Download Baby It's Xmas now!

Well this is it. Christmas Eve. The stockings are hung, our tummy's are filled with holiday baking, and the spiced rum is coursing through our veins like a morphine drip.

Earlier this week we spent an hour rehearsing and recording a little holiday duet written and performed by our beloved friend Julia McDougall (www.juliaandherpiano.com)

It feels a little loose and rough, but so do we after all of the festive "cheer" we've been taking in this week.

Download HERE : www.myspace.com/thelibraryvoices

Wishing all the best to you and yours,
Michael, Carl, Mike, Amanda, Paul, Eoin, Brennan, Karla, & Julia.

Happy Holidays from Library Voices (and NXEW)

Where does the time go?

Has it really been a decade since Magnetic Fields released their masterwork 69 Love Songs.

Despite the fact we're all a little grayer and a little rounder, it still feels like only yesterday we were standing on the doorstep of Y2K. Armed with bottled water and canned goods we braced ourselves for a digital meltdown. Stephen Merritt's prolific triple-album served as our soundtrack, a record so vast and comprehensive that Dave Eggers likened it to David Foster Wallace's sprawling Infinite Jest. Somehow singing along to "I Don't Want To Get Over You" just made it a little easier to swallow the fact that not only had we still not colonized space, we were still light years away from the hover-boards and time travel promised to us 15 years prior by Back To The Future.

As our gift to you, in hopes we can all share some love this holiday season, we would like you have have our rendition of the Magnetic Fields 'Book Of Love'.

Download it here.

Wishing the best to you and yours this holiday season,
Library Voices

CBC RADIO 3 BUCKY AWARD SHORT-LIST

It was announced today that we have been short-listed for a CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award in the category of "Best Live Act"

We'd be flattered if you considered taking a moment out of your day over the next week to vote on our behalf.

http://radio3.cbc.ca/buckyawards/vote

Much Love,
LV

PHOG

Some photos taken by Cristina Naccarato at the always awesome Phog Lounge in Windsor a few weeks back. She also has some great photos of Rah Rah on her blog. http://www.crustina.blogspot.com/
Oh and hey we made the CBC3 Bucky Awards Shortlist. Neato!

Home And Halloween

We are back in Regina. Thanks so much to everyone who helped make it such a wonderful tour, from Victoria to Charlottetown and back to the prairies again. We met so many wonderful people and bands and I can honestly say that every show was wonderful to play, whether it was to packed houses at the Legion in Calgary and the Seahorse Tavern in Halifax or to 20 wonderful people and bar staff in Lethbrigde. We are going to miss In-Flight Safety and Julie Fader so much! We couldn't have asked for more fantastic people to share a tour with.


What did you do for Halloween? We played a rather ridiculous party in Barrie, Ontario at The Mansion. What a night! From what I remember. Our two 'Best Ontario Friends Forever' (BOFFs?) Caitlyn and Matthew were on hand and shared this photo with us. Also, I was bored before our show in Hamilton so I recorded a Vangelis-inspired version of Kundera On The Dance Floor in our hotel bathroom. Yes, the same hotel that had the Hooters attached to it. I've called it the Kundera Caitlyn Mix. Thanks to Mike for help tweaking the keyboards and thanks to Caitlyn and Matthew for the fun times!

Check it out:
Kundera Caitlyn Mix

Montreal At Le Petit Campus

Bucky Award Nominations

It has been over 24 hours and I can still feel the effects of watching Paranormal Activity. If you have an open mind, an inclination towards fear and a yearning for being freaked out I can't recommend this movie enough. After seeing it last night I couldn't sleep for hours and wound up waking up in the bathroom of our hotel in the middle of a sleepwalk. Yikes!

As posted on our facebook, thank you to everyone who has nominated us for the CBC Radio 3 BUCKY AWARDS BEST LIVE ACT. We won a Bucky last year for Best New Band Name and it would rule to get nominated for another one. Just a reminder, to let cbc3 know who you liked seeing live the most (oh and there are also tonnes of other Bucky Award nominations that can be made) you can post on their website:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/

You can also email:
feedback@cbcradio3.com

And you can twitter. I'm not exactly sure how this whole twitter thing works yet. Maybe I'll ask Amanda about it tomorrow.

For the record here were my favorite live acts of the last year:
a.)Woodhands/The Rural Alberta Advantage (I can't choose between them for the life of me!)
b.)Zeus (eeeeggaaaddffffppptttthhh!!)
c.)Rah Rah (oh and hey you can nominate their song "Duet For Emma Lou" for the Most Canadian Song Bucky Award. I'm going to.)
d.)Great Bloomers
e.)Spiral Beach (These kids slay.)

