BeatRoute Magazine AB print e-edition - April 2017
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics. Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo.
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics.
Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo.
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Descendents • Jimmy Eat World • Comic Expo • Timber Timbre • dBridge • 420 Fest • Father John Misty
FIXED<br />
Editor’s Note/Pulse 4<br />
Bedroom Eyes 7<br />
Edmonton Extra 26<br />
Book Of Bridge 28<br />
Letters From Winnipeg 29<br />
Vidiot 36<br />
This Month in Metal 49<br />
FEATURES<br />
CUFF 30-35<br />
CITY 8-14<br />
Calgary Comic Expo, Juggalos, Midtown,<br />
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Spoken Word<br />
Fest, World Town, Golden Penis, Make It,<br />
Places Please, Wrongs Today<br />
FILM 30-36<br />
CUFF: Fubar 15th Anniversary, Hounds Of<br />
Love, Space Between<br />
T<strong>AB</strong>LE OF CONTENTS<br />
MUSIC<br />
rockpile 16-29<br />
Descendants, Jimmy Eat World,<br />
Fashionism, Close Talker, Tommy<br />
Grimes, Menace, Sum 41, Forbidden<br />
Dimension, Bad Animal, Dane<br />
jucy 39-41<br />
dBridge, Chuurch, Troyboi, Snakehips,<br />
Rumours Rave<br />
roots 43-45<br />
Timber Timbre, Leeroy Stagger, Matt<br />
Patershuk, Braden Gates<br />
shrapnel 47-49<br />
420 Music And Arts Festival, Languid,<br />
Striker, D.R.I.<br />
REVIEWS<br />
music 51<br />
Father John Misty and much more...<br />
BEATROUTE<br />
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief<br />
Brad Simm<br />
Marketing Manager<br />
Glenn Alderson<br />
Production Coordinator<br />
Hayley Muir<br />
Managing Editor/Web Producer<br />
Shane Flug<br />
Music Editor<br />
Colin Gallant<br />
Section Editors<br />
City :: Brad Simm<br />
Film :: Jonathan Lawrence<br />
Calgary Beat :: Willow Grier<br />
Edmonton Extra :: Levi Manchak<br />
Book of (Leth)Bridge :: Courtney Faulkner<br />
Letters From Winnipeg :: Julijana Capone<br />
Jucy :: Paul Rodgers<br />
Roots :: Liam Prost<br />
Shrapnel :: Sarah Kitteringham<br />
Reviews :: Jamie McNamara<br />
This Month’s Contributing Writers<br />
Christine Leonard • Arielle Lessard • Sarah Mac • Amber McLinden • Kennedy Enns •<br />
Jennie Orton • Michael Grondin • Mathew Silver • Kevin Bailey • Jackie Klapak •<br />
Hayley Pukanski • Nicholas Laugher • Arnaud Sparks • Brittney Rousten •<br />
Breanna Whipple • Alex Meyer • Jay King • Alec Warkentin • Paul McAleer • Mike Dunn •<br />
Shane Sellar • Kaje Annihilatrix • Dan Savage • Claire Miglionico<br />
This Month’s Contributing Photographers & Illustrators<br />
Michael Grondin • Hayley Pukanski • Jim Agaptio • My-An Nguyen<br />
Front Cover<br />
Helen Young<br />
Advertising<br />
Ron Goldberger<br />
Tel: (403) 607-4948 • e-mail: ron@beatroute.ca<br />
Descendents - page 16<br />
Distribution<br />
We distribute our publication in Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, Canmore, and Lethbridge.<br />
SARGE Distribution in Edmonton – Shane Bennett (780) 953-8423<br />
e-mail: editor@beatroute.ca<br />
website: www.beatroute.ca<br />
E-Edition<br />
Yumpu.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><br />
Connect with <strong>BeatRoute</strong>.ca<br />
Facebook.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><strong>AB</strong><br />
Twitter.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><strong>AB</strong><br />
Instagram.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><strong>AB</strong><br />
Copyright © BEATROUTE <strong>Magazine</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the contents is prohibited without permission.<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 3
pulse<br />
30 BANDS – 3 STAGES – 10 HOURS<br />
Cancer Benefit<br />
Greta Marofke was born a happy, healthy energetic baby, but was soon<br />
diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a very rare liver cancer found in fewer<br />
than one in a million children. Greta started her first chemo treatment<br />
on her second birthday. That was followed by several more treatments<br />
including surgery for a liver resection. Great news followed one year ago<br />
when her tests showed “no evidence of disease.” Then on a routine doctor’s<br />
visit in August 2016 a blood test confirmed the cancer had come<br />
back, and this time she would require a full liver transplant.<br />
Her family reached out extensively to doctors in Calgary, Toronto, and<br />
Cincinnati to determine the best way to treat Greta. Canadian doctors<br />
have done everything they can for Greta, but our health system is not<br />
as advanced as other medical centres in this particular area. Dr. Geller, a<br />
pediatric oncologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, who has a special<br />
interest and extensive experience in the field of hepatoblastoma has<br />
been working closely with Canadian doctors, but is convinced he can do<br />
more to help Greta in the US than is possible to do so here. He has been<br />
involved with nine rescue liver transplants (transplant after resection)<br />
and eight of these children are doing well.<br />
<strong>AB</strong> Health Care will not be covering the cost of Greta’s transplant<br />
surgery estimated to be 1.2 million.<br />
In January, a “Go Fund Me” campaign (.gofundme.com/gretasguardians)<br />
was started and to date $193,000 has been raised, but Greta and<br />
her family still need more money.<br />
On Sat., <strong>April</strong> 29, The Cave and Getto Boys will present 30 Bands on<br />
3 Stages (indoors and out) for 10 hours. The event, 30-3-10, is aimed<br />
solely to help raise funds for Greta’s surgery. 100% of ticket revenues,<br />
beverage sales, festival merchandise sales and a silent auction will be<br />
donated along with 100% of artists’ performances, stage set-up, fencing,<br />
promotions, event management and production services. Location<br />
720 - 16 Ave. NW. Doors open at 11:00 am. $20.00 General Admission<br />
tickets available at Eventbrite.<br />
• Lindsay Chadderton<br />
THE AMAZING VELVET EXPERIENCE<br />
Glenbow Museum<br />
For one night only, witness the most black velvet paintings you may ever<br />
see in one place. One Glenbow gallery will be filled from floor to ceiling<br />
with 200 velvet paintings - the best of the collection of Rick Smith, one<br />
of the world’s premiere velvet collectors. Rick has a history of sharing his<br />
collection with the world - for years he hosted annual Cinco de Mayo<br />
parties to show off his collection. Now, Rick has decided to set his collection<br />
free, and is giving his paintings away to benefit Glenbow.<br />
Rick Smith has been collecting black velvet paintings since 2001,<br />
amassing over 400 from garage sales and pawn shops around Alberta,<br />
starting with a velvet Elvis. The collection began as a hobby to distract<br />
him from a personal health crisis, and became an obsession that led to<br />
Rick “rescuing” as many of the painting as he could find.<br />
Starting with a feature presentation about the history of black velvet<br />
art, followed by live music, a nacho station, churros, cocktails and art<br />
adventures, this party will be a celebration of retro kitsch. Whether you<br />
wear your latest high-fashion ensemble or break out the velour and<br />
bellbottoms, dress to impress.<br />
Party favours: every ticket buyer will go home with a velvety treasure!<br />
Party guests will be randomly matched with their very own black velvet<br />
painting, to be taken home at the end of the night. Which one will be<br />
yours? Some might be considered velvet masterpieces, all are guaranteed<br />
to be a hilarious keepsake from an excellent night out.<br />
Tickets $75 (on sale <strong>April</strong> 1)<br />
6.30pm: Doors Friday May 5, <strong>2017</strong><br />
7.00pm: Feature presentation - an exploration of the history of black<br />
velvet art<br />
7.45pm: The party begins - live music/DJ/nacho station/churros/<br />
cocktails/art adventures<br />
9.30pm: Painting pick up opens - meet your art match<br />
11:00pm: Event ends<br />
SLED ISLAND<br />
Year Eleven<br />
Sled Island is back in Calgary with L.A. renegade Flying Lotus acting as<br />
guest curator, plenty of heavy (Converge, Wolves in the Throne Room,<br />
King Woman) and everything else you’d expect from our hometown,<br />
discovery-obsessed fest.<br />
Indie rock enthusiasts are covered with prominent slots by Cloud<br />
Nothings, Low, Waxahatchee, Land of Talk and Mothers, among others.<br />
If experimentalism and innovation are your game (a field Sled always<br />
nails), look no further than Silver Apples, Hailu Mergia, Thor & Friends,<br />
EX EYE and New Fries.<br />
New this year are the Sled Island podcast (where they unveil ‘sclusies<br />
absent from press releases and public announcements), and the gritty<br />
work of illustrator Josh Holinaty (an ACAD grad and prominent artist in<br />
our community).<br />
Roughly 200 bands are still to be announced, including FlyLo’s curator<br />
picks, headliners from around Canada and the world, and the best<br />
emerging talent juried from nearly 1000 music submissions received by<br />
the festival.<br />
Still to come are announcements regarding visual art, comedy, film<br />
and special events that put industry and interactive moments into<br />
focus. As a multi-disciplinary festival, these programming choices are<br />
likely to tilt the conversation about Sled Island from what bands they’ve<br />
announced to what overall experience they offer attendees –whether<br />
that be pass purchasers, participating performers, delegates, or our own<br />
arts community.<br />
In the meantime, Sled has made neither its second wave nor full lineup<br />
announcements yet. We’ll be reporting again as soon as they do.<br />
Flying Lotus<br />
4 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE
#guitarsforgreta<br />
Saturday,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 29th<br />
MUSIC FESTIVAL<br />
WITH<br />
BANDS,<br />
STAGES,<br />
HOURS<br />
100% OF THE PROCEEDS WILL SUPPORT<br />
GRETA’S JOURNEY<br />
720 16 AVE NW, CALGARY<br />
GETTO BOYS bar & grill • the cave<br />
Thank-you<br />
to our<br />
sponsors<br />
THE CAVE<br />
BRIAN’S PORTA-POTTY<br />
& FENCING
TWINBAT STICKER CO.<br />
your one stop, premier rock ‘n’ roll merch shop<br />
Who’s that wasically wabbit anyway? It’s<br />
none other than Cory Martens,<br />
well-known, well-respected, bad-ass<br />
drummer and punk guitarist who’s<br />
played many stages, many times across<br />
Western Canada.<br />
Standing outside his new biz, Twinbat<br />
Sticker Co., Martens is putting the power<br />
of rock ‘n’ roll into his <strong>print</strong> shop that<br />
specializes in premium vinyl decals,<br />
one-inch buttons, t-shirts, vinyl-cut<br />
lettering, custom signage, vinyl banners,<br />
wall decals, window decals, custom<br />
license plates and guitar picks.<br />
Your one stop, premier rock ‘n’ roll<br />
merch shop? “Yes it is,” says Mr. Martens.<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 7
CITY<br />
JUGGALO WEEKEND<br />
northern gathering promising is gonna bust a big move<br />
“It takes a special motherfucker to listen ICP and love it,<br />
you know?”<br />
After almost 30 years of rocking the Insane Clown Posse<br />
moniker, Joseph Utsler aka Shaggy 2 Dope is as keenly aware as<br />
ever of the stigma surrounding one of the world’s most notorious<br />
and resilient subcultures.<br />
“Most of the fuckin’ world hates our guts. So being a Juggalo,<br />
automatically, you’re gonna be hated on by pretty much<br />
anything. And people think that Juggalos are scumbag thieving<br />
pieces of shit, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,”<br />
Utsler explains.<br />
Juggalos have served as an easy target for the rest of the<br />
world since the term’s official inception in the late ‘90s.<br />
Whether the movement’s resilience is an evolved adaptation<br />
to decades of hate, or a testament to the Insane Clown Posse’s<br />
staying power, is anyone’s guess.<br />
But what exactly is a Juggalo? What brings them up north of<br />
the border?<br />
Despite the movement itself existing for two decades, it<br />
doesn’t seem like a concrete answer has ever revealed itself. But<br />
it’s clear that the Insane Clown Posse has a certain allure to a<br />
certain type of person.<br />
In Utsler’s opinion, the most important quality is<br />
open-mindedness. “But on the top end of the list, there’s[…]<br />
keeping it real. [And] Juggalos are actually some of the most<br />
big-hearted people I know. If you’re broken down on the side of<br />
the road, chances of a Juggalo helping you out are a thousand<br />
times greater than some asshole on his way to work,” he clarified,<br />
with a tinge of passion in his voice.<br />
“I’d rather have a hundred Juggalos at a show over 10,000 just<br />
normal motherfuckers at a show. Juggalos have the heart of a<br />
hundred people each.”<br />
The Posse’s creative well seems pretty far from running dry,<br />
too; after their famed First Deck of Joker Cards wrapped up in<br />
2004, a second Deck was rolled out in 2009 – to the surprise<br />
(and elation) of many Juggalos. Not to mention the complementary<br />
‘Sideshow’ EPs which bridged each EP’s release.<br />
Throw in another half-dozen solo albums, a plethora of<br />
supergroup memberships, and a variety of appearances and<br />
Insane Clown Posse: Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent bringing on their A++ game.<br />
by Max Foley<br />
directorial roles in film and television, and one can’t help but<br />
wonder: what is it about the Insane Clown Posse that makes<br />
them so prolific? Is it because they’re the end-all, be-all when it<br />
comes to doing horrorcore/murder rap the way it’s meant to<br />
be done?<br />
Whatever the case, Calgary’s slated for a hell of a wakeup call<br />
– Juggalos from all around the country will be rallying at the<br />
Stampede Corral for a two-day gathering featuring guests like<br />
Ice-T and Merkules. Utsler’s proprietary blend of understated<br />
enthusiasm and time-tested wisdom bleeds through the phone<br />
as he articulates the ICP’s love for Canada.<br />
“Canada’s a little different – we feel more accepted there<br />
than in America. The general populace doesn’t look at the ICP<br />
the same way Americans do,” Utsler explains.<br />
“There’s more casual listeners up there, and that affects the<br />
energy of the show. We love throwing down for Juggalos, and<br />
they make us bring out our A game; but those other people<br />
watching make you wanna murder the show and really blow<br />
their wigs off. They make us bring our A++ game.”<br />
There’s another key reason why Canada’s earned the affections<br />
of the Posse: the relative ease of obtaining Faygo, a budget<br />
soft drink from the ICP’s backyard of Michigan. Faygo is what<br />
Utsler describes as “the lifeblood of an ICP show.”<br />
“We can actually get it delivered to our shows, whereas in<br />
Europe or Australia we gotta use their off-brand soda, and we’ll<br />
put fake-ass fake logos on them or peel them off. We throw so<br />
much Faygo during shows that sometimes it’s just not practical.<br />
That’s another important part of Canada is that you’re able to<br />
get that precious Faygo. None of that knockoff shit.”<br />
In short, while visits from Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J only<br />
happen every few years, absence does make the heart grow<br />
fonder.<br />
“We fuckin’ love Canada. I’ma eat the fuck out of some of<br />
those motherfuckin’ poontang fries.” Utsler finished. We’re gonna<br />
hold you to that, Shaggy.<br />
The Insane Clown Posse and their friends are hosting Canadian<br />
Juggalo Weekend at the Stampede Corral on <strong>April</strong> 7-8. Find more<br />
information at juggaloweekend.ca.<br />
COMIC EXPO<br />
calling all space cowboys… saddle up!<br />
Comic book culture’s middle-aged poster boy, Kevin Smith.<br />
by Christine Leonard<br />
If the old adage is to be believed, you should “never meet your heroes.” But for fans<br />
of the fastest growing comic convention in North America, that saying could not be<br />
further from the truth. Attracting over 100,000 people in 2016, Calgary’s annual Comic<br />
& Entertainment Expo (AKA Calgary Expo) engulfs Stampede Park and transmogrifies<br />
those hallowed stomping grounds into a multimedia playground that is truly a spectacle<br />
to behold. It’s not the first space rodeo for Calgary Expo’s spokeswoman and mascot, Emily<br />
Expo, but she promises that <strong>2017</strong>’s four day run of fandom will offer up a star-studded<br />
affair that will be the highlight of your terrestrial orbit.<br />
“The last couple of years have been huge for us and we keep trying to present an even<br />
better experience for our attendees,” says Emily Expo. “At the moment the focus isn’t<br />
so much on size as improving the quality of the event for all. Making sure that there is<br />
something for everyone and trying to make sure that everything is well organized and<br />
goes smoothly from an operational perspective.”<br />
Engaging with a public that has so embraced all of its colourful components, Calgary<br />
Expo has swelled beyond the scope of a self-contained entity and has extended its tendrils<br />
into the very core of the City.<br />
“I am quite proud of us as an organization for putting on the Parade of Wonders!,<br />
which happens on the Friday morning of each Expo,” she explains. “To have all these cosplayers,<br />
and the nerds, and the geeks, and the fans parading through downtown Calgary,<br />
and showing their pride in this show that started with 3,000 people in 2006, is really quite<br />
an accomplishment! The route is a little bit different year. We start at 8th and 8th and we<br />
still wind-up at Olympic Plaza, but due to the growth of the event and how big it is it has<br />
become a little too disruptive and we don’t want to annoy people with what we’re doing.<br />
We want to create a community thing that everybody can come and enjoy, so we worked<br />
with the City to develop a new route.”<br />
Back on the grounds, where the Calgary Expo occupies 450,000 square feet dedicated<br />
to the arts of gaming, shopping, and celebrity-worship, it’s all too easy to lose all sense of<br />
direction and monetary prudence. But thanks to the Expo’s handy phone app, Calgary<br />
cadets are less likely to miss their window of opportunity to land amongst the stars.<br />
“We had an app last year and we revamp it every year, as things change and develop.<br />
So, we’ll have that again this year for people who want it. It is really useful for keeping<br />
track of your schedule, especially if you’re into panels and photo ops.”<br />
Aside from a one-off concert appearance by James Marsters at the Expo’s official After<br />
Party, the lynchpin in this year’s special programing is an appearance by the comic book<br />
culture’s middle-aged poster boy, Kevin Smith. Known for his directorial triumphs (and<br />
flops) as well as his podcasting career, and television show “Comic Book Men,” Smith will<br />
be joined by his partner in rhyme, Jay Mewes (AKA Jay), for a separately-ticked event<br />
called “Jay & Silent Bob Get Old” on <strong>April</strong> 29 at the Stampede Corral.<br />
“I’m also super excited for Kevin Smith, because I’ve seen every movie he’s ever done<br />
and I’m a huge Jay and Silent Bob fan. I’m looking forward to hearing his stories and seeing<br />
him on stage with Jason Mewes. I think that’ll be a fantastic event. Although, definitely for<br />
a more mature audience, and not recommended for the kids. I am sure most people are<br />
aware. If you’re at all familiar with Kevin’s brand of humour, you’ll know what to expect.”<br />
Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo runs from <strong>April</strong> 27-30 at Stampede Park.<br />
8 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE CITY
MIDTOWN KITCHEN & BAR<br />
defining Kensington’s new breed<br />
Creating a difference is the key. And in a city flush with new boutique bars and<br />
restaurants, many that are conceptually fresh and smart, Midtown Kitchen & Bar,<br />
located in the cozy hub of Kensington, creates a difference by overhauling the idea<br />
of a neighbourhood pub and stamping it with quality and contemporary character.<br />
Originally from Vancouver, Ric Cutillo, is a chef by trade, a career he started in Spain<br />
and honed in Europe. Stylish and down to earth himself, Cutillo says he wanted “a cool<br />
comfortable space, where it didn’t matter if you were in a pair of shorts, work boots or<br />
a suit, you were at ease and nothing offensive to deal with.”<br />
He also conceived Midtown to be a “North American bistro” that avoided basic,<br />
run-of-the-mill pub food and “all that deep fried madness.” On excursions to Portland<br />
and Seattle with his wife, he was impressed with bars that focused on menus that didn’t<br />
cheap out in any areas. “There’s a lot of great little watering holes that make the most of<br />
everything there. I wanted good steaks, sandwiches and pastas. Good wines, spirits and<br />
good beer. Not just whatever beer and wine out of a cardboard box.”<br />
While Cutillo is proud to promote Midtown’s burgers made from “one hundred<br />
ground chuck, with no mystery meat” as one of their big sellers, the menu has rich variety<br />
of items ranging from small plates of oysters, surf tacos and spiced Brussels sprouts,<br />
to a Cubano sandwich and the Winter Farm pizza topped with mushroom béchamel,<br />
roasted butternut squash, caramelized turnips, roasted walnuts, mozzarella, balsamic<br />
glaze and beet mirco greens. Definitely not pub grub. Keeping it farm fresh, Midtown<br />
gets all of its ingredients from local suppliers and everything except the breads are<br />
made in-house.<br />
Early on Midtown decided to only serve craft beers with 40 different brands from our<br />
“backyard and beyond” to select from. The wine list has a distinct North American focus<br />
on it, and every Wednesday they offer a remarkable 50 percent off all their bottles.<br />
Big changes have swept through Kensington, as 10th Street transitions from a relatively<br />
quiet enclave to a bustling strip of commerce and new developments. Cutillo notes that it’s been a<br />
battle to cultivate change while retaining Kensignton’s character, as the community continuously fights<br />
not to be destroyed by 30 story condo units and big box retailers. He feels Midtown belongs to the neighhourhood’s<br />
new breed. “Almost all of our clientele are locals from the area. That’s who we serve. And I<br />
think that we’re part of the preservation, and part of the change.”<br />
While the bar brought in DJs to play vinyl on the occasional night, they’ve now “jumped in” and switched to<br />
having local bands and musicians every Saturday that lean towards folk rock. “Kensington is very much about<br />
arts and music. It’s that kind of culture. Why not showcase it?” says Cutillo tipping his pint.<br />
Midtown Kitchen & Bar is located at 302- 10st NW in Kensington. www.midtownkitchen.ca<br />
by B. Simm<br />
CITY<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 9
DJD: Modern Vaudevillians<br />
spontaneous collaboration!<br />
This spring, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks brings a<br />
multi-disciplinary variety show to its stage. It’s an<br />
unprecedented level of collaboration even for Artistic<br />
Director Kimberley Cooper.<br />
DJD usually fills all the roles for a show with in-house personal.<br />
For Modern Vaudevillians, however, Cooper says they<br />
had “a short rehearsal process, so I thought it would be fun<br />
to include some artists from the community to contribute<br />
to the production to take a little pressure off us. And I have a<br />
genuine desire to collaborate.”<br />
To name all the gifted artists (including an aerialist, two<br />
clowns, a magician, a singer/actor, a band, and of course DJD’s<br />
own company dancers) would take twice the space here.<br />
And to coordinate the show, Cooper is putting a twist on the<br />
traditional role of a vaudeville emcee to wrangle the acts together,<br />
although she couldn’t speak about the specific details.<br />
“I know how it starts and I know how it ends. I know there’s<br />
an intermission. It’s just figuring out how everything else falls<br />
into place. It’s definitely a puzzle, but it’s a very fun puzzle to<br />
put together,” she says fondly.<br />
This is one of the several ways Vaudevillians pays tribute to<br />
its saucy theatrical inspiration, which was at an apex from the<br />
late 1880s to the 1930s – a frame of time that also encompasses<br />
the beginnings of jazz.<br />
With the short rehearsal time, some artists will be meeting<br />
just days ahead of their debut together on stage, which is also<br />
very much part of vaudevillian tradition – spontaneity. Cooper<br />
