Two undead snakes in the studio

The soundtrack is getting ever closer to completion. Andre Ethier and Andrew Gunn, formerly of The Deadly Snakes, just finished recording a dirty, bluesy, garage rock track called Self Lovin. This was the first time when I specifically asked an artist to write something for a particular scene. Andre had seen an earlier cut of the film and I asked if he could come up with a dirty rock n' roll tune more akin to his work in The Deadly Snakes.

I arrived 45 minutes into the session and they head already finished the bed tracks and vocals. By the time I was ready to take a few pictures they had also finished 2nd guitar track. They were moving at ninja speed! In one take they lay down the keyboards and then we went for lunch at Sneaky Dee's while did a rough mix. After lunch we listened to the mix a few times and voila! It was done.

That was officially the fastest recording session I've ever witnessed.

(Andre Ethier listening to playback while recording Self Lovin')

The soundtrack tracklist (in rough chronological order based on where it appears in the film) looks something like this:

Mountainside by EMILIE MOVER
Big Smoke by BRYAN WEBB (The Constantines)
Kennedy Killed the Hat Re-Mix by BUCK 65
Self Lovin by ANDRE ETHIER
Jane Station by THE GHOST IS DANCING
Flying Cars by THE GHOST IS DANCING
Currently Untitled by SHAD
We Want What's Right by SUNPARLOUR PLAYERS
Feel The Rise by SEBASTIEN GRAINGER & JEWISH LEGEND
Bless This City by SUNPARLOUR PLAYERS
Positive People by BRYAN WEBB

+ two tracks still to be recorded by FEMBOTS and AMY MILLAN.


(Andrew Gunn listening to playback of Self Lovin')

My first press conference

At long last we can finally announce that our film, This Beautiful City, has officially been accepted to the Toronto International Film Festival. And we are absolutely thrilled!

Tuesday was the official press conference announcing the Canadian films at TIFF. I had no idea what to expect and didn't want to get my hopes up. I didn't know if we would get any coverage (especially when David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen were on hand for interviews for their film).

But our publicity team (VK) rocked. They ended up getting us 6-7 interviews, far more than I had imagined. I thought we would have been lucky to get 2-3. It was a lot of fun seeing the cast together again in the same room. Aaron was shooting so he wasn't able to attend, but Caroline, Stu, Noam, Caroline, Kat, Lee and myself were there.

It was kind of insane getting a taste for what the festival itself will be like. I really need to make sure I don't get too caught up in free food and booze or I will quickly regain the 20 lbs I just lost!