-Carl

PS. We've all been sick at some point during this tour. Here's the aftermath from a recent show:
PPS. We recently shot a music video for Drinking Games in Regina. It should be finished in December.

MOVIE NIGHT

Tonight a few of us went and saw Paranormal Activity. The movie. And it was awesome! See it before the wave of pop culture it's riding crests and all the attentive theatergoers turn to irreverent movie-talkers.

select snapshots from the current tour

SEPT2609 ROBERTS CREEK jeff storytelling on the beach. prairie kids on the water!


SEPT2809 KELOWNA paul and jeff find & capture a black widow in the garage of the home we are staying in


SEPT2809 KELOWNA the spider is now hidden in our trailer, and trained to attack gear thieves

SEPT2809 KELOWNA the day 2 boys became men


SEPT3009 CANMORE carl redecorates the hotel room (or) wtf is brennan doing?


OCT1109 SAULT STE MARIE thanksgiving dinner. 10cent wings, karaoke, and friendship. a terrible photo but a precious memory. (that goes for most of these photos)


OCT1109 SAULT STE MARIE that night something that will never happen again occurred. LV and In-Flight Safety had a song-for-song rock-off at LopLops. This is a photo of us giving our love and encouragement to our buddies. Our collective competitive streak almost matches the love we feel for one another. almost. but not quite.



OCT1309 SOMEWHERE BETWEEN MONTREAL AND MONCTON jeff locks carl in a phone booth. typical pittstop.


OCT1509 LEAVING CHARLOTTETOWN again with the prairie kids and the water


OCT1709 TO HALIFAX a view of the maritimes from shotgun



More to come darlings. promise.
xo. manda & LV.

We Freakin' Love The Maritimes

I can't believe how awesome antibiotics are. Oh modern science. Whilst most of the band are falling like dominos to sickness I'm on day three of taking prescribed drugs and feeling better than I have in months! And just in time to take in the east coast. We played Hunter's Pub on Prince Edward Island a few nights back - fun times - and Capital Bar in Fredericton last night which was a fantastic show. Really, we can't get enough of the east coast and all the wonderful people out here! We met a lot of very nice people at last nights show including the wonderful Capitol bar staff and a nice girl named Julia who took some great pictures of the show like this one:



And this one of the end of the night when we joined In-Flight Safety for a swashbuckling rendition of Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning:



Thanks Julia!
For more of Julia's show pictures check out her flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juwhalen

Next up Moncton, more bloggery to follow.
_carlos

today we were responsible adults for an hour (or) which are good, which are bad...

Now in the maritimes! In-Flight Safety Country!

Today Brennan, Carl and Amanda went to the doctor in Moncton. We were feeling pretty under the weather as about 75% of the Library Voices/In-Flight Safety Camp has had some sort of malady since our kick-off. A big thanks to Julie Fader for the small pox (just kidding, we miss you Julie!, it's not small pox, and Carl also brought the rickets into the camp).

And an even bigger thanks to John (IFS) and his parents who put us up in Moncton last night, fed us, and gave us each our own individual bed!...that never happens on tour with 9 people. Ever. Pure luxury. This morning John's dad Bill drove us to the doctor and escorted us about the town.

Here is a photo of us outside Bill's ride (noice IFS sticker!), with all our happy new drugs. This is Carl's first time ever taking antibiotics. We'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again to the Mullanes for your beds, Thanksgiving leftovers, gas, time, patience, laundry facilities, cats, love, bathrooms, and of course your lovely son.

Take care Blogdom.
Manda. LV.

King Of Carrot Flowers

Yes sir, the blogging will be coming fast and furious now that we've rediscovered our resolve.

WINNIPEG:

Winnipeg was crazy. We rolled into town and found ourselves in the middle of a massive blizzard. After putting on all the sweaters we had with us we went to the university for a radio interview and came upon this photo:



Wow. We plan on recreating it with the In-Flight Safety gentlemen sometime in the very near future.

After the interview we played at our friend Jack's Lo Pub, easily one of our favorite venues. Between bites of their new and improved pub grub new drummer Jeff paused for this pose:



The whole night was fantastic and we set a new band record for most strings broken in a single show. Special thanks to Ricardo and Old Folks Home for their awesome performance and to the Gimli crew for coming out. And to Mike B for putting on the Pop! Et Cetera festival of which our show was a part. Can't wait for next years incarnation!

