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Roaddog?

PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:10 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
I just clued in where Roaddog got his username from. On that note, I'm about to be "Roaddog" myself...

I picked up a new gig. Actually I picked it up a while back but since nothing was comfirmed and settled I avoided making it too public. I'll be playing with the Sleddogs starting in October for the promotion of their new album coming out this fall Save Your Vinyl. I've been looking forward to this now for months and it should be a really interesting experience. I'll be glad to go back out on the road a bit.

They're 100% independant, which is quite impressive in and of itself, and it means that they take this seriously because it's not on someone elses tab. They are also great guys and superior musicians. All of those things combined leads me to assume a relatively drama-free environment to just travel and play music which is all I want to do right now.

They fly me out and fly me back from every gig, so I don't need to relocate. Mostly weekend gigs across Canada/US for the fall and winter seasons so it doesn't really affect my 9-5 at all. It will somewhat affect my current gigging schedule around SJ, but won't affect my Sunday night at Cougars gigs much at all. So all in all it's a pretty good deal for me.

Truth is for a while now I've been looking for an opportunity to be in an environment that's more challenging that forces me to actually put some effort into something. I think I may have found it.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:09 am
by RoadDog
:lol:

PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:55 pm
by Jef
Good for you Matt!
How did you happen to hook up with these guys anyway?

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:56 pm
by LarryS
Congrats Matt!!! I hope you will use your great narrative skills to share some stories from the road with all of us place bound wanderers!!! :-D

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:16 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
Jef wrote:Good for you Matt!
How did you happen to hook up with these guys anyway?


It was Keith's fault. Allow me to explain in a short narrative.

The Sleddogs with a fill-in drummer were playing in Saint John a few months ago. They then had a gig in Yarmouth but then returned to Saint John for a second gig in King's Square. They stayed in Saint John that weekend and were planning on leaving for the next gig in Montreal on Monday.

So they happened to be out and about in Saint John on a Sunday night. Keith brought them to see the studio and then told them that there was an open mic and they all decided to come out. Apparently they heard my snare drum from the end of the boardwalk and that was that. They wanted to play a set with me. We did some covers and orginals (none of which I'd ever played before.) We seem to have a good vibe going, and we chatted for an hour or so afterwards and we just clicked. They said to keep in touch, I did, and here we are...

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:17 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
LarryS wrote:Congrats Matt!!! I hope you will use your great narrative skills to share some stories from the road with all of us place bound wanderers!!! :-D


Thanks! I plan on it. Too bad these guys are very organized and on the ball, I'll have to find other things to make fun of.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:23 pm
by LarryS
Too bad these guys are very organized and on the ball, I'll have to find other things to make fun of.


I have the utmost confidence in you Matt!!!! :-D

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:45 pm
by RoadDog
... Guilty as charged... :roll:

PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:07 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
LarryS wrote:
Too bad these guys are very organized and on the ball, I'll have to find other things to make fun of.


I have the utmost confidence in you Matt!!!! :-D


Don't worry Keith's likely going to be my travelling partner for much of this, so I should have no problems finding funny things to write about.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:04 pm
by Malcolm Boyce
This is a freakin' great gig for one of my fav players around town.

Good for you Matt! I imagine you needing a entire forum just for your road diaries.

PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:38 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
Don't tempt me.... ;-)

Seriously, I'm going through the songs from the new album (some are finished and some are at the pre-mastered, or even pre-mix stage) and I getting more and more excited about it as the song start meaning more to me. There's some killer songs on this thing. Learning these songs isn't a chore at all.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:06 pm
by LarryS
How are things progressing Drumwaiter????

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:10 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
I fly out November 5th at 6:30am. I fly out to Kelowna, BC for the Interior BC Music Awards that weekend. Then they fly me back home then I go to Winnipeg the following weekend... Should be good times.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:40 pm
by LarryS
AWESOME!!! :-D

PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 7:41 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
Something seems to have gone sideways with my first weekend with them. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going or not. My plane tickets were booked but, who knows...

I'll keep yas posted.

PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:04 pm
by Malcolm Boyce
Drumwaiter wrote:I'll keep yas posted.
Please do.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:16 am
by Mathieu Benoit
So, I won't be going to Kelowna this weekend. One of the gigs that was carrying the guarantee that was covering my pay and travel expenses fell through. We're all pretty dissapointed but this sort of thing happens. They'll be doing the gigs acoustically as a duo. Although I believe Kenny will performing his solo stuff at the award show with a drummer from that area.

The gig is still mine, it just won't be this weekend. I'll be away in Asia for the whole month of December, they have one gig during that time in Ontario, but I already told them I was taking the time off and they were cool with that. Johnny Fay from the Tragically Hip will be doing that gig with them.

Right now they aren't as close to finishing the upcoming CD as they had hoped so the touring to promote the CD is also being postponed. The songs are done, they just need to be mixed and mastered. There is a bit of last minute tracking to do still but nothing major.

This is fine for me because it's allowed me time to be very prepared while taking on other projects too. In the new year when I'm back from Asia, we'll re-evaluate their current position and go from there. Once the album is officially released then I'll probably be gone a lot for a while.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:36 pm
by Greg H.
Asia!? That's insane!
Insanly awesome.

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:01 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
...Back in rehearsal mode I go.

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:34 pm
by macrae11
Are they back up and running?

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:55 pm
by Mathieu Benoit
macrae11 wrote:Are they back up and running?


Yep... I'll give you the deets as I know more, but it's looking good.

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 4:53 pm
by dennisthemenace
right on!!

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:33 am
by Mathieu Benoit
The new material is awesome. I think I'm mostly excited about the band because I really love the songs.

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:23 am
by macrae11
Anything available yet, or are you just hearing pre-release stuff?

Re: Roaddog?

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:43 am
by Mathieu Benoit
macrae11 wrote:Anything available yet, or are you just hearing pre-release stuff?


Just pre-release stuff except for the single and the B-Side which are available to buy. The rest of the album is in the final stages though I have no ETA as of yet.