Madison Violet

BEER, WOMEN AND SONG!

(and new tour dates of course)

May 2013

Hi ho all. We are incredibly excited to let you in on our little secret. As of June 22nd at the Toronto Craft Beer Session, there will be a new delectable Honey Lavender Gluten Free India Pale Ale, that we are making in collaboration with Snowman Brewery. We've already spent an afternoon pouring the honey and tasting various gluten free beer. And tasting. And more tasting. Then we added the secret ingredient. Yes, we sang a little ditty into every batch. There will be a chord in every pour.

We haven't come up with the perfect name for it yet, but there are a lot in the running. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them our way. Think Madison Violet. Honey and Lavender India Pale Ale. It's gonna be YUMMY!

To coincide with the beer release, we will also be performing at the event. If you click on this link http://sessiontoronto.ca you'll find all the details.

Check below for 2013 dates in Canada, the UK and Europe. More to be added soon, so check out tour page in the near future.

ONTARIO SHOWS
Jun 22 - Toronto Craft Beer Session, Artscape Wychwood Barns, Toronto, ON
Sept 21 - Jeanne Gordon Theatre, Wallaceburg, ON

EAST COAST CANADIAN TOUR
Jul 20-27- Dates TBA

UK AND SWISS TOUR
Oct 1 - Green Note at Old Queen's Head, London (Islington), UK
Oct 2 - St. Bonaventure's Club, Bristol, UK
Oct 3 - The Victoria Hotel, Menai Bridge (Anglesey), UK
Oct 4 - Haile Village Hall, Haile (West Cumbria), UK
Oct 5 - CCA (as part of Glasgow Americana), Glasgow, UK
Oct 6 - Cottiers Theatre (as part of Glasgow Americana), Glasgow, UK
Oct 8 - The Maze @ The Forest Tavern, Nottingham, UK
Oct 9 - The Biddulph Arms, Biddulph (Staffordshire), UK
Oct 10 - Stag Community Arts Centre, Sevenoaks (Kent), UK
Oct 11 - The Forge @ The Anvil, Basingstoke, UK
Oct 16 - Kultur, Grosshochstetten, Switzerland
Oct 18 - Altes Spital, Solothurn, Switzerland
Oct 19 - SCALA, Wetzikon, Switzerland
Oct 20 - Bernstrasse 7, Murten, Switzerland
www.madisonviolet.com/tour

Happy Spring!

April 2013

Happy Spring everyone! Well, as springy as mitts and parkas can be. We have been traveling the globe lately, not for our typical tours, but for writing our upcoming album. Beautiful London inspired songs about Tennessee and heartache. Maybe Nashville next week will bring us songs of love and Big Ben. Either way, we are writing like mad and can't wait to share these new songs with you.

That said... If you would like to check out some of these new ditties before the beach weather rides in, here's where it's at!

Apr 5 - Blacksheep Inn, Wakefield PQ
Apr 6 - Sharbot Lake Country Inn, Sharbot Lake, ON
Apr 25 - Prince Rupert, BC
Apr 26 - Kitimat, BC
Apr 27 - REM Lee Theatre,Terrace, BC
May 4 - Oakville Centre For Performing Arts, Oakville, ON

BC Tour

Nov 2012

British Columbia, Canada - we are coming for you!
If you are in any of these towns, come on out and say hello!

Nov 16 - Vancouver, BC Rogue Folk Club
Nov 17 - Harrison Hot Springs, BC Harrison Memorial Hall
Nov 18 - Nelson, BC, Royal Hotel
Nov 21 - Fort St. John, BC North Peace Cultural Centre
Nov 22 - Prince George, BC Prince George Playhouse
Nov 23 - Terrace, BC Rem Lee Theatre
Nov 24 - Kitmat, BC Kitimat Kinsmen Community Centre

European Tour

Sept 2012

This tour is made possible in part by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council's National and International Touring program.

