The Paperbacks
It seems like we’re a bit overdue for an update, so please, bear with me as I take you on a journey through the last few months…and beyond! Any long-time Paperbacks fan pretty much knows our schedule by now; it is usually characterized by a short period of frantic activity, punctuated with some releases or tours, which is then followed by a cavernous, yawning age of silence. The silence usually is not what it seems…it tends to just be us still getting together three times a week, playing through songs or recording in our methodical manner. So, like I said, if you’ve stuck with us for any period of time, you’re probably a bit desensitized to apparent stretches of inactivity, as you can assume something’s going on behind the scenes. This time, however, the silence has actually been kind of strangely…silent. After the almost two year period we spent consumed with recording our 32-song double-disc “Lit From Within”, followed by the various promotional efforts we put in behind its release, we needed a bit of a break. That turned into different things for different people. Primarily: If you know us all personally, you’ll probably know that Jaret McNabb, our bassist extraordinaire and the band’s producer, engineer and mixer - as well as my sole constant musical partner for the last decade - has for years made music of his own, and in a style radically different than what we do in The Paperbacks. The reason you may not know this is because of the massive effort Jaret has always put into maintaining our band on so many fronts, which has absorbed so much of his free mental space in terms of time and focus. But with the conclusion of this album “cycle”, or whatever the technical term for it is, Mr. McNabb has elected to put the same effort towards what is his great passion as he has for years put towards mine. Curious? Check it out here. As I said, I’ve been playing music with Jaret for longer than I’ve played with anyone, and I have no doubt that we’ll play together again, and it’s even quite likely that there will be more Paperbacks music at some point in the near(ish) future. Conversely, it has been a tremendous honour to me that he has dedicated such a long stretch of years to the music I’ve written, and I am excited and proud to see what he creates on his own. But even more conversely, I gotta do something different now! So here’s what I’ve been up to: The short version is, I’m putting out (at least) four albums this year. :) The thing is, I’ve always had a heavy rate of song production that didn’t nessacarily match the somewhat more meticulous rate of Paperbacks releases (one of the reasons for Lit From Within’s, uh, mass), and so this downtime from The Paperbacks has kind of been a good impetus to organize all this material and figure out ways of presenting it, plus contextualize it with the new stuff I’ve been writing. So here’s what sort of organically came about. First off, and most importantly, I’ve been continuing to play with Paperbacks guitarist Kevin Andrechuk, and we’ve put together a band called Yoyote. This also includes my good friends Chris Hiebert (who was the drummer in my previous band, The Bonaduces), Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson (who I played with in a band called Painted Thin), and Keli Martin (who plays bass in The Details). At the risk of immodesty, may I say that this band is fantastic? Uh…maybe I can’t, officially, but hopefully you can - and will! We’ll be making our live debut in our hometown this April, and recordings should be coming down the pipe pretty quickly afterwards. Speaking of the ol’ Bonaduces, we’re putting together a record, too! We’ve played a few reunion shows over the past few years and we always have a great time; plus we manage to keep very well to the spirit of the band and our shared past. I’ve got a group of songs together that fit in with that spirit, and everyone’s keen, so…we’re doing it! People who have fond memories of us are pretty pumped, so hopefully this will translate well for the people who’ve never heard of us, or who are coming to it from the position of a Paperbacks fan! Thirdly, I’m making a record under my own (extended) name, Douglas James McLean. I have extended it not sheerly out of pretention, but also to distinguish myself from another Doug McLean-type that I’ve seen on tour in Canada and Europe. Also, the graphic design possiblities seem stronger, and I think my mom will appreciate me getting some use out of my middle name. Also, it’s pretentious. But, yeah. I’ve cobbled together a group of songs that seemed to cry out “solo album”, and so who am I to deny songs when they cry out? I’m not made of stone. Lastly I’ve been playing with another band called Gothenburg Vandalism. You’ll find out more about this project very, very soon. So, how do you easily follow this? I was trying to figure that out, too, and then I realized I had the mechanism in place already: Parliament of Trees. That’s right, our fake record label is about to become a little less fake! Beginning April 15th, Parliament of Trees will be home base for all of these projects, plus more, including a new Details CD, a new recording by rapper Dodecahedron, a regular podcast, and some surprising literary offerings! I know this might all sound a bit sudden, or confusing, or overly ambitious. But nothing’s ending, everyone’s happy and there is a shitload of music coming. Keep checking back here for for all of this, as well as forthcoming Paperbacks material and news. If you’ve got questions, @ me up at Twitter (@douglasjmclean) or leave a message on the new Parliament of Trees Facebook page. Because another thing I’m trying to do is, y’know, be less silent. :) Talk to you soon, -Doug.

