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A day we’ve long awaited has finally arrived! Exclaim! beat us to the announcement, but we’re excited to officially announce that we’ve just inked a deal with Sonic Unyon - an indie label based in our hometown of Hamilton that has an impressive lifespan of 17+ years and has released records by acts such as: Thush Hermit, Hayden, Tricky Woo, Wintersleep, The Pixies, Teenage Head, Simply Saucer.. oh my their list goes on and on. I think it’s safe to say we’re amongst good company.

We’ve worked incredibly hard as an independent band for many years to get to this point, and it still only feels like the beginning. After we down our celebratory champagne (ie Lakeport) we’ll get back to it. After all, we’ve got a new record to release!

The new self-titled LP will be available across Canada April 13th, and a month later in the USofA.  Be on the look out for shows in your town.

-Young and the Restless

As the year comes to an end, we’d like to let our fans know that Young Rival in the year 2010 we will become a 3-piece band. Kyle has recently made the decision to take a step away from the world of music and focus on other things in life. Although we’ll miss his incredible knowledge of obscure 80’s & 90’s bands, his passion for Coronation street,  and his guitar shredding skills, we wish him nothing but the best of luck. Here are some words from KucciMan himself:

“I want to thank all the family, friends, fans, promoters, ladies, gentleman, mechanics, Tim Horton’s bean techs, and the true originals that supported our band along the way.  I look forward to joining them all in the crowd at future Young Rival shows.  And I want to thank my three pseudo-brothers who have shaped who I am today and who I will miss on designated drives home late at night, laughing, planning, and wondering.  Thanks for the memories, bud. (coffee cheers, end scene)”

Kyle’s last show with us will be at our big annual Hamilton bash on Boxing Day. Be there!

Au Revior Kumchi, Kikoman, Kyle. Once we take over the world we’ll invite you out to our crazy yacht parties off the coast of Napoli… but only under the stipulation that you wear that captain costume…

-the Flying Fellini Bros.

Local Hamilton up-and-coming film maker Mitch Fillion has been working on a stellar collection of acoustic performances by Southern Ontario musicians.  Yesterday he met up with us and recorded a couple new tunes. Check’em out! Be sure to check out the other Souls while you’re over there!

YOUNG RIVAL - Untitled from Mitch Fillion on Vimeo.

YOUNG RIVAL - The Ocean from Mitch Fillion on Vimeo.

Someone at the BBC must have caught wind of our UK invasion:  BBC Radio 2 played “Your Island” today on air, and have it listed as a track on “The Radcliffe & Maconie Show” - which means you can vote for it to be played everyday next week on the show.  If ya need a 30 second break from your Facebook creeping, please go cast a vote:

We’re back home from our U.K. invasion, and we can’t thank everyone enough who helped us on the journey.  We had a great time and can’t wait to come back (soon!).

Here’s a picture of us in a skate park on the Thames, looking like we were meant to be a hip-hop force to be reckoned with — and another pic of us at our Camden show (photos by our pal Josh Brown)

-John

And now for something completely different:

We’re making our International debut this month in England!  To help spread the word about our shows we’ve created a new U.K. Facebook Group.

Here are the dates:
Oct.19.2009     Manchester - In The City Festival, 8:20PM @ Studio
Oct.21.2009     London (Brixton) @  Windmill
Oct.22.2009     Brighton @ The Freebutt
Oct.23.2009     London (Camden)    Snuff @ Barfly

& to celebrate our plane trip we’ve put a brand new track up on MySpace.  It’s so hot and fresh out of the oven that t hasn’t even been mastered yet!

-John

Last April we filmed a segment for Aux.tv’s “Alt.Sessions”.  The clip is now available to watch online.

It was filmed in an old dusty abandoned apartment in downtown Hamilton (ON) on James St. N. - which over the past several years has been a bit of a turning point for our hometown’s revitalization with all of the art galleries and studio spaces that have been popping up.

-Hammer Time

We stopped by CBC Radio 3 at noon for a little interview with Tariq.  Noah and Aron talk about the new album and about ‘What’s in a band name?’

Using an 8mm camera we shot some footage this afternoon at our motel’s swimming pool in Moose Jaw.  We’re hoping to develop it and piece it into some sort of video once we get home. Here are some sneak peak stills. D.I.Y. baby!

-John

For this blog entry I would like to draw you pictures of 2 cool animals we saw tonight while driving through North-Western Ontario.

-John