4th February
2008 - Temporary Hiatus Finally Over!
Seeing
as it has been over four months since the last update I figured
it was high time I got my act in gear and posted some news.
So where are things at you ask? After a mini-hiatus from
writing and recording we've finally gotten back on schedule
working on the next LI album. The break wasn't
really by choice, with our old recording studio
temporarily shutting down and all, but we have
been doing our best to keep things moving forward
none the less.
As opposed to just sitting around
and waiting to find another studio for us to write and record
at we decided to be pro-active and buy our own
recording gear. For the last couple months we have
been saving money, paying back debts, and building
our own studio. Which happily I can say, we just
finished last month. God damn is it nice to no
longer have book time or wait to get in, we can
now record whenever we want, 24/7. Even though
we've only had it up and running for a couple weeks,
we have already recorded a handful of new songs.
The
whole thing cost over three grand and is worth
every penny. The rig consists of an mBox 2, Line
6 POD, M-Audio Midi Controller, BX5A Monitors,
Intel Core 2 Quad (1 Terabyte of HD Space), 20in
LCD Monitor, and a PreSonus FP10 aka FirePOD. The
software that we are running is ProTools LE and
Cubase 4, both with BFD. The computer is amazingly
fast. Special thanks to Terri Tran and Real Cardinal
for all there help pulling it together, you guys
rock!
So there you have it, that's what we have been
up to; building a Studio of our own. Now that that
is done and over with we can finally get back to
working on the new album, the plan is to release
the album some time this year followed by a tour
of Western Canada.
:)
Shane Lamotte
Living Illusion
shane@livingillusion.com
9th November
2007 - Long Time, No Music!
I
figure it's been far to long since an update on Living
Illusion so here it is. Things have slowed down quite
a bit with the live show and recording aspects of
the band since the summer... and because of this,
I've decided to buy my own studio in order to get things
moving forward in full force again. The recording
gear will not only help move things along quickly
but it will also give us the convenience of recording
new music on whatever, whenever we please.
In addition,
I will be posting video blogs to track the progress
of recording and share thoughts on the process.
I think it will be good to have constant video
content posted, other than just text and audio.
The video bloging is just one of the many future
additions to the website which also include a possible
sleek re-design.
With all
that said, we're still in the process
of finishing the second album. Things are going...
slowly... but it will be awesome to finish. For
the production of the album we will be working
with Terry Tran and Real Cardinal (Search them
on Myspace if you're interested to see who they
are and who they have worked).
For some thing new and exciting, you can
check out our You Tube page http://www.youtube.com/livingillusion and watch 5 new videos, including a backstage look
at the Econoline Crush show.
So leave a comment,
send me an email shane@livingillusion.com and just
plain keep in touch.
Hope all is well in your neck of
the woods.
Thanks for the support!
:)
Shane Lamotte
Living Illusion
shane@livingillusion.com
18th July 2007
- Time for an Update!
I can't beleive that this year has
gone by so fast, it's already half way through July
and the summer is in full swing. How's your 2007
been going? Anything new and exciting? I think to
the outside world it seems like this year has been
going a lot slower for the band than usual, but I
assure you that is not the case.
After the many email
requests in the last couple weeks for an update on
what's been going on with Living Illusion, I figured
it was time to sit down and write. So, here I go.
Initially about a year ago I wanted to have our 2nd
album done by the end of May 2007... Well, that didn't
happen. Wishful thinking more than any thing else
I guess.
Now it's July,
and essentially here's where everything stands:
We have currently written and recorded rough
cuts for 18 new songs. Of these 18 we will be
picking 13-15 tracks that will make it to the
final cut. The songs for the final cut will all
be Re-Recorded & Produced to ensure we get
the sound quailty we're looking for.
At this point, our CD Release Date is going
to be some where in the Fall/Winter 2007. Once we
get the CD done, we're going to be getting some
music videos together along with a Western Canada
tour to get the new music out there. Hopefully
we'll be in your area so you can come and check
us out.
As we have been working on the new album
non stop we haven't really gotten out to play many
live shows this year. With that said we do have a
couple shows that we will be playing August long
weekend.
The shows that we have booked are as follows:
On Friday August
3rd we will be playing in St Paul AB. We're going back to
one of our favorite small albertan towns to play at The Loft.
These guys know how to party and we always have a great
time.
On Saturday August
4th we will be playing in Edson AB at, and I
quote, "the largest permanent
beer garden structure we know to exist anywhere".
