SARGENT HOUSE

And So I Watch You From Afar will be heading to the United States and Canada for a whole bunch of touring with other Sargent House bands. First to Canada for some shows and Sled Island Festival with Russian Circles , Boris and Indian Handcrafts, then to the west coast joining up for some shows with Deafheaven and ending in Los Angeles at the El Rey at the big Sargent House / 1656 Music Show with Chelsea Wolfe also playing.  In July they will do a co-headliner tour with Zechs Marquise. There are still a few more shows to be added so keep an eye out for updates HERE and always make sure to check directly with venue websites for door times/ set times and age restrictions.

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR & RUSSIAN CIRCLES - 2012
Jun 18th - Winnipeg, MB @ The Park Theatre  w/ Indian Handcrafts
Jun 19th - Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos Cantina w/ Indian Handcrafts
Jun 20th - Calgary, AB @ Dicken’s Pub - Sled Island Fest w/ Indian Handcrafts
Jun 22nd - Vancouver, BC  @ Biltmore Cabaret
Jun 24th - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Jun 25th - Portland, OR  @ Doug Fir Lounge
Jun 27th - Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s w/ Deafheaven
Jun 28th - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall w/ Deafheaven
Jun 29th - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre w/Chelsea Wolfe & Deafheaven

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR & ZECHS MARQUISE - 2012
Jun 30th - Anaheim, CA  @ Chain Reaction
Jul 1st - San Diego, CA  @ The Casbah
Jul 2nd - Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
Jul 4th - San Antonio, TX  @ The White Rabbit
Jul 5th - Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
Jul 6th - Austin, TX @ Red 7 
Jul 7th - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
Jul 8th - Norman, OK @ The Opolis
Jul 10th - St Louis, MO @ The Firebird
Jul 11th - Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
Jul 12th - Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
Jul 13th - Toledo, OH  @ Mickey Finns
Jul 14th - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Jul 16th - Pittsburgh, PA @ Smiling Moose
Jul 17th - Louisville, KY @ Headliner’s Music Hall
Jul 18th - Nashville, TN @ 12th & Porter
Jul 19th - Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
Jul 21st - St Petersburg, FL @ local 662 
Jul 22nd - Mobile, AL @ Alabama Music Box
Jul 24th - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 
Jul 25th - Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
Jul 26th - Cambridge, MA @ T.T. the Bears
Jul 27th - New York City, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
Jul 28th - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie

ALL UPDATED ASIWYFA SHOWS & DETAILS HERE

Indian Handcrafts will be playing a few Festivals coming up along with some club shows soon. Very excited that they will be meeting up to play with their new Sargent House label mates Russian Circles & And So I Watch You From Afar . damn those shows will be so RIFFY. I think I need to buy my flights…

INDIAN HANDCRAFTS LIVE
May 26, 2012 - London, ON @ The Grickle Grass Festival
Jun 18, 2012 - Winnipeg, MB @ The Park Theatre **
Jun 19, 2012 - Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos Cantina **
Jun 20, 2012 - Calgary, AB @ Dicken’s Pub - Sled Island Music Festival **
Jun 21, 2012 - Calgary, AB @ Ship & Anchor Pub - Sled Island Music Festival
Jul 14, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ Downsview Park - EdgeFest 2012 

** w/ Russian Circles & And So I Watch You From Afar

SEPT 2012 - Victoria, BC @ Rifflandia Festival 2012

MORE IH SHOWS TBA SOON - Check HERE for details and Updates

Sled Island Festival in Calgary just keeps getting better. Just announced is our third band to join the bill this year, Canada’s own Indian Handcrafts (BITCHING RIFFS) who join Russian Circles (CHUGGING RIFFS) and coming over from Belfast And So I Watch You From Afar (JOYOUS RIFFS). Together they will all represent the House of Sargent. And as a bonus treat the three bands will be playing together shows in Winnepeg and Saskatoon - Don’t Miss out Canada… They are all Wicked.

Russian Circles / And So I Watch You From Afar / Indian Handcrafts
June 18, 2012 - Winnepeg, CA @ Park Theater
June 19, 2012 - Saskatoon, CA @ Amigos Cantina
June 20, 2012 - Calgary, CA @ Dickens ( all three bands)
June 21, 2012 - Calgary, CA @ Ship & Anchor Pub (Indian Handcrafts only)

and then….
Russian Circles & And So I Watch You From Afar will tour together for more shows in the USA and Indian Handcrafts will head back East to play Toronto’s Edgefest

Click here to see ALL Russian Circles SHOWS
Click here to see ALL And So I Watch You From Afar SHOWS
Click here to see ALL Indian Handcrafts SHOWS

Russian Circles will be playing some Canadian shows including Calgary’s Sled Island Festival along with label mates

And So I Watch You From Afar coming over from Belfast

and Canada’s own Indian Handcrafts.

