Victorious Combinations

Recorded during our show at the Fox Cabaret opening up for Sex With Strangers on May 29th, 2014. This is our revised version of Crumbling Hearts that we've worked out for our duo show. We'd like to thank our good friends Sex With Strangers for adding us to the bill on their album release party night.  It was an entertaining evening of music and it was a pleasure to share the stage with SWs and ACTORS !  Check 'em both out if you haven't already. Check out the original version from our last EP ( Crumbling Hearts ) if you haven't already.   Camera operators:  Mike Love Benn McGuire Editing: Mark Henning Check out Industry Night Live for similar live videos of local bands!  

We are really excited to be playing the Fox Cabaret this Thursday night.  We'll be opening the night for headliners Sex With Strangers album release party.  Also on the bill is a favourite band of ours ACTORS and War Baby.  2321 Main Street, doors at 8.  Combine the Victorious is on a 8:30, plus it is a FREE SHOW!  So there are no reasons not to attend.  It will be a great night of music, without a doubt. Isabelle and I are keen to try out a brand new song for this show.  We both feel as though it might be the first single from our next album and there's nothing like playing a song live to get a feeling for how it works.  Of course we'll also be performing some of our strongest songs off the Crumbling Hearts ep as well, though we've given each of them a little special update to make everything feel fresh and exciting. If you are reading this and possess a camera capable of taking decent video footage we'd love for you to come down and film the...

Thursday, May 29th 2014 at the Fox Cabaret, 2321 Main Street Vancouver. We'll be opening for Sex With Strangers who are celebrating their fifth full length release " You Know Something We Don't? " Also on the bill are Actors, War Baby and Combine the Victorious.  We'll be opening, so please make sure to get down there for 8:30.  Plus, the added bonus for this event, it is FREE! Doors at 8PM Combine the Victorious 8:30 War Baby 9:15 Actors 10 Sex With Strangers  11 This is going to be an amazing night, get there early because it's going to be packed! fb event.

Just wanted to say what a great time we had performing as part of A Change of Frequency this past Friday at the Chapel Arts.  The whole night was a pleasure, with several good bands, a lovely atmosphere and all falling on our pal Todd Simko's birthday (May 2nd).  Todd would have been 48 this year. This was the second show Isabelle and I have played as a duo again and it went really well.  Our set opened with our version of the Calvin Harris song " Feel So Close " and then  progressed through an updated version of Crumbling Hearts, California, an electricfied version of Brotherhood that I think we're going to include on the upcoming album, and closed with Glasgow .  The response was incredible from the audience and I think it may have been the best we've ever performed a couple of those songs. After our set our friend Jordy Birch played a couple stripped down Guilty About Girls songs (and I snuck onto stage to accompany him on the drums). The rest of the ...

Combine the Victorious is performing as part of VALT2013 (Vancouver Alternative Fashion Weekend) alongside Sex With Strangers, Dark Arps, House of Barnes, and featured designers: Maggie Fu, Avant-Afi, Boring Sidney Hats and Headresses, Mitmunk, Carolyn Bruce,and Laura Jackson.  Event starts at 6PM, Combine will be playing at 8:30.  577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver.  Tickets $20.   Event link here:   Facebook Event  

We just had a wonderful performance at the Rio Theatre here in Vancouver this past Thursday night. We were invited to perform the release party for Katrin Bowen 's comedy " Random Acts of Romance ". While it was a little different to be following a movie as an opening act, it turned into a very enjoyable experience! Combine the Victorious performed for the first time since 2007 as a five piece. Another first was Leigh Gran t, the original drummer from 90's alt rock band Pure, joined us to complete our sound. With Juice on Guitar, Misty on Bass, Leigh on Drums, me on keys and running Ableton, Isabelle even picked up a little keyboard for one new song:  we never sounded better. The set was succinct and powerful, very dance oriented and quite satisfying. Here are a few photos taken from Chuk Foto's instagram page. More will surface before the weekend's out I'm sure, but I really wanted to share some today, it was such a good night1 We play...

