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The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

Posted by Lisa Christiansen on Jan 24, 2012

Tuesday again, going to be a theme throughout the year, I’m afraid. But to make this second work week day just that much more fun: Tour Diary. And today is The Darcys.

I’ve been a fan of these Toronto moody rockers since we first started playing them. They’ve faced some lineup changes and the frustrations that all new bands face, but wow – what a difference a year makes.Last year they released their debut and now this week they release their cover of the entire Steely Dan classic Aja.

I’ve been sitting at my desk listening back and forth to these songs and it’s really an amazing achievement. Imagine taking an album revered for its studio wizardry, indie rock it up and record it all at home. I would argue only for the brave at heart. The band kicks off their North American tour this Friday, and hope to play the album in its entirety.

Of course this got me to thinking:

WHAT CLASSIC ALBUM WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR COVERED?
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COVER?

I’ll start things off with The Queen is Dead and The Soft Bulletin. The Flaming Lips covered Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon a couple of years ago. Another good one. And then there’s that famed Luther Right and the Wrongs “The Wall.”

All right, get thinking. 

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  1. Benoit from Ottawa
    01

    CC

    (From the previous blog) For the names, from the wiki page.

    "Crown Royal is often mixed with another, usually non-alcoholic, beverage for added flavour such as ginger ale and cola. Common names of these beverages include: Black Tooth Grin, Crown Sidecar, Crown & Soda, Crown & Coke (rye and coke), Crown Lemon-Lime, Crown & Ginger Ale (rye and ginger), and Crown Fizz. A mixture made with Royal Crown Cola is called a Royal Wedding, an RCCR (Royal Crown Crown Royal), or a Pair of Kings (Pair of Queens if served with a maraschino cherry). Another mixed drink made with Crown Royal is to drop a shot of Crown into a glass of Red Bull energy drink; this is known as a LeBomb James, Chili Bomb or Bouncing Betty; a variation of this consists of half Crown Royal and a flavored schnapps in the shot, called a Vegas Bomb."

  2. rebbey
    02

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    YESSSSSS. So glad Empire (Rococode) is finally in the system/being played! :) My fave!

  3. Benoit from Ottawa
    03

    Songs not covered that could be

    Several elpees by the Tragically Hip. It'd be a tall, tall order though. The band would have to be different from them, obviously, it seems to me.

  4. kathyjean
    04

    Pop Goes the World

    By The Burning Hell!!! SOO GOOD. Played it this morning at CFCR.

  5. kathyjean
    05

    Addendum to 4

    From the "Have Not Been the Same" Compilation.

  6. EP
    06

    @benoit [01]

    whiskylicious!

  7. garfielduk
    07

    @Benoit from Ottawa [01]

    Thanks, I love the idea of an RCCR

  8. Lumina93
    08

    They still sell Royal Crown cola?

  9. EP
    09

    @lumina

     i saw it last in chicago area a few years ago.  its still lurks around....

  10. kirkofdoom
    10

    not my favourite covers of ALL time, but...

    I was talking with someone recently about Johnny Cash's American project, and two of my favourite covers from that (aside from the obvious) are The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) and Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)

  11. swongken
    11

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    in a magical mystical world, i would have loved to hear the wailers have a go at 'london calling' and the clash their shot at 'concrete jungle'. in the real world - hollerado taking on something by elvis costello would probably be very cool.

  12. Benoit from Ottawa
    12

    RC cola, the current situation (still made?)

    See History in the wiki page, it gives an overview 'til the present.

  13. marie_curious
    13

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

  14. zammachus
    14

    Poll Questions

    My favourite cover as of this moment would be Young Galaxy's rendition of Lose It by Austra on Versus. The whole album is fantastic and free here, if you want it.

    Other favourites would be What I'm Trying To Say (parts 1 and 2) by The Dears on Stars' Do You Trust Your Friends.

    The Flaming Lips (along with Stardeath, Peaches, White Dwarfs) covered Dark Side of the Moon. That one is good but divisive for the reason you just mentioned. Many people consider Floyd to be holy ground and not to be tread upon.

    I say anything is up for reinterpretation. If someone doesn't like it then don't listen to it. That's your perogative.

     

    What albume would I like to hear covered?

