Toronto Star: $100 45's

Popular music critic Ben Rayner, from the Toronto Star wrote about us here .


In other news.

EXCLAIM: Regional 7" Series

Check it out.

Dusted Review

Dusted wrote a really thorough review of Forest of Tears - Thanks.

"Life might seem good on the northern rim of Lake Ontario – the Loonie is strong, Cito Gaston is back in the dugout – but Toronto’s One Hundred Dollars are here to remind us that, at close enough range, things are shitty everywhere. For starters, the six-piece country outfit cites leukemia as its honorary seventh member; lead guitarist and co-songwriter Ian Russell was diagnosed while the group was prepping its first EP for release – the poignantly titled Hold It Together. Yet even without that weighty bit of back-story, the 12 songs on the band’s full-length debut are deeply expressive of frustration, ache and loss.

Singer Simone Schmidt – who’s got a raw, world-weary drawl akin to Freakwater’s Catherine Irwin – brings the listener unabashedly close in the first few seconds of the leadoff track, “Careless Love.” It’s been 10 years and a handful of failed follow-ups since critics first swooned over the opener to Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, yet this track feels like a worthy passing of the torch. Schmidt’s song – a weary lament about a sloppy lover – has the same profane, arresting quality as Williams’ masturbation fantasy, only it works to opposite effect; “I lie on my back and moan at the ceiling” has been supplanted by “I never come but it don’t matter / I could be any other girl / My head planted on that pillow my eyes fixed up above / Is this what they meant when they sang Careless Love?” If I can still hear the former at the grocery store 10 years later, the latter feels deserving of more than a sliver of the same attention.

From here, Schmidt and Co. roll through a cycle of hardscrabble ballads about killers waylaid by inclement weather (“Snow and Rain”), lesbian lovers on the run from bigoted eyes (“Hell’s a Place”), and long shifts in a northeastern Ontario gold mine (“Fourteen Hour Day”). I’m not sure whether Russell or Schmidt do the bulk of the writing, but the results are uniformly impressive – these are songs that avoid sweeping generalities, training their gaze on small details like a hitchhiker’s thumbs in Quesnel and sooty boot stains on a flight of porch stairs in Timmins.

Veteran producer Rick White (Eric’s Trip, Elevator) knows enough to keep the no-frills backing of acoustic guitar, bass, organ and drums low in the mix, but he’s pretty generous about Stew Crookes’ pedal steel, which offers Schmidt a worthy foil. It dips and swoons through the waltz-time “Nothing’s Alright” and blankets her vulnerable vocals in “No Great Leap” (“If being poor’s my life’s crime / My body’s prison’s eastern standard time”). Instrumentally, things get gnarled towards the record’s end – the droning, low-hanging psychedelic haze of “Tirade of a Shitty Mom” and the naked slide notes of “Snow and Rain.” Yet, One Hundred Dollars is a band that sounds best putting their downbeat, idiosyncratic stamp on traditional roots forms. Forest of Tears is unrepentantly bleak, but some bummers are better than others and this one’s among the best of the year."

- Nathan Hogan, Dusted Magazine

Regional 7" Part 1: Release

Friday, December 12th is the date slated for the release of part 1 of the Regional 7" Series. It's also the date of our release party at the Silver Dollar. Advance tickets can be purchased at Rotate This and Soundscapes soon.



Regional Seven Inch Series sees singles on 7" records released all throughout the country on a variety of labels. The A side of each record necessarily deals with a subject thematically linked to the region out of which the label is based. So there are songs about cancer treatment in Toronto, and work shortage in St. John's, Newfoundland, and VLT gambling and the oil economy in Fort McMurray and cycles of colonization in Vancouver. This series will run indefinitely.

The cover art on this one is by Matt McInnes out of Hogtown.

One Hundred Dollars is playing at the Dakota in Toronto on Saturday November 15 with Steamboat. Come harness your Chi with us.

Our GOdfathers' Halloween

WE PLAY THE FUCKED UP HALLOWE'EN WEEKEND ON THURSDAY

FUCKED UP
FINAL FANTASY
$100
VIVIAN GIRLS
KATIE STELMANIS

David Eliade says it's sold out. Whatever, maybe you can get a ticket at the door. And go to the afterparty to see the two best rock n' roll duos in the city:

LULLABYE ARKESTRA
TROPICS

HUNTER & COOK MAGAZINE LAUNCH

Our friend Tony Romano & Jay Isaac just released this magazine called Hunter & Cook. It's got some good work in it. We played a show for it on OCtober 9th. Zach Sllotsky at takemorephotos.com took these pictures:

Regional Seven Inch

Regional Seven Inch is a series of 7 " records which will be released on a variety of Canadian music labels over the next year. The A side necessarily deals with an issue true to the general region of the label. Our first release, 14th Floor has already been blogged about by university student, Paul Mortimer (please see two blogs down, thank you). For those of you struggling internally with the question "What is a seven inch record?" please see the video below. Of course, we won't just hand the answer to you- a seven inch is different for everyone- no two people perceive them the same. But the kind of information we give you should help you on your way to understanding what a 7" is to you.





If you know of a good label in Saskatchewan, please let us know. Thank you.

SONNY BOY

And in other NEWS...

Our drummer Dave Clarke has a brand-spanking new baby boy now.
His name is Sonny!

totally...

