I (James) will be performing a solo acoustic set this friday at the Gordon best theatre in Peterborough Ontario as part of their annual Folk festival pub crawl. Not long after recieving the Peterborough Folk Festival emerging artist award, thanks generously to the folk fest folks, I began playing with Winchester and eventually it led to less solo gigs and then not long after, The Spades. This will be one of the few times in recent years I have done the solo thing and as part of the Folk fest makes a lot of sense. Wristbands available at the door; $15 regular, $10 students with ID

Detials are below on set times and visit http://www.pff.pauart.com/ to get ticket info etc.

The Gordon Best Theatre
Joe Fortin-8pm
James Mckenty 8:45pm
Timber Timbre-9:30pm
The Harbourcoats-10:30pm (feat. Bry webb of The Constantines)

Noticed a lot of video taping and cameras on the Matt Good and co. Tour. Wondering if anyone that might be holding would send some our way. We had no time to really document the tour and anything you have would be appreciated, from camera phone, digital camera, whatever it may be. Send to tour@thespades.ca

August 23rd we will be opening for The Trews at The CNE (Canadian Ex) in Toronto. The show is free with the price of admission to the ex itself. Looking forward to it!! In the meantime still working towards getting all our new material in order for recording. Plans are looking like late August early September to get in the studio and start rolling. Our set starts at 7:30pm.
Ryder Glider McKenty

Hello all,

The Spades have hit #3 with On my mind on XM satallite radio show The Verge and are up for The Verge Music Awards for Best Verge artist and Best Verge Album.

Head on over to http://www.thevergexm52.com/musicawards/ to vote and http://www.thevergexm52.com/ to check out the number 3 standing and request on my mind.

Cheers

The plan now is to get working on a new album, can’t set any timelines as you know these things don’t usual follow the way you plan. Our only objective is to get into the studio as soon as possible as there are about 20-25 tunes in good shape that just need to see if they survive the studio workout.

More shows coming soon, check here to keep up.

For a quick clip from our Vancouver show go to:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=119104421&ref=ts#/video/video.php?v=17611889547

Ryder Glider McKenty

The tour is over and we are back home living like hermits for a bit. The whole thing was a rip roaring, revved up, good god and wholly high rollin’ good time! The recap would look something like this:

0 regrets

1 haircut, Van, Caribou, Beaver, Elk, break in

2 Ferry Rides, oceans, months

3 band members

5 in total with crew

17 Moose

29 shows

80 smokes a day, 560 a week, 7weeks = 3542 smokes (roughly)

17,000 +km

70,000 people at shows (there abouts)

and we could go from there, lets just say the numbers added up and all was equaled out and now we rest.

Here are a couple shots from Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo:

The Orpheum.

Victoria Curling club aftermath:

The trophy I bought for us, curling club 2nd prize .. not bad.

Nanaimo-

Matts monitor board-

More actual action shots were taken on another camera but no access to it for a few days yet. Cheers,

Ryder Glider McKenty

*Clean your van department

*Consume stuff-Smokes, Coffee, Food etc…

*Watch the scenery

*Watch bobble headed frog

*Read

*Think of what everybody else is doing right now

*Try to remember every detail of your life

*Make stop animation using two digital cameras

*Wonder why priests need money, and if it is evil are they allowed to touch it?

*If I was on hallucinogenics would this trip seem longer or shorter?

Weather Cleared quickly on V-Fest day. Rain was soon replaced by sunshine, was it the sunshine boys? tough to say. The set was cut to 30 minutes but the fire of red and orange on the end of our cigarettes was replaced by emptiness and a stage of black. Being the middle of the day it was a true “get out and play music to the air” feel. We gave it every last drop god damn it! The crowd a little thin when we started and then filling in to end with a very respectable group. We threw in an old tune that has never done us wrong in the open air fests, Bustin off an easy one. The set was:

I don’t want - Mafia sting - Johnny Laundry - On my mind - Preservative-Bust off an easy one - Burning on fumes

After we caught Matt, The Stars ( talked to these fine folks backstage), New pornographers, Ladyhawk and The Hip. It had been awhile since seeing our last Hip show and their set was a hurricane. Watching them from side stage playing Wheat Kings and looking out over a sea of people made me feel like I was at the right place at the right time and maybe the only virgins were the ones who never heard it.

Photos by Krista Storey, thanks Cook, for everything!

Close to the Orpheum …

Ryder Glider Mckenty

So many shows behind here … what happened after Sask? Lloydminster … The Kooler was our last bar gig on the tour. We got no warning of time to hit stage and were literally throwing on coats and throwing off hats as we walked on stage. Things seemed out of place, “hey how did my mic get over there?” and “my snare is not right”. This all lead to the most improvised set and also a version of 49-tons that may never be the same.

What next? Edmonton. The Jubilee Auditorium. LOved it! Warm and fuzzy feel to the room during our set. Also one of the best sounding rooms and best house crew. Still feeling the effects of a full blown night out in Lloydminster (which included the bar turning into a dance club with many fights), I hoped the stage would even out our aching heads and bodies. Guitar making horrible crackling sound, a nice man went and got all new tubes and the amps were back up and running. Our approach to the set was laid back, we could really feel the Jub on this night. More people approached us after the show than ever before and it all felt like very “down home”, great crowd, I thought. Thanks Edmonton.  Silver ships added to the set, emotional. Good to see our Peterborough buddy Jimmy Ayotte there.

V-Fest gets its own write up.

Ryder Glider McKenty

Packed house in Sask. Hot, damn hot! 4-5 minutes into the set = sweat. When we walked on stage you could literally feel the heat from the crowd. Friendly people, great crowd, one of the best? We got a bit of the low down that Saskatoon is a good music town. A couple of the bands that had played the Odeon as of late were The Hives and Queens of the stone age. The room had a great feel and look to it. Afterwards when at the merch table and the show was done, the crowd walking out brought the heat with them, once again we were sweating, not from any effort on our part, we were just standing there, the crowd was the one working overtime now .. way to do it Saskatoon. Here are some shots by Ian from side stage:

Ryder Glider Mckenty