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So, here we are…

December 14th, 2015 at 12:16 pm by Kaye

Wow… my last post on our blog was entitled ‘Hello, 2015′ — I guess that speaks to my blogging commitment this past year, but it’s been a strange year with lots of things happening and I felt the need to post this morning. This year, the Rugs played a handful of shows, recorded a couple of new songs, Ali got married and Matt got engaged! Some of us have been working on other projects, and Matt and Ian played a reunion show with their beloved band, The Diableros — that was quite the night!

But now, onto some more recent things… some of you may have noticed that Jigsaw Records (www.jigsaw-records.com) released a CD version of our LP quite recently, and our music is also featured on their SoundCloud. They are an online record label and shop that approached us after coming across our 2014 LP ‘This is OK for Now’. We’re very excited to be working with them and appreciate the support, as always. I’ve noticed that since all this has happened, a few writers have been echoing the same sentiment about Persian Rugs and our releases. There is a general consensus that after the 2011 release of our EP, ‘Always All’, we sort of fell off the map. Furthermore, there’s been comment that ‘This is OK for Now’ fell through the cracks a little bit. I feel the need to talk about these things because I do hear this from people quite a bit, and the hard-headedness in me wants to justify and explain ;)

The release of our EP in 2011 was the culmination of the hard work of many people, and was only possible due to funding provided 100% by ourselves. We felt the strong need to produce this EP on vinyl, as the success of the original four-track demo version of Always All (recorded by David Lush) was due in part to its lo-fi sound that we felt could be preserved with the magical sound that vinyl provides. Vinyl is special. But producing vinyl is also very expensive, as are all things recording-related. We put the EP out and received positive responses from some, and continued playing shows very often in Toronto. In 2012, we had enough new material and profits from the sales of ‘Always All’ to move forward with more recording. However, it should be noted that without label support (and even then), independent artists do not make money. The four of us all have day jobs to support these passions of ours, but expendable income in this economic climate is not to be found, and we had to ensure that our new recordings were as affordable to produce as possible. This proved difficult. Almost a year after recording the first four songs for ‘This is OK for Now’, we decided and were able financially to go back into the studio with another friend to record four more songs to create an LP, yes, albeit a short one, but an LP to us nonetheless. With the generous help and support of friends, we ended up with 8 great songs, mixed by ourselves and friends, that we were able to master at Polyphasic Studios. As you can see, this had become a lengthy process and our promised LP was now way overdue. I would constantly have friends asking me what was going on, but when you start talking about money and mixing, you generally lose people in the conversation.

In September 2014, we released ‘This is OK for Now’. We had an amazing release show full of friends and excitement. But then, nothing happened. Unfortunately, things do not always happen the way you imagine them. While people liked the record, it did not garner any press attention, which meant less opportunities for us, and a smaller audience to come across it. While I am so incredibly proud of our work, I must admit that I was disappointed with the reaction (or lack thereof) to a selection of songs that held so much importance to me. In the music world, you’ve got to roll with the punches, and just because people like one thing, does not mean they will be there to listen to the next thing years later.

But make no mistake, Persian Rugs has not ceased working, writing, recording and playing shows since we met each other in 2009. As I have said a million times over, I’m forever grateful for this crazy journey I’ve shared with Ian, Matt and Ali. As 2015 draws to a close and I feel more than ever like, “what the fuck am I doing with my life”, I am happy to find solace and support in the music and friends I have in Persian Rugs, and always hold all the times, good and bad, along with all the songs, liked or not, very close to my heart. While I’ve been told I’m too honest or upfront in my online presence and in what I write about or share, I feel this was an important thing to write about because it happens more often than not. And while in Toronto, it might not be the cool thing to talk about failed attempts or less than desirable outcomes, in the end what matters is how proud you are of what you made, how hard you worked and how special the people are to you that you got to share all of that with.

With one door closed, another opens. Stay happy, friends.

xx, K

Hello, 2015.

January 6th, 2015 at 11:13 am by Kaye

As I come into 2015 with my wonderful band-mates, friends and brothers (Matt, Ian and Ali), I reflect back on 2014, not only in our “band-life”, but in my own as well.

