01-01-06 – Happy New Year, Smugglers Fan(s?)!! Thanks for checking in to our site. I know we have been outrageously inactive. We didn’t play a single live gig in 2005, which marks our first entire year off since forming the band in 1988. Not good. We tried, and we had some really nice offers, but one of our members does not want to perform in the Smugglers right now, if ever again. But that’s life, right? We’re pondering playing without him, but it’s a tough decision after playing so many years on so many stages with certain people. To not play with the same members this late in our career (17 years now) is questionable. The band was formed to have fun, and as our tour diaries clearly state, that’s pretty much what we’ve done for years and years. We’ll see. Nothing is totally certain yet, to be the completely ambiguous Canadians we are.

In other news, Smugglers lead singer Grant Lawrence is very busy within the music media: his weekly CBC Radio 3 podcast is the #1 music podcast in Canada and is listened to by a staggeringly large and devoted audience from all over the world. Put it this way: more people subcribe to the podcast than have ever bought a Smugglers record, and when you add ‘em all up, we have sold quite a few records in 17 years! The numbers, and the sweeping reach of podcasting is a bit staggering. If only Grant could break a few rules and play the Smugglers!

Grant is also a daily host of CBC Radio 3 on Sirius Satellite radio. He hosts every day from 5:00PM to 8:00PM EST / 2:00PM to 5:00PM PST, on Sirius channel 94, available everywhere in North America. Grant also continues to host his Saturday night show on conventional CBC Radio in Canada, which airs simultaneously on Sirius.

It’s all Grant, Grant, Grant, but we also gotta say he now also has a TV gig on CBC TV in Canada! Every Thursday night at 11:25PM he is the “musicologist” on Zed Tunes, where he who “prescribes music makeovers” for people with terribly pathetic music collections. His first case is a Vancouver drag queen in his/her mid forties.

For more information on all of this, go to www.cbcradio3.com.

Here is Grant Lawrence’s Top Music Pick Of 2005:

1. Immaculate Machine “Ones And Zeroes”
2. The Go! Team “Thunder Lightening Strike!”
3. The New Pornographers “Twin Cinema”
4. Wolf Parade “Apologies To The Queen Mary”
5. The Deadly Snakes “Porchella”
6. Breakestra “Hit The Floor”
7. Spoon “Gimme Fiction!”
8. Joel Plaskett “La De Da”
9. The Raveonettes “Pretty In Black”
10. Crooked Fingers “Dignity And Shame”

10-22-05 – As our dear friend Heather in New York City would say, “Oy Vey”! It’s been a long time since Your Smugglers visited and updated our own site. To all those who continue to visit, thank you. To all those waiting for a Smugglers show or a tour, you may be waiting a little longer as the current downtime / break / hiatus or whatever we call it, shows no signs of ending anytime soon. With that said, many people send emails asking about a new record! Maybe make absolutely sure you’ve bought the latest one, “Mutiny In Stereo”, first. It contains three of Grant’s absolute all time favourite Smugglers songs: “Pirate Ships”, “Larry, Where Are You?” and his #1 fave “Mach One”. For that reason alone you should visit the Lookout! Records site to grab one before the title is forever out of print. It’s out on vinyl from Screaming Apple of Germany.

Much has happened for the members of the Smugglers since we last updated this site… Beez has fully recovered from his hockey heart attack of mid June. He has since become a part owner of Mint Records, the Smugglers’ long-time Canadian record label. In bigger news, Beez finally became a father as his wife CC gave birth to a baby boy named Charlie in late July. The family is doing so well that they ALL went to Europe together, while Beez and Dave tour as backing musicians for the Rodney Graham Band (a highly successful Vancouver visual artist who decided to form a band, playing his own massive art openings).

Nick is playing constantly with his new punk band the Tranzmitors. They have recorded several songs that will see release on various 7”s soon, and they also have a very good Nick-penned song up on www.newmusiccanada.com for all to hear. In bigger news for Nick, he also became a father again, as his wife Soraya gave birth to a baby boy named Quinn, finally giving Nick a son to join his two daughters. Quinn is doing very well, hardly ever cries, and is much loved by his two older sisters. 

