Sorry for the late notice folks...

Jason Nowicki is hitting the road again, this time with side Perps Brad Ferguson on bass (Modelos/Bradley) and Ken Mcmahon on the skins (Sue Foley/Rockin' Highliners). In keeping with every Perpetrators show, you'll feel like you were fed happy sandwiches with a side of mayhem. It will be rockin' and fun.

Black Diamond Hotel, Black Diamond AB - May24

Rose and Crown - Banff, AB -  May 26-27

Lorenzo's Cafe - Enderby, BC - May 28

Blue Grotto, Kamloops, BC -  May 29-30

The Yale, Vancouver, BC - June 5-6

Tickets available at the door, day of show.

Heather here, aka Shawzy. I've been the bands Fanager (fan+manger) for the past 5 years. we still haven't found a agent for the band, so I'm also the Magent (manager+agent). I've recently become the (Pubager). I manage them from a pub, with my face buried in a pint...JOKES!!!

With Ryan's departure, (insert sound of sniffing and whining) I'm now learning bass. JOKES again! Truth is, his subtle yet powerful presence on and off the stage isn't easy to replace. So, we haven't just yet. I am however taking over the blogs/updates for now. Pubager = publicist + manager.

Jason is a slay monster. While you might not hear any bass at the Perps shows these days, his amazing playing and gorgeous guitar tone will make you take a second look. The duo format with Chopper (Chris Carmichael) on the drums, and guitar will leave you feeling like you were punched, tickled and then hugged. People have been raving about this show since the start of their tour in February. Check it out before there is a bass player back in the band!!!

TONIGHT and every Wednesday for the month of April:

The Dakota Tavern. Go early, eat the amazing food then get down with The Perps. The Perps have the honor of opening for two of Toronto's best bands at the Dakota this month, I'll tell you who and when soon!

Here are the rest of the shows/dates for April.

1 Apr The Dakota Tavern
2 Apr The Rainbow Bistro
3 Apr The Green Room
4 Apr Le Zaricot
5 Apr Le Bal du Lizard
8 Apr The Dakota Tavern
9 Apr The Boathouse
10 Apr Phog Lounge
11 Apr Private Houseparty
12 Apr The Hollywood
15 Apr The Dakota Tavern
16 Apr The Boathouse
22 Apr The Dakota Tavern
23 Apr The Boathouse
24 Apr The Bristol Place Pub
25 Apr Trinty Lounge
28 Apr The Horseshoe Tavern
29 Apr The Dakota Tavern
30 Apr The Boathouse

Sorry for the short notice...More news coming your way soon. Until then, stay cool!

Heather

Some of you may've heard it through the grapevine but to many of you this will probably come as a complete surprise. I am leaving the Perpetrators. J and Chris Carmichael will be rockin' as a duo. Having so much time at home these last coupla months has made it abundantly clear to me: I need to be not touring right now. I need to be home. People change, priorities change; such is life, however private or public it may be.

To answer a few questions of your questions beforehand...

- Yes, the Perps rock and it was a lot of fun to be in the band. They will continue to rock and to provide the soundtrack to some of the best nights of your life, and they will continue making kick-ass records. I still think they're a totally cool f**kin' band and I'm sure you will, too.

- Yes, I will continue making music. I've just had my fill of life on the road for now.

- Yes, I still love you and wish everybody nothing but the best,
Ry

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Alberta

3:30pm Feb. 18th - Edmonton, AB - Live on K-Rock's "The Drive" with Rob Berg(97.3FM)
Feb. 19th - Edmonton, AB - The Pawn Shop
Feb. 20th - Nanton, AB - Auditorium Hotel
Feb. 21th - Calgary, AB - Mikey's Juke Joint & Eatery
Feb. 22nd (4 p.m.)- Black Diamond, AB - Black Diamond Hotel
Feb. 24th & 25th - Banff, AB - The Rose & Crown
Feb. 26th - Canmore, AB - The Canmore Hotel
Feb. 27th & 28th - Lethbridge, AB - The Slice

The U.S.A.
Mar. 7th - Bozeman, MT - The Filling Station
Mar. 11th - Laramie, WY - Buckhorn Bar
Mar. 12th - Denver, CO - Lincoln's Roadhouse
Mar. 13th (noon) - Live on KRFC Radio - Ft. Collins, CO
Mar. 13th - LaPorte, CO - Swing Station
Mar. 14th - Arvada, CO - Jake's Roadhouse
Mar. 18th to 21st - Austin, TX - South x Southwest
Mar. 26th - Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads

Back in Canada
April 1st - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern
April 2nd - Ottawa, ON - The Rainbow Bistro
April 4th - Ste. Hyacinthe, PQ - Le Zaricot
April 8th - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern
April 9th - Kitchener, ON - The Boathouse
April 10th - Windsor, ON - The Phog Lounge
April 11th - house concert
April 15th - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern
April 16th - Kitchener, ON - The Boathouse
April 22nd - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern
April 23rd - Kitchener, ON - The Boathouse
April 28th - Toronto, ON - The Horseshoe Tavern
April 29th - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern
April 30th - Kitchener, ON - The Boathouse
May 8th & 9th - Winnipeg, MB - Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club

They will have copies of the new album, "Live at the High & Lonesome Club". Also, Chris Carmichael has just released his self-titled debut album. I love it; it's a thing of beauty and you should really own that, too.


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oops...
When you get your hands on your copy of the new album, you may notice there is no "credits" section. Len Milne is mentioned in the liner notes and the three Perps playing on the recording (J, Ry, MAMA) are introduced between songs but we neglected to give credit to Scott Pinder at Polyphonic Mastering Labs, a big part of the reason why the album sounds so good. Hopefully this will get Scott even more notice than a credit on the cd packaging would've. Anybody who's wondering what mastering really does should have an a/b listen to something before and after it's been to Polyphonic. He does really great work.

Scott Pinder at Polyphonic Mastering Labs
(204)478-0566
scpinder@home.com

THE PERPETRATORS - Live at the High and Lonesome Club

"The Perps. Saturday night. Times Change(d). What more could you want? Besides a record of the affair. Well, here it is. With chops finely honed by a billion jams, the blistering blues-rockers crank up and crank out a sweat-soaked set of two-fisted, hard-drinking originals, along with inspired covers like The Stones' Off the Hook. All that's missing is Jim Beam and a rubber chicken. Catch the band this weekend at you-know-where."

4 stars out of five

- Darryl Sterdan, The Winnipeg Sun, January 2009
Come get your copy at your choice of either the 7pm or 11pm shows, Friday and Saturday, January 30th & 31st at 234 Main Street.

As October rain drips from the sparse polychromatic leaves that still cling to their branches, snow and winter wait restlessly in the wings and things keep moving right along in Perpdom. We've logged relatively few stage hours these last few weeks, playing only three shows with original Perp, Chris Carmichael, on drums - Dryden; a concert at Debra's and Ken's gorgeous house in Cochenour, Ontario and the good ol' Brunkild Bar & Grill. Our days have been busy with the harvesting of tunage - writing new ones and bringing some 'oldies-and-almost-forgott....ies' out of the woodwork - to bring into the studio in February of '09. Stay tuned for some exciting news regarding the details of this next recording. For now, suffice to say that we are very excited with the new stuff and reasonably confident that fans of the first three records will be, too. Speaking of records, we now have copies of our fourth album, "Live at the High & Lonesome Club" in our little paws and will be selling them on our European tour. Canuck fans might hafta wait a bit for this one (I know, us Moose Jockeys always get the short end of the ol' hockey stick, especially in this half of the year but whaddyagonnado?). On the weekend of January 30th and 31st, we will be doing an official release at the place where the magic all happened back in July of '07. (If it makes you feel any better we will likely have not one but TWO new records the next time we hit many of our favourite Canadian haunts again so, if you look at it that way, you're pretty lucky, really. And, if you're finding the prospect of waiting that long really distressing, the live album should be available through CDBaby soon for online sales and downloads.)

This week, we're heading to the Western Canadian Music Awards in Edmonton where we will perform three shows with Scotty Hills (who played on the first two albums, and a dynamic singer and performer in his own right) behind the drumkit. On Thursday night, Oct. 16th, we will headline the showcase at the Starlite Room (which will be recorded by the CBC and air on Radio 2's Canada Live Saturday, Oct. 18th from 8-10pm). In what is sure to be a very special moment at the awards show itself on Sunday the 19th, we will share the stage with our good friends from Nokomis, Saskatchewan and fellow nominees, Little Miss Higgins. And, after the envelopes have all been opened and most of the fireworks have gone off, we will perform at the wind down party afterwards at the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel.