Next gig Combine the Victorious will be performing at the commercial release party for Katrin Bowen's Random Acts of Romance comedy on November 14th at the Rio Theatre here in Vancouver.  We are working  our a fantastic new set that will include two brand new songs!  The new album is really taking shape, and the band is starting to sound very good once again (taking all that time off this past summer had dulled our playing a bit, but we're getting it back quite rapidly!)  It should also be mentioned that we've actually rehearsed a few times now with Leigh Grant (the original drummer from Mark's prior band Pure).  It's going to be a great night, not only will the audience get to watch a truly funny comedy, but we'll be sharing the stage will long time pals Sex With Strangers too!  Check out the fb event from the link above.  See you there!

Just wanted to say thanks to the fine folks at VanMusic for listing us on their top 25 bands to watch in Vancouver.  We are proud to be included with such fine company as The Population Drops, Sex With Strangers, Fine Times, Japandriods, No Sinner,  The Pack AD, The Matinee, Said the Whale, Bend Sinister, The Boom Booms and tonnes more great bands. It's a cool list, check it out.  You may find yourself watching some of these bands very soon. Cheers! The best 25 (plus one) indie Vancouver bands of 2012

24 Mar 2010 The First Boutique Empire compilation: I've been putting together a compilation for Boutique Empire.  We now are the proud partners in Boutique Empire: Rec'10 .   It features 10 different bands, with new singles form Guilty About Girls " Candy Candy ", Combine the Victorious and a remastered version of New City Anthem from Sex With Strangers .  Also in the mix is Ingrid Schroeder (London), Gilles Zolty (Saskatoon) and Marc Wild (Vancouver) as well as a new single from Ten Suns (Vancouver) who Isabelle and I saw for the first time last night and they were brilliant.  Additionally there are songs from our new friends Chiwawa (Montreal) and Piper Davis (Calgary) and a remix from Lurch of the CtV song The Hours . Things are busy.  I'm playing a show with Jordy Birch this Friday in Victoria as Guilty About Girls and Isabelle just got back from Sex With Strangers' first appearance at SXSW.  We're also still trying to book...

24 Nov 2009 New Video Yes I know I'm trying to steal a bit of their thunder, but I'm blown away with the new Sex With Stranger's video.  And really, Isabelle sings in both bands so it's not entirely unrelated to what CtV does.  Have a look, it's really fantastic! Produced by BKS Crew Productions , featuring Carol Yuen as the "Unreal."  Make up for the "Unreal" by Carey Williams, Edited by Stephen Green, Directed by Brett Harvey.  Shot on a Canon 5D MkII. Music production by Sex With Strangers and your truly!  you can see cameos from members of several Vancouver bands, including: Adjective, Accost, Girlfriends and Boyfriends, Danny Echo, Spotlight Carnival, and The February March.  A big THANK YOU has to go out to everyone involved in this video, from Brett and Stephen, Carey and Carol, Luna, Kokanee Beer and everyone who showed up for the party back in September.  I think it turned out amazingly and looks wo...

27 Aug 2008 Updates - August 27-2008 Hi - just writing to say that we're trying to finish up the songs for the EP but have had a very exciting idea to get one of our friends to help us complete the last song.  We've asked Ingrid Schroeder to see if she could add her amazing voice to our song: Please .  There is a wonderful breakdown in the song that we both feel she could enhance with her sultry vocals and we're waiting to see if she's into a collaboration.  Fingers crossed because I just know it would sound incredible.  Please is over the top right now.  Probably going to be the best song on the ep.  It's very changed from our initial demo that we posted back in January.  More dramatic and orchestral sounding.  Now I'm thinking that's the way we want to go for the next record! Back in Style is almost done, we're re-singing our lead parts and I've changed the mix quite a bit as well.  A bit harder sounding and the...

10 Jun 2008 Todd Simko to play with Combine the Victorious It's with great delight that I can announce that Mr. Todd Simko (former guitarist from Pure ) has agreed to perform with us on our July 18th show at the Biltmore Cabaret . He has also done us the honour of playing on our latest track Decay . Those guitars are all from the master himself! In addition to Todd we also shall have the pleasure of Kevin Jones (The February March) joining us on the drums as well. It shall be a more stripped down show, we're looking at restructuring some of the older songs to be playable with just bass, guitar and drums. Isabelle and I want to try out a more intimate club style on this gig. Other big news is that our label, Boutique Empire , is off the ground and proudly presenting this upcoming showcase. The roster includes Combine the Victorious , Guilty About Girls (Jordy Birch's new group) and of course, Sex With Strangers . SWS will be unveiling the new ...