Oct 24 - Dieselstrasse. Esslingen, Germany
Oct 25 - Buergerzentrum. Brilon, Germany
Oct 26 - Savoy Kino. Bordersholm, Germany
Oct 28 - Blues Garage. Iserhagen, Germany
Oct 29 - Kulturkirche. Köln, Germany
Oct 30 - Jubez. Karlsruhe, Germany
Oct 31 - Haus der Kultur. Waldkraiburg, Germany
Nov 2 - Eisenwerk. Frauenfeld, Switzerland
Nov 3 - Muehle Hunziken. Rubigen, Switzerland
Nov 4 - Chollerhalle Zug - Zug, Switzerland
Nov 5 - Treibhaus, Innsbruck, Austria
Nov 6 - Porgy & Bess, Wien, Austria
Nov 7 - Cinema Paradiso, St, Pölten, Austria

August 2012

To all our fans, friends, and family.

We are very sorry to be letting you know that Madison Violet have cancelled our UK tour.

In 12 years, we've only once had to cancel performances (last May). Brenley's mom is in critical care at the moment, and now she is by her side at the hospital. We were quite distraught about making the decision. We never want to let our fans down, and appreciate how much time and effort all the promoters have put into building this tour for us.

We hope to be back on the road again soon.

Thanks for your understanding.
Brenley and Lisa
xo

August 2012

June 2012

It is with deep regret, and due to continued illness, we will not be playing Windsor, ON at Carousel of Nations this Saturday night.

June 2012

Due to personal illness, it is with deep regret that we, Madison Violet, have to cancel the last two remaining shows on our US tour. We were very much looking forward to visiting Vienna, VA & Pittsburgh, PA on this tour and promise to make it up to our fans on our next tour.
Advance tickets will be fully refunded.

US Tour

May 2012

Look out Americans...we are coming for you! We are as giddy as 2 school girls at a Justin Bieber concert to announce our first ever U.S. headlining tour this spring.

Hope you can make a show. The more the merrier, so pass these dates on to your friends and foes!

5/17/12 Ithaca, NY @ Lot 10
5/18/12 Burlington, VT @ BCA Center
5/19/12 Rockingham, VT @ Barnaby's Bluegrass Blowout
5/20/12 Boston, MA @ Club Passim
5/22/12 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
5/23/12 New York, NY @ Living Room
5/24/12 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
5/25/12 Cumberland, MD @ DelFest
5/26/12 Cumberland, MD @ DelFest
5/27/12 Roanoke, VA @ Kirk Ave Music Hall
5/29/12 Athens, GA @ Melting Point
5/30/12 Knoxville, TN @ Jig & Reel
5/31/12 Nashville, TN @ Bluebird Cafe
6/1/12 Atlanta, GA @ Smith’s Olde Bar ATL Room
6/2/12 Durham, NC, @ The Casbah
6/3/12 Asheville, NC @ Altamont
6/6/12 Vienna, VA @ Jammin' Java
6/7/12 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe

www.madisonviolet.com/tour

Lisa and Brenley

The Afternoon Show - BBC Radio Bristol

Feb 8 , 2012

Listen to an interview and live performance on BBC Radio Bristol's The Afternoon Show. Available to listen to again on the BBC iPlayer until 14.2.12 – starts approx. 1:10:47 into the show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00nbnqc

Interview - Soundcheck - Resonance 104.4 FM (London)

Feb 7 , 2012

For the first show in the new series Hodder catches up with songwriters Rebecca Pronsky and Madison Violet (starts at 13 mins into show).
http://www.mixcloud.com/Radiohodder/soundcheck-friday-3rd-february/

BBC Radio 3 Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions

Feb 2 , 2012

Available to listen to again on the BBC iPlayer until 12:32am Wed, 8 Feb 2012 – starts approx. 1.21.30 into the show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b019qhks

CBC Radio 2 live performances

Feb 2 , 2012

ECMA Nomination

Jan 27, 2012

We have been nominated for a 2012 East Coast Music Award!

Folk Recording of the Year

Catherine MacLellan – Silhouette
Christina Martin – A House Concert
David Myles – Live At The Carleton
Ian Foster – The Evening Light
Jordan Cameron – My, What a Lovely Hate
Madison Violet – The Good in Goodbye

Full list of nominees can be downloaded here: www.ecma.ca/news.asp?section=&id=234

Happy December Everyone

Dec 7, 2011

This is just a quick reminder of a few Ontario dates we have coming up, starting TONIGHT in London, Ontario! If you can't make it out, please help spread the word!

