Betty Sez:
July/Aug. '08
- Our latest CD, Bent Outta Shape was just officially
released on July 11th at the venerable Astoria Hotel pub
on Vancouver's East Side (decent room, great neon sign). Thanks to the
folks who came out and partied with us and to Buckle Up Russia
and Nosebleeder, our guests. That's the second show we've
played with Nosebleeder - this 4-some is always good fun; solid musicianship
with knock-out punches delivered regularly, lotsa tongue-in-cheek. We
got a bit cheeky ourselves: our latest number You're So Fake
(aka. Betty Kracker Jumps the Shark), kind of a My Sharona inspired
messy jam groove number, reached new levels of snark and extreme entropic
disarray that night. It may surface on a 7" soon. My apologies
to the table in the back.
Our CD sales outdid our door that night (!). No 'sophomore
jinx' here... I believe Ryan's incredible cover art had a lot to do
with it, and it's flying off the shelves at FacePlant, the studio where
it was recorded.
Bent Outta Shape can be found in your friendly neighbourhood
Vancouver independent record store, or ordered online from www.mcleanrecords.com.
Cheers, Betty Shannon
The Songs
The seven tracks on the CD include three new original Betty Kracker
songs, Shake, Elephants & Coral and
the title track Bent Outta Shape. Fickle,
a tune from the original set, has never been recorded (other than at
Betty Kracker and Shrimpmeat shows). Mighty Mighty first
appeared on Shrimpmeat's debut CD in 2001, 100%
ep. Alien to Me, likewise, is from the Arthur
Ellis 2000 album Alphomega. And the final track,
'Interzone', is a nod to the post-punk roots of the band, Shannon
and Trevor having been weaned on Joy Division.
Most Betty Kracker songs are the results of a collaborative
effort between one band member as composer, and Shannon as
lyricist/arranger, with a few exceptions.
Look for a lyrics page on this site, in the near future.
The Process
The beds and overdubs were recorded by Mike McLean (grrrabbit
productions) at FacePlant over the fall and winter of
2007-2008. During a winter trip to France, Mike recorded a track of
Shannon's vocals for Elephants & Coral outdoors at
the foot of prehistoric natural monument, Roche de Solutre in Burgundy,
France. This track alternates with the studio track on the CD. McLean
also mixed and mastered the final product.
Airplay!
The title track debut on radio a mere 8 hours since it was mixed, by
dj Oswaldo on his The Morning After show
on Vancouver's CiTR radio! If you visit the station's
site, you can hear the song and a nice interview with Betty Shannon
in their archives (http://www.citr.ca/podcast.php; look in the Eclectic
section 07/08/2008).
Interzone has also been played locally a few times. We're
mailing it out to radio as you read this; drop us a line if you haven't
gotten one, radio folkz!
The first run is more than half sold already, but
we're gonna make more!
June. '08 - WE CAN HAZ MERCH!??
Here!
Jan. '08 - Well, a Scrappy New
Year to you too! I'm not late, I'm just celebrating the Chinese
New Year - at least as much fun, here in Vancouver (love those crashy
bashy lion and dragon dancers - some day maybe I'll get a shot at one
of those particular 'drum kits'!). Gung Hay Fat Choy!
We did end 2007's live show season with a bang, a surprise opener September
29th for legendary punk band The
Subhumans, who were touring last fall with the fab Motorama
(so we got to play with them again, too! Lucky Betty!). A fantastic
show, and we're very grateful to Low Down Dirty Dave
for considering our stuff worthy enuff.
Then one Betty went to play at being Eurotrash for a few months - Shannon
got to go hang out with Mike M. in Amsterdam (hi, Mara!), Brugge (Hallo
to The Crash)
and various locations in France, most notably Besançon (salut,
Le Bastion
et à Jean-Louis de Vinyl Dreams), Mâcon
(salut, Cave
à Musique et Dundee's),
and in the Dordogne (salut aux Robeys!). Made a lot of contacts for
a possible Euro tour in the fall .
Also very notably on the Costa Brava we got to meet up with Dion
T., wandering minstrel and former guitarist with Sponge,
a psych-jam band he and I played with in Edinburgh, UK 20 years ago.
Great to see you, Dion!
Then back to Canada for a couple weeks in the very snowy Ottawa area
(Hi, Birdman
Sound and Compact Music) for seasonal
fattening with family and long-time friends.
