Sunday, August 28, 2011

Dreadnought Hiatus

Dearest friends, fans, and assorted dirty rotten little bastards all over the world,

Since forming in 2007, this band has made 5 recordings, played close to 400 shows, toured to 22 wonderful countries and Belgium, and even got on the radio once.  It has been, all things considered, one hell of a ride.  But we're here to announce that as of right now we're going to seriously scale back our show schedule (from 140 shows per year to like, maybe twelve). Also, Uncle Touchy Goes To College will probably be our last recording.

There is, unfortunately for you gossip queens, nothing very dramatic about it. With all due respect to the "old guys" in the rock/punk world, we'd rather not end up like them. 

Let us explain: we've seen older, more famous punk bands fill 2,000-person halls all over Europe then paint houses 6 months of the year just to make ends meet. We've seen A-list Epitaph-signed bands who are so sick and tired of touring that their live shows are almost a joke.  But they gotta tour, or they (and their kids) don't eat. We've seen countless older guys in the industry--managers, musicians, promoters or what have you--who no longer give a shit about music and who would literally not be able to make it through each year without cocaine. "Living the dream", they call it.

So we're each off to get educations or start jobs or explore the world on our own, and trust us, there is absolutely nothing sad about that. 

First, we're extremely proud of the music we've made and we think that it stands as something that is both (1) true to its roots, and (2) hopefully somewhat unique.  If one band out there has been inspired to do things just a little bit differently because of us, we're fairly happy with that.

Second, music has given us a chance to see places we would never have dreamed of seeing.  Eastern Poland, Western England and Chicoutimi, Quebec have become new homes for us all.  We've seen the Kremlin and the Ukraine and Barcelona and Porto, been stuck in crazy latino-only American polka bars and slept at the top of colossal mountains in the Swiss alps.  Not too shabby, eh.

Third, we have met the most incredible people and made lifelong friends on our various adventures.  If we tried to name you all we would never be finished.

Anyway, we do have one major regret we'd like to mention.  As of 2009, we started trying to do the "building" thing. We toured internationally, built our reputation and got to play for lots more people, but in order to try to get some stupid contract with some Canadian booking agent, we basically stopped playing Vancouver. The idea is that if you play one big show in your home city per year, you can fill a huge hall and the fucking big-fish booking agents get impressed.

We've had a few people complain about this to us, and they were right to.  Vancouver wasn't just our home city, the place we cut our musical teeth, it was where we got that first "push" to get bigger in the first place.  Our friends and fans at home supported us like crazy but we basically abandoned them in order to try to get a booking contract that never materialized, probably because we didn't pretend to be Irish. (Trust me, really, if we'd pretended to be Irish I fucking guarantee you that this particular agency would have signed us.) That sucked, and we're sorry, Vancouver.  Um... it won't happen again?

Anyway: One reason folk and punk go so well together is that each of them is about community.  A "scene" is just a community of friends, and the whole idea of folk music (and punk music) is that performances should be friends playing for friends.  There are no rock stars, no egos, no fucking "images" and no-one is better than anyone else.  Even if we joked around and occasionally pretended to be rock stars, we hope all of you knew that we're just your friends who happen to know how to play polkas very fast.  That's it.

We'll probably play a few more shows here and there, and no-one knows for sure what the future will hold, but this Polka-punk train is gonna sit in the station for a while.   We have a few more things to say about our time in "the biz", and we'll post them in the next couple of days.  But for now, we'll leave you with one last recording we made during the "Uncle Touchy" sessions, a song that means so much to us and that is dedicated to every last one of you.

39 comments:

  1. FUCK! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
    If you don't come back to toronto im gonna have to start up a fucking dreadnoughts cover band. dont think i wont.

