November 5, 2012

Listening to satellite radio, comfortable and warm on this chilly November night. And perhaps a little drunk. I'm sipping Tequila, listening to some contemporary indie station and the track "Little Talks of Home" by Of Monsters and Men comes on. And boy is it terrible. Ok, perhaps judged on its own merits it would be all right, save for the fact that the song IS that venerable hipster anthem of monogamy, "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the MZ's. It's not just the gang vocals, the lady-dude call and response, OR the general vibe, IT'S THE FREAKING SONG STRUCTURE AS WELL. Now I'm aware that many sharp eared listeners have made this conclusion months ago but as a Dad I'm permanently two to six months behind the curve. It's a fact of life. 

Ok, another drink in now and I'm pretty sure this track is the worst shit I've heard on the radio in almost a year (just so you know I think "Call Me Maybe" is a work of very near genius). "Little Talks of Home" is a corporate attempt to take what was charming about "Home" and make it more accessible to fifteen year old girls, as if the original wasn't poppy enough. In years past a rip off of this magnitude would have resulted in a messy lawsuit, these days it makes millions for Universal Music Group and its subsidiaries. 
 

July 13, 2012

I've never been to Winnipeg but for over a decade I've been hearing about the thriving independent art scene in the true cente of our country, specifically the indie rock crowd. This month I'll have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the newest offspring of the loins that community, Imaginary Cities when the Murder Plans share the stage with them and the Hinterland Band on July 31. Needless to say I'm pretty pumped about  hearing their show and making some more friends from the flat part of Canada.

The Deets:

July 31, Maverick's, Doors at 8, it costs $12 to get in. Tickets available at Vertigo Records, the Record Shaap and here.


May 1, 2012

Exciting news! We're teaming up with friends Jack Pine and the Fire for our semi annual Elmdale Tavern super bash on June 8th! More details to come...

Mar 21, 2012

Your local MP's will be playing Canadian Music Week tomorrow at the Princess (1554 Queen St W) around midnight. Bring your tambos and let's do it up right.

Oct 11, 2011

It's Indie week time again! This weekend we'll be heading down the 401 to sunny Toronto to play the Underground garage at 365 King Street West on Friday, October 14. Unveiling some new material so if you haven't seen us in a while here's your chance! We hit the stage at 10:00.

Aug 16, 2011
 

Help the Murder Plans win $10,000! It`s a two step process so bear with us:

Step one: Go here and like their page.

Step two: Go here, listen to our song and 'Like' it if you do. We'd love your comments too.
 

Aug 14, 2011

We're in Toronto for a photo shoot and a meeting with an online/social media specialist. Apparently our content will be looked over. Please be easy on us- it's our first time!

July 11, 2011

Just a reminder that the MP`s will be playing Bluesfest on Thursdat July 14th at 5:45 pm on the Hard Rock Cafe stage!

July 7, 2011

101 WAYS TO SAY MURDER
Do you fancy yourself a linguist, a scribe or polyglot? Are you adept at alliteration or perhaps a puny puny punster? Maybe sometimes you just, well, make up words to try and sound smart? if so, the murder plans have a challenge for you! Check out Peter Simpson's article in the Ottawa Citizen, and see if you can't find a better way to describe the MP's music. Post your most witty responses to the band's Facebook page, where open judging and ridicule will no doubt ensue. AND if that's not enough of a reason, you could also win tickets to see the band play at Bluesfest on Thursday July 14th!
(Fine print: Your notes must be posted by 11:59pm July 13th; a more challenging skill testing question will not be administered and yes, if you have slept with any member of the band or at least considered it, you can still apply!)

June 1, 2011
 

"Ottawa’s Murder Plans are on a roll! Those lucky enough to have caught them live this past Friday probably learned the band will be playing their first Bluesfest in July. They also released their first official music video for the single, “Tell a Lie” this past week."

"The video features 30+ of their friends, family and fans singing the song in a four-square jump-cut style of video. The backdrop is from the 2010 Good Omens LP of the four musicians against the dismal looking Ottawa River. Directed by bassist/vocalist Michael Simon, the video showcases the personalities of all of the individuals involved dressed up in the clothes (and glasses!) of the members as they appear in the inside sleeve of the album. Murder Plans members pop up throughout. We dare you to watch it and not crack a smile."

- Samantha of http://www.apt613.ca/

May 19, 2011

It's official - THE MURDER PLANS WILL BE PLAYING THE 2011 EDITION OF OTTAWA BLUESFEST. Details coming soon!