DECEMBER ONTARIO DATES

London, ON
Dec 7
The Aeolian

Collingwood, ON
Dec 10
Bay School of Art

JANUARY ONTARIO DATES

Ottawa, ON
Jan 14
National Arts Centre

Stratford, ON
Jan 19
Foster's Inn

Grimsby, ON
Jan 20
Victoria Terrace Concerts

Port Hope, ON
Jan 21
Capitol Theatre

UK TOUR

We will be heading back to the land of a good cuppa in January, for a 2 week tour. Fish and chips, here we come!

See Tour page for all the dates.

AUSTRALIA

The big red month of February will see Madison Violet play a couple of shows in Ontario (Kingston and Chatham) and then we head to the land down under! Yes Aussies, we are coming back. Bigger. Better. Badder! Wait, hopefully not bigger or badder. Unless you mean it in a cool way?! Tour dates and info will be updated on our website shortly.

Happy Holidays to you all! Whatever you may celebrate, we hope it's shared with family, friends and good music.

Lisa and Brenley

xo

Happy Almost Holidays Everyone

Nov 18, 2011

We've just returned from our 35 date European tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It was a tour of madly packed houses. Great audiences. New fans and old. What a way to release 'The Good in Goodbye'!

LIVE IN COLOGNE CD AND DVD

After many years of touring together, and many requests for a live cd, we decided to record a 'Live in Cologne' CD and DVD at our show in October at the beautiful Kulturkirche. It will be released in 2012 and we are absolutely STOKED about it! Who knew we had to hire a fireman to stand next to the stage? Guess they were expecting a red hot show! There will be a calendar released as well, with very sexy backstage photos.

GALAXIE RISING STAR AWARD

Madison Violet won the Galaxie Rising Star Award at this year's Ontario Council of Folk Festivals conference. This is second time this year we won the award. Yay!!

THANK-YOU

We want to thank all the fans, the agents, the promoters and the record labels who made the past European tour such a success. We were treated like Queens. Ate like royalty. Housed under crisp white sheets. We are sorry we sold out of all our t-shirts, belt buckles and hats before we even made it to Austria, but we promise to bring more next time. We look forward to coming back in the spring time.

Madison Violet in Amurica: Part One

July 10, 2011

We recently came off a fun filled short tour of the U.S. We did loads of filming, and we’d like to share some of our adventures with you all. Here is the first installment of our Video Tour diary.

A little More Tullamore and I’ll Rock You Like A Hurricane

October 26, 2010

I had no idea that The Scorpians were from Hannover! I didn’t even know they were German. I’ve had more bruises on my knees from dropping down to the floor doing the splits in the middle of dancing up a storm to this band than I care to remember. Well, I guess you’d have to include Black Sabbath and Twisted Sister in the bands that inspired my John Travolta Saturday NIght Fever moves. Yes, I’m from Kincardine folks and that’s what we do as teenagers in Kincardine. Go to Stag and Does, drink too much and get down to 80′s metal bands on the dance floor. There was a girl that used to like dropping her pants when The Scorpians came on for some reason as well. Right there on the dance floor in front of everyone – shaking her arse in her underwear. I never understood why, but you could count on her performance at every event.

We spent the last two nights at the Hotel California after playing the Blues Garage on Sunday night. It’s our third time at this awesome venue and the audience keeps growing and growing. Henry, the owner of the club and his family are wonderful people and treat us like gold. Last night he took us in a long stretch white limo to an amazing Italian restaurant, where I ate far too much spaghetti to soothe my very nasty Monday hangover. Spaghetti is my comfort food and I be needing comfort food. The culprit: Tullamore Dew. I should just blame it on Adrian. He ordered the first scotch and I thought it was a grand idea. Hey my Grandma is 99 years old and loves her scotch. And her whisky. And her rum. And of course moonshine. ) Don’t get me wrong, she’s not a big drinker, but she likes to have a dram here and there. I remember arriving fairly late in the evening after a gig, to my grandma’s 90th birthday party, to find her and her 85 year old sister drinking my Revs they’d found hidden in the back of the fridge. Remember those blue vodka based energy drinks infused with caffeine and guarana?Not sure they’re safe for anyone to drink let alone those over the age of 80. I guess there are some big strong hearts on my Dad’s side and they can handle anything. Anyway, I figured maybe I should have more of the hard stuff – might keep me living longer. Well the scotch turned out to Irish whisky and eventually the whole bottle came to the table and I decided most of it should go in my glass and then down the hatch. When the booze dried up, back to the infamous Hotel California (5 rooms filled with guitars, organs, drums, old radios, speakers, lights – loads of music memorabilia and signed posters and pictures from a zillion bands ) where we went and repeated last years performance in Rebecca’s party room. Lisa, Adrian and I on the wurlitzer beatbox organ: the immediate party starter. Singing Slip Siding Away until 3 in the morning. Half a glass of white wine in one gulp mistaken for water at the end of the night : the immediate party ender.

