2011.09.03 13:05:41

Darren

Hey there!

Long time, no talk...Big weekend ahead for the band, we're on our way to Valleyview in the morning to play a wedding show and then the next morning it's up early for a long travel day to play in Hughenden, AB...We'll be in the arena there to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the public school there...Both events should be a blast and here's hoping the bleary eyed band can make all our scheduled arrival/departure times!

Keep an eye out for us in September, we'll be playing the JR Bar and Grill in Edmonton on the 10th, and after a bunch of corporate/private gigs and we'll be back at the Beer Hunter in Spruce Grove for Halloween! Mark October 29th on your calendar and get out your clown costume and get in on the fun!!!

Hope to see you!

Scads of emotions,

Darren

Mandy McMillan | Beer Hunter Mandy McMillan Band Spr | Beer Hunter Mandy McMillan Band | entertainer

2011.07.08 04:21:06

Darren

Hi all,

It's sure been a busy summer so far...Lots of events upcoming for The Mandy McMillan Band. I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank the very fine folks at the Wabamun Hotel. On a stormy Friday night when we were denied the chance to play at the Waterfront Park in Wabamun, they took us in and gave us a stage to play on. What a blast we had!! We're grateful for that and for the chance to make some new friends in the process.

We've been playing a few private functions recently and have bookings coming up from Hinton to Valleyview to Hughenden and points between. Keep a lookout for upcoming gig announcements.

We hope your bar-b-q is hot, your drinks cold and your mosquito repellent plentiful!

See you soon!

Darren

country artist | Mandy McMillan | country band

2011.06.08 02:19:39

Darren

Two amazing crowds in back to back visists to The Beer Hunter have given us plenty of reason to say Thank You to everyone who came out. It's been brought to our attention that word of mouth is starting to spread and we are getting a bit of a reputation as a decent live band. :) May we always live up to that.

As a group we are continually flattered by the well wishes and positive comments from everyone who we've had the good fortune to cross paths with. Thanks to you all! It really does mean a lot to each of us and has given us all a bit of a spark to try and raise the bar a little more each time we play...

My biggest shout out of the day goes out to Mandy herself...We've just learned that she has bronchial pneumonia and still powered through a couple of amazing shows... What a trooper! She can barely talk this week but we'll still be lighting up Wabamun on Friday evening! Look for us at 8:00 at Lakefront Park...

Cheers,

Darren

Beer Hunter Mandy McMillan Band | Mandy McMillan | songwriter | country artist

2011.06.03 03:31:35

Darren

Hi Mandy Fans! It's felt great to get a stage under us again last weekend when we made our first visit to The Beer Hunter in St. Albert! What an amazing room!! Great staff and a stellar crowd made for a fabulous night enjoyed (maybe a little too much by some of us) by the entire band.

 We're excited to be making a return visit to the Spruce Grove location of The Beer Hunter this Saturday, June 4th. We should be onstage at about 10:00 pm and would love to see you there!

Looking ahead, The Mandy McMillan Band is super excited to be playing at the Wabamun Fun Daze on Friday June 10! We hope to see you there as well!

Cheers,

Darren

country band | Concert | Spruce Grove | St. Albert | Beer Hunter | Mandy McMillan Band

2011.02.28 09:02:30

Darren

A big thanks from Mandy and the band to all who made their way out to The Beer Hunter in Spruce Grove on Friday night!

There were a lot of people who were seeing us for the first time and had some very kind things to say which we appreciate very much. We certainly can’t overlook the friends and family who are more than familiar with us, we appreciate their continuing support.

The night was a ton of fun for us and we’re grateful for the opportunity to play what was kind of a home town gig for a couple of us in the band. We hope to make our way back real soon! Thanks again!

Cheers,

Darren

Beer Hunter Mandy McMillan Band Spr

2011.01.30 14:38:40

Darren

Roses are Red,

Hank Ilesic was a punter

We'll be playing real soon

at the Spruce Grove Beerhunter!

Okay so I'm not quite the poet that Bruce is, but the message is important. The Mandy McMillan Band will be playing one night only at the Spruce Grove location of The Beerhunter! We're there on Friday, February 25, hitting the stage at 9:00 pm! I promise to play better than I write poetry.  :)  Make sure you're there, it's going to be an awesome night at a great club!