The remaining Betties, Lisa, Ryan and Trev, kept the practice room at
FacePlant warm while I was away, weaving audio spells. Trev played a
couple The
Rain and The Sidewalk shows, and has been working feverishly
on the latest two TRATS releases, the Inanimate remix
CD (Redundant) and the to-be-named new CD featuring
Shannon on vocals.
Good to be back in Vancouver always, with buddies and bandmates, and
of course we're right back at 'er, with a new CD in the works, that
we recorded about 90% of in the late summer/fall of 2007 - should be
released within the next few months! Featuring brand new songs by Betty
Kracker, and a couple of surprise 'extras'.
The next confirmed Betty Kracker show will be at the fabulous Railway
Club on Thursday March 13th, and we're very
happy to be playing there with The
Feminists, who are just releasing their own no doubt brilliant
CD (come to their release party at The Media Club on
Sat. Feb.9, 2008 with The Smears,
Swan Vista and Portico).
We'll keep the sites updated with spring shows as they're booked and
the progress on the upcoming CD release.
Lastly, we 're gonna have MERCH real soon too! More on that later!
Please contact us directly or through grrrabbit
productions, if you want to book Betty, are an interested
label, or wanna come out n play with us!
xxoo Betty Shannon
2007
September
- Back to school, suckers! Years of being a 'professional student',
and look where it's got me - I can spellcheck for executives! When they
can't figure out how their goldurned
word
prawcessers work, that is…
Summer,
we hardly knew ye…the weather stunk when we had time off, or the
sun shone gloriously through the factory windows - I personally parked
my backside on a beach once, I think.
Lotsa good nitelife though - the live scene in Vancouver seems to be
thriving, in spite of the ubiquitous (see, education!!) line-ups at
all the top 40 spinning clubs
on the strip. We got out to play during a July weekend monsoon with
uber-buddies Motorama,
and serial eardrum-renders Nosebleeder
at Pub 340, and steamed up the place real good, and then August
18th at truly The Crustiest
club in Vancouver, The
Cobalt punk/hardcore bar. We had the great pleasure of opening
for Gertrude,
an all-girl 4-piece all the way from London, UK, and Canadian folk punk
legend, Joey Only
and his Outlaw Band. A farkin' Mighty gig, it was, attended
by some of Vancouver's finest rock cognoscenti (thanks for the video,
Brad Mitchell, and great to see ya there, Gerry-Jenn!
And kudos to Nicky for the dancing (sorry if I misspelled your name!))
Really looking forward to the Railway Club show coming up on
Sunday, September 16th, with the incestuously related Rain
and the Sidewalk, and Faceplant buds The
Cryptos. An early show, for all us stiff working stiffs, starting
at 9:00 and wrapping up before midnite. This will likely be our last
show for 2007 - I'm taking off for drier, less
crowded climes for a few months until the new year.
The band has been in the studio laying down tracks for several new songs,
examples of which should appear soon on this and our other sites. The
masterful Mike McLean returns to the control room at Faceplant
for these recordings, with the appreciated assistance of Ryan Schmidt,
who is actually very handy in the studio (see the Salmon
Arm recording,
Modern Farming Techniques).
So, hope to see you at the Railway Club, a favourite Kracker venue here
in the heart of stinky,
stinky
Vancouver (not the best place to live in the world, I'm certain, for
quite a number of folks, despite the press)! Keep that sunny glow, even
when the rains come - you'll need it… Xxxooo Betty Kracker
June
- New Record store! - proud to announce you can now go to get
the CD in Ottawa at both locations of Compact Music!
Charting - The Easy Bay Coven CD charted in May on CHUO in Ottawa!
Facefest! - Back on stage after a few months, the Betties played
to the packed Railway Club on May 26, debuting three NEW songs!!!
May - Incognito
added to the MySpace site on May Day; new recording in June!
January
- updated the SHOTS page with lotsa great live pix (finally!)... College
radio have been great, and the CD is starting to chart in other provinces.
Cool is now available for listening on the band's myspace
site.
click here for old news!!
listen to tracks on
the MP3s Page
LAST SHOW PLAYED
SATURDAY,
MAY 24th
FACEFEST 2008!
BETTY KRACKER
with
25 other great
Vancouver bands!
THE RAILWAY CLUB
579 DUNSMUIR, Vancouver