2014 was a particularly tough one for me, professionally and personally. I made a lot of difficult decisions, and a lot of bad choices. But through it all, as ever, music was my constant. I feel I grew as a singer and songwriter in 2014. Everyone knows the only thing that’s ever gotten me through the shit is songwriting, so it was good to have that tool of release to use when things got extra tough. All of the projects I’m involved in began to really thrive when things got hard — and isn’t that always the case? Your personal life suffers and inspiration takes hold in a cathartic rush of melancholy and sadness! But everything is now falling into place — the dust is settling — and while I still never know what the hell I’m doing with my life, this feels good to me right now.

As you must know by now because I’ve pretty much shoved it down everyone’s throat, we released our debut LP, This is OK for Now, in 2014 and on December 15th, we released our first official music video for our second single, Underemployed. It premiered on Exclaim, which was awesome (thank you!!), and I’m very happy with how it turned out. I wanted to juxtapose the ideas in the song, with happy, joyous imagery. The song is about the banality of life, the struggle of workplace and personal life today, the constant need for money just to stay afloat, all while feeling as though you’re making it just to spend it… basically, I never know what I’m doing and this song encapsulates that. So I wanted the video to portray what I (and many people) do to make it all worth while — what we do to get through the shit — and that’s listening to some good music, hanging with friends, and having a great party. We filmed it in our jam space (and as you can imagine, the shoot went very late).

So as I venture into 2015, I want to concentrate on music and what makes me feel good, all while surrounding myself with positive people and positive situations. There’s no room for shit anymore. I’d say that’s a pretty good resolution — positive vibes only.

Thank you to everyone who supported us in 2014, who came out to our shows, bought our records online or in person, showed us love, and made us feel like it was all worth while. We hope to bring you even more exciting things in 2015.

Happy New Year from all of us at Persian Rugs!

xx, Kaye

Lots going on in Persian Rugs’ world.

October 14th, 2014 at 9:59 am by Kaye

Hi everyone,

First off, I’d like to say thank you so much to the support we’ve received for our new album, This is OK for Now. It was a labour of love and it’s nice to have a response. We had a lot of our friends turn out for a (very) late release show at the Boat on September 18th — thank you so much for that. Like myself, I know a lot of you had to work the next day but it was so amazing to have so many friendly faces out. A big thank you to Keith Hamilton for doing the sound (I could actually fucking hear myself for once) and to my lovely, talented friends Wanderbirds for playing, along with our friends The Disraelis for stepping in last minute to support as well. You can also check out some pictures by the talented Lori Steuart here: Release Pictures! *word on the street is Lori might be taking some new band photos for us, so stay tuned!

Now, moving on…

We are playing a lot in the next little while, so mark up your calendars!

First up, we’re playing TWiMFeST on October 24th at the Gladstone! This is an awesome new festival that deserves attention — it pays its artists and also has a no radius clause (all you bands will understand why that is important). We’ve never played the Gladstone and I’m very excited. Check out more info here!

We will then be opening for Allo Darlin’ as they make the rounds on their tour, which we are VERY excited about. That show is November 4th (which is Matt’s birthday too!) and it is happening at the Drake. This should be a wild night, so bring your drinking hats and make sure you’ve got your hangover pills on hand the next morning.

Matt and Ian will then be DJing as Black Postcards at the Embassy on November 6th (they do this the first Thursday of every month — it is always really fun and while my appearances are limited due to work, you never know when you might see me too)!

Finally, we’ll be playing a festival and DJing in Oshawa on the 7th and we’d love to see all you Oshawa-dwellers out for that (more details as soon as we know them).

HEY! I noticed we’ve made our way up to 492 likes on Facebook. We’re almost to 500 and that means so much — keep ‘em coming because it does help us.

Lastly, some of you know we filmed a music video this summer and I have been hard at work editing the huge amount of footage we got. The video is going to be really cool and it’s something I think we’ll all be proud of. It is a video for our second single, Underemployed. The song is about the trivialities of being “underemployed” and feeling as though you’re making money just to lose it, but for the video, I really wanted to encompass the things that get you through that kind of struggle — friends, drinks and a lot of fun. It’s about getting by and enjoying life, something I’m learning about myself right now. Here’s a little picture preview:

Thanks again for all your support — we’re excited about what the fall is going to bring.

Keep smiling,
xx K

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