May 5, 2011

Our new video in support of "Good Omens" is nearing completion! The good news? You'll get to see it soon. The bad news? Marc Dalpé who shot and edited our upcoming music video is probably having nightmares about us right now. He posted the following on facebook this morning:

"Mark Dalpé- Aprox 9 hours of footage shot over three days. 16 minutes of "on air" time in the four minute video. 58 hours 45 minutes of editing time, most of it teeming through the 9 hours of video (aprox 63GB worth). I've listened to the song at least 300 times I stopped counting after the 200th time."

You're never working with us again, are you Marc?

April 28, 2011


MURDER PLANS TO PLAY WESTFEST 2011
 

We're happy to announce that we've been selected to play this year's edition of Ottawa's fastest growing outdoor concert series, Westfest. We've watched this festival come a long way from a one day, three block event to a five day event featuring over 100 hours of programming and drawing in record breaking crowds. The MP's will hit the stage at 8:00 pm on Sunday June 12th- check out the entire schedule HERE.

April 29, 2011, 

Introducing A Brief and Sometimes Painful History of Connor’s Guitars Part 1, a confession

I am a massive guitar slut. 

Hello Friends, I feel the need to get a few things off my chest, air out my dirty laundry and expose my filthy conscience for all to see, whether you like it or not. Those who know me are aware that I am a sordid, disgusting guitar whore who feels the need to fill up some deep yet unidentified hole in my spirit with material goods, in my case musical equipment, mainly guitars. 

I’m going to use this venue as my confession booth if I may and chronicle all of the instruments that I’ve owned, played and sold during the existence of the Murder Plans (all that I can remember that is).
Here Goes.

#1. Ibanez Artcore Jazzbox, exact model number forgotten
Bought: 2002
Sold: 2002

I bought this instrument because I’d never played an electric guitar before and thought that my best course of action would be to find one that played like an acoustic guitar (you know, high action, agonizingly hard to play etc, etc).


Loks pretty, doesn't it?

Don't trust it. It's made out of Chinese newspapers pressed between two wafer thin pieces of wood and smells of lamp oil and the tears of child labourers. I put some kind of fancy pickups in it that sounded OK but still hated the damn thing. I remember talking to Brian the guitar tech at Folklore, the guitar store where I worked at the time. 

A brief note on guitar techs: Guitar techs are interesting, slightly eccentric people who are largely unrecognized for the indispensible service service they offer society at large. I'll explain. Because musicians are all-over-the-spectrum-insane, I’m talking everywhere from full blown OCD, to paranoid schizophrenic , to weeping-uncontrollably-at-awkward-times-for-no-apparent-reason (I fall into the latter category) all of this unpredicatble random energy (we artists call it "passion") has to go somewhere at some point. It's either unleashed on society,  chanelled as creative energy (rarely) or is absorbed at repair time by the guitar tech.  You see, a musician's instrument is like their progeny, and if they're lucky AND good, their life blood, their breadwinner. Everything the tech does is scrutinized and painstakingly questioned by the parent. Finally, if the owner of the instrument feels that the repair is taking too long (usually a little over 24 hours) he'll call every hour to see if work has begun. The most accute cases will ask to be contacted before work begins so that they my stand behind the poor luthier as he works, peering over his shoulder, asking questions and loudly mouth breathing. Ever wonder why it costs so much to fix your guitar? It’s because someone needs to be paid that much to deal with you. That’s why. People like Brian keep people like me from doing crazier shit in public than I'm already prone to do.

Anyhow, Brian’s sage advice was that the guitar wasn’t meant for me. That was an understatement. This guitar was haunted and built on an old, abandoned Indian burial ground. So I consigned it at Songbird Music and it sold in a month or two. Sayonara cursed guitar! 

At least the next one wasn’t AS haunted. But that’s a tale for another day…
 

April 17, 2011

VIDEO! A little while ago we had the strange pleasure of viewing the result of our first go at the music video genre. Due to the fact that we look and sound so freaking young, we realized that it's a complete misrepresentation of our current look/sound/aesthetic. Time for an update. We've assembled a bunch of fans, friends and enemies to do something that's a little more... us. The concept is simple and the result should be interesting to say the least. I'd tell you more but shhhh! It's a secret. You'll have to see what you can get from the pics of the shoot...

March 18, 2011

We're very proud to announce that on April 2nd we'll be appearing at our old mainstay the Elmdale House Tavern to open for none other than The Lowest of The Low! It'll be the second night of a two show mini residency for The Low so it promises to be a special night. Advance tickets available at the Elmdale Tavern for $25. Doors open at 9:00. 

