PRAIRIE FIRES !
SLEDMONTON !
SHAOLIN !
Warning …
Eric has not posted a SLATES blog entry in a while so this one is a long one …
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SLATES “PRAIRIE FIRES” NOW AVAILABLE
Ladies & Gentlemen, we present to you SLATES sophomore LP “Prairie Fires” released on Handsome Dan Records:
Take a couple songs for a test drive at www.slates.bandcamp.com.
As one listener put it: “Kinda Metallica n Alice (AIC) vibe going on. Good backbeat, nice sizzle on the 2k”.
A long story, due to a logistic screw up from the printing company we did not have the actual Prairie Fires record jackets for our release show at Teddy’s over the weekend. You would think having recorded this album 10 months ago we would have had the enough time to coordinate the loose ends…but I digress.
To the rescue, Stefan and I spray painted a limited run of the ultra-hip-super-collectible release show record jackets in my garage 1 hour before the doors opened for the show.
If you purchased a copy of our record with this incredible limited edition alternate jacket, we have your email and will send you instructions to download the mp3 album. We will also give you a copy of the actual Prairie Fires jacket … unless of course you simply want to buy another copy of the new record with the correct cover art and ebay the shit out of the limited edition cover…your call ! By us a budweiser and perhaps we will sign your copy and help you set that reserve higher!
As I am writing this … This just in !!! OMG “THE JACKETS HAVE ARRIVED”.
Round of applause for Stefan Duret for his hard work and not dying on us pre-Teddy’s show from a panic attack. We love you Stefan. BOOSH
We will have the new “Prairie Fires” record available (both with the correct and limited edition jackets) at Sled Island and other upcoming shows. Soon enough they will be available in the finest independent record stores. You can also order “Prairie Fires” though slates.bandcamp.com.
SLATES “Prairie Fires” on Handsome Dan Records pictured above.“Prairie Fires” Limited Edition Whoopsie cover pictured below.
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PRAIRIE FIRE RELEASE PARTY WEEKEND RECAP
On Friday, Permanent Records hosted an afterschool special in-store performance for us. We were joined by our hardcore homeboys in No Problem who released their album “And Now This” on Deranged Records this weekend.
It was my mom’s first punk show.“Mom, do you need earplugs?”
“Nah, I think I’ll tough it out.”
(photos by Mr. Budd)On Saturday evening we had our official “Prairie Fires” release party at Teddy’s. Putting the “class” in classic rock. Whiskeyface opened up with a great set of dirty rock and were well behaved gentlemen for the remainder of the evening. Falklands had a bump in the road earlier in the day when their drummer Jerf injured himself. Our man Dallas stepped up to the plate and ripped an awesome last minute set with Falklands including a ripper of “Whole Lotta Rosie”.
(Teddy’s photos by Kradical)Thank you to Leo and the staff at Teddy’s for hosting our record release party. We had a swell time.
Extra special thanks to all of you that attended the Teddy’s show on Saturday and making it a really awesome nite for everyone. SLATES fans are thee best.
…and shit, as I am writing this I realize the PA rental was due back 5 minutes ago and I totally forgot. Whoops.
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MEDIA
Thank you to Sandra Sperounes for the SLATES featurette about our new ablum which appeared last Friday in the Edmonton Journal.
As well thank you to Bryan Birtles for covering the new ablum and our Teddy’s LP2 release partay in Vue Weekly.
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BARTENDER’S CORNER
Prairie Fire … one hell of a hot shot !
1oz Tequila
splash of tabasco sauce
bottoms up w/ a Tums on standby
(I did 14 of these for my 19th birthday and subsequently got escorted out of the Black Dog at 11:30pm, yikes)
Slates Soda … the official jam drink of choice !
3 fingers of Rootbeer Schnapps
Club Soda and grenadine to taste
Drink until you shred
Please, SLATES encourages you to party and drink responsibly.
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SLEDMONTON
We are excited to be performing at the upcoming Sled Island Festival in Calgary this weekend.
“Remember when bands spent less time trying to be cool and more time on being good? Edmonton’s SLATES play sincere, unapologetic music that is constantly hinting towards catharsis. Stop reminiscing about how good The Constantines used to be and check out SLATES!”
