So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish...

Hey folks,

I am sad to say after nearly seven years of service- more if you include late night coffin factory jams, or basement jams reaching back into my doe-eyed teens- I am retiring. That's me, Maghan, the drummer and Panda blogger. Hot Panda will hopefully have a long and happy road ahead of them, but I will not be along for the ride. 

This band has made my twenties into a novel of epic proportions. Adventures, disasters, romance, horror, complex characters, plot twists, well you name it. The setting and the cast span the globe. For this, I will always be thankful- I have enough glorious stories to last my entire life, not to mention the amazing friendships...

I have learned a few things, I tell you. One, that Canada is achingly beautiful, from head to toe (and full of wonderful people). Two, that one must always travel with duct tape. And three, that it's hard to be human, and we can only do our best. There are many other lessons, but these seem to be the most relevant. 

I am going to miss everyone so much.

With lots of love,

xoMaghan 

GO OUTSIDE AND BUY GO OUTSIDE!

Oh hey!

Long time no chat, friends. I'm just writing to tell you guys something pretty exciting...our new record is out! Yes! And it's called 'Go Outside,' because that's what y'all should be doing during these lazy hazy days of summer...

We're really proud of this little guy, and them medias seem to be kind of in to it too! A nice review in Spin http://www.spin.com/reviews/hot-panda-go-outside-mint, a nice one in Q (you have to buy the magazine), and my favourite review of all...for his creative use of the made-up word 'shabangpussshits'!!! - http://www.syffal.com/hot-panda-go-outside

Also ye college radio fans, keep on spinnin the tunes! Number one in Edmonton on CJSR Weeeee!!! That feels nice!

Ok enough tooting our own horns, we pandas have been hard at work refining our craft in order to bring it to you LIVE starting on friday!

thus:

July 20- @ 5 PM Instore at Permanent Records- Edmonton
July 20- @ Gig O'Clock, The Pawn Shop- Edmonton
July 21- Amigos in Saskatoon
July 22- Winnipeg at the Lo Pub (With Boats!!!)
July 23- Regina at the Artful Doger

So hold on to your hats! We're comin at ya with a slew of bad jokes and goofy smiles, and an arsenal of rock, roll, and heavy fucking beats. Shabangpussshits!!!

Away we goooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The End of a Tour

Well hello pandanites!

This is the end. Tomorrow, we get on a plane bound for North America...in our home land once again we shall be. Well, in a few days, anyway...have a bit of a layover in Brussels, so watch out Belgium we´re coming at ya!!

Ok, so, since we last lazily wrote...after the crazy time in Wales, we made it to Liverpool and played at SoundCity- really felt like we were hardly there at all...mostly because we weren´t. First thing in the morning woke up and drove to Glasgow- played an afternoon show at the Stag and Dagger festival, said hi to some friends and cousins, then booked it alllllllll the way back down past London to the eurotunnel train thingy. THAT was a long day, I´ll tell you what. We slept in the van in the parking lot that night, tres romantique...

Next day we made it first to Ghent, where Heath picked up his bveloved (and beautifully repaired) guitar thanks to the wonderful soundman at Cafe Video. Then we got back in the van and zoomed to Amsterdam to return the gear and the van on time....phew. We were a stinky lot by the end of all of that.

Luckily we had a day in Amsterdam to chill before we got on a plane to Barcelona, which is where we´ve been for the last 10 days or so....waiting to play at the Primavera Sound festival.

Barcelona...oh so sunny...All of us are crispy like lobster fritters, but blissfully sunned and hopped up on Vitamin D (our pasty Vancouver flesh doesn´t know what to do about this!!). We stayed with some very lovely hosts and former Vancouverites- Tiffany (That Girl With Dark Eyes) and Francesca...even shot a music video with them on a magical spanish rooftop. Sigh...I´ve never eaten so much octopus in my life (one meal we had three different types. AWESOME). Also, if anyone hasn´t tried lemon fanta mixed with beer, it´s called a Clara, and I suggest you take one and sip it on a sunny patio near you RIGHT NOW.

