It’s been a bit since any of us have posted. Hope you’re all well.

We’ve all been busy of course. Working on new songs here in New York. As of now we have half an album recorded and it looks like we’ll be heading back up to Montreal in a few moths to get more songs on tape.

We have a couple of shows coming up including CMJ so definitely check out the myspace page for upcoming dates. We will be debuting some new material and putting out general good vibes for those of you who are around.

In other news we are planning to put out a new 7” in late Fall. It will be two new songs one of which we recorded with Howard Bilerman and Larry Crane at the Hotel 2 Tango back in April called Clarissa Explains It All. The other song is one we recorded here in New York with Patrick called Hearts Of Palm.

John Richards from KEXP will be premiering Hearts of Palm on his show this week so tune in to KEXP (90.3 Seattle, 91.5 New York, KEXP.org Everywhere) from 9-noon EST to hear it.

Hope you enjoy. Talk more soon.

Asher

(posted by Asher)

Hello friends!

We’re back in Montréal at Hotel2Tango, recording the beginnings of something.  The new studio that Howard and the rest have built is really wonderful – it retains all the charm of the old location, with the addition of some amazing new facilities.  The main tracking room is huge and the resulting sound (most notably on drums) is huge.  There is even a new espresso machine (it’s a Gaggia)!  We are lucky enough to be working with our friend Howard Billerman again, as well as Larry Crane.  Won’t say too much more because I don’t want to incur the wrath of lord mother Ash-tron, but suffice it to say, tape is rolling, and things are sounding great so far.

See you all soon,

Avery

(posted by Avery)

This summer I finally got film for my “analog” cameras, A Kodak Brownie and a Holga. The brownie was one of the first point and shoot cameras sold to the public at a relatively cheep price. It’s also one of the easiest cameras to operate: load in some 127mm film, tape up the case for light leaks and go to town.

I brought three rolls on the Ravens June tour and only busted out the Kodak for sweeping shots of the American countryside or for haunted Canadian cathedrals. While the rest of my band mates would dig through the van for their various digital cameras every time we drove past a cactus or a mountain, I would sit back and enjoy the ride. Of course as soon I was reminded of Ansel Adams or double exposures I would be the one running back to the van to find my new toy.

The Halga has a mind of its own; light leaks, tripple exposures, and four flash colors to choose from. Below is a shot of Asher superimposed over our Bumbershoot backlighting. Crazy.

The full flickr set can be found HERE

(posted by Abe)

We’re playing bumbershoot today. 5:00 PM a the EMP Skychruch. It will be something like this:

(posted by Abe)

Tour was great. One wish:

Inunditojn! Mi dezir ni povintus naĝ en la Iovao stratojn. B’caw!
Floods! I wish we could have swum in the Iowan streets. Kickin!

(posted by Brittany)

Since our last post, Ravens & Chimes have played three jazz festivals, one house party, one radio appearance, drove 4,000 miles, and spent two hours getting searched by the boarder patrol. All in all I have to say this was our most successful tour to date.

In just a half hour of driving into New York last night, we had a celebrity sighting and heard about a half dozen Reggaeton songs from car stereos. New York never felt so good. Sure the west coast has beaches, Montana has endless valleys and mountains, and the North Dakota has, well, straight and flat driving, But the bagel I ate this morning was probably the best breakfast I’ve had in a month.

I’ve posted some show pictures from Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and KEXP. enjoy.

Avery’s gear at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, just minutes before doors open.

Sitting in the cut at the Commodore.

Soundcheck at Sugar in Victoria, BC.

With Cheryl Waters after our KEXP on-air performance.

Brittany is possessed.

Playing for a semi-hometown crowd in Seattle

This basically sums it all up.

(posted by Abe)

(posted by Abe)

Hey,

This is my first time writing on a blog ever. Along with my post I wanted to show you all some ravens I made out of socks while in the van for the past many days.  I sold four out of five of them at our show at Spaceland tonight!  Pretty awesome.  Gotta make more on our way to San Francisco tomorrow!

(posted by Nora)

We made It! Four days of non-stop driving and we’re here in Los Angeles. All of the Ravens can now say that we have driven across the country. We will be playing a free show at Spaceland tonight at 9:00pm. Below are some pictures from our journey through the desert yesterday.

this is the Zzyzx exit off of I-15 in the Mojave Desert. 108 degrees!

We stopped to gamble at New York, New York. It was almost like being home, except a lot fewer tight pants.

(posted by Abe)

We got caught in some serious weather while passing through Iowa on tour. Check out this video! (Brittany filmed and Abe edited).

(posted by Avery)