Music
Lovely Killbots to Headline IndieCredit No.1
Lauralee and Ryan constitute the Lovely Killbots. They are the band. Lauralee sings and plays piano, and Ryan plays drums and backs up Lauralee's vocals. It's pretty straightforward which is good, because I'm a pretty straightforward guy.
Next is IndieCredit No.1. Basically, it's a fundraiser via Kiva, and all the money raised will go to entrepreneurs in developing countries. I knew that this Kiva thing wasn't as straightforward as who-does-what in the Lovely Killbots, so I decided to meet up with them. Since they are headlining the show January 29th, at the Rancho Relaxo, I thought that maybe they could explain the fundraiser better than I.
On a frigid evening, we settled into the Victory Cafe. Ryan ordered the poutine and we all had a round of beers. Then, we discussed the upcoming IndieCredit show.
"It [the IndieCredit show] is for Kiva, and Kiva is a micro-lender. What you do, is you go on their website and you can make a donation -which is really a loan. And you can go through all of these entrepreneurs and have conversations with them, and then decide who you'd like to send money too. The donations are in increments of $25, and what you have to remember is that they are actually loans, so you'll be paid back. Today I invested in a guy who's making furniture."
Lauralee: "Oh did you? Good for you!"
Much better at explaining it than I. At least six times better. Ryan actually started giving me a history lesson on micro-lending, but by then I had lost interest.
2008 has been a busy year for the Lovely Killbots. From playing their first show at The Boat, to releasing their debut album -Primrose Lane- in November. Ryan talked to me a bit about recording the album.
"We did it in blocks [of time] in Ottawa. A friend of Lauralee's family has a studio and he's established himself over the years doing a lot of interesting recordings. I think the first time we went up there he was doing a flute quartet. Not necessarily rock, but he definitely has an ear for music."
Lauralee: "He definitely helped us out. He offered us a lot of help recording the album. It was definitely worth making the trip. I think we spent four weekends with him."
They will be playing IndieCredit with Wendy Leung and Wilderness of Manitoba.
The next opportunity to see them will be February 24, at the Horseshoe Tavern.
Two final important observations. Ryan really enjoyed the poutine, but couldn't eat it all. I also found out that Lauralee is not the kind of person that says they aren't hungry, but then nibbles at what the other person ordered.
Photo by Sevrina Fernandes
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And while I'm on the ball, big huge karma points should go to these Killbots. And Wendy. And the boys in Wilderness. If it's not apparent from this article, all the people involved with this project genuinely give a shit about this stuff.
So, karma for blogTO (and Sevrina, thanks), karma for the bands... and considering one can expect the crowd to be at least partially comprised of aloof hipster types, karma for them, too.
I draw the line at scarves, though.
If you are going to cover a band, so not belittle them, EVER. Bear in mind, DJ's and cover bands get paid upwards of $1000 a night to play OTHER PEOPLE's music, while an original act like the Killbots put themselves on the line each time out, make no money (and usually have to eat their own costs) and very few of the Indie hipsters even care..unless of course the gig were at the Dakota and Broken Social Scene approved of it.
It is time we started respecting these bands for what they are. Hard working, and far more talented than any DJ or musical thief. Anyone can impersonate another artist or "spin" a record, but VERY FEW can actually write a good song..let's not forget that
My position is that, at the level we're at, this is all a co-operative effort. I'm not kidding myself, this event will go unnoticed by most people and the turnout will be, relatively speaking, modest. It's a small event but a lot of pieces had to fall into place for this to happen - the bands volunteered, we were given a Thursday to book this show at Rancho Relaxo, more than a few people have been very supportive and helped out in some way, and we've gotten a bit of free press from places like BlogTO. I'd be a fool to turn down or belittle BlogTO's contribution because, as I understand it, much of their content comes from volunteers as well. However this writer comes off in their article, they (the site) still gave us coverage, and I don't think what you're perceiving as a negative attitude on the part of the writer affects anyone's ability to understand what this event is about.
I guess I just feel the article's tone is a non-story. I don't want anyone to care about it, because there's at least two things that are more important. One is where the money will be going, and the other is the fact that Lauralee, Ryan and the rest of the artists playing next Thursday are not only very talented musicians, but are also great people. Originally I expected building an event like this to be more difficult than it has been (it's been a fair amount of work, but most of the credit there goes to Terri - I just write lengthy posts on the internet, heh), and that's solely thanks to the positive contributions everyone's given to help people who will never really know about all this behind-the-scenes stuff. To a hyper-cynic like me, it's been very enlightening to say the least.