Nick and Grant are enjoying another season with the Vancouver Flying Vees hockey team, having started at a fast clip, winning their first five games straight, with a current 6-2-0 record on the season. The Flying Vees will be playing an outdoor tournament in Penticton BC this winter, as well as the team’s regular appearance at the Exclaim! Hockey Summit in Toronto on the 2006 Easter Weekend.

Grant’s career as a music journalist at CBC Radio continues to gain momentum. Besides his regular national Saturday night radio show on CBC Radio Two, Grant is now the host of the CBC Radio 3 Podcast, an hour long weekly show that is consistently ranked as the #1 podcast in Canada and is often in the top 20 in the USA and in several top tens in countries all over the world. The show specializes in 100% independent Canadian music, and anyone with a computer or an iPod can subscribe at www.cbcradio3.com. In bigger news, Grant will also be one of the primary hosts of the new North American wide, 24-7 CBC Radio 3 Sirius Satellite radio station, launching in early December. All subscribers to Sirius Satellite radio will be able to hear the station, crystal clear, anywhere in North America!

In a small tidbit of Smugglers news, our song “Vancouver BC”, the spunky chestnut about our hometown, was recently ranked by the Georgia Straight weekly entertainment magazine as the #1 song ever written about the city of Vancouver. The song originally came out in 1991 on “At Marineland”, our first album, and was written by Grant in 1989 at age 17.

And finally, Grant and Beez recently attended the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City together with a big gang of people from Mint Records. Grant wrote a tell-all tour diarya about it, which you can read in all its detail right here.

Until next time,

Your Smugglers

06/04/05 – Beez Suffers Heart Attack! Hello World Of Friends!! We have some frightening news to share with you from Smugglers camp. On the afternoon of Saturday June 4, beloved Smugglers bass player Beez suffered a heart attack right after finishing a hockey game with our team the Flying Vees. Don’t worry, he is going to be completely ok. But it was very scary there for awhile. Here’s what basically went down: Beez had just gotten off the ice at the rink in North Vancouver. While seated in the locker room with the rest of us, Beez complained that he was feeling abnormal pain and numbness in his arms and chest. Since Grant was there, and has traveled the world with Beez and has seen him slumped in a corner soaking wet after many a gig complaining of everything under the sun, Grant’s first reaction was literally to tell Beez to just grab a beer and deal with it. But then Beez got worse, and worse, and worse, until he was on the floor on the locker room with something obviously very wrong.

Luckily, the Flying Vees have a doctor on their roster ("Flowin'" Kevin Rowan) who immediately noticed tell-tale heart attack warning signs. Grant called 911, and soon Beez was under the attention of six paramedics and firemen on the floor of the locker room for the full meal deal: respirator, heart monitor, IV, stretcher, etc. When asked what he ate that day, Beez embarrassing admittedly through a muffling respirator “uhhh… just a cinnamon bun and a coffee”. One paramedic was seen rolling his eyes. Beez was then administered nitroglycerin to open up the valves and arteries in his heart, and once stabilized, was rushed by ambulance to the Emergency Room of Lion's Gate Hospital with screaming sirens and flashing lights, as most of the team followed along. At the hospital ER, the doctor came out and said “your friend Beez is experiencing severe angina pain”. Unfortunately Grant misunderstood and asked “doctor, where exactly is the mangina?”

Shortly thereafter, Beez was transferred to Saint Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver for a surgical angiogram, which revealed 100% blockage of an artery that provides blood flow to the arms and shoulders. The blockage was successfully removed, and a titanium stent was surgically inserted to permanently keep the artery open. As this hospital is in Vancouver’s famed West End, the surgery required Beez to have his genital region shaved. Beez’ thoughts immediately harkened back to some weird yoga lessons in India, prompting the response “sorry doctor, I’m not comfortable with that” (please see Beez’ India Adventures in the Tour Diarya section). Luckily the doctor ignored Beez and shaved his balls, bruised his ego and fixed his heart.

