Timothy Alexander McCready

Psyche Tongues @ P&L

timmccready — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:25:05 +0000

Here’s a recording I did of the first song of Psyche Tongues set at P&L this past Tuesday, May 7th.

Here’s a picture of them I lifted from their Facebook page.

Because of the show on Tuesday, I had to miss Choir!Choir!Choir! practice, and they were singing Love Bites by Def Lepard! I was a huge fan of their album Hysteria when I was in 6th grade, so I was bummed to miss it but luckily we sang it again at C2 at the Monarch last night!

We have a new contender for my favorite C!C!C! song ever! My only complaint about this recording is we need at least double that number of highs.

Still amazing. It MUST be sung as earnestly as possible, just like I heard it when I was 10 years old. Shaking downward facing elbow clenched fists are essential!

Gun Oufit @ P&L

timmccready — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:56:22 +0000

Gun Outfit played at P&L last night. I recorded their set through the board onto my computuer; 7 tracks, 1 for each mic. Here’s a mix of one of their songs I did this morning.

I’ve been playing with it all afternoon, but for now I’ll stick with what I got this morning.

Now That The Sun Is Shining Again

timmccready — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:24:00 +0000

I recorded myself singing and playing Shenandoah on piano this afternoon. I’m happy with how it turned it out. It’s a traditional ballad, though the only version I’ve ever heard is sung by Frederick Squire from his 2011 album Frederick Squire Sings Shenandoah and Other Popular Hits. It’s a great record.

Photos of me playing piano at the Great Hall back in March by Colin Medley.

I decided to treat myself and picked up 2 new drills at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. I’ve used them for some reason or another almost everyday since.

Now that sunlight has returned I’ve been using my power tools again. I built a shelf for my PA in the practice space in my basement, and I’m building a new desk for all the sound gear at Parts & Labour, and sewing some curtains for the back and side of the stage there too.

…which reminds me of a desk for another recording studio I was asked to build at the end of January, before my brain got sidetracked from the lack of sunlight. I should probably check in and see if they still need that or not. Fucking winter, makin’ me lose my mind…up in here! If you’ve seen my face in person the past few months, then you know.

Ahhh wellll. Either way, gotta shake it off and wake up, because it’s SPRING!

Check out Vassil’s new wheels! He rode them over for Fill Spectre practice last night.

Fill Spectre are playing a house party on Friday!

Now that the Sun is shining again I’m in a really good mood, and I think everyone else is going to be in a good mood this whole week, so the party should be really fun. I’m excited!

PS: I’ll be announcing details about the 159 Manning BBQ later this week.

StudioLive

timmccready — Sat, 04 May 2013 18:48:47 +0000

I rented a new PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 for P&L yesterday.

We’ll decide by Wednesday whether to keep it or not, but based on last night’s This Is Hell show I’m pretty sure we’re keeping it. I recorded their entire set and did a rough mix of a few songs this morning. I posted the last 3 songs from This Is Hell’s set last night on my Soundcloud. They’re not available for download, streaming only, but check ‘em out!

Considering it’s the first time I’ve ever used one of these consoles, and the first time I’ve ever recorded and mixed a live set recording like this before, I think it turned out great!

I was in such a great mood after the show, I even bought a tank-top for reasons that now escape me. I don’t know when or where the fuck I’m going to wear a tank-top other than jogging, but at least it put $20 in the bands gas tank.

LITNO April 19 2013 Photos

timmccready — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:42:32 +0000

I started out my evening last night playing a show at Parts & Labour with Fill Spectre (opening for the Mystics, Los Vigilantes and Las Ardillas) and then biked over to the Great Hall to take photos of the crowd for Loving In the Name Of. What a crowd it was!

Last night was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by The Best!

Here’s a throwback to a video I shot at LITNO back in June 2008 when they were still in their first year; Sebastian Grainger singing Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark at the Legion on Niagara just south of King.

Who’d have guessed back then that Loving In The Name Of would become such a Toronto institution?

Poland Yacht Club, etc.

timmccready — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:45:12 +0000

I went to Shape Note Singing at Bloor Street United on Wednesday and recorded us singing #86 Poland from the Sacred Harp Songbook. Always the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 7:30 to 9:30.

I’m surprised Shape Note Singing hasn’t caught on with anyone else from Choir!Choir!Choir! because personally I enjoy the contrast of sounds and singing techniques between the 2 different choirs.

At Shape Note approximately 20 of us sight-read 20 to 30 songs that are hundreds of years old throughout the evening, at C!C!C! 100 of us learn 2 songs each week from the past 40 years. Last week we sang a couple of Wilco songs; I’m Always In Love and Jesus, etc.