Russian Circles and ASIWYFA will then hit the States and join up with Deafheaven for a few shows as well. Below are all the Russian Circles shows. As for ASIWYFA, they will be continuing on their own US tour starting around July 5th with some other Sargent House bands to be announced soon. These shows will ALL RULE. You would be a fool to miss it. Riffs and Chugg for life.

RUSSIAN CIRCLES / AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR
Jun 18, 2012 - Winnipeg, MB (CA) @ The Park Theatre ^^
Jun 19, 2012 - Saskatoon, SK (CA) @ Amigos Cantina ^^
Jun 20, 2012 - Calgary, (CA) @ Dicken’s at Sled Island Festival ^^
Jun 22, 2012 - Vancouver, BC (CA) @ Biltmore Cabaret ^
Jun 24, 2012 - Seattle, WA (US) @ Neumos ^
Jun 25, 2012 - Portland, OR (US) @ Doug Fir Lounge ^
Jun 27, 2012 - Sacramento, CA (US) @ Harlow’s **
Jun 28, 2012 - San Francisco, CA (US) @ Great American Music Hall **
Jun 29, 2012 - Los Angeles, CA (US) @ El Rey Theatre ** Special Guest TBA
Jul 02, 2012  - Denver, CO (US) @ Bluebird Theater - Russian Circles only
Jul 03, 2012  - Kansas City, MO (US) @ The Riot Room - Russian Circles only

^ w/ Russian Circles, And So I Watch You From Afar
^^ w/ Russian Circles, And So I Watch You From Afar & Indian Handcrafts
** w/ Russian Circles, And So I Watch You From Afar & Deafheaven

Indian Handcrafts live session airs - Tomorrow April 25th on LiVE@TheVerge. 6am/pm ET - 3am/pm PT

The Verge XM channel 151 is a channel on XM Canada that specializes in new and emerging music and is heard across North America via Satellite and throughout the rest of the world via the Internet.

All LiVE@TheVerge sessions are recorded at the Verge Music Lab. For more info hit up http://vergemusic.ca/

It was Barrie’s Indian Handcrafts turn to play at Sonic Boom during CMW 2012.This was my first time to finally see them play. Let’s say things got explosively loud within their set at the record store.

I was really impressed with them. If you are into the indie loud alternative rock.
This is a band you have to see live. They kind of remind me of Japandroids & PS I Love You when it comes to duo males band.

Indian Handcrafts blew it right out of the park!

Review and all photos by Ming Wu // Click to see full photo set

And on a side note, absolutely LOVE that Dan is wearing his Chelsea Wolfe “SOMA” shirt. #HOUSEFAMILY

Indian Handcrafts recorded most of their new album at Entourage studio, but then went on to do all the overdubs at the Melvins rehearsal space, and just look who came to hang out, the one and only Buzz. It was also real sweet to have Dale Crover play some drums to double on their new album recorded by Toshi Kasai . Uh, Melvins rule.

Torontoist talks to some CMW 2012 performers. Here we have Barrie’s “sons of sunn spawned by mothers of invention,” Indian Handcrafts. 

Usually, we have mixed feelings about good ol’ Canadian talent getting scooped up by American labels and drawn south of the border to seek larger, greener, richer pastures. But when the label is Sargent House, and its pastures include working with engineer Toshi Kasai (The Melvins, Big Business), then we guess we can forgive Barrie’s Indian Handcrafts for taking advantage of the opportunity. Since releasing their first album independently on Bandcamp and making a big, loud, messy, splash at NXNE 2011—and drawing many comparisons to Death From Above 1979—duo Brandyn James Aikins (drums/vocals) and Daniel Brandon Allen (guitar/vocals) are poised to bring their “meatball music” (again, their words) to full volume in 2012. Indian Handcrafts plays Lee’s Palace tonight at 2 a.m.

Why should we see you at CMW?

Brandyn James Aikins: I’ll give them each ten dollars if they come. Just kidding. We put on a good show, we play really loud, and if you’re into that you should have a good time.