Thursday, June 23 @ 8:00pm
SLATES @ New Black
All Ager Rager w/ Trigger Effect, Time Copz, The SSRIs
Facebook Event Page
Friday, June 25 @ 7:00pm
SLATES @ Local 522
Bart Records Showcase w/ Book of Caverns, Bayonets!!!, Crow Eater, Auld Beak
Download Links:
Sled Island Schedule
Sled Island Program guide
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HINTONMONTON
SLATES are going to shred Thursday and Friday at Sled Island. Then we are going to have a Rocky Mountain highway drive to Hinton, Alberta. We’ve got 2 Hinton shows lined up for Saturday, June 24 !!!
All ager rager punk show and skateboard competition hosted by the Hinton Youth Centre during the day @ 4:30pm … The Field Day / SLATES / Old Wives / The Grave Mistakes / …and The Blame-Its !
There will be an 18+ bar show later in the evening featuring Old Wives / SLATES / …and The Blame-Its ! Word on the street (aka Hwy 16) is that the show has been moved to the Valley Zoo(?) in Hinton to accommodate a bigger capacity … homecoming for the Hinton VIP Punx The Blame-Its.
… and after the show is the after party and after the after party is the hotel lobby …
Word on the street is Chad is hosting another super awkward house party … he will have to work at 7am so y’all better clear the lobby and head back to your room at the Woodcutter and UH somebody …
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WTF ? ANOTHER RECORD ? WHAT’S UP 2011 !
So we did the S/T record release in 2009, got it reviewed 2 years later on punknews.org (hey, 3.5 punk points outta 5 ain’t that bad). Now it is 2011 and we did a split 7″ with Thee Old Sins, released the Bun Bun 7″ , finally our anticipated sophomore release Prairie Fires hits the streets …let’s just say we’ve been busy or maybe too ambitious.
But wait one more … we did a split 7″ w/ our good pals Stalwart Sons from Calgary. We painfully recorded our song Fabian, a special dedication to the late William Fabian (RIP amigo. Read more about William Fabian and Eskoria from one of the earliest posts on our blog here).
Friday, July 8 @ 7:00pm
SLATES & Stalwart Sons w/ guests
Inglewood Community League
All Ages !
Facebook Event Page
Shout out to Kevin “Is it Done Yet” Stebner for coordinating and putting out this split 7″ on Bart / Revolution Winter records. Seriously, the cover art is going to blow your mind.
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SLATES GONE SHAOLIN
On a more personal note, I took a few weeks away from SLATES to go on adventure of China. This trip was 7 years in the making for me and our adventure included 9 days at the Shaolin Temple in China’s Henan province where I studied kung fu with the Shaolin monks. Here are some photos I’d like to share…
This trip to Shaolin was extra special for me as I got to travel and train with two of my close friends GWhiz & Matty from No Problem. Here is a pic of us with our monk coach Shifu “Doug Wally” who taught us the Shaolin 9-section chain whip.
An epic photo: GWhiz, Matty, myself and young Evan from Raptor Strike representing 780 punx on the Great Wall of China !
We had a great time and made many memories with our kung fu brothers and sisters from Chiu Lau Kung Fu College. Kung fu was the primary focus but we still found opportunities to play some music. GWhiz ripped some No Problem (and a killer rendition of “Fascist Cops” by the Kids) and I shredded SLATES songs to the locals at a street party in Nanjing.
If you are interested in training kung fu in Edmonton with us please visit www.chiulau.com
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LIVEWIRE LEE ON THE ELECTRIC BASS
SLATES would also like to give a blog SHOUT OUT to our good friend and young blood LIVEWIRE LEE. Lee plays the electric bass guitar in Falklands, another fantastic example of Edmonton rock n roll talent.
You see, Lee and his electric bass guitar has agreed to accompany Stefan, James and Dallas on the SLATES tour of Europe. Stefan Duret will temporarily be playing the electric guitar, and fear not, with a couple quick pointers we will have full confidence Stefan’s ability to ssshhhred.
Stefan, “I am going to give you the keys to the Lambourghini.”
I just got back from my Shaolin adventure so unfortunately I will not be able to take part in this tour to meet our new European friends. I’ll be holding down the fort in Edmonton while the boys are gettin all European.
And will be ready to return to the rock n roll front lines with SLATES in the Fall…
One Love,
Eric /// SLATES