sees this as exciting, noting it lends to a good chemistry<br />
and artistic development. “I’m really excited for this show. I<br />
think it’s going to really change and grow through the process<br />
of the performances. I think it’ll be a really fun.”<br />
Modern Vaudevillians runs <strong>April</strong> 20th – May 6th at DJD’s<br />
theatre space on 12th Ave. SE. Matinees at 2pm and evening<br />
shows at 8pm.<br />
BOOKS: All Our Wrong Todays<br />
sci-fi novel mixes haha with reflection<br />
Tom Barren, the central<br />
character in Elan<br />
Mastai’s first novel, All<br />
Our Wrong Todays, lives in<br />
a futuristic 2016 that is very<br />
much unlike the reality of 2016.<br />
Instead of the crime-infested,<br />
disease-plagued, environmental<br />
time-bomb we are familiar<br />
with , Tom lives in an utopian<br />
paradise, a gleaming sci-fi vision<br />
of the 1950s where flying cars,<br />
moving sidewalks and robot<br />
maids shape an everyday pleasant<br />
valley Sunday.<br />
This great utopian was<br />
created by the invention of the<br />
Goettreider Engine in 1965,<br />
a prototype radiation device that had “miraculous energy-generating<br />
capacities expanded to power the whole world.” With its development,<br />
the globe was much safer and clean, equality and consumerism abound,<br />
a comfort zone full of mod-cons.<br />
Tom should be happy, right? Everyone should be happy. But<br />
when an unexpected pregnancy presents the opportunity for Tom<br />
to hopscotch around the universe, he lands (via a good ole time<br />
machine) in a parallel universe in 2016 that is today’s world. There<br />
he discovers that the beautiful futuristic world he comes from,<br />
filled with happy and shiny people and machinery, may actually be<br />
the source of his discontentment.<br />
photo: Trudie Lee<br />
by Colin Gallant<br />
“For my lead character, and the others in his life,” says Mastai, “it’s<br />
about stripping the essentials away and leaving them with less. And<br />
that’s how they, and also the reader, finds out who they are. And hopefully<br />
getting people to think about themselves.<br />
“We spend a lot of time being distracted technology,” adds Mastai.<br />
“It’s insidious in our lives. But the book is not luddite harangue, at all. I’m<br />
not anti-technology, I’m pro-complexity. I like to think about what can<br />
be taken away from their lives, and who they still are, and what can be<br />
taken away and they’d be a different person if they lost it. Whether that’s<br />
society, technology or the people in their lives.”<br />
Because the book is punchy and funny, it’s easy to tag it with a Back<br />
To The Future theme. But Mastai, who grew up Vancouver, references a<br />
combination of Douglas Copeland and William Gibson, two of that city’s<br />
notable writers, as a closer comparison. In addition, Mastai, who’s a successful<br />
screenwriter gaining international recognition with the romantic<br />
comedy, The F-Word, says he simply set out to marry different genres.<br />
“I have a lot of restless interests, and childhood love of science fiction<br />
but never really a chance to write in the genre. I had this idea. Rather<br />
than a movie I thought the book would be the best way to tell the story.<br />
I wanted to do something that had a big science fiction concept, but<br />
also very much about family, love and human connections that give our<br />
lives purpose.”<br />
All Our Wrong Todays was also scripted to have a three-act structure<br />
that could be adapted to film, which Mastai recently sold the rights to<br />
a studio for. The book is a fun, fast-paced romp (chapters average two<br />
pages), dealing at times with sci-fi explanations and the meaningfulness<br />
of life, but also the endearing misadventures of Tom Barren whose penis<br />
changed everything about the world he once knew.<br />
SPOKEN WORD FEST<br />
wild women and song!<br />
by Victoria Banner<br />
Calgary poetry slam team captain Cobra Collins.<br />
S<br />
ince 2003, the Calgary Spoken Word Festival, founded and directed<br />
by multi-award winning poet Sheri-D Wilson, has gained an<br />
international reputation for its progressive and innovative programming.<br />
Keeping the festival fresh, alive and in the spotlight, this year’s<br />
theme is Poetry + Music.<br />
Asked why she picked that particular route, Wilson channels her<br />
inner beatnik and says, “I always want the theme to be an expression of<br />
what I’m jazzed by.” As such, the artists are encouraged to bring music<br />
with their work or to work with musicians.<br />
Leading off the festival, the renowned Western Canadian poet Lorna<br />
Crozier will conduct a workshop that investigates the literary power of<br />
the metaphor and how to work its magic.<br />
Following that is an event called Wild Women and Friends. “Calgary is<br />
a town of spoken word,” says Wilson. “We descend from Aboriginals and<br />
cowboys, the original story tellers, and the new city is always looking for<br />
something cutting edge.” In that tradition, the feisty and prolific Aretha<br />
Van Herk will host a stellar line-up that includes Lorna Crozier, Calgary<br />
poetry slam team captain Cobra Collins, the vibrant writer and filmmaker<br />
Julie Trimingham, along with a fine cast of fierce poets who aim on<br />
getting loud and feminine. As part of the evening, the collective Woolf’s<br />
Voices “will gather us all up as the evening’s Mistress to howl together<br />
in a space of our own.” Wilson will also share the stage with her band,<br />
the ambitious Orbiting Ouroborus, who will be releasing a collaborative<br />
album with Wilson shortly.<br />
Night three features Mighty Mike McGee, America slam poetry<br />
superstar who’s no stranger to the world of rock ‘n’ roll. Calgary native<br />
Andre Prefontaine (now based in Toronto) and Edmontonian Mary<br />
Pinkoski will deliver and delight with their individual brand of hip, rich,<br />
colourful and contemporary Canadian storytelling. The evening at<br />
Festival Hall will heat up with rock-a-billy flair thanks to performances by<br />
the Sadlier-Brown Band.<br />
Wrapping up the festival is Spoken Word’s tradition of community<br />
building with the open-mic poetry slam at the Unicorn Super<br />
Pub, downstairs in the Celtic Cellar. Wilson encourages festival-goers,<br />
curiousity seekers and literary fans to come share their poetry, inspire<br />
and forge ahead to the following year. Even though it’s fresh, progressive<br />
and pushing boundaries, Wilson assures the festival is accessible for the<br />
general public: “Poetry is by the people for the people” done loud and<br />
proud with a musical mash-up.<br />
The Calgary Spoken Word Festival runs from <strong>April</strong> 22-25. Fror more details<br />
on performers, events and venues visit www.calgaryspokenwordfestival.com<br />
• B. Simm<br />
10 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE CITY
WORLDTOWN COSMETICS<br />
this town really is your town<br />
Nicky Speer: Personalized service is key in this industry.<br />
Shimmering in a cozy corner of the downstairs level of Calgary’s<br />
Fashion Central, a spot of bright teal tempts enchantresses of all<br />
walks to step inside the sparkly cosmos of WorldTown Cosmetics.<br />
Established in the latter part of 2015, shop owner and makeup artist<br />
Nicky Speer had diversity through individuality in mind as she opened<br />
her doors to a new class of celebrities: Everybody. Whether she is on-set<br />
at an off-site fashion shoot, creating your look for a special event, or<br />
ringing through an item you need but never knew existed, Nicky’s characteristic<br />
effervescence is the personal touch we can all appreciate.<br />
VISUAL ART<br />
gallery goodness<br />
CONTEMPORARY CALGARY<br />
Utopia Factory<br />
Until July 30<br />
Made up of three components, curated respectively by Noa<br />
Bronstein, Lisa Baldissera & Nate McLeod, and Marco Polo & Colin<br />
Ripley, Utopia Factory is an examination of state- and community-building<br />
in Canada. Involving architecture, research, finished and<br />
developing works, this exhibition asks “What is the political life of a<br />
building, place or historic marker?”<br />
ESKER<br />
Earthlings<br />
Until May 7<br />
Sculptor Shary Boyle has organized a group exhibition that explores<br />
the political and personal implications of space and how it<br />
is occupied. With a multitude of mediums showcased by artists,<br />
Boyle sourced her co-exhibitors based on their intimate, personal,<br />
and physical connections to their subject matter. Having been a<br />
popular exhibition since January, time is quickly running out to<br />
see Earthlings for yourself.<br />
by Lisa Marklinger<br />
“I feature eight product lines, and I know<br />
almost everything there is to know about them.<br />
Personalized service is key in this industry,”<br />
Nicky smiles, fluttering her faux lashes. “I want<br />
everyone who walks into my store to feel at<br />
home. I love welcoming people, and I love making<br />
people feel beautiful.”<br />
With ten years of experience in make-up, she’s<br />
done it all, from stage make-up to weddings and<br />
everything in between. You want a day of the dead,<br />
alien-inspired, slightly gothic, pin-up girl look? Call<br />
Nicky. Maybe you want something flawless yet<br />
totally natural? Wonderful! That’s her favourite.<br />
“It takes a lot more technique than you’d think<br />
(to look seamless and convincing). Runways usually<br />
dictate what’s going to be trendy, and spring is a<br />
pretty predictable season in terms of fashion looks:<br />
clean, dewy, radiant skin, shiny lips, pastels. Spring is<br />
change! It doesn’t like to be complicated, and your<br />
face shouldn’t be either!” she says, laughing.<br />
When she’s not busy working her magic on<br />
people at her headquarters, or adding inspiring<br />
ideas to showcase what’s new and now<br />
on her social media platforms, Nicky stays<br />
tirelessly occupied researching the newest<br />
and best of what WorldTown’s hand-picked<br />
brands have to offer.<br />
“Everything I carry has to be operating under an<br />
independent label, that is a huge deal to me. I can<br />
look at their ethics in manufacturing, experience<br />
first-hand how they treat their customers, they<br />
take my feedback seriously.... There’s a lot of personal<br />
and product credibility on the line because<br />
my store is so exclusive. No other store in Calgary<br />
carries any of the merchandise I sell here.<br />
Celebrity sponsors and expensive packaging are great marketing<br />
tools, but so is value, integrity, and accountability. People<br />
are always going to ‘vote with their wallets’. By making these<br />
items more easily accessible, especially with many of them being<br />
organic, sustainable, vegan, and cruelty-free, I feel I really can cater<br />
to anyone.”<br />
Find WorldTown cosmetics on Instagram and Facebook @worldtown_<br />
cosmetics Online store and blog: wtcosmetics.com<br />
Life on Mars<br />
Until <strong>April</strong> 27<br />
In supplement to Earthlings, Esker Foundation curator Shauna<br />
Thompson will offer a transparent look into the exhibition’s<br />
curatorial process and themes. This will include detailed precedent<br />
exhibitions, studio co-operatives in Canada’s North, plus a look at the<br />
complex relationships between the works showcased.<br />
NEWZONES<br />
Cathy Daley<br />
Until wMay 6<br />
Longstanding national treasure Cathy Daley is exhibiting a series of<br />
post-feminist drawings at Newzones from March to May. Using oil pastel<br />
on vellum, Daley examines how fashion and society consider certain<br />
aesthetics of femininity acceptable and others not. It’s a complex<br />
musing that walks the line between interrogation and appreciation.<br />
TRUCK<br />
The Future Behind Us<br />
Until May 13<br />
An international collaboration initiated by Guatemalan-Canadian<br />
artist Romeo Gongora, The Future Behind Us documents the pairing<br />
of Gongora with a host of Congolese artists for a work that looks at<br />
themes in Congolese history and culture via a dystopian lens (the<br />
short sci-fi work Perinium).<br />
MAKE IT<br />
the handmade revolution is alive and thriving<br />
The Makies’ queen bee, Jenna Herbut, with her kitty Phoebe.<br />
After a five year absence, Make It: The Handmade Revolution arts<br />
and crafts fair is back. The origins of this wildly successful roving<br />
event date back to when Make It co-founder, Jenna Herbut, first<br />
came up with a business plan for a marketing class 10 years ago at the University<br />
of Alberta. Herbut’s idea was to develop a business for one of her<br />
handmade creations, a fabric sash belt that she affectionately called the<br />
“Booty Belt.” Her booty plan took off and in short while she was selling<br />
them at over 120 fashion boutiques across Canada.<br />
The upswing in sales and popularity opened a lot of doors, one of<br />
which was selling Booty Beltz as a street vendor at music festivals and<br />
other fun outdoor events. Herbut enjoyed selling direct to customers so<br />
much that she and her brother decided to stage their own festival of fun<br />
by rounding up other creative producers, setting them up with a DJ and<br />
beer garden and unveiling the arts and crafts fair that became Make It.<br />
Their first show in Edmonton only had 30 booths in a community hall. Six<br />
years later, 250 exhibitors where featured at the PNE Forum in Vancouver<br />
attracting over 18,000 happy shoppers. Wildly successful. Yeah.<br />
Herbut cites a number of factors why Make It has been so well received.<br />
One is loyalty of the participants. “There’s an genuine, thriving interest in<br />
the whole handmade world,” explains Herbut. “It’s really amazing to see how<br />
small the production is for these artists, and how big the following actually<br />
is. They have a strong identity that’s shaped by connecting and sharing in a<br />
feel-good DIY community.” The loving bond and between artist and consumer<br />
has evolved into a devoted patronage known as “The Makies.”<br />
In addition to countering the generic, mass production of the digital age,<br />
Herbut feels part of what makes The Makies is a “millennial trend in which<br />
there’s not a lot of opportunity in a broken job market, and this offers new<br />
ways to find employment.” She adds social media, YouTube, online promotion<br />
and stores like Etsy and Shopify are all part of the handmade revolution<br />
“There’s nothing that limits creativity, and no limit to access a large audience.<br />
You can make something and sell it within two hours.”<br />
Online promotion by artists directly involved with Make It also contributes<br />
to its success. In the connected community of The Makies, when<br />
someone pushes their new product online, word gets out quickly and the<br />
buzz is on to see the real thing when it comes to town. “What’s appealing<br />
about craft fairs, is they close the gap between making and selling something<br />
that’s tactile and tangible,” says Herbut. “It just feels good at the end<br />
of the day.”<br />
Make It, Calgary’s Handmade Market is in the Big Four Bldg. at the Stampede<br />
Park from <strong>April</strong> 7-9.<br />
12 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE CITY<br />
B. Simm
PLACES PLEASE<br />
theatre fun<br />
LUNCHBOX<br />
Newfoundland Mary<br />
<strong>April</strong> 24-May13<br />
Newfoundland Mary is the tale of Mary McCarthy Gomez Cueto, a real<br />
Newfoundlander who married a wealthy Spanish business and left The<br />
Rock behind for Cuba. When her husband passes and Castro rises to power,<br />
Mary finds herself back in squalor but comforted by aspiring jazz singer Luis<br />
Gonzalez. This is a story filled with music, class struggle and perseverance.<br />
VERTIGO<br />
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer<br />
<strong>April</strong> 21-23<br />
Blending puppetry, animation and live action, this tender one-man-show<br />
about dealing with grief in a not-too-distant future where sea levels have<br />
risen has captured audiences’ hearts around the globe. The Australian work<br />
has sold out runs in New York, Sydney and Auckland, and will be in Calgary<br />
for three nights only.<br />
THEATRE CALGARY<br />
Crazy For You<br />
<strong>April</strong> 18-May 20<br />
Also referred to as “The New Gershwin Musical,” Crazy For You was first produced<br />
in 1992 on Broadway (for which it won a Tony) and is based on the legendary<br />
Gershwins’ Girl Crazy. The romantic musical features some of the best<br />
Gershwin songs from across their career with favourites like “I Got Rhythm”<br />
and “Someone to Watch Over Me” anchoring the emotional journey.<br />
JUBILEE<br />
Cinderella<br />
<strong>April</strong> 25-30<br />
Another Tony winning classic with music by an iconic duo (this time Rodgers<br />
& Hammerstein), Cinderella is sure to be one of the biggest productions<br />
in <strong>April</strong>, if not all of <strong>2017</strong>. While the classic tale has the music and grandeur<br />
you’d expect (a full symphony orchestra will perform its score live), the<br />
Jubilee has promised a few suprise tweaks.<br />
STAGE WEST<br />
Rock of Ages<br />
<strong>April</strong> 21-June 25<br />
The classic dilemma: Shall we have dinner before or after the show? Well,<br />
why not during? Stage West is bringing back the big, bad rock ‘n’ roll of the<br />
‘80s with their production of Rock of Ages. Set on the Sunset Strip in the<br />
time of big hair and bigger riffs, the show depicts the fight to save the Strip<br />
from demolition and a young janitor’s desires to become a rockstar and get<br />
the girl of his dreams.<br />
GHOST RIVER<br />
Exploder <strong>April</strong> 25-28<br />
The daring Ghost River Theatre are back with a collaboration between their<br />
company and the students of Western Canada High School. Using their<br />
audio-visual technical skills, radical storytelling methods and teen angst<br />
plucked right from the source, Exploder is a tale of teenage intensity told<br />
through visual poetry.<br />
ATP<br />
1979<br />
<strong>April</strong> 4-22<br />
1979 is a work of Canadian political history theatre ripe with satirical humour.<br />
Characters like Prime Ministers Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau and<br />
Stephen Harper use their wits to duke out the path to power. This hilarious,<br />
mature content from the notoriously immature world of politics.<br />
THE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY<br />
Macbeth<br />
May 12-27<br />
One of Shakespeare’s most iconic works, MacBeth returns to The Shakespeare<br />
Company after receiving rave reviews in 2016. Exploring ambition,<br />
power, evil and the supernatural, this is one of The Bard’s most enduring<br />
works for a reason. 2016 reviews called it deeply frightening and specifically<br />
noted the masterful fight choreography. If you’ve never seen MacBeth or<br />
simply appreciate fresh life blown into a classic, this is the show for you.<br />
CITY<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 13
THE GOLDEN PENIS<br />
gender dynamics in dance theatre<br />
by Jennifer Thompson<br />
photo: Citrus Photography<br />
Ah, that agonizing hard on!<br />
Feminism is a hot topic these days, especially in<br />
the context of what it means to men. Stories<br />
about bullying women are still making headlines,<br />
perpetuating male stereotypes. Trump’s “nasty woman”<br />
or “grabbing” comments are popular examples,<br />
but closer to home, the rhetoric of Robin Camp and<br />
accusations of Sandra Jansen reminds us that sexism<br />
is still alive and well. Where most of us want to turn<br />
the other cheek when faced with these cringe-worthy<br />
tales, one local artist, Mark Kunji Ikeda, is asking his<br />
audience to take a close look at the concept of the<br />
domineering male and the gender power struggle, in<br />
an attempt to keep the conversation going.<br />
Ikeda is the creator of The Golden Penis, a “highly<br />
physical” dance performance showing <strong>April</strong> 12 – 16<br />
at the West Village Theatre and is the debut piece<br />
of the Cloudsway Dance Theatre. Ikeda recognized<br />
that there’s a risk in debuting with such a sensitive<br />
and polarizing subject, but feels that theatre is place<br />
to explore the uncomfortable. “I’m interested in triggering<br />
the audience and emotional entertainment,”<br />
says Ikeda. “[The Golden Penis] is about seeing how<br />
women are treated and looking at those dark truths.<br />
I’m hoping the performance will evoke an emotional<br />
response.”<br />
Ikeda was inspired by what masculinity means<br />
when suddenly taking a hard look at his own male<br />
instincts. “I was dropping a girl off on a date and when<br />
she ended it, my first instinct was to keep asking, ‘Are<br />
you sure?’ I suddenly realized that instinct to push was<br />
wrong, and wondered why would I do that?” Ikeda<br />
spent his drive home thinking about that moment,<br />
which are what he and the cast aim to explore in The<br />
Golden Penis.<br />
In addition to the ten male performers and four<br />
female performers, Ikeda has brought on a stellar<br />
artistic team of local visionaries including dramaturg<br />
Christopher Duthie (writer of n00b and Of Fighting<br />
Age) as well as the Calgary Sexual Health Society’s<br />
WiseGuyz program leader (and Calgary theatre mainstay)<br />
Stafford Perry.<br />
The Golden Penis sets out more than anything to<br />
inspire men to become active in the feminist movement.<br />
“To be healthy in your masculinity means to<br />
be healthy in your femininity,” says Ikeda when asked<br />
what he hopes to portray with the performance.<br />
“The interpretation is left up to the audience, and my<br />
biggest fear is that we come off ignorant or insensitive<br />
some how.” Be for warned, this show is not for the<br />
light of heart, expect to be triggered one way or another.<br />
Ikeda describes it as “a game-changing theatrical<br />
performance exploring male privilege, patriarchy, and<br />
gender roles.”<br />
The Golden Penis runs <strong>April</strong> 12-16 at the West Village<br />
Theatre. Created by One Yellow Rabbit protege Mark<br />
Kunji Ikeda, who was named Calgary Arts Development<br />
Emerging Artist of 2015.<br />
14 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE CITY
ROCKPILE<br />
DESCENDANTS<br />
the proud and the few<br />
Descendents have announced a Canadian<br />
tour and it’s tearing-up bucket lists across<br />
the country.<br />
Hailing from Manhattan Beach, California, the<br />
Descendents’ first full-length album, Milo Goes<br />
to College, was released back in ‘82. Over 35<br />
years later, it remains one of the greatest, most<br />
innovative, and influential punk albums to date.<br />
Descendents are creators of fast and melodic<br />
hardcore punk lyrically revolving around girls,<br />
heartbreak, and coffee – but that shit is never decaf.<br />
Since 1986, they’ve consisted of Bill Stevenson<br />
on drums, Milo Aukerman on vocals and mascot<br />
duties, Karl Alvarez on bass, and Stephen Egerton<br />
on guitar.<br />
Hypercaffium Spazzinate is their latest offering,<br />
released on Epitaph Records in 2016. It came 12 years<br />
after their last, Cool to Be You. To learn more, we<br />
chatted with drummer Bill Stevenson about all things<br />
Descendents.<br />
“We were fortunate with Hyper Spazz, because<br />
people kind of loved it. We were hoping for, ‘oh cool,<br />
new Descendents and it’s not so bad,’ and that would<br />
have been enough for us,” Stevenson explains.<br />
“But the fact that everyone loved it, that was great.<br />
Because when we put a record out it’s definitely<br />
because we want to.”<br />
Despite the 34-year long span in-between the<br />
two albums, Hyper Spazz resonates with long time<br />
listeners, who saw it as as a nod to College.<br />
“You’re not the first person to tell me it reminds<br />
them of Milo Goes to College,” Stevenson reflects.<br />
The only and only Descendents are performing near you in May.<br />
photo: Kevin Scanlon<br />
“It wasn’t intentional, but there isn’t quite as much<br />
overdrive on the guitar, so it sounds a little cleaner,<br />
like on College. And Egerton is playing a lot more<br />
parts where he’s using all six strings and that’s how<br />
[original guitarist] Frank [Navetta] used to play. But, if<br />
anything that’s just respect towards Frank.”<br />
He continues, “He passed away a several years ago<br />
and he’s been on our mind a lot, so maybe there’s<br />
a little bit of Frank’s spirit on there and that’s what<br />
people are picking up on.”<br />
Stevenson pauses.<br />
“And for whatever reason, we ended up with a<br />
handful of songs that were really short. And that’s<br />