And finally, Primavera...a festival I´ve wanted to attend for many many years now (I was so choked not to be able to go last year when Pulp played), and we played it!! The stage was right on the ocean, the backstage was a dock you could jump right off into the Mediterranean....what??!! We got plied with free Adidas swag and the kids came and watched our show and were happy...what more can I say? I was really nervous, truth be told...and had my eyes squeezed shut the entire time....but I think it went well! That and we got to watch Jeff Mangum play a swack of Neutral Milk Hotel songs in this beautiful auditorium. It´s possible that tears were shed. Great day.

Ok, signing off. Well be on tour again soon as our new album comes out next month! word!!!!!

xoxoxoxLES PANDAS

When in Wales...hang out with japandroids, cadence weapon, and los campesinos?

Oh hey.

SO we had a bit of a crazy time in Wales. A bit of a crazy time. It all started as we were driving in to Cardiff, feeling mighty proud of ourselves for successfully repairing an amp in London and then making it to Wales on time, and all for a reasonable price! The first guy we see in Cardiff, on the outskirts of town, he's wearing crazy purple shoes, and looks like kind of an odd bro. I jokingly say, 'so THAT's what a welshman looks like!'. 20 minutes later we walk in to the venue, and who is sitting there, but our welshman with the purple shoes. WHat?? How did he do that? We never got a chance to speak with him....but little did we know we would see him again the next day...in much less fortunate circumstances. I thought he was a good omen, now I think he might have been a bad one...as far as omens go. If you believe that hogwash!! Which I do.

We played a smooth show at 10 Feet Tall in Cardiff, then decided we needed some fish and chips comfort. According to our handsome sound man, we needed to hit Dorothy's, a chippy who's been there since the dawn of time. So I'm hunkering down guzzling my Scotch egg and curry chips (YES I AM), when who should saunter over but Rollie Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon), a man from our very own home town of Edmonton. Um!! SO we're all hugging and stuff, when some more canadian sounding hipsters stumble out of the chippy with curry chips. I realize it's Japandroids- Dave used to live in my apartment and I still get his mail. Curse!! Actually he's just registered his address change so that doesn't happen anymore thanks Dave! SO anyway, the magnitude of this- Running into buddies from Canada in the middle of the night at a random fish and chip shop...well! THat's something isn't it? Turns out we'll see them all again at Primavera next week.

The next morning we leave our host's house only to find our van has been broken in to. BLehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. THe side window is smashed, and they've stolen a bag full of pedals (the gear, fortunately, is still safe and sound in the back). The window has been covered up by a good samaritan named Peter who left a note for us with the police contact info and saying he was very sorry this had happened to us. We waited for cops, got the full CSI fingerprint dusting ordeal on with, and as we're watching all this happen...WHO should show up but the guy in the purple shoes!!! He just saunters by!! WHAT?? Bad omen, I tell you. But then, we go back to try and find our previous night's host, who seems to have left in the meantime...when a voice from the apartment below asks us if we are Hot Panda. Turns out it's Rob from Los Campesinos....who just played in Vancouver at the Electric Owl where Heath works. He helps us out with his internet and a dustpan, plus shows us how to get to the music store. Crazy!!


We took off to get the glass repaired....in the back of our minds thinking we're not going to make it to Liverpool tonight...but somehow we do, we make it 20 minutes before we have to play, borrow a whole bunch of gear...play...and......we made it! we made it. we have triumphed through the crap, again. And had some very strange run ins!

And ate scotch eggs and curry chips. Yum!

Too tired for words.

Hot Panda

So this one time, in England, I fell in a river. Twice.

Pip Pip everyone. Pip Pip!

We've been on the old Island for nearly a week now. Jolly jolly pip pip ho! Yes they all talk like that here, and frankly, friends...it's contagious. Pip!

