Greg MacPherson

This is big news for me: there is a remixed and remastered version of my Night Flares album being released on December 18 (tomorrow). No physical copies, streaming and download only for now. When we recorded and mixed this album 20 years ago, the great Craig Boychuck was pressed into mixing it with me, Mike, and Steve in his ear almost constantly, asking for edits and adjustments to a point where the final mix was way more ours than Craig’s. Recently, my good friend Cam Loeppky got a hold of the raw tracks and remixed it, then he remastered it, all out of the kindness of his heart. This newly mixed Night Flares is an unexpected gift, and I think you will like it. Available on Bandcamp and on numerous bottom-feeding platforms where quality music is stollen streamed.

Somehow 25 years have passed since Balanced on a Pin was released, December 1999. I did my first real tour across Canada the next month, solo by train from Winnipeg to Nova Scotia. I booked that tour mostly by mail, cold calling venues and sending cassette tape demos in little envelopes with a hand written note asking for an opening gig. I had an email address but we all used landline phones and Canada Post back then. 25 years does seem like a long time when you put it that way.

We recorded that album in Winnipeg’s legendary Private Ear studios on Dagmar Street. The owners, Neal and Lloyd, held that place together with late night repairs and years of hustling. Two inch tape, huge live room with hardwood floors, big warm control room, old video games, Lloyd’s old telecaster, I loved that place. Lloyd recorded it, Paul James mixed it, Barry Mirochnick flew home from BC to produce it, and my band around that time had Rod Hussey on bass, Christine Fellows on guitar, and Jason Tait on drums. I gave people haircuts between takes, people’s marriages began, other people’s marriages ended, the 90s were drawing to a close and we managed to document what that sounded like from downtown Winnipeg.

To commemorate that occasion I am organizing an anniversary show, December 20th at Public Domain in Winnipeg. It turns out my Night Flares album is turning 20 in a couple months as well so we’ll be playing Balanced on a Pin in one set and then Night Flares in a second set. Hope to see you.

My friend Eddie Young in Fredericton reached out last year asking if Rob and I could play his festival this summer. We love festivals, we love Fredericton, and we love Eddie so we said yes. We’re playing Living Roots Festival on June 8 and we built a tour around it, with help from a few of our closest friends. There is love and empathy in this world, justice and hope too if you seek it out.

Growing up largely on the east coast of Canada, my father and brothers were big Montreal Canadiens fans. Hockey is an incredible sport to watch and to play but there’s a lot wrong with the NHL so I don’t talk much publicly about being a hockey fan. That said, I follow the Canadiens closely and I find myself enjoying what is written and said about the team even more than I do watching the games. Two of my favourite sports journalists are Arpon Basu and Marc Antoine Godin, formerly of Le Support Athlétique and now of the Basu and Godin Notebook.  On a recent episode of the latter, they mentioned needing some theme music for one of their segments, I hurried something together for them, and to my delight they are using it. These are quality human beings, if you enjoy sports-journalism I recommend their podcast and their writing.

Dark times in the world. I have found this podcast useful over the past few months. I also find it useful to play music. Stand by for show announcements – late April in Hamilton and Guelph, Ontario, and a week of shows in Quebec, New Brunswick, and possibly elsewhere in early June. In the meantime, life and justice are precious – stay informed and stay safe everyone.

I have some solo shows coming up in Ontario, including this one on Saturday, February 24 at the Broom Factory in Kingston. See you soon.

NEW –  GM Band (the Gardiner brothers, Michel Germain and Steve Bates) At the Good Will Social Club January 27 – 2pm doors 3pm us

GM Band featured on Argyle Studio’s first episode of In the Attic

Been too long. The world feels different. Time to make music. New recordings and shows coming soon.

I’m playing a couple of solo shows in PEI and New Brunswick at the beginning of August, see the ‘Shows’ page for details.