artist kestrels

Here’s some good news: our cover of Black Tambourine’s ”Throw Aggi Off The Bridge” debuted at number 29 on the CBC Radio 3 chart (available as a free download from iTunes) this week. If you want to support their decision, feel free to email feedback@cbcradio3.com and tell them how much you like it. I'm here typing up the lyrics to the new LP (which is currently untitled...suggestions to kestrels@noyesrecords.com) and decided to take a break from that tedium to write a brief synopsis of some of the songs for the new LP. The titles are obviously very much in a working format right now. 1) Hate Trap – kind of like When You Sleep by MBV if Superchunk played it. Probably my favorite of the new songs. I have a demo of this from 2008 with sequenced drums. It is not great. 2) Beverb – we’ve been playing this as a set opener. It’s pretty. I think I’m going to call this one “The One Up Downstairs” as a reference to an early version of the song that sounded like said band. 3) Coffie – this song has been kicking around for a while, but we always felt like it was missing something. So we dropped the bridge, changed the drumbeat and added a lot of guitar. Now that’s shocking. 4) Velvets – Rachael (who played cello on the Primary Colors song “Plastic Dresses”) added some strings to this one. It sounds like the Velvet Underground circa the 3rd record. The last song written for the album. 5) Decoder – this song is a pretty quick/short song in the key of A. Stompy in the chorus with some weird guitar elsewhere. 6) Addenda – Started out tight, ended up sloppy. Lots of loud. 7) Tweenagers – My second favorite. It actually started out as a We Need Secrets song (my side project – weneedsecrets.bandcamp.com) but fits our sound a bit better. We’ve been playing this one a bit lately. 8) New Pop – written in about 5 minutes and borrows generously from Life Without Buildings. We usually end with this one. So that’s that. My friend Claudius might be mixing a few of the songs. I have to sing a few more things and record a few more guitar tracks (with my new Hiwatt amp!), but it’s 90% there. We’re hoping to release it in September. We’ll likely do a deluxe vinyl edition only this time around (plus digital of course). I’m living in Manhattan for the summer, so I’m leaving all of the hard work to Paul and Kirstan. Whoops. -Chad

So we made took a short jaunt up to Truro last weekend and played with our friends in LP again. Good.. wait.. great dudes! The show was fun as always, and K-Man threw his bass through my drums to finish off our set. Carnage! Our new merch has been delayed as UPS have been less than punctual with delivering it to us. We've also just learned that we will not have it for our show at The Seahorse for New Music Tuesday tonight. Ah well... c'est la vie. Speaking of which, it's put on by Music Nova Scotia and is actually a lot of fun. On top of all that, it is a free show, so I hope that you can make it out and have a few horse-powers (special Seahorse beer) while you're at it. On top of that, our friend Adam from Long Weekends took some promo shots of us recently. It's the start of a whole new series of them we'll be doing, as we are seriously overdue for new ones (check out our press section)... Come to the show on Tuesday, we'll be playing new songs off our upcoming LP, and it's FREE! -PB

Finally. Our album, Primary Colours, comes out on July 7th.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1] Sailed On
2] Our Velocity
3] The Heart of a Lonely Storm
4] Plastic Dresses
5] Houdini
6] Ridicule
7] Primary Colours
8] Everyone, Everyone
9] Take The Picture
10] Light and Sound

We’re releasing the album as a digipak and 12″ vinyl…both covers are above.

Pre-order info! The first 25 people who pre-order the album will receive a bonus limited edition CD EP as well as a pin and poster.  These tracks will not be available anywhere else (well, one may be…) so make haste/hurry up/don’t waste time/etc.

The vinyl is going to be very limited and will go quickly.  We’re pressing 200 copies on black vinyl and that’s it.  It also comes with an individual 5×5 print from a Lomo Diana which will include a download code for the album.  The digipak is what will be sold in stores across Canada.

If you are interested in receiving the cd version of the album, you can send $15 via paypal/email money transfer to chad.peck@gmail.com.  If you are interested in receiving the vinyl version of the album, you can send $23 via paypal/email to chad.peck@gmail.com (these prices include shipping…if you are within driving/delivering distance, the cd is $12 and the vinyl is $15).  If you want both versions of the album, the price is $30 shipped or $25 delivered.  If you prefer the old fashioned method, you can send cheques/well-concealed cash to:

Noyes Records
3101 Mines Bass River Road
Colchester County, Nova Scotia
B0M1M0
CANADA

We’ve worked extremely hard putting this thing together.  Having these pre-orders greatly offsets the initial cost of manufacturing.  The cd version will ship by the end of May/Early June.  The 12″ will ship late June.  We’re hitting the road on the 25th of June for 2 weeks, so check our site for tour dates.  If you know someone who might be interested, feel free to pass this along.  We have some Seaside 7″s left, so if you’re interested in one of those tack on $6 to the above prices and it’ll be with you shortly.

We got a nice review on Herohill.com today! Check it out!

http://www.herohill.com/2008/08/news-kestrels-release-7-on-noeyes.htm

In all honesty, Halifax has so many little side projects cropping up that it's hard for a blogger to keep it all straight. So you'll have to excuse my ignorance and oversight in not mentioning Kestrels on herohill yet. In fact, when Chad sent over the new A-side to their debut 7", I quickly wondered why no one in Halifax was talking about this impossible-to-google band.

It would be easy to just point out that the trio consists of members from the Medium Mood and The Got to Get Got or make a witty observation about judging a person by the company they keep as I mention that they are on Noyes and touring with The Sleepless Nights and Cursed Arrows.

But when it comes to cranking out a debut 7" (only 300 copies of sweet white vinyl I might add), those things don't really make a difference. It's not the parts of the engine people care about, it's how fast the car gets off the line and within 20 seconds of the lead single, you get the idea that the trio has jacked up the horsepower.

Seaside starts with a simple electric that resonates in the vast emptiness, but quickly vocals and rapid fire drums fill your ears. The bass line dances around your headphones and for a few precious moments you get fooled into thinking the band is hiding under the disguise of a catchy indie rock outfit. They take their foot off the pedal briefly on the slowed down chorus, but for me the band's potential is revealed at the 2:16 mark.

Finding a riff and running into the ground is easy, but Kestrels throw you a curve ball when they explode into a Mascis-esque guitar solo out of nowhere. They don't belabor the point with useless notes - it's only 15 seconds - but it changes the complexion of the entire song and the abrupt shift lets the band transition into a subdued, melodic outro. All too often, a young band tries too much, too soon, but the complexity of Seaside mixed with the infectious, carefree sounds how they are going to be getting some serious attention when a full length surfaces.

First blog!

We're debuting our 7" next month, and The Coast decided to talk about it a bit in their Fall Music Preview issue this week. You can also listen to our single "Seaside" on there as well!

Kestrels
"Seaside" b/w "On Our Time"
This seven-inch is the first for pop trio Kestrels, featuring members of The Medium Mood and The Got To Get Got. Not only does it sound good, it looks like solid gold, thanks to white vinyl and artwork by Nicole Legault (lookidrewyou.com). No turntable? Never mind, the vinyl comes with a download code for both tracks, plus a special bonus. (Sept 16, tentative)

Link to article!

Here's to the future!

Adam.