THUNDER BAY:

To be honest we were feeling a little conflicted before this show. We've played at the Apollo when we've came through Thunder Bay in the past and we've always had a wonderful time and received amazing hospitality from the owner Sheila and her mom Konstantina. We look foreward to seeing them whenever we come out east. This time however the show was booked for Jack's and despite our initial reservations it turned out to be a barn burner of a show. In-Flight Safety rocked a full house and we followed with what I remember as a sweaty blast of dancing, broken glass, singing and smiles. Thunder Bay + Saturday Night = Awesomeness. Mad Props to In-flight John for the DJ set afterward. We can't wait to play again on our way back west!

All I gots for now,
Carl & LV

Look mom....We're Blogging! (or) The Western Part

(written Tuesday October 13 2009 8:13pm)
Week 3, Blog 2. Yup. We’re on top of it.

We’ve been on the road with In-Flight Safety (and sometimes Julie Fader too!) for over 3 weeks now, and have played in venues from Victoria to Sault Ste Marie. We’re currently making the 2,121 km drive from Sault Ste Marie to Charlottetown. Nothing but time to blog! ...and the future we will be making a much more concerted effort to keep the interweb posted on what’s going on. Promise.

At the moment we’re somewhere on a wet dark highway in New Brunswick. Brennan is driving while Paul is taking a shotgun nap from their shared driving commitments. Pretty much everyone else is in nap mode, except a few on laptops. Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything is playing over the van’s shitty speakers, an audiobook that we’ve been listening to since Winnipeg. After listening to the excerpt on Newton I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m pretty sure that Isaac Newton was reincarnated as Charles Bukowski. Think about it.

The past few weeks have brought tons of good times, the kind of experiences that happen when you cram 15 artists into 2 vans, and some unseasonably cold weather. So cold. Everywhere. Various highlights from the past 3 weeks include:

· Rifflandia in Victoria. Such a great festival. We shared a bill with Zeus—their album has been in regular rotation in the van for some time now, and their live show was nothing short of wowsa.

· In Vancouver we met up with Julie Fader & In-Flight Safety. We’re so excited to find that we all get along super well, and it’d be hard to find a more genuine and fun group of people to hang out with for 5 weeks. Honest. Best ever. More of our adventures will be documented in the future.

· Also in Vancouver some of our most favorite Vancouverans (Vancouveranians? Vancouverites?...), Trio Accord, joined us on stage to play Step Off The Map and Float. It was pretty cool to play with them again, this time in their hometown, after we played with them at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

· The Little Legion in Roberts Creek is always a great time. We got to see our dear and much-missed friend Liam, and of course we filled up on a Gumboot breakfast before hitting the ferry.

· In Kelowna, we played at the ever-evolving Habitat. Every time we play there, it looks better and better from the time before. The next morning Paul and Jeff became men. They found a Black Widow in the garage of the home we were staying in, captured it, and now it lives in our van and is trained to kill any intruders. Be warned. Library Voices will not be robbed again.

· Calgary was rad. We played with some of the best bands touring around Canada right now. Spiral Beach, Two Hours Traffic, and of course In-Flight Safety were also on the bill. Check out Spiral Beach’s new album. It just came out.

· We played 2 shows in hometown Regina, where party times never disappoint. One night was at the Exchange, the other at O’Hanlon’s. It was good to be home for a couple nights and see some familiar faces, do some laundry, and get our poop in a group for the trip out East.

Along with those shows the Western leg of our tour included shows in Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Canmore and Edmonton. Each show had some great highlights, but the risk of droning on boring your pants off (hate for you to be at work with no pants. No point in getting fired over it), I’ll stop here. You can use your imagination, maybe write a short story compilation based on your musings, get it published, and quit that shitty job where you have to wear pants. My gift to you.

We’ll post again tomorrow to let the Kingdom of Blog know about what’s been up on the Eastern leg that we’ve travelled thus far. Photos, anecdotes, notes and lists will be posted in the upcoming days while we visit the Maritimes, while we make a genuine effort to get out of our heads and into your computer.

Lots of love.

Manda. LV.

Where does the time go? (or) California Roll vs. Lobster Roll

We've been meaning to blog. Really we have.

We are now entering week 3 of our cross Canada tour with In-Flight Safety and Julie Fader. I can't think of a better group of individuals on earth to spend time with. With the west coast behind us now we start to make our way toward the maritimes, and In-Flights home turf. An East coast/West coast feud in Canada just doesn't have the same gusto as Tupac vs. Biggie. It's more like sushi vs. lobster.

The gentlemen in IFS have been keeping a blog for Exclaim. Be sure to check it out! We also found out today that they've drawn a winner in our Exclaim/Gibson guitar giveaway contest. We're hoping we can get some photos of the winner with his new ax to post on the website.

Last night we played a surprise show for a few friends at our local watering hole here in Regina.
Our friend Chris was kind enough to take a some photos.

Show added = Halloween in Barrie!