Ummm, but getting real. Our island life began in Brighton- a lovely seaside town if I do say so myself- at the Great Escape Festival. We got to hang out with lots of Canadians...weird seeing your Saskatoon and Edmonton buddies in Brighton of all places, but there it is. Had a great Canada blast party with the Sheepdogs, Slow Down Molasses, Born Gold, and Jordan Cook. Got day drunk! Ate japanese food! had tea by the sea and gossiped about minor Canadian celebrities, and it was Good! We didn't get a ton of time there, but we did manage to make some curry with our host Liam and watch the Mighty Boosh. Everybody look at the moooooon!

We played in Norwich next. Everybody told us it would be scary. Actually, it was lovely. We played in an old Church, on top of graves and corpses galore! Great stuff. Plus every single staff member there- from the sound guys to the bartenders, were the most attractive venue staff AS A WHOLE to date (no offence other bars!!). But damn. That was some attractive staff! Just sayin'.

Next came paradise. I am lucky enough to have the best family ever. My sort of aunts and uncles own a bunch of holiday cottages in Whitby, and donated one to the panda cause during our 3 (MUCH NEEDED) days off. We're talking a hundreds-of-years-old fisherman's cottage by the sea in Whitby. Picturesque as fuck. We were plunked right down by the bottom of the 199 steps that lead up to the ruined Abby on the cliff where Dracula lands in England in the story. First things first we get treated to this massive curry dinner courtesy of best family ever. Then we sneak up the cliff in the middle of the night, scale the wall to the Abby, and have the greatest mischevious panda bonding session ever...drinking red wine while looking down at the lit up town, up at the stars, and out over the ocean. It's hard to describe how quiet and amazing it was, sitting under all that abandoned stone...i think there were some photos taken...we'll have to get those up here soon. 

The next day we walked several kilometers down the beach down to my other uncle-ish's pub at Sandsend. Now, we, as Edmontonians...we dream of fish and chips but we never realize what we're truly missing as land-locked prairie kids. Now we know. Now we know. This fish, according to Iver, was probably still wriggling as of that morning. Battered in golden delight, it sat there...making us silently weep for what we never knew we didn't have. Mmmmmm. Best fish and chips ever. Best family ever!! After that meal we all passed out and didn't wake up till the next day....we probably needed that.

The next day we went kayaking on the river Esk. I fell in twice. I don't want to talk about it really, except that my abs hurt today from all the hysterical laughing I was doing as I rowed back to the docks soaked to the bone and fending off a menacing swan with my oar....Um!! We ate more delicious food, tried to find ghosts in our cottage to no avail, and jammed with some pretty cool teenagers in an old Vickerage. Not bad, for a holiday!

Well our time in paradise is up...time to return to the world of rock and roll, which brings us to Exeter tonight, at the Cavern pub, which is where i'm sitting now! About to rock!

We should go, but we love you. We really do!

XHP

Bye Continent!

Dear continent of Europe, goodbye! Today we set sail (on a train under the sea) to a little island that is still technically part of you but nobody refers to as 'The Continent'. As we leave your incredible hospitality and mischievous charm behind, we'll wipe the dewy tears from our hot cheeks....Oh ok. We're gonna miss it. Not like the UK isn't great, so looking forward to Brighton tomorrow, but man.....you were good to us, Continent.

Our last couple of shows were interesting...I was so excited to see Munich but we were so wiped by the time we got there, and the venue was kind of on the outskirts of town, and had band apartments above it...I'm ashamed to say I saw nothing of Munich except what was out the van window. So lame!!! I'm not about to be a complainer....but come on, one night in Munich, and you have to work?? Sometimes being a musician isn't fair :(

We then had a relaxing night off in Cologne, all of us again completely wiped, which was nice...us and our host Tommy watched Alfred Hitchcock movies and talked about American politics, and it was all very refined. We actually did manage to get out and see the Dom that day...then crawled back into our sleeping bags shortly after haha!

