Collapsing Opposites News

NEWS

August 20, 2008: We have contributed a song to the recently released Rollin Hunt Tribute Album "Him Who Is There," on Grayscale Recordings. We covered Rollin's brilliant story "The Ninja," and you can hear our version of it here.

July 27, 2008: We are hard at work finishing up our song and artwork for the split seven inch we're doing with Bible Belts. Tentative release date is September 12, on Needs More Ram Records.

July 15, 2008: The Mexico tour is now over, and it was great! Mucho love and gracias to everybody who was involved. For the record, we have a couple new statistics that came from the Mexico tour, which are now proudly displayed here. The official last show of the tour is a homecoming, this Saturday at Corner Tandoori in Vancouver. We're playing two sets... opening the night with a solo set similar to what I did in Mexico, and then we're closing the show with the full Collapsing Opposites band.

June 23, 2008: The new band photos are now online, right here. They were taken by Alexa Kirsten at an undisclosed location in Vancouver. Also, I am leaving for Mexico in approximately 44 hours - there are 6 Collapsing Opposites shows there in 6 different Mexican cities - check it out. We're calling this the 'Don't Worry Tour.'

May 22, 2008: Lots of news. This September we are releasing a split seven-inch record with Chris-a-riffic, on Needs More Ram Records. And we're touring across Canada with Chris to promote it - check out our tour dates. We also have a new band bio which is on-line now, and new press photos which will be coming soon!

May 19, 2008: This is actually old news, but apparently we forgot to mention it here before. Our drummer Laura has started an art gallery space, and it is on the front of her kick drum! It's called Four on the Floor Projects and it's really cool. Find out more about it here.

May 10, 2008: We have a new EP, and it's called 'The Story of the Rocks.' It is only being released on the internet, as a free download. You may burn CDRs of it if you would prefer to hold it in your hands, but officially, this one's only available in the MP3 format. The EP consists of four songs which were written and recorded in September 2007. They were originally intended as demos for a different project, but we liked them so much that we decided to keep them for ourselves. Enjoy!

May 1, 2008: We have a song going on the Greenbelt Collective's latest compilation CD: it's called 'Rocks Rock' and it's from our forthcoming 'The Story of the Rocks' EP. You can get your hands on one of these compilation CDs from the Greenbelt or from any of the bands included on the compilation.

April 5, 2008: The amazing Los Mediaticos of Monterrey, Mexico have re-mixed our song 'Other Song and Mirror Stage.' This is really incredible! Check it out on their myspace or via MP3.

April 4, 2008: We've redone our past shows page and it now includes links to photos, video, audio and posters from a wide variety of past Collapsing Opposites shows. Enjoy!

March 8, 2008: We are now officially sold out of our 2004 album Sincerity / Sarcasm, and to celebrate, we've posted it online for you to download for free in its entirety. Get it now at sinceritysarcasm.zip. You can also download our other out-of-print CDRs - 2002's Demonstration EP and 2005's Microchips Implanted In Your Brain compliation - at demonstration.zip and microchips.zip. Enjoy!

Feb. 3, 2008: I am doing an art show. It's coming up next month at Lucky's Gallery in Vancouver. It's called 'The Game of Life' and it's inspired by the drawing 'Land of Opportunity.' We're playing a short set at the opening party on March 7, and the artwork will remain up until March 28. [ poster ] [ poster ]

Jan. 15, 2008: We have a couple of new band members: Jarrett now plays the bass, and Laura is back playing drums once again. We've got a ton of new songs, and we're going to be recording an album together once we are ready. In the meantime, check out one of our many upcoming shows.

Oct. 12, 2007: We're back from hiatus... and we mean business. We've got a new cassette tape! Music and Words. On French Immersion Records. Read all about it here. We're celebrating with a week of release shows! Find out all the info on our shows page. See you soon!

June 29, 2007: Thank you, world, for a wonderful few months. Since the album came out in February, it's been non-stop action packed super jam fun times. Thank you for being a part of it all. Now, we are going to disappear for a few months... but will be back in the Fall. Have a wonderful summer!!

May 31, 2007: New photos, just in time for the tour. Check em out. Press photo is here. And the rest are on myspace.

May 22, 2007: New band! Sean's playing drums now, and Caitlin's on keyboards. Super fun-ness. It's because none of the former band members can come on tour in June. Also there's website updates. Shows / tour dates! Posters! Stats! Links! Lyrics! History! Enjoy!!!

Apr. 26, 2007: Oh my goodness, so many shows! Vancouver Island! (Two seperate trips, just for you.) An accoustic set at the Greenbelt House! And the tour! Dates are rolling in, just a couple little openings left. Check it all out on the shows page.

Apr. 3, 2007: The tour was great, and is now over. Actually, it's been over for a while, but I haven't had a chance to update the website until now. Anyway, thanks a million to everyone who was so awesome to us on tour. Seriously, you treated us good and we owe you one. Well, we're home just in time to start booking the June tour. The dates are up in the shows section, please let us know if you wanna help set up a show. Thanks!

Mar. 12, 2007: The first half of our tour is over and now we're at home for a quick rest stop. Man, we had fun! California was fucking awesome! The doers are our best friends now. It was great. And now all eyes are looking forward. 11 more shows on the tour, starting tomorrow in Abbotsford. We practiced today with Geoff - he's going to be drumming on the remainder of the tour. Only one practice, but basically he's already ready. We're really excited about Collapsing Opposites right now, and can't wait to play for all our friends in Western Canada! !!

Feb. 25, 2007: So our CD Release party happened on Friday and it was a blast. Thanks so much, everyone, for making it awesome. It was sold out, and the lineup stretched all the way down the stairs and out on the street. Tour starts tomorrow, and we be excited. See you soon!!

Feb. 20, 2007: The CDs have arrived! We are Soooo excited!! for the CD Release Party this Friday! And then tour!! WAHOO! ! Also there are some website updates. Press kit. MP3 page. Enjoy.

Feb. 8, 2007: Now we have t-shirts! Thanks to our awesome friends at The Regional Assembly of Text and Screenworks. Check out our shirts here. Also: we have a new band photo. It's awesome! Yah!

Jan. 25, 2007: The buttons and posters are ready, and now listed on the website under store. We will be selling them at our next show. Also: the rest of the artwork from Mean Letters and Sincerity / Sarcasm is now online - check it out under artwork.

Jan. 15, 2007: Brand New Website launched today. Welcome!

Jan. 8, 2007: New album "Inside Chance" comes out February 27th on Local Kids Make Good Records. We can now announce the tracklisting:

1. Outside Problems

2. Will

3. Other Song

4. Bullies

5. Teachers and Students

6. Fight!

7. What’s That Sound?

8. All Around It

9. Land of Opportunity

10. Duckling

11. Song for Two

Dec. 12, 2006 : Oh my goodness, so much news to share! Everything is awesome! Music is exciting yeah!!!! OK... so we have another new keyboard player. His name is Jeff, and he also plays in the bands OK Vancouver OK, and Greenbelt Collective. It's been really fun playing with him; he is a great fit musically and aesthetically. We've only played a couple shows together, but we're practicing hard to gear up for a busy new year. Our new album, which has been in the works for a year and a half now, is called "Inside Chance" and it's coming out February 27th on Local Kids Make Good Records. It's exciting to be working with them, because A- they're rad guys, B- we've never worked with a record label before, and C- our album is going to be their first release. We're playing a CD Release show in Vancouver at the Railway Club on Feb. 23. That's with my heroes The Doers, who we're also touring with to San Diego and back in late-February / early-March. And then we're going out to Winnipeg for a CD Release tour, that's later on in March, probably with OK Vancouver OK. Goodness, what else? Oh, we're playing a one-off show in Seattle on Jan. 6, that's with my friend Brad and with Arrington from Old Time Relijun. Laura and I are playing a show without Jeff on December 22, that's in Vancouver at a sushi restaurant!!! Goodness Gracious!!! Perhaps we will have a special guest keyboardist for that show. AND... I'm doing a Fake Jazz Wednesday at the Cobalt on december 20th, i think I am going to do it "unplugged" ie: no instruments just a mic and a drum and a whole bunch of lyrics. So much stuff!!!! And there's more, COMING SOON! : New Website! T-Shirts! Surprises! Love!

Nov. 15, 2006: Album's almost finished. A record label. New keyboardist. More shows. Lots more cool stuff in the works, please stay tuned for more information!

Oct. 8, 2006: Things have been going well. The "band" debut at Pats was totally awesome. Laura is the drummer and Adam is the keyboardist. Two more shows coming soon. If these go as well as the last one, things are going to be different. Already, they are different.

