As some of you may know, I have been heavily involved in Skate4Cancer over the past couple of years. I have done so both in a volunteer capacity, and also by helping Rob to manage his personal speaking engagements.

We have recently been made aware of allegations that are being made against Ashley Kirilow, founder of another not-for-profit organization called “Change For A Cure”. Please visit the Skate4Cancer or Rob Dyer Facebook Pages to read our official statement on the issue. The statement will also be available at skate4cancer.com later this evening.

Ian

Okay, sorry for the lapse between updates here folks. There’s been a lot going on, which you’d think would inspire me to update more often - but it has the exact opposite affect. “I’ll wait to update on this until THIS happens, then it’ll be an even BETTER update!” Anyway, here’s the goods -

SHAD
After killing it on Hillside’s main stage last night…and recently being named to the 2010 Polaris Music Prize Short List…and announcing a Canadian tour with K’Naan…we have two NEW announcements to make! 1) Shad’s record will be coming out in the US on October 5th through Black Box/Decon/Fontana North. This is a huge step for us internationally, especially with all the love the TSOL is getting around the world. 2) In support of the release, you can catch Shad on a 20+ date tour with K-os throughout the US starting on October 8th. All the information can be found at shadk.com. Look out Europe, you’re next!

THE WOODEN SKY
Speaking of Europe, The Wooden Sky’s album “If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone” is being released on August 13th through Dine Alone Records in the UK (Essential Music) and Germany (Soulfood)! This is another big step for us internationally. So spread the word! The band will also be announcing their Canadian tour plans for the fall! Some of you may have caught the sneak-announcement after their set at Hillside - we’ll make the official announcement this week - lets say…Wednesday.

TEN SECOND EPIC
Also, speaking of Europe, Ten Second Epic have confirmed tours in Europe and the UK for October. Europe is with two little bands you may have heard of called You Me At Six & Kids In Glass Houses, while the UK dates are alongside a band called Twenty-Twenty. These shows are going to be big, so spread the word there too!

LIVING WITH LIONS
Living With Lions have announced a Canadian tour supporting Comeback Kid! This tour will be in support of CBK’s new album out on Distort at the end of August. The tour also features Madball, A Wilhelm Scream and a band from Europe called Devil In Me. LWL will also be playing songs from their forthcoming album. When is the album coming out you ask? Well, there’s a bit of an update there too. I’ll wait for the band to give a full update, but for now, suffice it to say, the band will have a new record and be all systems go for early 2011. Stay tuned.

Classified played with Black Eyed Peas and Weezer this weekend (no big deal…); Crash Parallel continue to fine tune their new album (it’s coming, we swear…); Brighter Brightest is hard at work writing before heading into studio in October - more news to come on that soon; Lisa Scinta played her first show in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and continues to play her weekly UStream concerts - visit lisascinta.com for more info on how to check those out; Northcote played Sled Island, and is prepping for studio in October and November…That’s about it for now. There’s probably more that I’ll remember after I hit “publish”, but I’ll save them for future updates.

Check out the tours section for all the most current details!

Ian

Happy New Year!

Big things on the horizon for 2010, including new albums from Shad and Living With Lions! But first things first - we have tours to announced! The Wooden Sky have dates across Canada, including a handful with The Rural Alberta Advantage. Ten Second Epic is heading overseas for the first time for dates in Japan with Senses Fail. Shad has also announced a handful of dates in Ontario in February with Grand Analog, where he’ll be debuting new material - must see! Check the tours section for all the details.

All the best in ‘10!

Black Box.

Hey friends,

So when The Wooden Sky embarked on the “Bedrooms & Backstreets” tour last month, they brought along our good friend and world famous (or soon to be) director Scott Cudmore to capture the trip on film. The result is “If I Don’t Come Home, You’ll Know I’m Gone - A Documentary In Pieces”. It’s a dark, weird and beautiful look at some of the unique spaces the band found themselves in, performing songs from the new album as well as “When Lost At Sea”. Part one has just been released. You can view it here, or visit our Vimeo Channel.

