Shred Kelly invited to Canadian Music Week in Toronto!!

Say Whaaaaaaaaat?  Looks like in March we will be hitting the road again all the way to Canadian Music Week!!  Canadian Music Fest is Canada's biggest music festival and this year's line-up is already epic including acts such as The Cat Empire, Blackie and Rodeo Kings, The Trews, to name a few.  And we couldn't be more STOKED! Stay tuned for a list of shows that will be our Spring Tour to Canadian Music Week in Toronto and also stay tuned for an anouncement of our showcase show at Canadian Music Fest from March 21 - 25th 2012.

http://canadianmusicfest.com/
http://www.cmw.net/

Shred Kelly Fall Tour 2011 Wrap Up

Well folks....we haven't been all that good at keeping you updated the last few months with our fall tour to Ontario and back. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was lazyness. Maybe it was the 10 hour drives. But you Shrederites deserve more than that so here is a captivating summary of our last 5 weeks!

We technically started off the tour playing two halloween shows, one in Rossland at the Flying Steam shovel, and another in Nelson at the Royal on Baker opening for the great Cuff the Duke and Hooded Fang, two killer bands that had the place hopping. We didn't have a costume until about 5 minutes before going on stage so we ended up being the 1984 Canadian Olympic Speed Walking team. Hilariousness ensued.

The next show was in Golden opening for the legendary Elliott Brood to a very rowdy crowd. We can always count on Golden, BC to raise the bar in awesomeness. One hangover and 10 hours later we were in Vancouver for a film shoot with The Green Couch Session crew ( http://www.greencouchsessions.ca/ ) and to play a show at The Railway Club, a cool venue that happens to hold the longest running liquor licence in Vancouver. The film shoot with Green Couch was awesome as we pounded out "Tornado Alley" acoustically in two different spots in Vancouver in the rain, and got kicked out of both by residents and police. Stay tuned for the video coming soon.

The next week saw us make giant strides to Jasper, Edmonton, and Saskatoon. With a push to Winnipeg, we opened for the amazing (and current winner of the Peak Performance Project) Current Swell. What can I say? Great tunes and equally great guys. Two more shows in Winnipeg (see footage at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150456899836066) and one in Thunder bay (see footage at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150521318131454) ended the praries for us and now it was time to drive 18 hours south to Toronto.

Ah Toronto...the big Smoke. With an epic show at The Piston, we reunited with good friends and had a bouncing dance floor all night. The next morning we were on the 401 to Windsor to play the Phog lounge where we randomly received a band-touring care package from a group of amazing people who traveled from Detroit to see us play. Gummy bears, cookies, pretzels, and even a note-pad for making set lists!....we couldn't have been more impressed with the good people of Detroit and Windsor.

We circled the mega-ness that is Southern Ontario playing London, Guelph, Collingwood, Peterborough, Kingston, and finally found ourselves playing at the Lengendary BlackSheep Inn in Wakefield, QC. You wouldn't even beleive how beautiful the town of Wakefield is which sits quaint on a lake and smells of wood stoves everywhere you walk. The Blacksheep Inn won our hearts in so many ways. I can't stress how nice it is to feel appreciated on the road and the Blacksheep Inn went out of their way to do just that. Great food, good people, and amazing sound makes it a must on our tour schedule.

Another push back to Winnipeg saw us play our last show for the tour at the Standard Tavern. Santa hosted the night and with cowboy hat, sunglasses and always a drink in hand he declared "Santa is getting druuuunk!!" At the end of the night we high fived each other with another tour under the belt and parted ways for the holidays. I have to admit that it is nice to have some time off, not squeezed in a van for 8 hours a day and living off of pub food but to be honest I know that by New Years I will be getting the itch to do it all again. (Dec.31 NYE party at the Royal on Baker in Nelson, BC)

One thing that we realised on this tour is how lucky we are to have such a great network of friends and family from Vancouver all the way to Newfoundland that always have their doors open to us while on the road. This tour was the first tour for us in cold weather where camping was not an option and in 5 weeks we only stayed in a total of four hotels. These ski bums from Fernie were pretty stoked not to have to fork over tonnes of money for rooms. Thank you so much to those who put us up and fed us sometimes for two or three days at a time. Your contibutions will always be remembered.

So here is a video of us on the road that was filmed at Dave and Sigrids in Winnipeg, a wonderful couple who host house concerts at their home which backs onto the Red River. They also put us up and fed us! This clip is an acoustic version of a new song called "The Bear" that will appear on our upcoming album this summer and was filmed at sound check.  See you in 2012 Fernie!