Beez was then transferred back to Lion's Gate Hospital. On the way, the heart monitor let out the following bleating message: “WARNING BATTERY LOW, WARNING BATTERY LOW”. The nurse yelled up to the driver “where’s the other battery?” He shouted back “there is no other battery, you have to plug that thing into the wall to recharge it!” The nurse then started screaming “CODE THREE, CODE THREE, CODE THREE!!!!” while Beez’ wide eyes darted nervously back and forth under the respirator wondering what the fuck “CODE THREE” meant. Suddenly the ambulance lurched forward into high gear with the sirens and flashing lights on again, racing Beez through the rain slicked streets to get him back to the other hospital before the battery went dead!!

The ambulance pulled a “Rockford” in the emergency entrance and they all safely made it back inside Lion’s Gate where Beez is currently recovering. While still a little shocked at what exactly went down over the course of this weekend, Beez is in fine spirits and is "feeling great". For those that didn’t know, Beez recently became a co-owner of Mint Records. There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that this attack occurred shortly after Beez reviewed Mint’s finances. Get well wishes can be sent to Beez through the Smugglers email account gtwelve@aol.com.

 For the record, the Flying Vees won the game 6-3.

05/15/05 - Ok, so what do the Smugglers do in a year when they don’t release a record or play a lot of shows? In a year when the Vancouver Canucks are locked out of their arena along with the rest of the NHL? The Smugglers temporarily put down the axes, pick up the hockey sticks and join a hockey team called the Vancouver Flying Vees, that’s what. For the first time ever, we played in a full season of a team sport, and at the end of the year, we soared through the playoffs and eventually won the CHAMPIONSHIP! Whoo hoo! We won a big silver cup and we’re very proud. Nick scored the second highest amount of goals on the team (15) and Grant notched two shut outs (no goals allowed in a game). We’ll never forget it.

After the Championship game here in Vancouver, most of the team flew out to Toronto on the Easter Weekend to take part in the Exclaim Cup Hockey Summit where we surprised many by also making it to the Final in our tier in that tournament! Sadly we didn’t have quite enough gas in the tank to win two finals in one week, as we lost 2-0.

Between hockey and geology, Nick has been on the road constantly, and just came home from a week in the Artic, scouting terrain and mining sites for his company and having a wild time with the locals. Unfortunately, while playing a rather physical, obviously confusing Inuit game, he punched an important female community leader in the face, but other than that everything went smoothly.

Nothing is happening with the Smugglers. For a rock fix, go get the new Chixdiggit album “Pink Razors”, that’ll hold you over.

We’re all enjoying our lives doing other things besides Smuggling, such as shitting out kids. At present, two Smuggler Wives are preggers with Smugglers semen! Yes, if all goes to plan Nick will be a proud father again, and Beez will be a daddy for the first time ever so all are extremely excited. As far as careers go, Nick is flying along at his new geology gig and will be traveling to the far reaches of Hudson Bay and New York City in the coming months. Beez can actually be found  back at the phone sex company giving people what they want, but a little less often.

When it comes to rock'n'roll, Dave is the busiest. He regularly rocks with the Evaporators, and is the guitarist/musical brain behind the Rodney Graham band here in Vancouver. He's also constantly working in his JC/DC recording studio, currently recording the bed tracks for the New Pornographers' third album. Nick has joined a new Vancouver rock' n' roll band that features a few familiar faces, namely ex-Smugglers Bryce Dunn and Jeffy Mcloi, and a skinhead fellow named Angus or Malcolm or Matty or Magnus or Arthur or Adolph or something like that. Oi!! They're called the Transmitters.

Oh, and Grant, He's quietly masturbating in the fetal position, naked, with a big bushy beard, waste-length cum-matted hair and extremely long finger nails, in a small, dark corner of his apartment dreaming of past Smugglers shows in Rome, Tokyo, Green Bay, and Moncton.

12/12/04 -Happy holiday season, everyone. Just a quick peep before the crush of Christmas, our song “Lonely Christmas", which appears on the Mint Christmas compilation out now, seems to be receiving a lot of college airplay which is nice- you can purchase your own copy by following this link.