Shopping in Hannover with the back of my head throbbing is not the best feeling I ever had, but we did find new sexy white luggage at Karstadt to match our guitar cases!

It’s Tuesday morning now and I’ve just learned that Rob Ford is our new mayor in Toronto. That makes me more nauseous than I was yesterday. This might be the worst thing since Sarah Palin.

—Brenley

Stars Across My Bloodshot Eyes

October 25, 2010

I’m sitting in my room at the Mercure Hotel in Duisburg, Germany. I just came back from the restaurant, where it took nearly 20 minutes for the young man to figure out that alas, I would not be partaking in their breakfast special (which didn’t look that special), but only coffee was on the menu for me this morn. As he came out with 2 incorrect drinks, I watched those with tired eyes and sometimes giddy looks on their faces walk into the restaurant. What’s their story I wonder? The man in the suit with briefcase in tow, on a business trip. Does it all the time. Sick of hotels and paid lovin’. Just wants to get back home to his own pillow. The young couple, definitely their first trip together. A bit disheveled but blissfully happy. Or is it that they are blissfully happy because they are disheveled? Had an early morning of eye gazing and all that goes with young love. The 4 English speaking woman sitting in the corner, getting a much needed rest away from their husbands, on their annual vacation. They laugh as though no one else is in the restaurant. Elated to be away from it all, but missing their families just the same. Me, a musician. On another tour. A toque that Brenley’s mother knitted covering my bed head. My jammie shirt still on under my very Canadian looking knitted sweater. Last night’s makeup still splattered across my face. Just needing a caffeine fix.

We are on day 4 of this tour. Day 1 was Hamburg. Day 2 was Berlin. Day 3 was (last night) was a more than sold out show in Duisburg. So far there have been many familiar faces in the audience. Loads of repeat listeners. And more excitingly, more people singing the words. Love that.

Today we will head to Stemewede. We’ve never been to this town before. I think it’s a little village, but won’t know ’til we get there. There’s been no time for shopping yet. Sort of sad that we didn’t get to go to funky area in Hamburg (great shopping!). And I need to find a bumper for my new iPhone 4 (though I’m hearing conflicting info on them).

Ok, time to get ready for the day. My coffee is now cold. Darn it.

—Lisa

Patchwork And Patience

November 12, 2009

And so I sit with my coffee at my side, a bruised foot and sleep tousled hair. I’ve spent nearly 3 days in my jammies. Not venturing out to soak up the sun or be soaked by the rain. This is what I call the ‘end of tour’ days.

After every tour I squeeze myself tightly into a little cocoon, with only the bare necessities at hand. My jammies. My laptop. My iPhone. Scattered piles of take out menus. And many television series’ on DVD. (I’m midway though watching Pushing Daisies and Torchwood, and I’m about to start Season 2 of Veronica Mars).

4 days later…

Now, after being home just over a week, I find myself restless, but also surprisingly calm… needing to know what’s next, but not wanting to venture outside in the cool fresh air. This is my typical day 7. I’ve vegetated, planted roots and started to bloom. I’ve contemplated, watched, listened and told. I’ve regained my place in society, where ever that may be. I’m skeptical as to whether or not I actually fit into the so-called ‘normal’ world, but I welcome the possibility with arms wide open. Let’s see if a drifter can belong, I say…

But my ‘end of tour’ days (this time) are a little bit different.

There’ve been changes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think change is good, but if you don’t embrace the possibility of change, then hearts can been torn. However, they sometimes, sometimes can be mended. Hemmed with time. Trimmed with patience. But a heart, like that old pair of your favorite jeans, can only be patched and repatched so many times. Eventually it wears thin in places. You can see right through it. And there’s no recovering what was once something that fit like a glove. Something that you never thought would go out of style. Something that you knew would go with everything.

Well… I guess the only option is looking for a suitable taylor who can work wonders with a needle and thread. Or a hot therapist.

I’m partial to knitting, myself.