Just wanted to say that we’re really excited about our upcoming show tonight at the Drake Hotel.  It’s going to be a special night and we’ll be covering all of the proverbial bases throughout our set.  Some old, some new, all totally rad.

See you soon!

John O

R.I.P. Devon,

The D’Urbs

Check out this video that Devo put together a few years ago from footage of a YSP! WSD! tour set to one of our songs.

Sorry that you haven’t heard from us lately – but we’ve been hiding out the last week and a half putting the finishing touches on our new record. So far things sound awesome and we’re all really excited to have the chance to share some of our new work at our upcoming live shows. My voice is a little shredded from yesterday’s session though – so today has been reserved for guitars and Latin percussion.  Or, you know, just banging metal pipes against each other and twidding with the mini Moog.  It’s all good.

I also wanted to let you know that we were recently featured by this website out of New York City called Ampeater. They reviewed our oldie (but goodie) We Are The Hunters and posted that song along with one of the hip hop mixtape tracks that we put out last summer. You should check it out – it’s a good review.

Anyhow – it’s back to work. And I seriously advise some earplugs for this new disc. So heavy.

John O

We’re happy to announce that our label Out Of This Spark is turning three this year!  We’ll be throwing down tomorrow night at The Garrison in big, bad, Toronto, ON.  Come on out and see the entire label roster (plus a few surprises) and be sure to congratulate our Pep Pep Stuart Duncan for all his hard work.

Rargh!

John O

Stuffed,

John O

When we weren’t building fires or making crazy techno synth sounds we were eating Apple Pie and watching Armageddon on VHS. Hence the photo, above, from the opening credits. Aerosmith is so all over the soundtrack to that movie. Yikes.

Have a great Christmas and we’ll see you December 28th at the Drake!

Cheers,
JO

If you’re not watching Eagles vs. Falcons this coming Sunday you should definitely come see us play at the Mod Club here in downtown Toronto. We got a last minute gig opening for Mew, who according to my online research are both:

1. Danish
2. Proggy

Tim and Kyle are also fresh off two full days in the studio touching up some of our new material, which we’ll totally be playing at the show.  I can’t wait to hit up the Dominion across the street after the gig for some baked goods.

Danish, anyone?

John O

Here’s a new video that our pals at Vancouver based video blog Winnie Cooper put together after interviewing Greg, Kyle, and I during Pop Montreal this past October.  How they copped that footy from White Men Can’t Jump I’ll probably never know.  Shit, I don’t even want to know.  Copyright!

In other news, we’ve been hard at work on some new tracks and will be hitting the studio again this December.  As Morrissey once said – “these things take time”.

Stay safe,

John O

Sorry for the prolonged silence upon the web blog front. I just moved into a new place here in Toronto and between painting the living room and recording a brand new song, things have been pretty insane. That said, the band JUST returned from an amazing weekend at Pop Montreal.

In addition to performing at a wicked awesome Out Of This Spark showcase, we were fortunate enough to see some really fantastic bands and eat some delicious food. Here’s a photo that our manager Remi took with his camera phone during a ridiculously amazing set by Sweden’s Fever Ray. So many LASERS!

So things are pretty great. We’re going to be hiding out for a bit and working on finishing our record, so don’t worry if we keep to ourselves for awhile. We’ll be back before you know it.

Love,

D’Urbs

In case you haven’t connected the dots, I’ve started playing a few solo shows in and around Toronto under the name Diamond Rings.  Doing stuff on my own is basically a means for me to indulge in my more theatrical side and buy some new outfits guilt free.  I just put out a 7 inch vinyl with PS I Love You (our best pals from Kingston) and the music blog Pitchfork has had some nice  things to say about not only my own song, but The D’Urbs as well.

Check out the link here.  ”Les Savy Fav goes flamenco” is my favourite part!

The Best,

John O

Check out this awesome cake that was sitting around backstage at V Fest today. Holy geez. It tasted pretty average, but it’s not every day your band name gets to be on a cake. Here’s a run down of the rest of the day:

Pet Shop Boys = Modernist spectacle (in the best possible way)

Greg Santilly = 1/4 chicken, burger AND hot dog all for lunch

NIN = tattooed on some dude’s arm

Overall = tired and ready for bed

Talk soon, k?