Jan 17, 2011

Hey gang, it's only the 17th of January and we already have two new reviews in College newspapers- The Imprint at U Waterloo who seemed to really enjoy the record, and Fanshawe College's Interrobang (interesting name) who especially liked our Myspace layout (!). I'm not gonna get all introspective and mushy on you but it's so nice to connect with people through our music. Good reviews are nice not because they inflate our egos (which of course they do) but because to us  they document the communication that exists between the record and the listener. They tell us that someone out there is listening to the music and liking it enough to want to communicate that to other people. It's a dialogue, it's a ... what's that? I got mushy and introspective? OK I'll shut up and practice guitar.

Dec 20, 2010

Ok, I'll admit it- it's been a while since we've posted here. Not that I don't have excuses (I have a veritable cornucopia of them) like the fact that my two year old son has plucked most of the keys from my laptop keyboard with his chubby (yet curiously pointy) fingers. Wait, that's not entirely true- he left 'X", "Z", and "J", all high scores in scrabble but useless if you want to update your band's website. Never fear though, all is well- last night my special lady gave me an early Christmas present- a shiny new laptop. So in the next few days I'll be filling you in on some new reviews of the album, what we've been up to in the last little while and some exciting news for 2011!

Oct 15, 2010

"remarkable seamless melodies and the way the songs make you feel...almost as if the band were in my living room and playing only to me."

Check it out, "Good Omens", our shiny new record (you can still smell the vinyl curing) has been reviewed by NXEW and Winnipeg's weekly urban journal, The Uniter.

Oct 13, 2010

Murder Plans Play Toronto Indie Week!

Hey boys and girls, the MP's will be rolling into Hogtown this Friday to play a showcase at Bread and Circus. We'll be sharing the stage with some of the best and brightest upcoming bands Canada has to offer. We'll be going onstage at 10:30-ish so bring your tambo and prepare to leave the bar with bruised palms!

Sept 27, 2010

Recently we've been fortunate enough to have "Good Omens" reviewed in two more publications, VOIR which is carried throughout La Belle Province and The University of Guelph's Ontarian. We're pleased to report that both reviews went pretty well for us and that the reviewers seemed to spend some time with the album which is really very nice. You can find the VOIR review here in it's original French or if like me you failed grade nine French you can grab an iffy translation from the fine robots at Google here. The Ontarian review can be found here.

A heartfelt thank you to all of our fans who lined up outside the Elmdale Tavern Friday night to celebrate our album release with us. We'll be posting video and photos of the show in the coming days so check back soon!

The Murder Plans now have T-shrits and the brand new full length album "GOOD OMENS" available for purchase through Maple Music! Vinyl coming soon.

"GOOD OMENS" is also available NOW through iTunes

Sept 16, 2010

                        

 

Check it out! The MP's are now on the cover of this week's Ottawa XPress. Mike and Connor chat about the ups and downs of making of the record and Cormac Rea shares some interesting insights on the sound of the record as a whole.
 

Sept 1, 2010

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us play on the 20th at the Cajun attic! If you weren't part of the extra rowdy crowd here's a hint of what we were up to. This is a clip of us digging into "Napoleon", the second last track on the new record and the last song of the night. Disclaimer: this song has absolutely nothing to do with the historical Napoleon... I think.

 

August 25, 2010

Robbed! This is a public service announcement from the Murder Plans: lock your windows and buy property insurance, especially if everything you own can be carted away in less than twenty minutes! I suppose some explanation is in order. Last week Connor's apartment was broken into and all of his equipment stolen. His beloved Duo Jet to his fine capo collection (a real shame because he was about to open the world's most extensive guitar capo museum) walked right out the friggin' door. On the day of a show no less. Thank goodness his wonderful special lady friend has been paying into insurance for the past six years so he'll be able to re-coup most of his stuff. Due to the MP's stick-to-it-ness and general thick-headed-ness the show at the Cajun Attic went off pretty darn well thanks to the support of the fine gentlemen of Slim and Popular. So if anyone sees a Gretch 6128 Duo Jet or a Jazzmaster Special wandering the streets of Centretown in the rain please send them home- I have some very special words for whoever let them out...

