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7.THE CORAL 3

The Coral have been blasting out some fine alternative rock from England since ’96. Their 8th full length record came out last month called Distance Inbetween.

My wife’s name is Coral…so I always perk up when an email from The Coral’s hype team shows up in the inbox.

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Let’s keep it British… must be all the History of England podcasts I’m listening to or Pillars of the Earth I’m reading.

Catfish the Bottlemen have a new single called “7.” Now here;’s the thing music promoters….it drives me nuts when you send me an email to blog a song but the song doesn’t exist anywhere. Like what are you even doing? Why would you send me an email to post, but then have nothing to post? Soundcloud…soundcloud. Youtube if you must (but Hype Machine doesn’t read the youtube embeds off my blog).

I like the band so I punched around to find a version of the song…so I guess your mind games worked? Fuck me.

New record is called The Ride and it’s out on May 27th.

Here’s the band playing their new single “7” in a “live lounge” setting for Portland’s KINK.

Love the song. Love the band.

Also colour me new…I had no idea there were two modern rockers in Portland. I always jam 94/7 Alternative Portland. Huh.

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In other news… It has been straight up summer in Vancouver the past few days. Mid to high 20s in April….fufffffffffff.

Go with yourself.

expo 86

My buddy Alex posted on his Facebook that he discovered an “almost mint condition” Expo ’86 poster cleaning out his parent’s place.

Nice. He was giving it away, so I met him downtown today and he gave it to me! Amazing.

Thanks Alex! We met at a taco shop on Hastings called La Taqueria. It is Taco Wednesday? 6 tacos for the price of 4. And they had horchata on  the menu. Wait…doesn’t Vampire Weekend sing about horchata? Yes, side one, track one from their 2010 record Contra. After indulging…I get it, delicious.

Go with yourself.

temper trap

Aussie modern rockers The Temper Trap have a new record called Thick as Thieves out on June 10th (hey same day as Kongos!)…..

The first single is called “Fall Together.” Good song…. the themes seem to fit the idea of “thick as thieves.”

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Weekend was mighty! Starting to feel like summer already out here in Vancouver.

Coral and I rented a house back on April 1st…so were are getting all settled in. Need more furniture, but for the most part it looks good.

On Sunday we went out to Richmond’s Terra Nova Adventure Play area place. Awesome park!

Go with yourself.

kongos take it from me.jpg

Phoenix AZ modern rockers Kongos have a new song for us (actually it came out on Friday). New record is called Egomaniac and it’s out on June 10th. The song is called “Take It From Me.” Has a nice deep bounce and drives along at slow to mid-tempo. Sounds almost like it wants to be a running song.

Go with yourself.

free hugs

After my radio show the other evening, I came across Samareh and her “Free Hugs” sign and I asked her what’s up…..

The hug was pretty good. Not like Holy Wayne from the Leftovers change you life…but a solid 7/10, would recommend.

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Screwing around at the radio station…we’re all butt hurt that we aren’t lighting money on fire in the desert in California this weekend. Maybe you are too?

Go with yourself.

glitter rose

Glitter Rose found me on Facebook and sent over a song for us to check out from her record Outlaw In Love.

Adam from the Jeff O’Neil Show walked in while hacking together a blog post and was like, “oh what is the guitar rocker? Old school Alanis vibes”

Then he was impressed that I knew how to “embed into my posts.”

It’s not that impressive, WordPress does all the heavy lifting.

https://twitter.com/glitterrosetx/status/718124122195136512

Go with yourself.

tall tree header

And would you look at that…your friendly neighbourhood music blogging DJ is jamming a set on Thursday!

Tall Tree is called a “boutique” music festival….I guess. It’s a crazy time. If you can get to the West Coast of Vancouver Island at the end of June, do it! There ain’t many music festivals going like it.

When I walked into CFOX today, the music director Britters and producer Jamie were talking about the lineup. They both were excited to see Dirty Radio on the list. I wasn’t familiar.

Oh that’s fun, I can see how people will be able to get down to these guys on the side of Brown’s Mountain!

https://www.instagram.com/p/4iFDhZJIFh/?taken-by=leannegreencreative

https://www.instagram.com/p/zihdmhJIEJ/?taken-by=leannegreencreative

Like I said, the Festival is nuts. Hit Tall Tree’s instgram to see how they’ve captured the energy and vibes.

See you out there.

machete

This Machete character doesn’t believe in social media…and god bless’em for it. Like this cut of Rage Against The Machine!

