Newmarket this saturday

I don't think I've ever even been to Newmarket, maybe drove close to it on the way to the cottage or something, but we're playing there. This Saturday, February 3, 2007 we'll be at the Spotlight Theatre in beautiful (I'm assuming) downtown Newmarket. Spark assures me it's going to be huge...

Recording update and Brads Top 10 of 2006

OK I know we all aren't as "quirky" and "creative" as Senior Montoya Sparklebons (he lives in Toronto) so I am going to give you the straight goods as to whats been happening since we entered the studio on Oct. 28, 2006.

We have enlisted the pro-tool master talents of Charles Moniz to engineer and co-produce the record. Charles is a long time friend and band mate and now of course the Bass player of Avril Lavigne which is pretty gay for a hardcore band but pretty cool otherwise! We have been holed up in Charles studio for the last 3 months and are nearing the end.

This is a slightly different process then we are used to as we've always had the luxury of taking a month off to do this full time. However now in the world of "reality" we all now work, so its been a logistical nightmare fitting in the sessions between work, wives and home improvements. We however have not let the grips of mundane life interfere with the surgical precision being implemented on this project.

When we set out to lay down the last 2 and a half years of being a band down to just 10 songs on a 30 minute disc we all agreed that this would be our most critically judged disc (by ourselves)and decided that we would make it as perfect as possible. What does this mean? Well it means being put under the microscope by the extremely sensitive ears of Charles Moniz (sometimes taking 3 days to finish 1 guitar rhythm track). However more importantly to you, it means audio perfection as well as more mosh for your buck! In all seriousness its the most work we have all put into a record and we hope all the hard work shows.

We just finished guitar tracking and now are in the starting stages of vocals. Album should drop by June 07 and although we've gone back and forth I still cannot release the name of the fine label(s) putting this out just yet, but all details will be revealed soon including a future masterpiece of a cover by Matt Jones that blew me away in just the baby stages of work. Its gonna be good trust me.

Anyhow we will have video of the sessions and some candid pics soon enuff for you all!

In closing I will present my "better late then never" top 10 of 2006.

10)Hot dogs
9)Killswitch live - Elements Kitchener
8)Children of Bodom: Chaos Ridden Years DVD
7)My Ipod
6)Martin Brodeur - still the best!
5)Killswith Engage - As Daylight Dies
4)Birth of my nephew Keegan
3)Soldano Avenger
2)Esp Viper Standard
1)Hot dogs

Brad "The Spazman" Casarin

THE BIG UPDATE

Fuck updates!
I'm sick of being all "blablalbla we're recording blablalbla" fuck what boring shit.
I know you all want to hear about what I'M DOING. Well let me tell you cuz this blog needs some intersting shit in it. Peep this. I've been working hard the last 5 years on my zine that is gonna blow your mind. It was called Carry On Pickpocket but I think i'm changing it to Ghetto Ditch Pig. Shit just has more punch!

So I'm gonna post a rough story I've been working on for the zine about this dude I keep seeing on the subway that has the biggest head i've seen. I just saw him yesterday and we made eye contact and I started laughing because I had just finished writing this and thought I'd probably never see him again. It's not cool to look at someone and start laughing (but still funny none the less) but fuck man I couldn't help myself! BLAMO! There he was, in all his glory! BIG HEAD WITH A BIG COMBOVER. God damn. Ok without further adieu - Enjooooy!

So today I saw him again. The guy. The guy that easily has the biggest head I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes. Hell, maybe even the biggest head I’ve seen with my own two eyes, on tv and in a book. I even sometimes doubt it when I look away, then think, “fuck dude, you better look again just to make sure” and dammit, sure enough, it is one massive head. I call him The Brain. This dude must be so fucking smart. Like reads three books at once, works on algarythms and thinks chess is for pussies. Then I’m starting to wonder if because his brain is so big maybe he’s psychic. And everytime I wonder if someone can read my mind I start thinking about boners. Jesus Christ. Which is total bullshit because I’m not a homo, I’m all about tits, swear to god. If this guy was so smart though, would he be wearing Velcro shoes? Maybe he’s not so smart, maybe I shouldn’t call him The Brain. But maybe HE IS SO SMART – Velcro shoes? HELLO ultimate time saver because he doesn’t have time to waste on stupid fucking shoe laces!