No rest in sight; after a weekend at our home base, we hop across the pond again to celebrate the release of "The Perpetrators Live at the High & Lonesome Club" with our fourth European tour, this time with Canada's legendary bluesman and Stony Plain recording artist, Big Dave McLean, onboard.

Tour Send-Off Party
Oct. 24 & 25 - Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Perpetrators and Big Dave McLean in Europe "No Shame Tour 2008"
Oct. 28 - Verviers, Belgium - Spirit of 66
Oct. 30 - Apeldoorn, Netherlands - Blues Café
Nov. 1 - Duisburg, Germany - The Red Rooster
Nov. 3 - Detmold, Germany - Kaiserkellar
Nov. 5 - Celle, Germany - Herzog Ernst
Nov. 7 - Diest, Belgium - Borderline
Nov. 10 - Lille, France - MJC-St.André
Nov. 13 - Schweinfurt, Germany - Tapas


December 31st celebrate a High & Lonesome New Year's Eve with us, Nathan and the gang from Times at a yet-to-be-named venue. And remember, you don't necessarily hafta be high or lonesome (or various strains, variations and combinations thereof) to be welcome.

As always thanks for all of your support as we negotiate the twists and turns of this crazy business of trying to sculpt and whittle the stuff of our dreams into some kind of viable financially-rewarding business enterprise. It's been a long strange trip already with no view of it getting boring from what we can see coming up on the horizon. See you down the road and best wishes until then.

We would like, once again, to thank Chris "MAMA" Bauer for all of his contributions to the band and to wish him all the best in his future endeavors - Rock-related or otherwise. Also, thanks to everybody else who was in any measure or fashion a part of our last Ontario/Quebec tour, be it in the clubs, at the festivals or elsewhere. People like Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland (who once again entrusted us with their place), Rick and Marilyn Clarke, and likely you (you know who you are). Some highlights: at Trout Forest, clouds vapourizing in front of my eyes to reveal the clear blue sky while Righteous Ike plays... The New Meanies giving everybody a lesson in Rock, lit only by northern lights... and the food!; at Eaglewood, Trevor Mills putting us onstage for our first ever workshop with our brothers-in-arms fighting the good fight - bluegrass renegades, The D.Rangers... so many great musicians and people... and more vapourizing clouds; William et le gang at Zaricot in Ste. Hyacinthe (incidentally, recently named the safest city in Canada); our home in Toronto, the Dakota; and on and on.

Ladies and gentlemen, voting is open now but won't be for long for the Western Canadian Music Awards. You can vote for The Perpetrators for Outstanding Blues Recording and Outstanding Independent Album Award here


In order to cast your ballot, you must be a member of one of the following music industry associations:  Music BC, Alberta Music, SaskMusic, Manitoba Music, Music Yukon. If you're not a member, you may want to consider joining, as they offer many interesting workshops and networking opportunities. And of course I'm not saying this just to get you in so that you can vote for the Perps. Either way, have a very Happy Friday, everyone!

The music industry associations:

• Music BC

• Alberta Music Industry Assoc.

• Music Yukon

• Sask Music

• MARIA

The Perpetrators have made a difficult decision and parted ways with drummer, Chris "MAMA" Bauer. This will be a new beginning for everybody and we wish MAMA the best with his future and have absolutely no doubt that he will be successful with his music.

We are very pleased to announce that "Tow Truck" has been nominated for two Western Canadian Music Awards: Outstanding Blues Recording and Outstanding Independent Album. Thank you to Mr. Len Milne who produced the album with us, our intrepid manager, Ms. Heather Shaw, and everyone who has supported us. Come down to Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club this Friday and Saturday to celebrate with us. And remember, we are doing an early show (9:30 p.m. start, $7) and a late show (12:30 a.m. start, $10).

The awards will be given out Sunday, October 19th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Happy Monday, Folks!The Perps' only Winnipeg shows this summer will be this Friday and Saturday (August 1st and 2nd) at Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club. We'll be doing things a little bit differently: an early show (9:30 p.m. start, $7) and a late show (12:30 a.m. start, $10). Hopefully in this way we can accommodate everyone who needs a Perpetration fix. And we didn't come all the way back from Europe NOT to rock your socks off.

The following weekend we will start out August Ontario/Quebec tour in Ear Falls at the Trout Forest Music Festival. With Scott Nolan & Joanna Miller, Righteous Ike and his band, and the New Meanies on the bill, it's guaranteed to be almost way too much fun.

