the object of my unconscious malice

If you've been to a Canadian Invasion show lately, you may be aware of one of our new songs, entitled "Standing on the Shoulders of the Carcass of John Mayer." This song title, and the concept of the song itself, has taken a few people aback. "What has John Mayer ever done to you, Andy?" "What's not to like about those boyish good looks and those catchy radio songs?"

In order to set the record straight about this song, I must first tell you of a terrifyingly vivid dream I had that I was one of the guys from the documentary "American Movie":

The guys from "American Movie"

Then, in that surreally logical way that dreams work, I felt compelled to kill John Mayer out of frustration with his entire world view. After I did this, I panicked, so I buried him in the yard (like you do) and then I paved over the yard with a basketball court.



But in an ironic twist, just as the first pickup game played atop John's body concludes, my girlfriend turns on the radio and--guess what--it's John Mayer.

So that is the mystery behind my perceived Mayer misanthropy. Needless to say, I never again ate at the Mexican place I ate at the night I had that dream...

Pictures of Lily-livered Canadians

We had the pleasure of playing The Swivel Chairs' CD release party just the other night at Johnny Brenda's in Philly, so I thought I'd share with you some of the beautiful photos Emily Canadian took of me and my handsome CI compatriots.



We're busy finishing up the new album so I don't have any particularly vitriolic rants to share at the moment. In the next installment I will develop a proof to disprove the existense of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. 'Til then!

Oktomatic Seattle!

Friends, my love affair with the Oktomat camera is in full bloom. It's little more than a tiny plastic camera, but it takes 8 small photos on one 35mm negative over the course of 2.5 seconds. I've been sleeping with it under my pillow since I bought it a month ago, but I finally got to put it to good use on my recent trip to Seattle. Shortly I will regale you all with my recent exploits out West, but 'til then, please enjoy my Oktomatic expose entitled "Oktomatic Seattle!"

P.S. Yes, you may have noticed that my trip to Seattle involved some hardcore Twin Peaks-related tourism. I am unashamed. In fact, there's more to come! (evil laugh...)

Beans!

I love America, but one area we've totally blown it in is beans. This is how it's done. Rock over London. Beans, the breakfast of champions...

Why Atco?

When I occasionally step off my Learjet for an iced coffee and whatnot, people outside of New Jersey often ask, "Whaz up with Atco?"

After my "handlers" rough these people up, I usually spit on the pathetic loser as he or she begs to their God, curled up in the fetal position. But I've come to realize I've been too hard on these ignorants whose knowledge of New Jersey stretches no further than having seen a few episodes of The Sopranos. So here, at long last, is a primer on Atco, New Jersey and the special place it holds in the heart of Canadian Invasion.

Atco, New Jersey is a town of roughly 15,000 people located about 15 miles outside of Philadelphia. with beautiful pine trees, a motorsports drag strip, and an abandoned record factory among its charms. While I never lived within the borders of Atco, I've smelled the fresh pine, seen a man blow up his car (with him in it) for the amusement of young children (see clip below), and marveled at the erie factory where old vinyl rots in waterlogged boxes.



But by far the most intriguing part of Atco is the legend of the Atco Ghost. The many quests out into the pines to see this ghost appear on a lonesome highway embody something about South Jersey, something I still can't quite articulate. When we were putting together our Songs for the Atco Ghost record in rural Viriginia, the backroads that led to the studio reminded us of Atco, and the ghost, and all the other artifacts, good, bad, and indifferent, that connected to our youth in South Jersey.

So even though we're now filthy rich rockstars living in 31st floor goldplated hotel suites, there are some neat signposts of where we came from. Despite all the occult rituals that come with being a successful rock 'n' roller, I'll always cherish those nights in search of the Atco Ghost.

P.S. Atco is also featured in the greatest movie ever: Eddie & The Cruisers. I have a great Atco-related Eddie story to tell you, but you'll have to ask me about it in-person--it's not school appropriate :)

Hi!

Since I firmly believe that blogging is a unheard of endeavor sure to catch on some day and offer a brand new kind of cultural discourse, I, Andy Canadian, give you this, the new internet home for my whining about the death of American culture (as if the whining in my music wasn't bad enough).

Much in the same way Harold Bloom argues that all great writers consciously situate themselves on a continuum with the great writers of the past, I too have looked for blog inspiration:

Inspiration

Coincidently, I should note that "Continuum" is the name of John Mayer's latest record. There will be copious John Mayer slagging off in this blog. I titled one of my songs "Standing on the Shoulders of the Carcass of John Mayer" after all.

So hopefully, my incendiary prose has left you you titillated beyond all reason. Do yourself a favor: take a deep breath, fix yourself a white Russian (or another appropriate alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink), and prepare for a guided tour of the cultural end of days...