Spark's TOP TEN 2006

Well, I guess this should have been done yesterday, but better late than never!
It's 6pm and I'm finally seeing straight and still trying to remember how the fuck I got home last night. Thanks to Keri and Michelle for taking such good care of me and making a wonderful breakfast.
ANYWAYS - ON TO THE LIST!!!
2006 was a fantastic year of the lord and I'm going to take this opportunity to share some of my TEN PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS of the year. Drumroll! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Sparkie Clarkie's Top Ten for 2006 are ...
#10 - The Book Club for Men
#9 - Explosions
#8 - Beer
#7 - 3 Days of John Joseph - American HC at filmfest, spoken word, then FVK
#6 - Gorilla Buiscuits Reunion
#5 - Front row for Slayer
#4 - Lifetime live and 7"
#3 - Freedom Haters Bicycle Club
#2 - Seeing the Cuban National Baseball team play in Havana
and the #1 person, place, thing of 2006
MASSIMO'S PIZZA FUCK I"M SUCH A PIG

Top Tens of 2006

So this will be the first of (hopefully) 5 top ten lists from everyone in the band. It's a busy time of year and we're still chugging away in the studio trying to get the record done, but look out for lists coming from the other guys over the next couple of weeks. But let me kick this off...

Matt's Top Ten of 2006
1. Getting Engaged - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (so emo)
2. Grade Reunion Show - Opera House, Toronto
3. Lamb of God - Sacrament
4. Lifetime - 2 Songs 7"
5. Killswitch Engage Live - Elements, Kitchener, ON
6. Gorilla Biscuits Reunion - The Phoenix, Toronto
7. Inflames - Come Clarity
8. Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
9. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
10. The Haunted - The Deadeye

Texas ...

So while all those suckers were holed up in a basement studio, I, along with a few others drove down to NYC to see Texas is the Reason's 10 yr anniversary of Do You Know Who You Are? I think I'll pass on the nostalgia and stories of first listening to this band. What is really important is letting all the kids out there know that Santa is in fact a black man. I did not know this. He is not from the north pole but plays the keyboard on St. Marks. I asked him if he knew whether I'd been naughty or nice to which he replied "wwahahahah mee deebeebpidodo!" BUSTED! I still have 25 days to get it together. I then asked his elf who was playing the bass what it's like working for Santa and all he could do was ask me for money. Not really sure what that was all about but I gave him a buck in front of black Santa so I really think there's a good chance I will get Wii with three games hopefully. My apartment doesn't have a chimeny but it shouldn't be an issue.

In other news Texas Is the Reason was great. Moving vehicles put me to sleep in 47 seconds. Rob got mugged and was bitten by a nyc rat the size of a dog. I also slept with a ghetto ditch pig. STREETS OF HATE!

THE BIG TIME

That's right! After two years, we've finally made it! You can't see it in the picture but just to the left of that dude in the bandana was seriously about a hundred kids waiting in line. Ok fine just to the left of that dude was a guy walking his dog picking up it's shit. We tore up Peterborough a few days ago with our good friends in 'BOWT TO SNAP and new friends in 3 Point Stance and there was another band called what the shit but we were at a bar when they played. NOT COOL. Regardless it was a good time and this band definitely gets me laid alot.

Important news! We are for serious recording right now, shit is laid down as I type and there will be another supremely amazing blog that I will write about it with great pictures probably of me singing shirtless and with a horrible beard. Something for everyone to look forward to!

Stay tuned!