So we recorded two songs yesterday at the Rogue studio in Toronto for the first installment of the Regional 7". Side a is a song called 14th Floor and the b side is a song called Migrant Workers. Owen Pallet did some MZNG fiddle on Migrant Workers and the session was recorded by our very own Stew Crookes. The release is going to be on Blocks in early December. The subject matter of both songs is pretty obvious but in case you're totally clueless here is a hint.


totally

in case you were wondering...

... our biggest influence for the album, Forest of Tears, was actually the roleplaying game Forest of Tears based on the works of J.R.R Tolkien. Contrary to popular belief that we have been friends and played music together for years, we actually all met in Quebec city at a conference for said game. Songs like No Great Leap are not about the monotony of work like reviewers say. Its about rescuing a princess from a dragon in middle earth. We thought it was pretty obvious but apparently you guys don't get it. Try reading a book sometime. GAWD

WE'RE COMING

THE DATES -
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 18 - PETERBOROUGH w/ Weird Weather + the Burning Hell
at Montreal House
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19 - KINGSTON w/ Weather Station at the Artel
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20 - GUELPH w/ the Burning Hell for Kazoo Fest at the Family Thrift Store

Field of Dreams

The Sandwich.

Websters defines it as two or more slices of bread or the like with a layer of meat, fish, cheese, etc., between each pair. But most of us know is as an easy and delicious choice when faced with that dreaded duo hunger and apathy. It is the most important food in almost every culture on the earth. Walk any street in any city in the world and ask aloud: "Does anyone want a sandwich?" and you will see that everyone rich and poor alike does want a sandwich. Songs have been written about it. Great art. Poetry. It's in the Bible! The average north american eats roughly 3 to 4 sandwiches a day. Chances are it was your first food as a baby and it'll most likely be the last thing you eat. You may be eating one right now.

To celebrate this most omnipresent of cuisines I will be eating my 100,001st sandwich at 7pm saturday night in the basement of Sonic Boom(huge record store next to the bloor cinema). Entertainment will be provided by Castlemusic and $100. Please join us in this historic event. Feel free to pack one for yourself. You probably already have.

Always Yours,
Ian Russell

Really Messed Up

For about five days in late August 820 CHAM Hamilton's Country legend played only christmas music, intermittently playing a little vocal tag saying "listen to 820 CHAM at 820 on September 2nd!" Since that time, 820 CHAM has been turned to talk 820. For more information about this transition, you can look here.

I do not know how to go about my days. 95.3 isn't working for me- 820's mix of old country and new country, and all in between really drew me in. I was guaranteed "Four Strong Winds" atleast once a day, and usually a little "Rainy Day People." Now it is all Brooks and Dunn, and I find it hard to focus at my work.

I feel defeated- I know there is no way that 820 CHAM is coming back, but WTF? Do we really need more talk radio?

820 CHAM is dead to me.

-Simone

SONIC BOOM IN-STORE

We're gonna be playing with the whole band on September 13th at Sonic Boom in the afternoon, with castlemusic. It STARTS AT 7, is free and kids are welcome.

our new musical direction

SAPPYFEST LIVE PERFORMANCE courtesy of Zunior

RETROSPECTIVE POLAROIDO

by Luke Correia Damude

Gulag's Close Textual Analysis

Our friend Gulag, from Fucked Up did a close textual analysis of the song "No Great Leap" on the website Paper Thin Walls.
Check it out.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

July 25th saw a packed Horseshoe Tavern for our record release. Here is a good descriptive review of the show from a member of the general public. Thanks SonjaBelow are some pictures courtesy of Rick White & Julie Faught.

Jonathan Adjemian, Ian Russell

Ian Russell, Stew Crookes, Simone Schmidt


Special Guest Matt Mason of Anagram

Ian Russell, Paul Mortimer, Stew Crookes, Simone Schmidt

Missing from the photos: Dave Drums Clarke. See below with Julie Faught.

Pulitzer and Hearst They Think They Got Us

Here is the press we garnered earlier this month for the album release party for
FOREST OF TEARS.

NOW

EYE

EXCLAIM

THIS GUY ON THE EAST COAST

The footage above is slowed down so you can learn the dance.

Retroactive tour blog

OTTAWA- the Toronto that couldn't. The city with no rocks but a lot of good targets. The place with a bar called cafe Deckuf where they don't give you any beer tickets.
$100 went on a really short tour where we played 3 shows. Here is an image of the last show we played with Quest for Fire & Deloro, courtesy of Tina. We also went to SAPPY FEST which was HYPE. And Montreal. Retrospectives on these will be along soon.

SNAKE IN HIS PANTS

DARK TIMES COME AND GONE

Contrary to other publications, there are six of us.
Photo by Davida Nemeroff

HELL'S A PLACE

Here's a look at our recording session at Elder Schoolhouse- it was 13 hours long and we recorded our full length "Forest of Tears" at that time. The song "Hell's A Place" is about queers in exile, fleeing Alberta to get to the Village in Toronto. Footage is by Rick White.

What came before

The records we kept before got lost in an edit-
such was the nature of the form of the records we were keeping
Now we keep records here that too will be destroyed,
not by our next words, but the destruction of the internet when it gently comes,
till then we track ourselves, and you, dear reader, may track us too.

BY SAM SUTHERLAND AT THE EXCLAIM: THE DOCU-DRAMA of THE MAKING OF of THE SONG THAT FUCKED UP COMMISSIONED BY US called BLAZE OF GLORY