[ The Year that was 1999 ] - [ MAIN ]

Hey there! This is Dave, Hot Tub's resident bitch and one of the guy's who keeps everything together around here. I thought it would be cool to maybe take a look back at all the stuff that has happened this past year in the land of the Tub. I know probably the biggest thing that happened to a lot of us was the April release of our first CD, Drowned in the Harbour: a Hamilton compilation! It was something that was long overdue and brought together a rag-tag bunch and made us into the "disfunctional" community we are today!? But really...we hope that 2000 is as productive and even more exciting for Hot Tub and the Hamilton music scene! So my entire 1999 recap is taken right from our Email Newsletters ...so nothing is changed....and it kinda starts off a little while after the compilation was released..... (we might have missed some things here and there....but a lot of the big things are on here!)

Newsletter #2(June1999)

More great news from the land of commercial radio...Big Brother were metioned and praised on Edge102 recently as the station prepares for NXNE(north by north-east music festival). Big Brother was featured on Edge102's Indie Hour(Thursday Nites @11PM!)...the band is playing The Bovine Sex Club(452 Queen St. W.) on Thursday June 10th @ 1:00 Am as part of NXNE!!! Congrats Guys!!

More Radio schtuff.....the Drowned in the Harbour CD is still being spun @ both campus radio stations in the city!! Currently the comp. is #6 @ CFMU 93.3 FM(McMaster) and #21 @ C101.5FM(Mohawk College)!!!

The Evil Engine are still looking for a drummer...but Larry Hardcore and Porkchop seem ready to release the long-awaited CD, The Evil Trax!!! All I am going to say...is look for it very soon...more info to come...and yah it's amazing!!!

Newsletter #3(June 1999)

The BIG news right now is that the Drowned in the Harbour Compilation CD was the #1 @ 93.3 CFMU(McMaster Radio) for the week ending May 30th!!!! NUMBER 1 dammit.....NUMBER 1 at CFMU!!!! Do you know how awesome it feels to have a NUMBER 1 CD!? It feels fuckin' great!!!

Saturday June 26th: Dr. Disc presents....a HOT TUB party!!! featuring zildo ildo(1pm), Hereafter(2pm) and The Probes(3pm) rawking it out for FREE in the parking lot behind Dr. Disc(20 Wilson St.) There is also the Dr. Disc Garage Sale going on....so be sure to enjoy the sounds and look around!!!

Newsletter #4 (June1999)

hey guess what??? The Drowned in the Harbour Compilation CD was #1 again @ 93.3 CFMU(McMaster Radio) for the week ending June 14th!!!! This is BIG and awesome news for us....last week we were knocked down to #2 by the Austin Powers soundtrack.....this week we SHAGGED our way back to the TOP spot!! I know you don't want to hear this again ....but i must say it.....YAH BABY!!!!

Newsletter #5(July 1999)

Hey You!!!! all together now......HOT.....TUB......HOT.....TUB..... After a couple of weeks of being in the middle of CFMU's Top 10.... The Drowned in the Harbour Compilation CD reached up and stole the #1 spot again @ 93.3 CFMU(McMaster Radio) for the week ending July 24th!!!! This is great considering we are just now ready to get the comp out to campus radio stations across the country!!! Congrats goes out to all the amazing bands who play the amazing songs!!!

....over at C101.5 Mohawk College Radio....the CD has done really well climbing the charts over the last couple of months!! it is now at #3 for the 2nd week in a row.....so hopefully this week is our week to shine over at the city's other amazing radio station!!!

Hamilton's Surf Sensations:The Probes...coming off an awesome show sunday night opening for Huevos Rancheros in Toronto....are also doing really well at C101.5....finally entering the Top 30 a couple of weeks ago. Their EP Caravan is available from Hot Tub for $7 PP .....better hurry....this was a limited edition release...and we don't have too many left!?

Also the Evil Engine are in the news too.....their radio-only CD... "A Man in a Boat...Possibly Fishing" is also being played alot at C101.5.....i believe hitting #31 this week!!! and i can also say that the EE9 classic, "Nerd" is also the most highly requested song in the history of the station!!! Way to guy Tyler!! Look for their official CD release..."The Evil Trax" to come out in August....