    Turn-about is fair play. How about At War with the Mystics or Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips? Maybe get You Say Party! or Mother Mother to do it?

  15. IanAlexanderMartin
    15

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    I so very much love Luther Right and the Wrongs' The Wall. Awesome.

    I'd like to hear someone re-interpret Bowie's first album (origiunally called David Bowie, then released in the USA as Man of Words/Man of Music and lastly Space Oddity to cash in on the hit single. There's a great deal of potential there in the songs, as he's created melodies and lyrical content that could go into much less conventional territory than he (or anyone) felt comfortable with at the time. The tricky part is doing it in a way that doesn't look like a media attention grabbging attempt.

  16. kirkofdoom
    16

    at zamm

    Vyvienne Long (cellist for Damien Rice and pretty damn good musician in her own right) does a pretty cool cover of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. 

  17. zammachus
    17

    @kirk

    It's so sad now...  #SoSad

  18. kathyjean
    18

    @zammie

    That's another good one. Been getting a lot of play on my iPod as of late. Great!!

  19. zammachus
    19

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    I could see The Weakerthans taking on The Flaming Lips, too. A different sound but still a story-telling style. Could work.

    @KJ: Which one?

  20. Old Abe
    20

    Cool Cover

    My workmate (Markgage) just showed me this - Pretty cool cover

     

  21. Steve Venegas
    21

    The Fubar Soundtrack

    has all of my favourite Canadian covers.

    New Pornographers covering Your Daddy Don't Know. So so good.

    video

  22. marie_curious
    22

    I won't try to break your heart

    In all honestly, this whole album is just beautiful.

  23. IanAlexanderMartin
    23

    MORE UN-CONVENTIONAL COVERS

    Angèle Dubeau, on her album Violons d'enfer (Infernal Violins) does a wicked pair of covers in one track: "Paint it Black / Sympathy for the Devil" probably making the Rolling Stones richer in the process. 

    PLUS: it probably counts as 'Canadian Content'! 

  24. zammachus
    24

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Loweeda just posted this to twitter but it's particularly applicable to us so I thought I'd re-share it.

    http://www.musiccanada.com/NewsRelease.aspx?scid=60575

    What will come of this? Nothing but good, I'm sure.

  25. IanAlexanderMartin
    25

    WTF?!?!?

    When did this become Lisa's Disco-Dance Party? Or is this more of the "We need more Soul Train in our lives" campaign?

    HIEROGLYPHICS

    MAYLEE TODD
  26. Benoit from Ottawa
    26

    marie_: good post at 13

    People, see her link if you haven't; there is a paragraph in no 2, under the video of Otis Redding, that is outrageously funny. NSFW unless W is cool.

  27. garfielduk
    27

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Am I the only one to think of The Cardigans - Lovefool when I hear the start of this? (MAYLEE TODD - HIEROGLYPHICS)

  28. kathyjean
    28

    @marie re: Crissi

    Highly agree!

  29. kathyjean
    29

    @lisa

    A mondegreen!

  30. darbarspecial
    30

    Covers

    I have posted this before, but I still love it. Kinnie Starr's version of Another One Bites The Dust called Another's Gone.

  31. zammachus
    31

    @Lisa

    That particular mondegreen sounds like 'Mouth to mouth' to me.

  32. TheIceman
    32

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Since the topic is "The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour"

    I don't think it's been mentioned, but the Darcys are offering a free download of the AJA album.

    Link here

     

  33. PeanutButter
    33

    @kirkofdoom (16)

    So glad Vyvienne's name is getting out there!

  34. Benoit from Ottawa
    34

    Lisa, your thought

    Not to pooh-pooh getting on Letterman, especially for Kathleen Edwards, but I suspect that what would be REALLY good for a young band would be to get on The Colbert Report -- a virtual impossibility, probably.

  35. zammachus
    35

    @Lisa

    I will never get sick of Abdominal.

  36. IanAlexanderMartin
    36

    @Lisa

    I think the lyrics might have been "Everybody needs some love tonight", but, as Benoit directed our attention to, I am a white man and thus know nothing of the healing power of 'gettin it on'.

  37. heyjon
    37

    Lisa . . .

    I agree with zammachus . . .

    Definitely says, "Everyone needs a mouth to mouth . . ."

