Today is what I call the first official day of the Fall. The first work day after Labour Day Weekend. The day when just about everyone goes back to work or school. The day when people get on or off planes in new places and start something they plan to be doing for the next block of time. Today, most of the Western World shakes of the lazy cob webs of Summer and dives headlong into what comes next.

Next. I’ve always loved that word. For some it has a negative connotation. For example, my friends in the acting and musical theatre world hate to hear ‘next’ at auditions and such. But I have always been the kind to dream far more of what is ahead than behind. Next is really unknown and to be discovered. Next is awesome.

Right up on the next platform is a long awaited journey on the Mothership GBS. We’ve done a few one off’s here there and everywhere but we have not been together on a bus in quite a few months. It will be a short trip but a really fun one, I hope. We play a couple of Casino rooms in Ontario and New York State, and then we finally make it to the Ottawa Folk Fest. Not sure why we’ve never played this festival, but, as I have often confessed here, any excuse to get to the Nations Capitol is a good one.

On Sunday, myself and pro thespian Allan Hawco head to Saskatoon, another of favourite places to give out a trophy at the Canadian Country Music Awards. Fun stuff.

Then he and I travel back to St John’s where he’ll become Jake and I’ll become Wolf. I am reprising my role as Wolf Redmond on CBC’s Republic of Doyle and will be joined by Scott Grimes as he returns in the role of Jimmy Rourke. Fun times.

There’s a few solo things on the fly as well. Check out our Sean as he and Jeremy Fisher have a date coming up in St John’s at the The Ship on Sept 16th and he and Andrew James Obrien play the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield QC on Sept 30th. Andrew will be joining me in PEI at the Trailside Café in Mount Stewart on Oct 3 and 4.

There’s a new video about to be launched for Testify. I have seen a rough cut and it is pretty cool, I must say. It was shot in Iceland and will feature a couple of familiar faces. I think we are eyeballing mid September for a release. Keep you posted.

Also working on the finishing touches on the Boy on Bridge Documentary Film. Basically it tells the story of how the CD was made in the most usual and unusual places.

And them the Daddy of them all, GBS XX is all basically ready to go to the printers. More details to come but look out for a five or six CD/DVD box set with a collection of Trad. and Pop music and a pile of stuff you’ve never heard or seen. It will include the dates for an extensive tour in 2013 that will take almost a full year to complete. A grand celebration of two decades on the road, thanks to kind folks like your selves.

Much lies ahead in the next category. Many thanks for all of it.

See you out there soon.

Cheers,
Alan

I saw my name on a T Shirt yesterday for the first time. It was on the Festival Shirt for the Ottawa Bluesfest, listed amongst the performers for the weekend. It was well down there, not far above the bottom, but it was on there nonetheless. It still feels a little weird to see my name, not a band name up there like that. Feels a bit too bold or something. Not sure. In any case, it was one of those moments that bookmark one’s career I’d say. You know, the first time you ever got paid to play, first time flying to a gig, or first dressing room or whatever. All undeniable signs that you are actually getting to sing songs for a living.

Its been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks since the CD came out a month and a half ago. The press blitz and tour led to welcome weekend with GBS in Cambridge that also had me dashing to the Niagara area to lay with the Jim Cuddy band. It was great to connect with the Mothership after so many days going it alone.

A day or two home and I was off to Croatia to host a flotilla of boats on the Adriatic with Hockey Night in Canada’s Ron Maclean, Chef Todd Perrin and Gold Medal Rower Adam Kreek. Now, I suspect many of you think this was not a very hard gig, just floating down the Croatian coast, chatting with and folks and occasionally singing a few tunes. And you’d be right. What a time we had and it was all for a good cause, as all the profits go to help Canadian Olympians pursue excellence.

I flew home on Canada Day and had only a day or so before nipping back to Ontario to join the solo gang for a couple of fun shows. The players from the Tour a few weeks back were all back with the exception of fiddle lady Kendel who had a previous commitment at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Her good friend and Belle Star mate Miranda Mullholland jumped aboard and in no time t all had all the parts ready to rock. We were also reunited with keyboard God Mr Lonely, Todd Lumley who makes every band way better.

We had a great gig at the Empire Theatre in Belleville. Theatre owner Mark and his team are some of the most hospitable folks in the biz. A pint or two the most Awesome pub on the river, (is it called the Red Lion?) and we hit the sack to prep for he biggest gig of my solo life to date, at the massive Ottawa Bluesfest.

GBS has played the Bluesfest many times. It is easily one of the coolest and most diverse music festivals in North America. The variety is tremendous. Last night, I played my country rock songs right after a prog rock stoner kind of outfit and right before a Euro DJ fella hit the mainstage. All the while Brit protest singer songwriter Billy Bragg was belting it out on a side stage. If I lived in Ottawa, I’d have a Festival pass for sure.

We played and sang well, I think, especially considering the thirty plus degrees on stage as the sun set right on us. As often happens with these massive gigs, it goes by in a blur and it takes almost a day to recollect some of the details of the performance. I can’t recall the minutia of it yet, but let me say this; To stand in front of a crowd of that size and sing songs I wrote accompanied such a band of guns is a dream come true. Thank you everyone.

No post gig sleep in for me. I rose early to get home as soon as possible as I’m a day late with a B Day gift, hug and kiss for the Prince. Henry Thomas Doyle turned 6 yesterday and we’ll be having cake and candles when I get back in a few hours. You know how your folks used to say stuff like, ‘where does the time go?’ and ‘they grow up so fast’. Wow.

I’ve got a few weeks Family time coming up. I’m long over due as I think I’ve been on the road for 8 of the last 10 weeks. Time to unplug. Going of the grid for a few days in the woods.

Stay tuned for more stuff to come. New videos, gigs, and other fun stuff.

Keep you posted.

Cheers,
Alan

15 Gigs down, 3 to go.

I’ve forgotten what it’s like to start a band from scratch and build it to an awesome concert machine. I have not had to do that in quite some time. I remember heading to Australia to work with Russell and the TOFOG guy and I wondered if we would be starting from scratch. As it turned out, we were not, really. Those guys had a dozens, if not hundreds of gigs behind them and knew each other’s turns and twists.

The band that sleeps behind me in this bus has been together for just over two weeks, and have exactly 15 gigs under it’s belt. Yet somehow, we’ve managed to fast track the works of it and become something more than a bunch of musicians playing someone’s songs. Somehow, in a short period, we’ve become a band. I should not be surprised considering the guns that rest their heads while I type in between early morning phone interviews. These guys and gal are not just good players, they know what it means to be in a band; to join forces to make something bigger than the sum of its parts.

Its been a bit of a whirlwind. Much press in the mornings and daytime, sound checks in late afternoons, gigs in the evenings and driving overnight to do it all again in the next town. I jut crossed the US Canada Border for the eighth time in just a little over two weeks. Busy times, but grand fun.

Getting close to home now. Getting nervous about it, I confess. As I’ve noted here many times, Home can be Hard. There’s so much history and so much I owe to the folks and fans in Atlantic Canada that I am terrified to disappoint them. I can’t help it. I’ve travelled a lot and seen some amazing places but this is still the most important part of the world to me and as the bus rolls ever East the weight of it all pulls me to a familiar set of butterflies and nerves. The nerves that don’t want your Mom to see you do anything other than something excellent. So excellent it will have to be.

Moncton tonight, Halifax tomorrow, St. John’s on Sunday.

See you there.

Cheers,
Alan