C’mon in»

Hey, what’s new? Probably a lot since last we spoke. Us too… we really should try catching up more often. But I get it, you’re busy, we’re busy. We should just enjoy the time that we do have. SO! The latest episode of Talk Show Night at Juicebox Manor is now online, featuring the mighty & newly minted ANVIL (our first and only guest to have also been on Conan O’Brien. Look out late night network TV, we are limping toward you in a menacing albeit friendly way). On the very same episode, we go to DJ school with Maximum RNR to learn how to do what the kids do, AND we get drunk with power and feature Juicebox Recording Co.’s own Cool Dad… who may or may not have broken up since we filmed this, rendering our incestuousness useless. But what an episode! Also, feel free to check out the episode previous to that, which is just as full of fun and whimsy and high-flying death-defying action, with The Gaslight Anthem (and a 4-year old), Diableros, and a basement performance by the king of beards himself, Mayor McCa. Lots of fancy news on its way about Recording Co. releases in the near future too. Oh, and I think we have an intern now. More on that when we wrap our brains around it.

Ugh January»

Hey sweet peach. You’ll be tickled to know that episode 12 of our TV show is online now. In this whirlwind teevee adventure, Gonzalez teaches us how to properly disrespect a piano, The Hidden Cameras’ Joel Gibb tells Canada what’s what, and Halifax’s own Cousins play a couple songs in the basement. And hey, while we’ve got you, be sure to check out Punknews and Paper & Plastick’s limited pressing vinyl auction for the Haiti disaster relief effort. There’s a bunch of cool, super rare stuff available (including a 1/100 blank sleeve pressing of the final Hostage Life album that was supposed to be a full art pressing of 1000 but the band broke up blahblahblah, you know the story). All proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. In the same vein, The Decay have announced that all donations for their record that we recently released will now be going to www.chglobal.org.

Rent Party»

Oh hey bros. We’re back! Twenty ten, listen to Len! Hope everyone had a relaxed or insane end to 2009, depending on your preference. We’ve been busy, making new episodes of our smash hit TV show and using our newfound digital cable celebrity to pass ourselves off as some kind of “experts” on Allan Cross’ TV show. Then we posted another great record for you to love forever. Hey, do you use Twitter? It’s awesome, follow us. If you do, you are automatically entered for a chance to win a great time, every day, when you look at your Twitter. Life! It’s a miracle. Stay real.

Time to eat hams»

It’s holiday time at the manor which means we can update the site even less than usual. Great! Before we go, we wanted to celebrate our ever increasing love for You and Yours with a HOLIDAY MESSAGE from Us and Ours (featuring some of our studliest houseguests from the past year). If that’s not enough, we’ve got our dear Aaron Zorgel’s annual Christmas miracle/holiday mixtape/celebration of friends up for grabs. AND one of our favourite interviews + episodes of the show is now online. Mow down. Merry this and that! See you in 2010, buttheads.

Montreal Punk Rock Tuesday Thursday»

Things are hectic at the buddy factory as usual, so here are some gifts in lieu of our embarrassingly characteristic lack of updates. GIFT ONE: Not one, but TWO brand new EPs direct from Montreal + straight to your download finger here (by Dig It Up!) and here (by Prevenge!). GIFT TWO: several newly internet-ified episodes of our AUX teevee show. GIFT THREE: a kiss. Come collect at 633 Clinton between the hours of 2 & 3 a.m., Monday through Friday. Or Friday night at the Press Club where you’ll have to kiss Greg too because it’s his birthday.

California and Quebec City»

We’re pretty sure that headline makes us looks cool. Last week’s stellar episode of the show is now online, featuring us going to California for Warped Tour, an interview with the Reason, and a performance from the Roman Line. This week’s episode, airing tonight at 11pm on AUX, features us trying to find KISS in Quebec City, an interview with Spookey Rueben, and a performance from the Darcys. 1000% bangers.