Aug. 9, 2006: There's gonna be some changes. For one, this is probably not going to be a solo act for much longer. There is already a drummer, and soon we would like to add a keyboard / bass-keyboard player. Secondly, there is a new album almost finished, which I will soon be sending off in demo form to various indie record labels. Once it's released, we will tour again, but I think the era of touring just for the hell of it is pretty much over.

June 27, 2006: OK, I'm now on tour. For all the hot gossip, please refer to the new TOUR DIARY page... and i'll see you soon, wherever you are.

May 28, 2006: News!! July tour dates announced!! Including pleas for help! Also: New album to be released this Fall! Information is forthcoming! Also: Microchips CDR Comp is SOLD OUT. No more! Ever! The song PLACES from that is now up on myspace. The others are lost forever. You are lucky if you bought it. Also: Vancouver show next weekend, opening for Calvin Johnson! at Music Waste!!

May 5, 2006: Hi!! Here's the mid-tour update. I'm in Mount Shasta California, I just went mountain climbing up Black Butte!!! It was pretty fun, although i got stuck in the snow halfway up and had to turn back. Basically I have 3 days to do a 1.5 day drive from Portland to Merced, so I'm just chillin a bit with the locals, ya know? I also had time to update the Stats, CO Allstars, and shows pages, the latter with a bit more information about the July tour which is starting to come into reality. Last week with the gift machine was super fun, even though the shows were mostly tiny and a tad weird, most of the few people who were there seemed to have a good time, and i had a good time too. I'm really excited to be in California for the next 9 days, playing with some amazing bands!!! Ok, talk soon... love Ryan

April 19, 2006: Ok, News! First, a whole bunch of shows coming up. Like the West Coast tour!! 7 shows with Anni Rossi in California, and 8 with The Gift Machine in the Northwest. That includes two here in BC this weekend! Take a look. ... Also. I wanted to tell you about the new songs... they're fucking awesome!! Seriously, I'm really excited about this. A bunch of them should be ready to go for this tour, and after that, a new album is in the works... part of it is already recorded, and the rest should be coming through in the next few months or so. Exciting stuff!!!

Mar. 1, 2006: Oh, one other thing. I forgot to mention a while ago that Collapsing Opposites songs appear on two recently released compilation CDs. One is the This Time Records sampler, based outta Tokyo, which features the song "Sunshine." The other is the CKXU Lethbridge Girl'o'Comp Compilation, which features "Neutron Star / Pulsar." If you come across either, check it out, its cool.

Feb. 21, 2006: Well, the last little bunch of shows sure were fun... Weird awesome punk house show in Abbotsford, huge all ages venue with the brightest lights in seattle, and tiny art space shows in vancouver and victoria, WOW!!! Well, i guess thats it for a little while. We'll be back in action in April in a major way, with the west coast tour happening for real. Shows with The Gift Machine, shows with Anni Rossi, iss gonna be so good. Check it out!! Thanks so much to Alina at Skinny Productions for the booking help with that - she's now the official Collapsing Opposites booking agent in the USA. But that's not til late-April: in the meantime, you can amuse yourselves by feasting your eyes on the brand new Collapsing Opposites statistics page! For the record, I stole this idea from The Buttless Chaps, but that don't matter, enjoy!!

Jan. 19, 2006: The show that was planned for this Saturday at the Candy Bar is cancelled. So, don't go. The Candy Bar is closed, and for rent. Frank is totally MIA, gone without a trace. Anybody out there with some extra cash and time and vision? Rent that sucker and make it awesome. Are the sugar refinery people reading? Here's your chance. With the butchershop and Blim both facing quiet neighbours and tight restrictions on shows, a rejuvenated candy bar would be great for vancouver. Anyway, dont go on Saturday. Instead, come on Friday, to the Highlands Pub up on SFU, I will be playing at the CJSF.CA weblaunch, opening for The Book of Lists and Catlow. And, while you're there, check out the rad interview my super nice new friend Sean did for me, in The Peak newspaper... or, you can read it here. Also, I got some new photos here, check em out: BEACH FIRE PHOTOS.

Jan. 9, 2006: Oops, I miscounted. Please ignore the previous news item, below. That wasn't the 100th show, it was only the 93rd. Number 100 should come sometime during the mini-tour of the Northwest next month. There's lots of cool shows coming up between now and then, be sure to check it out here. Also, check out the new 'press kit' aka 'one-sheet.' This effectively replaces the old bio page.

Dec. 15, 2005: There's a couple cool things about the upcoming show on the 28th at the Railway. One is this rad new poster I made. The other is that this will be the 100th Collapsing Opposites show!!! Sure, that count includes a couple weird ones like the accoustic set that time in Seattle, the 2-song 15-minute performance at the Western Front, and the two early shows as a rock band - but so what, that stuff still counts, and when you do the math you get CO = 100. Come to the Railway and see for yourself.

Dec. 4, 2005: This website has been down for the last few days while I got a new hosting account sorted out and did some new design stuff. Apologies for the inconvenience! Now that we're back in business, check out the new HISTORY page.

Oct. 25, 2005: Mean Letters is now being distributed in Japan by This Time Records. If you live in Japan, you can ask for it at indie record shops, or order it by going here. Radical.

Oct. 24, 2005: Last night's show at the Butchershop was really fun... a nice little intimate Sunday night of solo acts. It's also the last collapsing opposites show for a while. Now I get to work on recording - without the distractions of having shows to practice for! Ta ta for now...

Oct. 20, 2005: The tour with the winks is over, and despite being cramped up in a car for a week with three other sick and cranky people, it was really fun. The shows were all amazing! Thank you to Todd for booking them all, and to all the awesome people I met out there in Canadaland, thanks for coming to the shows. The shows were all in an Eastern direction, so at the end we had an epic hardcore drive of Winnipeg to Vancouver non-stop, which we did in about 27 hours. Now, I am home, and looking forward very much to putting touring / shows on hold for a while and getting down to some new writing / recording. Until then, you can amuse yourself by reading this interview (or here) I did for Saskatoon, which turned out kinda good... I think email interviews are the way to go.

Oct. 11, 2005: I got a new compressor, so the sound is waaay better now. No more sucky suck sound. Myspace page hits 200 friends! Leaving for the tour tonight!

Oct. 5, 2005: Another new bio, in a totally new direction. I think it's a big improvement, though there will probably still be changes. Also a history page.

Sep. 19, 2005: New links page. New shows. Can you tell I'm unemployed?

Sep. 16, 2005: Okay, changes to the website. No more "other" page. I'm sorry if you liked it, I thought it sucked. In it's place in the link-bar is now the C.O. All-Stars page, in all its glory. Also there's one new photo in the live photos section. That's about it.

Sep. 13, 2005: Nevermind, there is no school, only music. Without shows there is only death. So, we have tours: In October with The Winks, and in December with The Diskettes. Also maybe a couple shows with Anni Rossi. All these artists are amazing, and I'm super-excited about getting started. Also it will be really nice to not be touring alone. Oh, and we're still looking for help with a few places. Check out the shows page, and email me if you can help set stuff up.

Sep. 2, 2005: The shows are over. It's been a long haul the last few months, and I'm very grateful that it has gone as well as it has. Thanks again to everyone who helped make it all so magical. In the next little while, keep your eye out for some exciting new things: new songs I'm writing. New recordings hopefully soon. A new album is on the horizon, the themes are developing in my brain. Also a likely December tour with The Diskettes, which will be amazing. And probably a bunch of shows around here, which will be diligently posted on the shows page as always. I'm also starting school next week, it's a two-year program at the end of which I will be a fully-qualified and genuine public school teacher. I want to start a joint music / creative writing program for grade fives. It's gonna be great. It will happen. In 2008 maybe. Oh, and there's a handful of copies leftover of the special Japanese CDR "Microchips Implanted In Your Brain." Those will be available at the next few Vancouver shows, but once they're sold out, they're gone forever.

Aug. 31, 2005: Japan was so fucking radical it totally rules my school in more ways than you can even imagine. Thank you to all who made it such funnnnnnnnnnnnn. Your bands are the best. Can't wait to go back there again. Possibly release the album over there too. ... You know, there's also a new show to announce, with not much notice: it's a homecoming kinda thing, thursday at the candy bar. Never done been to that candy bar before. Gonna be good. Hope so. Yo.