Shred Kelly Presents " THE BEAR " from David Warrenchuk on Vimeo.

On Stage with Elliott Brood at Wapiti Weekend in Fernie.

As I fight dozing off at 9:15 on this warm Sunday evening, I keep myself awake thinking of the fun we had this weekend. Played at Annie and Adam's wedding on Thursday, and those East Coaster's started our weekend with a bang. Then we played Wapiti on Friday night, which was amazing. Congratulations to everyone involved for putting on such an amazing festival. We were thrilled to have been a part of a festival that we're sure is going to go strong for years and years to come. Then we hit up the ski hill for the NOS Gravity Festival, and finished off today with Shred Kelly's first "kid inspired" set. (which with my preschool teaching background, was certainly a highlight for me.) Thanks to the organizers of Bippity Boppity Boo for being so amazing and making sure those little ones could have the time of their lives too on this busy busy weekend!

However, I'm sure the band can all agree that being invited onstage with Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and ELLIOTT BROOD were what made the weekend for us!

Can you tell we're a little stoked?

Elliott Brood in Nelson and Whistler.

It has been a dream of ours to open for the Legendary Elliott Brood for some time now. And that dream came true in Nelson and Whistler this past week. They are the three most amazing, kind and friendly guys ever, and they slayed both towns with their amazing repetoire and new songs. Everytime we see them we are blown away. It was an honor to share a stage with such talented musicians. Too bad Tim got the beaver fever.

Elliott Brood killin it at the Spiritbar in Nelson BC.

Can you spy Tim and Jeremy rockin out at the GLC in Whistler?

Kispiox Valley Music Festival!

Another Festival! Bloody awesome. None of us have ever been so far north, and I ask, why not? Friendly people, beautiful landscape, great times were all on the agenda. So I don't think we will wait another lifetime to venture North. Thanks again to everyone who made Kispiox Valley Music Festival possible. We feel blessed to have been a part of it. We really felt a part of something very special.

Lookin good in Shred Kelly garb.

Amanda Sandwich.

Gettin' Pumped on Throat Coat before our afternoon set.

Add caption

Bringin' the Waltz back.

All the amazing festival organizers. Thank you for everything you do!

The prettiest photographer in all the land.

Our good lookin merch booth. T-shirts, hats, cd's and SUNGLASSES!

Donne Roberts on the mainstage Saturday night.

Tim getting a birthday massage from Sunflower.

Starbelly Jam

What an amazing time we had. Going from South Country Fair, which knocked our socks off, then driving to Starbelly Jam was one of the best weekends this band has ever had. Thank you to all the festival volunteers and organizers at both festivals for letting us be a part of such an incredible experience!

Before the show with G-money.

The gorgeous Emma and Lenny joined us too!

Dance Party

G-Money are those some sick Shred Kelly sunglasses?

Bustin out some new tunes.

The men on the GEE-tars.

Lindsay McDirt made the mission to shake a tail feather!

Jordan gettin' sexy before the set.

Lenny getting her dance on.

Reggae Newts? What happened last night? We found Tim here on Monday morning after Starbelly Jam. Must've been good.

South Country Fair..!

Our first backstage passes!

Ballgag and Chain Gang = Amazing!

Gillian! Thank you for all your hard work and organization and letting us be a part of such an amazing and beautiful festival.

Dino and Ali of Coal Creek Boys. You are two of our favorite people! Love every minute with you both.

Summer Tour Update

Hey ALL!
We have been oh so negligent. But we have been playing our hearts out and maximizing seeing the beauty and outdoors of BC, so internet time has been few and far between. But on this beautiful sunny day in Victoria I have locked myself in an internet cafe and have sworn not to leave until some pictures have been posted, gosh darn it!

Start of Tour Wedding in Kaslo... open bar... great floral arrangements. Congrats Kelly and Andrew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah! Just Killin it on Merch and Keeping us company in the van!

Twister at the Distillery in Calgary!

Apres Kaslo Street Shannanigans

Gang violence is high on the streets of Kaslo.

Starbelly Jam.....sandwiches?

Sasquatch was so very sweet.  My leathery red skin, slow intestines, and punched liver don't agree but they're a bunch of negative Nancy's.  Four days of amazing music and good times in the most beautiful music venue I have ever seen.  The Shithawk made the trip there and back without a hitch and now that we're home the band is back together again after some of us were gone on a month off treking the world.   I can't tell you how stoked we are for the summer with good friends and festivals and getting generally rad. 

