Damn.

Did i say we were going to be diligent and post in this thing all the time?? I'm sorry. I lied. Diligence, apparently, is hard. Especially when you're having fun!!!

Which we have been....

We cut a swath through the west coast (the best coast??) and actually we've ended up back in the great white North...about to play at the Marquis in Calgary.

Some highlights?

Abbie ninja destroying a very awesome 5 year old in Olympia!

The last blog was a video our friends took in Olympia of....the show we played for kids!! Oh man. Best audience ever. All we had to do was change 'fuck shit up' to 'mess stuff up', and it was golden!! Then we had our own little dance party in Abbie and Jeff's camper until the wee hours....oh my!

This is a dance party in a camper.

Then in Portland we played in a converted funeral home, and slept in a house boat, and said goodbye to Abbie and Jeff who we will meet up with again in Austin we hope!!

We played with weird scientologist comedians in San Francisco who believe that races on earth were spawned by different aliens...

In LA we met the drummer from Funkadelic and his 101 pound dog. He showed us his inventions. It was amazing. We ate pancakes bigger than our faces. We shot a music video in the mountains outside of the city....we watched Mad Max Beyond thunderdome projected onto a wall, sipping whiskey, eating thai food, and snuggling with cats! In short....amazing??

durn, i can't rotate this. Cacti!!!

We went to Laguna beach and swam in the ocean. That was 4 days ago. Now I am wearing my arctic jacket to cope with the blasted cold. Sigh. San Diego was as far south as we got....so close to Mexico. Apparently the underground garage scene in Mexico is amazing. How to get down there and play??

Then we booked it north....back in Canada now. Beach feels like a sweet dream.....SIGH!

Well, there, that's it, in a nutshell!!

Sorry for being the worst at this....

XO

Making a music videom we got this amazing sunset from the top of a mountain outside LA

HP

Hot Panda reaches out to a new target market

Ok, we're back and in business people!

Alrighhhht, we promise to slack way less with the blog this time. I am so on this. It's happening. It's really going to happen.

Day Three of West Coast Tour of Total Domination.

Days one and two consisted of the Mint Records Ridiculously Early Christmas Parties in Vancouver and Victoria, and went a little something like this:

The three words that best describe you are as follows and i QUOTE: Drink. Drank. Drunk!!!
And soooooo many pocky sticks. Thanks Mint, you guys are swell!!

We ran into Abbie on the ferry to Seattle. I've known her since i was 2!

Day three: Final destination, the Comet Tavern in Seattle. It consisted of 2 ferry rides, a border crossing, a very random encounter with two wonderful old pals from Edmonton (on the ferry to Seattle! Amazing!), a hell of a lot of chilli, and now...Free hot dogs!! yeah, the venue is giving us free hot dogs as part of our rider...I am in heaven.....Today we also saw a majestic eagle soaring over a beautiful mountain lake. It was so.....American.

Chilli burger. American style.

And we also just found out Les Savy Fav are playing across the street from us tonight. Bah, us vs. Les Savy Fav....it's a no brainer. Us. Duh! We snuck in and caught a little bit of their soundcheck, i even snuck a comando secret snap of the whole thing. Amazing!

And tomorrow night a kid's show in Olympia! We are actually super stoked and have learned you're a mean one mr. Grinch. I think it's going to be QUITE an occasion!!

That is all!!

XOOOO

yeah it's blurry, but this is my comando shot of Les Savy Fav @ Souncheck. Durn.

in Seattle they have burrito unicorns.

Hot Pannnnnda.

we are the worst at this!

Hi all!! So, a few sweet updates! (and sorry that we are the worst at blogging...) #1- Tomorrow (Dec 3), Chris will be participating in 'Are You Smarter than an Indie Musician?' on CBC Radio 3- should be amazing! 3 PM west coast time! The event in support of the Food Bank, too, some if you're in Vancouver come on down, you might even get a chance to play against Chris! #2- Tomorrow we are also playing a show at the Biltmore in Vancouver! It's the Mint Records Christmas party! There will be free pocky sticks and tons of fun! We play around 12, so come on down!! #3- This show marks the beginning of our west coast tour- the dates are as follows: DEC 3 The Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, BC, CANADA DEC 4 Logan's Pub Victoria, BC, CANADA DEC 5 Comet Tavern Seattle, Washington DEC 6 The Northern Olympia, Washington DEC 7 The Woods Portland, Oregon DEC 8 The Hemlock San Francisco, CA DEC 9 Echo Los Angeles, CA DEC 12 Tin Can Ale House San Diego, California DEC 15 The Slice Lethbridge, Alberta, CANADA DEC 16 The Marquee Calgary, AB, CANADA DEC 17 Pawn Shop Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA wooooo! So where ever you are, come say hi to us, ok?? and finally, #4 We will try and diligently update our tour blog (for real this time!!), and you can find it here: http://hotpandaband.blogspot.com/ Ok! That is all! We love you! Goodnight! xHP

Hot Panda assumes ninja pose.

