Last Night's Gig: Wolf Parade at the Kaserne in Basel

...and an Alan Thicke joke. Let's just say as Spencer Krug noted in the middle of the concert "language barrier anyone?". There were a lot of blank faces and confused silence when Alan Thicke was mentioned. It's too bad, the Swiss are missing out on a comedic goldmine.

I got into Wolf Parade a bit later than most (post-Mount Zoomer), but I missed a chance to see them back in April in St. Gallen and I wasn't going to miss them again. If you haven't spent much time with Wolf Parade, I would describe it as electro-pop-punk. Great riffs, but copious use of organs and synths that really add to the composition. As well, both Krug and Dan Boeckner have excellent and incredibly unique voices.

I had seen some video from early concerts and I must say they have improved their live show dramatically. They had a great mix of new stuff (Ghost Pressure, What Did My Lover Say?) and their older favourites (This Heart's on Fire, You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son). I was a bit disappointed they didn't play Golden Age which is my favourite tune from their new album. Speaking of which, their new album Expo 86 has both an excellent title (blog admission: I have an excellent childhood photo of me with Expo Ernie, the robot mascot, so I have a ingrained affinity) with a great flow. I am definitely expecting this one to be on the Polaris shortlist next year.

My next show plans are Dan Mangan and The Mountain and the Trees back in Basel on the 27th. And I've now booked my tickets for the Heartland Festival in Vevey. So excited...

Off-season training starts....now.

After taking a week off after our Swiss Championship (I must say, a perfect time to get sick), it's time to get back into training mode.

Hey David Gym, remember me? I'm back.

Two Time Swiss National Champs!

Way to go ZUF (Züri Ultimate Flyers)! This past weekend we won our second Swiss Championship in the mixed division.

Celebrating with the Mixed Schweizer-Meister Trophy (nice threads from VC as well!)

I felt that this year's trophy was more deserved than last year because we ended up playing the second best team in the finals (The Wombats from Willisau) and they gave us a run for our money. They played a perfect tactical game for their strengths and if they had connected a bit more on offense, this blog post could have been about us blowing the championship game. Big shout out to Clau for her amazing passion (not to mention excellent play) in the final!

ZUF! ZUF! ZUF!

April...hmmmm

I suppose 5 months between postings is a bit long. I'm trying to make an attempt to revive this a bit over the next while, incluidng posting some backlogged material that needs to be finished up. Everything is just becoming so regular here...

I just returned from 3 weeks on vacation in Canada. I spent most of my time in la belle province, playing disc and visiting with Emily. It was superb and I should have some photos to add...

Final round of the Swiss Championships is this weekend in Bern. ZUF is gunning for our second straight first place finish in the mixed division and we have EUC and World Beach Championships on the radar for next year.

Let's see how this pans out.

April Showers Bring May Canadian Indie Rock Concerts in Switzerland

Sounds far-fetched, but I’m sure there is a correlation here. There are some very good acts playing over the span of two weeks around Switzerland (the nice thing about living in a small and accessible country). I’m excited because as of May 1 (providing there is no last minute political posturing) smoking is also banned inside bars and restaurants. Glorious!

Here’s my line-up (with each artist linked so you can discover some new tunes!):

April 25th – Caribou in St. Gallen

May 11th – Wintersleep in Zurich

May 13th – You Say Party We Say Die! and Winter Gloves in Luzern

May 15th – Holy F$%^ in Fribourg

May 17th – We Are Wolves in Zurich

May 28 – Wolf Parade in St. Gallen

I’m going to need to invest in some earplugs.