Black Eyes and Broken Bones Comp

Get ready for the newest cd compilation from Under Pressure records, after 4 succesful english all canadian hip-hop compilations and one french hip-hop compilation we went back to our punk roots. We decided it was time to reach out to our extended hardcore family and release our first all canadian hardcore compilation entitled Black Eyes & Broken Bones. This compilation features 31 groups from across Canada including the likes of COMEBACK KID, TO THE LIONS, FUCKED UP, CANCER BATS, FINAL WORD, VIDEO DEAD, CURSED, CONFINE, ARISE & RUIN, and A PERFECT MURDER. This compilation will be available for free on the cover of issue #12 of Under Pressure magazine and will also be distributed at Vans Warped Tour and Exclaim's Agressive Tendencies Tour. You will also be able to find this comp at hardcore shows across Canada, where some of the bands on this compilation will be performing, so don't forget to keep your eyes out at the merch table.
For futher info on this compilation release contact karyn@underpressure.ca

Track 23 - TO THE LIONS - Ride the Apocalypse

The real update

The real news this week is we're starting to record our first full length CD October 28th! It's going to be 10 or 11 songs, with a few from the demo rerecorded and 7 brand new songs that'll melt your face and cause spontaneous throwdowns.

Oh yeah, and we're playing with some band called Hatebreed in London on October 26th. It's at Cowboys (aka The Drink) with Sworn Enemy and Scars of Tomorrow. That place is not that big, so I'd think it'll sell out pretty quick. You'll probably have to get tickets soon if you haven't already. And we basically started this band 2 years ago just to play this show, so we're stoked.

Beer bottle solo

We haven't had an update here for a while (again! what's up "Master of the Blog"??) So here's a short little clip from a show at the Underground in Hamilton a couple weeks ago. It's only 1:30 long but Brad shows off a wicked improv beer bottle slide guitar solo. What you don't see on screen is our wasted friend Jerry shoving a Bud into Brad's hand mid song, what else can you do but slide solo??

Sudden Impact reunion!

September 22nd we're playing with 80's legends Sudden Impact in Toronto. This one will bring out the old timers for sure. There may be a cane check at the front door, and for once I definitely won't be the oldest guy at the show. Brad's stoked because DRI was on the same label. And another badass flyer...

Sneaky Disease Video

Gotta admit YouTube is pretty rad when you can do stuff like this. This is from our first Toronto show back in January at Sneaky Dee's with Cancer Bats. Thanks to Trevor Ydreos for the video...

SPARKIE'S UPDATE - FOR SERIOUS

Ok so I've decided to do a real update on this band because I think there are actually five people out there (not in the band) who actually might be interested in what is going on/happened to us in the last while.

Basically that picture sums up what has been going on with us lately. 3/5 of To The Lions played in Grade, two of them were in the reunion and a few weeks back they pleyed a sweet show at the Opera House in Toronto. Although I'm not sure what was sweeter the show or that Into Another tattoo. So over the last 3+ months they had been jamming alot in order to put that all together which left To The Lions pretty much on a break.

So that is done with now and we are practicing again, writing new jams and getting ready to put out a new recording. That is the priorty for the fall. We also have some shows coming up so check that out.

Sept 7 2006 - Hamilton at Sonic Unyon
Sept 22 2006 - Toronto at Sneaky Dees
Sept 30 2006 - Burlington at Formac

There you have it. Hardly any jokes but now you know we're not dead. Come out to our shows and I'll tell you the one about the three midgets on a rowboat.
Sparkout.

Oh yeah I gotta say those pics I think came from Billy Hamilton of Silverstein, so thanks even though I emailed them/him and never heard back (ok i emailed him like 2hrs ago) CHECK YOUR MYSPACE YOU ROCKSTAR ASSHOLE!

Sparkie Clarkie - Master of the Blog

Holy shit. What has happened to this blog?!
Not to worry. Things are going down, for instance, I spent the day on the beach.
THAT IS HARDCORE.
Why?
Because I wore my Integrity 2000 tshirt that was handed down from big brother brad.
Anyways I know thousands of people check this daily so I will give you the heads up if you don't see any new lions tracks you will get some fantastic blogs!
BUT you will see some new tracks so hold tight.

Shout outs to Petey, Ray-Ray and Morton.
Sparkout.

Apocalypse Montreal

Lookout frenchies we're coming! This sunday March 26th we're playing our first out of province show in beautiful Montreeeeal. And what an awesome show to do it at. Paint it Black is one my favorite hardcore bands of the last 5 years, and Lifetime and Kid Dynamite are 2 of my favorite bands EVER, so yeah I'm pretty excited. I want a picture with Dan Yemin (Gordie Ball I'm looking in your direction!).
And not only that, but we have so many friends up there, and friends coming with us to make the weekend awesome, we've already named it "Apocalypse Montreal". We're actually going to be in town from Friday to Monday so look out for us in the bars and breakfast places.

