Fly Away

Eh440 had a really fun show exactly one week ago today!

Last Monday, we performed at the Toronto Harbourfront. For those who haven’t been - Toronto’s harbour looks somewhat like the harbour of any of the cities along the Great Lakes like Chicago or Detroit - but last weekend there were stages of all sizes set up with different types of entertainment and activities. And it was elbow-to-elbow full of people!

We performed under a tent showcasing vocal talents for the next SING! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival ( torontovocalartsfestival.com ). The last one in 2012 headlined some pretty big names in vocal music like The Nylons & Swingle Singers.

So there we were with Toronto acts such as Freeplay Duo, Darbazi, After Hours, and Human Record (which is our very own Luke Stapleton’s stage name when he does solo beatboxing) layin’ down acappella tunes for the good people of Toronto.

Thanks to everyone who came along for the ride. It was hot out but we hope we got your mind off of the heat for just a short while! :)

This was our closing tune: Fly Away

Hope you’re enjoying your summer so far!

Stay cool.

Starting A New Group

We got a Mention a couple of days ago on Twitter from @alleycatalto asking: “how did you start up your group? I'd love to form an a capella group but have no idea where to start!?”

Obviously an answer to those questions can’t fit into 140 characters so we’re putting our response here!

We thought about what we did and came up with this 3 Step process.  We don’t know if this is the best way or if it will help at all, but you never know.

Step 1 - Begin with the end in mind

Step 2 - Self-assess and find partners with different skills than yours

Step 3 - Network & audition / jam

STEP 1 – BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

So yeah, begin with the end in mind, but leave things as open as you can.

That means that you should first figure out, in general terms, what kind of acappella group you want to be a part of.

Don’t go in with a strict viewpoint on anything, like for example, “we must have an awesome beatboxer or it’s a no-go”, because something like that can be learned or one might show up down the road, and there’s no point in hinging your future on any single aspect of the group.

So, here are some things to think about…

Musical Style / Genre? Saying you’re an “acappella band” usually isn’t enough to explain what you want to do.  So, you could want to be a “folk acappella” group, or a “jazz acappella” group.

Figuring out the genre of your future group doesn’t mean that you can’t change or sing other types of songs in the future, but it will help dictate the people you want to work with.

For example, if someone LOVES hip-hop music and doesn’t want to sing any other type, and you LOVE choral music and don’t want to sing any other type, then that probably won’t be a good fit.  It’s an obvious and exaggerated example meant to illustrate a point, but basically, you need to find like-minded people musically.

So……. Folk?  Jazz?  Rock?  Reggae? Pop? Hip-Hop? Doowop? Glee-Inspired?  Gospel?  Choral?  Blues?  Dubstep?  Yankovic-esque Comedy? Barbershop / Sweet Adelines?  Here’s more:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popular_music_genres

It is possible to be a group that is a de facto acappella group and does a bit of everything, but that’s actually more difficult to pull off than picking an angle or two that you’re comfortable with and that your voices suit.

No group likes pigeon-holing themselves but it’s a good place to start.  Again, you can always change or branch out later.

Image? Are you looking for guys, girls, or opening your group up to both?  Will you have a beatboxer?  Beatboxers traditionally have been male, but that’s changing.  The Boxettes from the U.K. are all-female and their beatboxer is really good ( http://www.theboxettes.co.uk/ ).  Are you going to wear crazy costumes on stage or be a casually dressed act?

Image may not seem that important to you now but having a bit of an idea of where you’d like to see things go will help you articulate more clearly what you’re trying to accomplish to prospective bandmates.

Level? Pro? Semi-pro? Hobby?  Whatever it is, your potential bandmates will want to all know what they’re getting into.

Song Source: Covers or writing your own tunes or a mix of both?

$$$: Have you thought about the costs of having a website designed and hosted, maybe doing a photoshoot, or some recording?  If you have these skills or have talented friends that can help, great, but if future bandmates are going to have to kick-in $5K each because you absolutely need to make a full-length CD on Day 1, they are going to want to know.