JO

Oh, and you can read the little blurb here.

Peace and Love,

John O

Hey dudes,

As of today you can download 2 new songs free from our website. They’re both hip hop collaborations featuring Vish Khanna from CBC Radio3, Guelph’s Noah23, and Hamilton’s own New Slang. Not to mention our own Greg Santilly.

You can access the downloads on the Music page.

In other news, Friends in Bellwoods II comes out August 25. There’s a cd release party at Lee’s Palace on Friday August 28th and a release party/bbq at the Tranzac on Saturday August 29th.

And finally, we’re playing the Virgin Festival at the Molson Ampitheatre on Sunday August 30th. Crazy.  Can we get a D’UBERVILLES?!

D’Urbs.

Thanks for skipping out on work early to film this video, Coco. Especially huge thanks to everyone that came out to this show and made our big night (and Stu’s birthday) such a success.

John O

The festival was great too, BTW. Thanks to Virginia Clark and all of the organizers for making us feel so welcome all weekend long.

Love,
JO

Just in case you haven’t visited in awhile, we’ve got a cover version of Timber Timbre’s Magic Arrow right here on our Myspace page.  It’s going to be available in the physical as part of the most awesome Friends In Bellwoods compilation album which will be released later this month on – you guessed it – OOTS!

Oh, and if you’re thinking of coming to our Summerworks show tomorrow night at the Theatre Centre, you totally should.  We’ve got some sweet surprises in the works with our friends Forest City Lovers.  Can you say mega-band?  Good.  So can we.

Darkness,

JO

You can catch Santos tonight at the Ebar in Guelph, ON as his rapping alter ego Muffled Suitcase. It’s going to be so hot you’ll need nothing but your underwears.

JO

However, we do have extensive documentation of our most recent dinner, which was consumed at a Friendly’s restaurant somewhere off the highway in Connecticut en route to New York City where we’re meeting up with some industry types. If we’d seen what the waitresses had written on the seating chart on our way in we might not have stuck around.

Anyhow, we stayed and Tim decided to get a sundae for dessert. Here he is consulting the oversized full colour menu with Kyle.

He eventually settled on Kit Kat and Hot Fudge. Did I mention Tim is lactose intolerant? Courageous. Anyhow, he slept it off and I’m happy to report all is well. We made a video of him trying to finish the thing, so maybe if you email us nicely we’ll send you a link or something. It’s pretty great.

Speaking of great, we’re in Brooklyn right now and our hotel room has only one bed and there’s bullet proof glass at the check in desk, but we’re watching Jurassic Park on TV and somehow everything is working out fine.

See you soon,

JO

The compilation sounds awesome and is coming out in late August. Oh, and a new drink was invented during the folding party. Gatorbeer. One part Lemon Lime Gatorade, one part Stella Artois. Both parts amazing.

Catch you on the flipside,

John O

So we all made it back safe and sound from Montreal. We’re really excited with how well things went in the studio and can’t wait to play some of these new songs in a few weeks! Mega props to Drew Malamud for hooking everything up and treating us right.

I got the band to drop me off in Kingston on the way home and spent a few amazing days hanging out with Paul and Ben from my favourite band PS I Love You. They were consummate hosts – showing me around town and taking me out to see some great live music.

Ben and I also sat in for an interview with Kingston’s Apple Crisp Records founder and all round great guy Greg Tilson at CFRC 101.9 FM yesterday. Here’s a picture of the most handsome man about town as he collects his thoughts.

Anyhow, we had a great conversation with Greg that’ll be airing real soon as part of their coverage for the Wolfe Island Music Festival of which we’ll be a part.  More details to come on that one.  In the meantime, enjoy the sun and stay safe.

Kingston, you rule,

John O

Tonight’s the night. Our last evening of recording in Montreal is upon us.  It’s been a solid four days and we’re really excited with what we’ve accomplished. Kyle laid down some sweet bass grooves before leaving us for the Northwest Territories and the Folk On The Rocks Festival with our pals Forest City Lovers. He also took his camera with him, which explains the quality of the following photograph, taken on my laptop using a setting called “Thermal.”

It’s our engineer Drew Malamud and part of Tim’s guitar. Honestly, some of these camera settings are pretty cool in a sort of “we just discovered Photoshop and it’s 1995″ kind of way.