We're going to be playing for over 272 Baseball
teams with roughly 20 players a team (you do the
math). It's gonna be one of our biggest and best
shows to date. We're the only live entertainment
for the night and the show is open to any one old
enough to get into the Beer Gardens.
Feel free to
come on out and rock with us.
:)
And as always drop me a line any time, keep in touch,
and I hope your having a great summer (or winter
if you live in Australia).
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
3rd April 2007
- We're Opening for Econoline Crush! I just got off the phone
with a concert promoter in Edmonton and it is official,
Living Illusion is going to be opening for Econoline
Crush. The show will be at the Starlite Room in
Edmonton, Alberta on April 16th, 2007. I can't
even begin to explain how excited I am for this
show; it's going to be awesome! For those of you
who don't know, Econoline Crush is an industrial
alternative rock band from Vancouver, Canada
formed in 1992. They have a Gold Record and are
most known for their singles "Make
It Right", "All That You Are" & "You
Don't Know What Its Like". They were also
featured on the Much Music compilation album Big
Shiny Tunes. So with that said, if
you live in or around Edmonton, Alberta I would
suggest you make your way out and come see this
show, hell if you don't live in or around Edmonton
I suggest you come out to this show, it's going
to rock! You'll get to hear some new Living Illusion
tunes and rock out to some of Canada's best bands. Econoline Crush with Living Illusion at the Starlite
Room in Edmonton, Alberta on April 16th, 2007.
Call Ticket Master for tickets: 780-451-8000. Now that that's out of
the way, in other news, so far we have completed
tracking roughly 10 tracks for our upcoming album,
another 3 - 4 tracks and we will be finished pre-production.
After that we'll be kicking things into double
time and using all of the best equipment available
to re-record all the songs and get an amazing high-end
sound. This next album is going to be amazing. That's all for now, but
hey, don't be a stranger! Drop me an email some
time and say hi. I respond to all my emails and
enjoy connecting with people. Sincerely,
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
14
February 2007–Living Illusion on CityTV, plus more …
Watch the interview here:
http://www.citytv.com/edmonton/yourcity_40717.aspx
It feels like just yesterday it was
the beginning of the New Year, hard to believe that we're
already a month and a half into 2007. None the less, the
band has been hard at it in the studio recording new material
and getting ready for the release of our 2nd album
coming out this summer. With over 9 new songs recorded
and bunch more on the way, this year is turning out
to be very gratifying and successful even though we
havent been out touring.
Synchronicity also happens
to be on our side this year and it's already showing up in
the form of a Television interview with Edmonton's CityTV
(a CHUM Network). Because of our efforts over the last few
years we have been fortunate enough to catch the eye of a
local broadcaster whom decided to do a piece on us and on
what it takes to be an independent band trying to cut and
album and make it in the music industry.
The interview took
place at our recording studio in Edmonton and gives
a great look at the 'behind the scenes', from the challenges
and difficulties to the time spent getting all the
pieces together. The segment will be awesome :) and
will also show a sneak peek at some of our new material
that's in the works.
The story is going to be running
on Thursday, February 15th 2007, on Edmontons CityTV at
6:30PM during the "yourCity" show.
Also, as a side note, if you
dont get CityTV in your area I will be posting the interview
on the Living Illusion website in the following weeks to
come.
With that said, be sure to check out our website at:
http://www.livingillusion.com/
And add yourself as a friend
to our myspace page at:
http://www.myspace.com/livingillusion
Keep on Rockin!
Sincerely,
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
4 December 2006 – Live
Concert Footage! Check this out…
As the year of 2006 is slowly coming to an
end I figured, why not reminisce a little about the last
365 days and maybe even give you a little early holiday present,
Living Illusion style :)
In
the last year, we played over 24 shows, spanning across
1500 kilometers, meeting tons of other bands and getting
to know some great fans. Our first album (self-titled)
received independent radio airplay across Canada and
even made it to the top of some of the hard rock charts.
It has been an amazing time for the band and we wouldn’t
change it for the world.
With that said, I have got a present
for you! Last week after a writing/recording session
the band and I decided it was time to go through all
of our concert footage and find some really good live
videos to post on the site. We went through about 6 hours
of footage and found our favorite segments to share.
I know that some of you have never had an opportunity
to see us play live, so hopefully these will help you
share in the experience of being there.
