Blog

Now we love you all very much, so what better day to get you caught up on all the recent Arkells related happenings than St. Valentine’s Day, which this year, coincidentally, falls on my other favourite holiday: Boston Pizza’s Pasta Tuesday. There has been a lot of goings on in the past few weeks so I’ll cut right to the chase. After months and months of sifting through NAFTA agreements, we are finally ready to announce that Michigan Left will be released in the US on April 10th 2012. But ya can’t just put the thing out, so we are embarking on a two month tour supporting the release with the Maine and Lydia starting in mid April. If you live in the continental United States, chances are that we are coming to your town. Check back here for details, as the dates will be announced soon. We’ve also been busy here in Canada. We finished up a run of dates on the East Coast with some crazy, crazy, shows in Halifax and Antigonish. Everything they say about the east coast is true. Thank you to everyone who came out and showed us inlanders how to party. This past weekend we played some dates in Southwestern Ontario and were lucky enough to have Dan Griffin join us onstage for a few shows. Playing with Dan or Anthony is always a treat, so getting to play with both of them is like eating Treatzza Pizza – a Dairy Queen patented dessert that combines two treats: pizza and ice cream. Last but not least, over the past few weeks, we have been releasing a bunch of acoustic videos and cover songs. Below is an acoustic version of Book Club the guys recorded before our Hamilton show. Check out our Soundcloud (http://soundcloud.com/arkells) and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/arkellsofficial) pages to see and hear them all.

Nick

Happy Groundhog Day,

This year we are celebrating the Bill Murray-ist holiday of the year by driving from Fredericton to Halifax, where we will be playing tonight at the Grawood. It’s been a good week out here on the east coast, filled with all the obligatory east coast winter activities: eating seafood, having a Joel Plaskett listening party in the van, driving through a major snowstorm, playing basketball at the local YMCAs and watching the Darcy’s kill it every night. This has been our first trip to the east coast since 2010 so we are making up for lost time, and as the local saying goes, “havin a time”. On Tuesday night we played our first ever club show in Moncton. We also had the opportunity to jam with our new friend Mitch, a fifteen year old drummer who came to hang out with us in soundcheck. He literally didn’t miss a beat. Last night we made the drive to Fredericton where inclement weather didn’t stop anyone in Freddy from coming out and showing the rest of Canada that you can indeed party on a Wednesday night, no matter how snowy it is outside. Tonight we are looking forward to seeing all our Haligonian friends and having a Donair eating contest with the Darcy’s. There are five of us and four of them, so it should be no-contest, but you never know. Rumour is that Jason eats for two and absolutely loves Donair.

Nick

Yello Friends,

As we head into la belle province after three shows in Ontario, we couldn’t be happier with how the January leg of the winter tour has gone so far. Guelph, Hamilton and Kingston are all special places to play for us. Our Guelph show saw Mike return to his childhood home and just as importantly, the childhood prosciutto curing station that he set up in said home’s basement; the one where he spent many a night making the finest of the salty meats. The next night we played at the Convention Centre in Hamilton and playing a hometown show is always fun, and not just because we get to sleep in our own beds. We got to share the stage with one of our favourite bands Zeus and just as importantly, we shared the night with one favourite audiences; thanks for all the love Hamilton. Kingston has also become a special place for us. It’s where we played some of our first shows (at the Merchant Ale House), where we recorded Michigan Left (just down the road in Bath) and where Tim and Max bought their winter jackets (Levi’s outlet store). All three shows were really special and ones that we won’t soon forget. Thanks to everyone who came out and sang along with us. Tonight we play in Montreal, and in honour of the NHL All-Star Skills competition going on today, we will be having our own road hockey skills competition with our tour mates the Darcys. I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I would put my money on Wes from the Darcys to win the hardest shot competition.

Talk soon,
Nick

Hey Eastern Canada, we’re coming for ya! And we’re looking to break those winter blues, so bring your dancing shoes – oh, and check out the dates below. We’re gonna be dipping into America as well, so if you’re in Buffalo, Ithaca, Chicago or Detroit there’s some good news in there for you too.

