Points Gray "Offshore" album release listening party at THEY LIVE VIDEO (4340 MAIN STREET) on FRIDAY, May 31th, 9 pm, album to be listened to at 10 pm and sold as well as art displayed, dj set by Sipreano (who wrote the liners) and a midnight candlelight recitation by The Canadian Romantic !
Come celebrate this down beat record (with MP3 download code)!
In Vancouver, BC during the late 90s Robert Dayton, Dan Bejar and Julian Lawrence recorded an album called "Offshore" under the name Points Gray. This is an album that the three of them are proud of even these years later. It has never been released on vinyl. In fact it has never been released in its' entirety!
But now it has!
The late 90s in Vancouver were an interesting and artistically exciting time.
Julian and Robert were going full steam with their act July Fourth Toilet, Canada's wildest and most unpredictable band ever with a mandate of no two shows the same and were in the midsts of recording their first album, an album where they wanted people to feel loved. And Robert had not yet started work in the comedic song and dance duo Canned Hamm.
Dan had released the second album "City Of Daughters" by his act Destroyer and he had just begun playing in the band The New Pornographers.
Robert approached Dan saying that acid folk music is long forgotten -oh, if only they knew what was to come a few years later, if only, though they were too unique to ever fit in anyways- and it would be good to give it a melodramatic downer damage vibe to suit all the intense lyrics that he had. Work was begun in earnest and it all seemed to flow easily and freely from the two of them. Julian joined them to provide important atmosphere with electric guitar, banjo, keys and samples and such.
It certainly has a distinctive quality and is rather unlike most albums.
They played only one show under the unfortunate monicker of AIDS- hey, it was the end of the 90s! No one had thought to put that unpleasant word in a bandname back then! They changed the name to Points Gray as they wanted something honest and direct that would not overshadow the music.
The album was recorded by Mark Gabriel at Method Studios engineered by July Fourth Toilet member Mark Gabriel.
It really informed their later work, certainly for Robert with the acts Canned Hamm, Hallmark, and Wet Dirt and for Dan with his This Night album.
With this LP Robert, who is also a visual artist, has designed a brand new cover using pen and ink and washes, it comes with a lyric and art booklet, quality mastering done by Josh Stevenson who always does an incredible job, he had previously mastered such things as a Destroyer reissue and the second July Fourth Toilet album as well as recording such acts as Sex Church.
With liner notes by Kevin "Sipreano" Howes who is neck-deep in a wide range of multimedia projects designed to preserve criminally undocumented Canadian music history. His reissue work w/ Seattle-based Light In The Attic on the Jamaica To Toronto series, Doug Randle, Sixto Rodriguez, Monks, and Motown's Mowest label has been featured in MOJO, Rolling Stone, Pitchforkmedia, The New York Times, The Globe & Mail, CBC, BBC, and NPR.
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