The Ghent. Oh Ghent, with your incredibly charming old buildings, canals, impeccably dressed hipsters, and delicious looking bistros where you get to make your own meatballs (yes this is a thing- and it's called Balls and Glory!!!). We were so unlucky inside of you... Yeah although the show went reasonably well, the club was cool and the town is, as previously mentioned, gorgeous...we had a bit of a set back when Heath snapped the headstock on his guitar, then I crushed my middle finger in a bathroom stall door (don't ask), then Heath got really sick (food poisoning?). Lucky for us though Ghent is also full of the nicest folks in the world apparently. Our sound guy Lieven (of the band Wax Dolls.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUBjJlROXKc yup!!!) was kind enough to LEND US A GUITAR FOR THE REST OF THE TOUR. I say this in all capitals because....WHAT??? Clearly we're not in North America anymore Toto!!! A man we had just met gave us his guitar in total trust, saying that musicians have to look out for one another and he hoped someone would do the same for him. Um!!! So kind, I was bowled over. Not only that but he took Heath's guitar in to the shop to get fixed while we go...we'll exchange them back later on our way to Spain. Crazy. So Crazy. My finger's a little better, too. So!

And last night in Paris was so great. At first I was a little unsure if anyone would come, since it was a holiday....but in true Paris form the kids started rolling in around gig o'clock, and thus the night began! Saw my lovely friends Maggie and Arno (pretty sure I'm spelling this wrong, sorry buddy!) an old Edmonton expat and her lovely Parisian husband. Mags it has been much too long. Spent most of the night snuggling with her little dog Charlie, which pretty much made my life! And randomly a slew of old improv friends happened to be in Paris so spent the night catching up with people I haven't seen in far far too long!! So nice, plus the kids seemed to enjoy the show, which, despite playing in a cage (i had to play in a cage!! ack!!) was really really fun. Gotta come back here sometime soon...

And with that we're gone! No more bread and cheese for breakfast, but I think I'll live!

Adieu tout le monde, until Spain...

XOXOXPANDA

The Swiss Family Rüegsegger, and other Swiss tales.

Alright, did I say my mind was blown last time? Well this time, my mind resembles baby food. Mashed carrots or pureed cauliflower...or something mushed and nasty! We drove out of Switzerland today, and I was actually choking up a little. Must we leave? Must we really??

After the show in Zurich, everybody told us all about this crazy venue we were playing the next night, called Bad Bonn. You'll think you're going the wrong way, they said. You'll be driving around in the middle of nowhere, and you'll think Tom Tom has taken you somewhere very strange indeed (she often does...). But just keep going and you'll find it. As we drive up, we realize just how accurate that description was....there's a sign hanging outside the venue cheekily exclaiming "Where the HELL is Bad Bonn?". It's in the Swiss mountains, in the county surrounded by farms and a gorgeous lake. If anyone has played in Canada, kind of similar to the Black Sheep Inn...but there's no town. Amazing hospitality once again, and the list of people who asked me to say hi to the promoter, Dukes, said something about how famous the venue is in this country. We played with this lovely woman, Matana, just her and her voice and her saxophone...she was amazing and got us all worked up and excited when we found out she had played her sax o the last Godspeed record.....coooool. Plus we saw sheep with little bells around their necks, AND we tried green sugar (mint sugar). Someone here told us that if you eat something you've never eaten before you get to make a wish. I'll get to make a lot of wishes this trip!! More about that in a bit though.

The next day was a radio day. We did two acoustic sets, one in Luzern (dairy land wooo!), and one in Zurich on Swiss national radio. This is a big thing for us, because we have never ever ever played acoustically before...um! so we're practicing in the van on our way to Luzern like, what should we play?? But it worked out ok, plus our new album cover made kind of a stir on the National radio- we found out what the german word for tiny penis is...um!!! Schabilis! Funny that that got said in front of 100 000 thousand people...eeee.

That night we got put up by Tatjana and the rest of the Rüegsegger clan. We met her at our Zurich show and her and her family were kind enough to host us the other night. I mean, like I said...mashed potato mind, these guys were so SO nice to us!! We got fed this massive dinner, then played the french card game 'réflexe' all night with the whole family! We learned the word 'coupable' and 'haut les mains' and got really good at slapping piles of cards! Plus Tatjana's mom made this amazing fresh raspberry pie  with swiss cream in the middle of the night, which we happily scarfed down with the bottles of wine they kept plying us with...they had the sweetest kitties and we could not have been taken in by kinder people. So crazy. So unbelievably nice. Wow!