Aug. 16, 2005: Just when you thought things couldn't possibly get any busier in the land of Opposites, guess what? A brand-new fucking album! Well, not completely brand new, but it does contain one totally new song. Also a couple live tracks, some covers, and an extremely rare recording of the Collapsing Opposites Rock Band in rehearsal. All of that is previously unreleased material, so you should definitely check it out. Oh, and of course there's a sampling of songs taken from past releases over the years. This is an extremely-limited-edition (30 copies!) CDR release intended for the Japanese tour, on which I am leaving tomorrow!!! The CD is called Microchips Implanted In Your Brain, and you can find out all about it right here.

Aug. 13, 2005: Its August 13, and the tour is officially over. Driving home tonight from Calgary, then flying to Japan on Wednesday. The Calgary interview in Beatroute was published and will be here shortly. And the Georgia Straight did a little thing, which is here or here. Oh hey, the Winnipeg show was really fun, I ended up playing a surprise second set at midnight, because dats what the people want, im doin it for the people.

Aug. 8, 2005: Well, the last bunch of shows all kinda sucked, but that's okay, know why? I have now seen the Elephant Man. This dude from Michigan who played at the Ford Plant show. It was absolutely fucking brilliant. None of the one-man-bands I've ever played with can even touch this guy. I would've bought like ten T-shirts if I had any money. Oh, and you can check out my Montreal interview here. It's in this awesome zine called G-Eunuch.

Aug. 4, 20 05: When it comes to shows, nothing is as it seems for long. My tremendous efforts to keep the shows page updated are consistently being challenged. Like the Halifax show was supposed to be with Falconhawk, but then it wasnt. And the Montreal show was supposed to be with Ohbijou but ended up being with Telefauna again, which was great cuz theyre the best! Then Hamilton was supposed to be a real small DIY thing, but instead I got added as an opener for The Floor, and Falconhawk for real this time... but then no one came, so it was small and DIY after all, just in a bigger room. And now I've got a last minute Peterborough show, coming next Tuesday with Saint Bernard of Love at a place called SmallTown Video and Cafe, actually in a town called Millbrook I think. I'm in Kingston right now. Stay up to date with all the fast-paced action by checking the shows page regularly! You never know what might pop up. Oh, and did I mention that my new goal in life is to completely destroy and re-create the definition of music? Well, it is.

July 28, 2005: The press is starting to roll in. First, we got two hot reviews from internet land - check them out here and here, or also on the press page. Next week, we got interviews coming out in Calgary and Montreal. I'll get those on here asap. Halifax is lovely.

July 27, 2005: Dudes. Im in Halifax, and everything is fucking awesome. Don't you worry about a thing. I'm feeling really good about the music right now, better than ever. Best you catch it while it's hot. There's a new champion on the C.O. All Stars Page. And check out this weird / awesome blog page from Japan that I can't read. Japan is starting to look really good. Six shows over there!!! Like I said, everything's rolling better than it ever has been before. Thanks for the support everyone! Thanks for the awesome pep-talk, Darsha, I think it worked pretty damn good.

July 25, 2005: So it turned out everything was fine. The Ottawa and Montreal shows were both awesome. Everything is sounding really good right now. And, I have a new-found sense of confidence in the music. No more self-subversion!!! I'm in Drummondville Quebec right now, on the way to Halifax. See you soon!

July 21, 2005: I made some changes to the sound technology for live shows. A new compression system, and it sounds real good in practice. It sounded fucking awesome at the Lamplighter show, too. But, tonight in Toronto really sucked. Worst sound ever. I sincerely hope that it was the sound-guy's fault - although part of me is scared it's something related to my "improvements," something gone terribly wrong. Well, we will see. I'm definitely gonna get to the Ottawa show early and hopefully do a bit of a sound-check. Cuz, everything's sketchy in technology-land, as sketchy as sketch-ville. In other news, the drive cross-country was long and uneventful. Lots of bugs. Mayonaise gone bad. Oh, hey, Japan is starting to look good. The shows are filling in big-time, and it's actually starting to look like a real tour. Big in Japan.

July 13, 2005: Ok, so I'm back home for a few days. The Marine Club show last night was pretty rad, thank you! That was the first show of the next tour, the second one is in Vancouver again on Saturday at the Lamplighter. Unfortunately Chad Van Gaalen bailed out of this one, so I'm going to be playing with a couple local bands called Ok, Vancouver, Ok, and Belcon Migs. Then drive hardcore to Toronto, oh boy!! There's still a couple holes in the tour, so if anyone wants to book a show, look at my schedule and see when and where it can fit in. In other news, large parts of this website have been re-done with smaller files. I guess we went over the hosting limit pretty badly, but now it should be better.

June 17, 2005: Here I am back in Vancouver, putting Collapsing Opposites to rest for a month. It's been a crazy couple months of solo shows, so it'll be nice to be playing and travelling with a bunch of friends again for the next little while. The shows in Seattle, Olympia and Victoria were all quite nice, small little intimate affairs. The Portland show was totally fucked, the band I played with sounded like The Chemical Brothers mixed with Nine Inch Nails, only slow and *passionate*. They had a whole bunch of stadium-sized smoke machines and crazy lasers and stuff, and at first I thought it was quite funny, but then I realized I was the only one laughing. They played for like two hours, and the place was totally packed, and then - you'll never believe it - after their set, was a performance by strippers!! It was a motherfucking strip club. They didnt tell me anything about that on the email, and I was told the other band was a two-drummer duo. I was misinformed. Take your money, and get the fuck out of dodge. Anyway, portland. Yes. Ok. The next CO tour is coming together, there should be dates posted on the site soon. Remember, if you want me to play somewhere, just name the date and place and Im there. Also. Kudos to Robb for finding this awesome article, which proves some of my lyrics to be true. What else. Oh, I did an interview with a zine in Montreal, which was pretty neat. Also I applied to play at the Pop Montreal festival in september which would be rad. It cost $20 just to apply, so hopefully they will let me play. Okay, see you in a month, kidderroos!!

June 11, 2005: After a restful week in Vancouver, I am now ready to get the moving on again. Lookout, here comes three big fat shows in the United States of Merica! Then it's home again for two days, then over to the island for a fun time in Victoriavilletown. Then the opposites goes on hold for a month while I horse around and plan the next tour. Alright kids, see you in Seattle! Oh, and here are other things: There's a neat write-up of the Ottawa show here, with photos too which I copied to the live photos page. And there's a rad new photo in the random photos section. Also a review of the Mean Letters album in Splendid magazine, ch ch ch check it out here or here.

May 31, 2005: If only time weremore malleable, then we could preserve this moment and make our love last. Temporariness rules, though, so we must soak up the few moments we have before marching forward into the future. These thoughts absorbed me throughout the Kingston show, and I was a bit distracted by *stuff*, although I do seem to remember Chet performing an amazing (and lengthy) set, with two new members. The next morning I left to rush to Calgary, although I ended up screwing up the dates in my head, and realized in Saskatchewan that I actually had an extra day to get there and could have 'prolonged the moment' in ontario for one day longer, but it was too late. So, I went back to Regina in time to see a very strange and muddled Wax Mannequin set, and crash on the floor of my friend Tyler's house. The next day was Calgary, another strange show because I guess the venue is closing down and lost all its cred or something?? Anyway, the bands were great but there was a tense feeling in the air, partly because the soundguy only showed up at 11:30, in time for my set, but after the Disposable Cars had already played. The show the next night was really nice and cozy, at the Karma Cafe playing entirely I think for friends of Lee Livingston, who was amazing of course. I left right after the show, and slept in the car outside of Banff, it was so nice to see mountains again!! I had never realized how flat all of Canada is compared to BC. Anyway, one more long day of driving yesterday, and now I'm home safe and sound. Homecoming show at the Railway Club tomorrow to finish this tour off for good, then I'm gonna spend some time working on a few new song ideas which will hopefully be ready in time for the American shows next week.

May 23, 2005: Tour Update: So the show here in Ottawa was totally awesome, thanks so much everyone for making it happen. Actually, Ottawa has been so much fun that I decided to stick around here the past few days, rather than go back to Montreal as originally intended. It kinda sucks having so many days off in the middle of the tour, hopefully I'll be able to do shows every day next time. Anyway, it has been really nice to hang out with such nice people, go to some parties and shows and stuff here in the nation's capital. My new friends and I went for a drive the other day and went to this crazy game farm / zoo place where there were bison and wild boars roaming around that you could feed carrots to. That was quite strange. I also did a tour of parliament, which was actually pretty cool, and checked out the National Library and Archives (where I am right now). Thanks to Mike and roommates for letting me stay on your couch the past few days, you are officially the first people to get 5 stars! Tomorrow I leave, however, for a show in Kingston followed by a long 3-day drive West for the Calgary show on Friday. In other news, it looks like my trip to California next week is not going to happen; I was able to book two shows down there, but then apparently somebody died at one of the venues, so the show there is cancelled. That leaves a long-ass drive to LA just for one show that's probably not going to be anything too great, so I'm wondering if it's worth it. I will still definitely be playing all the shows around Washington and Oregon, check the shows page for details. And, while you're there, you will see that I am starting to fill in dates for the summertime cross-Canada tour. If you can help book any shows, I would be wanting your help. Email me. Word.

