January 26, 2011 by
Two more songs from the summer of 2001. Both technically improvs. The first track is actually two songs in one. Ryan singing the first tune to improvised backing. Not sure where the lyrics are coming from or if he had them all prepared… Ry? The singing part is followed by pure improv that seems to be a separate track altogether, probably from the same date.
The second tune below, Boiling Point, gets the name because it builds and builds to a point of anger where Blake just snaps. In our world, once you get a name, you’re official. So Boiling Point is on the list of Chlorine Dream songs. I think we even tried to play it again once, but really… how do you play this again?
July 28, 2001 [Blake/Ryan/Dave]
Improv
September 8, 2001 [Blake/Ryan/Dave]
Boiling Point
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January 26, 2011 by
As mentioned previously, the band had a bit of regrouping to do as 2001 began. Myles was in Mexico and the rest of us were trying to figure out how to graduate from rehearsing in basements to the big city. We spent the first few months of the year jamming sporadically, playing in studios like Rising Star (way out west) once every two or three weeks. By the time Myles was back in Toronto that summer, we had a regular schedule going of jamming about once per week. We had a handful of new songs like InspacesbetweeN, The Maze, and Citizens of Falsehood, but looking at this collection of songs it’s clear we were dying to hear Myles play. There is a LOT of blues (with phenomenal playing from Myles) as well as the closing Zone of Silence, a foreboding showpiece of psychedelic guitar although this is probably the shortest version ever at “only” 15 minutes.
July 2001 [Blake/Ryan/Dave/Myles]
The Skies Are The Gods’ Playground
New Tune
12 Bar Blues
InspacesbetweeN
Citizens of Falsehood
Strife!
The Maze
Five To One
Race Against Time
Gun Shy Flower Child
High On a Woman Blues
Human Condition
Twilight Zone
Zone of Silence
Side note: Until June 2001, we dragged in an old Tascam 4-track recorder into the rehearsal studio to capture the jams. This was a big pain in the ass as each tape could only hold 22 minutes of music. That added up to a lot of tapes. I decided to figure out a better way to capture jams and settled on a Sharp SR60 minidisc recorder with an external stereo mic. This was the setup used for every jam going forward. If we were doing this today, we’d be spoiled for choice. Pocket-sized digital recorders that record endless audio in better than CD-quality and also shoot 1080p HD video cost less than half of what that minidisc recorder cost.
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January 13, 2011 by
Improvs were the highlights of our jams, which is probably why we started each jam with at least a solid 30 minutes of unrehearsed exploration. If you asked us what the goal was, we probably would have said that there was no goal; the improv was an achievement in itself. But really, there were two main goals. The first was always to loosen up, get better, try new things, take risks, get the freedom to change course drastically, fiddle with knobs, start, stop, move left or right. In that way, improv was the best way to start each jam. The second goal was more direct: get more songs. There was always a chance that the elements would coalesce, we’d have the discipline to remember what we were doing, and we’d end up with something worth coming back to. The amazing thing is how often these first versions are 98% identical to the finished product.
There are five improvs below. All recorded over the course of two jams on April 8th and 10th 2004. In the final track, you can hear the basis of DITTMAR (Depression in the Theatre of Mind and Reason), which we played at Clinton’s three months later.
April 8 and 10, 2004 [Blake/Ryan/Dave]
Improv I
Improv II
Improv III
Improv IV
Improv V
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August 3, 2010 by
On the heels of the rock El Mocambo show, Blake and I got together for an acoustic guitar/piano jam with the goal of cutting a demo of Addiction. Listening to the tracks now, I think we just needed to unwind. The two songs are loose versions and the improvs are all over the map… in a good way. The first is a lyrical, flowing thing that segues into Stronger, done in the acoustic style we’d revisit at the Silver Dollar over two months later. The second improv (and final track here) runs from abstract dialogue, to Russian Oompa-Loompa music, to a sunny day in organ town. Due to the limitations of recording a “quiet” jam, there are all sorts of noises on it, chairs creaking etc, and the piano looms louder than the guitar in the mix as the minidisc was sitting directly on top of it. But all in all, an A for Effort.