Our new disc is out!! Waaooo!!! So happy, I mean, finally! Damn! We made a CD! A Wax Vinyl! A download! huzzah! And we are single of the week on the itunes store! wahoooo!

How Come I'm Dead? Good question.

We had our unofficial CD release party last night in Toronto at the horseshoe, and were lucky enough to play with our friends the Hounds Below. We had fun, oh we did!

And the other day, we had a day off for Thanksgiving monday, and we had QUITE a day! Woke up in Niagara falls, had a 6.99 all you can eat breakfast buffet (I DON'T recommend), then did glow in the dark mini-golf (Ashley wins! Catherine loses!), then went wine tasting!! We actually went to Dan Akroyd's vineyard and bought Dan Akroyd wine! it was pretty stellar. Then we were lucky enough to indulge in a thanksgiving feast courtesy of Jody, Matt from Boats!'s girlfriend...complete with Nintendo family feud, Hot Panda vs. Boats! Such a nice thanksgiving. Yay! Here're some snaps of the day in question.

All you can eat breakfast buffet- wasp drowned in syrup. Yech.

glow in the dark shenanigans!

woah man.

Dan, Dan, the wine man!



Well! That's all for now folks!

Remix Mindlessnesslessness Contest!

http://www.mintrecs.com/index.php?component=news&id=106

The stems for Mindlessnesslessness are up- remix 'em and submit them to mint, you'll get some sweet mint stuff and as well, our eternal undying love!! weee!!

xoHP

The Giant Ape Pounds his Chest! ARRROOOOOOOO!!!

Some funny (terrifying?) signs we saw in the USA...And we didn't even manage to capture the one with the statue of liberty covering her eyes with a barack obama quote 'America is no longer a christian nation'. What? Anyway.

On the back of a truck in front of us...yeah.

OH. And guess what guys, we've been in Waterloo for 4 days because Pam, that glorious new van we bought, kicked the bucket, BIG TIME. As in, bye bye Pam...RIP, or rather RIH (ROT IN HELL!!!!!). She only lasted 3 weeks! Our 1977 Ambulance with a hole in the roof and one functional lock lasted us TWO YEARS! And costed 900$!!!!! MANNNN. I am irked. I was going to insert a video of us kicking the crap out of that stupid van, but the internet here is too slow and it won't load. More fun videos to come though, I promise, when we leave. we did buy a new van though, and it's BLUE! But I won't allow myself to get excited about her....these things never last. She needs a name. Anyone?

Thanks to Emily, our Waterloo go to gal, we've been comfortably resting, eating well, and doing yoga, as pandas often do. Revitalized! Ready to go again! WHAM!

so, instead of video- here's some fun things we have seen, while NOT blogging (sorry we suck at keeping up with this).

THE GIANT BEAN OF CHICAGO!

For Your Safety...

Panda Gothic.

And a Justin Beeber Pinata (way to go Shena!) with Dr. Ew Playing in the background!

... And a giant ape emerges from the mist...

Alright! So we have been a little behind on our updates - we haven't found much time to sit down since we went to and returned from the states.

We drove across the border with little difficulty... the routine van search - tearing through your personal shit and leaving it all over the seat - a little more than aggravating. Our first American show was a block party in Minneapolis. Good crowd! Free Pabst! Great host! Awesome bicycles everywhere! Minneapolis seems like a great city... based on the few hours there. Next stop - Chicago! The Pandas were very touristy and had a great time, despite the fact that our show was poorly attended and very short. Hot air balloon + giant bean + face fountains + giant noodle + harbour + killer breakfast + awesome bookstores + more great attractive bicycle(ists) + real Chicago deep dish!! (Which was worth the one hour wait). We also spent the following day at the Art Institute of Chicago, which was a great soul-healing experience. 


Ok - time to pack up the computer and go have the only consistent meal of tour: breakfast. We have all eaten so many eggs and potatoes, and still not sick of them.