May 19, 2005: Nevermind, I take it back. I just got back from dancing my asshole off at the Deerhoof show. I DO understand dance. I totally 'get' the desire to express enjoyment in a physical manner. I do definitely find it fun to jump around in a primal frenzy without giving a fuck what you look like or who you're bumping into. These things I did tonight, and these things I understand. I guess what I meant before was that I find 'dance music,' (ie: music that's 'intentionally' created to encourage dancing), to be a bit too obvious. Dance beats are basically a cheap trick to get you dancing, and the kind of dance they promote is not really a primal sort of movement at all, but rather a thing to do to look cool. Give me the angular, discordant, polyrhythmic shit and I'll dance up a storm. Just please leave the disco beats at home. So yes, Deerhoof were amazing. So was Nadelle, and so was Dead Bush. This show was quite inspiring, actually, and I learned two major things. One is what I already said, about dancing. The other is that as a performer, you've got to isolate yourself somewhat from the audience, and do what you do the best you can, regardless of what you perceive the reaction to be. Explanation: I really enjoyed Nadelle's set a lot, but unfortunately it was a huge venue and a lot of the nice quiet stuff got drowned out by all the talking / yelling people in the back of the crowd. It seemed as though the performer got discouraged by this, and perceived the audience to be uninterested even though there were actually a ton of people like me loving every second of it. Anyway, I think I've been making the same mistake, but to an even greater degree, reacting to a perceived hostile audience by delivering a poor performance. It's hard though, because I do really thrive on having an interaction with the audience, and would not ever want to be completely seperated and independent from them. I guess the trick is to find the few people in the crowd who are most interested, and play the best show that you can, aiming it directly at them. This was pretty much how Nadelle handled it, and it's a lesson that I have to learn for my own performances as well.

May 19, 2005: NEWS. I'm now booking the second cross-Canada tour, for late July / early August. If you can help, please help. A tentative schedule is on the shows page. Also, updated CO ALLSTARS, check it out. And photos of the Toronto show now on the live-photos page. Rock!

May 19, 2005: Tour Update! Well Saint John sure sucked. It was the first time EVER that I played a show with no other band on the bill, just me in a big bar. The soundman and bartender got an exclusive set played just for them, since for most of the set, they were the only ones there. Evidently the promoter forgot to book a local band to play, and also neglected to do any promotion whatsoever for the show. I played, since I was there anyway, and made one big long nasty noise for 35 minutes, entirely in the key of C or often in no key at all. I had been listening to Terry Riley and felt like giving it a try. I left right after that, and drove through the USA to get to Montreal, sleeping in a highway pullout in Eastern Maine. New Hampshire is beautiful country, it was nice to see mountains again. And rain! I got to Montreal just in time for the big pants-optional party, and felt kinda like an alien crashing on a faraway planet. In my underwear, no less! I was just a big geek standing there in my tighty whiteys while the cool kids hushed at the back of the room. Bury me in an ocean of folk, the kids can't dance to my shit. I hate dance. How come the kids need to dance? And who knew that Montreal would have so many mullets? Seriously, more mullets here than in Prince George and Surrey put together. In sum, I don't think my music fit in very good on this bill. It was my own fault though, since I'm the one who wanted to play with Dandi Wind again. Anyway, no more dance moves for me. Not that there ever were any. So. Tonight I'm going to see Deerhoof play which should be awesome. Tomorrow I have to get up early to go to court to fight this damn speeding ticket I got last week, and then tomorrow night is a show in Ottawa. After that I'll probably come back to Montreal to hang out for a few days before playing in Kingston on Tuesday and then heading West again.

May 16, 2005: Tour Update! Okay, I guess it's been a few days. Let's see... the second Toronto show was awesome, and so was the Montreal Barfly show. I drove all night after the Montreal show to get to Halifax on time for the show the next day... not a good idea. This is a really long drive. It looks quite short on a map. Looks are deceptive. But I made it okay, with about 3 hours sleep. The Halifax show was pretty low-key, as was Sackville the next day. I'm back in Halifax now, staying with BA Johnson (thanks a lot!!), and doing a vegan-cooking / music radio show here this afternoon, check it out, it's called Let's Get Baked. Tomorrow I drive to Saint John then back to Montreal. Basically, I'm here on the Atlantic Ocean right now, and the first half of the first tour is over. Time to start heading West again, wahoo!!! Geography is the coolest!!

May 12, 2005: NEWS. The VUE interview is now in the press section. New photos of the hamilton and toronto shows in the live photos section. And check out the brand-new C.O. ALLSTARS PAGE!

May 12, 2005: Tour Update! Gosh, three days off and all my new tightness is totally gone! yes, last night's show at sneaky dee's was a bit shaky. Like total knee-shakin, outta tune, cant hear cant play forget all the notes shaky. Good thing there were hardly anyone there. Actually it wasn't that bad, its just that the venue was pretty big and everyone seemed really far away from the stage. Note to all future concert attendees: you will get a better show if you come sit closer to the stage, that way I can be looking in your eyes and sing the songs directly for Yuuuuuuuuou. Anyway, i've been hanging around Toronto for a few days checking out the scene. Met lots of nice new people, and it's been fun but at the same time I'm really looking forward to travelling starting tomorrow. The field recordings project is going to take a lot longer than I thought; I;ve got lots of good stuff, but find the editing process overwhelming. That's about it, not much more for this tour update.

May 9, 2005: Tour Update! The show in Guelph was really rad, definitely the best so far on the tour. Awesome venue, really nice promoter, lots of people in attendance, and everyone really seemed to enjoy the music a lot. Also it was the second show in a row when people came right up front by the stage and sat down on the floor to enjoy my set. I'm a big fan of sit-down shows, and generally prefer to sit at a concert (unless its a big loud dance thing of course). But at the same time it's kind of lame when everyone's so far away, it makes me think they're avoiding me or something! So the up-close sit-down-on-the-dance-floor thing really works, kids, keep it up!! After my set, the D'Ubervilles rocked the house, inspired by the sudden arrival of like a hundred of their good friends. Unfortunately they all left before the Republic of Safety played, but they missed a hell of a performance, the R.O.S. have got to be the best band I've had the pleasure of playing with so far on the tour. They were so awesome that I drove back to Toronto the next night to see them again, but got there late and missed it, cuz i had gone to visit a long-lost friend down in London. Anyway, I called up kate, their bass-player, who's super nice, and so now I'm sleeping on her couch here in Toronto for a couple days before the show season starts again on Wednesday. What else? Oh, I saw the hitch-hikers guide movie, which was a little too "cute" for its own good, and went to a Catholic Church service in London, just to check it out. And the field recording project has been a bit delayed due to battery malfunctions, but today looks more promising on that front. More new later!!!

May 7, 2005: Tour Update! Okay, Im here in Guelph after a nice lazy morning chilling around Brantford and an easy little drive up the country road. Things are looking good for tonight, there's lots of posters around and Ive heard a lot of great things about the venue. After this show, Ive got three days off which is actually kinda scary cuz i got nothin to do and nowhere to stay... anyone wanna go camping? Actually I just decided i'm gonna do a little recording project in the time off, basically just wander around downtown guelph, london, toronto and wherever with my minidisc recording through a mic hanging out of my pocket. I already started recording, actually, and got some good stuff so far. After a few days, I'll pick out the good stuff, mix it all and edit it on the laptop here and hopefully have something decent finished by wednesday, when the show season hits full gear again. This project is something Ive been meaning to do for a while now, and this seems to be the perfect time, being all alone in a foreign land with no pressing things to do. But I could be easily convinced to go camping or something if anyone wants to hang out. Ta ta for now!!!