Then last night in Nyon, Switzerland, we played a 2000 year old tunnel built for Julias ceasar!! The venue was called La Parenthese and reminded me so much of Zoobizarre in montreal, only actually ancient. Plus everyone spoke french so I didn't feel like so much of an ass...I felt mostly understood! Pretty nice :) Also I tried horse steak with fries and red wine for dinner. Sorry guys but mr. Ed was delicious....It was sort of unbelievable. Met some gallant gentlemen, one of whom worked for the Red Cross and was a former food critic....we had lots to talk about! I left feeling rosy in me cheeks....that's for sure!

SO like I said, it was hard to leave Switzerland today...

Literally and emotionally...Literally as in Heath got swabbed for drugs at the border into Austria!! We were all sweating buckets but they let us go anyways...heh.

Ok, well I gotta go! See you soon!

XOPANDAS

to be treated like gold is a very rare thing indeed.

Well, my mind just got blown.

Last night in Zurich we experienced something we have very very rarely experienced before. The most incredible hospitality known to man? Possibly! So we arrive at the club- called Viadukt, to give credit where credit is due. Waiting for us with a local cheese platter and another one covered in mouth watering meats and fig bread and pickles, and some local beer are the two loveliest hosts we've encountered in our many years on the road, Suzan and Stefan. They actually help us load into the club, and tut tut me trying to carry the heavy stuff. They've arranged and paid for gorgeous spotless hotel for us, and they feed us...they feed a three course meal- the juiciest, most succulent lamb I have ever had covered in fresh thyme, roasted asparagus and polenta cakes....gahhhh.... and oh they've made sure we have all the organic beer and wine and fruit and juice and whatever we want and and and...... The show was great, there was a fire pit outside and the kids nearly bought us out of all the merch we brought. then, they stayed and chatted with us for hours, making sure we had road pops to walk home with. THEN they invited us back for a free lunch today! I ate fried chicken extraordinaire...and this amazing salad well... anyway. I could go on forever about this food, cooked by stefan himself, but...I don't have time! There's this girl playing sax on stage right now at this venue we're at....and I want to go watch.

But first, quickly, holy crap. It's so nice to be treated with respect, and to be welcomed with such incredible hospitality. It's hard to think about going home and touring in North America again after our last three shows in Europe, all three of which have been just fricken great. I mean. I can see why all those jazz musicians back in the day kept coming over here to tour, again and again.

More soon!

XOpandas

EUROPE ONCE MORE

Oh hello, here we are! Blogging again! We're in Europe! Once more!

Landed two days ago via some very convoluted cheapoair routes...Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Frankfurt, Brussels...all of these were hit by at least one panda on our way here. It took us from Friday till sunday afternoon but we finally made it to our friend jasper's house in Amsterdam. it happened to be Queen's night in Holland that night...which basically meant all the british tourists wore orange and got loud and drunk. Change the colours around and remove the cobblestones and canals and you might as well have been on Granville street during the playoffs. After not sleeping for three nights and then emerging from the airplane into that...well it was VERY surreal...seeing jasper and eating at our favourite falafel joint and wandering around was great but didn't real feel real. Actually nothing felt real until I finally slept...then I realized...I am gone!! I don't have to work again for a month! I'm in the middle of fricken idyllic canal-spotted holland which is chalk full of herons and lambs and tulips and windmills...and I don't have to go home for a month!! YES!

Last night we played in Freiburg for a lovely and very forgiving audience (first show in europe= all the gear is broken and you have to work out all the electrical kinks) who made us do two encores despite all the sound blops that kept happening. The hotel last night had heated towel racks, and we got fed schnitzel and snickers bars- so I say we're doing ok, for a start!

Take care all ye friends and fans! Zurich HO!

xThe Pandas

OMG

Hi guys!! Ok we are in Innsbruck! Austria!! About to drive to Paris!! AIIEEE! I don't have much time- but I will say this: Reeperbahn was insane, Innsbruck took it to the next level....let's see what the future brings!! We have a ton of videos and photos to post, but no time to post them now. But I will, I will. You just have to trust me!

