Toronto-based, Iranian-born singer-songwriter néGar’s self-titled debut EP is available now. néGar started working with Goldilocks (the production team Dan Achen and Ian Smith) in the fall of 2009. Two of the songs on the record, “One Minute” and “Faceless Nameless” were started just about the time Dan passed away. The album is dedicated to Dan, and it’s so wonderful to see that’s it now available. Dan would have been proud of the final product.
Also, last summer a video for “Faceless Nameless” was shot here at Catherine North. It’s being used for the trailer for upcoming thriller film called Bluebird. Here is the video. Enjoy.
Back in the fall 2010, Bruce McDonald and a small film crew came through Catherine North to film parts of a documentary about the music scene on Toronto’s Yonge Street from the late 1950s to 1970. They filmed interviews with a number of music industry legends. Duff Roman, Skip Prokop, Stan Endersby, John Finley and Ritchie Yorke were some of the folks to pass through our doors.
Yonge Street: Toronto Rock & Roll Stories airs next week on Bravo!
Part 1: 1955-60: Monday, March 21 at 10pm ET
Part 2: 1960-65: Tuesday, March 22 at 10pm ET
Part 3: 1965-70: Wednesday, March 23 at 10pm ET
For more detailed information about the series visit: www.yongestreet.tv.
P.S. I might even have a small part in a scene with Duff Roman and John Finley — though they may have edited me out!
P.P.S. A butternut squash that my wife Kathleen grew in our backyard can be seen in the background of the interview with guitarist Stan Endersby!
It’s hard to believe it was one year ago today that Dan Achen passed away. But Dan never left Catherine North. He’s here every day. Pushing us to do our best and beyond. Dan would be proud of the work and accomplishments of all the musicians, friends and family he had such a great impact on.
The studio that Dan poured his heart and soul into over the years is still going strong. Dan left us with the momentum to keep things going, and the inspiration to take on all the challenges and opportunities that come our way. The team of people that Dan put together was — and continues to be — strong. We wouldn’t be where we are today without Dan.
Last year on Dan’s birthday, we released a song Ian Smith wrote called Passing Trains. Ian and Nick Skalkos performed the song at Dan’s wake. A few weeks later we recorded the song.
The Coppertone was back at Catherine North last week recording songs for an upcoming EP. As we did for the last record, we tuned up the old MCI JH-24 2-inch analog machine for these songs. When recording The Coppertone it’s all about capturing the raw performance, not sterile perfection. We tracked at 15 ips with no noise reduction, and the tone is fabulous. Nick Skalkos played drums and did an amazing job as usual. We’re really looking forward to getting our hands on the 12″ vinyl when it’s released this spring.
When Steve Winnall and Allison Smith contacted us about recordoing BowTie‘s debut EP last spring I was excited to be a part of the project. Steve had told me the main reason they chose Catherine North was that they loved the sound of City and Colour’s Bring Me Your Love. So how funny it was that the mixing of BowTie’s EP was delayed due to Dallas Green coming back to record City and Colour’s upcoming release Little Hell.
BowTie’s EP, Sequins, will be released April 1, 2011. A preview of their songs can be heard on their myspace page, and one of the tracks is featured in the video below.