Also - Hot Panda is a very polarizing band to many reviewers! We've reached each end of the spectrum: 


http://www.westerngazette.ca/2010/09/29/hot-panda/


followed by:


http://www.confrontmagazine.com/web/2010/09/22/hot-panda/


Blog again soon!

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light...a mushroom cloud...

Antiquing in rural Saskatchewan. Cannot. Be. Beat.

salt n' peppa! so...racy...

Yup, Canada can be neat. Me and heath got matching wooly sweaters. Mine has geese, his has curling rocks and brooms.

geese vs. curling rocks. 

We also tried to visit a corn maze, but nearly got mired in a giant mud puddle. were forced to turn back. Blast it!

Very creeped out in Calgary when in the middle of the night we overheard two drug deals ocuring in the motel parking lot, as well as what sounded like a gunshot, and a naked man and two women staring at us zombie style from a ground floor window as we checked in.....

On the other hand, the Calgary show was great, and we had to hand the 'neatest fan' award to Harris and Anna from Barcelona- they came to visit their brother, and couldn't believe that we were playing because somehow they got really into us in Spain...they came up and were like, we thought there'd be a line up around the block to see you! In Calgary, on a Monday night! haha! But it was incredibly sweet and we had a fun show, and they took all kinds of merch back for their friends in Barcelona. Man, the internet! Am I right??

Alright, last day in Canada. Tomorrow, Minneapolis! Assuming we have no trouble at the border. Fingers crossed!

Adios friends
xHP

A young lizard hatches from his egg, in the shadow of a palm...

what we have been up to in the van...

So turns out we aren't as good as keeping up with our posts as making funny noises. Sorry about that! But we're doing it now, and that's what counts. So let's see, a haiku for every show we've done so far.

Victoria:

Cassiotone for
the painfully alone was
sweet. Hello Dancat.

Kamloops:

Sweaty sweaty kids.
Don't put our hot sauce in beer
you will regret it.

Nelson

first time in Nelson
Just us, Boats, Roxanne and Nick
O thank god for them!

Catherine- day 3 no shower. Nice.

Brilliant! Anyway one final thing to add- experimenting with not showering is a bad idea.

HALF NELSON!!!!

Sirius.
Satellite,
Radio,
Why Won't You Play Us?

On a Small Island in the South Pacific...

Oh, hello there! This is the first instalment of the Hot Panda Experience! Aka, our tour blog. Thanks for reading!

Pam! In the glory of Mt. Robson!

So, defying all the ridiculous catastrophes we encountered leading up to our first show in Vancouver, I'm writing this from the 'business lounge' of the BC Superferry, ripe Triple O burger smells are creeping up from the cafeteria deck - which means we managed to actually get on the road. We took our van in a couple weeks ago for a tune up and an oil change- only to be told that it's tires were "fatally bald", not to mention could be wiggled off with one finger, not to mention the shocks were shot, and not to mention the mechanic saying 'don't even get me started on the engine', and 'if you were my kids, I wouldn't let you drive this thing'…In other words…we ran her to the ground. So we retired her (she had been through so much! and been second home to us for 2 years now. May She Rest In Peace…) and bought a shiny new used van on kijiji, one that had never been owned by a band before, one whose windows didn't need to be duct-taped up, and didn't smell at all! Then we named her Pam and got all excited! Until we found out she needed 600$ worth of work, had disastrously dirty seatbelts (I duct-taped over the dirt) and keys that didn't exactly fit in all the locks…But whatever, she's good to go. 

foreplay...

Made it to Vancouver sans disaster, and with a day to spare to enjoy ourselves or…lose our laptops and our passports (if you're Chris). Well the laptop was found right away…the passport on the other hand...well- that's a story for another night.

While Chris was running around like a crazy man I had a really R Rated experience at the aquarium….I saw two seals AND two seahorsies…um, in the throws of mad graphic aquarium love. And a majestic dolphin taking a big stringy brown crap. All in all an educational excursion!  

But seriously, after many years of debate, Hot Panda has finally decided to move to Vancouver, Catherine and I right after this tour is done, and Heath and Chris to follow shortly. Our couple of days here and a really great show with Cuff The Duke (standup gentlemen!) was a nice little, hey, this is going to be your new home!  It's so weird to think I won't be going back to Edmonton to live, maybe ever. Awh. Goodbye home, you were a good one! Time to move on and live with the beaches, monkey puzzle trees, and cheap sushi!

NOW! On to Victoria to play with Casiotone for the Painfully alone on their farewell tour! Bah! So exciting!

hot panda at the biltmore

xoMaghanpanda