Speaking of festivals, we have been just added to the Starbelly Jam line up. 

Say whaaaaaaaaaat?

Check out the details here:

http://www.starbellyjam.org

Buzzard Mountain Awesome!

I GOT A NEW BANJO!!!

Nuff said.

Except that Buzzard Mountain Instruments is an amazing company that makes amazing custom banjos just the way you want them in Marietta, Georgia, USA.   Thank you Neil Turner for making this great sounding instrument for me.  Now if you excuse me I am going to be on the couch playing this for the next rest of my life.

Check out the website!  http://www.buzzardmountain.com

Check out me playing it!

Summer of Love

FESTIVALS FESTIVALS FESTIVALS!

With Sasquatch around the corner (which I hold a glorious ticket to finally seeing Flogging Molly, Modest Mouse, Death Cab, Wilco, Iron and Wine, Chromeo, Dan Mangan and so so so so many more) and the sun peaking out to say hello, I am AMPED about this summer's music festivals. 

My head still hurts from Friday nights artist release party for Wapiti Music Festival, Fernie's 1st annual music festival.  The drinks were flowing and as it turns out, Fernie knows how to book a festival....I really really GOOD one.  Here are the details:

Wapiti Music Festival
August 19th and 20th
Fernie, BC

with Elliott Brood, Said the Whale, Yukon Blonde, National Treasure, Shred Kelly, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, Jon and Roy, Big Bubba Tres, and more!

Say WHAAAAAAAT? 

We're also on the bill for a few more epic festivals this summer.  Here they are:

Kispiox Valley Music Festival
July 22, 23, 24
Hazelton, BC

South Country Fair
July 15, 16, 17
Fort McLeod, AB

Beaumont Blues Festival
September 3 and 4
Beaumont, AB

STOOOOOOKED!

Sum-Sum-Summertime

Mother of PEARL!......Is that the SUN out there?? Well honk my hooter IT IS!!

The clouds have broke in Fernie and I am outside, shirt off, soaking in the vitamin whatever, blogging as we speak and....hang on.....what is THAT?? Folks there is some sort of jiggly pale jellyfish-like creature clinging to my midsection! Its big and white and round, has a bit of hair suggesting its mammalian! My god! Its also a cyclops and has an awkward tattoo on its face! Begone you with you demon!!.......................oh wait................no that's my belly.   Hmmm.

Anyway, we're gearing up for a summer of FUN and the kick off party for the summer is the fundraiser party for Fernie's 1st annual Wapiti Music Festival THIS Friday May 13th at the Central.  They are also announcing the artist line-up for the festival and Micheal Bernard Fitzgerald is playing all night long. STOKED! Tickets for the party are sold at Midges Mag's in Fernie and proceeds go to help funding the concert that will take place August 19th and 20th.
-Tim

Punk Rock Girl

When I was a child, the only music I knew was the Solid Gold tape collection that my Dad got for free every time he filled up the tank of his wood paneled station wagon at Esso. Those glorious tapes were the soundtrack to every family road trip.

But as you get past the age of 10 and older, those oldies loose there cool and you enter a time when you are extremely musically fragile in terms of what is next. I think this is actually a cross road that defines you as a person for a very long time. In my case I could have gone down The New Kids on the Block route to represent my teenage years of musical expression (and thus clothing attire and dance moves), or I could have tried out that gangster rap stuff my friends were pushing on me and gone with NWA. Luckily, I had my brother Bill.

Being the youngest of three I looked up to my siblings and was pretty much a cultural sponge absorbing whatever they did in the late 80's/early 90's. What I absorbed from my brother was a recipe of punk and post-punk awesomeness that included The Ramones, Violent Femmes, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Cure, etc. But perhaps one of the greatest contributions my brother made to my young fragile little mind was the Dead Milkmen.

The Dead Milkmen, a satirical punk rock band that didn't leave my walkman. Their lyrics were hilarious and the songs gritty and fun. As a 12 year old, I fell asleep listening to them in my head phones and dreamed of hippie eating monsters, bitchin' Camaro's and punk rock girls that would one day take me around the world. My love for the band never really aided in actually finding any such girl as The New Kids on the Block were reigning supreme at that time in grade 7, but I didn't care.