It seems like we’re a bit overdue for an update, so please, bear with me as I take you on a journey through the last few months…and beyond!

Any long-time Paperbacks fan pretty much knows our schedule by now; it is usually characterized by a short period of frantic activity, punctuated with some releases or tours, which is then followed by a cavernous, yawning age of silence. The silence usually is not what it seems…it tends to just be us still getting together three times a week, playing through songs or recording in our methodical manner. So, like I said, if you’ve stuck with us for any period of time, you’re probably a bit desensitized to apparent stretches of inactivity, as you can assume something’s going on behind the scenes.

This time, however, the silence has actually been kind of strangely…silent. After the almost two year period we spent consumed with recording our 32-song double-disc “Lit From Within”, followed by the various promotional efforts we put in behind its release, we needed a bit of a break. That turned into different things for different people.

Primarily: If you know us all personally, you’ll probably know that Jaret McNabb, our bassist extraordinaire and the band’s producer, engineer and mixer - as well as my sole constant musical partner for the last decade - has for years made music of his own, and in a style radically different than what we do in The Paperbacks. The reason you may not know this is because of the massive effort Jaret has always put into maintaining our band on so many fronts, which has absorbed so much of his free mental space in terms of time and focus. But with the conclusion of this album “cycle”, or whatever the technical term for it is, Mr. McNabb has elected to put the same effort towards what is his great passion as he has for years put towards mine. Curious? Check it out here.

As I said, I’ve been playing music with Jaret for longer than I’ve played with anyone, and I have no doubt that we’ll play together again, and it’s even quite likely that there will be more Paperbacks music at some point in the near(ish) future. Conversely, it has been a tremendous honour to me that he has dedicated such a long stretch of years to the music I’ve written, and I am excited and proud to see what he creates on his own.

But even more conversely, I gotta do something different now! So here’s what I’ve been up to:

The short version is, I’m putting out (at least) four albums this year. :)

The thing is, I’ve always had a heavy rate of song production that didn’t nessacarily match the somewhat more meticulous rate of Paperbacks releases (one of the reasons for Lit From Within’s, uh, mass), and so this downtime from The Paperbacks has kind of been a good impetus to organize all this material and figure out ways of presenting it, plus contextualize it with the new stuff I’ve been writing. So here’s what sort of organically came about.

First off, and most importantly, I’ve been continuing to play with Paperbacks guitarist Kevin Andrechuk, and we’ve put together a band called Yoyote. This also includes my good friends Chris Hiebert (who was the drummer in my previous band, The Bonaduces), Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson (who I played with in a band called Painted Thin), and Keli Martin (who plays bass in The Details). At the risk of immodesty, may I say that this band is fantastic? Uh…maybe I can’t, officially, but hopefully you can - and will! We’ll be making our live debut in our hometown this April, and recordings should be coming down the pipe pretty quickly afterwards.

Speaking of the ol’ Bonaduces, we’re putting together a record, too! We’ve played a few reunion shows over the past few years and we always have a great time; plus we manage to keep very well to the spirit of the band and our shared past. I’ve got a group of songs together that fit in with that spirit, and everyone’s keen, so…we’re doing it! People who have fond memories of us are pretty pumped, so hopefully this will translate well for the people who’ve never heard of us, or who are coming to it from the position of a Paperbacks fan!

Thirdly, I’m making a record under my own (extended) name, Douglas James McLean. I have extended it not sheerly out of pretention, but also to distinguish myself from another Doug McLean-type that I’ve seen on tour in Canada and Europe. Also, the graphic design possiblities seem stronger, and I think my mom will appreciate me getting some use out of my middle name. Also, it’s pretentious. But, yeah. I’ve cobbled together a group of songs that seemed to cry out “solo album”, and so who am I to deny songs when they cry out? I’m not made of stone.

Lastly I’ve been playing with another band called Gothenburg Vandalism. You’ll find out more about this project very, very soon.

So, how do you easily follow this? I was trying to figure that out, too, and then I realized I had the mechanism in place already: Parliament of Trees. That’s right, our fake record label is about to become a little less fake! Beginning April 15th, Parliament of Trees will be home base for all of these projects, plus more, including a new Details CD, a new recording by rapper Dodecahedron, a regular podcast, and some surprising literary offerings!

I know this might all sound a bit sudden, or confusing, or overly ambitious. But nothing’s ending, everyone’s happy and there is a shitload of music coming. Keep checking back here for for all of this, as well as forthcoming Paperbacks material and news. If you’ve got questions, @ me up at Twitter (@douglasjmclean) or leave a message on the new Parliament of Trees Facebook page. Because another thing I’m trying to do is, y’know, be less silent. :)

Talk to you soon,

-Doug.



Posted 1 year ago