Press below to check
out the footage now:
http://www.livingillusion.com/fan.asp
Also,
as a side note, in the following weeks we will be hitting
the studio to get moving on pre-production for our next
album. The majority of it has already been written and
now it’s time to start recording. It’s
very exciting to be getting back into the studio to cut
a 2nd album!
Be sure to check out the new videos and drop
me an email to tell me what you think. Thanks again for
all the support.
Keep on Rockin!
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
10 November 2006 – Snow
Anyone? Writing & Recording
update…
So two weeks ago I was
in Halifax, Nova Scotia checking out the music scene
and enjoying the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful
plus 15 degrees Celsius outside and for the end of
October it was damn nice. Then 8 hours, 4 coffees,
3 movies, and 2 plane rides later I ended up back
home in Edmonton, with a car under half a foot of
snow and nothing to clear it off. Awe, beautiful
Canada, I guess I should be used to it by now.
Now
that I’m
back from my East Coast journey, the band and I
have kicked our writing sessions up a notch. Getting
together multiple times a week has paid off as
we now have over 8 new songs written and a bunch
more on the way. The next step is to head into
the studio and get all the songs recorded for pre-production.
On
this new album we will be using a lot more unique
sounds and styles to give the album the full depth
and dynamic that it deserves. Many diverse ideas
have been floating around and we intend to push beyond
the boundaries & traditions
of the hard rock music industry. To say the least
it is coming together very nicely and will be a
testament to our growth and evolution over the
last year and a half.
As our new songs
become completed we will be sure to give you a
preview before the rest of the world gets to hear
:) Other things to note; I have added more show
reviews on our websites Tour page and have added
more articles to my Blog section. We’re
still working on pulling some video clips for you
to view from our previous shows; they should be up
soon.
Every day is busy and our fans like you grow
ever day. Thanks for the support and feel free
to drop me an email any time.
Sincerely,
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
22 September 2006 -
New Album, Holiday Season & More...
Where does the time
go? Who thought Christmas 2006 would be coming
so soon. I guess we all have to be prepared for
the intense amount of holiday commercials headed
our way over the next few months. Halloween, Thanks
Giving, Xmas, Boxing Day, New Years… I’m
just glad I gave up cable television last year. Any
way, how are you doing? The band is doing very well;
we have started working on new material in the recording
studio and have lots of ideas down.
It’s nice to be back in the studio and to take
a break from touring. Recording in the studio is definitely
a nice change of pace. Our goal for this fall is to
complete 3 high end songs which will be released as
a Demo around Christmas time. That way you’ll
be able to check out our new sound while we continue
working on our full album to be released in summer
2007.
Also, for this upcoming
holiday season, I have discounted all of our merchandise,
including t-shirts, hoodies, bumper stickers, and
everything else. You can save any where from 25 – 40%.
You should definitely go to http://www.livingillusion.com/merch.asp,
scroll down the page, and check out and/or pick up
something that you like. It can be purchased online
and will be sent to you as soon as your order comes
in (See what I mean about all of the holiday commercials).
Other
than that, over the next couple weeks, I will be
adding more stories on our websites tour page and
adding more articles to my blog. In the near future,
we plan to have some clips of new songs up on the
site and plan to edit all of our live concert video
footage into a nice video for you to watch. Even
though we’re
not touring right now we’re still busy as ever
getting our music out to the world.
Check out our website
at:
http://www.livingillusion.com/
Until next time, drop
me a line, say hello and don’t
be a stranger.
Sincerely,
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
16
August 2006 - Summer is Almost Over! And
to think the summer is almost over, kind of depressing
actually. But what can I say, it has been a decent summer,
the band is busier than it’s ever been and gigging
has really paid off. Getting phone calls from venues
and promoters requesting us to play for them is a very
good sign; it shows that the word is spreading and that
we’re well on our way towards accomplishing our
goals. By the end of the summer we will have played more gigs
than I can count with my shoes on. With all the different
events taking place with our name on the bill the band
has hardly had a single weekend off. I must inform you
though, after August (and the first weekend in September)
we will be slowing down with our touring and taking some
much needed time to work on new material. In September Jason and I will begin writing and recording
some amazing new material; our goal is to have a new album
ready for release within a year. We will put some clips
up on the site of the new material and possibly release
a demo this winter with a few tracks on it. Needless to
say our upcoming music will be very evolved. Last
night we played at the new Sidetrack Café in
Edmonton, it’s a very nice venue. After our show,
the booking manager came up to the band and told us that “You
guys [Living Illusion] are one of the best new rock bands
in the city”. Coming from him was really cool considering
the Sidetrack Café is considered one of the best
venues for independent bands in Western Canada. On that note, I think you should come see us play at one
of our upcoming gigs :). We will be playing in Edson Alberta
on Friday the 18th (this weekend) at 9:00PM for there town
festival, then on Friday the 1st of September we will be
playing at the Kings Knight Pub and on Saturday the 2nd
we will be playing at the Rock at the Ranch festival in
Rangeton, Alberta. Well,
there’s not too much else to report other
than the fact that I will be adding some more show reviews
and blog articles to the website. We’re still working
on pulling together some live video footage from the last
20 shows that we played to post on the site so hopefully
we can get it up soon. Hope you have been enjoying the summer :) Happy and Fulfilled, Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
09 August 2006 - New Material!! Ok. Usually Shane makes these
little news updates, but im bored as hell, so here
i am. Although I have absolutely nothing interesting
to report, im sure i can fill in this little news diary
thing thing... I guess maybe this should be in the
blog section? ahh screw it.
