You Say Party! We Say Die! Move Forward Despite U.S. Ban

B.C.'s You Say Party! We Say Die! love to tour, but the universe seems to have other plans for them. In the most recent addition to the group's list of road woes, they've found themselves banned from the U.S.

"We tried to apply for visas to get into the States and we were denied because we weren't making enough money," recalls vocalist Becky Ninkovic. "We tried to reapply and we were waiting to see if that went through or not and, in the meantime, it was taking so long that our tour to the U.S. came up."

Rather than cancel an important string of shows, the band decided to take a chance and tried crossing the border without the proper paperwork.

"It was a bad move on our part," Ninkovic concedes. "We'd been on the road for months at that time and we were tired and I was extremely sick, and it was just one of those really bad calls.

"I'm half American, so I got off the hook no problem. Everyone else got a warning and, because our bass player Stephen [O'Shea] is the leader of our group and was speaking on our behalf, he got the worst of the punishment — which is too bad, because he's really a good boy."

O'Shea was banned from the U.S. for five years, making October 2011 the soonest that YSP! will be able to play a show there.

The band have had some time to relax since the border debacle, but they'll soon be on tour again in support of a new disc, Lose All Time, which hits store shelves on March 20 via Toronto's Paper Bag Records.

"We've had a long stint being home the last two months, and one major month of that was recording," Ninkovic explains. "This last month it got a little tight around here so we were all picking up casual jobs... but, none of us have steady jobs any more.

"This is our business. I don't care too much about having stuff. I'm happy living out of a little bag."

You Say Party! We Say Die!'s Canadian tour includes a March 9 stop at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern for a Chart-sponsored Canadian Music Week showcase. In late March, they'll hook up with Malajube and Champion for a cross-country tour. Here's where you can catch them:

March 1 Medicine Hat, AB @ Cypress Centre
March 2 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos
March 3 Brandon, MB @ North Hill Inn
March 7 Sudbury, ON @ Alder Hall
March 8 Guelph, ON @ Club Vinyl
March 9 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
March 11 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Knights Inn
March 14 Regina, SK @ The Exchange
March 15 Canmore, AB @ Canmore Hotel
March 16 Fernie, BC @ The Royal
March 17 Kelowna, BC @ Habitat
March 25 Victoria, BC @ Sugar
March 26 Vancouver, BC @ Richard's on Richards
March 28 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
March 29 Edmonton, AB @ Dinwoodie Lounge (University Of Alberta)
March 30 Saskatoon, SK @ The Odeon
March 31 Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
April 3 London, ON @ Call the Office
April 4 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
April 5 Ottawa, ON @ New Capital Music Hall
April 6 Montreal, QC @ Spectrum
April 7 Quebec City, QC @ Theatre Imperial