We are honoured and pleased as punch with all the attention we've been getting across the pond. This Wednesday, July 30th, there will be another Perpetrators' internet radio show hailing from Germany at 10 p.m. CET (3 p.m. CST, a.k.a. Winnipeg Time). Thank you, Carsten from MOD-Bluesmake (www.radio-comtogether.de) for putting it together. Listen here

August Urban and Timberland Tour of Ontario and Quebec
Aug 8-10 - Ear Falls, ON - Trout Forest Music Festival
Aug 13 - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern w/ Dodge Fiasco (EARLY SHOW: 9:30 start)
Aug 14 - Ottawa, ON - The Rainbow Bistro
Aug 15 - Montreal, PQ - L'Esco Bar
Aug - Ste. Hyacinthe - Le Zaricot
Aug 20 - Kitchener, ON - The Boathouse
Aug 22 - North Bay, ON - House Full of Blues Festival
Aug 23 & 24 - Pefferlaw, ON - Eaglewood Folk Festival (w/ the D.Rangers!)
Aug 27 - Pepper Jack Café - Hamilton, ON
Aug 28 - Kincardine, ON - Bruce Bar & Grill
Aug 29 - Toronto, ON - The Dakota Tavern
Aug 30 - Sarnia, ON - Trinity Lounge
Aug 31 - Windsor, ON - Phog Lounge

de Zomer in Europa
First of all, a huge shout-out from the band to our manager, Heather Shaw, for a seamless tour; to Johnny Mac for all his help; and welcome aboard to our new agent for Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) - Dominique Cranshoff. Here's to many good years to come.

We were back in Cara Van Halen's loving arms early the morning of July 2nd: to Regina to pick up Jason Plumb, a former Walton and a writer and singer of some seriously catchy-ass tunes (http://www.jasonplumb.com), and then on to Edmonton to meet up with Shawzy and the ever-inquisitive Mr. Karie Brown - our friend, roadie and about as pleasant a guy as you'd care to meet.

Our flight was drawn out a bit waiting for a replacement for the copilot who called in sick but a ray of sunshine in the form of Thilo Küppenbender picked us up at the Frankfurt airport in the wonderfully-named "Fahrtwind" (things can be gained in translation, too). Our initial wave of excitement being back in Europe was overpowered by the relentless Morpheus, the god of sleep, and Thilo's zombie passengers' heads bounced along in and out of sleep as the kilometers rolled by and we eventually reached the village of Isernhagen (just outside of Hannover, home of the Blues Garage, and bearing a very Tolkein-esque moniker) and Henry, Ramona and the family's newly-finished (and very cool, replete with antique radios in every room) Motel California. After dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant conveniently located across the street, everyone slept.

Twelve or so hours later, everyone awoke in excellent pre-show condition, jet lag wiped away with eye gunk, for a beautiful, sunny Saturday. Florian Damm joined us in the evening for a front porch chat. Jason Plumb played a great opening set, beginning three weeks of us all having his songs takeover our brains and we hit the stage to make some overdue rock.

We were Köln-bound (a.k.a. Cologne, sight of the breathtaking gothic Dom) the next day but, had we stuck around, MagaScene (the Hannover-area music magazine), suggested our friends, Twilight Hotel, as the musical event of the day (Yea for Winnipeg music!).

Monday we returned to Spirit of 66, Francis Geron's great music club in Verviers, Belgium, where our good friend, Dr. Boogie showed up with his friend, Philippe, a man who once had a surprisingly amiable Rick James (who could give Ike Turner a run in the Bad Reputation Department) stay in his home for four days and make a recording. The good doctor once again brought the beautiful '59 Gibson Les Paul that Alan Wilson (guitarist for Canned Heat), played at the Woodstock and Monterey Pop festivals. It feels so good to be coming back to these rooms and feeling something build.

Two nights in another old haunt, the Blues Café in Apeldoorn; our friendly proprietor, Jan, was even coaxed to sing "Stay Strong" on the mic from the bar and we got to see and stay with the one-of-a-kind "WOW!" Benno at the Bella Vista. On the second day Heather made us a lovely meal (a very welcome change to the European norm of cold cuts for two out of every three meals). Thanks to the very nice folks from bluesmeetsrock.nl for their support and for showing up to do a post-show interview (we'll let you know when airtime is approaching).

The tour then brought us to less-familiar ground, the Bourbon Street Blues Club in the Venice of the north, Amsterdam. 3 a.m. came mighty quick with so much energy flowing back at us from the stage (and from our honourary 'Perpette for the Day' cheerleaders onstage... yeah, life sucks).