See you there!

xo Arkells

TOUR DATES:

01/19 – Guelph, ON @ Peter Clark Hall, University of Guelph
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $22.00 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/x63oib

01/20 Hamilton, ON @ Hamilton Convention Centre
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $22.50 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/yNMPsG

01/27 Kingston, ON @ Ale House
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: $20.00/$25.00 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/wDXnjT

01/28 Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: $12.00 + services charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/xUIHzR

01/31 Moncton, NB @ Manhattan
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $15.00/$17.00 + plus service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/v0YgsB

02/01 Fredericton, NB @ The Ballroom
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $20.00/$25.00 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/z9wHEB

02/02 Halifax, NS @ The Grawood
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Available here: TBA

02/03 Charlottetown, PEI @ The Wave
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Available here: TBA

02/04 Antigonish, NS @ The McKay Room
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 7pm
Available here: TBA

02/09 Kitchener, ON @ Elements *
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: $24.50 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/xNebMF

02/10 London, ON @ London Music Hall
w/ special guest The Darcys
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: $24.50 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/wJihoZ

02/11 Sarnia, ON @ The Industry
Doors: 8:30pm
Tickets:$15.00 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/2H7g0M

02/16 Peterborough, ON @ The Venue
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $20.00 + service charges
Available here: coming soon

02/17 Ithaca, NY @ Castaways
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $10.00
Available here: coming soon

02/18 Buffalo, NY @ The Town Ballroom
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $15.00
Available here: http://bit.ly/ztKura

03/01 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: $10.00 + service charges
Available here: http://bit.ly/zsmugl

03/02 Detroit, MI @ The Shelter
Doors at 10pm (Mute Math Afterparty)
Tickets: $8.00 + service charges
Available here: http://goo.gl/KX2qk

We have had a few questions and concerns come up related to our shows in Atlantic Canada in early February, and we wanted to set the record straight. First, it’s true that we do prefer Moosehead to Alexander Keith’s, but we also like Propeller IPA. Secondly, some people have been contacting us asking if/why the east coast shows are not open to the public. These shows ARE in fact open to the public, so you have no excuse for not coming out and saying hello. It’s been a while since we’ve been out your way East Coasters, so there is a lot to catch up on. I’m giving you fair warning now, don’t get Mike started on his new darkroom. If you are having trouble getting tickets, contact us and someone will point you in the right direction. So in conclusion, tickets are available to the general public for our East Coast shows; you just need to contact the post-secondary institution that has been kind enough to host us, and (not required but recommended) ask nicely. Ah who am I kidding, you East Coasters always ask nicely.

See you in a few weeks
Nick

Here’s hoping that everyone had a safe, happy and enjoyable end to the 2011 calendar year. This past year was a special one for us and we can’t say thank you enough to all the people, places and things that made it so. Now as much as we liked 2011, we prefer even numbered years, so we plan to make 2012 even more of a hum-dinger. With that in mind, we are getting right to work and should be visiting a city in Ontario or Atlantic Canada near you in the coming month. We also have a few US shows booked in February and should be adding more in the coming weeks. 2012 is going to be a busy one so check the site early and often for all the pertinent info on shows, videos, releases, contests, offers and shenanigans. We’ve also made lots of New Year’s Resolutions to make sure that 2012 is even better than 2011: Tim has decided to smoke less, Anthony has decided to read more (on his new iPad; thanks Santa!), Mike has decided to try and take more photos and Max has resolved to be in more of Mike’s photos. Now it’s time for me to head to the gym and fulfill my own new year’s resolution: pick up my mom from the gym more often.