August 25, 2004 [Blake / Dave]
Aesthetic Improv > Stronger
Addiction
Ascension
Abstract Improv
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June 9, 2010 by
Of the three shows Chlorine Dream played at the El Mocambo, this one from August 2004 is the least auspicious. Sharing the bill with a half dozen other bands with a set time limited to 30 minutes meant no room for spaced out epics. This was a rock show with setlist of rock songs (and one ballad). The other bands on the bill leaned toward the generic-heavy variety, so the mix is harsh and greatly favours the guitar, overdriving the mic on the minidisc recorder. Good thing that Cesco and Myles are on fire. After the show, which was over in the blink of an eye, we all moved on fast and no one in the band has so much as listened to this show again until now. That could be because it doesn’t offer anything new, with 100% of the setlist recycled from the Clinton’s show the month before.**
Live @ The El Mocambo, August 20th, 2004
[Blake/Ryan/Dave/Cesco; Myles on the last two tracks]
Bolero
DITTMAR
Broken Pane
Going Under
Be My Friend
No More Pt. 1
**More likely, none of us want to relive the train wreck opening of Be My Friend where the band plays a half bar apart for the entire first verse. That we stitched it back together on the fly rather than ejecting is a minor miracle.
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June 7, 2010 by
Here are two tracks that feature only a portion of the band. The first is a live recording from December 2001. As I mentioned earlier, the band went a long time between shows after the El Mocambo show in December 2000. As 2001 was coming to a close, it was decreed on principle that there had to be a public showing for posterity and morale so Blake and I headed to the Old York Tavern, acoustic guitars in hand. We played a three song set that included this one, “I Let You Down”, that was never recorded or played live again. It’s a great tune and there are a lot of ambient ‘atmospherics’ from the bar that add to the vibe. The Old York had a good scene going on Wednesday nights and it was fun enough that we did the whole thing again (with three new songs) about 7 months later.
Live @ The Old York Tavern, December 19, 2001 [Blake/Dave]
I Let You Down
The second song is Blake’s acoustic demo of Ascension. We did play this one as a full band several times (in fact, I think we even played it at the Old York), but it works just as well with Blake and his guitar. That’s the mark of a great tune. I’m not exactly sure of the recording date, but I’m going to guess 2001 (?).
Unknown Date [2001?] [Blake]
Ascension
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May 25, 2010 by
Live @ The Silver Dollar, November 18, 2004
To see this video, go to the Video Vault.
This show was the fourth and final show of the “four seasons” weekly residency at the Silver Dollar. Where the first three shows had overall themes to differentiate them (Rock, Psychedelic, and Ambient, respectively), this show, the Spring show, was intended to be the “best of” summarizing the series.
The setlist:
Ambient Intro
Broken Pane
Be My Friend
The Nashville to Memphis Dialogue
The Bruise
Stronger
Going Under
The Skies Are The Gods’ Playground
The Verve Song
No More Pt. 1
Unfortunately, No More Pt. 1 is missing from the video. Oh yeah, the video. Something new here on the site. Expect to see more in the future as we’ve got a lot of video in the vault as well. Interesting things to check out in this one, besides being a rare video of the five-man band, are the projected visuals shot and coordinated by Pat, a filmmaker friend of the band who was also shooting the show simultaneously. The headbanger at camera right is Eric from General Chaos Visuals, who ran the light show for the Psychedelic/Autumn night of the residency two weeks prior.
