Archive for June, 2006

European Tour Gear Choices

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

As we wait for our european tour dates to solidify, i’m trying to make some choices as to what kind of gear i’m going to be taking across. Obviously i’m going to need a guitar, my telecaster is the obvious choice.. but i’m kind of stuck for an amp/pedal board solution. I know I need these things:

1. Delay
2. Overdrive
3. Tuner
4. Volume

Right now this is my setup:
Morley Wah/Vol (i never use the wah), Peterson Tuner, Goudie Compressor (Ross), Ibanez Tube-screamer TS-9 modded, MXR Micro Amp, Line6 DL4 Delay.

Right now, this is fine, its a little bit of overkill, since 2 of the pedals, i dont really use all that often (I could probably live without the Compressor and the Micro Amp).

Anyway, my dilemma is weather or not, its worth putting down some serious cash for a floorboard multi fx unit that will give me the ability to plug into a PA System or any available guitar amp (who knows what i’m going to be playing through while we’re in Europe).

I just finished renting the Line 6 POD XT Live for a week, and I was pretty impressed with some of the sounds that came out of it, but I also found that it was more geared for people who play heavier types of music (high gain, metal type). I like to keep my sound in the bluesy/rockish tonal range. I’ve been reading quite a bit about the BOSS GT-8 which i’ve been avoiding until now mainly because I’m biased strongly against BOSS products, i’ve always thought they sounded flat and processed. But the reviews i’ve read have suggested that the BOSS is just as good if not better than the Line POD XT.

Anyway, just wanted to get a few things down for me to remember, if anyone reads this and has an opinion on any of these pedal-boards, let me know… i’m probably going to be making a purchase within 3-4 weeks.

Birds of Wales Live at the Virge

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006

Today is a pretty exciting day for Birds of Wales… We’re going to be going into the studio to record 5 live songs for an XM Radio show that will be airing in August. First and foremost, this will be the first time i’ve done any kind of studio recording (even though, I’m aware that this is going to be different from studio recording), so its especially exciting for me. I’ve heard that it can be a lot of fun, so i’m quite pumped.

Also, you can check out two new reviews one done by Exclaim! magazine as well as on online article from Torontoist.com by clicking on those links.

Mike does NXNE

Monday, June 12th, 2006

So my NXNE (North by North East) weekend was a huge success. I think that NXNE in Toronto is probably the most exciting thing i’ve ever done while in Toronto.. i’ve lived here for about a year and a half now, and I cant believe I completely missed it last year.

Birds of Wales played an exceptional show at the Drake Hotel at 1am on June 10th (or 11th depending on how you look at it). It was great, the place was packed, there were celebrities everywhere, and as well as the normal possie of attractive young females.

My most memorable moment of the night was talking to my new friend named Burgir from Berlin, and drinking OJ with him. Talk about strange.
Anyway, i’ll compile a list of acts i went to check out this weekend sometime soon and post it here.. There are too many to list off the top of my head. I would definately suggest anyone coming to Toronto in the spring to try and schedule a trip around NXNE, because its exciting, fun, people are so open and willing to talk to you, and theres lots of awesome music to be discovered. Thanks again to everyone who came to see us play!