About Hot Panda
When you get compared, in the same breath, to everything from Daniel Johnson to the Talking Heads, you know you have a sound that’s hard to pin down. Since their formation during the particularly chilly winter of 2006, the members of Hot Panda (Maghan Campbell, Keith Olsen, Chris Connelly, and Heath Parsons) have yet to sit down and have the discussion that goes: “So, what should we sound like?”. The result is a swath of tunes that sound like anything and everything. Brit pop, gypsy swing, opera solos, Robert Pollard style lo-fi jangles, glammy Roxy Music keyboards, and “melodies that will be impossible to dislodge from your temporal cortex” (ChartAttack), all find their home in the music of Hot Panda…sometimes all in the same song!
After the recording of their 2007 EP “Whale Headed Girl,” Hot Panda took to the road, and I guess you could say the road took to them! The band hasn’t looked back since, ever wheeling over Canada in a questionable 1977 ambulance, taking their rambunctiously theatrical live show to “kids who like to dance” all over the nation. In February 2008, Hot Panda took the time to travel to Winnipeg and record their first full length record with Ryan McVeigh at Mid Ocean Studios, which will be coming out on Mint Records in the near future!
If you are reading this, which you are, you are also probably listening to our EP, The Whale Headed Girl’ which we recorded in Calgary with Diego Medina of Spanish Jewels productions…You should be able to pick it up at your local record store, if you live in Edmonton or Calgary, and at shows! Also, keep your ears tuned for a sweet new 7″ that’ll be out in June, also on Mint…you’ll be able to buy it at shows only…that’s some sweet limited addition shiz!! And this summer we will be touring, a lot. So if you live in any kind of city in Canada, see you in the summer! Also, we welcome new friends…even if it is in the superficial myspace way! If we don’t know you just send us a little note and let us know why you want to be our friend!
About Sunparlour Players
The Sunparlour Players started playing live in spring of 2005 after Andrew released the first small EP “Mersea”. They then released another really small live EP later in 2005. Then they played a lot more. They then released their full length studio album called, “Hymns For The Happy” in 2006, and is has now been rereleased on Baudeliare. There’s singing, guitars, banjo, bass, glockenspiel, an organ pedal, loads of bass drums, bells, whistles, a clarinet, and other stuff too.