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  2. OK, so basically, by managing to miss an entire European tour this year, I've probably missed my chance of ever seeing you live again?? dayum, never did failing to keep score of a band's activities result in this crappy an outcome. but, I get it. and it sucks so much that you can't make a decent living by playing quality music. it has been sucking since forever and unfortunately I don't see it changing any time soon. the money that is being made in the industry always ends up in the wrong greedy hands. these kinds of things make me whish even more that the world wasn't build around money! in a just society, people who do good, would be rewarded accordingly. but maybe this comment box isn't really the place to get into that.

    anyways, thanks for everything you've done so far! I'll never forget hearing your music for the first time and the excitement I felt after listening to Victory Square the first time around. nor how I then spammed all of my friends about you guys. =)

    In the meantime I'll be hoping a time comes, when you're financially secure enough to get your full speed on in the "music biz" (it’s sick just how insane that sounds). Until then you'll definitely remain one of the permanent bands on my various playlists. And I guess keeping my fingers crossed for catching a show somehow somewhere doesn't hurt anyone either.

    best of luck to you all in anything you decide to do,

    Nina, a fan who dreads nought (except for The Dreadnoughts going on hiatus, maybe)

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  3. much love guys. Thank you for all the good times that I remember...and also the ones I don't. Your presences have allowed me to expand and learn in ways that my small town life never could have afforded me. The introduction of your music into my life marked my foray into the worlds of adulthood, health food, home fermenting and hotel encounters. You re-ignited a lost hope for self discovery in me I hadn't even known I'd lost.... I also got some kick ass tunes out of the deal. Thank you so much for imparting your various wisdoms and sharing your talents with me. I'm glad you can now take the time to develop your own lives and spend some much needed time with loved ones.

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  4. I'm assuming that Epitaph band is Bad Religion? Or maybe even a hint at SNFU?

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  5. This blows but all I can say is thank you for introducing me to such quality music you guys are the best ever. I seen you guys a few times before and I get such a friendly vibe from your show nothing like any other show I have ever seen before. You bring such energy to the crowd that cannot be beat you make it so easy to feel the connection between me the band and the music to make the experience that much better. I seen lots of shows before but nothing what you guys and the real mckenzies bring by far the best bands ever. I hope to see you guys a few more times again and wish you good luck with your future adventures and thanks again. And hey if you are ever starving or looking for a place to stay around Calgary I'll be glad to help!

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  6. You played in Bristol last year with the Surfin' Turnips, and my sons band (Dutty Luck) supported you - you not only got on stage and sang with him and invited him up on stage to sing with you (which was a great gesture and made my sons YEAR!!) but your set was awesome and inspiring. You will be sadly missed by lots, but if you do a few tours PLEASE make sure you come back to Bristol and you will definately have a lot of Number 1 fans come to see you. Good luck in your new ventures, keep all your fans up to date, lots of love and best wishes xxxxx We love you guys!!

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  7. different,
    like you guys always were,
    so going out in style,
    good luck guys !!

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  8. I knew there was a reason I put up with your shit for so many years. Much respect and love to all of you.

    And to those others feeling regret at having lost The Dreadnoughts, there is one simple cure that I believe all the boys will endorse...

    Do it yourself. Start up the next incarnation of the Dreadnoughts' spirit, play with and for your friends, and spread it around.

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  9. Next time you come to Czech republic, Mighty Sounds or any other shitty show I will book for you, I'm gonna eat your balls for this! What's so wrong with being a loser, adict, alcoholic, sick and broken person without a family, friends and home? :-)

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  10. Thx for great music and shows. Good luck with everything guys!

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  11. WE wish you all the best for you guys, thank yahhh so much for all da good music man...and knowing you was a great honour to meet you!!!

    Guy et Carmen

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  12. No chlapi, tak at se vam dari. A kdo vi - polka never die.

    fan from Czech rep.

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  13. I started playing the fiddle cuz of you guys... my friend started playing the accordion likewise. Hopefully it will amount to a fraction of what you guys created. Thanks for the music.

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  14. Hope to see you again! The best show ever - Łódź, Gniazdo Piratów 07.07.2011 Pozdrowienia z Polski!

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  15. The West Country BoyzSeptember 1, 2011 at 3:49 PM

    Dreadnoughts - you shone a massive, orange light into the West Country and we enjoyed every minute. Stuff happened that wouldn't have happened without you, thanks for your inspiartion. Colin's cider shed remembers you fondly...

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  16. that's kinda sad. but it's your choice only. I hope to see you guyz someday, and believe me, I'll love your music, love your shows and love you!
    and yeah, the song is the best ;)
    xxx xD

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  17. Hello,
    Can I put your gig in Tours in free download?
    But I need your help so as to rename the tracks...

