Hey folks.

Last night was our first of 3 Olympic performances here in Vancouver, and it was an amazing time.  9,000 people and plenty of exuberance.  Thanks to everyone who came out and cheered us on.  This Saturday we’ll be at Holland Park in Surrey with Said The Whale and Hey Ocean!

Hope to see ya there.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the support.

MM

To the people.

Well happy New Year anyway.  It’s the year of the tiger, so that makes it easy to decide which lucky animal will be the mascot of album 3.  Or maybe the animal theme is getting old.  Perhaps.

As we approach our recording date, with the new tunes in tow, it appears our thrice recorded effort will be less of a conclusion to some farce-ark trilogy, but rather a new story altogether, post apocalyptic, all chrome and radioactivity.  Two turn tables, one Viggo, a shopping cart, and a microphone.  Enough about all that.  We don’t want to give too much away.  But we are working on the thing.  And before long, it’ll be yet another thing out there in the world.  Gosh.  One gets to thinking about all of the things.  And if making new things is the right thing.  Adopt a thing?

A beautiful thing recently had was our Calgary show on January 22cnd.  Thanks to all those who came out and made it a sell out show.  Our biggest show in Calgary to date and the crowd was amazing, as they always are in Cow Town.

We have a few shows for the ol’ Olympics here in Vancouver in February so check out the tour page for info.  After that, the aforementioned thing.

We hope all of you are doing well out there, adjusting to 2010 with style and grace.

Thanks for reading (sorry for the delay),

Meh Meh

Dear readers,

We write from Albert Lea, Minnesota, after a long day of driving.   The tour is officially over, but the driving is not, and still to be enjoyed is the spectacular and bizarre world of American truck stops.  This is a trip we’ve done plenty before, deadheading from Toronto back to Vancouver, and you’d think it would feel less purgatorial with each tally, but it doesn’t.  All day in a van is quite the lobotomy, but at least, in our itinerant haze, we’re able to reflect on the journey just had, drawing on all the great memories.  We’re sad it’s over, but so happy it went so very well.  Once again we’d like to thank Matt Good, his wonderful band and all the crew and helping hands of the tour for being such amazing people and road partners.  It truly was an enriching experience, one we will hold fondly in our hearts forever.  Another huge thanks as well to everyone who attended these shows.  The audiences, night after night, never ceased to amaze us with their generous warmth of spirit.  We hope very much to do it again sometime.

Thanks for reading,

Mother Mother

Hello,

I write only to clear up a small matter of ambiguity.

Before I start, two facts to be known:

1) We are playing shows during, and in affiliation with the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver come this February

2) We are currently on tour with Matt Good

Okay, so I recently did an interview with Toronto’s NOW magazine which was published on Thursday, December 17th.

(To read the article CLICK HERE)

The headline stated:

MOTHER MOTHER STAY DIPLOMATIC ABOUT OLYMPICS AND MATT GOOD

The title implies, should there be an implication, that an attitude of caution was exorcised when speaking about both subjects.

The implication, should there be one, is inaccurate.

In the article, I describe Mother Mother’s affiliation with the Olympics as business oriented, not politically charged, and despite any controversial opinions we may or may not have for the Games being held in Vancouver, it is seen by the band as a good opportunity, one to share our music with a broader audience.

In the article, when asked about Matt Good, I describe him as being “kind and generous” towards Mother Mother, and our association as “warm”.  The journalist describes my tone as containing “diplomatic stiffness”, which, regardless of its falsehood, would have sounded much better as “stiff diplomacy”, but that’s beside the point.

The point is that the journalist crafted the article to suggest I was playing it safe when speaking about both matters, cautious of revealing an incriminating truth, or as he put it, staying “diplomatic”.

Whether this may or may not be true in regards to The Olympics, it is my intention by writing this blog to inform whoever might be interested that this is in fact untrue with regards to Matt Good and our relationship with him.

The tour continues to be fantastic, and we are grateful to Matt Good for not only the opportunity to share our music with a broader audience, but for also being a nice guy, a great host, and a friend, one whom we’d need not speak cautiously about as there’s only good things to say.

Thanks for reading,

Ryan

We are in Peterborough, drunk with elation brought by the night off.

Once leaving the Maritimes, we turned west for Toronto, then east for Montreal, then west again for the final stretch of Ontario shows that conclude this tour.

Now, as the lateral dance of our routing assumes one direction, being homeward, we allow ourselves to consider our landing.  This, like the wrapping up of any good trip, is bitter sweet.  Acrid, as the end of the fun is near, and saccharine, as the fun that was had, was had at all.