And now for the Grant Lawrence Top Ten Records of 2004:

1.        The Evaporators “Ripple Rock!"(Nardwuar/Mint)

2.        The Hives “Tyrannosaurus Hives"(Polydor)

3.        Le Tigre “This Island"(Universal)

4.        Tegan and Sara “So Jealous"(Superclose)

5.        The Magnetic Fields “I"(Nonesuch)

6.        the Pink Mountaintops s/t (Scratch)

7.        Ted Leo “Shake The Sheets"(Lookout)

8.        the Concretes s/t (Astralwerks)

9.        The Organ “Grab That Gun"(604/Mint)

10.     Franz Ferdinand s/t (Domino)

11/11/04 -A note from Grant: Happy Autumn, world, how are you? We hope this “update" finds you as well as we somewhat are. Here’s the scoop. There ain’t shit going on in Smugglers camp. Beez, Nick and Grant are playing on a local hockey team called the Vancouver Flying Vees.

The team is picking up the slack of us not doing gigs, but really, nothing replaces live rock ‘n?roll and if it was up to me, we’d be taking up almost every opportunity we are offered. Almost every. We’re turning a lot of shit down these days, and it bums me out at times. Woke up last Saturday morning missing performing live rock ‘n'roll, singing, in front of fans, so hopefully the Smugglers will be on a stage sooner than later before I get used to this too-easy daily life, and our next show will just be our next show and not a “reunion" which I think are vile.

Beez is off to Europe soon for another trip, spreadin' his cash around, but will only be gone for a couple weeks. He’s also busy practicing with the Beauticians again so look for them playing a cancer ward or lawn bowling green on a sunny day sometime soon. Dave is currently in the process of rebuilding JC/DC Studios at a new downtown location, and I’m helping out by trying to secure an old recording console from the CBC Radio building where I work. Other than that I hardly ever see him and miss his evil sense of humour roughly every four days. Nick is actually practicing with a new band that features ex-Smuggler Bryce Dunn on drums! I’m bummed/jealous they haven’t asked me to sing in it. I have three new songs and no where to stick ‘em. None of us have seen Graham since Monday May 24, 2004, but we email occasionally.

The Smugglers song included on this comp is something special, a cover of Lonely Christmas, originally done by Sloppy Seconds on their brilliant “Knock Your Block Off" record. This has always been my all time favourite Christmas song from the moment I heard it, it so perfectly sums up the holiday season for the rest of us. Proceeds from the record go to some sort of charity, which you can read about on the Mint site. Whooping cough or something. This Smugglers song was recorded like no other and may surprise.

Happy Remembrance Day to all those in the British Commonwealth. To all others, fuck off. By the way, has everyone a copy of that wicked new Hives album that isn’t really that new anymore? Highly recommend it. Nick and I listen to it constantly. Beez bought it in Mexico and only listened to it once. He “doesn’t get it" or something like that. Chuck Berry called. Your membership in the Brotherhood Of Rock ‘n?Roll has been revoked. But he saw Cake in Austin Texas in September and jizzed himself repeatedly, so to each their own, right?

As for our Smugglers summer, Grant spent a lot of time in a place called Desolation Sound, Nick did lots of geology in Quebec and Alaska, Dave toured with the Evaporators and produced another record for Tegan and Sara, Graham enjoyed the ferries of Nanaimo, and Beez spent the summer traveling, writing and fretting his way through Mexico with his wife CC (seems that the interior of Mexico has little in the way of vegetarian fare for ol' Buddha Holly. Just carne, carne, carne!!)

Talk soon,

Love

Your Smugglers.

We’ll all be back in the same place in the fall when the good rock will start up again thank god. Expect the Smugglers to be making appearances in the Maritime provinces of Canada for the first time in five years, and then down to the east coast USA with our pals the Evaporators, just in time for CMJ in New York.

In the meantime, Beez has finally finished chapter nine, his latest and final installment of his six month India Adventure tour diary, and you can read that by clicking here. The Smugglers have a few new interviews and articles about us abounding on the world wide web, and you can read them here, here, and here.

Have a great fucking summer!

06/01/05 -Hello ladies and gentlemen! We just returned home from sunny, fabulous California and had a balls-out great time. We finally kind of understand why so many people live down there. What a climate! What a highway system! And you get to see movie stars! Right outside the Troubadour in LA we saw not only Molly Shannon from Saturday Night Live but also the great aging cross-eyed actor Peter Falk, who Beez mistook for accused murderer Robert Blake! Thanks to all our Californian friends for everything while we were down there, especially Lookout, Adam Miller, the Ghoulies, Larry, Red Planet, Ronnie, Lisa, the Ga Ga’s and the King Of Boston.