In the mean time- there are some changes. Unfortunately, due to a bizarre series of events, our paris show has been cancelled. SUCKS! On the pluss side- we added another London show- Oct 4th at Barfly! Yesss!  Also, our Northampton show has now moved to London- it's now an early show at the Bowery. I know, I know. Very confusing yes? But when you're a touring band, you have to fly by the seat of your chinny chin chin, or we won't let you in. Make sense?

Ok- onwards to Paris! I mean, we might as well check out the Louvre while we can right?

And we get to drive through LICHENSTEIN!!!!

Maghan

We Are Going To Europe! And Doing Some Other Stuff Too!

Hey everyone. Oh, I know. I know. We are, once again the worst. I seem to only remember to update this thing when we're on tour, you know, when we have wild tales to tell and we're running on no sleep!

But. Here I am, sitting at home in my own room, writing a blog! What??

Well, it's cause we have some news! Yes! WE ARE GOING TO EUROPE!! Wooooo!! It's our first time in two years and we are wildly excited about it! Wildly! We were invited to play the Canada Blast stage at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany. This will take place September 24th, at Kukuun, in Hamburg. Oh yeah. Details on the festival here: http://www.reeperbahnfestival.com/

And we're gonna play some other shows around too, just coz ya know...we can! So there's going to be some UK dates, some france dates, some more Germany dates...and likely one in Amsterdam too, just for funsies! So- I will update this as soon as everything is better organized and stuff, but YAY! EUROPE! Hot Panda miss Europe. Hot Panda can't wait to get by on fresh bread and beer again! woot! ta for now!

THE BAND

Quicky

Hello all!

just a quicky.

playing in Las Vegas with American cities and Thee Oh Sees was....pretty fucking incredible. never played in Vegas before, there couldn't possibly have been a better way to dive in. So many goood people. Damn.

and tonight, in san francisco. sooo good! we're staying right now in this awesome house with a chihuahua named dynamite. we ate fresh fruit and garlic pistachios from a farm stand. there were peacocks, goats, sheep, and rolling hills today. and the most delicious falafel i've ever had. good day!

will post some photos soon!

take care,

Hot Panda

We should all be a lot more like homing pigeons!

Hello everyone!

Nice to touch base, it's been a while!

I'll tell you where we are right now: Tucson, Arizona. I'll tell you where we were at 4 am today: Austin, TX. Yep...if you're in the know about your miles, we drove for 18 HOURS today.....good lord. We escaped alive and with our collective sanities barely intact....barely. Barelllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Oats and beans and barley grows....eeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Ummmmm, so. We after we drove across the country the other way (NY to Austin), we did that SXSW festival thingy. You know, the one with thousands of bands and as much free booze and tacos as you can (or can't) handle! Yeah it was pretty swell. Us Pandas clocked in with 4 pretty sweet shows, and a weekend of galivanting and doing and seeing crazy things. there are just two many things that happened this weekend, and with our brains scrambled as they are...i'm gonna just give some brief highlights!

.. Abbie and Jeff (see blog about kiddie show in Olympia) showing up in Austin (still on the SAME trip in their camper that they were on last tour when we ran into them). Dear Abbie and Jeff, we will miss your company, your enabling, and your overwhelming charm, and your ability to sneak us and yourselves into anything! Best of luck making it back to Edmonton with your wallets and truck intact!!

world's most charming couple.

.. Tune-yards in a church. So incredibly dear! And incredibly incredible. Incredible!!

t-t-t-t-UNE YARDS!

.. Free Six-shooter brunch in a dream Mansion from the 30's. The fixtures in the bathroom were awesome enough, but the brie and asparagus quiche, and the lox bagels really took us There. And the traditional Minty dinner too....mmmm....salad rolls!!!

Andrew WK and Nardwuar and TIKI GODS!!