Cheers,

Darren

Mandy McMillan Band Beerhunter Spru

2011.01.04 08:28:34

Bruce

Last night, I kicked it hard with the band
It was wild and crazy, tequila shots, sore hands
Hitting the drums with a fury, keeping the beat
Sweat coming down, broken sticks at my feet

The second of two nights, small crowd in the bar
Rowdy family and friends, here to see the star
The room is cooking, feel the heat on my back
Pants and shirt come off, sweat down to my sack

We play all the sets, four in total
Tequila shots come fast, survival is my goal
I make it through with very little damage
But my head feels like the drum of a savage

The night goes well, everyone tells us so
It's a bittersweet one, 'cause it's the last show
The star is taking a trip and a chance
To make a go in Nashville at the big dance

We all wish her well, as she plans out her trip
Over the last little while, we've built a great friendship
To the star, we say "Be all you can be!"
And please send us the photos that we have yet to see

country artist | singer | songwriter | entertainer | Mandy McMillan | Edson

2010.12.21 13:43:08

Darren

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

A reminder that we'll be in Edson at the always fabulous Commodore Hotel for New Years Eve and New Years Day! NYE is a ticketed event, $20 in advance or $25 at the door, there'll be a midnight lunch and door prizes and all kinds of really awesome shenanigans! Hope to see you there...

Don't forget also that this will be the last chance to see Mandy before she heads off to Nashville for an extended period so we really hope we'll see you there!

Cheers, Darren

2010.12.04 03:26:37

Darren

Hi everyone,

Quick hit here just to let you know that due to cirumstances beyond our control, The Mandy McMillan Band shows at Shades Lounge in Leduc on Dec. 10/11 have been cancelled. Certainly a disappointment for us, we were looking forward to having a little Christmas cheer with our friends in Black Gold Country. We'll have to get together sometime in 2011!

Cheers, Darren

2010.11.14 05:06:19

Darren

Being part of The Mandy McMillan Band means being a part of a team effort that shares the same vision of playing the best music in the most entertaining fashion possible. That being said I thought I'd share a little inside information on how a show day operates for the band.

One thing to realize about any working band is the sheer amount of time it takes getting a show on stage. The first step is the time spent in our palatial jamspace, tirelessly working out unique arrangements and the best possible approach to every song we play. The band gets together at least once a week unless exceptional circumstances dictates otherwise. The reward for all the time spent rehearsing is when we get out to perform. There are some however for whom an actual performance day may not be much of a reward simply because of the hours.

A show day is always looked at with enthusiasm. Playing a new venue or a new town is always very exciting for us. The chance to meet new people and try to win over a new crowd through the music is one of the driving forces for any musician. Trips out of town will usually involve all of us travelling in one vehicle pulling a trailer with all of our gear in it. Those are always stay over gigs which are a lot of fun and usually involve a lot of stories that I'm probably not allowed to share in this public forum. I can say that those days can start at 9 or 10 am depending on where we're headed.

Gigs that are closer to home are different·for us. We're playing in Leduc this weekend so I"ll use that for an example. None of us live that close to one another. We're scattered from the Sherwood Park area to the Stony Plain area and points between so the distance dictates that we travel seperately for these shows. For the Leduc show each member of the band is usually getting their own equipment and pieces of the PA loaded by mid afternoon. I personally load up my Jeep at about 3:00 pm, ·double and triple checking everything along the way to make sure all the parts and pieces are accounted for from cables to batteries to setlists to a clean shirt to wear on stage.

The band will try to stagger our arrivals at the venue to allow for each of us to get our gear loaded in and a rough setup done and then move cases and bags so the next arrival will have easy access to the stage area and we're not worried about tripping over one another. The first of us arrive by about 4:00 pm and by 6:00 everyone has loaded in and the setup is pretty much complete and we're ready for a soundcheck.

The soundcheck can be a breeze or it can be a trying experience. We're fortunate enough now that we're playing in rooms where we've been multiple times so we know where the power is and how loud we need to be and how everything should fit on their stage...We ideally soundcheck between 6 and 7 pm when there aren't a lot of patrons in the club yet. The lack of ears is a good thing because there is never a soundcheck that sounds good. There are starts and stops and instruments or microphones that are too loud or not loud enough or heaven forbid we have feedback issues. Acting as our own sound crew means adjusting everything from the stage so we don't always hear what the audience does because the levels we set in an empty room will be drastically different in a room full of rowdy Mandy fans. A little known fact (unless you work in one of the clubs we play at in which case it's a very known fact) but for every gig we play we always, always, always play Carlene Carter's Every Little Thing for our soundcheck. It's the perfect song because it uses all the elements on stage, each instrument and microphone and it's also an awesome song. :)

At the end of the night if we have to load out, it's usally an hour to get everything tore down and packed up and put into vehicles so we're usually driving away by 2:00 am and unloading at home by 3:00 am. A 12 hour day if everything goes well. I don't know if all bands run this kind of a schedule but that's how we roll. Is this a pursuit for a sane person? Likely not, but us musicians are a unique breed and there is always the carrot dangling that would be achieving a level of success where someone does all the heavy lifting and coiling or cables for you. In the meantime we will continue on, playing any and everywhere as often as we can, and now when you arrive at the club we're playing in, you can see that as much fun as we're having, we have to work as hard as we play.

