Importing Our Own

I just picked up the July issue of Exclaim which contains an interesting article about how many Canadian musicians find they get more attention from international labels then Canadian labels. They cite examples such as London Ontario's Basia Bulat, whose brilliant album Oh My Darling is only available in Canada as an import.

Read It Here

André Ethier

This week, André Ethier is releasing his third solo album, On Blue Fog, appropriately enough on Blue Fog Recordings. It's the follow up to last August's Secondathallam, and it was engineered and mixed by Paul Aucoin, who also played vibraphone on a couple of the tracks. Other guests include longtime collaborator Christopher Sandes, as well as former Deadly Snakes members Chad Ross and Matt Carlson.

Yesterday I saw André play an in-store set recently at Soundscapes in Toronto. I'm glad I finally saw him play since it makes up for the time a few years back when he came to Oshawa but I missed his set since it was a school night and I wasn't supposed to be out too late... and legally I wasn't supposed to be in a bar! Anyway, when I got home last night I decided to send André a few questions. Now I'm sharing his answers with you:

What's new in your life?
André: Not much is new. I sang the Canadian national anthem at Dodgers Stadium a couple of weeks ago. I met Lisa Loeb, who sang the American national anthem, and I think she was coming onto me. Do you know who Lisa Loeb is?

I was surprised to hear that you already had a new album coming out this week, how come the turnover rate between these albums was so quick?
André: The turnover happened quickly, yes. I guess that now that the Snakes have broken up, and I don't spend much time touring, I have more time to spend writing new music. Actually I have all the time in the world. For the past year or so, my job has been to paint. There is a gallery in New York that sells my paintings, and I have shows in America or Europe every few months. The sales of the paintings sustain me well. So I'm in my painting studio 5 days a week. I have a guitar in there, so a lot of writing gets done. Also I'm into putting out shorter records (9 songs ish) every 10 months or so. I just think that this process lends itself to a less labored recording.

How come this new album is on Blue Fog as opposed to Paper Bag Records?
André: I switched to Blue Fog because they seem more my speed. I'm into making records cheaply and efficiently and I'm really not into touring or talking about promotion. The bar is set slow and low with Blue Fog and that's how I feel about music biz stuff these days. I was feeling kind of like I didn't fit in at Paper Bag.

Who came up with the idea for the video for Mean Old World? I think the video is hilarious and want to know more about it.
André: I came up with the idea of ripping off Jimmy Page's dream sequence from Led Zepp's THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME, but the moment to moment nuts and bolts, and the references to the masons and stuff is all the directors Adam and Dave. They are the best. They are totally insane and want to make videos that are rad.

Exclusive Video:


Tunes: myspace.com/andreethier

It's Finally Here!

The first episode of Snowsuit Sounds has been released onto the internet. It took just over two weeks to make and I must say I'm very happy with the end product. Sure, it's not perfect, but I'm going to take everything I learned making it and make sure the next episode is that much better!

Almost Here...