Nick

This week we had the very special honour of playing the Andy Kim Christmas show at the Phoenix in Toronto. It was a very special night for us, as we had the opportunity to play some songs with lots of our favourite artists. We covered Hall and Oates with Lights, sang a Christmas Carol with Sarah Harmer, and got to play some Motown music with Amanda (from the Coppertone) and Brendan Canning. Max even got to share the stage with the legendary Andy Kim (check that one of the bucket list). Most importantly, everyone in attendance helped raise a lot of money for a really great Toronto charity called Juliette’s House . We had a blast on Wednesday night and can’t thank everyone that came out and supported the cause enough for their generosity. Here’s a little video of from Wednesday.

Talk soon,
Nick

I’m going to be honest with you; your dad doesn’t want another copy of The Scorpion King on Blue Ray this year. Neither does your cousin, mailman or thesis supervisor. But I do feel your pain; Xmas shopping can be difficult. Luckily, we have a solution if you want to do something different this year. If you have bought yourself or someone special Arkells tickets for one of our 2012 shows, email arkellsfestivespecial@gmail.com the name of the person you want the card addressed to along with their mailing address and the location of the 2012 Arkells show you are attending and we will send you a signed postcard with a special holiday message. You can only give The Scorpion King so many times. We will try our best to have the postcards arrive before Christmas Day, but we all know that Santa has a monopoly on the Canadian postal system at this time of year, so be patient with us. Offer expires on December 14th at 7pm so email soon to take advantage!

Feliz Navidad!
Nick

Every tour comes with it’s own scary moment. For Mike, it’s when a hotel we are staying at doesn’t have an HDMI connection for his Playstation. For Anthony, it’s when the restaurant we are eating at doesn’t have Caesar’s. For Max it’s when there is no wifi at the venue. For me, the moment is when the Tim Hortons card my grandmother bought me starts to dip down into the single digits. Luckily, that moment occurred today as we were leaving Winnipeg on our way home. The western leg of the tour finished last night after a wild weekend in the Prairies. Admittedly, I’ve never observed or participated in a prison riot, but Friday night in Saskatoon was as close as an Arkells show has ever come to one (albeit in a good way). On Friday, the good people of Louis’ Pub set the world record for number of crowd surfers per capita and walked away with the wildest crowd of the tour award. Not to be outdone, Winnipeg set its own record on Saturday night: the equally sought after prize for the having the most people onstage singing and dancing during an encore. Now we know what it’s like to be in Broken Social Scene. We might be heading home, but it’s only for a minute. We play in St Catharines Thursday night and then it’s right back to Vancouver to play the Grey Cup pregame show (it’s on TSN if you’re interested). As if this wasn’t enough info to cram into one blog, we were also lucky enough to have one of our favourite Canadian artists, Young Galaxy, remix Michigan Left. Check the “News” section of the website for more info on where you can hear the track.

See you at the 50 yard line,
Nick

As I write today’s update, Mike’s steady hand is navigating our van through Rogers Pass. For those of you unfamiliar with Rogers Pass, it is a particularly hairy and mountainous (but incredibly scenic) stretch of Trans Canada highway in between Kamloops and Banff. It can be a difficult drive in the wintertime, but with a skilled wheelman like Mike (he has beat both Need for Speed and Grand Turismo) and “Long Haul Kerman” keeping us entertained with a variety of podcasts (today we listened to Radiolab, the BS Report and some Robin Williams stand up), the trip is easy breezy. Last night in Kamloops we closed out the BC leg of the tour with a stop at the Blue Grotto. Kamloops will always hold a special place in our hearts (it’s where we were when we released Jackson Square), and every time we come back it gets better and better. In other tour happenings, you may have heard around the way that we are playing another set of shows throughout Ontario in the new year. If you live in the area and are interested in coming out to the one of the shows, check out the “Live” section of our website for dates and ticket info. If ticket info hasn’t been released yet, it should be in the near future. I know what you’re thinking: way to earn your service fees Ticketmaster. Tonight we head to Wild Bill’s to play our first ever show in Banff. Now to end with a quote about the Rocky Mountains we currently find ourselves in.

“I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this Lloyd.”
“Yeah, that John Denver is full of shit man.”

Nick