AND we've got a bunch of shows coming up in the next couple of months, a new website on the way, 2 releases in the works and total world domination.

The Lions Den report

Wassssssss upppppppppppp!!!!

Hello people. We are not dead. We are holed up in the Den writing for our debut full-length. We have compiled over 15 songs which we hope to have sorted out in the next couple months. We are 95% sure on the label who will be putting the record out, and lets just say we couldn't be more stoked!!! We are in fact super stoked.

Some show announcements to come and please hang with us if your in Montreal on the 26th with Paint it Black. Should be good times.

Anyway take care and please, please, please listen to "the Gathering"

special thanks to Matthew Jones.

The Spazman

In Flames rules

That is all.

Live on U of T Radio

Back in January we were invited in to CIUT the University of Toronto college radio station to do a live set and interview with Stephe Perry as I mentioned a little while ago on the blog. This week we got our hands on a copy of the songs and interview and I've posted them on the website. There are two new songs in the live set and 4 from the demo. We think Stew the sound engineer might have been high when he recorded these, but he still pulled it off. And this is the live feed that went right to air, no mixing or post production so it's pretty raw sounding, in a good way. My favorite part is probably when Brad and Steve's amps switch sides from left to right in Fallen, hahaha, but no one except us will ever know.

The interview is a marathon, clocking in at 53:35, and it's a pretty big file but funny as hell and it will give you a pretty good idea what we're all about. Thanks again to Stephe and Stew for all their hard work getting this to us so quickly!

First review...

Aversiononline has posted a nice review of our demo on their site. We've all been reading Andrew's website/blog for quite a while, so to get a review like that (for a demo!) from someone who obviously understands what we're trying to do and really "gets it" is awesome. Thanks Andrew!

And he has tons awesome unreleased, live and rare songs to download in MP3, plus reviews of lots of newer releases. I highly recommend downloading all the Handsome songs he posted a while back. A totally underrated band that was way ahead of its' time.

Lost Venues in Southern Ontario - WHOS EMMA

At the intersection of Nassau and Augusta throughout the 90s was this little super crusty record store called WHOS EMMA. I didn’t like buying records there because there was a guy with a tusk through his septum working the cash. This store definitely had a very PC feel to it (you know … WHOS EMMA, if you don’t know who that is just google “emma”). Anyhow, my friends and I liked Integrity and that wasn’t cool apparently because dwid punched out some girl. But I heard she was trash and deserved it so what’s the big deal. So one thing was for sure, you could always find an Ignite release there and that was not a bad thing, until you went to an Ignite show and saw what a bunch of assholes those guys were. Fuck that band! At the back of WHOS EMMA there was this trap door which lead … TO A DUNGEON. Just kidding. It lead to the basement which was all cement and was totally dank and when bands played there it got so hot the paint came alive and got all over you.

The one thing that stands out most to me about WHOS EMMA as a venue for shows was that I hated watching bands but loved playing there. The best part was all you needed was 40 people to show up and the place was fucking packed. And as much as I say I hated going to shows there, I seem to remember some pretty memorable ones that came through. Definitely (although I wasn’t there) Trial playing to Gavel and Haliachuk must have been a great time. But off the top of my head, in this pretty much 10X18 (roughly?) space Shai Hulud, Ten Yard Fight, Time Flies, Ire, Dilligner Escape Plan, Botch, Day Of Mourning, A Death for Every Sin, Overcast, Skycamefalling, Twelve Tribes, Good Clean Fun, only to name a whole bunch. I’m sure I’m missing lots so lay them out in the comments.

So to sum it up: WHOS EMMA – great cuz it was pretty much free and you could put on a show any day of the week. Not so great because Lisa Lionleg would always try to sell you stale cookies or you’d have to listen to some crappy pc vinyl record when all I wanted was MY CALIFORNIA TAKEOVER CD FUUUUUCK! MORE SONGS WITH TONY VICTORY SINGING!