It’s great to have paid gigs to pay for everything but at the beginning, gigs tend to be sparse.

STEP 2 – SELF-ASSESS AND FIND PARTNERS WITH DIFFERENT SKILLS

It’s tough to look at your musical skills (and organizational/business skills) from the outside but you have to.

A bass singer probably doesn’t need another bass singer in the group, unless one or both of them are comfortable also singing other parts.

If you’re going to write your own tunes and never have, you may want to consider people with songwriting experience.

Not everyone in the band has to have a lot of music theory knowledge, but someone in the group should have a good understanding of chord structure and chord progressions.

It’s honestly not that difficult for most people to learn music theory if they are patient and put some time in.  You can even find some resources online ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gHEIF0rT2w ) to start you off.  If you don’t have a musical theory background, then you may want to consider that in potential bandmates.

STEP 3 – NETWORK & JAM

So, once you’re at this point, it’s just a matter of filling in the pieces of the puzzle, and this means networking!

Eh440 was built on networking.  The networking actually started over a decade and a half ago!

The first relationship between eventual Eh440 bandmates was between Janet and Stacey.  They used to compete against each other in Country singing contests around our home province of Ontario.  Stacey was just 8 years old and Janet was 12.  They became friends and kept in touch over the years.

You can network though the largest acappella networking organization in the world at http://www.casa.org.  They have Ambassadors all over the world, and a local one, may know people in your area that like this type of music and are looking for a group.

Also, contact your local chapter of http://www.barbershop.org/ .  Even if barbershop isn’t your thing, what’s the harm in calling and asking if they know of anyone in their choir, or an ex-member, that might like to join a different type of acappella group?

Check out local choirs, both collegiate and community.  Even if you’re looking for post-collegiate people, the director may know of recent graduates in your area who might still like to sing.

Back to our story - also through networking, Jo3 met Janet over 3 years ago, and the two of them met Luke about 2 years ago.  Both Luke and Mike were winners of Toronto Independent Music Awards and Jo3 has judged some of the awards, so everyone kinda-sorta knew some of the others.

But this wasn’t the only line-up of singers we considered.  We literally scoured the internet for singers in Toronto.  We looked at over 300 youtube/websites of local Toronto-area singers.

We narrowed our list down to about 40 people and then looked at those people even more closely and ranked them.

We went out to clubs to hear dozens of candidates sing, sometimes unbeknownst to them.

We put ads on craigslist and kijiji and in local music magazines and held open auditions.

We told our colleagues in the music industry what we were looking for, and some suggestions rolled in that way too.

Then we jammed.  We jammed with different singers.  Some of them brought an instrument and played songs they wrote.  Others sang their favourite cover songs acappella.  We jammed with boys.  We jammed with girls.  We jammed with people with a lot of harmony experience, and some with none-at-all but had the potential.

One day, we were having one of our jam sessions and the configuration that day was Mike, Janet, Stacey, Luke, & Jo3.  In record time, we knocked out a song and liked how it sounded.  Also, the personalities in the room mixed well and we laughed like long-time friends.  So, that was the line-up.  Jams turned into rehearsals, and we started learning more tunes and went from there.

It was an exhausting process but it’s important to leave no stone unturned when choosing people you’re going to spend a lot of time with.

Of course, that is just the beginning.  Getting rehearsals and shows together is no easy task too!

Good luck to you @alleycatalto and to anyone else looking to start something up!

Settle Down, Pam

We’re really pumped about the Burlington Sound of Music Festival this Saturday.

What could be better than a festival for music?! A ribfest you say? Well, ok that may be true, but after ribfests, there’s nothing better than a music festival. ;) (we kid, we kid...we don’t need yet another angry phone call from Pamela Anderson)

Because Eh440 just formed earlier this year, we’ve only done a couple of gigs so far. For us, that’s hard to believe because we’ve spent so much time together in rehearsal and in the recording studio. It feels like we’ve been together forever.

