One of my fondest memories of growing up in Canada involves John Weldon’s 1979 short film The Log Driver’s Waltz (viewable at the National Film Board of Canada’s incredible website (here). The song (originally written by Wade Hemsworth), was performed for the film by sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle and became such a quintessential Canadian cultural artifact that I can’t think of a time when this tune hasn’t been a part of my understanding of Canada itself. For a time, we performed ‘If Only I Were a Painter, I’d Paint for You the Moon’ from Songbook as a two-part medley with ‘The Log Driver’s Waltz’, and at our 2008 Sled Island show at Central United Church in Calgary, our friend Kris Ellestad asked us to back him up on a full run-through. We post it here in memory of Kate McGarrigle, who died last week.

• The Log Driver’s Waltz [Wade Hemsworth / Kate & Anna McGarrigle]

01. ON THE ROAD

Hey! Check out the following list of confirmed tour dates and come out and say ‘hi’ if we’re coming through your town!

AUGUST 2008
30 - THE GATEWAY w/ Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - Calgary, Alberta

SEPTEMBER 2008
06 - THE LUMINAIRE w/ Orphans + Vandals & Spokes - London, UK
07 - THE COLCHESTER ARTS CENTRE w/ Guests - Colchester, UK
08 - THE CAPTAIN’S REST w/ Eagleowl & Kelley Stoltz - Glasgow, Scotland
10 - TRIPOD w/ Calexico - Dublin, Ireland
11 - QUEEN’S HALL w/ Calexico - Edinburgh, Scotland
12 - CARLING ACADEMY w/ Calexico - Oxford, UK
13 - LEADMILL w/ Calexico - Sheffield, UK
14 - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL – Main Stage (5PM) - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
14 - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL – Tipi Stage (Midnight) - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
16 - THE LAMP w/ Guests - Hull, UK
17 - THE JUNCTION w/ Guests - York, UK
18 - CUMBERLAND ARMS w/ Guests - Newcastle, UK
19 - THE BODEGA w/ Guests - Nottingham, UK
23 - ROUGH TRADE EAST – Afternoon Instore - London, UK
23 - HOXTON BAR w/ Guests - London, UK
25 - SCHOKOLADEN w/ Ghostmice - Berlin, DE *
30 - CLUB VINYL w/ Guests - Wetzlar, DE *

OCTOBER 2008
01 - FRAU HEDI w/ Guests - Hamburg, DE *
03 - VALENTIN STUBERL w/ Guests - Berlin, DE *
08 - MACEWAN HALL BALLROOM w/ Iron & Wine - Calgary, Alberta
09 - MEYER HOROWITZ THEATRE w/ Iron & Wine - Edmonton, Alberta

* All German dates performed as a two-piece composed of Mark + Foon. We’re christening it the Balladeer tour.

We’ve plotted it out for you on GoogleMaps, so you can see what a UK / Ireland tour looks like:

02. SUMMER FLINGS

We’ve had such an amazing summer. Thanks to everyone who’s come out to see us play or said ‘hey’ on the interwebs. We’ve been particularly touched by the way Treasury Library Canada has been taken in by everyone who’s heard it. We really only intended it as a between-album-album to tide things over on the upcoming UK tour and to give folks something new to listen to this summer, but it’s getting props. If you ask us, it’s really only Album #1.5. Album #2’s on the way. But hey. How often is it that your tour CD gets written up in nice, big ways? We’re not complaining. We’ve only printed 1,000 of them, and at the moment the big box at WPHQ has just dwindled down to 200 left.

We don’t mean to be alarmist, but once these hand-numbered ones are gone, they’re gone! (And incidentally, the 200 hand-stamped hand-made ones are long gone too!) We’ll try our best to increase the ebay re-sale value of these things as much as we can for y’all, so you’d best grab one now. We’ll have a few at the upcoming shows.

03. RELEASE DATES!

15 September 2008 - Songbook UK is released via the Rough Trade Album Club w/ a bonus EP
29 September 2008 - Songbook UK is released in all other UK retail shops
06 October 2008 - Chorus of Wolves UK EP is released through digital retailers

Keep ‘em in your calendar.

And oh, just in case you missed it, here’s what’s coming on Chorus of Wolves EP:

> 01. Chorus of Wolves [from Songbook]
> 02. Matty John Chyzyk
> 03. Camera-Man
> 04. Oberkampf [from Houndstooth]

04. ONWARDS! UPWARDS!

If planning a tour and record release across the pond wasn’t enough work, we’ve been hammering away at the mixes for our next album, Die Stadt Muzikanten. It’s close. Very close. In fact, it’s about a week or so away from being done. And if you come to one of our UK shows and you’re really friendly about it, we might even let you listen to a track or two on one of our iPods. (Foon, however, will require some sort of exotic snack to comply).

05. BALLADEER!

And hey! There’s a couple of other projects a-brewing. Upon WP’s battle-scarred return to Canada in October (and post-Iron & Wine dates too), we’ll be recording an EP entitled Balladeer with our dear friend Kris Ellestad. We’re hoping to capture some of the weirder shizzit that happens when it’s just Mark + Foon messing about on-stage with dueling loop pedals and open-ended song structures, butting heads with Kris at the controls. And still kind-of folky too. Like Houndstooth on mushrooms. Check Kris out here:

Dude’s seriously amazing. One of the best things about being in a band is getting to meet people like this. It’s even better when you get to work with them too.

06. POSTCARDS!

And Kris isn’t the only genius cat we’ll be working with through the winter. Mark’s looking to work on tunes with songwriters across Canada and beyond for a series of free download EPs. The first two are already underway and they’re going to be tops.

#1: Ryan Doyle (of Brooklyn):

Swoon.

#2: Carl Johnson (of Regina’s The Library Voices):

Damn. There’s even more of them than there are of us.

Lo-fi and minimalist, all done quick as you like — musical correspondence at its finest! We’ll keep the others a surprise for now …

07. ADIEU TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNCIL. WE’LL MISS YOU. A LOT.

Our friends The Neighbourhood Council moved off and away from Calgary to Montreal, and we already miss them loads. Check out the group performing live at Olympic Plaza in Calgary this summer. Then visit their myspace, or read about them on Stereogum. You’d be an idiot to miss these guys when they play with Deerhunter and Times New Viking in Toronto and Montreal this October. A stone-cold idiot.

08. UNTIL NEXT TIME

We’ll see you in the UK, Ireland, and Germany! WPHQ signing off.

xox,
 W.P.