MUSIC MARATHONS

We have had a great summer of music - playing lots of shows and making friends with some great bands. It has felt like a whirlwind since the last time I updated the blog, so this is where we go from here:


We are heading up to a cottage near Huntsville today for a week of music writing! This is in advance of the recording of a new record in January. We've been working on new material for the better part of a year now, and we'll spend the next week coming up with more new songs, and getting to know one another better in a confined space! Music Marathon!

We couldn't be more excited to be working on this project. Though the record won't be done for another few months, we are in recording mode starting now! And we get to spend our days living in a cottage and taking care of a cute cat.

More to come, stay tuned!

SUMMER BULLETINS

It's summer - or it almost is, and we've been getting excited about warm weather, pools, gardens and bands.

We've got a few cool things coming up on the horizon, so I decided to get into blog mode and write about them.

Starting this week, the NXNE festival moves into Toronto's venues, and we'll be playing two shows:

Thursday June 14 at The Rivoli at 9PM
and Saturday June 16 at The Garrison at 2PM

The first is an Arts and Crafts showcase, and the second is a PWYC pop-up show which has promised caesars and tacos (yum). Any show with tacos is a good show in my mind.


Following this, we have a couple more dates in Toronto in July, then an appearance at the Hillside Festival in Guelph ON. We are extremely excited about this show. Having been to the festival as a spectator a few times, I know how fun it is to be there. Now having the opportunity to play is a mini-dream come true!

Later in the summer we'll be joining the SummerWorks theater festival's Music Series, playing the closing night party at The Great Hall on August 19. Also a great festival to be a part of. There are some great acts performing this year including Bry Webb, Hawksley Workman and The Magic.


The summer is already racing by even though we haven't even reached June 21st. We're making the most of it though - and playing in the summer rules. Here we go:

NEW YEAR'S GRIN

Happy New Year! 

2011 was an incredible year for the Rival Boys clan. We released our first full length album, played more shows than any other year in our short history (2012 will be 5 years in November!), and made new friends with some great Canadian bands.

The positive response we've been getting from our album is amazing. We are so grateful to any one who bought it, downloaded it, or came out to a show this past year. We can feel kind of insulated when we hear our old songs over and over again in our rehearsal space - so it's an excellent feeling when a people come up to you after a show and says how much they like the record. 

2012 is shaping up to be an even better year for us. We spent the fall of last year recording some demos of new songs, with the hopes of recording another full length album soon. We hope to re-enter the studio very soon to continue the pre-production of this next project. One of the tracks we recorded can now be downloaded on our bandcamp page! FREE!

Looking back on last year, here are my favourite band memories... ahh how I love looking back fondly at these moments:

The last recording session for our album! Our friends came to help sing on 'Recovery':

Releasing our record at the Garrison, our friends made this amazing cake!:

Riding back and forth on our bikes to the rehearsal space on the bike path near our house:

Seeing Wax Mannequin at Kazoo Fest in Guelph was AMAZING. Maybe the best show I've seen all year:

Playing with the dogs at the Fortnight Farm Fest in Guelph and sitting on a bale of hay at the same time was the best show environment for everyone involved. That plus free beer? The best"

Recording at Riverworks Studio! We always have awesome times with Mike Rocha:

Happy 2012!