But now our live schedule is starting to fill up a bit more (the website will be updated in a few weeks) and that’s really exciting for us. Don’t get us wrong - we love connecting with people online too, we’ve made some great friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram already - but there is something special about being close and connecting with a live audience. That is the truest musical experience - face to face.

So, if you’re near Burlington, Ontario area this Saturday, check out our schedule here and please drop by and say hi. For future gigs and audio/video releases please sign up for our email list on the left side of Eh440.com because Twitter and Facebook are grand but tweets and status updates can be missed!

Stay cool.

Frying Plantains? Here's a tip...

We've been hard at work over the last month, rehearsing new songs in anticipation of some upcoming live shows.

As you can imagine, when there are 5 musicians in a room, there are 5 different strong-willed opinions on song choices and the vibe and direction of a song. So we've had our fair share of "friendly musical debates" but it’s the "friendly non-musical debates" that are much more entertaining and usually result in side-splitting laughter.

Here are some of the non-musical things we’ve discussed in great detail with many mini-debates contained therein;

1. the preferred oil to fry plantains in (Mike trumped everyone's ideas with two words - coconut oil - the room just fell silent after he said that)
2. the best way to walk barefoot on red hot coals
3. the health benefits of garlic pills versus real garlic cloves
4. if Stacey should leave her Christmas tree up all year long (it’s still up, and yes, it’s May)
5. whether you should only brush the dirt from a mushroom or actually wash it prior to eating
6. the real sun versus tanning beds

Anyway, through all of the discussions, we are getting a lot of work done and are motoring along quite well. We’re actually pretty excited to share our new songs with you!

For a little sneak peek of a tune we've been working on this past week, featuring a customized rap by Stacey – which she wrote in literally 5 minutes using the content of a Twitter profile – check out this personalized video we made on an iPhone for our 440th Twitter Follower, Carlie Bradley from Illinois: http://youtu.be/J8DOpiDCQOw

Stay tuned!

How to Remove Pizza Stains From Your Wall

We’re just a few days away from launching our website.

It’s an exciting thing. Although we had our first gig in February, this will mark the birth of our online presence. And anyone who’s under 97 years old knows that an online presence is necessary for any band these days.

So we’ve been busy getting pics and music together amidst a crazy rehearsal schedule.

We met with some cool photographers – Stephen Cullen (Raptors game shots) and Andrea Bouchard (outdoor shots). We thank them and give them both a lot of credit for pointing and clicking at just the right time.

We also hit the studio to record some songs for our website.

Thanks to Greg Arnold for pointing and clicking at just the right time too (but with a computer mouse, not with a camera). And thanks to Brian Pickett for providing his advice with the in-progress mix and the good people at Voodoo Highway Music & Post for helping with the delicate final touches involved in the studio and for letting us invade their space for longer than we said we would. By the way Greg and Brian, those pizza stains will come right off of the wall by sprinkling baking soda on a damp cloth and then rubbing gently. We’re pretty sure that might work.

We decided to record a Beatles tune, Blackbird, to get things going and a Jessie J song, Price Tag. We liked the lyrical meaning, melody, and flow of each of these tunes despite them being from very different eras.

Blackbird is a song that Paul McCartney wrote as a response to escalating racial tensions in the U.S. There still seems to be a lot of tension in the world, racial or otherwise, so the song is as important now as it ever was. Janet loves this song and has been singing it since her college days.

Price Tag is a song with a cool groove and an interesting message. Stacey wanted to change the rap part of the song, and so we did. We’re our own bosses so we can do that sort of thing.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the website and the music (there are snippets of Price Tag and Blackbird on the site but the entire tracks will be available mid-month). You can download the tunes and bring us with you on your daily adventures.

Now it’s time to amp up the gigs. We’re working on it, and hope to see you soon.

Lincredible

Whew! Our birthday came and went on Feb 14th - Valentine’s Day – and what a day it was.