.. Our Mint/Olio party at Headhunters. Playing in a ram packed tiki bar with Andrew WK, Narwuar, Grimes, and Humans was PRETTY awesome. And really steamy hot. And there was free ice cream- and not just ANY ice cream!! I finally got to try Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream. I have arrived.

...Wicked vicious sunburns for 3/4 of the pandas on about 3/4 of their body parts. we should be called Hot Lobster. HA. HA.





...And SOoooooo much bbq. SO MUCH. oh god.

meatttttttt

Well! Then, at 4 am this morning, a false fire alarm went off in our hotel. We were gONNA get up like 4 hours later, but none of us could get back to sleep after all the bros from bands were flocking about in the hallway looking confused. So we packed up and left. We arrived at 8 pm, and that's with time going back 2 hours, making it a good 18 hour drive. sigh. We also wrecked a tire in there somewhere, and got it changed by a nice christian man at the side of the road. And ate some really good mexican food, with spoons. Happy birthday me!

Heath, don't get caught by the po!

weeee!!!

Night!!

LES LOBSTER PANDAS

Hot Panda: Laziest band ever.

Hi guys! yeah it's been a weekish....sorry i (we) am (are) so lazy. So, here's the what what. After the break-in in Winnipeg, we missed our Minneapolis show, after all. We had to get the glass replaced, because it was minus 30 celsius, and we couldn't just cardboard that shit up. Oh well.... The window costed 400 bucks to replace, but on the PLUS side, while we were waiting for the window to be fixed, we found the BEST german bakery randomly situated on the outskirts of Winnipeg. Here's me enjoying the Coconut macaroon that would change my life forever. I'm pretty much reaching enlightenment at this exact moment...

oh macaroon....

I never would have found that macaroon (or enlightenment) if it wasn't for those thieves. See, every cloud DOES have a silver lining! It's like that time I had a roommate who stole all the rent money one month, and had a prostitute in his room AND let my friend's cat who I was catsitting for escape to be lost for a few very stressful days. And having to evict him on my own and deal with the police and clean up several bottles full of urine from his room. See the girl who moved in to replace him and help us recoup some of the costs, she ended up being awesome and we went to costa rica together. Right? Costa Rica and Macaroons are clear proof of this 'silver lining' theory. Yeah.

But we did make it to chicago, and made 5 whole american dollars AND ate some deep dish. Then we drove some more and made it to Toronto. We played a sweaty-ass sold out show for CMF(W), saw some friends, made some new ones, showered, found lost kitties on the street, and created some general mayhem. Oh yeah, we made a music video too, for shoot your horse. It started out all innocent, but turned into a full on band brawl with a nightmareish dancing horse head scenario...kinda amazing. You'll see soon!! And how could I forget....some friends drove all the way up from sudburry with some Panda Cupcakes that they made!! I wish I had a photo but essentially they were angel food cupcakes with hotlips, chocolate eyeballs, and oreo ears. Precious!!

horse head of your nightmares...

Now we're in new york. It's late, I'm kinda drunk, and we've gotta make it to tennessee tommorrow so that we can go to Graceland on our way to austin.

ride your horse. don't shoot it.

Hurrah! Sunshine soon!!

with love,

Pandas.

go to wisconsin dells. they have the white house, but upside down.

Dear Avalances, Blizzards, Sub Arctic Temperatures, Heartache, and BURGLARS, eff you!!!! WE WINNNNNN!!!

Oh, hello.

And you say we don't believe in rock and roll?? We've put our lives on the line for rock! We've faced the evil forces of nature, the evil forces of human nature....and come out victorious!!! The spirit of rock and roll compels us!!!

lord shreddy's giant balls! inappropriate?

So, first day on the road...we drive from Vancouver to Calgary. Lucky for us we give ourselves an extra day, or we never woulda made it. We sat for hours on the highway in the mountains due to avalanches, accidents, whiteout blizzards, and just general sketchiness. But 23 hours later.....VICTORY!! we made it to Calgary! 23 hours. And the news said the crossing could not be done. Yes guys, we peed in the snow by the side of the road a couple of times while stuck, our legs were stiff, and our moms and dads and record labels probably thought we were dead for a while there...but it was a small price to pay for making it alive!!