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  18. Hey my Friends.
    Very sad news for me. I would like to say thank you for the fun we had together. Hope we dont forget us and if any of you Drinkers wont to make a Holiday in Germnany, let me know :)
    All the Best Wishes to you. Keep "Frau Raucher" alive. Dreadnoughts 4ever.
    Hugs & Kisses
    Armin from Spangenberg

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  19. You will be missed!!! But the decision is understandable. Here's to The Dreadnoughts and all the fun I've had because of you guys!xxxx

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  20. Oh, really? Let me tell ya that I'm very sad. Really. I was convinced that you were the best folk-punk band ever made. ):

    I will miss you very much. Sadly I'm brazilian and never had a fuckin' chance do see ya. Oh, cruel world.

    Wish you luck, Dreadnoughts!
    Que as estrelas guiem seus caminhos nesta jornada.

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  21. There's no justice in the music biz when bands like you don't get the respect, exposure, and remuneration you truly deserve. I first saw you on the stomp tour supporting creepshow...but have since seen you 4 more times as I was that impressed by your brilliant music and fantastic energetic live shows. I make sure everyone I know hears your music and each time I saw you live I brought someone new to experience what a good time you offer. All the best in whatever you lot do from here on in...I truly hope to see the dreadnoughts again sometime, but either way your CDs will blast from my stereo at home, at work, and in the car forever!

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  22. October 16th will be my 19th birthday. 2 years ago i saw you guys at the shadow in quelph following for hostage life for the first time ever. i then immediately bought a pawn shop fiddle and learned to play. i practiced everyday in hopes to one achieve the same caliberi saw that day. i eventually learned how to play a tune off your first album, that tune being antarctica, October 15th the next year i saw you play one day before my birthday, and learned that you kicked teegan and saras asses on the top whatever list in quebec. after the show i asked if the next day for my 18th birthday i could go onstage and play antarctica via my unplugged fiddle. you unsurprisingly enough said yes. nikki dread uncle touchy or whatever the fuck u go by, commented on my dead milkmen shirt. so i said you wait and see tomorrow ill have this tattood on my arm. so finnaly the next day after a visit to Matta Matta tatoo parlour we drove to call the office in london ontario, to see the dreadnoughts on my 18th bday, i went to the merch table fiddle in hand and sara sin from the creepshow said i could store it behinf your table. ill prolly never forget the bands faces as i turned over my arm and watched as you all yelled holy fuck he actually did it! as the night progressed you started playing, and eventually said you had a special friend come up to help with this song, you looked right at me and said please welcome evan!!!!! My name is Will, but i played the fucking shit out of antarctica with you none the less! afterwards squid came down and said i did a great job on the skiddly doos or whatever he calls the fiddle and mandolin. and a kind fellow with long flowing dreadlocks helped induct me into the world renowned "Gintlemens Club" ( hoo arg!), this year I was unfortunately unemployed weeks before i was supposed to have my money together to travel to newfoundland. In one week busking fiddle infront of the liquor store i made over 400$ and was payed an additional 120$ by a girl who hired me to play at her garden party. because of you guys i was able to see the beautiful east coast mountains and jam with newfys at garage partys. This year for my birthday i am going to a bar, for the first time legaly. since oct 16th last year i knew i could never have a birthday as worth celebrating as my 18th. Dreams came true, and shit. to sum up my babble. Thank you for doing what you did, from starting your band, to letting me join for a brief moment for giving me the best birthday ever, for introducing me to the beautiful instrument i now play(also garnished with the signatures of seamus squid and SSB), if it wasnt for you guys i would never have seen the journey from ontario to the east coast. Once again thank you. I wish you all the best with your schooling or your careers or whatever you end up doing after, i hope your last shows are amazing, i hope you play one near guelph for me:), i myself am taking bass lessons now, as i have played self taught for nearly 6 years now and i am training myself for the audition to get into mohawk college for the applied music program.

    A Third Time Thanks

    Willy Hughes

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  23. I'm really sad to hear you guys are quitting. Do you think you'd be able to play one last all ages show in Vancouver before it's all done?

