New Hands

New Years Eve is soon

Drinking, and fornication

In 9 months, babies

Hey everyone! Our tumblr may get a little quiet for the next few days just because it is holiday time and we’ve all got things to do. I know Ben is way behind on christmas shopping, Spence is recuperating, Pat is decking the halls, and Gordy and I will be home playing video games. We just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all of our lovely fans and thank you so much for all of your support. Coming out to the shows, dancing, laughing, drinking and just being your awesome selves. Also if you guys have any ideas to keep you more informed with all of our stuff or just fun ideas that you want us to do please let us know and we will try our best to do it! 

Happy Holidays,

New Hands

Patrick O’Brien

A boy with nimble fingers

Touching the right spots

Ok, so we would like to point out that this isn’t a best of 2011 list, it’s our favourites (although a lot of them are the best of 2011 in our opinion). They aren’t really in any particular order other then Pat’s which is ordered to his preference. So here we go, each of our respective 5 Favourite Albums of 2011:

Ben

5. HOVA AND YEEZY - Watch the Throne

4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

3. Feist - Metals

2. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

1. Radiohead - King of Limbs

Evan

5. Arkells - Michigan Left

4. Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne

3. Childish Gambino - Camp

2. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

1. Tyler, the Creator - Goblin

Pat

5. Modeselektor - Monkey Town

4. Radiohead - King of Limbs

3. Tennis - Cape Dory

2. Feist - Metals

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Gordy

5. Against Me! - Totally Clarity

4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

3. Childish Gambino - Camp

2. Tyler - Goblin

1 .Jay-Z and Kanye - Watch the Throne

Spence’s is the funniest, he actually didn’t have 5 favourite albums, so instead we’ll copy a transcript of the text that he sent.

“Suck it and See [Arctic Monkeys], Angles [The Strokes], and Wounded Rhymes [Lykke Li]. Albums that would’ve been there if I had the intelligence to listen to them more: Strange Mercy [St. Vincent], Bon Iver, Tomboy [Panda Bear], King of Limbs [Radiohead], Watch the Throne [Kanye West and Jay-Z]”.

Enjoy!

New Hands

Don’t know if you guys will be able to read this but it just makes me really happy. Spence sent an email to our band account of the utmost importance (not being sarcastic, it links to The Dark Knight Rises Prologue). It Just made me laugh the way it was written and how excited he is.

What it says:

Subject: DARK KNIGHT RISES PROLOGUE + TRAILER #2

“Internet at my mom’s is shit but you guys will be able to watch these lag free, they’re not good quality but they ARE the real McCoy:

link to trailer

link to prologue

Fucking AWESOME”

God I love that kid!

Be the Hero Gotham Needs,

Evan

(this photo isn’t blurry it’s slishy)

Photo: New Hands ft. members of the Abbreviations and Dangerband playing “I Wish it Was Christmas Today”

Ok, so first off I just want to get the thanks out of the way because we are so grateful to all of those who made Slishfest 2011 possible. Thank you to the Abbreviations and Dangerband for putting on amazing sets and joining us on stage for a great “Slishmas” closer. Thank you to El Mocambo for supplying the venue, the booze, the awesome sound, and the smiles (awwww)! Thank you to Stuart McCardie for stepping up and helping us out by handeling the door and looking hot as hell. Thanks to everyone who came out to Slishfest and made it as fun as it was (without a doubt our favourite show we have played to date). Seriously, it was a great time, we can’t get over it! I want to share with everyone my Top Three SLISHFEST 2011 moments:

1. Jacob in Dangerband running around on stage when he wasn’t playing keys.

2. The huge metal breakdowns in numerous Abbreviations songs.

3. Dangerband and the Abbreviations joining us on stage for an awesome closer.

Now, back to business, we want to make this an annual Toronto endeavour so we’ll try our hardest to make this happen again next year and hopefully expand it if possible. I wasn’t kidding when I said it’s going to be a thing! So keep your eyes, ears, nostrils, mouths and fingertips open for any information about SLISHFEST 2012 and spread the word about what a good time it is so next year it’s even BIGGER and SLISHIER!

- Evan and New Hands

It’s a rare treat to have a good old fashioned game of NHL 12 against the Abbreviations (with Fraser refusing to play us any more, and Nick being gone for several months). Now that Nick is back, Gordy and I (Evan) got to have a 2 v. 2 game against him and Andy, and BOY, DID WE WIN! New Hands played as the Buffalo Sabres, and The Abbreviations were the New York Rangers (which in NHL 12 is a pretty statistically even game). It’s less fun to rub it in their faces as they’re so calm and accepting (Fraser would be yelling and pacing). In saying this, I’m going to try and squeeze every ounce of joy out of this victory I can. Although I’m sure Pat, Ben and Spence don’t care about this win, Gordy and I are certainly proud, and would like to say Nick and Andy played a damn fine game (in their defence they were slightly more intoxicated then us).

