The Gertrudes have just finished recording an album. We’re calling it Dawn Time Riot.

There’s so much great stuff on it: a flock of new songs, more elaborate accordion and trombone parts, fuzzy bass, samples of Kingston sounds like the causeway and the corner of Princess and Barrie Streets.

Featuring: the Open Voices Community Choir, a bunch of local kids, False Face, the Queen’s University symphony, our friend Teilhard, PS I Love You, Annie’s grandma, our families clapping and stomping…

We just need funds to complete the manufacturing and help get us out of recording debt!

Here’s what’s on the record:

• Cliff Jumping
• Warm Wind from the South
• Freight Train (featuring Teilhard Frost on the superfiddle)
• Sailor Song (by Anna Robertson of the Lady Racers, and showcasing PS I Love You on rock)
• Slot Machines (clapping and stomping by families, Kate and Leo Cross, and Al Rankin)
• The Blackbird and the Cedar
• Concession Street (by Stephen Guy of False Face)
• Ronnie Hawkins
• The Gertrudes (featuring neighbourhood kids, our families, the Queen’s symphony, Al, Kate and Leo, and Annie’s grandma)
• You Don’t Mind that it’s Raining (with Rebecca Zentmyer)
• Catfish John (with Open Voices Community Choir)

To finish the album, we need $4000 to print the cases and manufacture the CDs. We’d love it if you could help out, in any one of the ways below. We’ll be on the West Coast in July, and hopefully on the East Coast in the fall… see you there!

Also, for every single pledge, no matter how big or little, we’d like to give you a digital download of a live 16 channel recording we made at the 2010 Apple Crisp Music Festival at Chalmer’s United Church in Kingston. This recording is a sneak peek of the album in that it features many of the songs that will be on Dawn Time Riot. We think you’ll like it.

If we exceed our fund-raising goal, we’ll still put the money towards the album and our recording debt, and if we make more significantly more than our goal, that’d be fabulous, because we’d like to make music videos for each of these songs. And possibly make vinyl records. We’ll see how it goes. You’ll still get awesome stuff. And we’ll be very appreciative.

If you really want the album – tell your friends! Help us make sure we have enough to manufacture them all… Order a couple! Ask us to play at your birthday party! We love birthday parties! Thanks!