No rest for the wicked, after a bit of sleep it was off to our first ever European festival and the cornerstone of our tour: the Belgian Rhythm & Blues Festival in Peer. We had way too much fun rocking out for the crowd of four-thousand. Here are some reviews of the show to check out. Not sure how your Flemish is but we're told the reviews are good... and there are pictures for the less linguistically-agile.

Perpetrators' Peer Pics and Reviews
Rootsville (Belgium) (click on Concert Reviews and BRBF PEER 2008)
Rootstime (Belgium) (click on Concert Reviews and BRBF PEER 2008 - Vrijdag)
Blues Breeker (Netherlands)
http://www.myspace.com/darthstijn photos by Darth Stijn

Then back to Amsterdam for two nights off, where the Fahrtwind rested in the quiet Schiphol airport Hilton parking lot while everybody did their own thing in a city that definitely does its own thing.

It was great to see Robert Collomb on the 20th anniversary of Rob & the No Goods' (soon to be renamed "The Blues Puppies" by Curtis Riddell) historic show at the Hi Neighbour Festival in the heart of scenic downtown Transcona, Manitoba, Canada.

We're lovin' the Tapas Bar in Schweinfurt madly. Michael and Kurt, provided plenty of fantastich food, beer and hugs. Shawzy captured some fine video of the guitarist for Burnout Syndrome rocking out with us that will likely surface some day in one form.

Some of the best food of the tour came at "the High & Lonesome Club of Germany", the Kaiserkellar in Detmold. Good times with Stefan, Jörg, Ulf, a few other familiar faces and plenty of new ones. From there it was up early to hit the road, bound for our second festival, the Blues & Jazz Rallye in the tiny country of Luxembourg.

Anyone who has the opportunity to should visit the gorgeous Luxembourg City. I felt like a kid (or a hobbit) climbing along the thousand-year-old walls of the city... peering through iron barred-lookout... watching bats fly across the full moon. A two-minute walk off the road packed with Rallye revelers and you are alone in a dense forest, only the music from the stages wafting through the trees to let on that you are not far away from civilization; truly something out of a fairy tale. After we had all fueled up on the tasty first of two tasty steak dinners, the rain clouds opened and laid a downpour on the city as we climbed the hill to our stage. Within half an hour the sky had cleared with a rainbow across the fleeing cloud and the sun shining over the castle across the valley and we had a great crowd for our show.

Then we bid adieu to the prairie-bound Jason Plumb before returning to Germany for our last show, opening for Eddy Kirkland at FZW in Dortmund. A few friends showed up, a few new fans were won (the solo dancing guy - very unusual in Germany - ruled!) and Sven on the board made us sound especially good. All in all, the tour was a big success and we eagerly await the end of October, when we'll return, along with our good friend, Big Dave McLean (who's new album, "Got 'Em From the Bottom" is a must-hear).

Thanks to Robert, Kathrin and Thilo (and Kirkwood, the wunderhund) from Gate to Hell Backline.

A little amendment from the last newsletter: Deborah Murray is the Alberta-based designer and the website should have been deborahmurray.com. Deborah Coleman is the blues singer/guitar player (who, coincidentally-enough, was recently on tour in Germany).

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Happy Sunday, folks!

The Perps' only Winnipeg shows this summer will be this Friday and Saturday (August 1st and 2nd) at Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club. We'll be doing things a little bit differently: an early show (9:30 p.m. start, $7) and a late show (12:30 a.m. start, $10). Hopefully in this way we can accommodate everyone who needs a Perpetration fix. And we didn't come all the way back from Europe NOT to rock your socks off.

The following weekend we will start out August Ontario/Quebec tour in Ear Falls at the Trout Forest Music Festival. With Scott Nolan & Joanna Miller, Righteous Ike and his band, and the New Meanies on the bill, it's guaranteed to be almost way too much fun.

We are honoured and pleased as punch with all the attention we've been getting across the pond. This Wednesday, July 30th, there will be another Perpetrators' internet radio show hailing from Germany at 10 p.m. CET (3 p.m. CST, a.k.a. Winnipeg Time). Thank you, Carsten from MOD-Bluesmake (www.radio-comtogether.de) for putting it together. Listen here: http://rct-on-air.de:8000/listen.pls

Stay tuned for a new blog with tales of our European adventures...