one of the identifying factors of early Descendents.”<br />
He chuckles.<br />
“We’re definitely known for the short songs. “I like<br />
Food” and “Wienerschnitzel” are 11 seconds. “My<br />
Dad Sucks” and “I Wanna Be a Bear” are like 35 seconds.<br />
“Victim of Me” is 45 seconds. But at the same<br />
time, “Without Love,” “Get the Time,” and “Clean<br />
by Sarah Mac<br />
Sheets,” those are all over three minutes.”<br />
Concentrating on the upcoming tour and<br />
almost 40 years of recordings, the big question<br />
on everyone’s mind is what the set list looks like.<br />
“We’re practicing about 39 to 42 songs. It’s a good<br />
random sampling of what we think are the better<br />
songs on each record. Some albums will have more<br />
songs played than other albums and about 11 off the<br />
new album.”<br />
This new album and tour has given hope for a Descendents-filled<br />
future. Adding fuel to the fire, front<br />
man Milo Aukerman departed from his full-time gig<br />
as a Biochemist. It seems the stars are aligning for<br />
long-time fans.<br />
Stevenson laughs at the observation.<br />
“Well, yeah. We’re going to be quite a bit<br />
more active than we have been in the last 15 to<br />
20 years. But we’re not going that hard. We want<br />
this to remain fun for us. We’re going medium.<br />
We’re doing it in a marathon way, not in a 50-<br />
yard dash kinda way.”<br />
He finishes, “We really appreciate the support<br />
though and we don’t take any of it for granted. We<br />
know we’re just one step away from being that band<br />
that can’t sell out the telephone booth. We’re all too<br />
aware of that.”<br />
Don’t miss your chance to catch your favourite punk<br />
band’s favourite punk band on May 3 in Edmonton<br />
at Union Hall, on May 6 at MacEwan Hall in Calgary,<br />
and on August 25th in Vancouver at the Commodore<br />
Ballroom.<br />
JIMMY EAT WORLD<br />
crafting an authentic symbiosis of message and sound<br />
In 2015, more than 20 years after the band was<br />
formed, Jimmy Eat World returned to the studio<br />
from a one-year break to record their ninth<br />
studio album Integrity Blues. Drummer Zach Lind,<br />
who started off playing the saxophone before<br />
switching to drums at age 10, explains the effect<br />
the break had on the recording while spending<br />
some quality time with his family in Arizona prior<br />
to the band’s upcoming tour.<br />
“I think it made a big difference. I think it was the<br />
first time we’d ever done anything like that where we<br />
really just truly took a break and everyone was just<br />
sort of absolved of any Jimmy Eat World responsibilities.<br />
Yeah, I mean it really gave us a lot of new energy<br />
for making Integrity Blues that we wouldn’t have had<br />
had we not taken that break.”<br />
The band, whose line-up has remained unchanged<br />
since 1995, had high ambitions for the new record.<br />
“The previous album Damage [2013] kind of<br />
sounds like we made it sort of over a weekend at a<br />
friend’s house or something like that. It’s definitely<br />
more casual and a little bit rawer, almost sort of more<br />
like garage band rock. Integrity Blues is like the opposite<br />
of that where we really wanted to make it sound<br />
like a big studio album, like something that was more<br />
intricate, something that has more layers.”<br />
To realize this, Jimmy Eat World went “all out,” as<br />
Lind describes it.<br />
“We did everything in LA. It was the first time<br />
ROCKPILE<br />
Are you listening? Jimmy Eat World is playing a town near you in <strong>April</strong>!<br />
since Futures [released in 2004 and given Gold Status<br />
by the RIAA] that we booked like really classic, great<br />
studio rooms to work in. We hired a producer, Justin<br />
Meldal-Johnsen [Paramore, M83], who was incredible<br />
to work with and really helped us achieve what we<br />
were hoping to achieve with this album.”<br />
The mission seems accomplished with Pitchfork<br />
describing the record as “perhaps Jimmy Eat World’s<br />
best record since Bleed American,” their 2001 album<br />
that was certified platinum. The record combines<br />
variety and the desired big sound with emotionally<br />
matured lyrics. In tracks like “Get it right”, the<br />
restlessness described in the chorus (“I’m destination<br />
addicted, I just gotta be someplace else, never good<br />
time never feel the space to get it right”) is reflected<br />
in the unforgiving beat and a hammering guitar riff<br />
continuing throughout the song, which is only occasionally<br />
interrupted by a synthesizer that adds even<br />
by Christina Zimmer<br />
more tension to the track. “Sure and Certain” only<br />
compares to this in terms of the felicitous interaction<br />
of music and lyrics: the guitars are warmer, the melody<br />
uplifting yet a bit melancholic. Only the rhythmic<br />
drums remain forceful as ever and are stepped up<br />
a beat later on in the harmonious and encouraging<br />
“You are Free.”<br />
Lyrically, the record is encouraging a different<br />
perspective on life, to shift from focusing on a desired<br />
outcome to appreciating the present moment.<br />
“The general sort of theme throughout the record<br />
is about really trying to have a perspective on your<br />
own life and seeing things for what they really are,<br />
appreciating those things for what they are, and maybe<br />
not necessarily some sort of outcome that you’re<br />
searching for,” concurs Lind.<br />
“On the one hand it’s good to have goals.”<br />
Concludes Lind, “it’s good to strive for something<br />
but on the other hand, by being so fixated on<br />
whatever outcome we’re looking for, we can miss the<br />
present moment. We fail to appreciate what we have<br />
now.”<br />
Jimmy Eat World performs at the Commodore Ballroom<br />
in Vancouver on <strong>April</strong> 26th, The Palace Theatre<br />
in Calgary on <strong>April</strong> 28th, The Startlite Room in Edmonton<br />
on <strong>April</strong> 29th, O’Brian’s Event Centre in Saskatoon<br />
on <strong>April</strong> 30th and the Garrick Centre in Winnipeg on<br />
May 1st.<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 17
FASHIONISM<br />
Vancouver’s Mod Squad — a sharp, smart, break out<br />
Fashionism? Fashion fascists? Fashionistas? Some people might tag you as a Mod revival band, but any smart<br />
Mod will tell you that their lock down on style never went out of fashion... Mod is the future for evermore!<br />
What’s your take on that?<br />
JOSH: Sharp dressing is never out of style and the Mod style lasted for a reason. As far as our band style we<br />
were just looking at all these old bands that had a specific look that was tied to their subculture. Like when<br />
punks were punks and Two-Tone was an actual thing with history and rules and not just a tag to sell Fred<br />
Perrys and Shermans. Subculture gave an identity and a space to people that were disenfranchised or looking<br />
for some sense of belonging. It had strict rules because it had to. These days it costs a lot of money to pay<br />
attention to those rules. It’s one of the many reasons we’ll be elbowing our way past you in the thrift stores as<br />
well as the record stores. It’s not just a game to us. We were kicking around names that would help define an<br />
aesthetic rather than just be a throwaway name. Jeff was studying history in College and working as a tailor at<br />
the time and we all joked about how the name was really cheeky sounding. Like we didn’t want to be thought<br />
of as lazy, thrown together kind of group, we try to pay attention to detail and wear our influences proudly. I<br />
think the people that are searching for that stuff can pick it out and appreciate it.<br />
Indeed, there’s a lot going in the band’s sound, a lot of deep roots... Caribbean dancehall, ska, punk, the<br />
Specials, the Jam, Northern Soul, Brill Building., even Mott the Hoople. Not anything in particular, but a<br />
melting pot of style, sound and ideas. How would you describe Fashionism’s music here and now?<br />
JOSH: I never thought the first thing to come out as far as comparisons would be dancehall and ska but I’ll<br />
take it. When we first started we had a definitive approach to play early ‘70s Glam and ‘60s Bubblegum. It<br />
didn’t work out. Our record collections are way too apparent in our playing and though we have lots of Mud,<br />
Sweet and 1910 Fruitgum Company records but we also have thousands of punk singles from ‘76 to ’83. The<br />
glory years of the “new wave” in all of its forms straight through to hardcore punk. It’s what we learned to play<br />
our instruments to and anything that we do is going to be influenced by the same. We’re all big record idiots<br />
so delving into the sounds that influenced that stuff is a big part of it as well. I think that we come across as an<br />
apprehensive, <strong>2017</strong> powerpop band that is critical of the trade off that relates to quality and sincerity for the<br />
immediacy of modern convenience and throwaway culture.<br />
This band is about having fun, seizing the moment, breaking out, bending the rules, and defiance. Mods<br />
may conform to a certain look, but they don’t play the game. Songs like “We Got It Wrong,” “Smash the<br />
State,” “Subculture Suicide,” “Where Have All The Rock ‘n’ Roll Girls Gone”... all your songs throw down the<br />
gauntlet, present a challenge the sterility of gentrification. I’d say Fashionism is radicalism.<br />
JOSH: Yeah, I don’t know that we’re the most political band, but we try not to have the most vacant lyrics<br />
ALL of the time. I think we are a rock ‘n’ roll band that is in extremely scary times and it all relates back to what<br />
we’re playing. Some bands have a really severe political approach, especially when it relates to punk. One of the<br />
most amazing things to me is the Northern Ireland punk scene in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Civil unrest everywhere and<br />
it’s all so totally fractured, yet a bunch of teenagers come out playing pop music influenced by the New Wave<br />
and record some of the most timeless love songs ever. Like five kids record “Teenage Kicks” and meanwhile<br />
there are car bombs exploding on their streets and very real battle lines are being drawn everywhere. If we’re<br />
doing this properly, and I hope that we are, we can ride the balance between writing songs that are critical of<br />
the world around us while still taking into account that it is very important to make out with someone at the<br />
gig, to fall in love, to live for rock ‘n’ roll and play music that is based in desperation without being negative and<br />
foreboding. Sincerity is everything. Without it, what’s the point?<br />
Fashionism, a super group from Vancouver featuring members of Tranzmitors, The Jolts, New Town Animals, and<br />
the Orange Kyte, play the Palomino Friday, <strong>April</strong> 28.<br />
18 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
CLOSE TALKER<br />
alchemical live performances and a twice-mastered record<br />
Close Talker’s newest album Lens comes out <strong>April</strong> 21st.<br />
photo: Dylan McAmmond<br />
On the cusp of their third release Lens, Canadian trio Close Talker<br />
are fully geared up to ensure listeners get the full picture of who<br />
they are in <strong>2017</strong>. Lens features songs that emulate the -40 degree<br />
Saskatoon environment they wrote the LP in, pushing that home grown<br />
feel while creating a healthy balance between upbeat tracks and a song<br />
you wouldn’t mind cozying up inside with. From the raw energy in “All<br />
of Us” and the rhythmic “OK Hollywood,” to the album closer “Seasonal<br />
Friends,” there is an overall sense of growth displayed personally and within<br />
the band’s dynamics. Released on <strong>April</strong> 21st, the album’s 10 songs are<br />
an emotive balance of indie electronica rock and pop dynamics, with soft<br />
vocals, unusual signatures in the drums, and angular riffs.<br />
“We made it a bit more drum heavy,” explains vocalist and guitarist Will<br />
by Jamie Goyman<br />
Quiring, who is bolstered by second guitarist and vocalist Matthew Kopperud,<br />
and drummer Christopher Morien. Former bassist Jeremy “Jerms”<br />
Olson is no longer part of the band, so Close Talker decided to fill in for<br />
him. We were “wanting to fill the bass out that way, incorporated more<br />
synths; the album is a snapshot of where we were in our lives really so the<br />
title Lens plays a role in setting the album in place.”<br />
With the entire band heavily playing a part in songwriting, the creative<br />
influence and diversity shared between the three becomes more apparent<br />
with each album produced, specifically hearing the camaraderie they share<br />
and growth they’ve experienced throughout their 10+ year friendship.<br />
“I think that’s what makes us the band we are, when we play together<br />
live we know how to play off of each other’s creativity and know where the<br />
other guys want to take the song before it even happens,” tells Quiring.<br />
Their continuous adaptation of group dynamics and progression through<br />
each album shows Close Talker has found their identity as a band, always<br />
ensuring to expand creatively with each project they work on.<br />
Coming off of their third round at SXSW, the guys of Close Talker are<br />
focused on ensuring that quality is what they are giving to audiences when<br />
they hit their North American and European tours.<br />
“There’s two keyboards, two guitars, bass pedals, drums, a drum pad<br />
and only three of us,” Quiring explains.<br />
“I think we are very intentional with everything we record, with Lens we<br />
had the whole album mastered twice because we were thinking about the<br />
order so much that we had to spend the extra cash to redo it. We are really<br />
passionate about what we create and put out and want to put our best<br />
foot forward.”<br />
With that amount of care put into their music it’s easy to see why Close<br />
Talker has become a favorite of many.<br />
Close Talker’s Western Canada tour includes dates like <strong>April</strong> 28th at Commonwealth<br />
in Calgary, <strong>April</strong> 29th at The Needle in Edmonton, and <strong>April</strong> 30th at Bo’s<br />
in Red Deer. They will be performing with Yes We Mystic and Lost Cousins.<br />
TOMMY GRIMES<br />
taking disco to the jungle on latest LP<br />
Tommy Grimes can be described in a variety of ways. The Edmonton artist<br />
comes across as interesting, eccentric, or in his own words, “sexy.” His latest<br />
album, King of the Jungle, definitely reflects this.<br />
“There’s lots of sexual elements in the music,” says Grimes. He laughs, acknowledging<br />
how titillating his shtick is.<br />
“It’s an exciting album, there’s a lot of energy, sexual energy going on.”<br />
Producer Robert Burkosky played a major influence on its style, says Grimes.<br />
Burkosky drew from different musical influences including [British post punk band]<br />
Scritti Politti, [American dance music artist] Bobby Orlando and [freestyle R&B husband<br />
and wife duo] Nu Shooz. Personally, Grimes finds vocal influence in other artists<br />
like The B-52’s, Blondie, and David Bowie.<br />
The album was completed in only a few short months, and Grimes believes it speaks<br />
for itself. There are eight tracks in total, ranging from title “King of the Jungle” to one of<br />
Grimes’ favourites, “Choke Chain.”<br />
“There’s a special place in my heart for all the songs,” he clarifies.<br />
The disco approach and unique soundscape makes for a stand-alone album that’s<br />
highly unusual when placed in its <strong>2017</strong> context.<br />
“I feel like there’s not a lot of that going on right now,” says Grimes. “That was what<br />
made me excited about working on the sound was that I didn’t hear anything like this<br />
going on or being released recently, so that made it a lot of fun.”<br />
It’s not just his disco sound that makes Grimes interesting, but also his wildly sexually<br />
live persona and bright neon outfits. When asked about his style, Grimes just laughs.<br />
“I do get asked about this, and I never know what to say.”<br />
“Something unexpected always happens at the shows. Last show was really fun, I<br />
did a few costume changes and there was a gorilla on stage, there were bananas flying,”<br />
says Grimes, laughing.<br />
“I played a show in Calgary before where everybody was taking their clothes off,” he<br />
recalls. A gorilla, backup dancers in the form of The Night Sweats, and more might also<br />
make an appearance… Trust me, you won’t want to miss it.<br />
“You never know what’s going to happen.”<br />
Tommy Grimes performs at Local 510 in Calgary on <strong>April</strong> 13.<br />
ROCKPILE<br />
Expect gorillas, backup dancers, and nudity, OH MY!<br />
by Amber McLinden<br />
photo: Veronica McGinnins<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 19
SUM 41<br />
deryck whibley learns to live again<br />
After realizing “I was probably an alcoholic”, Derek Whibley gets his life back.<br />
About a year into Deryck Whibley’s recovery<br />
from kidney and liver failure, an alcohol-related<br />
collapse that put him in a medically<br />
induced coma and left him unable to walk, the<br />
Sum 41 frontman reached a tipping point. The<br />
process was at a halt — hours of daily physiotherapy<br />
didn’t seem to be working and he could barely<br />
stand without excruciating pain. Neither Whibley<br />
nor his doctors knew if he was ever going to get<br />
better. It was no way to live; death by drink was<br />
even a more appealing fate. Then, one night, at<br />
four in the morning, amidst swirling thoughts, a<br />
photo: JW Hopeless<br />
lyric suddenly surfaced.<br />
“What am I fighting for? Everything back and<br />
more.”<br />
He wrote it down. Then another.<br />
“Some days it just gets so hard.”<br />
The lines kept coming, flowing. He had a song —<br />
something to work towards. Words to live up to.<br />
“And then that moment, it sort of gave me that<br />
realization of what it means to actually have faith in<br />
something,” Whibley reflects. “To believe that you<br />
will get better. You don’t know how, you don’t know<br />
why, you don’t know when; as long as you push and<br />
you fight harder — if you think you’ve been fighting<br />
hard already, you gotta fight even harder and you just<br />
gotta believe. And that’s what I told myself. And a<br />
year later, I was finally able to step out onstage and go<br />
out on tour, and now here I am.”<br />
Today, Whibley is happy and healthy — a state he<br />
credits to his journey to sobriety.<br />
“Even if I would have quit drinking before, it<br />
wouldn’t be what it is now,” he maintains. Booze had<br />
simply become part of his lifestyle, reaching its most<br />
excessive after Sum 41 wrapped a three year long<br />
tour in support of 2011’s Screaming Bloody Murder.<br />
Whibley then decided to detach — no music, no<br />
responsibilities. And therein lay the problem.<br />
“I mean, obviously this band has always been<br />
heavy drinkers, heavy partiers, and, you know, I was<br />
probably an alcoholic a long time ago, but really<br />
functioning,” he continues.<br />
“It’s when I lost the function was when I had no<br />
more work to do.”<br />
The aforementioned lyrics would make up the<br />
song “War,” a hopeful track off Sum 41’s newest<br />
album, 13 Voices. The project, the pop punks’ first in<br />
five years, proved to be the key for Whibley to push<br />
forward as he determinedly re-learned how to play<br />
guitar, while slowly becoming comfortable in his own<br />
skin again. As a result, his songwriting is reflective of a<br />
man piecing his life back together. The title track, for<br />
example, refers to the constant noise that blared in<br />
Whibley’s head.<br />
“I actually felt like I was going crazy for a while and<br />
I thought I’d done some serious brain damage that,<br />
like, this is it — this is how I end up like one of those<br />
guys on the street, screaming at nobody,” he says. Cinematic<br />
moments that appear throughout the record<br />
by Sarah Mac<br />
indicate the way Whibley regained his guitar fingering<br />
— playing along to muted Quentin Tarantino and<br />
Tim Burton movies.<br />
Musically, 13 Voices administers a tremendous<br />
punch, which partly comes from the reemergence of<br />
original guitarist Dave “Brownsound” Baksh. Baksh,<br />
who left the band a decade ago, reconnected with<br />
Whibley before his hospitalization and stayed with<br />
his old friend after he returned home. It felt odd<br />
not to play together again, so they did, with Baksh’s<br />
official return also marking Whibley’s to the stage<br />
at the 2015 Alternative Press Music Awards. Baksh’s<br />
presence now adds three guitarists to the lineup,<br />
alongside Tom Thacker and Whibley.<br />
“You really notice it live,” Whibley says of the<br />
dynamic, which also includes bassist Cone McCaslin<br />
and drummer Frank Zummo.<br />
“I think that’s where we sound different than we’ve<br />
ever been able to sound before, because we can play<br />
a lot of stuff that is on the record that we couldn’t<br />
do before. It’s a much bigger sound…it’s just a really<br />
full sound. Just being a five piece, it’s so fun. I never<br />
thought I’d like being a five piece, but now I couldn’t<br />
imagine it any other way.”<br />
Indeed, it’s certainly scary, Whibley admits, to<br />
release music that was written from such a vulnerable<br />
place — but getting personal isn’t something new.<br />
He’s always written from his soul and 13 Voices is just,<br />
in many ways, a new chapter. The past may have been<br />
great — but now, Whibley says, “it’s time to take it<br />
into a whole other world.”<br />
Sum 41 performs at the Shaw Conference Centre in<br />
Edmonton on <strong>April</strong> 13th and at Grey Eagle Casino in<br />
Calgary on <strong>April</strong> 14th with Papa Roach.<br />
MENACE<br />
U.K. punk act make Western Canada debut<br />
Legendary UK punk act Menace formed in 1976 and is making<br />
their first ever Western Canada appearances this month,<br />
thanks to a Facebook cold call placed by Chris Schwartz<br />
from Calgary’s Streetlight Saints. A few exchanges later, Menace<br />
was booked for dates across the region with Schwartz and<br />
company in tow. Given their passion for the U.K. group, we had<br />
Streetlight Saints’ member Glen Murdoch chat with Noel Martin<br />
to check in.<br />
NM: We have a real problem with rehearsals in that we live hours<br />
away from each other... In fact I am the only original member and<br />
the only one still living in London. As we have played for a number of<br />
years, we don’t need to rehearse as much as we used to, although we<br />
still do new songs in the set. Generally what we do is rehearse the day<br />
before or the day of the show, which is generally enough for us. When<br />
we are writing for albums, we get together over a long weekend either<br />
in Bournemouth or in London and just play non-stop 12 hours a day.<br />
by Glen Murdoch<br />
Beatroute: How do you feel about modern punk rock as<br />
opposed to how it was way-back-when?<br />
Noel Martin: When we started to play punk there were many good<br />
bands and some bad ones. However, even the bad ones played it from<br />
their heart and really enjoyed themselves. I think today is also really<br />
good and there are lots of really good bands, obviously some of those<br />
bands are still the ones that were around in the ‘70s, [like] U.K. Subs,<br />
999, The Vibrators.<br />
BR: What do you think of the whole Brexit thing? Will that<br />
make it harder to tour around Europe?<br />
NM: It’s very hard to say what Brexit will mean in the future, but if<br />
it’s the same as it was in the past, it will be harder for bands to play<br />
in Europe. All of your equipment, guitars, and amps will need to be<br />
logged with a copy of the list for each border control. There may be a<br />
limit on how much money or how much duty-free (Jägermeister) we<br />
can bring back home.<br />
BR: What are your rehearsals generally like? For instance,<br />
do you have a set time each week in which you practice or<br />
are rehearsals more geared towards prepping for gigs?<br />
BR: You were last in Canada in 2014, in Montreal for a St.<br />
Patrick’s Day gig, correct? What are you expecting in Canada<br />
this time around regarding scenery, people, how the<br />
shows will go?<br />
NM: Yes, we played St. Patrick’s Day in Montréal in 2014. I didn’t<br />
think it was so long ago but I’ve just checked and I’ve got the<br />
glass to prove it... We are looking forward [to] playing in Canada<br />
this time because we will get to see some of the country. I think<br />
apart from the shows, a real highlight for us will be driving over<br />
the Rocky Mountains…. [It] sounds like a bucket list thing to me. I<br />