August 18, 2010

Why toot your own horn when somebody will do it for you? Megan Marshall of longstanding Ottawa monthly The Glebe Report has these very kind words to say about us and the new album: 

Murder’s Never Sounded Better

“Have you heard about The Murder Plans? I think they would have most Canadians jumping for joy, shimmying across kitchen floors everywhere, hollering in their Sedans with the windows up…Ottawa can’t keep these plans and hoard them any longer.” (Amanda Putz, CBC Radio)
The band was formed in 2005 in Connor McGuire’s apartment in Centretown. Like other musicians starting out, he’d been attending open mics and striving to meet people in the Ottawa music scene. He soon met Michael Simon, an Architecture student studying at Carleton, who played bass. It wasn’t long after that they found two “equally insane” musicians to fully round out the band: Joel Jacques (guitar, lap steel, keys & vocals), and Nicholas Descarie (percussion).
Before the band had even written a song together, the band’s name The Murder Plans was established. The name is derived from critically acclaimed Australian musician Nick Cave’s song ‘Deanna.’ As Connor points out, “some people love it, some hate it. We like it. It’s us”. Do not let the name fool you though - this is a group of enormously gifted, dedicated musicians.
The forthcoming album (“Good Omens”) was recorded by Dean Watson, at Gallery Studios on Fifth Ave., and will be released Sept.24th. The band walked into the studio as a straight-edge rock group, and emerged as a polished and powerful team wielding musical maturity beyond their own expectations two years later. The final product materialized into what Dean calls "patient rock" - music that utilizes space and silence to its advantage.
Prior to “Good Omens”, Connor was the principle songwriter; however during recording sessions several unforeseen transformations occurred. Michael, the bassist, revealed his inherent ability to write songs and ended up penning almost half of the material on the album. Another change was Joel moving from lead guitar to keys in the midst of recording. These alterations weren’t imminent yet they certainly guided the band towards their new sound, and melded the passions of the band mates into the divine final creation. Connor admits that Dean, recorder and producer, also helped shape the album with his keen ear and diligent perseverance.
Although The Murder Plans’ entire sound changed while “Good Omens” was devised, the goal behind recording the album did not. It was always, first and foremost, about creating something meaningful to the band - and hopefully to the listener as well. It was about making the best possible product as a whole. Mission accomplished gentlemen.
Connor reflects that “it takes a certain amount of insanity to become a musician, especially in these times. The industry is in an extreme state of flux - it almost feels like we're on the fringe of the fringe. Like the wild west of the music industry. It seems it's getting harder and harder for the listener to sift through the dross and get to the good stuff. On the other hand it’s more difficult for bands to be heard.”
The Murder Plans CD release of “Good Omens” is at the Elmdale Tavern, Friday Sept.24. If you cannot wait to hear the fresh, brilliant sounds of the band visit www.themurderplans.com OR stop by Compact Music (Glebe) for a free 3 song promo.

Thanks Megan, we're glad you like it!

August 8, 2010

With our album relese a little over a month away The Murder Plans have been meeting in Lowertown and doing a lot of scheming. Posters are being printed, CD's burned and Vinyl pressed. It's the latter we're most excited about though- for some reason it seems like the only format that can possibly represent the months we spent tracking, writing and re writing in Dean Watson's basement studio. You know, it's easy to see why "the industry" moved away from the LP format- it's expensive. On the other hand it's easy to see why artists and listeners have returned to it- it's awesome. A while ago Ottawa indie guru and amp doctor extraordinaire Slo Tom wrote an excellent article on the demise of the CD. His reasoning was that the CD has lost its value as a music format because it's used for so many other purposes. Unfortunately, that article has been lost in the digital sands of time. Nevertheless, vinyl is used exclusively for music (yes, and seat coverings and novelty S&M outfits but we'll save that discussion for another day). Now it's our job to get you as excited about this record as we are. Shouldn't be a tall order, should it? Naw, I didn't think so- you're cool.
 

July 18, 2010

Even with it being so bloody hot lately seeing this shot still brings a chill to my bones. This is from back in March during our photoshoot with Sarai. It was about 3º and you can't see it but just up the river there are still chunks of floating ice.
 

July 15, 2010

Thanks to the Cajun Attic for having us last night, nice room, sure to become popular haunt.  Shared the stage with some good people, go check out Hayley Stark and the Donna Litas, those guys can party. 
 

July 7, 2010

Murder Plans east coast tour in the works in support of the new album... stay tuned.

July 1, 2010

Well here it is folks... the Murder Plans' brand new website! Still has that new car smell.

Check back often as we will be posting a lot of new photos, videos and shows here over the next couple weeks!  Many thanks to Darryl at Royal Maple Creative.

ps. if you haven't yet, go click on the crow... and happy Canada day!