Read More

When I was originally asked to do up a story about Barrie Indie-rockers Indian Handcrafts, the topic, at the time, was that they had been added to the roster for Edgefest 2012 alongside Canadian rock acts including: Billy Talent, Death From Above 1979, and The Sheepdogs. And, for a two-piece band from a small city outside of Toronto that was pretty big news. The write-up was going to take the angle of how important it is for a band from Barrie to play in Toronto as much as possible. Sadly, that whole idea was nearly blown to smithereens when, preparing to carve a concerto of words (checking Facebook, Reddit, doing some dishes, laying on the couch for a bit, checking Facebook again, etc.), I noticed an update from guitarist, Dan Allen that was much, much, more interesting: Indian Handcrafts had just signed a recording/management deal with Sargent House of Los Angeles. When I finished cleaning the bits of Lucky Charms from my computer screen, after a “Holy FuAARGLE” moment, I contacted Dan. While discussing the hows, whys and whens, I realized the relevance of my original theme. You see, one of the major perks for a band hailing from Barrie, Ontario is living on the fringe of one of Canada’s biggest cities. With the loss of Molson Park we now have to face the fact that Barrie is known, to the rest of the country, as “about 40-minutes North of Toronto.” Such a close proximity to the big smog, allows a Barrie band to immerse themselves into the deep waters of competition and find out if they sink or if they can swim in a major market. Thus, putting them in a position where the right people will be exposed to their music without being inconvenienced. Such is the case for Indian Handcrafts. Although Allen considers Barrie an extremely supportive and family-oriented scene, he believes that playing frequently in Toronto is how the band started getting noticed. Further to that, Indian Handcrafts had shot a video in their jam space for the song Red Action. Through a series of connections made in Toronto, the link to said video found its way to Sargent House Owner, Cathy Pellow. Soon after she had this to say on her Tumblr blog, titled I’ve Got the Hots for This Canadian Two-Piece: “You know I love 2-pieces right? Well, Indian Handcrafts has gone and done it to me. I just can’t get this Canadian duo off my mind or off my stereo. I would like to go on record that I predict they will be making some waves in 2012.” Early last month, Pellow updated her blog post: “A little while back I posted about how much I wanted this band. Well, I’m delighted to say Indian Handcrafts is now officially on Sargent House and they will be recording their debut for us in March/April of this year.” Inspiring, isn’t it? Just a 40-minute drive could be the difference between a local band and a label band. The future is bright for Indian Handcrafts, and I look forward to keeping you updated along the way. Until then, check them out on Youtube, Bandcamp, or live on stage at Edgefest 2012: July 14th at Downsview Park, in Toronto.
- by Noah Cambell  

Canadian duo (Brandyn James Aikins and Daniel Brandon Allen) Indian Handcrafts came to my attention last year, thanks to their signing to one of my favourite labels, Los Angeles based Sargent House; home to Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Le Butcherettes, Zechs Marquise + more. They’ve been likened to The Melvins, Death From Above 1979 and Karp since releasing their debut self-titled last (US) spring. One reviewer singing their praises declaring the record “will make your nipples hard and have you looking like a tic-tac smuggler in no time. That’s a promise.” They’ll be making a much anticipated appearance next week at the annual SXSW Music festival.

What kind of music would you say that you make?
BRANDYN: Meatball Music.
DANIEL: Wrestling entrance themes.

What’s your first musical memory?
B: Probably in the womb; Michael Jackson.
D: Watching KISS in The Phantom Of The Park as a child.

Growing up who were your musical heroes and what was it about them that you found so appealing?
B: Musical dance hero: James Brown. His splits were so daring. Drum heroes: Mitch Mitchell, Gene Krupa, David Grohl.
D: Ace Frehely because not only did he rule on guitar but could teleport, shoot lasers from his hands, and do no handed backflips!!

How did you guys meet? And when did you realise you wanted to create music together?
B: I believe we met in an empty factory office space that was being re-fitted into a rehearsal studio. It was across from the Beer Store. Dan played a ditty on the piano and I kicked a kick drum, and he says, “Hey man we should play together.” And I says, “Yeah sure man.” So we did. Then all our siblings joined the band, and none of them could ever get along. So we says, “Hey man you wanna play together? Just you and me?”

Read More

Indian Handcrafts will be playing a show at CMF on March 22, 2012 at Lee’s Palace as part of the The Buzz Factor Series  - TICKETS 19+

Just when you thought Sargent House had gotten their dynamic duo fix with Hella, think again. Combining the technical skill of their Northern California counterparts, with the power rock riffs of Death From Above 1979, Toronto’s Indian Handcrafts delivers with unrelentingly gritty melodies, accompanied by the intertwined vocal deliveries of drummer/vocalist Brandyn James Aikins,and guitarist/vocalist Daniel Brandon Allen.

The duo first appeared back in spring of last year with their self-titled, eight-song debut; now, signed under Sargent House, the group is set to begin recording this March in Los Angeles with engineer Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Big Business, Red Sparowes). The album is expected to be released in late 2012. Until then, Indian Handcrafts have plenty to offer: you can stream their self-titled debut on Bandcamp, watch the official video below and download a free MP3 of “Red Action” or, if you are fortunate enough to be residing in Ontario, catch these guys performing live.

Download “Red Action” here.

INDIAN HANDCRAFTS LIVE
Jan 14 – Hamilton ON, @ Casbah Lounge
Jan 18 – Peterborough ON, @ Red Dog
Jan 19 – Barrie ON,  @The Port
Jan 20 – Toronto ON, @ Horseshoe Tavern
Jan 21 – London ON, @ Call the Office