“Y’all are pretty good for a bunch of Canadians…”

I will be honest: I’ve had my cranky moments lately. More than probably my fair share, to be very candid. It’s been a real rollercoaster in this three-week-old new year, and I’ve been very up and very down, sometimes in the same day.

It’s not good for the old ticker. And I do mean old, as I’ve had another birthday and seem to be hurtling toward the half-century mark faster than I’d ever thought possible.

So, that didn’t help. Then ongoing financial issues just keep on going. And work was stressful. Add to that those boys from Antigonish that I kind of adore were on the road and I couldn’t go ’cause of said financial issues, and wow, I just wanted to break things. A lot of things. Repeatedly. And violently.

This is how 2 year olds act, folks. Don’t try this at home.

Thursday in Kitchener

Yeah, not going…son’s Christmas concert is that night, and I don’t feel like driving an hour and a half to miss the first few songs again, like Brantford.

Won’t see them now till January. This makes me sad. 😦

Merry Christmas to Trews fans everywhere

Well, wow. The band released a 4-song EP this week with new material, one song of which is a Christmas song called “Coming Home”. It’s really quite good; I need to listen to it a few more times to get used to it, but I like it.

What I really really like – no, love passionately – is one of the other songs on the EP, “Mandy”. I first found it in videos on YouTube during the acoustic tour last year and then finally got to hear it in person in Belleville at the Empire Theatre. It’s such a GREAT *song*, in every way. And recorded? It’s even BETTER. It’s pop-y and hook-y and catch-y as hell, and doesn’t fit on Hope & Ruin in any way, so I’m so glad they finally released it in another way.

The EP also has “Big Night Out”, which I’ve never really cared much for, and “St. Thomas Is Calling”, which I really really like except for the bridge – it kind of loses me, it just doesn’t fit. But I really like the rest of the song.

You can get the EP when you buy Hope & Ruin, at a discounted price, either on CD or vinyl, or digitally; check out the official website for more info if you need it.

The best part of all this is the fact that they announced dates in Canada in January and March, and they’re coming to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre here in Toronto March 23rd, as part of Canada Music Week, and you could order tickets to the show bundled with the album and Ep this week before they go on sale tomorrow to the rest of the world. Our friend D, who won the Scene contest all those years ago, got tickets for the Diva and I for our birthdays & Xmas! Woo-hoo! Now trying to figure out if I want to brave the weather in March and go to London that week as well…we’ll see.

“Sing your heart out, sing your heart out – drive them blues away…”

It hasn’t been often, in my almost-7-year career of going to see this band, that the opportunity has presented itself to see them twice in a week, twice in three weeks. They haven’t been close enough to me for this to happen, and so when it did this month I made sure to take advantage of it because I doubt that’s going to happen again any time soon. It was absolutely and completely worth the efforts and fatigue.

“…you’re gonna lose your mind in De-troit, Rock City…”

I am, by nature, a patient person. Okay, I’m not patient with some things (stupidity being my biggest pet peeve), but I am a Capricorn. I can put in some serious time in waiting, and being patient and loyal and all that.

That was completely put to the test with the lads being away this fall. Oh yeah, boohoo, woe is me, talk about first world problems. I get it, I do. But a fan is a fan, and I am a fan – of this band in particular – and, as with most fans, I want to see my favourite band as much as possible. Period. And the longest I’ve gone between seeing them is 3 months before I met them and just under 3 months since I’ve been talking to them with any regularity.

So while this stretch of time was about 2-1/2 months, it felt like forEVER because of how far away they were; it wasn’t about time this fall, it was about distance. They weren’t just gone for 2-1/2 months, they were on the other side of the freakin’ world for most of it. And I felt that keenly.

Word of advice: don’t ever become so addicted to a band that 2-1/2 months without seeing them feels like a million years. It’s not fun. 😉

So, the Diva and I arranged a few weeks ago to go to the Detroit and Lansing (MI) shows the weekend of Nov. 11th, because we hadn’t gone on a real road trip to see them in forever – not one where we stayed over, anyway. And the 12th would be my 100th Trews show in almost 7 years, so we really wanted to celebrate – what better way than with a road trip and an overnight stay in a nice hotel?