As you know, ARCTIC has been planning a cross-continental expedition with French band Bruxelles, touring across both Canada and Europe this September and October. We’ve spent this whole year working towards this goal with great anticipation.

Our European tour fundraiser was a great success, and we’re extremely grateful to everyone involved. The Gentle Infidels, Danny Echo, and We Landed On The Moon! put on amazing performances. We raised more than we had expected, and the great atmosphere and your enthusiasm that night helped inspire us at a time when we really needed it.

We have run into a few challenges over the past few months. In June, Marcus’s father died after a brief illness. In July, Bruxelles learned they would be unable to join us on the Canadian portion of the tour. And then in August, personal reasons forced our drummer Rob to leave the band, one month before the scheduled start of our tours. The stress and logistical difficulties of these events brought us very close to the point of canceling our fall plans entirely.

After much reflection and with encouragement from others, we have decided to do whatever it takes to keep our European tour. So we are very pleased to be bringing Niko Friesen (Kelly Rowland, Marcy Playground, Hannah Georgas, Adrienne Pierce) on board to drum with us in France, and are excited to be working with him on this adventure.

While we will still be touring Europe in October, we have had to postpone our September dates in Canada. We want to bring you only the best possible performances and we will need more time to prepare. We’ll be back to see you as soon as we can.

We’re overwhelmed by the support of our fantastic friends and fans who have been there for us, and have learned a lot about our own drive and dedication. We’re more determined than ever to take ARCTIC to Europe for this terrific opportunity to tour with Bruxelles. We’re excited about all the new people we’re going to meet, and the great stories, photos and videos we’ll be able to share with you. And we can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thank you.

Kirsten Starcher and Marcus Martin

Check out this mash-up of ARCTIC’s “White Walls” with Gorillaz’ “Stylo", brought to you by Dutch producer Pheugoo and dubbed “Stylish White Walls". Download it and spread it around!

Click here to buy tickets for our show August 7 at the Railway Club with The Gentle Infidels, Danny Echo and We Landed On The Moon! They’re $10 and will help you skip that pesky Railway staircase lineup. And they’ll help you support independent touring bands, too.

You can also get tickets for our raffle with great prizes like BC Lions tickets, t-shirts, web hosting, dinner giveaways and more. And for the week of July 12, we will donate half of all raffle ticket sales to help Harley, the New Westminster cat who was doused in paint thinner and is fighting for his life.

ARCTIC Goes to France

We’re very excited to announce ARCTIC’s tour plans for the fall.

We’re partnering with Bruxelles, a band from Clermont-Ferrand, France, on an intercontinental expedition. Bruxelles will come and tour with us in Canada for a few weeks, and then we will travel with them in October to tour in Europe.

Exact dates will be announced later this summer, but you can expect to find us in Paris, Clermont-Ferrand, Riom, Montpellier, Lyon and potentially Germany and Switzerland.

We’ll be posting regularly on our tour blog with updates, as well as Twitter and Facebook, and making videos along the way. After all, when you put two bands, who barely speak each others’ language, in a van together for five weeks… you’re bound to get some pretty good stories!

Fundraiser Show

To help us get across the ocean, we’re holding a fundraiser show at the Railway Club in Vancouver on Saturday, August 7. We’re grateful to our friends The Gentle Infidels, Danny Echo, and We Landed On The Moon! (all the way from Louisiana) and are looking forward to returning the favour in the future. Advance tickets are available on our website - buy a ticket now to get a free download of our new song “White Walls"!

Win all sorts of stuff!

We’re also holding a big raffle and the draw will happen at our show on August 7! So far our prizes include:

• Two pairs of tickets to see the BC Lions
• T-shirt by Laundry Room Press
• An autographed photograph of 54-40
• Mini photo shoot by bOB HOmer Photography
• 1 year of free web hosting by outside in the sun productions
• Cameo necklace by Oyster Designs
• $50 gift certificate to Sweeney’s of Yaletown
• Purse by Jabu Bags
• …and more secret surprises to be announced!

You can get tickets for the raffle and the show on our website. You don’t have to be present to win the raffle, though it’s going to be a fantastic time and you probably should.

Thanks for all your love and support - we’re looking forward to seeing you while we’re on tour, whatever continent you’re on!

ARCTIC has just released a shiny new song, “White Walls", which is available for free download by signing up to our mailing list.

Enjoy!