During my short experience as and adult, I’ve always been looking for ways to live that help reduce daily stress.

One tip that I recommend people is: ‘Slow down!’

When you’re doing something, do not rush through it… Take your time and do it right.  Double or triple check things… so that you don’t have to fix errors later!

Knowing that something is done and over-with takes a large amount of stress off of your shoulders!

…

Last night I skipped my own advice… I was in a slight rush to leave the studio; to meet some friends… I packed up quickly and did a quick clean-up… then took off.

When I arrived at a friend’s house, I reached for my Cell-Phone to check the time and messages… I unclipped it from my pocket, and started pressing buttons.

It took me about 20 seconds to realize that it was not my cell-phone… but the cordless-phone from the studio!

In my rush to get out, I forgot that I had the phone on me!

The moral is… Slow down!

-Tristan

Here we go. The Catherine North blog is officially here. Basically, this is the place where we post things that aren’t really news, but are still worth writing — and reading — about.

Watch this space.

Join us on September 10 for Catherine North MashUP II, an experimental concert/recording project at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton, Ontario.

• The premise Invite two individual artists who don’t know each other. Pair them up for a joint recording session/concert performance.
• The Catch They collaborate live in front of you, the audience, while we record the process and outcome. No preproduction. No overdubs.
• The venue The main tracking room at Catherine North Studios – an inspirational open concept church space, fantastic for capturing live-off-the-floor performances.

Admission is PWYC: Guestlist (free), Supporter ($5) and Patron ($20). Proceeds from Supporter and Patron ticket sales will go towards supporting the project.

Our two guest artists on September 10 will be:

Adam Warner – As the longtime drummer for rock-and-roll armada White Cowbell Oklahoma, former member of pop sensation The Golden Dogs, and founding member of African group Radio Nomad, Adam Warner has a breadth of musical experience that belies his small-town roots. He has performed and/or recorded with members of the Barenaked Ladies, Sloan, the Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, and Great Big Sea, among others. Lyrically and musically, Adam stands at the crossroads between the country and the city. With a huge voice that ranges from gentle and smooth to peel-the-paint-off-the-walls holler, Adam makes “Country-Soul” music with serious groove. www.adamwarner.com

Amanda Zelina (The Coppertone) – Amanda Zelina is The Coppertone. With a voice that howls, unapologetic moody fuzzed out guitars, primal drums, and lyrics soaked in soul, The Coppertone is an exciting and refreshing new face to contemporary blues. “My influences are from guys like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Junior Kimbrough, John Lee Hooker, Son House… Blues men who used their fingers to dig into the strings, who held a note for eight bars more than they technically should because it felt right.” Amanda continues, “The blues to me is non-restrictive… It’s a spiritual force, a feeling more than a chord structure.” thecoppertone.com

Click here to watch the video from our last MashUP!

At long last… we’ve released our very first official MashUP video, and we’re now hard at work planning the next MashUP slated for September 10, 2010. Stay tuned for more information.

On June 11 we invited songwriters Karyn Ellis and Ian Smith to participate in the first ever Catherine North MashUP. Karyn and Ian wrote, rehearsed, and recorded a song in 60 minutes — all in front of a live audience.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Kudos to Moussa and his team (Ivar, Long and Paul) for capturing the magic of the evening on video. We hope you enjoy it.

Written and performed by Karyn Ellis and Ian Smith. Featuring Marcone on Wurlitzer. Recorded in front of a live audience on June 11, 2010 at Catherine North Studios (Hamilton, Canada).

British band Count To Fire have announced their second studio album In Another Life will be released on September 6, 2010.

The album was recorded at Catherine North Studios last year and was produced by Colin Cripps. The album both builds on its predecessor and glides gracefully into a higher echelon. More adventurous than their debut, the new record is an impressive collection of mature songwriting, as a band that always showed promise deliver in spades.

The album will be available physically from Amazon and CD Baby. As well as downloaded or streamed from iTunes or Spotify.

Michigan based singer-songwriter Mike Vial is gearing up to release his second EP, Burning the Boats, on September 28, 2010. In the meantime, Mike’s hosting a listening party at the Uptown Coffee House (102 E. Grand River, Howell, MI) on August 29 from 6 to 8pm. Tickets are $3 in advance are available online at fusionshows.com. Tickets include a drink, a copy of the CD and performance!

Mike recorded the disc with us at Catherine North over the past year. It started in the spring of 2009 and finished up in earlier this summer. We’re all excited to get these songs out into the world.

(Mike, we still want to take a tour of the Heritage factory in Kalamazoo with you sometime soon!)

Joel Johnson is having his official CD release for his latest album, Blues Joose, Vol. 1, on Saturday, July 31 at a matinée show the Liquid Lounge in Brantford starting at 3pm. Blues Joose was recorded at Catherine North with Duke Foster.

From Six Nations Ontario Canada, Joel Johnson certainly does pack some hard hitting electric blues in his solo debut album Blues Joose Vol.1. … What to expect on Blues Joose Vol.1? It has a little bit of everything on it such as the swing, delta slide, funk, boogie woogie and Madness guitar playing and is certainly turning out to be an album to have. —cdbaby.com

For more information check out Joel’s myspace and CD Baby pages.

The Passengers have been busy with us at Catherine North since starting to track their new EP last fall. This five song EP is a follow up to their first release Do You Have a Flag? that was mastered by Dan Achen at Catherine North last year.

Their new EP, Town Full of Houses, was to be officially released this Saturday (July 24) a the Drake Underground, but has had to be postponed due to a scheduling conflict at the Drake.

In the meantime, check out their website for a preview of Town Full of Houses.

Okay, Okay, Okay by thepassengers

Ian Smith – Passing Trains by Catherine North

Shortly after Dan passed away in March, Ian Smith (Spirits/The Miniatures) wrote a song in Dan’s memory called Passing Trains. Ian and drummer Nick Skalkos performed the song at Dan’s wake in March. A few weeks later we were talking with Ian about the future of Catherine North, and decided that recording “Passing Trains” should be our first new project after Dan’s passing.

The song was sent to Joe Lambert Mastering in Brooklyn, NY. We just got the master back and we’re excited to get it out there as a tribute to Dan.

July 13 was Dan’s birthday. Help us celebrate by passing this on.

downloadDownload the MP3 right now!
Click here to download

With the release of Spirits’ Into Gentle Arms single and video, the band are offering up tracks to remixers to have their way with the song. We’re looking forward to hearing the results. Stems can be downloaded here. Full details about the contest can be found here.

Spirits “Into Gentle Arms” Remix Contest

Here is the official video. Enjoy!

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]