may even try to stay sober for that.<br />
To finish off, I would just like to say from myself and the entire<br />
band, as I know they feel the same: the fact that we are still playing<br />
after 40 years is, for us, a privilege that we don’t take lightly. We really<br />
appreciate all our fans, all the promoters out there, and all the other<br />
bands that play with us or let us play with them. I wanna say a big<br />
thanks, from all of us, because you make us feel brilliant!<br />
Menace perform in Edmonton at DV8 on <strong>April</strong> 5, in Calgary at Vern’s<br />
on <strong>April</strong> 6, in Victoria at Logan’s Pub on <strong>April</strong> 7, and in Vancouver at<br />
Pat’s Pub on <strong>April</strong> 8.<br />
Noel Martin talks history, gratitude, and good old-fashioned drinking.<br />
20 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
FORBIDDEN DIMENSION<br />
an Old Fashioned talk about the deadly serious<br />
The Cat and Fiddle Pub is an old funeral home,<br />
fitting for a Forbidden Dimension interview.<br />
But, alas, not the chosen interview location.<br />
The Spicy Hut, a fun favourite of foodies was also an<br />
option, mainly because they have a nice selection of<br />
good but not overly priced bourbons.<br />
In an exchange of emails, PT Bonham, FD’s masked<br />
man behind the drums declined. “No, that is insane!<br />
It is a restaurant. You come to our house and we will<br />
give you alcohol. Not a lot, mind you, but some.”<br />
At the home and FD’s practice space that PT<br />
shares with bassist Virginia Dentata (google vagina<br />
dentata about the folk lore of a “toothed vagina”), I’m<br />
meet with warm smiles, guided to the living room<br />
where a charcuterie board full of meat, cheese and<br />
bread sits on the coffee table along with promised<br />
alcoholic beverage — an Old Fashioned, the crown<br />
glory of bourbon whisky cocktails.<br />
Jackson Phibes, FD’s creative director, is waiting as<br />
well as we begin the topic of conversation, the band’s<br />
eighth full-length recording, It’s A Morbid, Morbid,<br />
Morbid World. PT says it’s a tip of the hat to the 1963<br />
slapstick comedy It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,<br />
“But don’t go looking for any Buddy Hacket bits here,<br />
this serious rock!”<br />
Although framed in FD’s legendary comic book<br />
tradition, Morbid World, along with the first track<br />
played during the listening party, “Blood Drained<br />
Peasants,” evokes some uneasy, even queasy sentiment,<br />
hinting that maybe this record might be a<br />
tad serious, reflecting on the miserable state of the<br />
world. When discussing the track, Jersey Kosinksi,<br />
who wrote The Painted Bird, the disturbing story<br />
of a gypsy boy wandering lost in eastern regions of<br />
Poland at the end of World War II is mentioned.<br />
PT looks at Phibes, chuckles then says, “You should<br />
tell him the real inspiration.”<br />
“Do you remember Speak?” asks Phibes. “The<br />
Hungarian rapper with that video “Stop The War?”<br />
PT and Phibes break into a sing-a-long mocking<br />
the song’s lyrics and melody in very an unflattering<br />
manner. Poor Speak, the video is horrendous. “And<br />
those back-up singers doing the chorus.” adds Phibes.<br />
“They’re so pale, they’re blue! These peasant, stock,<br />
back-up singers with red hair are pale blue, like skim<br />
milk. That’s what their skin was like.”<br />
No, it’s unlikely FD has any serious intention of<br />
wrestling with the woes of the world. Unless, of<br />
course, that involves the lighter side of absurdity and,<br />
or, the darker side of clowning around. Another film<br />
classic enters the conversation: Around The World In<br />
80 Days, a goofy star-studded action farce made in<br />
the ‘50s. PT abruptly says, “Around the morbid world<br />
in 80 graves.” The remark sets off Phibes who laughs,<br />
blurting out, “Yeah, there’s your title!”<br />
But roaming the globe is certainly part of the FD<br />
experience. One of Phibes’ recent musical forays is<br />
writing vigorous rock riffs and flowing melodies that<br />
have a distinctive Eastern European flair: a combination<br />
of playful gypsy-folk and sweeping operatics<br />
fused with the onslaught of duo Iron Maiden guitar<br />
solos. FD puts a gloomy spin on prog-rock. Phibes<br />
mulls over that particular analysis, stokes his beard,<br />
squints his eyes, then poises the question: “So, do you<br />
mean prog-rock or Prague rock?” Ah, there’s no way<br />
out of this funhouse!<br />
One of several instrumental tracks on the record<br />
is a gate-crasher called “Cobraballs,” that begins with<br />
the tribal pounding of floor toms before thundering<br />
down the speedway. The introduction, says PT, is<br />
taken from “the war drums of the Navajo.” Smirking<br />
he adds, “I was trying to get out of Europe and take<br />
it back to North America.” Mission accomplished.<br />
Phibes explains that the idea of cobra balls comes<br />
from old hot rods stickers designed in the ‘60s that<br />
looked like snakes with big wheels attached to them.<br />
“We just changed the wheels into a pair of balls.” PT<br />
pipes in, “Testicles,” to clarify.<br />
Another exotic instrumental is “The Devil Came<br />
Down To The Kanaloa,” a swanky psychedelic surf<br />
number made to swig back spicy, tiki bar cocktails then<br />
sashay out on the dance floor or down to the beach<br />
for a midnight stroll. FD dips into dreamy waters.<br />
Switching it up, “Time Of The Superdruids” opens<br />
with Virginia’s pulsing bassline, reminiscent of those<br />
hypnotic Manchester pill-popping bands from<br />
the ’80s and ‘90s and continues with an infectious,<br />
trippy groove and mood throughout. Shy and sweet,<br />
Virginia’s the rose between two thorns in FD. Yet her<br />
punchy bass playing is a potent driving force giving<br />
the band a newfound, buoyant enthusiasm. Phibes<br />
agrees, “I love the last record we did (Every Twisted<br />
Tree Watches You), but there was such a cloud of<br />
neglect hanging over it. One person was phoning in<br />
their parts when we recorded, and the label we had<br />
sort of lost its distribution when we put it out. ”<br />
Better days ahead. Back to the Prague, er progrock.<br />
“Devil’s Night Park” is a true testament to the<br />
eclectic genius of FD. It starts off with an eerie, piercing<br />
swell of electric guitar sounding like a killer drone<br />
zooming in for the attack, while the bass growls and<br />
rumbles below. PT then slams hard into a militant<br />
burst of stop ‘n’ start rolls before they all crash head<br />
long into a rip-roaring tear down the drag strip. Midway<br />
through Phibes shifts into prog-mode and out<br />
of nowhere slips in a short and sweet, but ambitious<br />
Blackmoresque solo before floating back down into<br />
a surf serenade. “My favourite part,” sighs Virginia.<br />
Around the world in 80 graves indeed! That’s helluva<br />
lot of territory to cover in 3:30 minutes.<br />
And it’s not over yet…<br />
When “Festering Violet” is cued up, PT<br />
interjects, “I like this one. It’s got horns in it.”<br />
No doubt a bit of a deviation for FD. Even more<br />
so as the song builds into a big, brassy movie<br />
theme with its showy production. Similarly, while<br />
“Werewolf Bongo Party” isn’t a radical departure<br />
with its B-movie overtones, the slow, meandering,<br />
beatnik trance certainly has an inviting, unexpected<br />
romantic glow. PT’s breathy werewolf<br />
groans and moans at the end, bring the charming<br />
love fest to a collapse.<br />
Last but not least (including seven songs not<br />
discussed here), “Morbid World” the record’s title<br />
track is begins and the question about “Is this serious<br />
commentary?” comes up again. Before getting<br />
into any of that, PT’s points out, “There’s a real<br />
R&B rave-up going on here,” as the song blasts out<br />
of the sound system. “Yeah, Phibes nods and says,<br />
“A garage rock attempt at R&B. Like white skinny<br />
guys in Cleveland who…” PT interrupts, “Sound<br />
like black skinny guys in New York.”<br />
And the lyrics? Are they about the end of the<br />
world? “No,” says Phibes, “Not the end of the<br />
world. Each verse tells a different story, about<br />
various morbid worlds. Sure, it’s gross, but if<br />
you can see the humour in it, you can get by.<br />
There’s one part about the prehistoric ocean<br />
that once covered this area and all the dead<br />
sea creatures left behind. The idea is nothing<br />
lasts forever, we’re all going to be dead at some<br />
point,” chuckles Phibes.<br />
PT cracks his fablous wide smile, “And the R&B<br />
rave-up will live on.”<br />
Forbidden Dimension is issuing It’s A Morbid, Morbid,<br />
Morbid, Morbid World in CD format, which they feel is<br />
“way ahead of curve these days.” See them live and pick<br />
up the CD on Sat., <strong>April</strong> 22 at the Oak Tree Tavern.<br />
It’s A Morbid,<br />
Morbid,<br />
Morbid<br />
World!<br />
by B. Simm<br />
FD gig poster for Morid World CD release show.<br />
22 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
live music<br />
Ap 1:<br />
sean hamilton<br />
Ap 8:<br />
sadlier-brown duo<br />
ap 15:<br />
The Frontiers<br />
ap 22:<br />
aaron pollock<br />
ap 29:<br />
jay bowcott<br />
saturday nights<br />
BAD ANIMAL<br />
marking new territory with booze, love, and rock ‘n’ roll<br />
You’ve likely already heard the<br />
spellbinding sounds of Calgary’s Bad<br />
Animal on the streets of downtown.<br />
Their mesmerizing indie rock riffs conjoin<br />
with heart and hip captivating bass,<br />
anchored by rhythmic drums. Fronted by<br />
a forceful frontman with lively vocals, they<br />
create the soundtrack to your perfectly<br />
sweaty night out. Time spent with the band<br />
generally ends the same way: with a room<br />
is full of people blissfully drenched in beer<br />
and sweat.<br />
Bad Animal has left their mark in Calgary<br />
but they are hungry for more. With the goal<br />
of meeting new faces and creating a fan<br />
base that stretches from coast-to-coast, the<br />
five guys are heading east.<br />
“The goal is to be more hung over than I<br />
am now,” jokes frontman Ben Painter.<br />
“We just want to have a blast and make<br />
[each] city ours.”<br />
“We’ve been told it’s a bad idea,” mentions<br />
drummer Trevor Stoddart.<br />
“But, if we want to become a touring band<br />
we need go to the next step,” adds Painter.<br />
The aim is to melt faces, surprise the<br />
unsuspecting, and pull an assortment of<br />
untouched crowds into the riot that is a Bad<br />
Animal show.<br />
“I want people to stop caring and just<br />
have fun,” says Stoddart.<br />
He jokes, “I want people to feel how I feel,<br />
but not look how I look.”<br />
The Bad Animal fanbase has grown<br />
significantly since their inception. After<br />
recording their debut full-length Tonight at<br />
local studio OCL and releasing it to much<br />
acclaim, the band embarked on a tour with<br />
Vancouver garage pop acts JPNSGRLS.<br />
They’ve headlined the Listen Up! benefit<br />
for the Calgary Distress Centre, and were<br />
granted an opening slot for SWMRS and<br />
Blink-182 in Calgary. Now, they’re hitting<br />
venues near you once more to both deliver<br />
and nail new material.<br />
Trying out new songs in familiar places, the<br />
fresh tracks are getting an amazing response.<br />
“People seem to be liking it better than<br />
our old stuff,” says the band, laughing.<br />
“We’re getting better and the new songs<br />
seem to be a good addition,” says guitarist<br />
Marek Skiba.<br />
With new demos to be released in May,<br />
plans to tour twice more this year, and the<br />
potential release of new album, the boys<br />
from Bad Animal won’t be slowing down<br />
any time soon.<br />
Bad Animal’s tour kickoff show is <strong>April</strong> 5th at<br />
Commonwealth in Calgary with Cowpuncher,<br />
Crooked Spies, and guests. Check www.badanimal.ca/<br />
for more upcoming tour dates.<br />
Bad Animal want to spread their love around.<br />
by Jackie Klapak<br />
photo: Alix Au<br />
weekly specials<br />
late night movies<br />
$5 pints, $1 oysters<br />
$1/2 off wine<br />
$2.50 tacos<br />
$7 beer flights<br />
$5 draft pints<br />
$3 jack daniels<br />
midtownkitchen.ca<br />
DANE<br />
it takes two to torch the place<br />
Local sultry rock duo Dane release “Burning Man” in <strong>April</strong>.<br />
It starts with a tiny spark, a crackle as the heat<br />
turns to flame…. And finally, there is a roaring<br />
blaze. The fires of frustration sweeping through<br />
the body start from the tips of the ears, burrowing<br />
into the pit of a stomach, eventually turning it into<br />
a molten rage.<br />
“Burning Man,” the latest single from Calgary’s<br />
precocious low-end duo Dane, takes the listener on<br />
this heated journey. It’s a song they say was born of a<br />
sombre time, that became so much more.<br />
photo: Justin Quaintance<br />
“Even for a sadder song, it still has a punch<br />
and a dance-y vibe to it,” describes drummer<br />
Ethan Muzychka.<br />
This punchy, vibrant intensity has become Dane’s<br />
signature sound. Known for their fuzzed out and<br />
groovy jams, the band especially began taking a hold<br />
on the Calgary music scene after several appearances<br />
at community building weekly Rockin 4 $. With<br />
an appearance at BIG Winter Classic and an album<br />
release under their belts, the band is gearing up to<br />
by Willow Grier<br />
take their sound to greater heights, following up with<br />
a music video and second record release to come later<br />
in the year.<br />
Upon listening to their self-titled debut, it’s easy<br />
to note the attention to detail and strong musical<br />
backgrounds both musicians have. For bassist/vocalist<br />
Trenton Fawcett, who attended Selkirk College to<br />
study Contemporary Music and Composition, there<br />
is a unique challenge to only having two members in<br />
the project.<br />
“We’re trying to bring a different sort of innovation<br />
when it comes to having a two-piece rock band,” he<br />
explains. “It can be seen as limiting, but it’s an interesting<br />
challenge for us to push outside of the boundaries<br />
and create a fuller sound. When people hear us before<br />
they see us live, they tend to think we’re a full band.”<br />
To get a taste for Dane’s chops, they recommend<br />
“Astriction of Inclination,” one of the “first songs<br />
[they] jammed together,” as Muzychka recalls.<br />
“It’s about sexual tension so it really spices up the<br />
vibe when we play it live,” laughs Fawcett.<br />
The track is a slow burn that winds and grooves<br />
through a fuzzed out, sultry build up and well encapsulates<br />
what the duo is capable of. But the true magic<br />
of Dane lies within that live jam.<br />
“With the recorded songs there is a certain level of<br />
amplitude,” says Fawcett. “But when we get to play<br />
the songs live they are so much more explosive.”<br />
The fiery tunes of Dane continue as they release<br />
“Burning Man” on <strong>April</strong> 7th in digital format. Stay<br />
tuned for their music video release in months to<br />
come and catch them live at Getto Boys Bar and Grill<br />
in Calgary <strong>April</strong> 29th.<br />
24 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
TOURING ROUNDUP<br />
photo: Zach Hertzman<br />
LITTLE SCREAM<br />
<strong>April</strong> 14 at Commonwealth<br />
Scooting away from her jaunt opening for Local Natives, Little Scream drops into Calgary almost exactly a<br />
year since the release of her LP Cult Following. That record saw her expand her indie folk-rock into something<br />
decidedly fresher, thanks in part to contributions by members of The National and TV On The Radio, along with<br />
Sufjan Stevens and Sharon Van Etten.<br />
C.J. RAMONE<br />
May 6 at Broken City<br />
This is not a drill. An honest-to-God Ramone is playing the intimate stage at Broken City. Whether or not<br />
you’re on team Dee Dee, there’s no denying that this is a rare opportunity to catch a member of music<br />
history’s elite in a face-to-face setting.<br />
BRIAN WILSON<br />
<strong>April</strong> 13 at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium<br />
The Pet Sounds 50th anniversary tour rolls on with Brian Wilson playing the record in its entirely as well as<br />
some choice cuts from both the Beach Boys’ and his own catalogue. If you need context on the importance<br />
of that record, you’re reading the wrong magazine. Go get your tickets right now, this second, by any<br />
means necessary.<br />
ROCKPILE<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 25
EDMONTON EXTRA<br />
I HATE SEX<br />
screamo quartet enjoying their meteoric rise<br />
I Hate Sex release World of Grief in <strong>April</strong>.<br />
There were no topics left off the table when<br />
<strong>BeatRoute</strong> interviewed I Hate Sex vocalist<br />
Nicole Boychuk at the Art Gallery of Alberta.<br />
We sat on the brightly lit third floor during<br />
Boychuk’s lunch break one afternoon, enjoying an<br />
honest and frank conversation.<br />
Since 2014, the socio-politically inclined<br />
screamo/powerviolence band has thrived on a<br />
fast paced and DIY work ethic that’s allowed for<br />
multiple updates and changes based on what has<br />
(and hasn’t) worked. Boychuk admitted she hadn’t<br />
attempted her unique growl until the very first<br />
photo: Chantal Piat<br />
band practice.<br />
“I thought I could do it and I just went for it,”<br />
she explained casually. “I went to a voice workshop<br />
led by Not Enough Fest and it was awesome to<br />
learn breathing techniques and how to warm up<br />
from people I admired like [bassist] Stacy [Burnett]<br />
and [vocalist] Corby [Burnett] of Mahria. I<br />
can’t sing. That’s why I scream. I’m awful at singing.<br />
I can’t hit notes and I sound like a dying whale.<br />
People ask me questions about screaming and I<br />
have no answers. It’s weird. I just know I can do it.”<br />
The group’s 2015 release Circle Thinking set the<br />
tone for their characteristically abrasive, angular<br />
sound. On the new record, World of Grief, the<br />
shrieked vocals still cut like knives and it’s clear<br />
the band has had time to think about what they<br />
were laying down. The result is a tighter and more<br />
empowering sound.<br />
“When we first released Circle Thinking, we<br />
didn’t think anyone was going to listen to it,”<br />
offered Boychuk, smiling bashfully.<br />
“We just wanted the experience of being a local<br />
band and playing a few shows. I guess now, having<br />
two new band members, it gave us a chance to be<br />
more self-conscious about our sound. There was a<br />
lot more thought about the album as a whole. The<br />
first album we made songs and put them together,<br />
but World of Grief we spent more time talking<br />
about the songs and how we wanted the album to<br />
be. It’s also more me. It’s about my life and immediate<br />
feelings.”<br />
Between Circle Thinking and World of Grief, I<br />
Hate Sex added Matt Wayne on bass and Byron<br />
Mayor on drums. As he has since their inception,<br />
Ashton Burns plays guitar. The line-up change<br />
came swiftly last spring, shortly before the band<br />
set out on a nine-day tour of Japan planned by a<br />
super fan.<br />
“We got a message from someone saying he<br />
loved our band and he set it all up! He drove us<br />
around and we stayed at his house,” explains<br />
Boychuk.<br />
She adds, “It was just the best experience!”<br />
Despite already touring Japan and soon<br />
embarking on a tour of Europe, Boychuk remains<br />
by Brittany Rudyck<br />
somewhat skeptical of the attention I Hate Sex has<br />
received. The band is metaphorically exploding in<br />
popularity, and it’s left the members somewhat<br />
stunned.<br />
“I don’t know why we became so successful. It’s<br />
weird. It’s wild,” she says.<br />
“I like it, but I just don’t get it.”<br />
With the support of U.K. based Dog Knights<br />
Productions, the all-ages and safe space advocating<br />
band will be picking up 500 vinyl copies of the new<br />
album just in time for their tour in Europe, which<br />
begins in late <strong>April</strong> and continues into early May.<br />
“We’re gunna pick them up at a festival we’re<br />
playing so we have to pack around the records and<br />
we’re hoping for the best!”<br />
Massive supporters of the scene as both showgoers<br />
and band members, Boychuk believes in<br />
inclusivity, advocating for the safety and involvement<br />
of all. She seemed optimistic about the hardcore<br />
and heavier scenes moving in that direction,<br />
which perhaps explains why she stepped into a<br />
mosh pit for the first time this past December.<br />
“It was Cold Lungs’ final show. It was such a<br />
beautiful moment,” she reminisced.<br />
“I think it’s a chain reaction of feeling welcome,<br />
feeling comfortable and making friends. I’ve been<br />
going to these shows for a few years now and in<br />
December I was finally brave enough to get in<br />
there. I was wearing a dress, too!”<br />
The new I Hate Sex album World of Grief will be<br />
released <strong>April</strong> 20th. The band will have vinyl, cassette,<br />
and digital versions for sale soon.<br />
SUICIDE HELP LINE<br />
classic punk transmitted through a veil of Pink Jazz<br />
It was in 2013 that vocalist Logan Turner noticed there was a lack<br />
of an older punk sound in the Edmonton music scene. In response,<br />
he created the band Suicide Helpline that year as a recorded solo<br />
project, releasing his first album Ready To Die on December 25, 2013.<br />
“It got a lot of people interested in that ’77 punk sound, as opposed to<br />
that modern punk sound that we largely see in the city,” says Turner.<br />
Fast-forward four years and Suicide Helpline has transitioned into a<br />
high energy, four-piece group. Kevin Maimann, Stu Chell, Adam Orange,<br />
and Turner all knew each other through Edmonton’s music scene, but<br />
it wasn’t until a year ago that the boys decided to turn Suicide Helpline<br />
into a live project. Due to their unique sound, Suicide Helpline has<br />
been able to play at least once a month at a variety of different shows<br />
in Edmonton. Time between performances has been spent working on<br />
Suicide Helpline’s debut full-length Pink Jazz, out <strong>April</strong> 29.<br />
Pink Jazz was recorded in Turner’s basement studio and put together<br />
almost entirely independently. The title reflects the juxtaposition of<br />
gritty punk and the smooth, neon lights of glam that Turner has always<br />
been fascinated by. It’s the diverse musical backgrounds of each band<br />
member that helps give Pink Jazz its unique sound.<br />
“We all bring our own influences in some small way and it gives [the<br />
album] this strange flavour that you can’t quite put your finger on,” says<br />
guitarist Maimann.<br />
Despite their varied musical history, it was the immediate energy and<br />
rawness of punk music that attracted the group to the genre.<br />
“I comically know very little about punk. But rather than getting into<br />
it through listening to other people’s music, I really got into it by writing,”<br />
says Turner.<br />
The inspiration behind many of the songs holds a deeper meaning<br />
for Turner. With the lyrical focus centering on suicide and depression,<br />
Suicide Hotline releases their debut full-length <strong>April</strong> 29th.<br />
they reflect on what music has become for him both psychologically<br />
and creatively.<br />
“Music is very much like a crisis line: something that you turn to in<br />
times of internal struggle and it has been that for me throughout my<br />
youth and hard times,” explains Turner. He adds, “The name Suicide<br />
Helpline means a lot to me.”<br />
Since the release of their self-titled EP last year, the group has worked<br />
on expanding their sound and musicianship. The year has been full of<br />
live shows and testing their boundaries, a process full of musical surprises<br />
that has resulted in songs they originally never thought would work.<br />
“Playing together for the past year has helped us figure out where we<br />
by Jessica Robb<br />
all should be,” reflects drummer Chell. “It’s cool ‘cause we’ve just grown<br />
organically.”<br />
All told, Pink Jazz contains 14 tracks of catchy pop hooks run through<br />
a punk filter, which sums up Suicide Helpline as a band.<br />
“It’s full of songs that you can share with your parents, but still be<br />
offensive to teenagers,” says Turner.<br />
“Take everything you just heard with the title Pink Jazz and let’s<br />
start over.”<br />
Suicide Helpline will perform at the release show for Pink Jazz on <strong>April</strong><br />
29th in Edmonton with Fashionism.<br />
26 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
BOOK OF BRIDGE<br />