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  24. Haha. No. You guys aren't quitting until you've had a show in Norway. Sorry.

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  25. This makes my eyes rain. Good luck to all of you. My buddies and I will raise several pints of our homemade cider and sing sea shanties in your honor. Time for us to start a Dreadnoughts cover band I guess. This cider drinker marches on...

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  26. Well damn..... and I was never able to see you guys live. Hopefully, if you have the occasional show in Vancouver, I can make it out to one. If not, thanks for all the top quality drunken pirate awesomeness!

    And a special thanks to Uncle Touchy, who I did get to see live 10 years ago during his past life in Ottawa as Ol' Jimmy with Siobhan. You've been helping to fuel my drunken adventures for an entire decade now!

    Slàinte!

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  27. I know you guys get this a lot, but it would be amazing if you could come back to Philly just once for my friend John. He just discovered you guys and has been buying every cd of your music and hoping for a concert to come somewhere nearby and he was devastated when he saw this and has no way of making it anywhere in Europe to see you guys and i know it would be amazing for him to see you guys at least once, if that is at all possible for you guys to do. If not you guys have been amazing to listen to and although im not as big a fan, it breaks my heart too that you guys will be gone. You're music is so original and incredible and its a shame that it wont be around for much longer.

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  28. Russia loves you, guys! I hope we will see you later. Yeah, stay true! I respect your choice, but i'll wait for news from Canada! Concert in Moscow was unforgettable!!! =D
    Good luck!

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  29. too bad... I've missed my chance of ever seeing you live. and I really love your music, guys. anyways, I wish you the best of the lucks !
    I'm from Chile, South America. And I hope see you on stage someday.

    kisses

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  30. You are one of the best punk-bands ever played on this fucking world. First I heard The Real McKenzies, a canadian cult-folk-punk-band. Then you were in Freiburg. You didn't know the town. We had a great show in a small room (normaly the room for smokers) - OK it was not on a weekend. Since this experience I hoped to see you again. Then we were in Berlin - great show! The SO36, very famous place for punkmusic in Germany, was sold out. Many fans of "Talco" were there - but a lot of fans of folkpunk (with Dreadnoughts-T-shirts like me ;-) or DKM-Shirts) were there too. A lot of people listened to you music for the first time. And I was sure, that this was the beginning of a great career as famous Punkband for you. The sad thing is, that I prefer small gigs like in Freiburg. ;-) Oh, these big concerts in halls with 4.000 peoples are so boring. Believe me or not. Somewhere between SO36 and the fine pub "Walfisch" in Freiburg is the best size for concerts (named Konzies ;-) ).
    I wish you the best! You don't have to make new records every year. But I would be very sad, if you don't come to Germany again - you drunken bastards!

    Polka never dies! Punkrock never dies!

    A. (Freiburg (Germany))

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  31. You ARE (and I hope that you still ARE and WILL BE) one of the best bands I've ever heard, and maybe the best punk band EVER. I have seen you live two times in Poland, and I belive that there will be more. You can't quit. Just can't. I listen to you almost every day, and drink cider, and as I said - YOU CAN"T QUIT!!!!!!

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  32. I'm twice the age of most of the bloggers here but am in agreement - you are without doubt one of the greatest bands to have existed!
    You may regret this decision in a few years when your style and music is copied by other bands who go on to make a lot of money out it.
    I suspect the drink and hard tours have taken it out of you like it does to many great musicians/ songwriters - look at Shane McGowan.

    Hope you make it back for another visit to UK. Get your manager to contact Mike Harding and/ or Jools Holland at the BBC. They'd appreciate what you have done and what can do.

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  33. Well, I might be a bit late to comment here but, dear Dreadnoughts, if you are reading this please think of the comment made earlier by another fan. You might regret your decision.... I hope no other band copies your music and becomes successful. You guys are/will be the best of the best.

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  34. Just found out about you guys through a bunch of friends I made on Flogging Molly's Salty Dog Cruise. I can't think of a better match for next year's cruise than you guys. Really bummed I never got to see you guys live down here in Portland (perhaps there's some hope of a show or two in the Pacific NW sometime?).

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