Go with yourself.

hot hot heat

Hot Hot Heat have a fifth and final record to put a bow on a career that began in Victoria back in 1999. The first single is “Kid Who Stayed In The Picture.” Steve Bays says the song is about “parting ways with a best friend.”

In the years since the heights of Hot Hot Heat fame, Steve Bays has been in Vancouver. He produces other bands, and works with so many of Vancouver’s alt-rock groups. He also took part in Mounties (fellow Mountie Ryan Dahle helped produce this new HHH s/t record). Mounties had a minor hit ’round these parts called “Headphones.”

I can’t help but think that all the writing and song creation with other bands hasn’t filtered into this new song. It is a tight and bright altrerna-pop song.

Singer Steve Bays said in a press release: “To be able to tour from 1999 to 2014 and play hundreds of shows a year was amazing. It changed all of our lives. It was the greatest experience I could ever imagine. I can relate to our fans and I respect our fans. They are the kind of people I’d hang out with. I’m proud of every single record, and of finding the ground between making it challenging and fresh, but also not being afraid to be entertaining and put on a crazy show. Every show we ever did was just a total high energy spectacle and that’s a great legacy to have.”

Go with yourself.

me and Coral in Vegas

Coral and I are going to back to Las Vegas in June and I am amped! It’ll be our first time there together since we got married in 2009.

I’ve looking up some fun places ( I hope) to check out. I’ve been to Vegas a few times, Coral has been twice, so we’ve done *most* of the more affordable tourist stuff. Coral wants to see a show (we’re not sure what) and I’ll see if any touring bands are in town to check out.

A big part of our trip will be rest and sun. We’ve been going pretty hard for the past year and Coral has been hustling as a stay-at-home Mom…so pool, sun, palm trees and cocktails are priority one. Sweating on the gulag march down the strip in June is low on the list.

I do like to seek out some fun and interesting places to enjoy a pint. I find the best places in Vegas tend to be downtown. Away from the Strip, Las Vegas is like any other city. There are some hip joints serving up good food and drink for a reasonable price when you get away from the tourists.

Here are three places I am excited to check out this go around.

01) The Griffin (511 Fremont Street, Downtown)

I’ve been to this place before and it was pretty groovy. You get a decent cocktail and a normal American price. It was the first time I had drank anywhere in Vegas that had a good beer list. Good energy, good vibe, and not a far wander away from the tourist part of the Fremont Strip. (man, I sound like Jim Benning, The Griffin is real good. Real good.)

Happy Hour (Su-Th 10-11PM) is a good idea:  Well drinks are $3. Hamm’s beer is $1. Either one will keep you warm by the fireplace.

02) Beer Garden (1 S. Main Street, Downtown)

Never been here…so I am going to check this place based on the hype. Drink beer, outside on a real grass lawn. I like that idea.

03) Park on Fremont (506 Fremont, Downtown)

Looks like Coral and I will start a little bar crawl at Main then work our way down Fremont to the other end of the strip (and likely duck into at least one tourist place for a sugary cocktail or an ABC for a tall can).

Park shows up on a bunch of lists for having a chief patio (and good beer selection). I love the desert heat and I love patio beers. Can’t wait to check this place out.

Happy Hour (M-F 4P-7P) doesn’t suck: The Fremont East watering hole is big on bar-food snacks. The Mac & Cheese Balls, Chicken Bar Bites, Garbage Fries, fried pickles, and chicken wings are all each $5. Drinks include $3 well cocktails, $4 domestic draft beers, and $5 draft beers.

This one is kinda cheating because it is Fremont AT Las Vegas Boulavard….but you know we ARE TOURISTS….so it’s OK if every moment isn’t some authentic life experience trouncing around back streets of Vegas.

We’ll also hit the Outlets I’m sure. And Blondie’s legendary all you can drink Happy Hour. Coral wants to wander down to Mandalay Bay at some point to go to Border Grill.

Coral also likes her Caesars which in Amurika are called Bloody Marys. I’m sure we’ll find something interesting (or silly).

Oh right! Neon Graveyard! Coral wanted to go here. I think this will be part of the Downtown day.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_XuTFluOc7/?tagged=neongraveyard

and maybe a ghost town tour?

When I think of a Vegas song… I hear the beginning (about a minute in) part of this Chainsmokers song as the soundtrack to one of those “Vegas Party” video montages.

Go with yourself.