It is interesting, the ending of things, and when they are considered.  Once from afar, intangible, laughable, and impossible; a faint tragic romance perfuming the air of new dawn. And once again later, from just around the corner, penultimate to its final cadence; real, pressing, and still, wrought with last minute reclamations.  And maybe also from the afterward, murky and malleable, to suit one’s own image; hyperbolic.  But never while they actually occur.  Endings happen without us.  They’re found on the doorstep, in the morning paper, in the obituaries. Not so much sad, but sober.

And so things are wrapping up nicely.

We had some great shows on the East Coast, including a headlining set in Charlottetown, followed by a memorable evening in Montreal where we played The Metropolis for the first time – hopefully not the last.

We stood speechless before The National Arts Center in Ottawa, a venue so elegant, with an ambiance so transcendental, one gets the feeling of sacrilege when producing sound.  We quickly got over that, letting the muse run free.  And she did.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan

Hello from Newfoundland where the rain pours like a slow divorce.

A couple of us just bought books from Chapters today. My mother, a wonderful woman who’s also the kind owner of an independent book store, would and will likely frown at this. Sorry Mom. I’m in Moncton and I need a book, and there’s no indie boutiques in yonder, and you’re not here!  Something positive however, did arise from our corporate outing. In the checkout line we met a nice woman who’s a retired CBC host, and who’s daughter is a thespian in Vancouver.  Being that we are mostly not, but somewhat thespians, and are in fact Vancouverites, not to mention it was only moments before that I and CBC 3’s Grant Lawrence conducted an interview, I found this meeting of strangers somewhat providential. The Island of Serendip Emerges From Itinerant Fog and the Cosmos Smile Down. Anyhow her daughter’s name is Genevieve Fleming and she will be Maid Marion in Robin Hood at Granville Island, Jan 2 2010, in Vancouver.

This allowed me to ponder what felt like a very meaningful childhood crush I had for Maid Marion in the Disney version where she was played by a fox, and not a fox like Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in Kevin Costner’s smash hit, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but the cunning carnivorous mammal of the dog family with a pointed muzzle and bushy tail. It’s strange to have sexual feelings for a fox I guess, but really this just reflects that beauty is only skin deep.

But hey, I did think Cristian Slater was pretty good in the blockbuster version of Robin Hood, and more than that, I was deeply intoxicated by his potent character in that wonderful cult classic Pump Up The Volume, where the opening scene, which ipitomized “cool” in my eight year old mind, has Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows playing loud and clear.  After rushing out to purchase the soundtrack, I was somewhat crushed to find that Cohen’s version wasn’t on there, but rather a Sultry Interpretation by Concrete Blonde.  Not better, but great, the soundtrack’s stand-in proved to be serendipitous, if I may use the word, having acted as the direct catalyst for what would transpire into my love for the band, and especially their song Joey, which still to this day makes me feel very lost and found simultaneously, and reminds me that bliss would be blah without sorrow.

So anyway, it was nice to grab some reading material and it was nice to meet the ex CBC host who’s name was Maureen, and who’s daughter will be Maid Marion.

And speaking of words with dubious etymology, after today’s interview with CBC 3’s Grant Lawrence, during which I employed the phrase “for all intensive purposes”, it dawned on me that I may very well know not how to use the idiom. And so, down the Google worm hole I go, only to find out I surely don’t, and worse than that I’ve been using the bastardized version of what should be “for all intents and purposes”. Since only the well read read this blog, I’m sure this isn’t news to you, but I bet it feels good to be reaffirmed of your brainpower in this moment. And besides, my journey of ignorance led me to The Egg Corn, for which I’m grateful, but likely another redundancy for you a(cute) ones.  So for all intents and purposes, I apologize for such grammatical blunders, especially those broadcast on satellite radio.

Which leads us to Portishead.  Since, during our X929 Takeover in Calgary we were cut short of time and weren’t able to air all of our song choices, here’s Glory Box, Jasmin’s pic and also a moody number by the Bristol band who made one hell of a classic album back in ‘94. Can you believe 1994 was 16 years ago?

And here’s some less random, more MM pertinent links for your cyber perusing:

Mother Mother’s Polynesia Acoustic on a Lake in Rouyn-Noranda, QC

Mother Mother’s Wrecking Ball Acoustic Beside a Tree in Rouyn-Noranda, QC

Mother Mother’s O My Heart Live at The Boat House on Granville Island, Van BC

And things continue to go groovy on this tour. Thanks again to those who are coming out and showing support. Stuart Cameron, Matt Good’s guitarist, makes a cameo each night and Plays With us on Body Of Years and that’s an honor and a real pleasure.

And the rest of MM sends their love.

Thanks for reading. Be well.

