Half the band left, so we're now operating with a new drummer, bassist, trombone and trumpet player. I have to tell ya, for a band that changed more than half it's line-up, we got pretty damn tight pretty damn fast!

We've done four shows in the last four months:

First one was just J-M, Mel, Trevor and I at the House of Reggae. We did a decent job, but the whole thing did sound very incomplete. Headlining band The Greens did a really great reggae set.

Two months after our last show with a full line-up, we returned with a fresh sound, seven-strong on the stage, at L'Absynthe, for a benifit show to help finance the first Montreal Ska Festival. Even though most people were sitting down all through our set, I think we made a statement that night: We belong here! Playing after us were two totally awesome bands: Take the Boys and Danny Rebel & the KGB. Both bands did awesome sets, as always, and everybody went home happy.

The following show was in front of our largest crowd yet at L'Hemisphère Gauche. La Faute des Autres opened the show with a cool, mellow set. We went on second and rocked the joint as hard as we could. I think we did a really good job of warming up the crowd for headliners K-Man & the 45's, who, in my opinion, have one of the most solid sets and stage shows in the scene right now. Montreal ska queen The Fabulous Lolo even joined them on baritone sax for a couple of songs. After the show, we hung out with Lolo, K-Man and two of the 45's, one of which was passed out on the sidewalk after having too much happy juice.

In the meantime, we got a new song rolling called The Bouncing Wolves and recorded eight tracks for a demo. We're currently mixing the whole thing and hopefully, it will be available for our next show, along with some new patches.

We also went to a lot of great ska shows, the most notable of which were the three nights of the ska fest. Seriously, if you haven't gone this year, you HAVE to go next year. All-star ska line-up, 15 hours of skanking in 3 days... what more could you ask for? We got to talk with most of the bands after their sets and just had to congratulate each and every one of them, because they all did really great jobs of making this first edition of the fest a success. Melanie and I volunteered to help organise the whole thing. In fact, you will soon be able to see my franco-blog on www.montrealskafestival.ca.

Our last show was at the Piranha bar. Les Happycuriens opened the night. I'm disapointed to have missed their set, as Melanie and I went to grab a bite, but I was told they were very good and I'm looking forward to playing with them again. The Buttmuffins came on next, being their usual loud, fast selves. Good set, but a thinning crowd. In fact, by the time we went on stage there were only seven people left. I guess they can't all be easy. Patrick was back behind the mixing board and did the best he could with the crappy equipment he had to work with. Nobody could even see us play because all of the stage lights were out of order... the venue has potential, but they need to buy some new equipment!

Anywho, I'll try not to wait another four months before writing another journal entry.

Cheers!

Mick.