Library Voices
Oct. 31st
The Mansion
Barrie, On
(34 Dunlop Street East)
19+

EDMONTON SHOW MOVED TO HAVEN!

Dear Champion City,
Just letting you know our show on FRIDAY, OCT 2 w/ In-Flight Safety & Julie Fader has been moved to Haven Social Club ((15120 A Stony Plain Road)

Hope to see you there!

Love,
LV

Fall Tour w/ In Flight Safety & Julie Fader

Library Voices Fall Tour.
*w/ In Flight Safety
# w/ Julie Fader
Aug 21 – Steep Rock, MB. - Chris & Rae’s wedding
Sept 4 – Regina, SK – The Exchange w/ VIC & Lazy MKs
Sept 11 – Regina, SK – U of R Welcome Week (acoustic)
Sept 12 – Saskatoon, SK – Louie’s w/ Volcanoless In Canada
Sept 17 – Brandon, MB – Western Canadian Music Awards
Sept 18 – Brandon, MB – Western Canadian Music Awards
Sept 19- – Brandon, MB – Western Canadian Music Awards
Sept 20 – Brandon, MB – Western Canadian Music Awards
Sept 25 – Victoria, BC – @ Sugar ( Rifflandia Fest ) w/ Zeus & Cuff The Duke
Sept 26 – Roberts Creek, BC – The Legion w/ Matt Goud
Sept 27 – Vancouver, BC – The Media Club *#
Sept 28 – Kelowna, BC – Habitat *#
Sept 30 – Canmore, BC – Communitea Cafe *#
Oct 2 – Edmonton, AB – Flow Lounge & Grill *#
Oct 3 – Calgary, AB – Legion #1 w/ Two Hours Traffic & Spiral Beach *#
Oct 4 – Lethbridge, AB – Henotic *
Oct 6 – Regina, SK – The Exchange *
Oct 7 – Saskatoon, SK – Amigos *
Oct 9 – Winnipeg, MB – Lo Pub *
Oct 10 – Thunder Bay, ON – Jacks *
Oct 11 – Sault Ste Marie, ON – LopLops *
Oct 14 – Charlottetown, PEI – Hunters Ale House * w/ Milks & Rectangles
Oct 15 – Fredericton, NB – Capital Bar * w/ Milks & Rectangles
Oct 16 – Moncton, NB – Paramount Lounge * w/ Milks & Rectangles
Oct 17 – Halifax, NS – The Seahorse Tavern * w/ Milks & Rectangles
Oct 20 – Montreal, QUE – Le Petit Campus *#
Oct 21 – Kingston, ON - The Living Room *#
Oct 22 – TBA
Oct 23 - TBA
Oct 24 – London, ON - Call The Office
Oct 25 – Windsor, ON - Phog Lounge
Oct 26 – Guelph, ON - U of G Center (noon)
Oct 27 - Hamilton, ON – The Casbah - *#
Oct 28 – Guelph, ON – The E Bar *#
Oct 29 – Toronto, ON – El Mocambo *#
Oct 30 – Ottawa, ON – The Live Lounge *#
...More dates coming soon!

Performing @ Carl's brothers wedding. Congrats Daniel & Candice.

LV set @ Virgin Music Fest Calgary.

Calgary bound - now with less Stampede.

Hello All,
Just wanted to drop you a little note to let you know that we've made it home safely and have been nestled into our humble abodes for a couple of days now. A couple days rest does the body a lot of good, but now we're off again.... Sunday we're playing Virgin Fest in Calgary. Other artists include, Metric, White Lies, Tokyo Police Club, and the band we're most excited about seeing Shout Out Out Out Out. We play at 6:10 sharp. Hope to see you there.

Above photo by Pete Nema @ The Horseshoe in TO. Thanks Pete!

Overdue Update

Windsor
Windsor was not our most densely populated show ever, but the people there were amazing and it was a blast to play for them. Afterwards sound guy Ryan 'Power Dealz' Drabble put on Michael Jackson and everyone jumped on stage and started playing along.

CHECK IT

A few of us sat by the river and stared at Detroit later that night. A photo of the lights can be found at our exclaim blog i believe. One will magically appear here in the future as well.

Montreal: A Night Off In Pictures

Karla got a suprise from a weird dude with one of those spider head massage things.


Didgeridon't.


Perhaps due to the Just For Laughs comedy festival we came across a street downtown that was completely covered in spray foam.


I got foam on my shoes.


And on my head.


Karla, the lovely ex-Reginian Dara, Ryan and a glowing yellow orb along la rue St. Denis.


Umm...


Ahh...


Had a few drinks.


And some more cheese curds(!).


Then finished the night off with poutine.


Thank you Montreal! We had a wonderful time.