WINT<br />
lo-fi post-punk trio expels new releases<br />
WINT has released two new albums thus far in <strong>2017</strong>.<br />
Brandon Saucier is the mad scientist behind<br />
Lethbridge’s new lo-fi post-punk band, WINT.<br />
Anchored by a forceful, sturdy rhythm section,<br />
the band utilizes an ultra-harsh layer of melodic<br />
guitar tones that’ll have you dishing with your music-nerd<br />
friends for days after attending their show.<br />
The trio currently has three EP’s available on<br />
cassette and Bandcamp. Their self-titled debut was<br />
released in <strong>April</strong> 2015; two years later we received<br />
Revelation and New Content in rapid succession.<br />
“The whole crux of the operation is just to be recording<br />
all the time. So, I try and record songs every<br />
day. At least one,” explains Saucier.<br />
“Most of it’s stuff I’d never want to use but doing<br />
it so often, gems just come out. Then, when there’s a<br />
string of gems, I’ll just put them together and release<br />
them.”<br />
Saucier writes and records alone and has been<br />
experimenting with oddball music equipment since<br />
his teen years. His bandmates, bassist Hope Madison<br />
and drummer Rebecca McHugh, say they usually<br />
don’t learn the songs until they’ve already been<br />
recorded and are up on Bandcamp.<br />
The trio are a collection of friends with similar<br />
likes in sound.<br />
“My roommate/partner [Madison] wanted to<br />
be in the band – I was like, ‘yep!’ Rebecca is just the<br />
drummer in Lethbridge that I like and am friends<br />
with. I played with her in another band [Participation]<br />
that was great. So, it was just super easy.”<br />
After performing vocals and noise in different<br />
versions of the group during 2016, Madison suggested,<br />
“Maybe I should just learn to play bass because<br />
we don’t have a bass player.” Two weeks later, WINT<br />
played their first show with the current incarnation.<br />
January release Revelation gained attention from<br />
local show-goers just as the new year rolled in. The<br />
recordings are a firm balance between aggressively<br />
by Curtis Windover<br />
photo: Courtney Faulkner<br />
lo-fi and GET-OUT-OF-MY-HEAD-catchy (refer to<br />
track six, suitably dubbed “soft spoken”). Although<br />
Saucier’s vocals sit low and his lyrics can be tricky<br />
to decipher, a handful of poetic images jump out<br />
in each song. The EP critiques modern life vaguely<br />
enough to invite listeners to form their own interpretations,<br />
and therefore to ponder their own place<br />
in the modern world.<br />
“I tend to just have these inspiration bursts that<br />
last for weeks where I’m writing every day. Then I<br />
have it all written down in a big binder full of lyrics.<br />
If I’m recording a song I just pull something out and<br />
use that,” says Saucier of his lyric writing process.<br />
Creative bursts were pertinent to the March<br />
release, New Content, but Saucier admits they<br />
won’t be performing a couple of the new tracks live<br />
anytime soon.<br />
“Some songs from the new one were written only<br />
month or two ago,” says Saucier. “And now we’re trying<br />
to learn them but I forgot a bunch of the stuff.”<br />
His focus shifts quickly forward, which gives<br />
one more reason to get your hands on the<br />
cassette before the tracks become lost artifacts.<br />
The simplistic (yet bouncy and industrial) drum<br />
fill in the opening song “Movement” will launch<br />
you into the WINT experience without restraint.<br />
The aesthetic is cohesive, bare bones, and<br />
shouldn’t leave you with many questions, save<br />
one: is there anything the world should know<br />
about WINT?<br />
“All I want them to know is that it’s all about the<br />
music,” says Saucier.<br />
That’s it?<br />
“That’s it.”<br />
Catch WINT live at Vangelis Tavern in Saskatoon on<br />
<strong>April</strong> 15th. Visit wint.bandcamp.com for their latest<br />
releases and future tour dates.<br />
POP UP YOGA LETHBRIDGE<br />
words and photo by Courtney Faulkner<br />
creating accessible space for yoga<br />
The foundation of Pop Up Yoga Lethbridge<br />
is a collaboration between music and<br />
movement, practice, and community. The<br />
organization makes yoga accessible outside of the<br />
traditional studio setting.<br />
“There is no need for a studio,” explains founder<br />
Fabiola Petre in her mission statement for the organization,<br />
which has grown and flourished over the past<br />
three years.<br />
“We believe in yoga as a lifestyle; it´s about taking<br />
yoga into urban spaces, parks, art galleries, retail<br />
stores, coffee shops to hair salons and bars, there is<br />
no limit!”<br />
“Fabiola, the founder, she’s done some work in the<br />
community with bringing live music, like live drumming<br />
and that, to some of the classes,” says Shonna<br />
Lamb, the yogi who has taken on the role of guiding<br />
the organization since Petre moved to Vancouver<br />
this past fall.<br />
“We’ve got a series going on right now, it’s<br />
our second round, and we tie it in with music,<br />
so it takes place at SAAG [Southern Alberta Art<br />
Gallery], so this series is called Vinyasa to the<br />
Visionaries, so vinyasa is a type of yoga, you link<br />
your breath to your movement, you flow, feels a<br />
bit dancey.”<br />
“I’m a product of music for sure, there was always<br />
music going on in my house growing up, so my taste<br />
is super diverse,” says Lamb. “I dreamt this up a long<br />
time ago, but it took a while to get the courage to<br />
put it out there.”<br />
“Now we’re on week eight, and we’ve rolled<br />
through Beastie Boys, Sublime, Nirvana, Pearl Jam,<br />
Black Keys, Florence and the Machine, Led Zeppelin<br />
and we wrap it [up] with [the Red Hot Chili Peppers]<br />
Shonna Lamb and company offer Pop Up Yoga by donation in Lethbridge.<br />
tomorrow. And the group’s grown. We cap out the<br />
hallways at SAAG at about 36 people.”<br />
“It’s this niche that I’ve never really seen before.<br />
There’s a lot of art, you can just tell these are art<br />
folk, it’s like they’ve got their soul on their sleeve,<br />
you know you could just tell. Music, right on,<br />
open-minded, kind. I mean, generally people you<br />
meet on the mat do share those characteristics, but<br />
you can tell these folks have some art to them.”<br />
A part of creating community is also giving back<br />
to that community, which the non-profit organization<br />
consistently strives to do.<br />
“What’s beautiful is that half the proceeds go<br />
to the art gallery,” says Lamb of her Vinyasa to the<br />
Visionaries series.<br />
“Which is fantastic because I don’t know if much<br />
of Lethbridge knows how highly regarded our<br />
contemporary art museum is in Canada, we’ve got a<br />
gem in our midst.”<br />
“Things like this [Pop Up Yoga] help pull people<br />
out of that studio setting and realize there’s so much<br />
more in the community than just the conventional<br />
sense of taking a yoga class,” says Lauren Hart, a Pop<br />
Up Yoga teacher and founder of Lauren Hart Yoga as<br />
well as Hawk + Harvest Market.<br />
“It’s a discipline, but it’s also a community, and<br />
I think that when people start seeing those same<br />
people around it’s going to create this little family. It<br />
already has. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful.”<br />
Classes from Pop Up Yoga are offered weekly and<br />
entry is by donation. They occur on Sunday mornings<br />
at 10:00 a.m. at Casa, the Community Arts Centre<br />
in downtown Lethbridge, as well as Wednesday evenings<br />
at 5:30 p.m. at Southminster United Church.<br />
28 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
letters from winnipeg<br />
MOBINA GALORE<br />
turning discontent into lemonade<br />
Mobina Galore are taking their punk ambitions to the max.<br />
Punk-rock road warriors Mobina Galore<br />
have been building a rep as one of the ‘Peg’s<br />
hardest-working acts, and now it all seems to<br />
be paying off with the release of their sophomore<br />
full-length, Feeling Disconnected.<br />
After putting out their 2014 debut LP, Cities<br />
Away, the power duo of Jenna Priestner (guitar/<br />
photo: Dwayne Larson<br />
vocals) and Marcia Hanson (drums/vocals) inked<br />
a deal with European label Gunner Records, and<br />
more recently joined the roster of New Damage<br />
Records (Silverstein, Cancer Bats, Biblical) for North<br />
American distribution.<br />
Feeling Disconnected, as the title suggests, is informed<br />
by a sense of detachment, spurred on by the<br />
amount of touring they’ve been doing over the last<br />
few years. “We’re always missing things like birthday<br />
parties and celebrations and family stuff,” says Priestner<br />
on the road from Ajax, Ontario.<br />
“But when we’re home, we’re constantly missing<br />
being on the road.”<br />
That push and pull is further chronicled on track<br />
“Suffer,” where Priestner’s anguished shouts tell of<br />
career hardship, and the call of the road over going to<br />
school and finding a regular job.<br />
“I was constantly in this place where I felt like I<br />
didn’t belong,” Priestner says of when she decided<br />
to take a course and explore different career options<br />
outside of music.<br />
“You’re going through the motions of what’s<br />
expected of you—go to school, graduate, get a<br />
job—but I just didn’t want to live that life. I just felt<br />
so empty.”<br />
Reuniting with producer John Paul Peters<br />
(Propagandhi, KEN mode, Comeback Kid) for<br />
their second proper effort, much of the record’s<br />
10 songs are punchy hard-and-fast blasts (hear:<br />
“Going Out Alone”) that run around the two<br />
and three-minute mark. There are fists-in-the-air<br />
anthems (hear: “Vancouver”) that ring of big ambitions,<br />
and the trials and tribulations endured in<br />
order to get to where they are now. Indeed, these<br />
are poppy punk tracks for feeling empowered<br />
and chasing your dreams.<br />
Speaking of which, they just wrapped a tour as<br />
by Julijana Capone<br />
support for Florida-bred punks Against Me! After a<br />
stint through Europe with the band, the girls were<br />
invited to hop on even more dates through the U.S.<br />
and Canada. It’s icing on the cake for a year that<br />
continues to look up.<br />
“Laura [Jane Grace] was like ‘Oh my god, I love<br />
your voice. You have the most amazing voice,’” says<br />
Priestner, recalling her first run-in with the band’s<br />
inspiring frontperson.<br />
“I was like, ‘Oh shit. That was cool.’”<br />
“We’ve both been Against Me! fans for years,”<br />
Priestner continues. “It’s one of those things that you<br />
don’t think will ever happen, and then all of the sudden<br />
you’re on tour with them and they’re the nicest<br />
people ever. It’s just been a dream come true.”<br />
With another round of European dates planned<br />
throughout <strong>April</strong> and May, and some major punk<br />
festivals booked, including Punk Rock Bowling in Las<br />
Vegas, everything seems to be falling into place for<br />
the duo.<br />
“Right now, this is success—being on the road and<br />
playing with bands that we love and admire,” says<br />
Priestner.<br />
“But at the end of the day, success is just continuing<br />
to do what we love.”<br />
Mobina Galore perform on <strong>April</strong> 7 at the Good Will<br />
Social Club in Winnipeg. Feeling Disconnected is out<br />
now via New Damage Records. To purchase it, head to<br />
newdamagerecords.com.<br />
FIGURE WALKING<br />
dance it out with the big other<br />
“To be in a room full of people, if you can make them<br />
dance as a musician, I feel like there’s nothing more<br />
satisfying—watching people connecting in a physical<br />
way,” says Greg MacPherson, one half of Figure Walking, about the<br />
danceability of his latest record, The Big Other.<br />
MacPherson is riding his bike, heading to the inner-city not-for-profit<br />
organization where he acts as director, when he answers the phone for<br />
our interview. The last time we spoke with the singer-songwriter and<br />
socially engaged Winnipegger, he had just released The Big Other’s contagious<br />
first single, “Submarines,” which alluded to an artier direction.<br />
While the album is a debut under the new Figure Walking<br />
banner, Greg MacPherson and ace drummer Rob Gardiner have<br />
technically been performing together since 2011 under the Greg<br />
MacPherson Band moniker. As MacPherson explains, the name<br />
change was an attempt “to hit restart and to take a bit more control<br />
over what we’re saying and how we’re approaching our messaging,<br />
our performances, everything.”<br />
Drawing on dub-oriented grooves and flashes of serrated post-punk<br />
guitar stutters, there’s an exchange of wiry and rhythmic, which works<br />
to console the tension of political and social commentary, deliberately<br />
setting the tone for you to get up and move.<br />
Opener “Sounds” is a response to what MacPherson describes as a<br />
skewed celebration of militarism that is used for “disappointing political<br />
gains,” infused with steady drum hits and frenetic, zigzagging chords.<br />
Elsewhere, vocalist Hailey Primrose, who appeared on MacPherson’s<br />
2013 release Fireball, takes the lead on track “Singapore,” and supplies<br />
backing accompaniment to closer “Funeral,” whose echoing refrain<br />
urges you to “dance until it all makes sense.”<br />
While the songwriter’s lyrics have addressed political and social justice<br />
topics in the past, The Big Other presents issues in more intentional<br />
ways to the backbeat of movement-rousing rock ‘n’ roll.<br />
“There’s so much wrong and unjust and disturbing in our world, and<br />
ROCKPILE<br />
I feel very sensitive to that reality,” says MacPherson. “I’m not the kind<br />
of artist that likes to hit people over the head, but I feel an important<br />
part of my writing is to talk about things that really matter.”<br />
The lingering rally cry “Victorious,” for instance, was written over<br />
several years and revolves around different themes of inequality.<br />
MacPherson says he started to perform the song live shortly after<br />
Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old girl from the Sagkeeng First Nation, was<br />
found murdered.<br />
“I think a lot of historically calloused local people actually started<br />
to feel something on the surface when Tina Fontaine died,” he says.<br />
“That’s the hopeful side of the song, hoping to maintain a sense of<br />
collective responsibility.<br />
“Winnipeg’s a complicated city, and a great city, but it’s not as great<br />
for some people as it is for others,” he adds. “I really feel like we’re in an<br />
interesting time in this city where we’ve potentially turned a corner.”<br />
He notes the Truth and Reconciliation Report, the election of Manitoba’s<br />
fist female Indigenous MLA, the Idle No More movement, a federal<br />
inquiry being called into murder and missing Indigenous women<br />
and girls, and the Dakota Access Pipeline as examples of long-awaited<br />
changes and powerful shifts in a better direction.<br />
If dancing can be a path to conversation and catharsis, The Big Other<br />
seeks to do just that.<br />
“I think people connect with music when they dance,” says<br />
MacPherson.<br />
“If you have politics or issues on the mind, and you can present it in<br />
a way that makes people feel alive, people are more connected…I think<br />
that’s what good music can do for people. I love listening to music that<br />
makes me want to dance.”<br />
Figure Walking perform on <strong>April</strong> 16 at the Good Will Social Club in Winnipeg.<br />
To purchase The Big Other, out via Disintegration Records, head to<br />
disintegration.ca.<br />
by Julijana Capone<br />
Figure Walking aim for political and social connectivity with their music.<br />
photo: Kristian Jordan<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 29
FILM<br />
CALGARY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL<br />
by Jonathan Lawrence<br />
comedy, animation, horror, E.T.s, cereal and more<br />
Wild and weird meets fun and fantasy at this year’s CUFF.<br />
The Calgary Underground Film Festival, now in its<br />
fourteenth year, will be returning this <strong>April</strong> to shock,<br />
startle and surprise local film lovers. Each year, the<br />
team behind the festival somehow manages to round up a<br />
few dozen of the most esoteric, thrilling, thought-provoking,<br />
funny, and downright weird films you’ll ever see, and this year<br />
is no different. Programming Director Brenda Lieberman was<br />
able to tell us all about it.<br />
“I love the lineup this year,” says Lieberman, positive as<br />
ever. Her unwavering optimism towards her festivals, including<br />
the Calgary International Film Festival, is the hard-earned<br />
product of endless hours screening and narrowing down the<br />
exponentially growing number of independent films submitted<br />
each year. Selecting the films that make the final lineup<br />
isn’t as simple as choosing names out of a hat, or by seeing<br />
what other festivals are playing. Calgary’s film festivals are truly<br />
crafted with the city’s audiences in mind.<br />
“We’re always looking for a broad mix of films so we can<br />
appeal to everybody,” she says. “There’s some that are very edgy<br />
or provocative or challenging in different ways, but not for the<br />
sake of it,” acknowledging the simplistic and inaccurate view<br />
that these are films with all style and no substance. “We feel<br />
really passionately about the films [and] connected with them<br />
in different ways. There’s different styles for everybody. We<br />
wanted to make sure we had an animation film this year (My<br />
Entire High School is Sinking Into the Sea). They’re all accessibly<br />
weird, they all have something uniquely amazing about them.”<br />
One such film was a documentary called “Love and Saucers,”<br />
which tells the story about an elderly man who believes<br />
he’s had extraterrestrial communication throughout his entire<br />
life, including having interspecies romance with one. You can’t<br />
make this stuff up, folks, but damn if it isn’t fascinating.<br />
“I love that film,” chimed in Lieberman.<br />
Calgary’s art scene has been growing every year, though it’s<br />
hard to explain why. Perhaps the demographics have shifted,<br />
or social media has improved the exposure to these events,<br />
but regardless, the Calgary Underground Film Festival is seeing<br />
record attendances each year. Lieberman says if last year’s<br />
success is any indication of this year, then they’re in business.<br />
“[It was] the best year we had and that’s what people feel<br />
about this year. If we keep the numbers up we can potentially<br />
expand next year.”<br />
Interestingly, although other underground film festivals<br />
around North America draw bigger audiences, such as the<br />
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Calgary’s version shows<br />
more films and runs longer. “You’re programming to fit your<br />
audience but you’re also having to program a little bit in a<br />
bit of an ebb and flow and with an eye open what is going<br />
on in your city.”<br />
It seems though at this rate that Calgary’s may join the<br />
ranks of Chicago or Boston. Lieberman states that each festival<br />
works closely with one another, which she says “keeps [them]<br />
on their toes.”<br />
Although each film in the lineup looks promising, we asked<br />
Lieberman which ones most excited her, a question which<br />
proved to be as difficult to answer as the dreaded “What<br />
kind of music do you listen to?” After some careful thought,<br />
she conceded that the Israeli film, People That Are Not Me,<br />
and the other world films were particularly worth seeing.<br />
“[They’re] all outstanding. I love all of them.”<br />
That said, she expressed how excited the festival programmers<br />
were to obtain The Little Hours after seeing it at<br />
Sundance, a comedy about a group of emotionally unstable<br />
nuns starring Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman and<br />
Fred Armisen, to name some of the comedic cast. “The second<br />
I saw it, I said this is perfect for our opening,’ she says. “We’re<br />
looking for something that’s going to be really fun to kick off<br />
the festival.” She assures that it’s still going to be accessible,<br />
despite being quirky and edgy. “Having a religious comedy on<br />
Easter Monday we thought was perfect,” she joked.<br />
Despite the growing success of film festivals in Calgary,<br />
it’s not without its challenges. Digital streaming trends have<br />
presented problems for all forms of media, and film festivals<br />
are no exception. Lieberman explains the pace in which<br />
things are moving to Netflix means that film distributors are<br />
not necessarily planning festivals as part of their strategy.<br />
She suggests that the festival might have to consider picking<br />
up films faster than they come out or that they might have<br />
to consider down the road what it means to show a film<br />
that’s already been released. She stresses though that the experience<br />
is far better with an audience. “The point of all this<br />
is that it is more fun to come out to be part of a festival,” she<br />
says. “It encourages conversation.”<br />
One the best aspects of the Calgary Underground Film Festival<br />
is the Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon<br />
Party, which is as fun as it is wordy - so, a lot. Each year, the<br />
festival celebrates retro cartoons and cereal for a day of pure<br />
nostalgia and has grown in popularity immensely. “For years,<br />
we were just in one theatre and we were selling it out and then<br />
we expanded to two theatres,” Lieberman said. “This year’s<br />
Saturday is Earth Day and we’re gonna be switching a lot of<br />
our stuff to biodegradable and compostable. It’s really fun and<br />
crazy and people can bring their kids, people wear pyjamas<br />
and dress up.”<br />
Equal parts fun, odd, and bold, the Calgary Underground<br />
Film Festival has something for everyone. This year, they created<br />
a new online system where if people choose to buy more<br />
than five tickets at a time, they’ll get a much more efficient<br />
price. So max out that dollar and spend some time underground<br />
this <strong>April</strong>. See you down there.<br />
CUFF will run from <strong>April</strong> 17-23 at the Globe Cinema.<br />
FUBAR 15 TH ANNIVERSARY<br />
by Mathew Silver<br />
turning down the suck a decade and a half later<br />
The cult-classic FUBAR will be<br />
screened as part of The Calgary<br />
Underground Film Festival (CUFF)<br />
at the Globe Cinema from <strong>April</strong> 17-23,<br />
almost 15 years after the indie flick earned<br />
a spot at Sundance and established itself<br />
in local film lore.<br />
At its core, FUBAR is a tragicomedy<br />
about two emotionally ill-equipped friends,<br />
Terry and Dean, trying to confront the<br />
ugly literalness of death. It’s a lo-fi portrait<br />
of Canadiana, littered with bits of cultural<br />
realism that continues to resonate with fans<br />
a decade and a half later.<br />
Director Michael Dowse said he could<br />
have never known that the mockumentary<br />
would have such a cultural impact: “Our<br />
goal was to make a good film, and to make<br />
a funny film… but we didn’t expect it to hit<br />
the way it did.”<br />
Dowse, who went on to direct Goon,<br />
said that a mockumentary was the perfect<br />
platform for the film, because the modest<br />
production quality suits the tone of the<br />
film. After spending about twenty thousand<br />
dollars, he knew that he had a decent final<br />
cut of the film and an invitation to the Sundance<br />
Film Festival. What he didn’t know is<br />
that FUBAR would land on the short list of<br />
iconic Canadian films. In fact, a sequel was<br />
released by popular demand in 2010 and a<br />
TV run has been ordered by Rogers Media<br />
and VICE Studios.<br />
The impact is obvious. FUBAR made<br />
a popular house-party beer, glamorized<br />
the mullet, and spawned several quotes<br />
like, “Turn up the good, turn down the<br />
suck” and “Tron funkin blow.” The film<br />
has stayed relevant by preserving itself<br />
in our vernacular and by evoking the<br />
high school experience – even if it’s told<br />
through the lens of two adult males<br />
clinging desperately to their youth.<br />
For me, the appeal is familiar images:<br />
banal white suburban houses with<br />
bottle-strewn lawns, a Canadian flag hung<br />
tastelessly but by necessity in the living<br />
room, and the revelry of a party barely<br />
Relive the nostalgia of this Canadian classic at CUFF.<br />
visible from the sidewalk through a tiny gap<br />