Tonight we're back at Shade's Lounge in Leduc, 5005 - 50 st. and we'll be back in Leduc just one more time·before the end of the year, playing·the weekend of Dec. 10 & 11th. We're·spending our·New Years·Eve and New Years Day playing for all of our incredible friends at·The Commodore Hotel·in Edson. Looking ahead into the·new year it's looking like·the band will be·going on a hiatus for a bit so if you do want·to see us live, I'd advise you try and make it out to one of these shows.·We sure hope to see you there!

Cheers, Darren

2010.11.13 00:59:54

Darren

Happy Friday everyone!

The Mandy McMillan Band is back at it this weekend playing tonight and tomorrow at Shades Lounge in Leduc. The address is 5005 - 50 st., they've got the friendliest staff and the best drink deals in any club I've been in for a looong time and now they've got us so you really have no reason not to come out. :) Can't wait to see you there! We'll be onstage just after 9:00 both nights.

With the year quickly winding down we don't have many shows left so make sure you come out to catch one of them...

Cheers, Darren

2010.10.24 02:14:21

Darren

Sure had a great time in Leduc last night. We were fortunate enough to be invited to play the exhibitors party during the Leduc Chamber of Commerce Home & Leisure Expo and were able to see some old friends and make some new ones and hopefully we've opened an exciting new door for our band!  

Big thanks to George at Shades Lounge for sponsoring our appearance and thanks to Kirk at Leduc Radio for making us feel welcome, talking us up and putting a sweet stage together for us to play on!

Please don't forget to mark your calendars, The Mandy McMillan Band will be back out in Leduc at Shades on November 12 & 13 so it would be awesome to have you join us!

Have an awesome weekend!

country artist | songwriter | singer | entertainer | country band | Mandy McMillan

2010.10.14 09:27:16

Darren

Hello Mandy fans!

I hope everyone is getting settled into their fall routines with school - work - sports etc. taking up a lot of your time, you can rest assured that your favorite band is hard at work and ready to take on the fall. We're working on some new original material to start playing live and a couple new covers which should fit in nicely! You'll have to come out to hear them!

We've booked a couple of dates back into Shades Lounge in Leduc and we're very pleased to be offered the opportunity to play there again. There are some new clubs coming on line which we are confirming and will have details on those shortly.

We've also been looking for an identifiable logo for our band and have finally got a look at an artists rendition and it looks AWESOME!!! Can't wait for you all to see it, we should be introducing the new look soon, so we hope you'll be as excited about this as we are about it...

Hopefully that's enough to peak your interest and get you out to an upcoming show...Also make sure you join our Facebook fan group: Mandy McMillan FAN!  You'll get all the latest details there and some special Facebook only fan news...

Talk to you soon! 

Darren

country artist | singer | songwriter | entertainer | Mandy McMillan | Leduc | Shades | country band

2010.10.06 08:42:22

Mandy

Hey! I am so excited about all the new and improved details on my website! I love my band to pieces. Thank you to all of our friends old and new that joined us at Shades Lounge we had such an amazing time! I am also very excited about my new wireless in ear monitors and wireless mic! Watch out because I will be dancing with all of ya!!

Hope to see you all at our upcoming shows!

<3 Mandy

2010.09.20 10:22:39

Mandy

Thanks for taking the time to check out the website! We're very excited about what is going on with the band these days. Lots of news that we can't wait to share with you in the near future. We are working on overhauling the site and will be adding new pictures, videos and information in the coming weeks so we hope you'll check back often. If you get a chance, drop us a line to let us know how we're doing and how you're doing. Watch for our updated shows page to see where we're going to be appearing  and make sure to check us out on Facebook, search out Mandy McMillan FAN! (or use the link on our homepage) to get even more updates on the band and what we're up to.

Thanks for all the support!

The Mandy McMillan Band