Ryan

Hey children of the universe. We be getting to know quaint lovely Ontario towns. Barrie, N Bay, Parry Sound. Ain’t it something, all these patches of lil scattered stories acrross the big bad world. People, communities, roots, history. Well, it’s been great getting to know those of whom we talk to after the show. Thanks for extending yourselves. Had a nice moment side stage tonight watching MG and his band. An arsenal of great songs delivered by amazing musicians plus A- Grade stage banter. Felt lucky to have that vantage point. Funny thing, about 10 yrs ago, my high-school-pipe-dream-heavy-metal-band called 101 Damnations opened for The Matt Good Band at a speedway on Vancouver Island. Anyway, there’s something sentimental/serindipidous/full circle ish about that and this, isn’t there.

Tomorrow be Kingston man. Looking forward to it.

Thanks much for reading. Be well,

Ryan

Good evening,

Here we are, stopped over in Sault Ste. Marie before heading to Barrie, ON tomorrow for what will be our first performance in the North Ontario town. Surprisingly, last night was only our second performance in Thunder Bay since we began touring three years ago. Being that our inauguration was hosted in a sparsely attended bar, albeit one with only fond memories attached, we can only take last night’s highly enjoyable show with Matt Good at The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium as a good representation of TBay’s enthusiastic music going folk, or a portion thereof. Thanks to all who came and contributed to what was a memorable show for the band. We look forward to our next visit and resolve to allow less time to lapse between #2 and #3.  Also a great town that we’d not visited for some time was Regina, SK, where we had the great pleasure of playing a headlining set at The U of R 2 eves ago. As much as we missed the MG camp for this one, it was exciting to play for an hour and a half, drawing from all over the repetoire, before an initmate crowd of 400.  Thanks to all who attended, and to the great opening acts Dagan Harding and This Machine is a Fountain for playing great sets.  We learned that This Machine is a Fountain is also the title of a Charles Bukowski poem, which is cool as most of MM are big fans of his. Here ain’t the poem, but a Little Portrait.

It’s nice to be in Ontario, having defeated most of the formidable drives of the tour, and with just one speeding ticket along the way. Actually, that’s one too many, and I blame the hasty mishap on an achy tooth – one forgets their pace when an achy tooth is in the picture, especially an abscessed one.  As to avoid further speeding tickets and hellish pain, I had the tooth pulled from the face by an amiable Dr. Succo and his lovely assistant in the aforementioned Thunder Bay just this morning.  Although the process was a little rough by nature, I did appreciate the simplicity of the remedy. Good old fashioned extraction. In an age when lazers and robots take care of most everything, it was nice to sit down in a chair and have a couple of hard working folk go at it with just a few blunt tools, a little elbow grease, and some local anesthetic.

All bumps in the long and winding aside, the tour continues to go great and we look forward to meeting back up with Matt et al in Barrie tomorrow for another show.

Hope to see you there, or somewhere down the line.

Thanks for reading,

Ryan

Greetings,

During a most welcomed day off in Calgary, we had some time to walk about, collect ourselves, and reflect on the current tour which continues to go swimmingly. We’ve been made to feel very welcome by Matt Good, his band and crew, who all continue to show us what it means to be terrific hosts, and what it takes to make great music come alive on stage. Their generosity seems to be a trait shared by the leagues of MG fans who never cease to amaze us with their warm and receptive spirit. As an opening act, we’re very appreciative of this, and would like to thank all of those who turn up early each night to take a chance on a new band. And always, to our fans, thank you for your wonderful support and for coming out to these opening sets of ours.

Be well,

Ryan, Ali, Molly, Jeremy, Jasmin

Aloha.

We’re well into our cross country adventure with Matt Good and everything is going exceptionally well. Mr Good is a most gracious host and we’re truly thankful to be on this tour supporting him. The venues are very beautiful and very full. It’s a wonderful gift to be playing to so many new faces each night, and we’re delighted as well to always see little pockets of MM fans out in the crowd. Thanks to everyone who’s attending these concerts and lending an ear. We do marvel at the luxury of it all. To be in warm and well equipped spaces making splashes of expression for others and ourselves to indulge in is the land of milk and honey. Imagine throwing vibrant gobs of paint against the wall and swooning over their innocuous mayhem with dear friends. Music can be like this. It can also be like beating your head against the same wall you were just making Pollock on, but that’s a different story.

The day is all wintry arctic sunshine, and as easy as it is to whimper in the shadow of our baleful Canadian winters, we’ve been rather enjoying how pretty and lucid everything is when gripped by the cold.

Currently pondering our geography in Edmonton, we get closer to the happily anticipated gig.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan