Beware! The Leopard

What I've been listening to

In the absence of any exciting information to pass on to you guys, I thought I'd write about some other great artists I've been listening to lately.  As someone whose musical tastes span many genres, I'll give you a smattering of what have been the top plays on my itunes/vinyl player recently. 

The Ruby Spirit 

Born Under A Veil is one heck of a pop EP.  These guys are indie and they know how to jam.  I missed their show in Toronto recently, but definitely check them out. 

We Are Scientists

Barbara, the third album by these guys has been out for a while.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the trip back to the 80s that was their 2nd full length, this album goes back to the pop/rock sounds of their first album which I absolutely loved.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Foals

If you haven't checked out last year's release, Total Life Forever, you are missing out on some great indie rock vibes.  These guys are the natural heirs to the Bloc Party sound, and this album is even better than their first. 

Rolling Stones

Sticky Fingers.  I finally got my "zipper" copy, and I have to say that this is one of my favorite stones albums.  Plus on vinyl it sounds so choice. 

Syl Johnson

I picked up Syl's discography on vinyl a while ago and man this is the complete Syl Johnson.  It starts with his early wannabe Motown sound and ends with his wannabe Curtom sound.  As much as many people find him derivative of the 60s and 70s great soul artists, he has a voice that is incredibly unique.  You can hear his desire to be a star, and the pain he feels at being neglected in every word he sings.  While narcissism isn't normally a great trait, it makes for some great soul music.

So that's it for now.  Check out these guys if you can, they will enrich your musical lives. 

Cheerio,

Alex

 

Gear Review - Alien Ears and Rock On Audio

So it's been a couple of months since we received some new in-ear monitors, which we have paired with wired headphone amps.  It took a bit of getting used to, but I have to say that we are suitably impressed with the combination, and for live looping this setup is fantastic.  

First the monitors.  

Mark and I have played numerous shows where our performance was hindered by poor monitoring.  Using live loops means that we have to be able to clearly hear the loops above the din of everything else we put on top of them.  Mark particularly has a hard time hearing the guitar loops above his drum kit, which can make timing an issue.  So we decided that we needed to take monitoring into our own hands and look at some in-ear solutions.

I had spent a long time researching in-ear monitors.  Despite the wealth of info on wireless systems, there's very little discussion of the monitors themselves.  It quickly became apparent that it was going to cost an arm and a leg to get a decent setup going, but then I found Alien Ears.  These guys make custom monitors cheap.  You can even produce your own molds, so that you don't have to go to an audiologist.  I was a little sceptical at first, but when I got my partner to inject the goop into my ears for the mold, I was suprised at how easy it was and how well they turned out.  The guys at Alien Ears were good with the communication and made the process relatively painless.  

Now we did cheap out a bit and go for the low end monitors with only 1 driver in each monitor.  This makes the sound rather tinny with a lot of high-end.  It wouldn't be great for monitoring bass, or drums, but given that we're using them to monitor keys/guitars/vox it works great because it actually cuts through the ambient sound and makes the loops really stand out.  Plus they are upgradeable, which means that if we want to go to 2 or even 4 driver monitors we can do so without having to buy a whole new pair!  That's a pretty good deal.  

With the monitors figured out, we needed an amplifier solution.  We needed headphone amps that were small and had limiters built in.  After a little research I sent an email to the boys at  Rock-On-Audio, who gave us a nice little discount (thanks guys). These little amps are perfect for a wired solution.  Given that neither Mark or I run around stage like madmen, we didn't need to go wireless, and wired is so much cheaper.  The RockBox amps give us each control over monitor volume, and provide a limiter to protect our ear-drums.  Not to mention that they can take a line or speaker level feed means that they are useable in virtually every gig situation.  

 So with our monitoring situation figured out, we look forward to many more great gigs!

 

Indie Machine Online

Hey everyone! 

We had an awesome session with the IndieMachine.com and now you can listen and watch online! 

Thanks to David and Ryan for having us, it was a blast and we'll definitely be back! 

 

Watch the video now!

 

Radio this Thursday!

Beware! The Leopard is going to be performing live on the Indie Machine on Thursday.  

The show starts promptly at 6pm, so be sure to tune in!  

Also keep your eyes peeled for our review of our Alien Ears Monitors and Rock-On-Audio headphone amps, which are helping us with our on-stage monitoring situation! 

Talk soon!

Alex

 

Long time

So it's been a while since the last post.  I'd love to say that it's because we've been busy working on Beware! The Leopard stuff, but the truth is that I've kind of hit a block with writing.  Anybody have any tips?  At this point I'm willing to listen to just about anyone.  

 

Mark has been busy releasing his debut CD with the Mark Segger Sextet.  You can check out Mark's fabulous work HERE.

I've also been busy with another project as well.  The Jilted Lovers Club, where I play bass.  We're going into the studio to record a demo the first week in April and are playing a bunch of shows around town, so make sure to check us out when you get the chance. 

Rest assured that B!TL is not dead, or on hiatus, or anything of the kind, but like a good wine, good coffee, or good pulled pork, it takes some waiting to get the product you want.  

 

 

Webcast!

 

Quick reminder that tonight Beware! The Leopard will be featured, along with The Jilted Lovers Club, on Meghan Morrison's webcast! 

We'll be playing a few songs, and partaking in some good shenanigans, so make sure you check it out at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. 

All of you Leopard fans overseas, this is your chance to see us in person!

Just click on the link: http://www.meghanmorrisonmusic.com/fr_home.cfm 

Happy New Year!

2011 is now 11 days old, and already exciting things are afoot.  We're excited to get playing again, with our first show down at the Phog Lounge in Windsor this coming Saturday January 15th.  The Phog is a wonderful place to play and we're looking forward to rocking out with Tom and the gang down in Windsor.

Our first local show is for the great Indie Machine showcase on January 27th at Rancho Relaxo.  We met David Marskell at our Drake show in December, and he has been kind enough to invite us to play.  If you've never listened to Indie Machine, definitely check the show out every Thursday between 6-8pm.  Details at Indie Machine.

We have been writing so we'll have some new material, and we can't wait to try it out at these shows.

Full details below.

 

January 15th

Phog Lounge

157 University Ave. W

No Cover!

Support TBD

 

January 27th

Indie Machine Showcase

Rancho Relaxo

300 College Street

 

Toronto, ON

$6 cover

Doors at 9PM

Also playing:

The Rest

Ketch Harbour Wolves

BlackBells

Facebook Event

 

 

 

 

Writing and more

Beware! The Leopard is hibernating for the next month or so while we write some new material.  Winter is always the best time to write, it's cold, beautiful, and you have no desire to go outside.  All of which can conspire to create some great music. 

Alex has been listening to a lot of Bluesy type stuff (T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green) so expect that to have an impact on the stuff that comes out over the course of the next while.  

We're also anxiously awaiting the arrival of our ear mold kits from Alien Ears, so that we can get our custom ear-monitors happening.  We've also got a few other pieces of gear that are going to come trickling in over the next month, so January should be exciting!  Gigs are already booked at Phog in Windsor, and Rancho Relaxo, and we can't wait to get out there and play.

 

On another note, a big thanks to Jeremy of The Jilted Lovers Club for uploading our Cli-Che EP info to the CDDB properly, so all of you guys with our CD, it should now load the track names properly in I-Tunes.  

 

 

On Dixieland

So I've been converting a few Dixieland LPs to digital for a customer.  The first side of the album was kind of fun, but I've quickly realized that it gets old fast.  I guess the when one is creating pop music, it is important to be as creative within the genre as possible and make sure that you have hooks that really grab the audience. 

The Dukes of Dixieland, are missing this essential element, getting bogged down in long horn passages, and drum beats that sound identical between songs.  It's tiring my ears and my mind.  Thankfully I will take this important lesson from this 3 hour bout of drudgery.

 

 

Goings on...

So things have been busy in the Leopard world.  We've got a couple of gigs coming up.

First on November 22nd we'll be playing Elvis Mondays at the Drake Hotel.  It's going to be a late show, but a great one at one of the best indie venues in the city, come on down and check us out!  Expect us to hit the stage at 11pm or later. 

In addition there are a number of other projects that Mark and I are involved in that are happening around town.

On Wednesdays in November you can check out the Mark Segger Sextet at Somewhere There.  Show's are between 8-10 and feature Mark's original compositions.  For a chance to see some awesome and innovative music definitely check it out! $8 cover unless otherwise noted.

On November 19th Alex will be battling it out with other 7" Dj's at the monthly Seven Inch Samurai DJ battle happening this month at the Starving Artist Cafe on Landsdowne just north of Bloor.  No cover charge.

November 27th, Alex is marking a return to Ottawa with a gig at Zaphod's opening for good friends Right By Midnight.  He will be playing Beware! The Leopard songs. 

Hope to see you all soon at one of these events.