Next firm plans for us is CMJ in New York City in October, our first trip back to NYC since 2000! We’ll be playing surrounding cities on the east coast so get in touch to gtwelve@aol.com if you’re interested in hosting us in some capacity. The only night we refuse to play is Sunday unless we get an offer to open for like the Devil Dogs, Screeching Weasel, Billy Bragg, and the Flaming Lips. But then we’d be on too early and it would still suck. So no Sunday shows!

In the meantime we’ll be going over some offers for summer shows here and there, and while we’re pondering those, you can check out this, a tell-all tale from our recent gig at UVic, an all out fuckfest of outrageous proportions!

05/15/04 -Achtung, California! Your Smugglers will be journeying to your Golden State very shortly so we hope to see you all in glorious attendance!! We’re extremely excited about this trip, dubbed appropriately as the “Suntans Are For Winners" tour. We’re playing with a bunch of great bands like the Knockoffs, the Groovie Ghoulies, Red Planet and the Ga Ga’s, and we’re jacked with a new Smugglers album, new t-shirts, and new contests. See you in the front row? For all the information on the shows, click here.

04/15/04 -Another busy few weeks have slipped by with much to report. After doing a fun string of shows throughout March with the Smugglers, beloved bassist Beez has now moved to Mexico for awhile!! We thought his globe-trotting stiffy might be softened by India but how wrong we were. Nonetheless, Mexico is only a short plane ride away so Beez won’t be missing a single upcoming Smugglers show!
And in the live show department, we are excited to announce a tour of California occurring in mid-May. We’ll be in both NoCal and SoCal so be sure to check the dates by clicking here and hope to see you there!
In other news, we’re still working on our tour diary from Canadian Music Week, South By Southwest, Beez promises to do a final chapter for his India Adventure, and we gotta tell you about this absolutely wild fuck-fest we played in Victoria!! All that and more still to come!

03/25/04 -Ok, we somehow survived the South By Southwest weekend, and we’re back home safe and sound in Vancouver. To be blunt: WE HAD A BLAST. Our showcase went swimmingly; people from all over the place came out to see us, dance and have fun. If you were one of them, thanks! When we weren’t playing our own shows, we spread out all over Austin and saw live shows in no particular order or preference from Liz Phair, the B 52s, the Evaporators, the Gay, Ted Leo, Minnie Driver, Pete Yorn, the Hives, the Reigning Sound, the Lashes, Harold Ray Live, the Buttless Chaps, Danko Jones, Har Mar Superstar and many, many many more!!

In other news, our “Mutiny in Stereo?" CD has now been released world-wide on Lookout, and is available everywhere on vinyl from Screaming Apple. In the next few weeks and months we’ll be sticking to the West Coast, hitting towns near and far. Keep your eyes on the tour page for more details.
Coming soon: Beez's completed India Adventure diaries, and our latest Diaryas from Canadian Music Week and South By Southwest.

03/17/04 - OK everybody, we're headed to South By Southwest, playing at 9:00PM at the Blender Bar in the Ritz in Austin. The venue in Houston has changed three times but has finally settled on the Sound Exchange, and the venue in San Antonio is back to being at the legendary Taco Land. Nuts! Hope to see you there. Bring shorts and sunscreen! Meet me by the pool for a three-way!

01/26/04 - Beez?latest adventures of elephants, temples and being hustled half-way around the world are up for all to read by clicking here.

01/21/04 - The Smugglers Mess With Texas! Yep, it’s true, the Smugglers are headed back to the Lone Star state in mid-March, confirmed to play the South By Southwest Lookout Showcase! It should be a blast. The list of bands already confirmed to play SxSW 2004 is overwhelming to say the least.

01/09/04 -Happy New Year! And for once we mean it! 2004 looks like it’s going to be a pretty fun year for the Smugglers, and we hope for all of you, too. Chances are we might be seeing you soon! In March of 2004, our new album MUTINY IN STEREO will be out on CD on Mint and Lookout, and on vinyl on Screaming Apple Records of Germany.