in the curtains; a Stamps’ game, floating<br />
down the Elbow River, and a fence outside<br />
of Western Canada High School (my Alma<br />
Mater, go Redbirds!).<br />
Re-watching the film is an exercise in<br />
waxing nostalgic.<br />
We learn from the title card that the<br />
documentary is “fictional,” with apologies to<br />
all the people who appeared in the movie<br />
thinking it was real. Dowse said this was<br />
done with complete sincerity, but despite<br />
the warning many people still can’t discern<br />
what was pre-ordained by the filmmakers<br />
and what might very well be real people<br />
who stumbled into the scene. In effect, it<br />
blurs the line between mockumentary and<br />
reality and creates a surreal experience for<br />
the viewer.<br />
There’s a scene where two guys fistfight in<br />
High River, and it’s brutally authentic. Which<br />
is to suggest that neither of the guys can<br />
fight for shit but still gave it the good old<br />
college try. It’s scenes like this than lend the<br />
film a raw authenticity.<br />
A decade ago, when I first watched the<br />
movie, I couldn’t tell whether Farrel Mitchner<br />
actually died after taking that seemingly<br />
innocuous dive into the river. It’s only now<br />
that I can appreciate the irony of Terry<br />
showing up to the wake in sweatpants and<br />
a cowboy shirt, and telling the now-cringeworthy<br />
“bin der dun dat” joke. Or even the<br />
fact that Terry and Deaner showed up at all.<br />
And that’s one of the small pleasures<br />
of reliving these things 15 years later. Even<br />
Dowse said that he still gets gratification<br />
from knowing that the movie had a<br />
longstanding impact on people. “I think the<br />
thing I’m most proud of is that people really<br />
hold it close to their hearts. They like it as<br />
much as I cared about it when I made it.<br />
Even 15 years later it’s extremely satisfying.”<br />
FUBAR will be shown on <strong>April</strong> 20th at the<br />
Globe Cinema as part of CUFF. Director<br />
Michael Dowse and star Dave Lawrence will<br />
be in attendance.<br />
30 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE FILM
<strong>April</strong> 17-23,<strong>2017</strong><br />
Any film marked 18+ identifies a film where liquor will be served.<br />
This means no minors will be allowed to attend those screenings.<br />
Please bring valid ID. This is not a film classification rating.<br />
78/52<br />
ALIPATO: THE VERY BRIEF LIFE OF AN EMBER<br />
ARE WE NOT CATS<br />
ASSHOLES<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 91 min<br />
Philippines / Germany, 2016, 88 min<br />
United States, 2016, 78 min<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 73 min<br />
A look at the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s<br />
A group of 10-year-olds rob pedestrians and kill<br />
The strange but tender story of a man who attempts<br />
Adah and Aaron are the biggest assholes in New<br />
PSYCHO, a screen murder that changed the course<br />
without mercy in the underbelly of the Philippines.<br />
to restart his life, but is sidetracked when he meets<br />
York City. The poppers make them worse.<br />
of cinema.<br />
THURSDAY, APRIL 20 - 9:15 PM (18+)<br />
TUESDAY, APRIL 18 - 9:45 PM (18+)<br />
a woman who shares his unorthodox habit – a<br />
proclivity for eating hair.<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 6:30 PM (18+)<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 11:59 PM (18+)<br />
BAND AID<br />
BERLIN SYNDROME<br />
BLOOD MOUNTAIN<br />
COLOSSAL<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 94 min<br />
Australia / Germany, <strong>2017</strong>, 73 min<br />
Canada, <strong>2017</strong>, 87 min<br />
United States / Canada, 2016, 100 min<br />
A couple who can’t stop fighting embark on a<br />
last-ditch effort to save their marriage: turning their<br />
fights into songs and starting a band.<br />
A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive<br />
relationship when an Australian photojournalist<br />
wakes one morning in a Berlin apartment and is<br />
Three mountain bikers embark toward Blood<br />
Mountain. The disappearance of one leads to a<br />
deadly encounter in this gritty thriller.<br />
After losing her job and boyfriend, Gloria soon<br />
becomes connected to a far-off phenomenon<br />
involving a giant monster destroying Seoul, Korea.<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 7:00 PM (18+)<br />
unable to leave.<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 9:45 PM (18+)<br />
FRIDAY, APRIL 21 - 9:45 PM (18+)<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 - 9:30 PM (18+)<br />
A DARK SONG<br />
DAVE MADE A MAZE<br />
DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE<br />
FREE FIRE<br />
Ireland, 2016, 99 min<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 80 min<br />
United States, 2016, 90 min<br />
United Kingdom, 2016, 90 min<br />
A determined young woman and a damaged<br />
occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a<br />
dangerous ritual.<br />
THURSDAY, APRIL 20 - 11:45 PM (18+)<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 2:15 PM<br />
Dave builds a fort in his living room out of pure<br />
frustration, only to wind up trapped by the<br />
fantastical pitfalls, booby traps, and critters of his<br />
own creation.<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 9:00 PM (18+)<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 9:45 PM (18+)<br />
One of cinema’s most enigmatic directors takes us<br />
on an intimate journey through the formative years<br />
of his life, the events that shape his work and shines<br />
a light into the dark corners of his unique world.<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 4:00 PM (18+)<br />
Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted<br />
warehouse between two gangs turns into a shootout<br />
and a game of survival.<br />
TUESDAY, APRIL 18 - 7:30 PM (18+)<br />
FUBAR 15TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING<br />
Canada, 2002, 76 min<br />
G FUNK<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 83 min<br />
GORAN<br />
Croatia, 2016, 86 min<br />
HOUNDS OF LOVE<br />
Australia, 2016, 108 min<br />
A special 15th Anniversary screening of the Calgaryshot<br />
cult classic.<br />
THURSDAY, APRIL 20 - 6:45 PM (18+)<br />
This documentary explores the impact of G Funk, a<br />
style of hip-hop that emerged from Los Angeles in<br />
the ‘90s, combining elements of Motown, Funk, and<br />
R&B with socially-aware gangsta rap.<br />
FRIDAY, APRIL 21 - 7:15 PM (18+)<br />
In a cold mountain region, lives and lies are exposed,<br />
slowly bringing a carefree taxi driver to a disturbing<br />
conclusion.<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 6:30 PM (18+)<br />
In suburban Perth during the mid-1980s, people are<br />
unaware that women are disappearing at the hands<br />
of serial killers.<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 - 9:45 PM (18+)
LAKE BODOM<br />
Finland / Estonia, 2016, 85 min<br />
A gang of Finnish teens visit an infamous crime<br />
scene hoping to solve the murder by reconstructing<br />
it minute by minute in this evocative homage to the<br />
1980s campsite slasher.<br />
FRIDAY, APRIL 21 - 11:59 PM (18+)<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 11:30 AM<br />
OPENING NIGHT FILM & PARTY!<br />
THE LITTLE HOURS<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 90 min<br />
A young servant takes refuge at a convent full<br />
of emotionally unstable medieval nuns after he<br />
cuckolds his master in this star-studded romp.<br />
MONDAY, APRIL 17 - 7:00 PM (18+)<br />
LOST SOLACE<br />
Canada, 2016, 106 min<br />
A young psychopath takes a new brand of ecstasy,<br />
launching a mind-bending trip that causes him to feel<br />
and question his morality for the first time in his life.<br />
THURSDAY, APRIL 20 - 9:30 PM (18+)<br />
LOVE AND SAUCERS<br />
Canada / United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 66 min<br />
David Huggins claims to have had a lifetime of<br />
encounters with otherworldly beings, including<br />
an interspecies romance with an extra-terrestrial<br />
woman. He captures his vivid memories in his art.<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 - 7:15 PM (18+)<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 4:00 PM (18+)<br />
MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA<br />
United States, 2016, 77 min<br />
From acclaimed cartoonist Dash Shaw comes an<br />
audacious debut that is equal parts disaster cinema,<br />
high school comedy and blockbuster satire.<br />
TUESDAY, APRIL 18 - 7:00 PM (18+)<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 11:00 AM<br />
PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT ME<br />
Israel, 2016, 77 min<br />
Joy can’t let go of her ex, can’t fall in love with<br />
the new guy, and can’t stop sleeping around with<br />
strangers.<br />
THURSDAY, APRIL 20 - 7:15 PM (18+)<br />
PONTYPOOL – NATIONAL CANADIAN FILM DAY<br />
FREE SCREENING<br />
Canada, 2008, 93 min<br />
A shock radio DJ and his small crew try to make<br />
sense of disturbing reports of a strange virus<br />
affecting victims’ ability to communicate.<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 - 6:45 PM<br />
(18+)<br />
THE SATURDAY MORNING ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT-<br />
CEREAL CARTOON PARTY!<br />
1960s-1980s, 180 min<br />
A 3-hour trip into the weird and wonderful world of<br />
yesteryear’s animated antics accompanied by an<br />
all-you-can eat buffet of cereal!<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 10:00 AM<br />
SHORTS: AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’<br />
SHORTS: STICKY SITUATIONS<br />
SOME FREAKS<br />
THE SPACE BETWEEN<br />
Various Countries, 2016/17, 84 min<br />
Various Countries, 2016/17, 81 min<br />
United States, 2016, 97 min<br />
Canada, 2016, 90 min<br />
They are good people (and animals), they just don’t<br />
always act that way.<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 4:45 PM (18+)<br />
Roads paved with good intentions can lead to crazy<br />
places.<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - 1:45 PM<br />
A charming romance between a boy with one eye<br />
and an overweight girl shatters as they confront who<br />
they were, who they are, and who everyone thinks<br />
they’re supposed to be.<br />
TUESDAY, APRIL 18 - 9:15 PM (18+)<br />
A new father discovers his child is not his own and<br />
sets out on a journey to find answers.<br />
FRIDAY, APRIL 21 - 6:45 PM (18+)<br />
Only at<br />
Calgary’s first independent video game arcade.<br />
Play games created by indie developers, completely free of charge!<br />
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT<br />
United States, 2016, 96 min<br />
An examination of the pioneering life and works of<br />
artist, musician, and educator, Tony Conrad.<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 9:15 PM (18+)<br />
THE UNTAMED<br />
Mexico / Denmark / France, 2016, 100 min<br />
A parable about a young woman raising two boys<br />
in a small Mexican city. Something not of this world<br />
could answer their problems or bring suffering.<br />
FRIDAY, APRIL 21 - 9:15 PM (18+)<br />
THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 89 min<br />
A documentary about the creator of Tales Of The<br />
City, a gay rights pioneer whose novels have<br />
inspired millions.<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 - 7:00 PM (18+)<br />
CRAWL<br />
CUFFCADE<br />
by POWERHOOF - MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA<br />
Each year CUFFcade showcases A dungeon crawler a newly where your friends control the<br />
monsters! Battle through and power up your hero.<br />
curated selection of the best in new independent<br />
videogames. We have five custom DOWNWELL made cabinets<br />
by MOPPIN - TOKYO, JAPAN<br />
located on the mezzanine level Venture of down the a well Globe in search Cinema. of untold<br />
treasures with only your Gunboots to protect you.<br />
CUFFcade runs throughout the festival, and is free<br />
and open to the public.<br />
MOTHER RUSSIA BLEEDS<br />
by Le CARTEL STUDIO - PARIS, FRANCE<br />
An old-fashioned beat ‘em up with big<br />
doses of adrenaline and trippiness.<br />
OLLI OLLI 2 : WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD
<strong>April</strong> 17-23,<strong>2017</strong><br />
MONDAY, APRIL 17<br />
7:00 PM<br />
OPENING NIGHT FILM & PARTY!<br />
THE LITTLE HOURS<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 90 min<br />
TUESDAY, APRIL 18<br />
7:00 PM<br />
MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL<br />
SINKING INTO THE SEA<br />
United States, 2016, 77 min<br />
7:30 PM<br />
FREE FIRE<br />
United Kingdom, 2016, 90 min<br />
9:15 PM<br />
SOME FREAKS<br />
United States, 2016, 97 min<br />
9:45 PM<br />
ALIPATO: THE VERY BRIEF LIFE<br />
OF AN EMBER<br />
Philippines / Germany, 2016,<br />
88 min<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19<br />
6:45 PM<br />
NATIONAL CANADIAN FILM DAY<br />
FREE SCREENING!<br />
PONTYPOOL<br />
Canada, 2008, 93 min<br />
7:15 PM<br />
LOVE AND SAUCERS<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 62 min<br />
9:30 PM<br />
COLOSSAL<br />
United States / Canada, 2016,<br />
100 min<br />
9:45 PM<br />
HOUNDS OF LOVE<br />
Australia, 2016, 108 min<br />
THURSDAY, APRIL 20<br />
6:45 PM<br />
FUBAR 15TH ANNIVERSARY<br />
SCREENING<br />
Canada, 2002, 76 min<br />
7:15 PM<br />
PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT ME<br />
Israel, 2016, 77 min<br />
9:15 PM<br />
78/52<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 91 min<br />
9:30 PM<br />
LOST SOLACE<br />
Canada, 2016, 106 min<br />
11:45 PM<br />
A DARK SONG<br />
Ireland, 2016, 99 min<br />
FRIDAY, APRIL 21<br />
6:45 PM<br />
THE SPACE BETWEEN<br />
Canada, 2016, 90 min<br />
7:15 PM<br />
G FUNK<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 83 min<br />
9:15 PM<br />
THE UNTAMED<br />
Mexico / Denmark / France<br />
2016, 100 min<br />
9:45 PM<br />
BLOOD MOUNTAIN<br />
Canada, <strong>2017</strong>, 87 min<br />
11:59 PM<br />
LAKE BODOM<br />
Finland / Estonia, 2016, 85 min<br />
SATURDAY, APRIL 22<br />
10:00 AM<br />
THE SATURDAY MORNING ALL-<br />
YOU-CAN-EAT-CEREAL<br />
CARTOON PARTY!<br />
1960s-1980s, 180 min<br />
1:45 PM<br />
SHORTS: STICKY SITUATIONS<br />
Various Countries, 2016/17, 81 min<br />
3:30 PM<br />
GREEN THE SCREEN - PANEL &<br />
NETWORKING ON FILM<br />
PRODUCTION (FREE EVENT)<br />
120 min<br />
4:00 PM<br />
DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE<br />
United States, 2016, 90 min<br />
6:30 PM<br />
ARE WE NOT CATS<br />
United States, 2016, 78 min<br />
7:00 PM<br />
BAND AID<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 94 min<br />
SUNDAY, APRIL 23<br />
11:00 AM<br />
MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL<br />
SINKING INTO THE SEA<br />
United States, 2016, 77 min<br />
11:30 AM<br />
LAKE BODOM<br />
Finland / Estonia, 2016, 85 min<br />
1:30 PM<br />
THE UNTAMED<br />
Mexico / Denmark / France<br />
2016, 100 min<br />
2:15 PM<br />
A DARK SONG<br />
Ireland, 2016, 99 min<br />
4:00 PM<br />
LOVE AND SAUCERS<br />
Canada / United States, <strong>2017</strong>,<br />
62 min<br />
4:45 PM<br />
SHORTS: AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’<br />
Various Countries, 2016/17,<br />
84 min<br />
PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME FEATURES ARE PRECEDED BY<br />
SHORT FILMS, WHICH WILL IMPACT THE TOTAL RUN TIME.<br />
9:00 PM<br />
DAVE MADE A MAZE<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 80 min<br />
9:45 PM<br />
BERLIN SYNDROME<br />
Australia / Germany, <strong>2017</strong>, 116<br />
min<br />
11:59 PM<br />
ASSHOLES<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 73 min<br />
6:30 PM<br />
GORAN<br />
Croatia, 2016, 86 min<br />
7:00 PM<br />
THE UNTOLD TALES OF<br />
ARMISTEAD MAUPIN<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 89 min<br />
9:15 PM<br />
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN<br />
THE PRESENT<br />
United States, 2016, 96 min<br />
9:45 PM<br />
DAVE MADE A MAZE<br />
United States, <strong>2017</strong>, 80 min<br />
Tickets and more infoRmation at calgaryundergroundfilm.com<br />
licensed event-18+evenings-matinees all ages<br />
$10 regular screenings - $8 cuff members / students / seniors |5 Film Multi-Pack $40 / $120 festival pass
HOUNDS OF LOVE<br />
difficult thriller doesn’t stray from under-discussed, troubling issues<br />
To put her parent’s current separation as far<br />
out of her mind as possible, young Vicki<br />
Maloney (Ashleigh Cummings) sneaks out<br />
of her mom’s house late one night. All she wants<br />
to do is let loose at a raucous party for a couple<br />
of hours to forget her daily troubles. Her night<br />
of intended drinking is interrupted when she’s<br />
picked up by a seemingly kind couple driving<br />
down the very same road. Evelyn (Emma Booth)<br />
and John (Stephen Curry) appear to be normal<br />
folk at first, but they carry an uneasy darkness<br />
with them wherever they go. Their offer of<br />
marijuana and an empty booster seat in the back<br />
of their car convinces Vicki that they’re relatively<br />
untrustworthy people.<br />
After drinking a glass of water that’s been drugged,<br />
Vicki is subsequently chained up to one of their<br />
beds. It’s clear that Evelyn and John have done this<br />
kind of thing before. Vicki’s quickly degraded, as she<br />
becomes the victim of a horrifying game of sexual<br />
control. While her freedom is visibly right through<br />
the front door, taunting her at every single moment,<br />
Vicki’s mind begins to race and turn for a way out.<br />
She becomes privy to not only the horrors of her situation,<br />
but also the inner workings of her kidnappers’<br />
collectively deranged psyche.<br />
On the surface, Hounds of Love may at first appear<br />
to be just another run-of-the-mill Australian crime<br />
film. Underneath the basic set-up is a small-scale<br />
character-focused chamber piece. The performances<br />
of the three leads are what truly make the film<br />
THE SPACE BETWEEN<br />
director Amy Jo Johnson makes her touching feature film debut<br />
Don’t miss this all-Canadian indie dramedy at CUFF.<br />
Mitch (Michael Cram) is a pretty insecure<br />
middle-aged guy. He has an unambitious<br />
job at a go-kart track (yet has a<br />
surprisingly nice home for such a career path) and<br />
seems to wallow in self-pity. So when he receives<br />
a letter explaining that his red-haired newborn is<br />
not his, he does not take the news well. Angry and<br />
betrayed, he sets out to find the baby’s true father<br />
and to exact his revenge. Mitch’s plans are tenuous<br />
at best, however. He doesn’t even know what the<br />
FILM<br />
Best bring a blanket to this intense, dark thriller.<br />
work. They’re faultless and feel genuinely authentic<br />
throughout. We feel completely awful for Vicki as she<br />
goes through the trauma of being kidnapped, raped<br />
and tortured. We entirely loathe John for being the<br />
most despicable human being imaginable. Our hearts<br />
absolutely break for Evelyn because she’s also a victim<br />
in her own right. We condemn them and hate them<br />
real father looks like.<br />
Meanwhile, his wife, Jackie, (Sonya Salomaa) regrets<br />
her actions, so she piles her dysfunctional group<br />
of family and friends into a limousine to stop Mitch<br />
and try to save their marriage. Mitch, however, not<br />
the vengeful type, meets an unusual and adorable girl<br />
named Emily (Julia Sarah Stone), and forms a strange<br />
yet humanizing relationship with her.<br />
It’s a quirky, funny, and emotional film, and we<br />
were able to speak with writer/director Amy Jo<br />
for their actions, but also unfortunately understand<br />
why they do what they do.<br />
First-time feature writer/director Ben Young wisely<br />
keeps the film focused on the victim and her kidnappers.<br />
The audience fully understands the perverse<br />
and complex power struggle at work here. Young also<br />
smartly eschews the stock rape revenge tropes that<br />
Johnson about it, which also happens to be her first<br />
feature-length film.<br />
“I was super lucky with that cast,” she said. “Michael<br />
Ironside was amazing. Jayne Eastwood is such<br />
a legend.”<br />
The film’s characters feel real; they are all eccentric,<br />
of course, yet entirely believable. “For the characters…<br />
I definitely pull from people in my life,” she<br />
admitted. “Emilia’s dad, Nick, I wrote sort of based on<br />
my own father, but when Michael Ironside showed<br />
up on set he was no longer Nick. That’s what so great<br />
about seeing things come to life, the actors bring<br />
their own thing.”<br />
The teenage girl Emily is the emotional heart of<br />
the film, hiding deep-rooted pain behind an air of<br />
cheeriness. Complementing the emotional Mitch,<br />
a wonderful father-daughter relationship emerges.<br />
Johnson stresses that Emily needed to look innocent<br />
so that there could be no mistaken romantic relationship.<br />
“Mitch’s journey is to really figure out that<br />
he can be a good father, so we really needed whoever<br />
to play [Emily] to not have a sexy thing that they give<br />
off, and that’s hard to find. But when Julia sent in her<br />
tape I was like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect.’”<br />
Themes are what give a story depth, and the recurring<br />
notion throughout the film is that pain creates<br />
passion. “Ultimately the main theme throughout<br />
the movie is acceptance and forgiveness,” Johnson<br />
explained. “Each character has to go through their<br />
journey to find love in a way. To do that, everybody<br />
had to let go from what they were holding onto.”<br />
We asked Johnson if this theme was close to her.<br />
She stated that it wasn’t the initial intention in early<br />
by Philip Clarke<br />
audiences are most likely expecting to unfold in the<br />
last act. So many films of its ilk all go down the same<br />
path, by giving both the victim and the audience the<br />
instant gratification of a fantastically hyper-violent<br />
finale. The ending, while certainly violent, is never<br />
taken to over-the-top or unnecessarily stylized<br />
extremes.<br />
The film never shies away from any of the ugliness<br />
that the real world has to offer, without ever becoming<br />
overly gratuitous. Young leaves the scenes of<br />
sexual assault up the viewer’s imagination by having<br />
very little of the acts ever shown on screen. Most of<br />
the atrocities are just heard though Vicki’s terrified<br />
screams. The film is undoubtedly a difficult watch<br />
from the very beginning.<br />
Not only does the film discuss the horrific nature<br />
of sexual assault, but it also delves into a deconstruction<br />
of toxic relationships. Evelyn utterly worships<br />
John when she clearly shouldn’t. On top of being a<br />
serial rapist and kidnapper, John’s also an alcoholic<br />
who’s prone to violent outbursts towards animals and<br />
treating his wife like his own personal slave.<br />
Hounds of Love is not a film to be casually<br />
watched on a lazy Sunday afternoon. However, it is<br />
definitely an important film to watch and discuss<br />
afterwards. That way we can help educate and create<br />
awareness on real mature themes that are sadly all<br />
too real in the world today.<br />
Hounds of Love screens at the Globe Cinema on <strong>April</strong><br />
19th as part of CUFF.<br />
by Jonathan Lawrence<br />
drafts of the script, but that by the end of the writing<br />
process, it suddenly became very apparent. “I figured<br />
out that that was everybody’s journey, and I think in<br />
life that’s probably the hardest lesson and the biggest<br />
thing we all have to do is figure out how to let go and<br />
accept where were at or what’s happening and not<br />
try to control everything.”<br />
One of the film’s strong points is its comedic<br />
undertones, which nicely balance out the film’s<br />
dramatic moments. “The heavy subject matter that I<br />
was dealing with, I try to find the levity within it, [to]<br />
be able to laugh at the situations.”<br />
To bring levity to the script, Johnson knew that the<br />
film’s lead needed to have an understated comedic<br />
side. “I wrote the movie for Michael [Cram], I worked<br />
with him on Flashpoint. I think he is just the funniest<br />
guy, but he doesn’t even know how funny he is. He<br />
is Mitch, but I think more sophisticated. I remember<br />
being on set and he’d be like, ‘I don’t understand<br />
what you’re saying.’ He’d get a bit insecure. ‘What do<br />
you want?’ he’d say.” Johnson affects a panicky voice<br />
for Cram.<br />
“There he is, that’s him,” she joked. “One day<br />
he just showed up really confident and a whole<br />
different Mitch and I was like ‘who is this confident<br />