    Cheers from Michigan

    heyjon, DET-R3

  38. kirkofdoom
    38

    at peanutbutter

    When I saw Damien Rice a few years back, she did a couple songs in the middle of the set, and I really liked her stuff. Caterpillar Sarabande is a pretty cool album. 

    She also does a an awesome cover of NERD's She Wants to Move, appropriately titled He Wants To Move. And I think there's a Seven Nation Army cover floating around somewhere, too. 

  39. rebbey
    39

    @old abe

    love that cover. pretty rad in it's own right too.

    I'm on a huge Gotye kick right now anyways though!

  40. Lisa Christiansen
    40

    Here comes Wes from The Darcys!

  41. Lumina93
    41

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    This isn't quite with the whole R3 theme, but for my money the best cover I've ever heard was Disturbed doing Genesis' "Land of Confusion" -- very up-to-date and of it's time.

  42. zammachus
    42

    "I just saw a cop do a really weird thing on a horse."

    Could an interview start any better?

  43. zammachus
    43

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Best reason to make a record, too.

  44. rebbey
    44

    @zamm

    probably not, nope! haha

  45. rebbey
    45

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Is the length addition include a Newfoundland stop addition by any chance I wonder?

  46. laser beans
    46

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    I haven’t seen the movie yet, apparently in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo there’s a cover of Immigrant Song by Karen O and Trent Reznor

    Re The Barr Brothers, this has been a great year for Montreal bands with Americans in them.  Montreal isn’t just a musical Mecca for Canadians.  tUnE-Yards, The Barr Brothers, Colin Stetson and Little Scream have all received great reviews and a lot of press.  Powa!

    

  47. Red Scorpion
    47

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Helluva good renditiion, love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEG

  48. PeanutButter
    48

    @kirkofdoom

    Yeah, she's great, have seen some of her solo shows.  Lisa Hannigan is amazing as well!

  49. Lisa Christiansen
    49

    @PeanutButter

    I very much love Lisa Hannigan.

  50. PeanutButter
    50

    Covers

    I'm a big Tori Amos fan and some of her covers are great.  One of my favourites is probably Joni Mitchell's A Case of You that she did.

  51. kirkofdoom
    51

    at peanutbutter and lisa

    agreed! I was so sad to have missed her show here in Vancouver a couple months ago : (

  52. zammachus
    52

    Colin Stetson is touring

    http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/01/colin-stetson-announces-tour.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

    He should get together with Said the Whale. It'd make a good thematic show.

    For those too lazy, here are the dates:

    March

    23 - Durham, N.C. @ Motorco Music Hall&$30 - Kingston, Ontario @ The Grad Club$31 - Waterloo, Ontario @ Perimeter Institute for Theoritical Physics$

    April1 - Buffalo, N.Y., Big Orbit’s Soundlab$3 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Glasslands $4 - Amherst, Mass. @ Hampshire College5 - Troy, N.Y. @ The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center$

    $ – w/ Sarah Neufield

    & – w/ Tyondai Braxton

    Apologies if this has copied Paste's formatting.

  53. zammachus
    53

    Apparently it didn't keep any formatting...

    March

    23 - Durham, N.C. @ Motorco Music Hall &$

    30 - Kingston, Ontario @ The Grad Club $

    31 - Waterloo, Ontario @ Perimeter Institute for Theoritical Physics $

    April

    1 - Buffalo, N.Y., Big Orbit’s Soundlab $

    3 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Glasslands $

    4 - Amherst, Mass. @ Hampshire College

    5 - Troy, N.Y. @ The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center $

    $ – w/ Sarah Neufield

    & – w/ Tyondai Braxton

     

  54. darbarspecial
    54

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    I also love Johnny Cash's version of Hurt. That is all.

  55. rebbey
    55

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    All I can think about in this song (Book Club) is how much the piano lick reminds me of Two Hours Traffic (Sing a little hymn) but a sped up version. GAH.

  56. Lisa Christiansen
    56

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    This is quite wonderful.

  57. zammachus
    57

    @rebbey

    All I can think is 'My goodness is this song amazing'.

  58. rebbey
    58

    @zamm

    haha it does also make my body dance slightly ...

    :)

  59. zammachus
    59

    @rebbey

    Any involuntary dancing is a good thing.