So here is a tribute to two of my adolescent hero's; my Brother Bill, and the Dead Milkmen. Starting with the original "Punk Rock Girl" video, I've included a few other unique versions, including a cover of the song that we performed last weekend in Nelson, BC. From Shred Kelly, we thank you for swaying me away from a possible adulthood of dressing like Zac Morris, or Snoop Dog. Besides, strumming power chords at volume 11 in the basement with overly gelled bleach blond hair, snake skin doc martins, jeans that were more ripped than they were jeans, and an awkwardly placed tattoo of a frog was way better on Mom and Dad's stress.
-Tim

Dick Move...

....as some in the band call it (a.k.a. Lesson's Learned on the album). Here it is at the Royal on Baker this weekend as we opened the night for Blackberry Wood, (my newest fav band with a lead man/guitar player who was dressed like something between Skeletor and General Lee, a crazy faced drummer, a fiddler that melted faces with awesome, a multi percussionist voo doo ballerina, and a Clockwork Orange looking fellow that played an upright wash-bin bass and an eerie sounding theramin, also known as a aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox)

We are also stoked to have Jeremy back with us as he was down in his homeland of New Zealand, where an earthquake ruined his hometown of Christchurch while he was vacationing there for a month. Great to have you back you J-Bro.
-Tim

Epic Weekend

Too many highlights. Whether it be rockin the Canmore Hotel for St. Patty's day, or playing at the Royal in Nelson with the fabulous Blackberry Wood, or staying in a ridiculously luxurious cabin at Red Mountain and playing a footstompin apres ski gig, then shredding hidden powder spots to top it all off, I can't pick what was the best part.
Probably when Blackberry Wood had us all lying on our backs on the dancefloor pedalling imaginary bicycles, while thinking "good god, these people can make us do anything."
Check them out, hopefully we can play another show with them sometime soon, cause good gravy that was fun. http://www.myspace.com/blackberrywood

Stay tuned for some great video footage we got from the show!

Ski Bum: The Musical

About 5 years ago I dipped my toes into the world of environmental activism. I moved from Whistler to Fernie to work at a biodiesel production plant and started a non-profit organization spreading the word to ski bums alike about the impending doom of smaller snowpacks and fewer powder days in a warming climate. But, after a bout of sifting through large vats of conjealed fryer grease and awkwardly talking to crowds about climate change, I came to the realization that I wasn't really good at it. Maybe music was a better platform for me to plant the seeds of environmentalism. However one great thing emerged from that year of finding myself in the eyes of the planet.....I met Tyler Bradley.

Tyler is a resident of Rossland, BC, a ski town in the Kootenay's much like Fernie. He joined us that year in our march to green up ski resort operations and now five years later I have re-discovered Tyler Bradley. As it turns out he is an extremely telented writer and contributes his talents to various magazines, blog, film, and recently theatre. His latest work? "Ski Bum: The Musical" which is put on by Iron Mountain Theatre and I had the opportunity to catch the show last night on their stop in Fernie.

Now I'm not a theatre critic and I haven't recently attended too many musicals, but I can tell you from beginning to end this musical was epic. If you are ski bum you will laugh to tears. If you are not a ski bum, you will laugh to tears and get an entertaining insight on the culture that exists in ski towns. The musical is based around a cultural anthropologist out to study the behavior of ski bums by ethnographically inserting himself into the mix of ragtag characters. Every ski bum term is hilariously defined through comedy, song and dance. Song titles such as "Legendairyism", "Skinnin' on up" and "Ballad of the Lonesome Plow Driver" will have you in hysterics. If you don't fall in love with the characters, you might be a robot.

That said, I am happy to re-discover my friend Tyler Bradley. Go see it. The Iron Mountain Threatre crew are touring the Kootenay's with various productions and a schedule can be found at their website: http://ironmountaintheatre.wordpress.com/
Also Check out Tyler's blog at http://tabradley.tumblr.com/

As for me sifting through vats of congealed fryer grease? Maybe it wasn't for me, but I guess if it weren't for that job, I wouldn't have moved to Fernie in the first place and might never have picked up a banjo. Thanks grease! You're tha ......man?
-Tim

Blizzard Fest

Blizzard Fest!!! What a night! What a town actually, Rossland is not only host to amazing music during the week, but also host to the town's winter carnival, which puts every other winter carnival I have ever seen to shame. They actually turned one of their downtown streets into a rail park, they had outdoor stages, dj's, and I think I may've heard something about a bobsledding competition. And did I mention the music. In addition to our night there the weekend was jam packed with amazing Canadian talent. What an awesome place. We love Rossland. Thank you to the Tuques and The Flying Steamshovel and anyone who took part in the festival organization for such a wonderful time!
-Sage

Snowseekers Television

Sometime in early December, the guys from Snowseekers came to Fernie to film an episode for their snowseekers TV show. These are the guys that held the contest that we won back in October. After playing at the Snowshow in Calgary as part of our prize, they asked us if they could use "I Hate Work" for the intro of their show. You'll might also notice a "certain someone" being profiled to represent Fernie on the show..........no big deal........

