Howdy folks,

    Sorry for the two posts in one week, but things are getting a little crazy in the FTHW camp.  Just a note, the entire "Gagner Getaway EP" is now available to hear on our site, and "Beige" is available for free download ...

      I know this is normally a Tuesday thing, but in the last couple of days, we've confirmed a couple of dates coming up.  We will now be playing both the 9th and 10th of January at Circus Room.  The jokes are flying around the jam hall about, "Spend a Weekend with FTHW at Circus Room: Clear Your Schedule!".    Our good friends in Age of Misconduct asked us to fill a spot on their bill on the Saturday, so we will be following up the Friday show with Blue Sky Down with the Age of Misconduct show on Saturday.  We'll be doing our best to make it two radically different sets on both nights so that all those troopers out there who are willing to make it to both shows (you know we love you!!) won't be sitting through the same show twice.

      Also, on 6 February 2009, we will be playing an Arc Clothing show with After The Invasion, Life Like Rockets, Torcher and Quiet Ritual.  This one is at Schwaben Club in Kitchener and door time is 7pm.  Tickets will be $8 at the door, but we can do 'em for $7.  If you want to reserve tickets through us, drop us a line at fthwmusic@yahoo.ca and we'll put aside what you need for you.  All information is available in the show section ... the listings can be found below, so, until Tuesday, swing for the fences, jerks!

-Scarfo

Saturday, 10 January

Age of Misconduct, For The Hard Way, Sky of Sound

Circus Room, $5 at the door

Friday, 6 February

For The Hard Way, After the Invasion, Life

Like Rockets, Torcher and Quiet Ritual

Schwaben Club, $8 at the door*

*Contact fthwmusic@yahoo.ca to reserve advance $7 tickets

Howdy folks,

     Another week in the FTHW camp and another tune from "Gagner Getaway EP".  We hope that you are all enjoying "The Way" and "Do it to Julia" and now "This Rope Floats" can be heard anywhere that the first two are available.  Just a note, it is available for free download at amiestreet at the moment http://amiestreet.com/music/for-the-hard-way.  "The Way" is also still available for free there, and Julia is up to a whopping 9 cents.  For those unfamiliar to the system at amiestreet, songs start free and after a number of downloads at the free level, it starts to climb in price, with each following download bringing the price up.  The moral of the story - get the song for free while you can!  As always, all of the info for the song is available on the message board at www.forthehardway.com under the "Gagner Getaway EP" thread.

     In current FTHW news, the second EP, "Play Hookey" is coming along very nicely.  All of the instrumental tracks are done as well as Stroker's vocal parts.  As the week progresses, we will be able to finish up the vocals for Tommy Hardway and for Euro and then it's on to mixing and mastering.  As a note, we have another chant-like part (much like the 'heys' in "The Way") and if you would be interested in adding a vocal layer to it and will be in the K/W area, just drop me a line at fthwmusic@yahoo.ca to let us know.

     Also, as noted in the title, we have a show announcement!  After taking so much time off to record, our friends in Blue Sky Down (www.myspace.com/blueskydown) asked us to play a show at Circus Room with them and we were more than happy to oblige.  It is Friday January 9th, at Circus Room and we will be playing with the aforementioned Blue Sky Down as well as Mary 5e.  For more details, check out the show section here.

     I'm hungry, tired and there is a Habs game on right now that I'm missing, so I'm going to leave the news at that for now, but check in regularly as the re-release of "Beige" is coming in two weeks as well as another show announcement in the next couple of days once we have finalized the date.

And now, the three things that I've learned this week:

1.  Dexter day is the best day of the year.

2.  When preparing a ham for the first time in your life, a practice ham is both prudent and tasty.

3.  My friends are turning into winos.  Long live beer!

-Scarfo

Another week, another song!

     We want to start by thanking you guys so much for all of the support and positive feedback on our release two weeks ago of, "The Way".  Just a note, that it is still free to download at our amiestreet site, http://amiestreet.com/music/for-the-hard-way.  Also up there now is our newest release, "Do it to Julia."  Known as the "1984 song" for it's lyrical content referencing George Orwell's work, it is a song rich in FTHW history.  You can find all of the details on the message board at www.forthehardway.com under the "Gagner Getaway EP" thread.  If you want to download the tunes, please do so quickly as they won't be free forever.  Also, we are releasing the photo that will appear on the cover as soon as packaging is complete.

     In regards to up to date news, we appear to have finalized the song lineup for the follow-up EP including "Crutch", "Fall Away", "Just Askin" as well as a couple of others.  If all goes well (and really, does it ever all go well?) we will start doing ghost tracks on Friday.

     Until next week, when we bring about the news of "This Rope Floats", I leave you to enjoy the 1984 song and the three things that I've learned in writing "Do It To Julia".

1.  "Not Intro Doodle" is not an appropriate title for a song.

2.  When you tell people a song is called "Do it to Julia", their minds don't immediately flock to George Orwell.  You sick bastards.

3.  A little reverb on a snare goes a long way.  We'll get it right next time, Craig!

-Scarfo

Howdy folks,

     After what seems like an eternity, the beginning of the release of "The Gagner Getaway EP" is finally here.  You can find "The Way" available to stream wherever FTHW exists.  It will be available for download in most areas within a week, but if you just can't wait (and the price will be right), you'll want to get it at our amistreet site, http://amiestreet.com/music/for-the-hard-way.  If you get it there and like it, please post a recommendation, every little bit helps!!

     As posted last week, everything that you ever wanted to know about the song is posted on the message board at www.forthehardway.com under the thread "Gagner Getaway EP".  If there is anything that you would like to know and it is not yet there, don't be afraid to post a question.  We also want to extend a special thanks to those outside of the band who helped us with the 'heys': Jess, Steve-O, Josh, Deion, Jesse, Tony and Weaver.

     In up to date news, it was another good week for FTHW as we put some more polishing touches on "Fall Away" and are still working to create lyrics for the newest song which is now structured.  In addition, we're in the process of adding a couple of more covers to the repetoire, news on those to come.

     We hope that you enjoy this song, we had almost as much fun making it as we do playing it live.  An acoustic live video version of it from a performance in October is available to view at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E_n8bXHLAY.  It's a little rough as the concept was something that was only 3 days old at the time (you can still see the lyric sheet in Euro's hand), but it's a neat take on what is likely going to be a FTHW staple song.

-Scarfo