Whose House? Canoe’s House
Royal Canoe embark on city-wide house party
DANCE PARTY – SUE’S HOUSE “The fidelity on this sound system is incredible!” guitarist Bucky Driedger says.
Keeley Braunstein-Black
KARAOKE – PAUL’S HOUSE “The people are in there singing karaoke, but [vocalist Matthew Peters] has his own mic, giving his director’s commentary judging them,” bassist Brendan Berg says
HOT TUB - SHANNON’S HOUSE “I live right by you guys, so I’m definitely coming over and using your hot tub later,” drummer Derek Allard says.
GREEN CARROT STAFF PARTY – STEVE’S HOUSE “We just moved in here the other day. Thoven (the dog) is a rescue, and he’s still really nervous, which is why he’s hiding behind the couch,” host Steve says.
ROYAL CANOE CAKE - SHANNON’S HOUSE “(My friend James) made the cake. It’s a drunk cake, so there’s a lot of alcohol in it. The peach wedges are meant to be canoes,” host Shannon says. INFLATABLE CANOE – ALEX’S HOUSE “This is my canoe. I didn’t just buy it for the party. We’re in Canada, after all,” host Alex says.
It’s hard to make an album release feel momentous in 2016. When a favourite band’s latest offering can be streamed instantly on Spotify or has likely already leaked on YouTube, it sometimes feels like the days of eagerly waiting for the record store to open on Tuesday (new music used to come out on Tuesdays, kids) are gone.
Local indie pop group Royal Canoe have decided to make their album release truly special. In anticipation of the Sept. 16 release of their new LP Something Got Lost between Here and the Orbit, the outfit organized an ambitious event: a city-wide house party. On the night of Sept. 2, the group travelled by van and bicycle to 20 separate house parties to deliver early copies of the record directly to fans’ homes.
“The house party idea was (key-boardist Matthew Schellenberg’s) idea,” bassist Brendan Berg says. “We were brainstorming fun ways to promote the album and also really engage with the fans. We’re doing an album release show (on Sept. 15), but brand new songs don’t always work as well live. So this gets those songs out to the fans.”
While it’s a little outside the Whose House norm, we at The Uniter decided the opportunity to check out many homes in one night was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Published in Volume 71, Number 1 of The Uniter (September 8, 2016)