uhhh.......ALL OF YOU COME TO OUR SHOWS!!! lol. As
you can see we are playin the NEW Sidetrack on the
15th of August. I havent seen it yet, but, im guessing
its better than it used to be. It
better be im tellin ya. ummm... yeah...we rock,
so, its a good 5 bucks spent. trust me. And as far as NEW TUNES go, as always, they are a work in progress. and for you metal heads and Progressive fans out there, you'll be happy i guarentee it. Our new material is HEEAAVVYY. and i love where it is headed. when i get a good mixdown and vocal tracks complete, ill post a little teaser clip.
but anyways, thanks for stopping by.
heres me, signing off.
Jay.
17 July 2006 - Rock Festivals:
Join Us This Summer! So we didn’t win the Stripdown contest, but
we’re still very happy that we we’re selected
and competed in one of Edmonton’s only band showcases.
The contacts that we made at the event, be it other
bands or business contacts, are priceless. We have
already started to get invites to other events because
of it. Thanks again for voting. Things have been pretty
crazy the last couple of weeks, organizing shows,
booking the band, and promoting are very time consuming.
Jason and I have been hitting the studio on a weekly
basis to record new material and I must admit it’s going very well. At the
pace we’re going we will have an entire second
album of material by this winter. We currently have 5
upcoming gigs in the next month and a half. All of
the rock festivals in Alberta have been inviting
us to come out and join them, it’s
very exciting. Although because of these requests our
BC tour is not going to be happening this summer as
planned. To see all of our upcoming tour dates press below:
http://www.livingillusion.com/tour.asp Also I have been writing
little reviews of all of our gigs, with stories of
what happened. If you’re
interested in reading them they can be found on our
tour page listed above. As a side note, there may possibly
be a show at The Bluff in Kelowna with Lynyrd Skynyrd
if we win our next battle of the bands at the Trans
Alta Theatre. So on that note, come out and join us for some live
entertainment. If you live in Alberta we have lots
of shows coming up and I expect to see you at all of
them... hehe... well at least one of them. Take care and have an excellent day :) Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
17 Jun
2006 - Stripdown Showcase Concert!
Well
every one we’ve successfully
made it into the “Stripdown” showcase event
happening next week at REDs in Edmonton. We are going
to be in competition for a wack load of prizes against
15 other bands. Prizes include getting one of our songs
played on 100.3 The Bear, playing in front of 20,000
people in Calgary and much much more. Thanks for all
the help by voting for us, we couldn’t have done
it with out you! Now that you’ve voted, you should come out and
join us at Reds in West Edmonton Mall on Wednesday
June 21st to see us compete in the “Stripdown” showcase.
There will be the best Independent Bands in Edmonton
competing for first place. It should be an awesome
night of music. Show starts at 6:00PM and goes till
Midnight. I hope to see you there :) Some other things going
on are that we are going to be playing in Terrace,
BC on July 30th, last weekend we won our second battle
of the bands, Jason and I have been keeping busy
working on lots of new material, we have watched
more Oiler’s hockey than ever
and we have also written a bunch of new blog articles
for you to read too. Again, if you want to give me a hand with promotions,
know of any bands, and want to help booking gigs or
any thing of the sort for our BC Tour call me (Shane)
at 780-904-7625 or email me at shane@livingillusion.com. Thanks for all the support guys and I look forward
to seeing you all soon! Check out the new blog articles at:
http://www.livingillusion.com GO OILERS GO!! Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
07 June
2006 - We Need Your
Help!