Last night I was hired to do sound for TBWA Toronto’s 25th Anniversary party! There were many DJ’s! Lots of great food! Drinks from Junction Brewery and Yellow Tail Wine! Plus a live performance by ~~No Warning~~ Yacht Club!!

Young Guv loves his sunglasses at night.

My secret weapon at EVERY FUCKING PARTY these days is fog machines and lasers! Is your party getting dull? Pull out the fog machine and all of a sudden people start dancing themselves into a frenzy. I’m not joking or exaggerating. Just watch out for sensitive smoke alarms and sprinkler systems.

Perfect Day

timmccready — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:11:14 +0000

I got this letter in the mail yesterday. Woo-hoooo! I never missed a single payment in 9 years, no matter how broke I was along the way. I’m a responsible person!

I recorded myself singing Lou Reed’s Perfect Day this morning using iTalk Premium 4.6.1 on my iPhone.

Tess Parks posted some photos on her blog yesterday of Fill Spectre playing at her photo show last Saturday.

Aside from Children In Heat (we absolutely slayed both shows we played) and Mohawk Lodge (due to 3 weeks of rehearsals followed by 2 straight months of touring), most of the live performances I’ve played with various bands over the years have been somewhere between decent and mediocre (gotta start somewhere), but we fuckin’ ripped on Saturday night. That felt great!

That is all.

Greatest Hits

timmccready — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:27:34 +0000

I recently dug up this photo shot by Ivy Lovell after someone asked me how I got the gig doing sound at P&L. In mid-July 2010, a month after they opened, I went to see my first show there. When I arrived one of the owners even lamented to me that someone had forgotten to book security for the night. At the end of one of the sets a guy ran up and started punching the guitar player in the Sphinx. Without thinking I jumped on the assailant and put him in a choke-hold! All I could think was “this guy is bigger than me and if he gets away I’m fucked”, so I squeezed as tight as I could with my left arm (I’m left handed) and fed him punches as hard and as fast as I could with my right. The guys face ended up breaking my little Canon Digital ELPH camera that was strapped to my right wrist, BUT he didn’t get away.

I came back a couple weeks later to do sound which was arranged through Moog Audio, and it turned out I already knew half the staff though Odd Fellows or VICE or from around the music scene, and those I hadn’t known before knew me as the guy who’d beaten the shit out of the attacker. I guess me and P&L were destined to be! Ironically, if the same person were jumped in front of me today I would cheer and clap for the attacker, probably even help him out, but I love the photo! Thanks for immortalizing one of the most bad-ass moments of my life Ivy!

Here’s to the good times, before the real shit-storm began; ending a certain era, and cleansing many toxic friendships from my life…

I wish for the blessings of good fortune, health, eternal happiness and respect towards those who are kind-hearted, hard-working and give a fuck; especially so to the few friends I have who love, care for, and are willing to try and understand me. I need all the love and positive vibes I can get. <3 I wish peace towards those who are totally uninterested in me and the passions, ideas and goals I pursue in my life. I curse misfortune, sickness and devastation upon my enemies who would maliciously seek to do me harm; may they be cast down and utterly destroyed beyond recognition.

No Guilt

timmccready — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:21:15 +0000

My current playlist:

When it comes to music, I have no guilty pleasures.

Take Care Of Your Soul

timmccready — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 09:45:33 +0000

Last night was the best time I’ve had in…I don’t know how to quantify something like that but trust me, I had a great night!! Fill Spectre played a set at Oz Studios as part of Tess Parks’ photo exhibition Take Care Of Your Soul. The photos will be up for another week. Stop by and check em out!

The evening started out with sets by Ian and Ami (of OSTRICH TUNING) playing an homage to Slovenian National Cinema.

They were followed by Twist featuring Laura Hermiston and Brian Borcherdt.

Fill Spectre closed the evening, and the bar was sold out of beer by the time we started playing! The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s want you to put your cell phone away at their shows, but I don’t mind. Here’s what Instagram had to say about our set:

The 4 of us were really cooking! The crowd was freaking out and dancing for the entire set, and everyone I talked to after the show said it was the best they’d ever seen us play! I could tell by the enthusiastic way they said it that they meant it. Maybe I was channeling something through my MRCH t-shirt. For me, EVERY PRACTICE COUNTS! I get a little better every single time we play together. I can only imagine how good we’d be if we practiced together for an hour everyday for a month.

I stole this from Reddit, I have no idea what the original source is.

Me too Alice…me too.