May 6, 2005: Tour update! So, its been a couple days since i've had internet access for my computer, so now's probably time for a little update. I ended up getting to Hamilton a few hours early, who'd have known that the winnipeg-toronto drive is actually way easier than everyone says. Just get to Chicago on day one and you're Golden!! The show was alright, pretty small and not really promoted, but fun nonetheless. It was cool to see Idiots! again, they've really changed a lot since we played together in Vancouver. They're super catchy dance music now, which is rad because theyre such nice people!! Rooey from Idiots and his girlfriend Jacqueline let me stay at their house for a couple days, which was real swell. Yesterday was a day off, so Rooey and i went to go check out a show at the poor alex,,, we missed Chad van Gaalen which is too bad because ive heard a lot of great things about him and his stuff on the internet is really good too. We saw a couple other bands though, both kind of ambient atmospheric droney soundscape shoegazer type stuff, with a bit of "world music" flavour that kinda got tedious. Today I drove down to Brantford, and played at this rad venue called The Ford Plant, with the Porcelein Gods from halifax who were real nice guys and totally full of youthful energy. After the show we played a big game of Manhunt (basically like Chain Tag) running around the streets of brantford in the middle of the night. It was quite fun, but also kinda weird because in addition to all us nice indie kids, there were a bunch of neighbourhood gangsta hooligans running around, and one of them had a metal pole and was threatening to beat up somebody or other. I was running away from the IT in the tag game and came across a group of these homie-Gs, who surrounded me and made like they wanted to mug me or something, encircling me up close and ordering me to show them how much money I have in my wallet. Luckily their girlfriends came to my rescue and talked them out of it! I told everyone from the show about it, and they all thought that was a pretty unusual occurence for the town, must've just been something strange in the air tonight. Anyway, im glad it happened, because now i have a tour story to tell, it had all been pretty uneventful up til now. Tonight im sleeping here on the couch at the venue, and then tomorrow off to Guelph for a show.

May 3, 2005: Tour update! So, the Winnipeg show was really good. The venue was really nice, there were a bunch of people there for the show, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Hopefully I'll be able to set up another show there on the way back West. I left right after the show, and started driving South, into the USA, and spent the night at my friend Mitch's house in Mayville North Dakota. Got up early and drove all day, eventually got to Chicago around dark, what an incredible city. I thought about going to check out a show, but the only ones i could find out about were Ben Folds and New Order, and both were sold out. Besides, i had no idea where venues were, and would have worried about my car getting broken into while i was at the show. SO, i drove around downtown chicago for ten minutes or so, got back on the freeway and found my way back North, around the lake in Indiana. I thought i was gonna sleep in Gary Indiana because that seemed pretty damn hardcore, i mean Who the hell lives in motherfucking INDIANA?! I couldnt believe it was actually REAL,and i was actually THERE. But there were no highway rest areas there, so i pressed on into Michigan, and parked at a rest area just north of the indiana-michigan border, where I am now sitting in my car typing this. Michigan has kind of a homely ring to it, definitely not as hardcore as Indiana would have been, but still its pretty crazy, here i am sleeping in the back of my car, in the bed my brother austin helped me build, in the middle of nowhere in the heart of the world's most powerful empire, and i don't know a single person for hundreds of miles. Okay. Tomorrow i must get up early and finish the drive up to hamilton ontario, but seriously the driving seems really easy right now, this continent is actually quite small. FREEDOM!

May 2, 2005: Tour update! I'm here in Winnipeg, and so far things are going okay... lots of driving, this country is big! I saw a elk in Jasper and opened the window to talk to him, and he started bopping his head to the rhythm of the daniel johnson song i was listening to on the stereo! Edmonton was okay, i played first and was followed by FOUR other bands, who were all of the shoegazer/soundscapey/slow moody epic ballad rock variety, it was all very beautiful and stuff but i kinda felt a bit out of place;; everyone sort of gave me the cold shoulder during my set, although then a few people approached me later to say they actually liked it. Anyway, the best part was i went downstairs to check out the other show going on, and saw two totally awesome hardcore / straight-edge bands playing a benefit for this all-ages venue that got robbed. The Last Deal and Fractal Pattern both totally rocked my world, i was wishing i had opened up for them instead, even though there were 5 times more people upstairs. Eli the promoter was super nice, and let me stay on his couch and stuff too, so it ended up being okay although i guess not the greatest CO show ever. Regina was okay too, 33% of the audience bought CD's, that's one person out of the three who were there!! I shouldnt have said that, 33% sounds much more impressive. Tyler Badanyga who i played with was super nice and fun and let me stay at his house, we stayed up listening to music, he has the biggest JANDEK collection of anyone in saskatchewan, im quite sure. Anyway, tonight looks promising here in winnipeg, and then i got a 40 hour drive to hamilton with about 44 hours to do it in, so ill update this again later on when i get to the centre of the universe!! Ta Ta For Now!

April 29, 2005: The touring season starts tomorrow, and I for one cannot wait for the onset of pure madness that will surely come from no sleep, hundreds of ours of driving completely alone with no one to talk to but hitchhikers and blackflies. By the time I get back home you can expect me to have lost it completely, and be unable to complete a sentence without ranting that Jesus Christ was actually an Alien.

April 29, 2005: New photos in the photos section, gosh it's about time! These were taken by Jenn Wong, at the daycare where I work. Check it out if you're into such things!

April 29, 2005: The Mean Letters album is now being distributed by Scratch Records. If you are with a record store somewhere in Canada, you should really consider ordering some copies. You can do that through the Scratch website at http://www.scratchrecords.com/

April 29, 2005: Zulu had this to say about the album in their advertisement this week in Terminal City: "Dreamy local outside folk poetics from this cool guy I met at our arts and crafts collective meeting." The album is presently featured in their local listening booth, check it out!

April 17, 2005: Mean Letters is now available for sale at Red Cat Records and Zulu Records in Vancouver.

April 17, 2005: Collapsing Opposites now has pages on myspace and bandspace, check 'em out!

April 17, 2005: The Newmusiccanada page has been updated, and now features the mastered versions of Mean Letters songs.

April 17, 2005: According to unconfirmed rumours, the song Sunshine from Mean Letters was the first tracked played on CBC's Brave New Waves last Friday... let me know if anyone heard it.

April 17, 2005: Yippee wow for Only Magazine, which features reviews of the Mean Letters album and also the CD Release show this week. Check it out here

April 11, 2005: Last night was the CD Release party, and it was totally rad. Thanks so much everyone for the s'pport! Next Vancouver show is June 1, at the Railway again.

April 11, 2005: Check out the Terminal City newspaper this week, it's got a special little interview thing with yours truly! The photo was taken last week at the daycare where I work, there should be more photos like that arriving on the website soon.

April 6, 2005 : Ooops! The new CD is missing a credit. Somehow it got erased in the process of formatting the cover art, and much to her chagrin, Amanda Thomson is unmentioned. It should say that Amanda Thomson contributed vocals to tracks 3 and 5. Sorry Amanda, this was an accident, I hope you'll forgive me. Everyone who buys a cd should add her name to the credits manually, with a red crayon.

April 4, 2005: One last plug about the CD RELEASE SHOW. I'm promoting this baby more than anything else in a long time. Emails have been sent, posters have been posted. I know you're sicking of hearing about it, but hopefully this will ensure your attendance. Also playing are They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Gangbang, and Free Bryan Adams. Arrive by 9pm. Show will be over by midnight. Tell all your friends, and bring your aunts and uncles!!!

April 4, 2005 : This Thursday, April 7, at 9pm, Collapsing Opposites will play live on CITR radio, for the Radio Thunderbird Hell show. Be sure to check that out, as it's a bit of a warmup for the big CD release party on Sunday. You can listen at 101.9 FM in the Vancouver area, or on the internet at http://www.citr.ca. The Human Hi-Lite Reel are playing as well, so it should be tons of fun.

April 4, 2005 : More tour dates / details have been filled in. Check the shows page for all that info of course.

April 4, 2005: The album has now been mailed out to a whole bunch of radio stations, websites, and other such media types across Canada and some in Merica. Perhaps this is you who is reading this now.

April 4, 2005: I got a new computer!!! Wahoo!!! Its a MAC Powerbook G4 laptop!!! So why do you care? Well, for one thing it means this website's gonna be updated much more often now. Maybe like once a week! So be sure to keep checking back, you never know what you might miss.