We
need your help! There is an amazing event going on
in Edmonton called “Stripdown” which could possibly
get us a spot on the Vans Warped Tour in Calgary! In order
for us to be accepted into the event we need YOU to Vote
for us online. It only takes a minute to do. Here’s
how:
Go to the following link
http://www.thesoundradio.com/artist/livingillusion and press on the button that says “Press Here to
Vote [Stripdown]” (left hand side of page).
Once you press on the Vote button it will re-direct you
to sign-up to The Sound Radio (you must sign up in order
for your vote to count). Once you have signed up go back
to our artist page at http://www.thesoundradio.com/artist/livingillusion and press on the Vote button again.
Follow the instructions from there and you will be good
to go! Thanks in advance :)
Other than that… Let’s see here… Oh
yah! This weekend the band is playing on Friday Night June
9th at the Westbury Theatre (10330 - 84 Avenue) followed
by an outdoor free concert on Saturday Night June 10th
(9624 – 108ave). It shall be a busy show weekend
for us so come out and join us at our gigs!
All in all, the entire
band is doing good, working hard and keeping busy. We
have been planning out our Lower BC Mainland/Vancouver
Island Tour and it looks as though it will be going from
August 19th – August 31st. Nothing
is in stone yet but those are the dates we are shooting
for.
If you want to give me a hand with promotions, finding
bands, booking gigs, or any thing of the sort for our Tour
call me (Shane) at 780-904-7625 or email me at shane@livingillusion.com.
Hope your doing great and if you ever want to chat feel
free to drop me a line. Take care and have an awesome day!
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
17 May 2006 - Victory
Is Mine (Ours) :) Plus TV, Concerts & More... How’s it going? Things
here in Edmonton are going great! On Saturday we participated
in a Battle of the Bands and out of the 7 bands competing
we rose to the top and took home 1st place! The judging
was done by the local radio station and news paper. We
won enough studio time to record our next album, which
will possibly commence this winter.
Other new things include… Our acoustic song “Long
Road” (Track 11) was recently featured on the Waxfoot
Surf Show on The Santa Cruz Channel, in California (go
to the website to watch the video segment)! The website
also has some new pictures, blog entries, and a new band
bio. We’re also planning to add some live footage
from a couple of our shows to the site soon :).
Last, as always we’re out playing lots of gigs so
if you want to come check us out we are playing at the
Starlite Room (10030 – 102st) in Edmonton on Thursday
the 18th of May. Show starts at 9:00PM. Come on down and
party with us!
Well I think that’s
all for now, but be sure to check out the new content
on the website.
Press below to watch the LI Segment of the Waxfoot Surf
Show:
http://www.livingillusion.com/music.asp
Press below for tour information:
http://www.livingillusion.com/tour.asp
Press below to access the Living Illusion Website:
http://www.livingillusion.com
Have a great week and an excellent day!
Shane Lamotte
shane@livingillusion.com
After silence, that which
comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. – Aldous
Huxley
26 Apr 2006 -
Update: Music, contest, tour & more..
What’s new? Here in Alberta the sun is shining
and the weather is great… and hey, the snows all
gone!! :) So any way, I wanted to let you know about a
couple things you may be interested in:
1) There are now full length LI tracks available for you
to listen to, go to http://www.thesoundradio.com/artist/livingillusion
to hear them.
2) We are playing a NO COVER CHARGE gig at the Kingsknight
Pub (9221-34ave - Edmonton, Ab) tomorrow night, Doors at
7:00PM (we start after the Oilers Hockey game) April 27th
2006. Call me at 780-904-7625 if you want a promo ticket
for 1 complimentary drink.
3) The winner of this months’ Tell-a-Friend
about LI contest is KEITH HART of Edmonton. The contest
is still going on and I will announce a new winner every
month, so tell every one you know about us to win a CD!
Go to http://www.livingillusion.com/tellafriend.asp to
enter today.
4) As of the week before
last every HMV in Canada has been carrying our CD. On
that note, if you don’t
have our CD yet go down to HMV and pick up a copy! NOW!
LOL :)
I think that’s about
everything going on right now. I should have some live
concert footage on the site soon, hopefully along with
some BC tour dates. For further updates go to http://www.livingillusion.com.
Thanks for your continued support, and be sure to keep
on rockin!
Sincerely,
Shane Lamotte
http://www.livingillusion.com
PS Drop me an email sometime. |
