See us for free in August!

Hey kids!

August is gonna be a sizzler, with two amazing Elvyn shows in the sights... Peterborough will be rocked on August 13th with The Hunter St. Hootenanny bringing Hollerado, Cuff The Duke, The Spades and, of course Elvyn to the downtown core!

Then, on August 20th, join us with Amos The Transparent, Parks & Rec and The Fast Romantics at The Horseshoe Tavern FOR FREE by getting on the guest list! Click the image below to get it done!

So, soak up that sunshine and join us for some great shows at the whopping cost of zero dollars! See ya soon everyone!

Summer in the city!

Hey kids,

Wow, can't believe that NxNE has come and gone again! Thanks to Dan Burke, NeXT @ NxNE and the great crowd at The Silver Dollar, our festival was a blast.

The fantastic Chart Attack Magazine highlighted Elvyn on their controversial NxNE Report Card series this year, and we're proud to say we got the best review of the night! You can peep the whole thing by clicking here;

 

Recording is coming on nicely, and we're getting the artwork for the two part, 7" & LP combo all lined up with the great Rocket 57 Illustration from Ottawa. We're really jazzed on the music, and the collaboration with this awesome company should make these releases something super special!

Next on the live schedule, we'll be in Peterborough for the Hunter Street Hootenanny Festival, August 13th with Hollerado, Cuff The Duke, The Spades, The Wooden Sky and more!  We'll have more details and line-up times for ya'll really soon, but it could be one of the highlights of your summer!

Then we'll be back in Toronto to follow up on the NxNE destruction with a really special show at The Horseshoe on August 20th... You'll have to stay tuned for the line-up, but here's a hint... That's ignoramus Ezra Levant doesn't like them one bit. 

So, thanks for making our summer a great one, and we'll see you all really soon!

Busy times!

Hey everyone,

First of all, we want to say thanks for the amazing support we have received for The Decline and for the band over the last year or so... It's been a tremendous ride, and without people like Marc & The Still Winter Hills, The Flats, The Ethers, Craig & Collective Concerts, Jon Hall, The Dress Whites, Danny Burke, Steve Parkinson, Eli, Ryan Kemp, Pete Carmichael & The Diableros and our amazing fans and friends all over Europe, the States, Japan and Canada it wouldn't be nearly as sweet.

We've been quieter that normal for the last little while, as our focus has been on new songs and all the blood, sweat and tears that go along with getting them down on tape.  We've pulled out all the stops to bring you all our best music to date, and we can't wait to share it with you!

We'll be releasing a limited edition 7" late summer of 2011, and following it up with a full-length album in early 2012. We're very excited to be putting these out with a real focus on making them as cool and collectible as possible! There are so many great ways to get all you guys new music, like special one-off pressings, coloured vinyl, secret downloads etc. So make sure that you keep your ears to the ground as we ramp up toward these releases over the coming months!

A special thank-you has to go out to the awesome bloggers and music writers who helped make The Decline such a success. This is an open call to every one of you who has reviewed The Decline, posted up songs on Soundcloud etc. and generally worked so hard to spread the word for Elvyn;

Please get in touch with Jeremy at littlewagonrecords(at)gmail(dot)com, and we will make sure that you get every new song at least a full month before any other website or music publication!  We truly value you guys, and we'd be honored to have you publish the first reviews!

So, stay tuned you guys... See you on the road!     

Three bands, Three Towns mini-tour & more!

Hey folks!

We're starting off 2011 with a bang, with three great shows with our friends The Ethers from Toronto, and Still Winter Hills (formerly The Woodrunners) from Ottawa!

Jan. 27th, The Dakota Tavern, Toronto
Jan. 28th, The Montreal House, Peterborough
Jan. 29th, the Elmdale House Tavern, Ottawa

So, if you're in the neighborhood on these nights, don't miss a night of spectacular music!