April 4, 2005: The album is done. I've got 500 copies just sitting here, all neat and tidy in cellophane wrap and in boxes of 50. Everything is great, and I am very proud of how it turned out. Thank you sooo much to everyone who helped me with this project, it was a lot of work and I couldn't have done it without you. Be sure to catch the official CD Release Show, April 10 at the Railway Club. The CD will cost you $10 normally, but that night they're gonna be on-sale at an extreme discount. Why? Just because I WANT YOU to have one of these things. Also this is a "celebration" and nothing says party like VALUE!!! Can't wait that long? Send me an email and we'll see what we can do. Also, take a look in local record stores, it should be popping up there soon. Unfortunately I don't have any sort of label / distribution deal going, so all you foreigners are just gonna have to wait until I can deliver it in person. Or, email and we'll send you one in the post.

Mar. 22, 2005 : Alright, the album is finally done. Artwork, mastering, etc. No more delays. Now we just have to wait for the manufacturuers to finish. Its out of my hands now. Two weeks til liftoff. April 1 they will be in my hand, and they could be in yours soon after. Email to buy em.

Mar. 7, 2005: So, the tour booking has been moving right along. Lots of dates are already confirmed, but there are still many holes to be filled. Take a look at the shows page and let me know if you can help fill them!

Mar. 7, 2005: Don't worry, I haven't forgot about the new album. It's just a little delayed because of probelms formatting the artwork. But, my friend Julia has been helping me figure shit out, and it looks like it should be definitely done by the end of March. In time for the CD Release show April 10 at the Railway.

Feb. 5, 2005 : New MP3's have arrived online!!! They're from the forthcoming Mean Letters album, take a listen here.

Feb. 5, 2005: The Mean Letters album is almost done!!! It's being mastered right now, at the Hive Studios, by Stuart McKillop. After that, its on to manufacturing, and presto! CD Release show is scheduled for Sunday April 10, at the Railway Club.

Feb. 5, 2005: OKAY!! Big huge tour! It's gonna be one crazzy summer of mileage, as CO goes coast to coast twice, and then Japan. The tour is still in its formative stages, so if anyone out there can help, please take a look at my tentative schedule, and send me an email. Thanks!

Feb. 5, 2005: The other day I spent like 200,000 bucks at the post office mailing demos away to record labels. If this is you reading this, then I guess it arrived safely. Thanks to those who have taken the time to reply.

Jan. 14, 2005: Okay, if you're reading this, it means the new website is up and runnin. Wahoo! Special thanks to Robb Breckenridge for all the help getting things going.

Jan. 9, 2005: Oh my god, The Rain and the Sidewalk has done a cover of the Collapsing Opposites song JAC, from Sincerity / Sarcasm!!! Gosh, what an honour, I'm so embarrassed. His version is really fucking cool. I've seen him play it live twice now, and it's also featured on his new live album that just came out. Find out the info here.

Jan. 7, 2005: So I'm finally getting around to redo-ing the website. The new version should be finished soon.

Jan. 1, 2005: There's a rough draft version of the cd ready, so if you want a copy, gimme a holler. otherwise the real thing will be done in a few months or less.

Dec. 3, 2004: (revised 05/02/05): Update from the studio! (which is called CHUBBO SOUND!) The recording of Mean Letters is complete. Now we move on to phase two, which is mixing. It'll be a while yet til it's finished though. Here is an updated track-listing:

1- Letter to the Editor

2- Sunshine

3- Mirror Stage

4- Look to the Sea

5- Looking Back

6- Unusually Significant Artifacts

7- So Important

8- You Can Never Kill Me (Because I Will Never Die)

9- Neutron Star / Pulsar

10- Pure Energy

11- Mean Letters

Dec. 2, 2004: I wanna go to Victoria! To play a show again. Anybody reading this from there who wants to help me set something up?

Nov. 9, 2004: Okay, no more shows. Not in Vancouver anyway. Not for a good long while.

Nov. 6, 2004: So it's 12:52 AM and i just got back home from the butchershop show. Wow. The other bands were amazing! But enough about them, let's get right to the point: my set was so fucking good. Seriously, the best show ever. I may never play a show as good as this one was, and so really it sucks if you missed it. And to top it all off The Rain and the Sidewalk did a cover of one of my songs! I was so embarrassed. What an honour. Wow. For as long as this show reigns under the position of 'best show ever,' it will have a * next to it under the 'past shows' section, just to remind you of its brilliance.

Oct. 15, 2004: OKAY, THIS ONE IS BIG! ONE-MAN-BAND SHOW! a showcase of several of vancouver's new generation of one-man-bands. Featuring performances by The Rain and the Sidewalk, Mark of the Beats, Man Meets Bear, and Collapsing Opposites. This is Friday November 5 at the Butchershop Gallery in Vancouver, at main and 26. I'm the one who is organizing this show, so I guess my credibility is on the line, and you damn well better show up. In fact, I'm gonna have to say the mandatory attendance code is in effect. Failure to comply will result in the immediate termination of friendship. Seriously. I mean it.

Oct. 7, 2004: The date and place of the new show have changed. It is now going to happen at The Lamplighter (which I am looking forward to seeing cuz I never been there yet) on Friday October Twenty Nine. And it's with two of the best bands out there that you've never heard of, The Concrete Lions and Dandi Wind. Seriously, you want to see them, you'll tell one day the old tale of "I saw them way back when..." Secure your long-term Cred and go to the show.

Sept. 30, 2004: The new recording is rolling right along. Pietro Sammarco (of Free Bryan Adams, Pollination is an Opera, Openepo and They Shoot Horses) is masterminding the production, and so far so good. It is going to be called Mean Letters, and a tentative track-listing is as follows:

1- Mean Letters

2- Letter to the Editor

3- Sunshine

4- Looking Back

5- Look to the Sea

6- Unusually Significant Artefacts

7- No

8- So Important

9- Mirror Stage

10- Viruses

11- You Can Never Kill Me (Because I Will Never Die)

12- The Letter's Been Sent

But don't get too excited yet, because it probably won't be released until January at the very earliest. I'm gonna get them manufactured, so it will be the first ever Collapsing Opposites release that is not a CDR. If any of you record label types want to help pay for said manufacturing, gimme a ring, otherwise its coming out of my pocket... and we all know what that means... that's right, you guessed it... prostitution.

Sept. 30, 2004:There's going to be a few songs on the new album where I need a choir of voices to sing. This means that if you would like to help out, and would like your very own crack at fame and stardom, You, (yes, YOU) could be on the next Collapsing Opposites recording. You don't need to be a good singer, all you need is a mouth. If you want to do it, email me. Or just wait, and if I know you, I will probably be emailing you very soon. I also need a bunch of people playing instruments, especially wind instruments like Oboes, clarinets, flutes, French horns and piccolos. So if you've got anything like that collecting dust in your attic since high school band class, and you think you remember how to toot out a couple notes, email me and I will be your best friend.

Sept. 30, 2004: Alright, so it looks like this here website is going to be getting a super deluxe overhaul, so be on the lookout for that in the coming weeks. Robb from They Shoot Horses is helping me out, and its gonna be cheaper and better. New features will include MP3s, a links pages, press reviews, more photos and bios, and better organization all around. Coming soon.

Sept. 30, 2004: Show announcement. Saturday October 23 with The Concrete Lions, at Pats Pub. I know youre tired of going there, and to tell you the truth, Im kind of tired playing there too, but I just couldn't say no to this one. Concrete Lions are my homies and they needed someone to play with them. So, come on out if you can brave east hastings one last time.

Sept. 12, 2004: Okay, the tour is long over and I'm in a new house and back at school for a few more months. Thanks to everyone that let us stay on your floor and stuff while on the road. Thanks also to everyone who came to the shows, all 9 of you, awesome. I'm taking a little time-out from shows right now, gonna start thinking about some recording and stuff. But I will see you later on in the fall for certain.

Aug. 28, 2004: UPDATE FROM SEATTLE! So, two shows are finished and so far so good. Vancouver was great. Bellingham was lame but we got paid more than Vancouver, go figure. And the people who work at that dive were real nice to us and the soundguy let us stay at his house, even though the alarm went off at 5am it was better than sleeping on the busstop because rumour has it theres been a rise in rapes and murders lately. Still no place to stay in seattle. Were working on it. Coffee Messiah were surprised to see us which is fucked because we called like 6 times. Gordon B isnor has bailed on this show. Angry jim ruths may have possibly bailed for monday. Driving in we heard a car stereo next to us blasting out the Counting crows which is funny because last time i was here there was a neighbouring car pumping out the pearl jam. Seattle is still in 1993 didnt you know? Hopefully i can update this again soon.

Aug. 19, 2004: Here are the final details for the upcoming tour. Read 'em and weep!