Keep your sticks on the ice,

Evan

The long awaited results (and I use that term VERY loosely) of the Gingerbread House Making contest are finally here. But first some background! 

Team New Hands:

Evan

Gordy

Ben

Spence (He deemed himself too sick to actually touch anything, but offered moral support)

Team Stinky Cootie Girls:

Lisa

Stacey

Sonia

Now obviously there was a better Gingerbread house, but to those who voted it must not have been clear:

This was made by team #2 (Stinky Cootie Girls). This beauty on the other hand fell short by 4 votes!

We know, we know, this one is clearly the best, but sadly the New Hands house fell short of your appreciation, and the girls have been deemed the winners. WELL DONE. You’ve already received your prize; making gingerbread houses with us!

Merry Christmas!

Ten songs that we thought sounded awfully galacticulish:

1) Daft Punk - Da Funk

2) Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension

3) Square Pusher/AFX - Freeman Hardy and Willis Acid

4) Parlovr - Where is the Sun 

5) Modeselektor - Deboutonner

6) Refused - New Noise

7) Johann Strauss - The Blue Danube

8) Handsome Furs - When I Get Back

9) Justice - Stress 

10) The Beastie Boys- Intergalactic

It is Christmas time

Outside, children are singing

I do not join them

Ben and I (Evan) had the pleasure of seeing The National perform at the Air Canada Center, and I just have to share my feelings because in the words of Tyler, the Creator, “I had a moment”. It was amazing! I have no intention of reviewing this show, as I’m far too biased and it would just come across as me sucking their metaphorical dicks. What I DO want to share is how awe inspiring the show was. Never in my life have I ever felt so humbled or inspired by any concert. It really solidified my dream of wanting to do this for a living, and I think I can speak for Ben when I say he feels the same. It amazes me how powerful music can be to people, and all of us want to be a part of it (or at least I think we do). So be excited come the new year, as we will be reaching out to all of you lovely people who like our music. But, I’m inspired and I promised Ben I would work on a song (because I haven’t written one yet and I want to ride this inspiration out) so I leave you with this: THE NATIONAL IS AWESOME AND I LOVE MUSIC.

The End

- Evan

Facebook is flooded with Christmas statuses and comments about the Griswolds and Elf and I can’t help but get sucked in. I’m surrounded by Christmas lights and the smell of brownies (I don’t know if that’s Christmas-y or not but it smells GREAT!) so I couldn’t help but fall in line. HERE’S a little extra holiday cheer from your good friends here in New Hands. We love you!

- Evan

We did a photo shoot while in Durham for the Stache Bash. We opted to go with a corny theme as it seems physically impossible for us to take serious photos. When we DO take a serious photo, we look like a metal band that does covers of show tunes.

If we were a metal band, I think we’d be called Diseased Monkey Fetus.

But seriously we would like to thank Backstage Photography for hooking us up with a super fun time getting silly and taking photos!

- Evan

I am sitting here at 2:30 AM, which feels like a perfectly appropriate time to write about our great time last night with Parlovr (we were up until about 6 am… ). Yesterday, Parlovr took up shelter in our house, and if I may say so we had a great time. Unfortunately our drummer Gordy was in Hawwwaaiii (oooooo la la), and Spence was attacked by Beelzebub’s minions, so neither were in attendance. The show itself was insane; The Abbreviations put on one of their tightest shows to date, and Parlovr was (as always) wild as SHIT! After the show we headed back to our place and watched an abundance of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Super Jail”. It was a simple night of hanging out with guys we quickly clicked with. We really love when bands stay at our makeshift Bed and Breakfast (especially our favourites), so we naturally can’t wait until the next time Parlovr’s in town. Maybe next time we will be on the bill (hopefully)!? Check out some Parlovr, and be ready for when they come to a town near you!

Parlovr - Pen to the Paper

- Evan

My dear Hawaii

You took away my Gordy

Return his ass now

I think this is as good a time as any to share how much we love our managing group from Durham college. Not only have they helped us with grants, getting shows, photo shoots and giving us all the festival info we could ever want, they also put a roof over our heads when we played their college. This was a much bigger deal then you might think, as they also had to put up with Pat getting his boxers ripped clean off, and the aggravated trial that ensued. So to them: We thank you, and anytime you’re in Hamilton please come stay with us. We will keep Pat clothed this time!

- Evan and New Hands