Veni, Vidi, Vici

TEMOS live. It happened. Last weekend. And it was awesome. First up, a huge thank you to every single person who showed up - we truly appreciate you coming out, and if you had even half as much fun as we did then it was well worth it. Thank you! Next we must extend our thanks to Raw Sugar for hosting us. We owe you a huge debt. Merci.

So how was it? Well! At seven o'clock we'd moved some tables around and started setting up. For those of you who haven't performed in a rock and roll outfit, 95% of "setting up" involves messing with the vocal mics. Louder. Louder. Feedback. Woops. Quieter. Louder. Repeat for as much time as you have available for setting up. While doing this Andy and Matt decided to "test" the mics by yelling and throat singing into them as loudly as possible. It was at this exact moment that two very nice, middle aged ladies wandered in, looking lost.

"Oh, we heard about your cafe in the newspaper..." confusion. Fear of catching a disease.
Me: "ahhh, yes, it's an excellent cafe, the best in town. But tonight there's a rock show, do you ladies want to rock out with us?"
"Hmm. Maybe not today." they leave. Nadia, I'm sorry. I told them to come back on Sunday afternoon and I guaranteed them that there would be no rocking whatsoever. Don't have made a liar of me.

So we tried a song out, and discovered that one of the speakers was shorting out pretty consistently. Nice. We attempted to fix it, but failed miserably. This would haunt us later.

So people congregated, and before we knew it there were WAY more than the thirteen people we'd been expecting.

First off Shane Whitbread got things started with an ambient guitar set. It was excellent, and a mighty fine way to start things off. Some people stared, enchanted. Others went on with their business - negotiating multi-million dollar deals and such. This is as it should be, for you see ambient music is meant to be just that. Shane did it up proper.

Visit Shane here.

Next up was Male Nurse. He whipped up a floor stomping fury and entertained to no end. He was so into the thing, so caught up in the life that is rock and roll that he SHATTERED a guitar string. These things are made of coiled steel; it takes great strength to destroy them. Unfortunately I panicked and handed him my guitar as a replacement, forgetting that my guitar is set up rather insanely. Woops. Nonetheless, he also did a fantastic job, and pleased the crowd. He also let the feline out of its sack, in that he revealed the true origin of TEMOS's name. That anyone even knew is astounding! Well done, sir.

Visit Male Nurse here. And check out his highly ambitious song-a-day project here.

A huuuuuge thanks to both Shane and Davey for playing - you both made the night a success, and on little notice, with no thought of politcal gain. Yes!

I enjoyed both openers a whole lot, but when they were through the moment of truth arrived... there was no escaping the inescapable fact of being on. Next.

24 hours to go...

So I just got back from Andy's basement. Practice. With the fellows. But not just any practice: the last practice before the show tomorrow.

So what is the mood in the room like? One might expect a torrent of nerves, anxiety, and fear. But it was in fact quite the opposite. We played through the whole set, screwed up some things, had a laugh, played through a couple of songs again, and packed it in. We spent some time trying to coax Brian into making a solo album about wizards and magic. He's starting to cave. Merlin is a big source of inspiration for him. So the crew is feeling loose. Ready. Eager, even.

On the way home I stopped by the venue: Raw Sugar Cafe. Talked to Nadia. She's ready. She's even going to have some lemon poppyseed cake ready for me, which is very important.

Upon arriving at home I took in the splendour that is the costumes, and the set decor, created by Katie Dutton. We'll surely post some pictures here, but you're going to dig it, to be sure.

All of this is to say: we are ready. This one will go down in Ottawa lore, one way or another...

And don't forget! There will be all sorts of CDs available for sale, so bring some MONEY. Can't wait! Hope to see you there.

T minus two days

Oh baby... Saturday is almost here, that fateful day when TEMOS rocks Ottawa to its very foundations. We just got the CDs back from the manufacturer, and spent a fun night of cutting and folding covers. Carpal tunnel syndrome. Yes. It's done. And everyone who attends the show gets a copy; isn't that how a CD release show should be? Yes it is.

In spite of a few last minute hitches we are very much ready. Our very last practice will be tomorrow night, and then: into the breach!! Those who attend will not be sorry. Those who miss it will be sorry and then some. We very much hope to see you there.