Anyways, it’s back to Ontario with us. We’re playing V Fest in Orillia this August and I’ve gotta start lifting weights if I’m going to stand a chance of beating Trent Reznor in an arm-wrestle backstage.

Au revoir,

John O

Recording is super fun. We even have a pinball machine here in the studio. Exploring the stars and the entire universe is something we’re all really big on right now. Check it.

Oh, and as it turns out, Kyle DID bring his camera on the trip, so that’s why this picture looks so damn awesome.  Thanks, KD.

Anyhow, in addition to chilling in outer space, we just finished adding organ and synth parts to a new jam called Junkpile. We doubled up the organ on this old Farfisa that our engineer Drew found in the garbage and fixed up. Some of the keys were sticking, but we greased them squeaky wheels until they rolled smooth. Nice.

We’re just about to start laying down drums and bass for another tune, so I gotta go, but…

Stay tuned,

John O

We’re really saddened to have learned of the passing of Michal Majewski, who was a fantastic concert poster artist from our hometown of Oshawa, Ontario. I don’t want to say much because he and the band weren’t very well acquainted, but our mutual pal Colin Medley does a good job of summing up our feelings here.

Goodnight,

The D’Urbs

We’re in Montreal. Right now. We just dropped off our gear at Studio Plateau and start recording tomorrow. We had a great drive up the 401 this afternoon which included our requisite stop at Harvey’s in Kingston. Sad to say they’re out of those free burger coupons that they were giving out a few weeks ago, but the veggie combo was still pretty tight.

We forgot to bring our regular digi-cam with us, but my folks were generous enough to get me a new laptop for my birthday last week and it’s got a built in camera. Totally saved. Thanks Mom and Dad! Here’s a photo of Tim teaching me how to work the damn thing in between burger bites.

Xtra Pickles,

John O

So the Pulp Fiction show at MOCCA was totally rad last night. You should really check it out if you’re in Toronto and like irreverent little doodly type drawings and funny videos.

Kudos to band manager Remi Arora for snapping this great pic. It’s from the cover from a zine made by Toronto artist Jason McLean that was on display at the show. Which D’Urberville do you think it most resembles?

(Hint: It’s not Tim, Greg, or myself)

Keep real,

John O

Thanks to everyone who came out for our set last Wednesday at the Drake.  It was nice to see so many happy faces and kick NXNE off with a bang.  There were some seriously good shows this past weekend, no?

For those of you that missed our set, we’re going to be playing again this Friday at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art during the opening of their newest exhibition, Pulp Fiction.  Admission is gratis (although the beer will cost you) and the event is open to folks of all ages.

We’ll be turning our amps on around 9 pm for all you hardcores, so watch your (wild) steps!

See you soon,

John O

Our friends from the Musebox put together a podcast highlighting some of their top picks for NXNE.  Follow the link to hear songs from our pals Green Go as well as a full interview with yours truly.  Lots of juicy gossip and such.

Oh yeah!  Come on out and shake your tailfeather at the City Sonic party tonight at the Drake in Toronto.  We hit the stage at 10:30 pm.

John O

John O

John O

However, Greg, Tim and I just don’t take no for an answer, so we managed to kidnap the poor dude and drive him up north to my family cottage in the Kawarthas for a D’Urbervillean writing retreat this past weekend.

Once the blindfold came off, he grew accustomed to his surroundings relatively quickly. It probably helped that my folks left us a few bags of the best potato chips in the entire world to snack on. Kyle loves his chips.

We also took Kyle on a trip to nearby Peterborough, where we performed our first show in over a month alongside some great bands at the Gordon Best Theatre. As a special bonus, we got to eat free pizza and play a rousing game of frisbee with Evening Hymns and Shotgun Jimmie.

So yeah. Things were great. We’re working on a few new songs. One of them sounds like funk music but better. The other one switches between two different time signatures. It’s all part of a slow transition that will eventually see us evolve into a Funk/Math Rock group called Acutely Obtuse. OK, that last part is a lie. The group is actually going to be called Cosine Lawless. But whatever.

Here’s a picture that was snapped between calculations.

If you’re in Toronto we’ll be playing the Drake Hotel on June 17th for NXNE with our good pals Woodhands. Bring your abacus, sucka!

2+2=5,

John O