Victorious Combinations

When we were writing Autonomous there were several different directions and ideas that were tried over the past year and a half.   Even though some of the songs were re-workings of older songs ( It's Still On is a remixed, re-recorded version of our song Please from the Disagreements ep - 2008) a few of the songs happened all at the last minute.   Happy Girl was one of them. Happy Girl was born of a drum track.  My old friend Leigh Grant did us a big favour and came into the city to track drums on a couple songs, and a few ideas we had.  Back in the Spring of 2014 we had him come in to record at Valt Studio, Jordy's downtown production space.  It was hardly a massive room, and the equipment was simple and effective, but we ended up with a lot of great stuff!  It was during this session we recorded the drum tracks to Hardly Spoken, Happy Girl, and two others that didn't make the album but may still be used one day! Originally I had Leigh track drums...

We are excited to announce the release of our second full length album, Autonomous.  Twelve songs that combine the style and sound of modern electronic dance music with more experimental and traditional song writing.   Have a listen, download it, share it, comment on it.  We'd love to hear what you think!! Autonomous by Combine the Victorious DANCE - ENJOY! with love from Mark and Isabelle thanks to: Robert Edmonds for the artwork  Don Harrison for the guitar Leigh Grant for the drums Stefan Sigerson for the bass and brilliance Ingrid Schroeder and Barry Flynn for the song writing Jordy Birch for the additional production Paul Schroeder and Adam Percy for their brilliant mixes & Matt Kennedy, Hugh Ellenwood, Elaine Henderson, Jesse Smith, Kevin Jones, Misty Reid, Jane Dunlop, Vince Tuckwood, Patrick Gilmore, Helen Mitteregger, Hajnalka Mandula, Richard Bafaro, our families, The Population Drops, Jim Newto...

Had a great day recording last weekend when Leigh Grant (original drummer from Pure) came in to play on three more songs.  It's been really fun to see how adding live drums to the tracks makes everything come to life.  He's now playing on over half the album. Leigh killed it once again. We tracked drums on Best Tonight, California '15, and Stop Givin Up On Love.    I started with Best Tonight so we could enter it into CBC Searchlight, and I've just finished the edits on the last of the three,  They as sounding super solid.  Very proud of Boutique Empire studio, it's turning out some big sounding songs! Last year Jordy Birch and I had Leigh come into The Valt studio, (Jordy's studio downtown), and he played on four other songs, one of which we later dumped the original song entirely and built a new one on top of his drumming: Happy Girl.   I know we were all hard on each other in our old band back in the day, but man, Leigh can really drum. ...

Well, we've been working for months now and the album is finally taking shape!  So far we've decided on at least seven songs that will be for the vinyl version.  They are in no particular order: Stand in Front of Tanks It's Still On Hardly Spoken Caught Up to You California'15 Best Tonight Real Life Turns Me On Some of these songs we've written on our own but several have been collaborations with old friends and new.  We can list Ingrid Schroeder, Barry Flynn, Stefan Sigerson, Jordy Birch, Justin "Juice" Kadis, Misty Reid, Leigh Grant, Don Harrison amongst our writing partnerson this album.  It's been really interesting comparing the results of each collaboration, as the songs are all playing together quite nicely. I think we still have a couple really long and hard vocal sessions for the rest of the material we're considering, and there are still so many ideas that we've started in the past that have only reached an ver...

We recently had the pleasure of having old friend and former Pure bandmate Leigh Grant come into the studio and record drums on new Combine the Victorious songs.   It was a near complete Pure reunion that day, as Jordy Birch* was on hand to help with production.  The song in the clip below ( Come Down ) is a track that was co-written with Justin " Juice " Kadis and Misty Reid, we'd started it in 2013 but never completed the recording.  As Isabelle and I listened back to it this spring I could hear where live drums could really add a lot of life to the track. Live drums always seem to have that magic. So we asked Leigh to come down to the studio and put down his magic.  The section of this clip is the very first time Leigh's putting drums to the song, I love how much energy he adds from the very first cymbal crash. Thanks again Leigh, sounds amazing!  As I was messing with the mix a bit I solo'd his performance and found myself thinking of Pureafunalia ,...