(*MMB = Man Meets Bear; we're touring together)

- Thursday, August 26th- Vancouver, Chroma Books (4458 Main) with MMB and Chrisariffic

- Friday, August 27th- Bellingham, 3B Tavern, w. MMB and Johnny V

- Saturday, August 28th- Seattle, Coffee Messiah, w. MMB and Gordon B. Isnor

- Monday, August 30th- Seattle, 2nd Ave Pizza, early, w. MMB & The Angry Jim Ruths

- Tuesday, August 31st- Tacoma, Bob's Java Jive, early all-ages show, w MMB & Spock Love Affair

- Wednesday, Sept. 1st- Olympia, Le Voyeur, w. MMB & Arrington De Dionyso (Old Time Relijun)

- Thursday, Sept. 2nd- Portland, The Red and Black, w. MMB, Watery Graves, & Thanksgiving

- Saturday, Sept. 4th - Vancouver, Pats Pub, w. MMB and Gangbang

IF YOU LIVE IN ANY OF THESE PLACES I'LL TRADE YOU A GUESTLIST SPOT FOR A PLACE TO SLEEP!!

Aug. 19, 2004: Victoria, Second Story, and Elephant Island were all very very beautiful. Thanks so much!

Aug. 11, 2004: So this little toury-tour is really coming up soon! Are you excited yet? Can you feel it in your bones? Have you bought your tickets? Just kidding about the tickets. The victoria show is only a week away! So that means I'd better get to practicing. There's no electricity where Im living right now so iss hard though. Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck is a good book.

July 22, 2004: Chroma books is the best new place for shows in Vancouver!! Tonight was really a nice time. Thanks soo much to all my friends who came to the show even though you've seen it a million times you keep coming back and it makes me feel so good, like LOVE

July 22, 2004: So im heading back to texada for the next few weeks, but Youre in luck! I can still be reached by EMAIL i check it like 12 times a day. see you in victoria in mid-august!

July 20, 2004 : The CDR album Sincerity / Sarcasm has been "re-released" - in other words I made a bunch more copies. The numbering on the back of your existing copy probably doesn't make sense any more, but the truth is there are now a hundred copies in existence. Total. Period. No more. Look for a brand new (and much better) full-length Collapsing Opposites album in the Spring 2005.

July 11, 2004: Why the hell do people take so long to reply to emails? Get a fucking life already! Sheets.

June 24, 2004: The first few shows are now booked for the august tour. There's gonna be lots of shows with Man Meets Bear, and possibly a couple with They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as well. But I'm still trying to get a hold of various booking people in washington and oregon and vancouver island. So help if you can, eh?

June 8, 2004: Hooray for the Tampa bay lightnings who won the stanley cup tonight. Hooray because one of their players is Brad Lukowicz, who owns Finnegans Wake Irish Pub in Cranbrook BC, a venue where I played a show in February. Hoorah!

June 8, 2004: So the punkrock show happened. Funtimes. The best part was I got to meet Bart from Painted Youth, who I have come across twice before. 1 was he jammed one time with the band Headlight which I was in circa 2001. 2 was his girlfriend Alex, who I also met tonight, her mom picked me up hitch-hiking last month in Comox. So tonight was the third time and now we're going to try to set up a show together in Courtenay in August. That reminds me - Im still trying to fill in dates for late august shows on Vancouver Island and Washington state; if anyone can please help... help.

May 29, 2004: Just keep getting offered more shows... the gods must know I'm living out of town this summer. Anyways, I'll be back for this one, it's a punk-rock/straight-edge/vegan/emo house party! see shows.

May 23, 2004: Hey everyone... I'm planning another tour! This time I'm gonna pillage Vancouver Island, Washington, and Oregon, in late-August... so if anyone out there knows any bands / venues / bookers / media / etc in those places please please help!!! Thanks.

May 10, 2004: New show! And it's coming soon! Friday, May 14! At the Marine Club. This show includes yours truly as Collapsing Opposites, as well as my other band THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? and the ass-tinglingly-amazing HUMAN HI-LITE REEL. It's only $6. And it's also the THEY SHOOT HORSE CD release party and tour kick-off show. So come dammit.

April 21, 2004: Some people say this website looks bad. Ron says its "a strangest website i've ever looked at." Esther says its very "mid-90s." And my dad says it doesn't fit on his screen. Well you know what? This is the only damn website i've ever made before and I'm doing my goddamned best. So stop your complaining already. If you want to help me make it better then send me an email. Otherwise shut your yapp!

April 15, 2004: SO I finally got around to typing up my tour journal from February but It turns out a bunch of the notes I took while travelling are missing… so instead what ive done is taken some of the notes I do have and put them in random order for you to enjoy… they are posted on this website on this very page, just a little bit lower down so they are in the right date.

March 31, 2004: I changed the colour back to white today. I think it's much more better this way. Hopefully you will agree.

March 31, 2004: Another new show. This is still a long ways off, but on May 28 I will play a set at the WISE Hall in Vancouver as part of a benefit fundraiser show for the Helen Pitt Gallery. I've played these shows before with my other band (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) and they're tons of fun. Plus the money goes to a good cause. I don't know who the other bands are yet, but I'll let you know.

March 24, 2004: New Show to announce! It's a night of one-man-bands! Friday April 23, Collapsing Opposites, Man Meets Bear, and The Rain and the Sidewalk at Pats Pub in Vancouver. It's gonna be a goodie!

March 24, 2004: This summer I'm gonna be living on Texada Island, which is up the coast a little ways near Powell River... I'll still be around playing shows and stuff, but the news is that my pet goldfish are in need of somewhere to sleepover for the summer.... That's right, you could be the proud temporary owner of seven beautiful pet goldfish! The deal comes with a fishtank, food, and everything you need... all you gotta do is be planning on living in the Vancouver area for most of the summer, and their yours! If you're interested, send me an email, and we'll make the arrangements.

March 20, 2004: This isn't really news or anything, but I felt like leaving a little note anyways to say that I'm working on some new songs and everything's going good... there aren't any shows booked right now, and that's mostly because i've been pretty busy with school and work and other things.... but I'm working on setting some stuff up for next month, so stay tuned for more news when it happens. ROCK ON ROCKERS! LISTEN TO the Yourself!

March 11, 2004: The house party tomorrow is still happening, if anyone wants to come, its at Alf'n'Laura's House, 2356 Turner Street (@ Naniamo) 8pm onwards, BYOB - I'll be playing a set of music, and so will Wax Mannequin... It will be fun, You should come.

March 3, 2004: So there was a mistake of some sort and now I'm not playing the show on March 11, but you should consider going anyways because it might be good. The next day though, Friday March 12, I'm gonna be playing a set of music at some sort of house party in Vancouver where Wax Mannequin is playing too. I'll announce the details here when I get them.

Feb. 28, 2004: New show announcement: March 11 at the Brickyard, Collapsing Opposites will play on a pretty spectacular bill with Mayor McCA (who I played with last summer and who is a real neat one-man-band from Hamilton that everyone should listen to), Wax Mannequin (who is also from Ontario and i think is pretty damn good too because he's called the PRESIDENT of Indie rock [!] ) and a local band called The Feminists. Come to this show, people, you will not regret it! I guarantee!

Feb. 28, 2004: Last night Collapsing Opposites played at the Marine Club with a great local band called New Years Resolution... if you missed the show, you're a SUCKER cuz it was AWESOME!