Hostage Life Update»

So. Hostage Life broke up right before Centre of the Universe was sent to press. The band + us decided that pressing hundreds of copies was now probably an unsound idea; pressing was halted, and in fully shitty news, the gorgeous full-art copies we were all stoked about will never see the light of day. The band is, however, pressing 100 blank label copies to mail out to anyone who pre-ordered and to sell at their last few shows. We wish things had worked out, but life is one crazy motherfucker.

Quit eating our pumpkins, you jerk»

With the Fest over and our kittens headed back to the den, things are slowly returning to normal at the manor. Episode four of the show (feat. Tokyo Police Club + Crystal Antlers) is online now; our Canadian Fest Comp is still available (freshly antiquated and collectible!); and today the Toronto Star called our show “a cross between a regular talk show and a riotous house party.” Thank god tonight’s episode (11 p.m.! Rogers cable 107!) is a banger: Josh Reichmann, Dave Bidini, and D-Sisive.

Canadians Abroad!!!»

For the last eight years, the folks behind No Idea Records have organised a monster punk circus called the Fest. In the past, Canadian representation has been limited. As in, one band out of about 300. But this year, seven filthy Canuck rock units are headed down to Gainesville to blow minds. So we’ve compiled tracks for all but one Fest-bound Canadian band. And it rules. And you can go download it now.

Beer! Folk music! Dating!»

Last week’s hotly-anticipated second episode of Talk Show Night at Juicebox Manor—wherein we hit the Steamwhistle Brewery with United Steelworkers of Montreal, talk dead bodies and dating with Alexisonfire, and The Thermals play the basement (no big deal)—is now online. On tonight’s on-the-actual-TV episode (11 p.m.! Rogers 107!): Woodhands, Wax Mannequin, and The Artist Life.

One down…»

Last week marked the debut of our real-life, parent-impressing TV show, Talk Show Night at Juicebox Manor. Everyone we watched it with said it ruled, and we don’t think they’re biased or unlikely to express dissent, so the show must rule. Now you can watch it online and decide for yourself if we’re full of it or not.

Talk Show Night»

The thing we’ve been yammering about forever is happening, finally, in the real world. The trailer is up. The countdown is on. Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6th, at 11:00pm, Talk Show Night At Juicebox Manor becomes a TV show that you, your mom, and your best friends can all watch, love, and enjoy forever. If you live in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick or Newfoundland, you can catch the fever on Rogers Cable 107. Elsewhere, head to www.aux.tv to fall in love all over again. We are stoked. You are stoked.

It’s Here»

While we squeaked in with the midnight release of Hostage Life’s utterly rad sophomore full-length record, Centre of the Universe, we were faced with the simultaneous complete meltdown of our server. After endless discussions, revisited mixes, couriered masters and fierce uploading, this whole night rested on two pots of coffee, one large pizza, and an endless series of calls to some guys in California, offering indisputable proof that God hates Hostage Life and doesn’t want you to hear their record. Do you need a better reason to download it right now?

(Pictured: Webmaster losing his mind trying to not fail at delivering maximum rock to you on schedule.)

Hostage Life announce “Centre of the Universe”»

We’ve talked about it in dark rooms with large beers, and there have been murmurs over these interwebs, but we are officially making it official: Hostage Life will be releasing their massively rad sophomore full-length through the Juicebox Recording Co. on September 30th. It’s called Centre of the Universe. It’s incredible. Donny Cooper recorded it and Alex Snelgrove did the artwork. There will be vinyl. You will be stoked. Check out this video for a snippet of just how good this record is going to be. If you like punk rock and thinking about stuff, you will be down.

Horses Run Wild Tonight»

All you really need to do is peep our little blurb for the latest JBR release to see how much we love this band, but just to drive it home, Horses are an incredible band, Brotherly Love is an incredible recording, and we’re stoked and honoured to be able to share it with you, glorious internet. If you like rock music, people that are nice, songs that are good, or enjoying life, you should probably give it a download.