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May 17, 2010 by
Live @ The El Mocambo, December 20, 2000
“The Psychedelic Revolution Will Commence” shouted the posters around the downtown core at the end of 2000. For our grand entry to the stages of Toronto, we set out to line up a show and ended up with three shows booked in a five day period. Never questioning whether this was actually a good idea or whether we had a fan base to support one show let alone three, we leapt at the chance and covered every telephone pole in sight with the notice of the coming revolution. The first show, December 16 at the now-defunct Southern Po’ Boys in Kensington, played like a public rehearsal. A shambling 1.5 hour set with no restraints on song length, set time, or wardrobe (Myles wore a bright orange worksuit; the rest of us didn’t, which says everything about the show’s coherence). The second show, December 18 at the 360 on Queen, was much tighter and barely over 30 minutes. This final show from the El Mocambo (the original, before it was sold and given a facelift) on December 20 was a perfect balance. The main set was only five songs, but the vibe was relaxed enough to stretch out the song lengths and add an unplanned and unrehearsed Doors cover as an encore.
Race Against Time
No Like (Only Love)
The Skies Are The Gods’ Playground
Human Condition
No More Pt. 1
Cars Hiss By My Window
The setlist gives a good representation of some of the band’s strongest tunes at the time. Race Against Time was a staple from university days. No Like Only Love is one of three early Chlorine Dream songs written and sung by Myles. Two of the songs here had enough staying power to still be in the band’s setlist in its last show in 2004: No More Pt. 1 and The Skies Are The Gods’ Playground, the latter featuring a Shoot Speed, Kill Light cover from Primal Scream’s then-new XTRMNTR disc. Myles’ tone is killer throughout, especially on Cars Hiss. Compared to his tone, my guitar tone on No More Pt.1 sounds like it needs a simultaneous blood transfusion and hip replacement.
You can listen to this show and decide if the Psychedelic Revolution really started in December 2000. For the band, it actually closed the door on Chapter One of the band’s history. Myles left for Mexico to chase love, art, and the blues shortly after. The rest of the band was left trying to figure out how to form a three-lioned Voltron. We figured that out in the coming weeks, months, and years, but it was 17 months before the band played a proper show again after this one.
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April 26, 2010 by
Not to say that we’d follow something blindly, but when we got into something, we got into something. And in 2002-2003, we were into German progressive music of the seventies. And so followed a year or two of staying up all night just to call Soundscapes in the morning to see if a 9AM purchase of Tago Mago could be arranged. Or hanging on to an unopened copy of Yeti for weeks just to find the right space to play it.
All of this led up to a jam in July 2004 where we finally nailed the spirit enough to label it “The Krautrock Jam”. And so, on the evening of my heading to Berlin to see Damo Suzuki, I present it to you:
July 18, 2004 [Blake/Ryan/Dave]
The Krautrock Jam – Part I
The Krautrock Jam – Part II
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April 24, 2010 by
Live @ Clinton’s Tavern, July 7th 2004
This was a turning point show. It marks the halfway point between the release of Mental Weather and the last Chlorine Dream show, but it features a band on the rise. Case in point, the setlist is evenly split between songs off Mental Weather and brand new songs written in the interim and being played for the first time ever. The show kicked off the most active period ever for the band; we played more shows in the six months after this than we did in the preceding six years. But by far the most noteworthy part of this show is Cesco. This is his debut on guitar with us and I can’t overstate how lucky we were to have him in the band. The guy had technical skills that put us to shame but the generosity, creativity, and personality you’d kill for in a bandmate. I remember walking around Toronto that summer listening to this show and thinking “George Harrison!” when I heard his fills on Going Under. Myles joins us onstage mid-set for Be My Friend and Stronger, so this show also has the debut of the five-man band, which I’m not even sure had rehearsed together at this point.
So my personal highlight from the show has always been the debut of Going Under, but listening again I also love this version of Be My Friend. My personal lowlight is my forehead-smacking so-big-you-can’t-hide-from-it bass flub in the middle of Autonomy.
Blake’s favourite is the vicious version of Anton Says. I don’t blame him. The sound recording quality is stellar by our standards, so this tune especially rewards being played LOUD.
Here’s the set, and more on what Cesco’s up to these days.
Bolero
The Truth Lies Behind
Autonomy
The Bruise
Be My Friend
Stronger
Anton Says
DITTMAR
Going Under
No More Pt. 1
Ant Colony
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