As 2010 has wrapped up, we've seen a tremendous wave of support from the music blogging and message board communities.  Our latest album, The Decline, has made a number of Year-End and Best-Of-2010 lists;

Conqueror Of The Moon - Best Albums of 2010 (#7 of 20)
Absolute Powerpop - Top 100 of 2010 (#4 of 100)
White Russians Are For Saturday Afternoons - Top 50 of 2010 (#19 of 50)
One Chord To Another - Albums Of The Year 2010 (#7 of 40)

This is amazing without citing every forum members mention of us at the Obner.org board, the Teenage Fanclub board and the European powerpop message boards!  We're very grateful for making so many of your 2010 lists (we have checked out every one!).  We've also seen continued support from 107.5 fm in Madrid, 101.5 fm The Wolf in Peterborough, CKCU 93.1 fm in Ottawa and 101.3 fm also from Madrid.

So, we thank you all for a fantastic 2010, and we hope you'll stick around for the goodies to come in 2011!
 
 

A huge thank you, and plans for the future!

Well friends, what a fun tour!

We really enjoyed every show, and we have a big list of thank-you's to send out... Marc Audet & The Woodrunners, Jeremy, Erin & Amber from Nightwood, Johnny & the boys from First In Space, Stevie Parkinson & The Stoney boys, Nat at The Elmdale Tavern, Kevin at The Boathouse, Jason & Chris at The MoHo, David Bash & Pop Overthrow, everyone associated with The Junction Arts Festival, Sara Collaton, and of course all the fans who have come out to support our music!

We love you all!

A very special mention goes out to Pete, Keith, Mike, Jordan and Ian.  The Diableros have been one of our favorite bands for a long time, and made great tour buddies.  Thank you so much guys!

We also have a new show to announce in support of a great band, Imaginary Cities from Winnipeg.

"Imaginary Cities is the musical duo of Marti Sarbit and Rusty Matyas. Marti had moved to Winnipeg from Brandon, MB, and was playing in a Motown cover band called, The Solutions.  Rusty was no stranger to the Canadian music scene himself. His former band The Waking Eyes was signed to Warner Records, and he's currently the multi-instrumentalist in The Weakerthans.  The band began playing live in May 2010, but made its big debut at Toronto’s NXNE music festival opening for Young Galaxy in June. Touring with a full band of musicians who lift the songs to new heights, it's still Sarbit’s voice that's known to shake the room. The band now has a full Canadian tour set up for fall 2010 opening for a number of reknown acts, such Rural Alberta Advantage and Ra Ra Riot. They head to Europe in January 2011."

 We'll be playing a free show in Oshawa at The Thirsty Monk on December 4th, then the studio beckons as we begin the prep for our debut into the world of vinyl with a limited edition 7" single.  We'll be following this up with a new album toward the end of next year, also on vinyl, CD and download.

We're very excited for the next few months, and we hope you are too.

To start off the new year with a bang, we'll be hooking up with two of our favorite bands, The Woodrunners and The Ethers for a three show mini-tour of The Dakota Tavern in T.O., The Montreal House in Peterborough and The Elmdale Tavern in Ottawa on the 27th, 28th and 29th of January.

See you out there!

Big in Europe! Another review from over the pond...

Another great review has popped up for The Decline from our European friends!  This time, the Belgian website www.rootstime.be has cast their ear over the album...  Here's the best translation we could do from what Google Translate assures me is the original Dutch; 

"Elvyn is a group that was founded in 1998 by the Ontario, Canada born Beerman brothers. (What's in a name?). They formed together with Jason O 'Reilly and Jeremy Knibbs rounding out the band. They were inspired by the 60's and 70's pop sound coming from sunny California. This is their third album  along with an EP and an album "Ten Car Stereo" with which they already amassed some airplay on college radio stations in the U.S. and Canada.
Their biggest influences are Byrds, Beach Boys, Beatles and Big Star. From a later period: Replacements and Teenage Fanclub. The element in their sound that characterizes them is the strong vocal harmonies. Do not expect Midlake,  but rather The Magic Numbers. Most of the songs were written by Ryan Beerman. Great songs that he can tinker together so that, from the first listen they nestle in your head from the first track. It's hard to choose favorites from this collection of 11 songs. Especially the first part of the disc is perfect pop.
With every listen it'll change, but the favorites right now are these: "I'll Come Back" with sparkling guitar and of course the beautiful harmonies of the brothers. But immediately afterwards there is the uptempo "Do not Leave, Do not Go" that drew inspiration from the best work of Tom Petty. The more  rootsy work is apparent when you get to "The Big Bay" on an acoustic guitar where the voices and other instruments blitz. Sounds like the Flying Burrito Brothers at their best. The solid "Do not Fall In Love" will undoubtedly from an approving nod from the late Alex Chilton.
They succeed wonderfully in a love song like "Be Mine Today" (with nice harmonica playing), not to sound too silly. A bit like the Travelling Willburys at their best: near the border of kitsch, but with the taste to avoid stepping over it.