High School Nostalgia Partyville»

When we were younger, thinner, and much bigger fans of the first Fenix TX album, there was this band from Windsor, Ontario, who were awesome. They were called Sewing With Nancie. They changed their name and stopped playing all their old songs without ever playing a real farewell show, so six years later, they’re playing six final shows and putting things to rest for good. And we’re releasing their discography. High school awesome times deploy.

Going coastal»

There’s this movie that rules. It’s called Dazed and Confused. We hadn’t watched it ’round the JB Manor in a little while, but in a moment of beautiful serendipity, we basically re-watched the movie and got introduced to Party At The Moontower the next day. These guys seem to be dedicated solely to rocking extremely hard and referencing Richard Linklater’s best movie all day, ever day. It’s a rad combination that works well if you like good music and sweet films. The decision to release their debut EP was a pretty easy one, despite them living way far away in “beautiful” and “serene” Vancouver, which has always seemed way too simultaneously bourgeoisie and dangerous for us. Mostly because it is awesome. Enjoy it, and relish in what a dink Fred O’Bannion was.

Why so quiet, juicebox manor?»

Well, for one, what can really be said after a MEMBER OF FUGAZI PLAYS IN YOUR BASEMENT (tv = fun amirite?!) But mostly we’ve been slacking because the Juicebox house band and co-proprietors of this ghostship are on tour and I’ve been busy forgetting that computers co-exist with ice cream in the summertime. But! NXNE is coming up, the bars are open till 4, and the aforementioned Junior Bagels will be there (UO / No Idea Records showcase on Thursday w/ the awesome Bridge & Tunnel from Brooklyn NY +++), so let’s go to that together and reminisce about days of yore. I’m buying. But only if you wear that shirt. You know the one.

Old friends, new records»

When we started putting out records last December, I doubt anyone anticipated we’d already be at a total of ten gorgeous records by May. Well, what’s up. Ten records. The latest of which is the kind of high-water mark I didn’t think we’d reach for a while: the complete discography of Burlington punks the Video Dead. The first time I ever saw them play was at the Bovine a few years back; their singer kept spitting beer on everyone and he scared the shit out of me. Plus their bassist had this weird chud-baby-skull-thing bass, which was also kind of disconcerting. Then we all became friends now we’re releasing the career-spanning A Face For Radio… But Not The Songs. Life is rad like that sometimes. In other news that doesn’t make my high school brain fold in on itself, we’ve got some big plans for this summer. Like most seasons. This time, watch out for a Repo Man tribute night. Yeah. Details and Emilio worship to follow.

Party all the time»

We’re still busy collecting our sanity (and the wreckage that is our house minus a film crew) this week after wrapping the first four episodes of the show with a bunch of in-house “interviews” (including a round of the dating game wherein Justin’s ex-girlfriend gets fresh with Alexisonfire). Speaking of yer buds in AOF, we’ve got a showcase at this year’s Over the Top Fest, a mixed bbq featuring headliner Hunter (members of Alexisonfire, Moneen, and The Abandoned Hearts Club), a couple of Juicebox bands (Cool Dad, Ulysses and the Siren), and out-of-towners The Narrative (from Brooklyn NY). Best yet, it’s at Dee’s this Friday (May 22). You were gonna be there anyway!

You can’t piss on hospitality»

Definitely a bit of a bananas month here at the manor as we scramble to complete the first season of our TeeVee show. This week begins with The Thermals(!) gracing our basement to play some songs. Tuesday we’ll be feeding ducks and scoping babes in the park with Woodhands. And Friday our lucky lil basement (seriously, guy’s starting to get a big head) will see performances by both Crystal Antlers and Wax Mannequin. All while we continue to cover the best damn film festival this city has to offer (unless you’re Sam and are more inclined toward After Dark) by seeing more movies in a week than we’d normally see all year. Look forward to coverage involving the stars of Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie. Yiiiiiiip.

>>> MORE JUICEBLOG