I had a lot of fun this past Friday in Bank Vault Studio with former Pure bandmates Jordy Birch and Leigh Grant .  It was the first time since 1994 when we were recording Generation Six Pack that the three of us have all been together in a recording studio!  Leigh came downtown to put down some drum tracks on four Combine the Victorious songs with Jordy helping out with production. The day began as it must, in a music shop.  We picked up a rental kit from Tom Lee after a nice perusal of the Steinway piano room upstairs.  It's an understatement to say it's pretty nice playing on a nine foot grand!  Anyway, we grabbed a kit and went to the Bank Vault and quickly set up.  Leigh is probably even better than he was back in Pure days, he locked in with the songs effortlessly and has really given everything a great burst of energy.  After hearing a couple of these songs for almost a year with programmed drums it was liberating to hear a human take on the...

I've just spent the past week working on a new song called The Best Tonight .  It was built on the back of another song we wrote last year called Overtime .  Recently we'd cut a version of Overtime with Jordy Birch producing, and even though he pushed us to get a great vocal performance, after the glow of studio excitement faded the song just seemed to lacking something.  The recording was great but the song itself seemed to lack that little spark it needed to make it important. So, while I was attempting to "fix" the original song a new song started to appear from the work, a better song actually.   The Best Tonight is kind of a story song, our story.  It happened quite naturally, and was initially effortless to get down on tape.  However, like so many other tracks in our history, under the sober light of day I felt a bit uncomfortable with the very literal vibe to the lyrics and we set about trying to rewrite them.  It's taken all week but I thin...

We've just done a serious reworking on our latest single "Brotherhood."  This new version is the result of several months of listening and pondering, as well as absorbing the comments of several producer friends of ours.  I'd like to thank everyone who's helped us so much over the past many months in the creation of this song, it really means a lot to us.  So big thanks to Justin "Juice" Kadis for his guitar playing and arranging, Misty Reid on drums, and Stefan Sigerson, Jimmy Zee, Jason Corbett and Jordy Birch for their assistance /comments with the production. And, of course, the wonderful Robert Edmonds for the cover art! Cheers to you all! Hope you enjoy the song.  I think it's one of our best to date. Mark Brotherhood by Combine the Victorious

Just wanted to leave a note stating how much fun we had at the "A Change of Frequency" festival on the weekend.  Both nights were good but Saturday was especially enjoyable for us! A positive, life-affirming event that brought together several generations of music lovers in a lovely venue all for a good cause (Canadian Mental Health Association).  Minna Simko did a brilliant job organizing the event and I think everyone involved had a great time!  The Columbia Theatre proved to be a viable theatre to hold such a show and I wouldn't be surprised if it became an important live music venue, just as Todd Simko always dreamed it could! ChukFoto photography We performed a short set (there were eight bands each night) that contained two new songs and two favorites from the Crumbling Hearts ep . Debuting for the very first time was the song written specifically in Todd's memory, Brotherhood as well as our new song Hardly Spoken (which we shared last week).  After...

We shall be performing tonight over in New Westminster as part of the Change of Frequency festival.   Combine the Victorious will be on around 8:30 and we'll be debuting two new songs, one of them written specifically for the event.  It's titled Brotherhood and was written about our departed friend Todd Simko who left us last year.  The other is the song we revealed earlier this week called Hardly Spoken .   The four of us are sounding exceptionally great and really looking forward to this one. We checked out the Columbia Theatre last night and I have to say it's a lovely venue, with great sight lines, acoustics and a cool stage.  Quite looking forward to sharing our music in such a venerable space! Hope you can join us, and then stay for the Pure / Guilty About Girls set (which shall contain all of us with the added bonus of having Leigh Grant join us for a very authentic rendition of Denial) .  Lots of talent on stage tonight, and it's all to be...

27 Apr 2010 We just spent this past weekend shooting a video for the new Guilty About Girls song, Candy Candy .   It's turned out quite well.   Been learning Final Cut Pro; how to edit video.  It's very fun.  Here's the final cut, Jordy and I are both excited about it and I like how great Isabelle looks in this video! Things are getting busy these days.  Between playing shows with Guilty About Girls and Combine the Victorious it's hard to find time to work on new music.  Looking forward to the Seattle show.   Plus CtV is playing our first out of town gig ever on May 22nd in Brandon with The Invisible Men  (home town heartthrobs I'm informed).  Seems as though there are many things on the fire these days.  Exciting times again. I think we may have informally begun our third album.  Strangely compelling titles emerged the other night.  It's probably going to take ...