Yah.....and don't forget about Sara Somebody....with the release of their S/T EP....comes a couple of parties for all you party animals out there!!! Thursday August 12th - Mermaid's Lounge(Hess Village) Licensed....FREE Saturday August 14th - Transit Union Hall All AGES.......$4 or $8 w/CD So go out and support the band with all these parties.....am i ever gonna have a good time that week!? LOL......drunk anybody!?

Newsletter #6(August 1999)

Well The Evil Engine's "debut" CD, The Evil Trax will be available Friday August 20th at all of our favourite local record stores, Dr. Disc & The Sonic Unyon Store!! You will also be able to buy it for $10 at the various local shows going on in the last half of August @ Transit!! The CD is a mix of their old tape-Earth Sux and their short lived CD-A Man in a Boat...Possibly Fishing!?....so you really could say this is a "best of" everything they have done so far!? The disc also contains two bonus trax and a remixed version of Pogo Ball

August 28th @ Transit Union Hall supporting the Hereafter CD Fundraising Show w/ Cedrumatic and possibly The Probes! $5 with money going towards the Hereafter CD....which you receive for coming out and supporting the band when it is released in November!!

Newsletter #??(Sometime in September!?)

After conquering the local radio scene, we decided to send out Drowned in the Harbour CDs and Sara Somebody EPs out to Campus radio across the country. We figured whatever airplay we got would be awesome and just attempting something like this was an achievement. Well we kinda cracked a couple of Top 30 charts in two different areas of the country: Drowned in the Harbour #12 @ CKMS Waterloo, ON Sara Somebody #33 @ CKUW Winnipeg, MB (they have a top 35 there!?) Congrats to all the bands involved and let's hope some other stations pick up on some great Hamilton music!!

October 1999

The Evil Engine are just about ready to unleash their debut album, "The Evil Trax" to national campus radio and press. They are currently still charting @ C101.5 Mohawk College Radio with their promo CD "A Man in a Boat...Possibly Fishing"...i believe that it's about #26 there!?

hereafter and Hot Tub Records have pushed back the release of their debut album until the New Year!? There are few reasons for this... mainly time and cash! Originally the album was slated for a November release...and as you know that month is rapidly approaching. So we all felt that pushing it back would save some headaches and give us more time to finish off everything.

"October is really RAWK-tober" @ Mermaid's Lounge Check out Hot Tub Nights...every Wednesday in October @ Mermaid's Lounge in Hess Village!

Also October 1999

We here @ Hot Tub Records are thankful that there are some nice campus stations in Ottawa and Waterloo that are playing our shit! @CKCU Ottawa, ON Drowned in the Harbour is #24! @ CKMS Waterloo, ON Drowned in the Harbour is #29 Sara Somebody EP is #27!

The Evil has re-turned and continues to turn!? The band has gone thru a few changes since the last update. Due to...what some will call...creative differences...The Rod and Porkchop have moved on to do other things?! Their places in the band have been filled by Alex Gumbert(Gorp, Golden Lake Diner)on drums and Josh Holt(Big Brother, The Tighties & Janitors of Anarchy)on bass!

Don't forget about...the show we are doing at La Luna on Friday Oct.22 We originally had Mean Red Spider's playing...but they backed out and their labelmates Neck(also from Toronto) will take their place and play their first Hamilton show! also on the bill...moonkarma return from space to show us all how to rock while being weightless and cedrumatic bring their pots and pans band to the stage!? it's $5 @ the door and will be well worth it sucka! (ed's note: This is kinda when cedrumatic joined in all the "fun" that is Hot Tub!?)

November 1999

First of all a BIG congratulations goes out to Sara Somebody...who are Sydney, Nova Scotia's #1 band!! Sara Somebody's untitled EP has been a huge fave over @ Sydney's campus radio station, CAPR. Also, the band made their BIG debut on Edge102's Indie hour w/ Dave Bookman a couple of weeks ago. I believe d'Arachides was played on the Thursday nite show....way to go!

The Evil Engine are also in the radio spotlight...the band debuted @ #7 at Waterloo's CKMS!! The Evil Trax also made C101.5's Top 30 this week as well! The Evil Engine's hit song "Nerd" also made it onto the Indie Hour a few weeks back....(Thursday Nites @ 11 PM on CFNY102.1) Congrats go out to both bands for their radio success!

Our next show is gonna be our BIG X-MAS show on Friday Dec. 11th! it's at Transit Union Hall and it's an all ages/licensed show! more details to come....this is gonna be a fun one!