guy on my set?’”<br />
“What are you talking about?” he responded<br />
anxiously.<br />
“There you go, there he is,” Johnson said, laughing.<br />
The Space Between will be shown on <strong>April</strong> 21st at the<br />
Globe Cinema as part of CUFF. Star Michael Ironside<br />
will be in attendance.<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 35
THE VIDIOT<br />
rewind to the future<br />
Assassin’s Creed<br />
The upside to being an assassin is that one-day you might actually<br />
get to kill your boss.<br />
And who would know better than the inherent assassin in this<br />
action movie?<br />
Alan (Jeremy Irons) and his daughter (Marion Cotillard) are<br />
scientists with a clandestine organization out to prevent the<br />
modern-day Templar from enslaving the human race.<br />
To help them locate an artifact that can decode human free<br />
will, the pair abducts a death row inmate, Callum (Michael Fassbender),<br />
with ties to an ancient assassins guild.<br />
Thrust through time into his ancestor’s tunic, Callum learns the<br />
article’s location as well as his captor’s true intentions with it.<br />
Although it is a higher caliber video game movie than most,<br />
this live-action version of the Ubisoft franchise suffers the same<br />
pitfalls as its gaming ilk, namely, bad acting and script.<br />
Furthermore, sending convicts to the 1400s is a smart way to<br />
ease prison overpopulation.<br />
Collateral Beauty<br />
Losing someone is very difficult, especially when they didn’t tell<br />
you any of their online passwords.<br />
Fortunately, the deceased in this drama was too young to have<br />
that many PINs.<br />
Spiraling into depression after losing his daughter, ad executive<br />
Howard (Will Smith) starts penning angry letters to Love, Death<br />
and Time.<br />
When his business partners (Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Michael<br />
Peña) discover this they hire actors (Keira Knightley, Helen<br />
Mirren, Jacob Latimore) to portray those concepts and confront<br />
Howard publically.<br />
However, their scheme to get him deemed insane makes them<br />
reevaluate their own feelings towards those intangibles.<br />
A failed attempt at an uplifting ensemble, the hokey premise<br />
gets more pathetic and laughable as it limps towards to its<br />
over-emotional ending. Not even its credible cast can save it from<br />
the sentimental scrapheap.<br />
Besides, the only letters you should be sending after losing<br />
someone are those addressed to mail-order bride websites.<br />
Fences<br />
The upside to being a garbage man in the 1950s was that households<br />
only had one garbage can.<br />
But even that can’t keep the trash collector in this drama from<br />
complaining.<br />
Relegated to the back of the dumpster - alongside the other<br />
black sanitation worker Bono (Stephen Henderson) - failed baseball<br />
star Troy (Denzel Washington) shares his resentment with his<br />
co-worker, his wife (Viola Davis) and his two sons on a daily basis.<br />
Over the years his anger, drinking and his adultery drives<br />
further wedges between his loved ones. Meanwhile he wages a<br />
personal war against the Grim Reaper.<br />
Directed by Denzel Washington and featuring an Oscar-winning<br />
performance from Davis, this minimalistic film adaptation<br />
of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play is a powerful, albeit long<br />
winded, portrayal of a multifaceted but ultimately unlikable<br />
character.<br />
Incidentally, movies are better than plays because you aren’t hit<br />
by any of the actors spit.<br />
by Shane Sellar<br />
Jackie<br />
The first thing a First Lady should do after her husband’s been<br />
assassinated is pack the White House silverware.<br />
Mind you, the mourner in this drama has ample time to steal<br />
before removal.<br />
Shortly after his assassination, John F. Kennedy’s revered wife<br />
Jacqueline (Natalie Portman) arranges an elaborate state funeral<br />
for him that is construed as controversial by his brother Robert<br />
(Peter Sarsgaard) and his voters.<br />
She further confounds the public by conducting a Life magazine<br />
interview where she explains to a reporter (Billy Crudup)<br />
that her and husband’s legacy was akin to John’s favourite<br />
musical Camelot.<br />
An artistic take on Jackie’s mental decline following the traumatic<br />
events in Dallas, this beautifully shot biography offers up<br />
an unseen glimpse into the grieving process of the world’s most<br />
beloved widow, masterfully performed by Portman.<br />
And the Kennedys were just like Arthurian legend if JFK was<br />
Guinevere and Marilyn Monroe was Lancelot.<br />
Live By Night<br />
The biggest difference between the Irish mob and the Italian mob<br />
is their choice of starch.<br />
Obviously, the Irish gangster in this drama is partial to tubers.<br />
Run out of Boston after he is caught kissing on the Irish mob<br />
boss’ girl (Sienna Miller), ex-soldier Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck)<br />
ends up in Florida working enforcement for the Italian mafia’s rum<br />
running business.<br />
While he finds love with a local (Zoe Saldana), Coughlin’s<br />
problems aren’t over yet as the local sheriff (Chris Cooper), his<br />
aspiring actress daughter (Elle Fanning) and the local chapter of<br />
the Ku Klux Klan make his transition into the Tampa markets a<br />
bloody one.<br />
Starring, directed and adapted from the novel by Affleck, this<br />
epic length vanity project brings nothing new to the gangster<br />
genre besides ludicrous dialogue, ill-fated white suits and marginal<br />
directing.<br />
Besides, bootlegging isn’t as secure a career in Florida as say<br />
smuggling in Cubans is.<br />
Moana<br />
The best thing about growing up on an island is that it prepares<br />
you for if ever you get deserted on one.<br />
However, the princess in this animated-musical sees no benefit<br />
to island living.<br />
The daughter of a domineering chieftain, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho)<br />
yearns to stray beyond the coral borders of her Polynesian<br />
community, but her father forbids voyages abroad for fear of<br />
sea-monsters.<br />
When she uncovers the real reason behind the leviathans and<br />
of her tribe’s seafaring legacy, Moana and her pet rooster set<br />
sail to capture a shapeshifting demigod (Dwayne Johnson) and<br />
liberate an island deity from captivity.<br />
Although it does not stray far from the proven Disney princess<br />
story standards – an animal sidekick, an overprotective father<br />
and a bevy of songs - it does however do a commendable job<br />
incorporating those criteria in an amusing fashion.<br />
Incidentally, shapeshifting is most useful when you can’t find<br />
a washroom.<br />
Passengers<br />
The downside to hypersleep is lying in your own nocturnal emissions<br />
for 100 years.<br />
Smartly, the cyrosleeper in this sci-fi film wakes up to get his<br />
rocks off.<br />
When an asteroid strikes a spacecraft carrying thousands of<br />
hibernating colonists to their new home, slumbering passenger,<br />
Jim (Chris Pratt), is woken 90 years too soon.<br />
Unable to get back to sleep, or commandeer the controls, Jim’s<br />
desperation results in him rousing a female passenger (Jennifer<br />
Lawrence) to keep him company. But when she learns the truth,<br />
his plans for love are jeopardized.<br />
Meanwhile, damage to the ship’s reactor threatens all life<br />
aboard.<br />
With mediocre effects, dull performances and a stalker-like narrative<br />
masquerading as a love story, this ill-fated voyage distracts<br />
from its creepiness with a boilerplate climax that adds further<br />
insult to the viewer’s intelligence.<br />
Besides, intercourse in space is the same as intercourse on<br />
Earth, just way more expensive.<br />
36 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE FILM
JUCY<br />
DBRIDGE<br />
dBridge reflects on his quarter-century musical journey<br />
by Max Foley<br />
Influential producer and Exit Records boss continues to explore.<br />
Love it or hate it, drum and bass is one of the<br />
most historically significant parts of electronic<br />
music. Consistently overshadowed by more<br />
approachable and popular genres, the veritable<br />
ecosystem that is 174 b.p.m. nevertheless continues<br />
to strive, taking identity-shifting curveballs in<br />
stride and enduring through decade after decade.<br />
Darren White, a.k.a. dBridge, has been there since<br />
the very beginning.<br />
“I’m really proud to call myself a part of the<br />
D’N’B scene, and I’m really glad that it’s sticking<br />
around — as much as some people wish it<br />
wasn’t,” White says, chuckling.<br />
In 1996, White joined forces with [Jason] Maldini<br />
to create grassroots jungle project Future Forces, Inc.,<br />
releasing on guerilla im<strong>print</strong> Renegade Hardware.<br />
From there, Future Forces connected with Vegas and<br />
influential modern-day hit-maker DJ Fresh to birth<br />
one of the genre’s séminal collectives — Bad Company<br />
UK. White then set about establishing a label<br />
named EXIT Records, which exists today as a bastion<br />
of tastemakers influencing drum and bass and its<br />
various far-reaching tendrils.<br />
Notoriously versatile and prolific, dBridge has operated<br />
under so many different solo and collaborative<br />
monikers that it’s liable to make even the most hardcore<br />
fans’ heads spin. Even in the last five years, White<br />
has released under aliases like Heart Drive and Velvit<br />
as well as the ever-increasingly nebulous dBridge title<br />
— the latter of which will likely be commanding the<br />
bulk of his attention this year.<br />
“I’m planning on having a selfish year. I want to<br />
JUCY<br />
write and finish an album this year. It’s about time<br />
— it’s been 10 years since my last,” White explains,<br />
referencing the future-facing The Gemini Principle<br />
LP released in 2008. It sounds like a long time, but<br />
White is modest to a fault, failing to clarify that<br />
he’s released a borderline unreasonable amount<br />
of material in those last ten years. The bulk of this<br />
material consists of literally dozens of solo and<br />
collaborative releases.<br />
Patched in from his home in Antwerp via<br />
Skype, White’s meditations on almost 25 years<br />
of activity are humbling and understated, yet<br />
disproportionately inspiring.<br />
“When you say that, a quarter of a century plus, I<br />
mean... fuck me! It’s something to be proud of, to be<br />
able to stick around this long and (hopefully) stay<br />
relevant in some way,” White says wistfully.<br />
“I recognize that I’m getting to that point in my<br />
life where I want to take a step back and change<br />
things slightly.”<br />
“People used to tell me like, “Oh, [jungle anthems]<br />
“Dead By Dawn, “The Nine,” “True Romance” was<br />
the reason I got into music. And that gives me pause<br />
because they’re not really citing me anymore, they’re<br />
citing people like fucking [redacted], or bloody<br />
[redacted]. So, yeah. Now I’m feeling old.”<br />
“But I wanna be careful not to come across as a<br />
grumpy old junglist,” White clarifies. A little bit of<br />
jadedness is acceptable when you wrote a good portion<br />
of the drum and bass textbook. And he comes<br />
across as anything but when he talks about his own<br />
body of work.<br />
Believe it or not, after 25 years, the anxiety of releasing<br />
creative work hasn’t gone away. Darren White,<br />
then, is the quintessential creative.<br />
“When I DJ, I’m really bad at playing my own music.<br />
I struggle to play it. I’d almost prefer if I wasn’t in a<br />
position where I had to. I’d prefer having other people<br />
play it.” You’d think that after all these years, I’d just<br />
have the balls to get on with it.”<br />
“Even though I’ve been involved with DnB for so<br />
long, there are times where I hate it, and I have to<br />
explore other avenues.” White continues, citing his<br />
growing passion for photography. “But I have this<br />
weird sort of self-doubt. And that probably has to do<br />
with the fact that when you put something out that’s<br />
really personal to you, you don’t really want to hear<br />
what other people think. I don’t really want people to<br />
pass judgment because that’s not why I’ve made it.”<br />
Over time, however, White clearly started to settle<br />
down and own his shit, going through a minor but<br />
palpable transformation. Existential angst and creative<br />
second-guessing aside –- traps every artist ever<br />
has fallen into — White’s contemplative enthusiasm<br />
was contagious.<br />
“After 25 years, I think I still know how to rock a<br />
party.” he finishes.<br />
Those of us eager to put that latent but rock-solid<br />
confidence to the test will have ample opportunities<br />
to this summer. Never change, dBridge.<br />
Catch dBridge at the HiFi Club in Calgary alongside<br />
the Librarian on <strong>April</strong> 15th, and this summer at Bass<br />
Coast Electronic Music and Art Festival.<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 39
CHUURCH<br />
rising Calgary duo shares their story<br />
Calgary duo Chuurch reveal exclusive secrets within this article.<br />
This isn’t the first time we’ve written<br />
about Calgary’s illusive duo Chuurch,<br />
comprised of Jeff Wilson (a.k.a Makemdef)<br />
and Justin MacLean (a.k.a EviCtion). It’s<br />
not even the first time we’ve found ourselves<br />
sitting on a couch together.<br />
When whispers of their name first emerged on<br />
the scene early in 2016, it caught the attention of<br />
many. Their debut performance at the Sled Island<br />
Block Party saw the mysterious duo materialize out<br />
of a murky cloud of intrigue, establishing themselves<br />
as forerunners in the scene.<br />
The two officially met outside Habitat Living<br />
Sound in 2014. MacLean recognized Wilson’s<br />
university ring for St. Francis Xavier; it was from his<br />
hometown school in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. They<br />
began talking, realizing they shared a mutual friend<br />
and mentor who pushed them to pursue music seriously.<br />
They actually had unknowingly both attended<br />
his wake, but it wasn’t until that chance meeting<br />
that they connected, and thus began making music.<br />
Thus far, it’s been an ambiguous, creative, and highly<br />
danceable mix of electronica, house, and hip-hop<br />
that’s dark, sexual, and heavy.<br />
While Wilson attempts to tell the full story,<br />
MacLean fills in the blanks with his drawling,<br />
baritone voice.<br />
“It was fate, it was crazy.”<br />
Fast-forward from their chance meeting to November<br />
18. They’ve converged: MacLean brings his<br />
prolific hip-hop background to the equation; Wilson<br />
brings his university-jazz-guitar-schooling-turned-DJ<br />
background. The result was an unstoppable flow of<br />
original material. Around that time, Dubstep artist<br />
Skream came to Calgary to play a five-hour set. Wilson<br />
brought the DJ back to his house after the show.<br />
“So we had five or six people back and we had<br />
one person that was very, very, very important,”<br />
says Wilson.<br />
Eventually, Skream asked Wilson to put on music.<br />
Wilson obliged, opportunistically vouching to play<br />
Chuurch material for someone he admired. It was<br />
by Paul Rodgers<br />
photo: Michael Benz<br />
kismet: Skream dug it.<br />
“I challenged him to e-mail people, and he<br />
e-mailed [British producer] Switch, and that was the<br />
turning point for not just me quitting my job, but<br />
Justin quitting his job. And that’s what led us a year<br />
later to get down to L.A.”<br />
The duo had not previously been able to<br />
disclose the fact that it was this encounter that<br />
led them to Los Angeles. The relationship formed<br />
with the legendary producer whose clients<br />
include M.I.A. Christina Aguilera, and Major Lazer<br />
opened serious doors.<br />
“He’s the legend, he’s the OG, he’s a huge<br />
supporter of us, he’s our big homie… being around<br />
that guy is honestly like hanging around Jay Z,”<br />
reminisces MacLean.<br />
After an initial five-day excursion to meet Switch<br />
and show him they were real, Chuurch received<br />
some financial backing from friends. They returned<br />
for a three month trip which turned into a tumultuous<br />
but productive two months. The music created<br />
during that period is to be announced; in the meantime,<br />
upcoming live performances are abundant.<br />
“Making music down there was awesome, the<br />
thing is, every time we were making something really<br />
dope, I would get the familiar feeling of us just being<br />
at home.”<br />
Like with all other challenges they have faced<br />
together, they made it work and turned that struggle<br />
into something positive. They returned to Calgary<br />
enriched, having sparked the interest of a larger<br />
international community. Despite finding something<br />
special in L.A., the duo gives serious credit and<br />
respect to the groundwork laid Smalltown DJs, the<br />
Hifi Club staff, and people at PK Sound that helped<br />
Chuurch get established.<br />
Keep watch on what this black-clad, lean bass<br />
hustlers will churn out next, it’s guaranteed to be<br />
something big.<br />
Chuurch perform on <strong>April</strong> 20th at the Commonwealth<br />
Bar in Calgary with Amine Edge and Dance.<br />
TROYBOI<br />
a multi-cultural clash master<br />
There’s a term used when describing opposites:<br />
“worlds apart.” The term indicates<br />
those that are defined by radically different<br />
paradigms. In music, the term is infrequently used,<br />
yet applicable to the fusion of unusual genres<br />
or sounds into a cohesive whole. In the case of<br />
South London’s TroyBoi, and his knack for fusing a<br />
miasma of unique sounds and styles into his own<br />
signature pastiche, it’s perfectly suited.<br />
Signature tracks “Mantra” and “Do You?” exhibit<br />
the varying cultural influences that permeate his catalogue.<br />
Thanks to a mix of Nigerian, Chinese, Indian<br />
and Portuguese ethnicities, there is a kaleidoscope of<br />
sounds that appear in his music.<br />
“From being a baby it’s been imbedded in me,”<br />
begins TroyBoi, who resides in London and goes by<br />
Troy Henry when not on stage.<br />
“My mom, she used to love watching Indian movies.<br />
She would watch them all day, every day. And in<br />
Hindi movies there are so many songs and it’s like<br />
a three or four hour movie. My mom would watch<br />
like two movies a day, that’s like eight hours. Can you<br />
imagine how many songs I was listening to as a kid?”<br />
His father equally gifted him with a love for disco<br />
and funk, and now the sky seems to be the limit with<br />
where he can go with his Trap oriented sound.<br />
After finishing up the last leg of his North American<br />
tour, appropriately dubbed Mantra, TroyBoi has<br />
humbly embraced his highly acclaimed, new found<br />
solo success over the last couple of years.<br />
“It’s been amazing, really, being from London, and<br />
to be able to come all the way out here, to meet and<br />
greet my fans, it’s just really nice,” Troyboi explains.<br />
TroyBoi fuses a miasma of unique styles into a pastiche all his own.<br />
by Jay King<br />
While he’s been involved with the collaborative<br />
project SoundSnobz (with best friend and fellow<br />
producer, icekream), being in great demand solo is<br />
something he’s humbled by and has been cultivating<br />
since the early 2010’s when he began producing,<br />
remixing, and releasing.<br />
“This tour is specifically for the fans. For anyone<br />
who’s maybe never heard the music, this is the one<br />
for them.”<br />
Even though he’s collaborated with the likes of<br />
Flosstradamus and Diplo, having another fellow<br />
producer be such a close friend has really meant a lot<br />
to Troyboi, and he is forthright in expressing so.<br />
“He’s like my brother, right there. We have a whole<br />
bunch of tracks already, and we’re going to be doing<br />
a lot more. It’s been kind of hard to juggle everything,<br />
cause I’ve been away, and he’s been doing his own<br />
thing, as well. But once all the touring is over, and I’m<br />
making more music, that’s when we’re really gonna<br />
come with SoundSnobz, full scene.”<br />
With an obvious appreciation for his humble beginnings<br />
and for clear vision of where he would like<br />
to go, TroyBoi’s ambition is sincere and focused.<br />
“There’s so many things that are motivating me,”<br />
he says.<br />
“From my actual goals, to the fans, there’s a lot<br />
that goes behind the drive and force to get me to<br />
these places, for sure.”<br />
TroyBoi is performing in Edmonton during the Northern<br />
Lights Music Festival. It runs <strong>April</strong> 14th and 15th;<br />
tickets can be purchased at http://northernlightsmusicfest.com<br />
photo: Mitch Schneider<br />
40 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE JUCY
SNAKEHIPS<br />
Oscillate and undulate to the good-ass vibes<br />
Many electronic music acts from deadmau5 to marshmello have made<br />
masks their calling card. After failing to find fans that were willing to<br />
do their face paint on Twitter, U.K. producer duo Snakehips decided<br />
to join the ranks. It was October 31, 2014 at the Hifi Club and it was Oliver<br />
“Ollie” Lee and James Carter’s first, and to date only, performance in Alberta.<br />
“We went in these horrible masks that we bought from this weird costume<br />
shop,” Lee recalls. Carter wore a vaguely unsettling Geisha mask; Lee opted to wear<br />
the face of a smiling grandpa.<br />
Masks aren’t Snakehips gimmick though. It’d be hard to argue that Snakehips<br />
have anything closely resembling a gimmick at all. Their brand of boom-bap, soul,<br />
and new-era wonky influenced electropop is varied, and most importantly, fun.<br />
Lee even has a tough time nailing down what makes Snakehips so ‘Snakehips-y.’<br />
“Everything’s always like in a different style. We never really do the same thing<br />
twice. It’s difficult for us to even say what (our sound) is.”<br />
Whatever that sound is, it’s working. Despite their scene being oversaturated<br />
with producers, and despite the fact that they’ve never released an album, the<br />
duo is causing a rumble. Their breakout, “All My Friends” is a slightly depressive<br />
anthemic ode to wasted nights featuring the sultry singing of Tinashe alongside a<br />
nuanced, drug-themed Chance the Rapper verse.<br />
Up until “All My Friends,” the duo’s biggest claim to fame was an official remix of<br />
a deep-cut by sultry R&B singer Banks.<br />
“It was a pretty wild idea,” says Lee, describing the initial attempt to contact the<br />
rising star. To their surprise, that’s all it took.<br />
“It’s still kind of crazy for us.”<br />
From there, James and Ollie have been releasing hit single after hit single via<br />
collaborations with Tory Lanez, Anderson .Paak, and Zayn. Even their BBC Live<br />
Lounge session, a popular cover segment on the radio station, was a collaboration<br />
with Norwegian star MØ. They’ve also released a single with her dubbed “Don’t<br />
Leave” that’s currently climbing the Spotify charts.<br />
This rapid-fire single output is par for the course with electronic artists, as hype<br />
is fleeting in our digital world. Building up enough material for an album while<br />
attaching your name to big name collaborators has kept Snakehips in the spotlight.<br />
RUMOURS RAVE<br />
the otherworldliness of Fleetmac Wood’s remix<br />
From the moment Rumours was released in 1977, the world’s great love<br />
affair with Fleetwood Mac’s Buckingham-Nicks line-up spiraled beyond<br />
the stratosphere and has continued to burn brightly, lighting up the<br />
rock ‘n’ roll heavens. Taking it yet to another level, Alex Oxley and Lisa Jelliffe,<br />
a pair of English DJs, created Fleetmac Wood in a “sweaty East London basement”<br />
as a remix project and traveling rave party dedicated to the music of<br />
their favourite band.<br />
by Cole Parker<br />
They haven’t totally ruled out more traditional music release strategies though.<br />
“We’re just kind of working out whether we want to do an album or whether it’s<br />
cool to just keep the music going. We’re sitting on a whole bunch of material.”<br />
However they choose to release their music, they’re returning to Calgary soon<br />
to play it. This time, however, they’re not opening; the venue will be bigger and<br />
they won’t be wearing grandpa masks. Their goal remains the same.<br />
“It’s just fun, good-ass vibes,” Lee boasts.<br />
“We try and play as much cool shit as possible. It’s what we want to hear in the<br />
club.”<br />
If you’re a fan of upbeat, punchy and diverse electronic pop, it’s probably what<br />