Let us say that one half of the plate plays in the Premier League, and a half in the second division. More than enough for these men to cherish and hopefully they will be picked up by the radio. It would only be fair."

Wow, thanks guys!  You can check out this great website (if you're fluent in Dutch!) right here.

Back on the road, and some more Portland love...

As we get back on the road this week, The Decline has made the 2010 honors list over at Dagger 'Zine from Portland, Oregon alongside great records from The Posies, Weezer, Owen Pallett and Nada Surf!

"THE DECLINE-(SELF RELEASED)- This is one of the more enigmatic records I’ve listened to in years. In a good way, that is. Because the band relies on simple song structures and even-simpler lyrics about simple topics (found love, lost love, desired love), I really want to hate it. Yet the record, a straight-ahead power-pop issue reminiscent of the Posies, is likable at its core and endearing at its very best. The secret lies in the halting hooks delivered by Ryan Beerman (who also plays lead guitar, a neat trick employed by few bands this side of the Apples in Stereo). Beerman’s outstanding voice, a low-tenor/high baritone, never wavers, holding its own alongside the band’s at-times attacking guitars and dead-on harmonies. The Decline does, indeed, decline a bit after the first half — making it like an LP dominated by Side One — but the first four songs are nonetheless especially strong. Special honors goes to “Lotta Lies,” with a beautiful guitar riff from REM’s Reckoning-era playbook, and “Don’t Leave, Don’t Go,” which, if there’s any pop justice, would be widely covered by some major-label artist who could make this band a mint - Andy Geigerich"

Wow, thanks guys! 

The Decline Tour continues this week in Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston and Peterborough.  We can't say enough great things about the bands that we have the privilege of playing with over the next few weeks...  The Diableros, of course, with new material being showcased and sounding better than ever.  The mighty Woodrunners from Ottawa, perfect roots rock grit and tunefulness. First In Space, from Ohio are getting some great buzz for their new disc, Geronimo... Alert The Medic, Nightwood, The Fine Print... So amazing.

See ya out there!

Elvyn @ The Junction Arts Festival

We had a great time in Toronto at The Junction Arts Festival! Great vibe, great people and all-around fun!

Sara Collaton took some beautiful photos of our set, which you can check out at her website along with amazing shots of bands like Blue Rodeo, Gaslight Anthem, Zeus and loads more. Make sure you head over and see her work!

We want to say a huge thanks to all the folks who came out and saw us, to the wonderful organizers like Paul Reynolds, Aggie Luczkiewitcz (and Allan!), Ruth and the sound and stage crew and of course Sara Collaton for her awesome pictures!

Hope to see you again soon Junction!

Tour time!

Well friends, the time has come! Elvyn are hitting the road throughout Southern Ontario, with stops in Quebec and Ohio in support of our new album!

We'll be playing shows in London, Kitchener, Ottawa, and more along with two great festivals in Toronto. We're also really happy to be meeting up with some great bands along the way, as well playing a good portion of the tour with the fantastic Diableros from Toronto.

So check the tour listings to the right of our page, visit the Facebook fan page for more details and we'll see you all real soon!

Super-cool update!

The special guest at The Junction Arts Festival will be Six Shooter Records artist Justin Rutledge! Make sure you don't miss this great evening of music!

Tour Updates!

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all enjoying your summer! Elvyn are busy behind the scenes getting ready for a busy Fall of music and excitement! The tour van is getting overhauled, guitars set up and press and posters worked on...

