Hamilton Trading Company CD Release Party

...was a huge success. Many people turned up at the Boat. Many people brought baked goods (always a yummy surprise). The opening band Cigarettes sent chills up my spine, as guitarist Brad Casey masterfully dodged every "Happy Birthday" that was sent his way (he turns 26, by the way.). HTC had the full choir of twenty people out this time, and for a change we sang on the floor in two rows instead of on stage. the audience was great, listening attentively the whole time. The Sleepless Nights, our tour buddies, closed for us again with an energetic rock show that ended with HTC crowding on stage, dancing and singing the chorus as two or three spontaneous drummers jumped on stage and played along in an percussive explosion. At one point, the guitarist kept his feedback on, walked off stage, disappeared, reappeared having left his guitar still ringing *somewhere* in the bar (my guess is in the bathroom?) and joined us back on stage in time for the final chorus. Now that's a dance party. I can't wait to see how things will go tomorrow night in Montreal, our last stop on tour...

Hammer time.

My band played in Hamilton tonight along with the Halifax indie band The Sleepless Nights. It was our first time in Hamilton, which is kind of funny because our band is called the Hamilton Trading Company.

Here is the totality of my experiences with Hamilton:

1. Age one: we move to Hamilton. My father is dissatisfied with his program at McMaster, and his bike is stolen. Upset at the city, we move away before I have the chance to form any memories of the Hammer.

2. Age eighteen: we drive down to Hamilton with my best friends to see Godspeed You Black Emporer performing at the tivoli theatre. It was a good show, but I don't remember why we decided to go to Hamilton when we could have caught GYBE in montreal which was much closer and didn't involve a lot of sad malls where all the stores were closing down.

3. Age twenty four: I speak at a conference at McMaster. Nothing of mine is stolen. I discover that Steeltown's university is actually quite pretty.
4. Then we come to the present day, age twenty-five. When we pulled into town, Hamilton greeted us with a giant fire. I'm not quite sure what was on fire. It looked like a factory. I hope it was supposed to be like that.

I had basically pulled out of a music project that was essentially a marathon of learning thirty songs in thirty days
and pulling off a crazy performance that finally ended this week. HTC had been on tour in the east coast all this time, adventures that I'd missed out on, but now that my commitments with the MT band was finally over, I joined the other band in
time for their Hamilton leg of the tour. It wasn't easy though. Despite plugging the damn address into the GPS and looking up the address on my iPhone, we still
got horribly lost. That's because Hamilton has a King Street East, which turns into King Street West, which then turns into King Street East again. Dear Hamilton: this is a little confusing.

We played at Club Absinthe, which actually served absinthe, including the hard core stuff from the Czech Republic. Our set went all right, although I was reminded painfully of the fact that it had been weeks since I last performed with this band. Also, I had spent so much time barking orders at my other band that my voice was quite hoarse, which only worked out for this gig because I sing the male parts now. The Sleepless Nights, who were touring with us all this time, put on a fantastic set to no one's surprise. They had enough high energy to get the crowd dancing, even if it was 2AM and we were feeling quite tired (at least I was - but then I'm old).

The downstairs of the club featured a dance floor, which was quite nice if you wanted a break from the rock musc - at least until you remember that there's a reason why I was glad to leave Europe - I hate house music. Still, their bartender provided much entertainment for me, keeping me wondering if the bartender was a man in drag or just a girl dressed like a strange hooker to induce tips.

I went on a walk to explore more of Hamilton, but the only sightseeing tip I had was from a buddy who told me not to go to the strip clubs on this street. So my walk was short. On our way home we realized that the distance from Hamilton to toronto is exactly the length of the Romeo and Juliet film soundtrack. It was a Leo-licious ride. Tomorrow we are back in Toronto again for our CD release party, and then we play a show in Montreal for Tuesday. After that is my reading week which I will be spending in Shoal Harbour, Newfoundland, learning the special ways of the Newfies, and also making a giant sculpture of butt with all the snow they got. So stay tuned: I may be back in Canada for a while but i've still got a lot of adventures to come. Remember, the last time my band went to Montreal, we were robbed three times in an hour, so the story goes.

Hamilton Trading Company at the Smiling Buddha

I guess it's a little weird to review your own band, but since I took a leave of absence from the Hamilton Trading Company while I travelled around the world for eight months I think it's okay to describe how much I enjoyed the show.

The 18 piece choir band fronted by Keith Hamilton has certainly kept busy in the eight months. During this time they:

....was featured as New Music Track of the Day on CBC Radio 3...

....played at Bruce McDonalds' wedding (yes, the Bruce McDonald, Canadian director extraordinaire)

...made a music video directed by Bruce McDonald in an old church in the country...

....had an article in Exclaim...

....was interviewed and played on Amanda Putz's CBC Radio One show Bandwidth...

....and probably other stuff I haven't found out about. They've clearly been working on new songs, which sound heartwarming and haunting at the same time - which is kind of their style. Their performance at the Smiling Buddha last night was the first show I got to see as an audience member since I first moved to Toronto. It was a good show; lots of people coming out and sticking around, even though the band didn't come on till well after midnight. The band managed to captivate the entire bar's attention; despite being packed, there was total silence during the quiet songs and some dancing during the faster ones. It was probably the right crowd for the sort of experimental choir work the band does; there were so many young people barefoot in dreadlocks and long flowy skirts and drawings on their faces that I could have sworn I was on a Vancouver beach, not in Toronto's Little Italy in the dead of winter. this meant that the cover of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" went well, as did the use of speakerphone feedback as an instrument. That's the cool thing about hippie types. They're pretty open minded.

HTC still had a lot of exciting events planned, including a cross-Canada tour and a CD release party for their EP produces by Lowell Sostomi of the Great Bloomers. Members Keith and Duffield will also have their hands full as their other band, the Diableros, head for Austin, Texas for the epic music event SXSW. Most important in HTC news, however: long lost member Gloria will finally rejoin the group, hereby upping the band's nerd factor (rumoue has it she brings textbooks to gigs)...