Hey young people with faces,
We are heading out on a little tour of Western Canada this summer, and most of the shows are ALL-AGES.  Joining us on tour will be our lovely friends We Are The City, as well as the always amazing Aidan Knight.

The tour is being presented by our pals over at AUX TV, and you can win tickets to some of the shows here.

Here are the dates:

July 25 – Penticton, BC @ Voodoos
July 26 – Canmore, AB @ Outdoor camping show!  Location TBA via twitter/FB
July 27 – Lethbridge, AB @ The Slice (18+)
July 28 – Calgary, AB @ Broken City (Early AA show, Late 18+ show)
July 29 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
July 30 – Saskatoon, SK @ YFC Building
July 31 – Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre
August 1 – Gimli, MB @ Icelandic Festival
August 3 – Regina, SK @ The Exchange
August 5 – Kamloops, BC @ Desert Gardens

Tickets can be purchased through ticketmaster, ticketweb, or at the venue.
Check out the tour section for more info.
Hope to see you all there!

Hey everyone,
We just put some photos from tour up on facebook. You do not need to be a facebooker to view them. Check em out!

Dear internet,
Tomorrow we kick off our Canadian tour in Montreal. We are joined for the next 8 days by In-Flight Safety and Graham Wright. After that we head to the maritimes for a few shows alone and a few shows with our pals Hollerado, then starting April 28 in WInnipeg, we’re heading west with one of our favorite bands ever, Plants and Animals. Good times ahead!

Stay tuned for updates from the road. We’ll be posting photos mostly on facebook, but will try to link stuff around with the wonders of other technologies.

Hope to see you all out on the road!

In October 2008, we had the pleasure of spending at day at Catherine North Studios, co-owned and operated by the late Dan Achen. We had first been there a few months prior, recording with our friend Amanda Zelina, and were blown away by the space, so we booked a day in the middle of a hectic tour to record a few songs of our own. Entering the studio with four completely unrehearsed songs and attempting to record them live off the floor is no easy task, especially for a band as road-weary as we were, but Dan made it feel effortless.

One of the first things we ever heard him say was during the first time we met him at the Amanda Zelina session; In response to someone’s query “shouldn’t we lay down a click-track first?”, he promptly replied “No man, just vibe with it”. I remember how freeing it was to hear a producer say something like that, and every time I’ve recorded with a metronome since then I’ve always wondered if Dan would have done it that way.

Having only spent a brief period of time with him, its hard to provide a detailed memoir of his character, but ask anyone who knew him and they’ll tell you how great Dan was and what a pleasure he was to work with. His resume was extensive, and he had great musicians working with him for good reason. Canada has lost a fantastic member of the music community, and alot of people have lost a good friend. Our condolences go out to those who share in this loss.

In memory of Dan, we’d like to share with you the four songs we recorded on that day in October ’08. You’ll recognize all of the songs from our latest album (and the Magician EP), but the structures of some songs are slightly different than the final versions, as these are songs in their early stages. And yes, that’s Dan at the beginning of the first song who says “a two minute song? This song’s only two minutes long?”
Hey Dan – we added a chorus at the end of the song, so its 2:36 now!
Love,
Said The Whale

DOWNLOAD THE CATHERINE NORTH DEMOS

Hey everyone,
Head over to iTunes to get your copy of the Bear Bones EP, a 5-song collection of acoustic tunes that we recorded in Ben’s bedroom. We’ve never officially released anything recorded in this fashion before and the vulnerability of it excites us. Hope you like it…
Love,
Whales

Look at these fellas? Don’t they look like exactly the kind of guys you’d wanna go on a roadtrip with from Winnipeg MB, to Victoria, BC? Yuh-uh, me too. So we’re gonna do it! In all seriousness, we love this band, and are very excited to tour with them this spring. Their new album comes out April 20, and it will surely be amazing. Here are the dates:

April 28 | Winnipeg, MB | WECC w/ Plants & Animals
April 29 | Saskatoon, SK | Amigos w/ Plants & Animals
April 30 | Edmonton, AB | Starlite Room w/ Plants & Animals
May 1 | Calgary, AB | Royal Canadian Legion (Br 1) w/ Plants & Animals
May 2 | Kelowna, BC | Habitat w/ Plants & Animals
May 4 | Victoria, BC | Sugar w/ Plants & Animals
May 5 | Vancouver, BC | Commodore Ballroom w/ Plants & Animals

Hope to see some of you there!
Love,
Whales

Wow. Honestly, we’re pretty blown away at the response from our call for artwork. We received over 60 submissions – you are all so gosh darn talented… In fact if it weren’t for all of you, this EP probably would have featured some really weak stick-man drawings care of yours truly. So thank you. Thank you all. And now, our decision…
THANKS and CONGRATS to Abbi MacDonald from Barrie, Ontario! Here’s Abbi’s totally rad cover:

As awesome as Abbi’s cover is, it would be downright criminal to ignore some of the other amazing covers, so here are a few more of our favourites. Click the image to view gallery:

PS – We should probably also mention that the Bear Bones EP will be available on iTunes on Feb 16!

Dear everyone,
We have finally decided to press our newest record, “Islands Disappear” on 12″ vinyl! However, in order to do so, we need to raise funds with pre-orders. So, please head over to http://saidthewhale.bandcamp.com and pre-order your copy now!

Your help is GREATLY appreciated!

Note: If you are in Vancouver, we will refund the cost of shipping when you come to our next Vancouver show in May!

Dear everyone,
We would like to offer you our most heartfelt and sincere thanks for this past year. Two thousand and nine has been incredible for us, and its all thanks to you. We’ve met so many amazing people in our travels this year; fans at shows, fans on the internets, fans on the street, music promoters, radio station personnel, label folk, industry types, artists, hotel staff, bar managers, parking lot attendants, highway patrol officers, cafe baristas, auto mechanics…and countless more amazing individuals. We’re also proud and honoured to have made such incredible new friends in the Canadian music scene in bands such as Mother Mother, Arkells, Joel Plaskett, Tokyo Police Club, Will Currie & The Country French, The Dudes, Hey Rosetta, City And Colour, Yukon Blonde, We Are The City (and more!), as well as having maintained and had wonderful times with old friends Dan Mangan, Hannah Georgas, Hey Ocean, The Zolas, Hollerado and more.
So thank you all, musicians and fans alike, for your incredible support. It means the world to us.
We hope you all have a happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2010.
Love,
Said The Whale