Booking for our Ontario tour is underway. We'll be making a quick visit to Ohio to play a couple of shows with a great band, First In Space, who will also be joining us for a handful of Ontario shows. We'll be on the road with a fantastic Toronto band, The Diableros, as well as meeting up with The Woodrunners in Ottawa and more! Look out for tour dates to be posted in early September.

We're also looking forward very much to working with a great organization, Swim, Drink, Fish, Music. They are involved with great bands and artists such as The Great Lake Swimmers, Broken Social Scene, Gord Downie, The Sadies, Bill Frisell and Pete Seeger!


Here's some information from their website;

"The Swim Drink Fish Music Club is an online music and audio experience developed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in collaboration with other Waterkeeper organizations across Canada.

The Swim Drink Fish Music Club brings together artists, activists, and citizens just like you who care about clean water. By celebrating the Club's exclusive and rare music, you are contributing to the fight for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water in your community."

Elvyn will be releasing an exclusive track through the Swim, Drink, Fish, Music Club, so stay tuned for developments! You can visit their website by clicking the banner above.

Hazy days...

Hey there music fans,

Wow, it's been a great summer so far for Elvyn and we've had tons of fun! NxNE was a lot of fun, and the record is getting such a warm reception from all over, and we wanted to take a moment to send out a message;

First of all, we want to say thank you to our local supporters. Allan Booke, Aggie Lu, Matt Holtby, Jason Schneider & Exclaim! Magazine, Dan Burke, Dave Spencer, Bobby B., Jer & Kara Dresar, Joao Carvahlo, Chris Lear, Noah Mintz & Laquer Channel, Loren & Indie Pool, Ryan Kemp & The Red Dog. You guys have helped us so much, and continue to do so. But Elvyn have become a bit of an international concern lately, and some folks have to be mentioned from overseas; Angel & Powerpop Action, Pedro Fernandez and our Madrid supporters, Altcountry.nl and our Netherlands friends, Simon & Beat Surrender in the U.K., the Powerpopaholic crew, Bruce & Not Lame Recording Co., Ray & Kool Kat Musik and Absolute Powerpop in the United States and Vesa from Finland.

Thank you all for your support, and thanks a million to the fans who have bought a record and come out to the shows. We have a lot planned for you all in the coming months, with new music to be released really soon! We're readying a 7" single for release in the winter/spring, and we already have 5 tracks demo'ed and ready to take into the studio for Elvyn's next full length record!

As far as live shows go, we're going to be supporting our friends The Diableros at their special hometown show in Oshawa on July 17th at The Thirsty Monk. You can find details here. Then we're really looking forward to September, with The Junction Arts Festival coming up fast.

So stay tuned everyone, and we'll keep you updated as new stuff happens!

A high-profile review!

Esteemed Canadian author and music critic Jason Schneider has written a review of The Decline for the country-wide monthly Exclaim! Magazine...

"It's been quite some time — five years, to be precise, since their EP, The Big Bay, and eight since full-length debut Ten Car Stereo — since anyone's heard from Peterborough, ON quartet Elvyn. But on The Decline, they come back with a vengeance, offering 11 tracks that deftly blend Crazy Horse ragged glory with pure power pop craftsmanship..."

Wow! You can read the whole review here, and don't forget, you can pick up the new record at CDBaby, Amazon.com, iTunes and Kool Kat Musik!

NxNE Festival!

Hi everyone,

First of all, a big thanks to all involved in a great show in Peterborough at The Red Dog on Saturday! Tim, Tian, Brett and Nat, Melissa, Ryan Kemp, Werner, Paul Rellinger and Karl Lawson, we had a blast and thanks for your support.

But now NxNE is right around the corner, and we're gonna be making the most of a great festival.


On the 17th we'll be heading down to The Hyatt for an interview with AUX t.v. before we mosey on over to Yonge & Dundas Square to take part in NxNE's Indie Music Market from 2pm - 4pm. We'll have all our merch there, along with a listening station where you can check out the new record.