Feb. 23, 2004: The tour is now officially over. It was very fun... so many stories and things to mention, i dont even know where to start. So I wont; lets leave all that for the tour diary which has been written in rough form and will be typed, polished and posted here sometime in the near future. Thanks to everyone who let us stay at their house and everyone who came to the shows and all that, i appreciate your support.

and now.... TOUR DIARY - FEBRUARY 2004 - (notes in no particular order)

- old rednecks playing pool
- long breakfast at Redfish
- past a herd of 5 caribou and then saw a dead one lying on the road
- good night
- our cd’s to record store
- young = open mind?
- So Denny’s – Dan’s birthday = free meal
- girls girls girls
- last week I got hell
- eventually I got the hum figured out
- Anyways Mackenzie thought she heard a modest mouse influence
- drove all night to Fort McLeod
- Red Deer
- Strip Malls
- played regardless
- "I cut Pigs heads off"
- played with the dog
- Super Mario Bros. 3 with Dan who lives here
- __ refuses to participate in politics and this frustrates the hell out of __ and __
- im going to manufacture an ending to this novel
- finally we get our shit together and leave for edmonton
- Tim Hortons I – Jaime cuts her hair
- Ryan is crabby
- sucked in a roomful
- mixing board is humming again – why?
- hour and a half drive is stressful as fuck – traffic, lights
- unlimited toast
- I played a set and managed to get told I suck – I put that guy in his place and he left – actually lots of people left
- the guy paid us more than we thought
- nervous at first of Vernon repeat
- Atlanta won 4-1 but that’s okay because I got 2 points in my hockey pool thanks to Dany Heatley
- bought Ron sexsmith cd
- sean bought Crime and Punishment
- Dan locks keys in car
- Adam drives
- up and over crowsnest pass and into alberta in the middle of the night there’s stars
- hotel $50 – I didn’t wanna
- food, beer, $, place to stay
- the "moon café" again? – cant be. Certified chef
- morning @ 3pm
- Calgary
- BCAA
- Adam’s talking to these two older women Bonita and Mackenzie who we find out aren’t actually older at all. But are real nice and everything.
- ran up to the stage with a sharpie pen
- tiny PA
- worried she would kill him
- talented, phoney, or inferior
- surprisingly they didn’t play an encore
- it was like a big art project. But it wasn’t.
- spent about 5 hours roaming around suburban Edmonton with me, Mackenzie, and Dan variously leading us into lostness, we’re all a little concerned
- people liked it anyways
- I finished my essay on the causes and consequences of revolution according to Aristotle, Tocqueville and Marx
- RYAN VERSUS THE MOUNTAINS
- Goddamn It sounds sarcastic even when im not
- a Prelude. To a diss.
- consult maps and go to venue
- TW played and it went over a little better
- big climb to snowy pass then down into Cranbrook
- totally a compliment
- you only gotta be 18 to be in a bar in alberta
- anyways Cassie
- but most of the oldies left and younger kids filtered in
- but people liked it anyways
- Jaime’s friends house but he ended up not being home
- We’ve got the confidence now to blame them
- carry on singing
- the plants were still hanging on the hooks
- know the day is coming when they will come to me and say
- theres a whole list of stuff I forgot to say and do
- So tomorrow we have to play in Vernon and theres another hackey game there

Feb. 18, 2004: So I'm in Nelson right now in the public library using the internet and i thought i'd do a little updatin here and let everyone out there in internet land know that the tour is going awesome... after a shaky start in Vernon, every show since has been better than the one before... last night we played here at this really great place called the David Thomson Cultural Centre and it was tons of fun... tonight the caravan moves on to Cranbrook, then Red Deer and beyond... More stories and news to be added here when we get back... over and out.

Feb. 14, 2004 : Today is the day! It is February 14 and in about half an hour I will be leaving on my first ever tour. Technically the whole thing started two days ago, as we (Collapsing Opposites and Traitor and the Whore) played shows at Koerners and Pats Pubs here in Vancouver - they went alright. One thing I can't wait for is to play on the 26th at the Marine Club and be all tight and everything, like actually be able to play the songs and use all this gear I got - honestly it's taking some getting used to and I definitely haven't mastered it yet. Playing ten shows in a row should help. Last night some things sounded pretty rough. But people said they liked it. Or maybe they were just lying. Probably. Anyways now it's really time to hit the road. I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to update this website whilst travelling, but I will be back with a full report sometime around the 23rd. Okay. Happy Valentines Day. Happy Friday the 13th. Happy Birthday Mom. Happy Groundhog Day.

Feb. 6, 2004 : Sincerity / Sarcasm has now been officially realeased!!! For information on how you can get your very own copy of this new album, check out the brand new 'music' page on this website. For a sneak preview, listen to sounds on newmusiccanada.com.

Feb. 1, 2004 : Sincerity / Sarcasm is presently being mastered by Dan Toews of Traitor and the Whore, and should be completely ready to go by the end of this week. Track listings are as follows:

1. An Introductory Treatise on the Concepts of Sincerity and Sarcasm

2. Try

3. Honesty

4. SM

5. JHC

6. Peptalk

7. Saddam Hussein

8. Buffalo

9. Artsy / Seriously

***again, an unfinished version of this entire album can be heard at newmusiccanada.com.

Feb. 1, 2004: Two more shows added... the Cranbrook show fills the last available date in the tour, and the Vancouver show happens a few days after getting back. February is shaping up to be an extremely busy month for Collapsing Opposites.

Jan. 23, 2004 : The new album is all finished being recorded... it will almost certainly be titled Sincerity / Sarcasm. Look for it to be released in the next couple weeks on my very own Two Records. For a sneak preview, click on "newalbum" at newmusiccanada.com.

Jan. 14, 2004: New shows added! The tour is almost complete!

Jan. 3, 2004 : Yesterday at the coffee shop where I work I was confronted by a fairly angry Tamra Nile. According to her, the quote from the Westender came from an interview that was conducted over a year ago and has absolutely nothing to do with me. I remain skeptical about whether or not this is true, but for now, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. I suggested to her that we pretend to hate each other anyways, so as to create a big scandal, which could be fun. Nile's reply was "that's not my style; I'm into positivity." Ahem. So reluctantly, I retracted my letter to the Westender, and hopefully they will not print it.

Jan. 1, 2004 : A minor controversy has erupted in the Vancouver music scene involving Collapsing Opposites and folk singer Tamra Nile. In the latest edition of the Westender newspaper, Nile is quoted as saying that one thing she cannot stand is "wall of sound music." The phrase "wall of sound" is a direct quote from the bio that was included with my last demo CD. It's true that the phrase has been around for some time, and it is possible that her using it has nothing whatsoever to do with me, but based on our recent history, I think it's pretty clear that it was intended as a diss. For those of you who don't already know, I played a show a few months ago with Tamra Nile at the Railway Club, and it didn't go too well. One of the other people on the bill played a set that was twice as long as they were supposed to, so by the time I took the stage, Nile, who booked the show, decided it was getting kinda late. She asked me to shorten my set, and I agreed to do so. No problem. But after only two songs, she came running to the front of the stage screaming "One more song!!! There's only time for ONE MORE SONG!!!" And there she stood, arms crossed, tapping her watch while I played. I decided to make that last song really count, but after six minutes of stranger noises than usual, she had the soundguy turn off the microphone. I left the stage with a bit of swearing, and it didnt take long before she apologized. I was happy to forgive and forget that incident, but seeing what she said in the Westender has made me change my mind. The war is on. I just finished writing a strongly worded letter which hopefully the Westender will publish, and if everything goes according to plan, that will piss Tamra Nile off enough that she will do something to get back at me. I'm hoping that this will turn into a major musical and lyrical rivalry along the lines of 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule. We'll see what happens; stay tuned for more dirt on the unfolding fiasco.

Jan. 1, 2004 : The new years party happened. It was very fun. Thanks for having me.

Dec. 29, 2003: So I got the info on that house party for New Years... the fun and games will go down at 3191 E. Broadway in Vancouver. Come out come out wherever you are.

Dec. 29, 2003: Alright so the "listen" section of this website works now... by clicking on the listen button above, you will be transported to the Collapsing Opposites page on NewMusicCanada.com, where you can listen to some tracks from a demo recorded live last summer. As soon as the new stuff is recorded I'll post it too.

Dec. 29, 2003: Speaking of that new stuff, the recording is slowly coming together and will hopefully be done in a couple weeks... its lookin like its gonna be a full length album and it might be titled Sarcasm / Sincerity. More news as it happens.

Dec. 16, 2003: This website is brand-spanking new! It was surprisingly easy to create. The 'Listen' part doesn't quite work yet, but it should be up and running in a week or two. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. You can do that by emailing me through the link at the top of the page. Neat, eh?

Dec. 16, 2003: Collapsing Opposites are currently undergoing some major technological innovations. Basically, having my own mixing board makes the looped sounds come out cleaner and clearer, while still packing as much sonic punch as before. Also, it allows for extra inputs, which means I will now be incorporating saxophone, clarinet and sampled vocals into the growing juggernaut of sound.

Dec. 16, 2003 : For those of you who aren't yet aware, Collapsing Opposites will be touring this February, for the first time ever. I'm going to be touring with another Vancouver band called The Traitor and the Whore, who are good friends of mine and also an excellent musical force. The dates and route of the tour are starting to take shape, so check out the shows page for more info on that.

Dec. 16, 2003 : Collapsing Opposites will once again be entering the studio (aka my living room) later this week to begin recording some new songs, which will hopefully be released early in the new year... stay tuned to this website for more info.

Dec. 16, 2003: The (sugar) Refinery, one of Vancouver's greatest music venues, is in danger of closing down forever. But, if you are sane, you can help try to save it - sign the online petition.

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