Oh you'll have to excuse me, the help has just brought me my morning coffee. Yes that's right I have help now. A butler, a few maids, a few people who make me coffee and do my laun *PPPPPPBBBBTTTT!*

YOU CALL THIS COFFEE !!!! YOU JUST DEMOTED YOURSELF TO FOOT MASSAGE FOR A WHOLE WEEK !!! OOOOH WHY DON'T YOU CRY ABOUT IT NOW WAH WAH WAH WAH!!

*ahem*..........anyway, here is a video of my day with Dr. Pow and his camera crew. It was a lovely day full of dog sledding, snowboarding, and bingo drinking.
-Tim

Four Shows.....48 Hours

That's right.....Four different shows in 48 hours. This was our weekend agenda.

The Pub Friday night - 3 hour set
Griz Bar Saturday afternoon - 3 hour set
Griz Bar Saturday night - 3 hour set
Griz Bar Sunday afternoon - 3 hour set

This is starting to feel like................work.

But I hate.............work.

Anyway, here is a clip of "Ghost Inside My Head" from one of our four shows this weekend chock full of fun times, bar tabs, avalanches, pineapple moshing, and naked table slides to name a few occurrences. Wait, I had it all wrong.......I LOVE WORK!
-Tim

Redbull gives you claws

Its raining out there and I'm sick. My head has a second heart beat in it and my nose is like a clogged drain. When I breath in through my nose it sounds like I'm trying to force a wet tennis ball into a vacuum hose. (not that I've ever tried that.......)

Anyway aside from being sick and finding out today that I am not really a Leo, but a Cancer after all because of a wonky earth axis, I'm doing okay because today is gig day and that makes everything good. (The Pub Bar and Grill, 10:00 PM BE THERE!)

We have been editing some video footage of out epic week around the Kootenays last week and here is a video of us playing our instrumental of destruction "the speed up song" in Nelson, BC .
I think we might have all had some Redbull before the show.....
-Tim

Tornado Alley in Nelson, BC

It was the week of all weeks for us and the good times keep on rollin'. We bought a Zoom q3hd for video taping gigs and low and behold this little thing is a thing of wonder.

This is "Tornado Alley" at the Royal on Baker in Nelson, BC which was one of our the best shows to date.
-Tim

Huston....We Have a Website

*Cue theme song to "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Here it is folks. We got a "website". I hear that you can "click" on a "mouse" and make sounds and colour pictures appear.

Thank you to the wonderfully talented Julie Tremblay for conjuring up this magic for us, and to my brother, Billy, who purchased our domain name for us, because we are all but poor ski bum musicians.

Find the website at www.shredkelly.com and it even comes in Canadian! (.ca)

4 Day Mini Tour of Awesome

So last weekend, we got the luxury of having the best few days of our life. We said goodbye to New Years Resolutions and yes to indulgence. Seriously, I ate two eggs benedict breakfast in a row, and I had hollindaise sauce on my dinner too. Talk about gluttony.
Anyway, you may think two mornings of eggs benedict would be about as good as life gets, but you would be wrong.


We topped it off with four awesome shows, a 30 cm. powder day in Revelstoke, visiting the most beautiful town in the world, Kaslo, which we may all move to because we were so captivated by it's charm, playing with the Vortex Players in Nelson (an amazing impromptou group of phenomenal Nelson talent that warmed the stage and our hearts on Friday night.), and spending hours in a sweaty van with stinky boys. Perhaps the last part was a little short of perfect, but the rest was kickass.


Seriously, thank you to everyone who we met, or ran into this past week, because you will forever be in our memory as the people we saw during the best weekend of our lives. Dare I say we got REVELSTOKED... or is it just to obvious?

Happy New Year!

Although the greeting comes a little later than we'd like, the New Year has just so rammed with activities that we haven't the chance to wish all you folks the happiest 2011. We Shreddies brought in the year right in Panorama. Despite the -30 chill we managed to rock, and snowboard. And I convinced Tim to do some cross country skiing too despite his killer hangover. Once he got his baby deer legs figured out, and after a slight run in with the frigid snow, he was skiing like the pros.
Panorama, you treated us right. We were so happy to bring in the New Year with you and we look forward to seeing you beautiful peeps in February.