Forest City Lovers

I realise that we live in Toronto, the world’s “gay marriage capital” but I still feel slightly compelled to write an entry about the recent disappointing news announced by the state of California. As most of you are aware, Proposition 8 was upheld in a recent vote with a a 6- 1 ruling. This is extremely frustrating for a lot of people as their once legal same-sex marriages (approx 18 000 of them)  are now in limbo.

I like to believe that we live in a world where human rights matter, and the fight for equality is paramount. The bigotry represented in the recent court decision belies all of my theories and thus seems very contradictory. It baffles me why it is such a big deal if two people in love want to share a legal union that ultimately protects them, their finances and their families. Why do the masses seem to want to curb this seemingly harmless notion? Why not rule in favour of more gun control or environmental laws?

I know that as a Canadian I can’t do much to change the laws in California, but I think it’s at least a good idea to talk about what’s going on. There are lots of websites and resources if you want to educate yourself more about prop 8.  Check out some information here. 

Oh Robert Frost. How right you are.  We are back home now after a fantastic trip to Europe. We couldn’t have asked for a better first experience. It was so lovely to play in new cities and Magali (the Phonemes) was also great company. Thank you to all the lovely people who came to see us play, let us sleep in their flats and cooked meals for us. We appreciate it so much!  As we all compile our photos, videos and stories we’ll post them in the coming weeks. Prepare for a strange interview series….  For now though, we must readjust to the time zone here and get back into the swing of things. Writing and recording will be happening. Our limbs will not be still. We shall only run forward from here.

Here is a video that someone took from a show at Morya in Cellatica, Italy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlnowgl2dIo&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f]

xo
kat

Last show of tour

Hey there readers of this blog. I hope you’re well. Kat here, writing to you from Berlin, Germany. Our tour has ended and now we have a few days off for vacation time. Kyle headed over to the UK to visit some friends, Christian took off to Latvia to visit family, I went back to Berlin and, of course, Mika is in Canada. The tour has been really awesome. I can’t believe how many really amazing people we’ve met. We saw a lot of cool places too. The south of Italy and France are so beautiful! Words can’t even explain. I won’t forget the amazing smells…like magnolias and lavender. As promised, here are some photos. We have so many photos and videos and we’ll compile them eventually…hopefully sooner than later.  I am going to be playing  a couple solo shows while I am still in Germany, so if you didn’t get your FCL fix last week you can check out some shows this week. Berlin is a really beautiful and interesting city. There is such a history here and you can really feel it. I hope to get back here really soon.

South of Italy

We’re all meeting up back in Paris in a few days and then we will fly back home. There has been some exciting news brewing while we’ve been away and we’re happy to tell you about it. Our dear friend and label mate Timber Timbre has signed a world wide deal with Arts and Crafts, which is awesome, and our label, Out of This Spark, has signed on as a distribution partner with A & C as well. This means that you will have easier access to all our records, as well as albums from The D’Urbervilles, Jenny Omnichord and the new Friends in Bellwoods that will be out this summer. Good news all around! We also will be recording in the next few months for a new release… stay tuned for details. We are excited to start planning for our new record and I hope you’re excited too. So many stories and songs to share.

Berlin

Until we’re back home,

kat

Currently we’re in Frankfurt. We are leaving this morning to begin our drive to Italy. Our Berlin show was amazing. Super fun good times. Such a treat to have a real piano too. Rocked out on it like Jerry Lee…

I am going to post some photos and videos when I get to a computer.

We left Paris and travelled in our tiny little Peugeuot 205 to Mouscrons, Belgium. We checked out a punk rock / techno / rock festival that one of our friends in Paris was playing. It was preeetty awesome. We stayed in a really cool flat just outside of Mouscrons and listened to Rancid and Union Jack well into the night. And drank a lot of wine. Of course. The next morning we were awoken by the roosters and left for Rotterdamn with our French friend, Arnaud, in tow. The five of us looked pretty funny in the tiny car, with Kyle’s bass stuck in between limbs and bodies squished like sardines.

Rotterdamn began with a wicked meal cooked for us by our hosts that we are staying with. It was the best meal we’ve had all tour. They even made falafel from scratch for us! Then we played in the living room for an amazing audience. It was really fun. We played Orphans last and had the whole room singing and clapping. I forgot to video it though…because I’m bad at video taping good things. (Sorry Colin!).

This morning our friend went back to Paris and the band explored the city. Dennis, who we are staying with, lent us two bicycles and so half of us walked aroud town and half rode bikes. This city is amazingly bike friendly and it makes me with Toronto was like this. They even have little bike ramps on the staircases.

Tonight I am tired and excited to stay in and go to sleep before three in the morning. Kyle’s off cycling and Christian went to see a reggae concert. Magali is strumming and singing. A good end to a busy day.

Tomorrow – we play Amsterdam!
xo
kat

Paris rocks.

Examples:

nice people
beautiful city
good coffee
biere emporter
soiree poche
nouveau amis

c’est tout pour maintnant!
(photos are of our acoustic show in paris at our friend’s flat)