FLEET FEET SPORTS PRESENTS
Enter The Haggis
Over the past three albums and five years, Toronto?s Celtic rock band Enter The Haggis has found itself at the center of a grassroots success story ever teetering on the brink of mainstream success. From playing Celtic festivals to headlining them, and from the festival circuit to selling out multiple nights in rock venues, ETH has blazed a path with heavy and almost constant touring up and down the East Coast, to Canada, the West Coast and back again, winning over success one fan, one town, one region at a time. The band has made waves in the genre, landing high Billboard and iTunes World Music chart positions as well as major television appearances on shows like Live With Regis And Kelly, A&E Breakfast With the Arts and PBS? popular program Out of Ireland, with its multi-influence style of Celtic rock. It?s the kind of overall sound and devotion package that has created not only die-hard fans, but ?Haggis Heads? that follow the band from gig to gig. The band has been together in its current incarnation since members met in the early 2000s in Toronto, where more than half the band was studying its craft in the city?s colleges and universities. With that kind of classically trained background Enter The Haggis is constantly honing and evolving its sound ? blending elements of rock and pop with traditional Celtic fare, an art school eclecticism and a keen sense of arrangement. Past records have seen the band dabble in roots, funk, even adding prog rock elements to the mix, but ETH always manages to bring it home. Alternating between upbeat rock numbers with sing-along choruses and slower, more introspective alt pop songs, the band plays progressive and lyrically driven music that?s strongly rooted in Celtic tradition ? from the storytelling to the bagpipes. ?We like to experiment musically, pushing the boundaries of what people think of as Celtic music,? said vocalist and guitarist Trevor Lewington. ?Some of our grooves, melodies and lyrics are quite different from other bands that we play with.? Now, the band?s seventh album, Gutter Anthems, is Enter The Haggis? most cohesive record to date, yet one that makes the band?s eclecticism shine. Recorded in Fall 2008 at The Hive in Toronto and Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, the record will be released this March on new model indie label United For Opportunity. Expect a combination of rousing drinking songs with well-arranged rock and pop tunes. Songs like opening track ?The Litter And The Leaves? with its upbeat tempo and rousing anthemic chorus see the band embracing a jig-punk direction a la The Dropkick Murphys, while tracks like ?Real Life? embrace the more traditional feel of tin whistle and fiddle throughout. ?Noseworthy and Piercy? and ?The Death of Johnny Mooring? find the band embracing its Canadian roots in true tales from the homeland. There?s also a marked ?little guy vs. the world? theme, derived from the trials of being an indie band trying to make it in the current music industry climate. This year the band plans to focus more than ever on its homeland, and is looking forward to spending a great deal of time in Canadian territory. Gutter Anthems will be released on United for Opportunity on March 24, 2009 amid a March East Coast tour, including a blowout celebration on St. Patrick?s Day at The Mod Club in the band?s native Toronto. ?We?ve started feeling nostalgia for our homeland,? said fiddler, keyboardist and vocalist Brian Buchanan. ?And this album feels more distinctly and unapologetically Canadian than our previous albums.? This year Canada. Next year the world.
http://www.myspace.com/enterthehaggis

With special guests ...

HOT DAY AT THE ZOO
New England's genre-bending American roots string band, Hot Day at the Zoo, is spreading their "zoograss" sound nationwide. The high-energy quartet mixes folk, blues, ragtime and jazz with progressive bluegrass and Americana-infused rock and roll. Hot Day at the Zoo is pioneering their sound in a way that is reminiscent of how Johnny Cash transformed traditional country music. They have the songwriting and full-bodied sound of the Grateful Dead, the technicality and momentum of Sam Bush, the tightness and the ability to talk musically like Charles Mingus, and the cool, easy rock demeanor of Steely Dan. Fans accurately describe this sound as “zoograss.” hdatz3Hot Day at the Zoo is Jon Cumming (banjo, dobro, vocals), Michael Dion (guitar, harmonica, vocals,) Jed Rosen (upright bass, vocals), and JT Lawrence (mandolin, vocals). Dion and Cumming are the band’s two main songwriters. Both, with distinctive personalities, offer enough stories to fill a catalogue of songs that are whole-hearted and full of sincerity. Add in Rosen, who’s technical prowess allows him to hold down the beat and push the music along, and Lawrence, who’s youthful energy and stellar musicianship fuel his strength in fulfilling each song’s missing piece, and the result is a band who humbly creates something bigger than any of themselves. Hot Day at the Zoo is set to release their third album, Zoograss, on January 12, 2010 on their independent label INTA Records. Zoograss is a live album, recorded at The Waterhole in Saranac Lake, NY on February 14, 2009. It was mixed by Sir Bob Nash at Wonka Sound in Lowell, MA and mastered by Jay Frigoletto at ProMastering in Brookline, NH. Zoograss follows HDATZ's 2008 EP, Long Way Home, a dark and edgy album added to their collection that includes the wildly popular Cool As Tuesday. hdatz2In a venue so personally special to the band (Phish had Nectar’s, HDATZ has The Waterhole), and on a night when all the planets and stars seemed to align to create an ideal environment for the creative process, HDATZ recorded a special, representative performance. “That night at The Waterhole was one of those times that I knew from the first few notes that we were on point,” says Lawrence. “The energy exchange between us and the audience was incredible.” Zoograss is a true picture in time, capturing a band that has undergone transformations over the years, including two line-up changes, but has evolved and matured in their songwriting and live performance and is now tighter than ever before. Zoograss brings HDATZ to life and proves that this is a band you must see live. “Expect to see four guys up on stage playing their asses off and singing their hearts out,” says Rosen. All four members play with so much vivacity and vigor that an abundance of both baby powder to keep dry and superglue to prevent their fingernails from falling off is necessary. Whether they’re headlining or performing as special guest support for artists including The Band’s Levon Helm, David Grisman, Leon Russell, moe., and Hot Buttered Rum, HDATZ connects with their audience through their defiant high energy on stage. With improvisations that give songs new shape, signature arrangements of covers, and many special guests, concertgoers may expect to never see the same show twice. HDATZ01Not unlike the Garcia/Weir songwriting partnership, Dion and Cumming strike a balance that’s always signature. Zoograss illustrates the individuality of the two songwriters and the band’s ability as a whole to carry their stories. The track “Mercy of the Sea,” written by Dion, weighs in at over nine minutes on Zoograss. With imagery like, "Bones made of coral, saltwater in my veins, and a tidal wave of hope," this track required a great deal of complimentary energy and instrumental imagination from all four members who succeeded brilliantly. “‘Mercy of the Sea’ stretches things out and highlights the band’s dynamics and ability to speak to each other musically,” says Cumming. Quite the antithesis of this track is Cumming’s “One Day Soon,” three-plus minutes of direct, beautiful poetry: “With every mile I leave behind, it’s one more I can’t borrow.” “‘One Day Soon’ departs from our high-energy, jam-based mode, and tones it down some,” says Cumming. “For a tune like this, the song is the master and the band serves it well.” Zoograss illustrates a new beginning for HDATZ who continue to develop exponentially. “Every week it seems we are breaking into new, uncharted territory with new songs, new ideas, and new aspirations,” says Dion. “This album is just a taste of what this band is capable of.”
http://www.myspace.com/hotdayatthezoo