Happy 2014.

Let me begin by saying the biggest thanks in history to all if you who came once twice or many times to the concerts on the GBS XX Tour. What a thrill to celebrate two decades on the road with you. I am grateful for it all. The songs and dances and nights out before during and after the shows. What a life your support has given me. Thank You Very Much.

With the GBS XX tour behind us, we enter into a hiatus and a much-deserved rest for the Mothership. In the mean time, much ado for the individuals you know on the GBS stage.

Sean has announced he is leaving the band and is off and running with a solo venture. He’s got a new CD ready to launch on Jan 29th titled Help Your Self. He recorded it with the mighty Joel Plaskett and all hands expect it to be awesome and wish him the best of luck with it all. Check out all the details at www.greatbigsean.com.

Bob is busy as a beaver with Erin’s Pub, which he and his partner Chris have restored to its rightful place as the coolest small music venue in Newfoundland. Right next-door is his restaurant Mediterranean inspired Restaurant Tavola quickly becoming one of the must-visit spots in a bustling downtown gastro scene. Bob is also helping acts like, The Once, Fortunate Ones, and Sherman Downey, take on the planet. Go Bob Go.

Murray Foster is inches away from pushing the green light on his most excellent film/music project “The Cocksure Lads”. You can get involve with or support this cool venture here… http://thecocksurelads.com

Kris MacFarlane is in demand as ever playing drums with Paul Lamb and Wreckhouse, Dave Gunning, and myself.

As for yours truly, I’ve got a few things upcoming. Winters Tale, a film starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe hits theatres on Valentine’s Day. Many of you will recall I play the role of a thief Dingy Worthington in the film. I have seen a few sections of the film as I recorded some post production audio and I can tell you it looks amazing. If the trailer is any indication, it should be beautiful, to say the least. Dingy is in there in looking pretty pissed.

My first ever book titled ‘Where I Belong’ is written and in post production at Random House Canada. Fonts are being chosen, archival photos considered and placed and cover shots and art pined over. I am very much a novice in the publishing world and can’t wait to get the ball rolling on the book launch and release later this year.

I have a fantasy that I’ll have a new solo cd ready to drop the same day as the book. If I’m to make this a reality, I have to get cracking in the coming weeks and months selecting tunes I’ve already written and creating whatever new ones are needed. I’ve got a trip to Nashville and LA mid February to work with some incredibly talented people to help me along with it all. Fingers crossed. Keep you posted.

I should also like to pay thanks to Russell Crowe and all the gang who just gathered in Coff’s harbor Australia for the OZIGP gigs. What a time we had. The shows were a blast and getting to record some new tunes with awesome producer Carl Falk was a thrill to say the least. Hope for more of them to come.

All that said, the near future holds a lot of Daddying and Rink making for the kids on the street.

Much more to report in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned, and once again,

Happy New Year.

Hey All

I am typing from a bit of a family beach Vacation. Just a brief note of thanks about what has recently past and a heads up about some stuff upcoming.

What a grand time we had on the West Coast swing; a run that brought us to a few of our favorite spots in Washington and BC. Most lovely was the chance to walk the streets of a couple of new stops. A few of us had a grand munch at the Uptown Café before a fabulous debut in Moose Jaw. Thanks for coming out everyone. Likewise, a few of us had a most welcomed pub crawl after our gig in Bonnyville, which could very well have been one of the best nights of the entire XX Tour. Thanks to you all.

Much on the way in the near future for GBS. The next leg finds us in Southern Ontario and New York State amongst other places. A few of the shows are Sold Out already and I’d love to see them all rammed. Check www.greatbigsea.com for dates near you.

Also recently announced is a rare GBS New Years Eve Gig. We wanted to push our Twentieth Year Celebrations to the last second, so if you are in the Moncton Area, please spin by the Casino to ring in 2014.

As for my own stuff, I’m super excited about the buzz over the Boy on Bridge airing Nation Wide in Canada on CMT Friday, Nov 8th at 9 EST. Please spread the word and check it out if you can.

I saw the first trailer for Winters Tale yesterday. Wow. Congrats to Russell, Colin and Akiva as the first glimpses look amazing. Check out full trailer here:

Dingy looks mighty pissed in this clip. Cool to be flanking RC with the mighty Kevin Corrigan, and Owen and Moley in there somewhere as well. Wow.

Alright. Back to the Lazy River with the Prince.

See you all back on the road in a few days.

Cheers,
Alan

On this day of Thanksgiving, please allow me to give thanks.

Just chilling through the last few hours of the Holiday Weekend in the woods in our family hideaway; a cabin that myself and my wife built when we were still in our twenties. Like any of the great ideas in my life, she is responsible for finding this piece of land and convincing me to spend the first bit of money GBS ever made us to purchase it. I love the quiet beauty of this place and am very thankful for it. But as I look around the place, what I am most grateful for is the contributions of our friends and family who have made the place complete.

We cleared the land with buck saws and axes along with the help of my brother and few others almost 20 years ago. Firewood yielded from that day still heats the cabin, even this morning.

While the Lady and Molly the Wonderdog have a much-deserved sleep in, The Prince plays on the floor of our cabin. The floorboards the Prince launches Angry Birds on were cut by My Grandfather in Law almost 70 years ago. We salvaged and refurbished them from a church not far from here.

The floorboards run into the black slate tiles in the kitchen and porch area. These tiles were laid by myself and two of my best friends, only weeks before they got the final green light to shoot the first pilot for a TV show that still runs today and I’ve just finished working on.

My laptop is sitting on a larger farmhouse table that belonged to my brother in Law, who just left after spending the night here with my sister. It was his grandfathers work table, and three generations of Doyle’s, My Dad, The Prince and Myself resurfaced it last summer. My sister made the curtains in the back window many years ago and, just like her, they still look good and work with amazing efficiency. My Mom made many of the quilts and table cloths from a rocking chair that seems permanently reserved for her near one of the large windows in the front of the cabin. These widows provide an amazing view of Placentia Bay and thanks to my wife’s Uncle Gord, they are free from mist and fog as he constantly tweaks the seals and replaces panes of glass as required.

The rooms that are painted were painted by my other sister and my neice. I still have a board with four yellow handprints on it marking the day.

I could go on. An embarrassment of riches.

As if a morning in this beautiful place was not enough good fortune for one person, the events of the morning are worth noting as well. In the last hour, I’ve arranged several details with GBS Manager for two more legs of the XX Tour, which already has many sell outs. I have corresponded with an Australian friend about a trip from the Canadian winter to the Summer down under for some concerts with a group of people so talented that I am hardly worthy to be in their company. I’ve been scanning through photos an old friend of mine shot of me in my home town Petty Harbour, for a book to be released in the new year. I’ve been arranging some press opportunities to promote the National CMT broadcast of Boy on Bridge, on November 8th. I’ve also chatted with a Writer/Director of a Musical Film in Winnipeg about a role he has offered me in the Spring and how we should gather Tuesday in his home town to chat about it all while the Habs play the Jets.

So on this day for giving thanks, please accept this thanks from me to all of you for coming to the shows, buying the CDs’, watching the movies and TV shows and mostly for the company on the road. In truth, very little of what is described above would not be possible without you.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Luckiest Man in the World.

Me.

Cheers,
Alan