The NY Knicks were in town to play the Toronto Raptors at a sold-out Air Canada Centre and this young player, Jeremy Lin, was at the height of his now thankfully waning popularity. "Linsanity" as the press calls it.

We sang the anthems and had a great time doing so. Lin jogged up to us when we were finished and said, "Eh440, your national anthems were Lincredible!". Ok, he didn’t really say that but we could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking it.

We snapped a few pictures of us at the game which we'll post on our website.

What else is up with us?

We have been rehearsing a fair bit lately. Mike has freed up some of his time because he’s done the bulk of the recording for his solo album. We heard an unmixed version of it after a rehearsal one day. It sounds awesome!

We have some cover songs pretty much up and ready to go. Something old, something new…in our last rehearsal we got up - Price Tag by Jessie J - and a timeless classic – Lean On Me by Bill Withers. That's going to be the vibe of the new group it seems – we’ll take any song, put our spin on it and then hope you dig it as much as we do.

We’re also scheduled to launch our website at Eh440.com on April 6th at 4:40pm Eastern Standard Time. Sharp! Barring any unforeseen circumstances, you can visit us there after the launch. We’re also hoping to start nailing down some live show dates so you can come and hang out with us.

Cool? Cool!

Happy birthday to we!

Well, a lot has changed in the last month even though we're not even born yet and our website isn't even 'live' yet. We've had quite a few rehearsals and even booked our first gig.


Our first gig, and therefore our birthday, is going to be in a few days - on Valentine’s Day 2012. The location? The Air Canada Centre here in Toronto! Wuz at?! Yup yup!


But no band starts with a sold-out 20,000 seat venue, you say? Except for us. Well, sorta...


The truth of the matter is that the peeps won't really be there to see us. They’ll be attending the Toronto Raptors vs. New York Knicks NBA game and we'll be performing the Star Spangled Banner and O Canada prior to tip-off, but it's still a gig.


So, arranging and learning Eh440-style versions of the national anthems did take away from our regular rehearsal time but we think they're sounding pretty slick now.


We wanted to record them just to help us remember our parts so we recorded at Luke's home recording studio which is called "Stapleton". Not "Stapleton Studios" or anything like that...just "Stapleton".


Luke went to Harris Institute for this sort of thing and Janet did a similar programme - Music Industry Arts - at Fanshawe College. Janet claims that it was a few years ago and she's not used to Luke's software but once she remembered that the Play button is the spacebar it all pretty much came back to her.


So now back to our regular rehearsals. Mike is recording a solo album this month so he'll be pretty busy. We'll pull him away from the studio whenever he can sneak out and get more rehearsal time in.


So, Happy Groundhog Day this month. So, Happy Groundhog Day this month. And of course, Happy Valentine's Day to you as well. And for those who dislike Valentine's Day you can just say "Happy Eh440 Birthday" on Feb 14th from now on. ;)

Is anybody reading this?

No. Nobody is reading this. Why? Because we’re not actually born yet. We’re still in the muse's womb, so to speak. So you’re reading this many months after we actually post it but we think it’s cool that you went and read back this far. Thanks for that. :)

So here’s the deal. A few singers in Toronto decided to form an acappella group. Some of us had sung together before in various ways and some not. All we knew was we loved music and singing and thought we should have some fun together.


We could have all just hopped in a car and gone to the beach, but no, we had to do it the hard way.


Our band name is Eh440. Eh is pronounced the Canadian way and then the number 4 and then the number 40. It’s a play on a technical musical term (A440) and on the fact that we’re Canadian and Canadians say “eh?” sometimes. Ok, maybe we say it a lot and we’re tired of trying to stop saying it when Americans are around to point it out.  So we’re embracing it every time we say our band name!


We’ve had only one rehearsal so far. Thursday is our second rehearsal. Then we’ll have another and another. Then we’ll record something and plan a live show. You should come out and have fun with us – it’s kinda like going to the beach but without the sand in your bum and sunburn everywhere else.


That’s it for now. More retroactive reading in February...