And when we got to calgary, there was a kitten with oversized balls (Lord Shready) ready to pounce on us in the night, and friends waiting to shot gun beers! Ah. Alberta.

frozen arctic hell

Next night we made it home to Edmonton...the frigid arctic hell that I've missed so much since moving to Vancouver (I'm actually serious...I never thought this was possible, but there you go!). Our friend was kind enough to lend us his about-to-be-demolished-Mansion for the night, and us and our Edmonton cronies Bonspiel played a very Rock and Roll party with some very Rock and Roll kids, complete with dancing, old friends, and broken hearts. Ah, homecomings! We got drunk and fell on the ice a lot, too.

Saskatoon, always wonderful!

And Winnipeg.....at first, you were awesome. Until one of your burglars BROKE INTO OUR VAN. Now, here's the best part. You smashed our window, and all you took was an ipod. That window costs WAY MORE than that ipod. Gahhhhhh. Couldn't you have taken the butloads of cash that were in my bag? or my fancy camera?? or howbout those guitar pedals??? That would have made smashing the window a lot more punk rock. But no......miss all the valuable stuff. Take our tiny ipod. Sure. Whatever. ha!! I still say we won in this situation. Have to get a window fixed, but at least we still have all the band money!! And we'll still probably make it to the Minneapolis show. So suck on that!!!!!

YEAH!!

Over and out.

Hot Panda: Winners.

A good time in shorts. The playhouse, Edmonton.

Pandas on Wheels!

Oh hello all, 

it's that time again....time for us to get off our lazy bums and get moving! The Panda Van is gearing up to go on tour AGAIN (with a stop at Canadian Music Week and one at SXSW in Austin, too!), and the tour looks a little something like this so far:

• FEB24
  
  
  The Biltmore Cabaret (With Analogue bell Service and The Albertans)
  Vancouver, BC
  
  
• MAR3
  
  
  Broken City
  Calgary, AB
  
  
• MAR4
  
  
  The Playhouse (With Bonspiel)
  Edmonton, AB
  
  
• MAR5
  
  
  Amigos
  Saskatoon, SK
  
  
• MAR6
  
  
  Lo Pub
  Winnipeg, MB
  
  
• MAR7
  
  
  Sauce
  Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
  
  
• MAR8
  
  
  Hot Panda in Chicago
  Chicago, Illinois, US
  
  
  
  
• MAR11
  
  
  CMW
  Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
  
  
• MAR13
  
  
  Cake Shop
  New York, New York, US
  
  
• MAR16
  
  
  SXSW (Riot Act Show Case @ The Ghost Room)
  Austin, TX, CANADA
  
  
• MAR17 
  
  
  SXSW (Mint/Olio Party @ Headhunters)
  Austin, TX
  
  
• MAR18
  
  
  SXSW (The Verge Live Session)
  Austin, TX
  
  
• MAR19
  
  
  SXSW (Official Showcase TBA)
  Austin, TX
  
  
• MAR21
  
  
  Soda Bar (With Boats!)
  SAN DIEGO, US
  
  
• MAR22
  
  
  Lost Leaf (With Said The Whale)
  Phoenix, Arizona , US
  
  
• MAR23
  
  
  silverlake lounge
  los angeles, California, US
  
  
• MAR24
  
  
  BunkHouse (With Thee Oh Sees)
  Las Vegas, NV
  
  
• MAR25
  
  
  Hemlock Tavern
  San Francisco, California, US
  
  
  
  
  And a lot more TBAs in there too! Woohoo! Should be pretty good! We leave prrrretty soon, so wish us luck! And as always, we miss your faces, so come say hi when we come through your town! OH! there is also a music video in the works- AND the winner of the Mindlessnesslessness remix context will be announced shortly!! Exciting stuff!
  
  
  Well, ta for now...see you in March! (Or on the 24th, if you live in Vancouver!)
  
  
  
  
  And I will leave you with some funny animal pictures I found while Cruising The Net. Eeee!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  xHP

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