Then at 8pm, Elvyn take part in what is probably one of the hidden gems of NxNE showcases with VIVIV, The Champion Heartache, Another Blue Door, The Diableros and The Stables for the 94.9 The Rock/NeXT at NxNE showcase at The Comfort Zone (480 Spadina). Elvyn take the stage at 9pm, when AUX t.v.'s roving camera crew are going to be shooting our set!

Then on Saturday, we'll be heading down to hang out at Joao Carvalho's 5th annual NxNE BBQ, and hear sets by Zeus, C'mon, Buck 65, By Divine Right, Hannah Georgas, Danny Michel and loads more!

So if you see us around T.O., come over and say hi and we'll hook you up with download of The Decline!

Another review!

There's more Elvyn slathering teh interwebs today courtesy of the fantastic British website Beat Surrender.

They've posted up a short review of The Decline and some MP3's, including an exclusive pre-release version of I'll Come Back. So head over and check it out HERE.

Peace!

Direct from Holland...

Here's a brilliant Google-translated version of Dutch music site Altcountry.nl's review of The Decline in all it's glory. You can visit the site, and practice your Dutch by clicking here.

No idea what "Bear Men" are though...

"A wonderful album this is from an unknown Canadian band that has been there since 1998. Elvyn was founded by brothers Joel and Ryan Beerman The Decline and this (Little Wagon Music) after a demo, EP and CD Car Stereo With the second album of pure powerpop with fine edges americana. Besides the two brothers, drummer and guitarist respectively, consists of Jeremy Knibbs (guitars) and Jason O'Reilly (bass). The Bear Men sing beautifully together, which she in a long line of classic rock bands join. And then of course the kind that knows that a good pop song does not have to take much longer than about three minutes. The Big Bay is reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub. It is not surprising that The Byrds here can be called very clearly that a song like "I'll Come Back. Because the songs of (mostly) Ryan Beerman so well here are no real epigonism. That a comparison could be made with the Dwight Twilley Band is no disgrace, as many do not. The fans of these timeless rock, which recently were already so spoiled by Elliot Randall, know enough. Available at CD Baby."

They awarded us 4 out of 5 stars, which stunningly is one more than the new Sadies album, Darker Circles! Hartelijk dank, guys!

Gettin' some newspaper love...

Hometown party Saturday night... Come on out to The Red Dog, and we'll play you some songs!

New review!

One of Virgin.com's top music blogs, Powerpopaholic has a great review of our new record The Decline up over at their site!


Here's some of what they had to say;

"Starting with the stellar "Those Were The Days" it's got a jangle similar to Teenage Fanclub and those rootsy folk harmonies like The Jayhawks... The consistent quality of the musicianship and songwriting is what puts this band over the top. It's not to be missed."

You can click the Powerpopaholic banner above to visit the site, check out their ratings and read the whole review, as well as loads of others.

Thanks Powerpopaholic!

CDBaby Podcast & more!

Hey guys,

CDBaby.com is featuring a song from our new record The Decline on their popular Music Discovery Podcast, along with four other songs hand-picked from their best artists. You check it out by clicking the image below;


They've also chosen The Decline as #4 in their Top Country-Rock Albums list! We're really happy with the reception the record has been receiving. Thanks a lot CDBaby folks!

Onwards and upwards!

Awesome Update: Onwards and upwards indeed. The Decline is now #2 on CDBaby's Top Country-Rock and California-Pop Album lists!!!

Poster for the Red Dog show...

Thanks to Miranda at Little Wagon Design for the hard work!

New show announced!

So, on a rainy day a few months ago we saw Tim Chaisson & Morning Fold from P.E.I. perform a CMW showcase in Toronto.


We were impressed, and made some introductions. These thoroughly nice guys make some fantastic music with that distinct "Maritime" feel, and have been really busy with their tour, appearances on Explore music with Alan Cross, making a music video and all sort of other fun stuff. Their record "Broken Hearted Beats" was produced by Big Sugar's Gordie Johnson, and has co-writes from Johnson and Joel Plaskett!

The result of all this is a great evening of music at The Historic Red Dog in Peterborough, where we'll be opening for Tim and the boys along with Melissa Payne, a local country/folk songwriter.

So free up Saturday, June 12th and head out to The Red Dog! We'll see ya there...