december / 11 / 2005:
helipath rave - montreal, quebec.
photos

this was only the second time josh and i have shared a stage. somehow, we always seem to click, even without time to rehearse in-person. something about our working methods, they seem to complement each other.

to be honest, we were worried for about an hour after doors opened... there were only maybe 25 people there, and about 15 of them were working for the show. but by the time we went on stage the crowd had thickened up a bit, probably around 100. still a bit small considering the size of the venue, but everyone was dancing and it was a really good feeling.

the venue, by the way, was surrounded by what seemed to be abandoned warehouses and lofts. complete with dirty or shattered windows and creepy flickering bulbs.

but the venue itself was actually a really cool space. i think it must have once been a mechanic's garage or something, very big space, two levels. the main performance area was basically a single big empty room, which meant a giant dancefloor. very bare, but neat -- white concrete floors, walls, and a very high ceiling (surprisingly, the acoustics were actually not bad). if it were fixed up a bit, and in a better part of town, it could be an amazing venue.

also, there was a giant charcoal outline of a banana on the floor. for some reason.

for us, the show was a success because josh and I got to collaborate in person again, which we don't get to do very often. and i've never played any sort of rave environment before -- including the encores we played a 2 hour set! it really felt like a kickass jam session, for me anyway.

but both of us had to take off early -- josh, rockstar that he is, had a gig in new jersey the next night. me, i just had a term paper due on monday... which I didn't write until i was back home... hey, I got distracted, alright?

thank you to guillaume and the crew -- and thank you to all who came out and shook their asses!


october / 12 / 2005:
huge thanks to olivier, nicolas, and the whole bioMETRIK collective for showing us an awesome time in quebec city this weekend! it's a beautiful city, with some of the nicest people i've met on the road. the show was a raucous success, and i have learned that no one parties like the quebecois – a whole weekend of drinking and screaming and music, and they still danced even to my fastest tunes! that's endurance, man.

i would, however, like to make one statement of clarification. the visuals being presented onscreen during my performance were those of a live vj, and not a product of my own in any way. i couldn't see the visuals while i was onstage, but after the show i was informed that they contained strong imagery of violence against women. i was shocked and disappointed to hear about this after the fact, knowing how disturbing and triggering such imagery can be. i want to make it clear that it was in no way a decision on my part, and that in fact such imagery goes entirely against my personal politics. i would hate for anyone to associate such ideas with myself or my music.

i have already been working on visual packages of my own for future shows, and this has spurred me to move more intently in that direction.

but i most definitely do not want to put a dark cloud over the bioMETRIK experience – on the whole it was a simply awesome night, and i would come back and rock QC without a moment's hesitation.