  60. PeanutButter
    60

    @Lisa

    Hadn't seen that yet, it was lovely :)

  61. enerie
    61

    Neil Young Covers

    Two years ago at the Sappyfest after party members of Ladyhawk, One Hundred Dollars and The Constantines all played Neil Young covers late into the night- mostly from the album "Harvest" I believe. It was truly an amazing night at George's Roadhouse! I wish someone had a recording of that night!

  62. zammachus
    62

    Doug Hoyer

    I was probably eating pineapple and thinking of that song at the exact moment it came on.

  63. Lisa Christiansen
    63

    @zammachus

    Not sure what that means.

     

  64. cathyort
    64

    Colin Stetson

    No home state dates?

    I would go see him.

  65. zammachus
    65

    @Lisa

    The first 'Little Thing' he sings about is eating a pineapple.

  66. laser beans
    66

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    Random question.  What’s with the Cripple Creek theme in Canadian music?  Wikipedia lists three bands with songs titled Cripple Creek, and all three are Canadian, Neil Young, The Band, and Skip Spence.  And then there’s the Cripple Creek Fairies.  ??

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek

     

     

  67. boders
    67

    @Lisa

    Ack! The Band is all Canadian except for Levon Helms, the drummer, who is from the US

  68. laser beans
    68

    The Band

    I think a lot of people forget that they were mostly Canadians.  They backed up Ronnie Hawkins, who was an American from the south living in Canada, and Helm was the leader or co-leader with Robertson, so they had very strong American influences.  Makes an interesting contrast to today when music is becoming more and more global.  Half of Arcade Fire are Americans, but you can’t tell that by listening to the music.  Neko Case and Tune-yards are Americans too.

    

  69. boders
    69

    edit and more Band stuff..

    That should be Levon Helm (from Arkansas). He came to Canada with Ronnie Hawkins; the Band was originally Hawkins backing group. Hawkins now has Canadian citizenship; don't believe that's the case with Helm. The Band did a lot of work with American history; for a tale of anguish in Canada, try Acadian Driftwood.I'd love to hear an album of The Band covers; Debra Jean did a version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down during her time in the Peak Performance Project.

    When The Band called it quits with the Last Waltz, they had lots of musical friends join them; a really fun dynamic with the Band playing essentially playing 'covers'. Hard to get more Canadian than Joni Mitchell providing backup vocals to Neil Young singing 'Helpless' (there is a town in North Ontario..) with the Band providing instrumentation.

    Unrelated to the Band at all, one of my all time favourite covers is The Smashing Pumpkins cover of 'Landslide' by Stevie Nicks.

  70. boders
    70

    @Laser

    Good question! I like this bit from the 'Up on Cripple Creek' wiki entry:"Drawing upon three of The Band's favorite themes, The American SouthAmerican folk music, andalcoholism, the song tells the story of a miner who goes to Lake Charles, Louisiana to stay with a local girl who he knows will put him up for free while he blows his money on drinks. Although he admits to having some feelings for his "little Bessie", he uses her hospitality to drink himself to oblivion."

    I'd wager it's safe to say that Canadian bands travelling this big expanse of land will have a natural love of folk music and alcoholism. Thinking in particular of those sing alongs with bands after the show's over that Lisa alluded to earlier. It's hard to beat a bunch of talent with a few guitars gathered around a fire with a few bottles of warming liquid (even if that warmth is illusory!)

    @Lisa - don't feel bad! It's nice to know that even the best and brightest of our guides through the world of music aren't infallible. As always, thanks for all the great education you are always spreading (both on music and other matters)

     

  71. laser beans
    71

    re: The Darcys cover Steely Dan, head out on tour

    @ boders

    Interesting connections.  Another possibility is that they may have just been borrowing the name from each other.  They were all pretty big name artists, and they had the Canadian connection, so maybe they knew each other. 

    Btw, that YAMANTAKA song doesn’t link properly with the band’s page.  Their page is under YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN, so that may have something to do with it. 

    

  72. laser beans
    72

    Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

    Very interesting band.  Here's the interview Lisa mentioned. 

    http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/8752-yamantaka-sonic-titan/

    

  73. garfielduk
    73

    @Lisa

    Great show, thanks, I hope you have a good evening

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