Part 2 in the ongoing series will be released on October 14th. Stay tuned, and let us know what you think! The band has also announced their first headline show in Toronto since the release of their album - Friday, November 13th @ Lee’s Palace w/Hooded Fang and Brian Borcherdt. Tickets are available at Rotate This, SoundScapes, The Horseshow and online at ticketmaster.ca. You never know what The Wooden Sky have in store, so make sure you pick up your ticket’s early.

In other news, Ten Second Epic will be on Much On Demand tomorrow prior to their show at Sound Academy with Silverstein! Make sure to check it out. Also tomorrow, Skate4Cancer’s Rob Dyer will appear on LA Ink on TLC - check your local listings for air times.

Finally, we’re stoked to confirm that Crash Parallel has announced tour dates in October with none other than Collective Soul. The dates run across the country, so make sure you check crashparallel.com for more info.

That’s about all the news for now. One love!

Ian

Just a quick update on all the goings-on with The Wooden Sky. Their new record, “If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone” hits stores/online next week. We have a couple of really cool things to tell you about.

1) If you’d like to hear the whole record before you can buy it, the album is being featured on muchmusic.com’s ‘First Spin’ here: thenewmusic.net.

2) Thanks to those first 50 eager beavers who pre-ordered the new record, and picked up some extra goodies for their trouble! The album continues to be available for pre-order at MapleMusic.com, so check it out HERE.

3) The band will be performing a special pre-release in-store at Sonic Boom in Toronto on Monday. They’ll be performing new material from the record, and the album will be on sale there a day early, before you can get it anywhere else. Fore more info on that, visit the event pageHERE.

4) We’ll be announcing the winner of the Exclaim/Fender contest in the next week or so. The winner gets a brand new acoustic guitar for their strumming pleasure. If you haven’t entered yet, make sure to head over to EXCLAIM.CA to get all the details.

5) If you missed it, we’ve announced a fall tour with Elliott Brood. We’re adding a couple more dates in the coming days, and we’ve just posted 10 dates on the U.S. leg of the tour as well up at IFIDONTCOMEHOME.COM so go check it out, and spread the love!

Thats it for now. We’ll have more news next week regarding Ontario shows (including a Toronto headline date) and a special gift from us to you via iTunes!

Let the count down begin, 7 days! Thanks for your ongoing support!

TWS
ifidontcomehome.com
weareblackbox.com

Hey friends!

What a killer weekend! Congrats to Classified on a great performance at the MMVA’s, and for taking home the “Much Vibe Rap Video of the Year”! We had a great time there with our artists and all our friends. Make sure to catch one of the million repeats of the MMVA’s airing on Much this week.

NXNE was also a success - Valery Gore played an incredible set at the Reverb on Friday night as part of the Now Magazine Showcase. The Wooden Sky also brought down the house at the El Mocambo in front of a 1AM drunken crowd on Saturday night. Thanks to everyone that came out!

Just a reminder to our American friends that Shad’s record, “The Old Prince” hits shelves down there next Tuesday! You can preview the full record on his MYSPACE.

That’s all for now!
Ian

Hey guys,

Just a real quick note to pass along. CMW was a smashing success for us - Crash Parallel, Ten Second Epic and Valery Gore all played great sets to enthusiastic crowds. Valery’s performance was picked by Now Magazine as one of the best of the weekend. Check it out in the videos section here!

We’re also extremely excited that Shad won “Favourite Urban Artist” at the Indie Awards, which were doled out on Saturday Night. Congrats to our boy, and to all the other nominees and winners.

If you were at CMW, I hope you managed to evade the CMW-plague that seems to have felled so many. We’re headed to SXSW to cough and sneeze our way back to health this week. More news upon our return!

<3 Black Box