you’ll want to hear in the club too.<br />
Catch Snakehips at the Palace Theatre in Calgary on <strong>April</strong> 6th.<br />
by B. Simm<br />
Other than celebrating Rumours’ 40th year, why does it make for a<br />
good project to transition into dance music?<br />
LISA: We feel that Rumours is the gateway drug to all of Fleetwood Mac’s<br />
music from the early bluesy stuff with Peter Green, to years after Rumours.<br />
You can’t cannot deny that that album is just full to the brim of incredible<br />
songs, that are extremely varied, and so many talents in the band with<br />
three vocalist. All members are big contributors, they could all be solo<br />
artists themselves. People have so many connections to all those songs,<br />
and such a wide range of different tracks to work with. You have the<br />
driving up-tempo of “Go Your Own Way,” the whimsical and the hypnotic<br />
sounds of “Dreams,” which actually has a loop drum beat in it. Dance has<br />
always borrowed from music before it, which we’re doing the reserve of.<br />
I also think it’s really great to hear some analogue sounds in a night club.<br />
People have this emotion connection, but aren’t used to hearing it in a<br />
club environment where it becomes a new experience.<br />
What can party-goers expect?<br />
LISA: Something that we seen a lot is that the style of Stevie Nicks is not a<br />
gender, it’s a state of mind. We get lot of men, gay and straight, who love<br />
to work a shawl (laughs). Other than the music, there’s this slightly more<br />
romantic visual aesthetic that we encourage and also bring into our set...<br />
this otherworldliness that some of their music evokes.<br />
Rumours Rave descends upon Broken City Friday, <strong>April</strong> 14.<br />
JUCY<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 41
ROOTS<br />
TIMBER TIMBRE<br />
creepin’ in real freaky with a political new record<br />
Timber Timbre releases their sixth studio album in <strong>April</strong>.<br />
Timber Timbre’s music is sexy, swampy, and<br />
makes one want to take off their clothes<br />
and sweat a little. The lyrics drip and ache<br />
with longing and cinematic restraint, in no small<br />
part due to frontman Taylor Kirk starting on the<br />
path of filmmaking over a decade ago.<br />
“I had the idea that I might like to make music for<br />
films and I was serious about making recording,” Kirk<br />
tells <strong>BeatRoute</strong>.<br />
LEEROY STAGGER<br />
new album Love Versus is a lyrical and musical tapestry<br />
15 years in, Leeroy Stagger is releasing his ninth album and is finally<br />
hitting his stride artistically and professionally. Love Versus<br />
is a new collection of songs, written and recorded by Stagger at<br />
his new studio, which he built after winning the Peak Performance<br />
Project in 2015. This marks his first full-length to be recorded at the<br />
new digs.<br />
Stagger is an accomplished producer in his own right, but this time he<br />
teamed up with Colin Stewart (Dan Mangan, New Pornographers), and<br />
is releasing the record on Edmonton’s True North Records.<br />
“I had been in a pretty fog the last couple of years,” Stagger tells<br />
<strong>BeatRoute</strong>.<br />
“Depression, anxiety, uncertainty. This really seems the first creative<br />
emergence coming out of that fog of the last couple of years. It seems<br />
like a perfect storm, I think people are connecting to the truth of it, the<br />
love in it, and it’s uplifting but not watered down.”<br />
Stagger broke down the impending record for us track-by-track,<br />
giving us revealing insights into his artistic process and decade of musical<br />
experience. It gave us revealing and evocative insight into the album,<br />
and is best read in conjunction with listening to the album.<br />
Opener “I Want It All” is a song about “trying to embrace how grateful<br />
I am for what I have as opposed to worrying about the things I don’t<br />
have, or want. It’s an observation on how simple life can be, how beautiful<br />
it can be, if we really look at it.”<br />
The title track, “Love Versus,” comes from when Stagger “was going<br />
through a lot of personal turmoil,” and it’s centred on “whether, or not,<br />
love, in its essence, is all we need. If it is enough.”<br />
The heart of the third track, “Enemy Inside,” “came from the Peak<br />
Performance competition” and was co-written with Mike Edel. Stagger<br />
“brought that song to the producer, he didn’t really like it, he wanted me<br />
to continue writing it, so I put more meat on it and it became “Enemy<br />
ROOTS<br />
photo: Caroline Desilets<br />
“By the time I finished (school) I had made a few<br />
art films, and realized I was making the films so that I<br />
could make the music for the films.”<br />
So, Kirk started Timber Timbre.<br />
“I never even had any idea that I would even share<br />
it with anybody, that I would even play it for my<br />
friends or anyone I knew. I didn’t have any particular<br />
ambition.”<br />
Six albums, two JUNO nominations, and two<br />
Polaris Music Prize shortlists later, things are a lot<br />
different.<br />
It “seems that each time I go to start over to make<br />
something, the whole process is sort of infected with<br />
the idea that it is going to be presented or consumed<br />
or that it has a life that I ought to be concerned about<br />
beyond the basic idea of making it,” explains Kirk.<br />
Timber Timbre’s last three albums has recorded in<br />
a myriad of magical places like the renamed Grand<br />
Lodge No. 24, the studio formerly owned by Arcade<br />
Fire. Other locations have included the National<br />
Music Center in Calgary and the Banff Centre for<br />
Performing Arts, which was a “real dream.” Perhaps<br />
trying to top their previous locations, the recording<br />
sessions for their upcoming sixth full-length Sincerely,<br />
Future Pollution, took them to La Frette chateau, a<br />
studio outside Paris.<br />
“The guy who owns (and runs) the place is living<br />
in Montreal part time and has a relationship with the<br />
music scene here,” explains Kirk of who the album<br />
came to be.<br />
“Leslie Feist had been there, [José] González, Patrick<br />
Watson… so I’d heard about it forever. Then we<br />
had a show in Paris and we came to visit the studio,<br />
to have a look around and they were so hospitable<br />
and the studio itself just had a weird vibe.”<br />
Doubt, at one time or another can seep into artistic<br />
endeavors, no matter the success one achieves.<br />
“The kind of doubt that I had with this recording I<br />
have never had before”.<br />
The writing and recording came during a time<br />
Stagger gives us a track-by-track breakdown of his new record.<br />
photo: David Guenther<br />
Inside,” which is now intended to be the second single. The song is about<br />
coming home to the ghosts of my youth.” The song is a throwback rocker<br />
in the vein of Bruce Springsteen; harkening to Stagger’s 2006 album<br />
Depression River.<br />
“Crooked Old World” features Haligonian raconteur Joel Plaskett,<br />
which came about after Stagger “started opening for him on the coast<br />
by Naddine Madell-Morgan<br />
where Timber Timbre was restructuring as an act and<br />
an entity. All their infrastructure “had to also be reassembled.”<br />
The spooky vibe of La Frette, the political<br />
landscape, and the lingering doubt Kirk felt seeped<br />
into the recordings themselves.<br />
“For the most part people found it weird,” Kirk<br />
states. “Suspicious or something.”<br />
“In the past, we’ve always put out the songs that<br />
we’ve liked or felt were the most interesting. This<br />
time, because we started working with this European<br />
label called City Slang, and the project has more<br />
traction and interest in Europe, they had a stronger<br />
opinion and they felt that [the album’s lead single, the<br />
morose and lo-fi] “Sewer Blues” was a better bridge<br />
sonically between the back catalog and what the new<br />
record sounds like.”<br />
Accordingly, Sincerely, Future Pollution is pure<br />
heartache, and despite the restructuring, just as<br />
freaky and provocative as anything you’ve heard from<br />
Timber Timbre. Anchored by Kirk’s provocative baritone,<br />
it’s bluesy and bleak with swirling arrangements<br />
and melancholic guitars. Be sure to pick up a copy<br />
when it’s revealed to the world on <strong>April</strong> 7th.<br />
Timber Timbre performs at the Starlite Room in<br />
Edmonton on May 2, Commonwealth Bar & Stage<br />
in Calgary on May 3, and The Vogue Theatre in<br />
Vancouver on May 5. Sincerely, Future Pollution will<br />
be released on Friday, <strong>April</strong> 7th, and can be ordered<br />
from Arts & Crafts at https://arts-crafts.ca/releases/<br />
AC130.html.<br />
by Graham Mackenzie<br />
and the two became friends.”<br />
“Little Brother” is a song that Stagger describes as having never “really<br />
done anything like it. I like the vibe, the groove; it reminds me of something<br />
like ‘60s Parisian pop mixed with something like The Clash. I like<br />
the juxtaposition of the guitar against that laidback groove; it’s kinda like<br />
a storm. It highlights the story of the song, the restlessness.”<br />
“Run Rabbit Run” is based on a story Stagger’s grandfather told him<br />
about “a man named ‘Dirty Bill.’ I never set out to write any particular<br />
type of song but this came to me, most of my songs are just cobbled<br />
together pieces of my life and my observations at the time. They all have<br />
some sort of theme, I am really quite proud of this song actually, it’s<br />
kind of a nod to ‘Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts’ on [Bob Dylan’s]<br />
Blood on the Tracks [1975]. It’s also a kind of a stoner’s trip.”<br />
The end of the record features several nods to Stagger’s musical<br />
upbringing.<br />
“Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone” was a way for Stagger to “dip [his]<br />
toe into the waters of punk rock here a little bit,” while ‘Living in the<br />
Future’ carries a “Travelling Wilburys vibe” and ‘$1500 a day’ is a “song for<br />
Elliot Smith.” The record ends with “Until the End of Time,” a “love song<br />
for [his] family.”<br />
All told, it’s an ambitious record with a staggeringly detailed story,<br />
made alive by Stagger’s characteristic richness.<br />
“At the end of the day I’m trying to inspire people to make the world a<br />
better place,” he says.<br />
“That’s the goal; sometimes it doesn’t always feel like that. But I’m<br />
trying to do good work.”<br />
Love Versus is released on <strong>April</strong> 7th and will be available from True North<br />
Records. Leeroy Stagger plays the Gateway in Calgary on <strong>April</strong> 28th, and<br />
the Almanac in Edmonton on <strong>April</strong> 29th.<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 43
MATT PATERSHUK<br />
On writing, performing, recording, and everything in-between<br />
Authenticity serves as the most important<br />
vessel for any musician. Listeners can<br />
smell a fake from miles away, particularly<br />
in the world of folk and roots music; connecting<br />
with your audience and creating an intimate<br />
atmosphere is essential. Enter Matt Patershuk,<br />
who’s skillfully managed to do both.<br />
The low rumble of Patershuk’s husky,<br />
pitch-perfect voice matched with his heartfelt<br />
and smartly penned songs has charmed listeners<br />
across Canada and beyond. His appeal is<br />
unmistakable. The written material ranges in<br />
emotional focus and message. Albums will contain<br />
endearing messages to those closest to him<br />
and heartbreaking ballads; elsewhere lyrics will<br />
contain a strong focus on history and storytelling.<br />
Later, upbeat numbers perfect for two-stepping<br />
and whiskey-drinkin’ will appear.<br />
His Western Canadian Music Award nominated<br />
debut album Outside The Lights Of Town pays<br />
homage to traditional country and roots music<br />
with a distinct small-town charm. I Was So Fond<br />
of You (2016) opens with a raunchy fiddle and<br />
guitar combo with a do-or-die narrative about<br />
working tirelessly for those you love. It ends with<br />
the somber title track, a heartbreakingly beautiful<br />
waltz penned for his late sister Claire, who was<br />
killed by a drunk driver.<br />
Stripped down and intimate, the first two<br />
albums were recorded almost completely live off<br />
the floor by super producer Steve Dawson, whose<br />
history includes working with Old Man Luedecke,<br />
Matt Patershuk is hard at work on his third studio album.<br />
The Deep Dark Woods, and numerous others.<br />
This raw approach perfectly exemplifies Matt’s<br />
affinity for stark honesty and subdued irony,<br />
bringing to light an old soul with a sharp eye for<br />
detail. His sound is not unlike Willie Nelson and<br />
John Prine’s early works.<br />
photo: Peter Patershuk<br />
Just under a year has passed since his most recent<br />
release, and with the help of Dawson’s label<br />
Black Hen Music, Patershuk is hard at work on his<br />
third studio album, to be released in the fall.<br />
“It’s definitely different,” Patershuk tells <strong>BeatRoute</strong>.<br />
“We tracked some things separately in<br />
by Moira Billington<br />
isolation booths as opposed to live off the floor.<br />
There are some hints of early rock and roll and<br />
blues, a bit of a bigger sound.”<br />
There’s an impressive roster of musicians<br />
rounding out the sound, including Dawson<br />
himself, Jay Bellerose, and the alt-country singer-songwriter<br />
Anna Egge.<br />
“I’m very inspired by her music and her singing,<br />
and so glad she’s all over this one,” says Patershuk<br />
with aplomb.<br />
The endless cycle of touring and marketing is<br />
no easy task. Even with label and management<br />
support, it remains daunting at the best of times.<br />
Somehow, with a demanding full-time job and a<br />
family, Patershuk finds peace residing in Grand<br />
Prairie. The fervor of everyday life serves as a<br />
great reminder and disciplinary tool for Matt<br />
to find time for practice and his songwriting.<br />
When teased of this reality where musicians<br />
all need full-time work to support their other<br />
very full-time job of music, Patershuk becomes<br />
introspective.<br />
“I think it’s important to have songwriting as<br />
an outlet. Writing songs is the definition of navel<br />
gazing, and I think it can be dangerous to always<br />
be in that frame of mind. I think it’s good for me<br />
to have that work-life balance.”<br />
Matt Patershuk will perform on March 31st at Geomatic<br />
Attic in Lethbridge, <strong>April</strong> 1st at The Ironwood<br />
Stage and Grill in Calgary, and <strong>April</strong> 7th at The<br />
Almanac in Edmonton.<br />
44 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE ROOTS
BRADEN GATES<br />
doing dishes and makin’ wishes<br />
There’s a wide-skied, blue-eyed optimism in the<br />
words of Braden Gates. His quick witted, fast-picked,<br />
friend-folk songs start from the heart and work their<br />
way to the sleeve in a trail of family anecdotes and street<br />
corner romances.<br />
Gates himself is a soft-spoken, clean-cut Edmonton boy,<br />
with a keen ear for the quirks of the everyday. At the tender<br />
age of 24-years-old, he’s releasing his third full-length studio<br />
album, Much Rather Be Sleeping. But more about that later.<br />
Gates is a prolific live performer, playing around Edmonton<br />
and Western Canada, recently springing to Calgary<br />
for a few sets at Wide Cut Weekend. He often sits with his<br />
audience, swapping between guitar and fiddle, cracking<br />
jokes as he plays. There’s a polish and wisdom to his words<br />
that fit well beyond his years, likely due to his heavy catalogue<br />
that puts most songwriters to shame. In addition to<br />
studio albums, Gates often records on his home computer<br />
webcam, throwing new and familiar songs to his friends<br />
and admirers. This past year, he put out six volumes of<br />
material via the Edmontone Demo Series, so named after<br />
studios where they were recorded.<br />
Gates self-describes the series as “demo-y, weird, eccentric<br />
things.” In his effort to hone his craft, the series found<br />
Gates “playing around with the creative process a little bit,”<br />
a result of “[becoming] a little bit obsessive with songwriting<br />
last year.”<br />
Playing and writing often has helped polish his work,<br />
but he still finds value in the studio process.<br />
“There’s a lot more that can be said in a better way if<br />
you spend more time with it,” Braden attests. “There’s a lot<br />
to be said for audio engineering and production.”<br />
That said, Much Rather Be Sleeping is a rather sparse<br />
offering, “recorded live off the floor with a bass and fiddle”<br />
and only a few overdubs. Written before the Edmontone<br />
sessions, and recorded in 2015, the collection of songs<br />
developed while Gates “was living on Whyte Avenue in<br />
Edmonton and indulging in the scene.”<br />
The record is humble, centred on small sentiments,<br />
built around family and the practise of the everyday.<br />
Gates doesn’t shy away from the big ideas, most notably<br />
the ‘L word,’ but he manages to handle these movements<br />
and moments with a casual friendliness, like a letter from<br />
a friend. It’s a quick and rewarding listen, with a level of<br />
completeness that’s not immediately apparent.<br />
Braden isn’t done yet, and is headed back into the<br />
studio, “recording in November” for a new album due next<br />
year with a mix of songs from the Edmontone sessions<br />
as well as a few new ones. He’s got a few more ideas up<br />
his sleeve as well. Taking a break from being a full-time<br />
musician, Gates has taken to washing dishes, a job which<br />
offers “lots of space to think” and write songs in his head.<br />
This has led to some charming and humorous blue-collar<br />
anthems about the greasy porcelain.<br />
“I am actually working on a ‘Songs from the Dish Pit’<br />
album,’” he says. “[It’s] not even close to being done.”<br />
You can catch a few of these tracks on the Edmontone<br />
sessions, but the truth of the matter is that the work of<br />
Braden Gates is not collapsible into a song, an album, or a<br />
movement. Gates is a hard-working, fast-fingered, songwriter-next-door,<br />
and we can’t wait to see what he brings next.<br />
Braden Gates performs <strong>April</strong> 21 at Jeans Joint in Red Deer,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 23 at Culinary Funk in Canmore, and at the Blue Chair<br />
Café in Edmonton on <strong>April</strong> 28th.<br />
Braden Gates bright third album Much Rather Be Sleeping thinks small.<br />
by Liam Prost<br />
photo: Tyler Sirman<br />
ROOTS<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 45
SHRAPNEL<br />
420 MUSIC AND<br />
ARTS FESTIVAL<br />
pipe dreams do come true by Chrystyn Lynryd<br />
Proof that pipe dreams can come true, Calgary’s inaugural<br />
420 Music & Arts Festival is more than a celebration of<br />
Mother Nature’s bounty, it’s a gathering of some of the<br />
finest stoner rock bands in the land. Branching off of a history<br />
of hosting their own internet show and presenting live bands<br />
under the auspices of the Metalheads United Network, Festival<br />
coordinators CC Getty and Celestia Scarlett, along with co-organizer<br />
Patrick Saulnier, had some inkling of what they were getting<br />
into when they set about orchestrating what has grown into a<br />
four-evening event.<br />
“It was really hard to do,” admits Getty. “We started organizing<br />
and reaching out to bands to see if they were interested. This<br />
music doesn’t get a lot of played a lot a Distortion, so we’re kind of<br />
breaking the mould there. But, we ran through a bunch of names of<br />
bands we love like Wo Fat and reached out to them, thinking that<br />
they’d never message us back. Within minutes we had a reply from<br />
Wo Fat. They were in!”<br />
Once the RSVPs from bands started flowing it quickly became apparent<br />
that there were bigger obstacles to be overcome in establishing<br />
a groundbreaking tradition from the grassroots level.<br />
“We were working with Distortion’s booker when we started getting<br />
push-back on the name of the Festival,” he recalls. “There are many<br />
stereotypes associated with stoner rock and stoner metal, but just<br />
because you listen to it doesn’t mean you’re into marijuana. We really<br />
wanted to take away the stereotypes.”<br />
Incorporating an “expo” of artistic and educational displays for<br />
attendees to explore, the Festival aims to compliment the fun elements<br />
common to 420 celebrations held across the planet with timely<br />
socio-political considerations.<br />
“We’ve found about 30 or 40 vendors, so far,” confirms Scarlett.<br />
“It’s great because Calgary has a tonne of talented craftspersons<br />
and designers. We wanted to create a showcase for people and put<br />
that together with some of your medical marijuana activists and other<br />
interesting vendors from Calgary.”<br />
Medicine for the soul will be in abundance throughout the event<br />
as Getty and company have harvested an epic line-up of bands that<br />
will have audiences returning to Distortion’s doorstep night after night.<br />
Thank the Goddess for onsite food trucks!<br />
“Within the stoner rock canon there are so many different styles<br />
that we wanted to represent,” Scarlett explains.<br />
“We started looking around at bands in Western Canada that<br />
were in the genre and there were so many possibilities for line-ups.<br />
Enough to keep us going well into the future, in fact. So, we tried<br />
to pick a lot of bands that don’t usually play here and layered them<br />
in with Calgary’s favourite bands. It’s an interesting and diverse mix<br />
that offers a unique experience every night for people who are doing<br />
three shows back to back.”<br />
Call it stoner, desert, sludge, doom or swamp rock, those rolling<br />
organic grooves with a hardcore concrete center are a custom fit for<br />
the city’s heavy hitters.<br />
“One of the bands we have playing, Hypnopilot, are probably Calgary’s<br />
original stoner rock band. They played the Distortion anniversary<br />
party and were so fired up for this festival they switched up their set<br />
list,” Getty reports.<br />
“We have over 20 bands playing the festival, but we’re actually<br />
putting together more to play a free show on the 19th. We’re<br />
inviting people to come down and pick up their wristbands and<br />
tickets a day early and to get first shot at some of the merchandise.<br />
We figured we might as well have some bands play while we<br />
get everything set up!”<br />
The 420 Music & Arts Festival features live music, art, food trucks, vendors,<br />
beard contests and more. Head to the festival website or Facebook<br />
for more information.<br />
SHRAPNEL<br />
WO FAT<br />
“Texas Sized” band delivers the swampadelic grooves<br />
The 420 Music and Arts Festival brings stoner rockers Wo Fat to the fold!<br />
There are few things more enjoyable than digging into some<br />
salty, smoky barbeque and that’s exactly the kind of pure<br />
chewing satisfaction that meaty Dallas-based swamp rockers<br />
Wo Fat have on their proverbial grill. Turning raw blues rhythms and<br />
uncluttered doom grooves into sweet psych-rock sustenance for over<br />
a decade, this well-seasoned trio has hung in together through thick<br />
and thin. From the formative rumblings of their 2006 debut The<br />
Gathering Dark, to the fulsome darkness of last year’s full-length release<br />
Midnight Cometh, Wo Fat’s lead guitarist/vocalist Kurt Stump,<br />
bassist Tim Wilson and drummer Michael Walter have consistently<br />
brought home the bacon.<br />
“The good thing about Texas is that it’s got a strong scene for our kind<br />
of music,” says jam-master Stump.<br />
“There’s a bunch of good bands here and a number of excellent<br />
venues to play close by, so you can do a short weekend jaunt and hit a<br />
few places.”<br />
Of course, the group who brought forth molten LPs Psychedelonaut<br />
(2009) and Noche del Chupacabra (2011) had little choice but to<br />
catch fire around the globe. As welcome as the sound of fat sizzling on<br />
mesquite embers, Wo Fat’s heavy fuzz-laden emanations attracted riff<br />
worshiping legions to any stage that was willing to “Book ‘em, Danno!”<br />
“We’ve built a fairly good following worldwide within that genre<br />
with fans of that type of music. We’ve played Desertfest in Berlin<br />
and London, and we’ve done Hellfest in France. Those are really<br />
amazing genre-specific festivals that feature a bunch of bands we<br />
know, so there’s always a reunion kind of vibe. It’s always fun to<br />
hang-out and we find a lot of comradery playing with bands that<br />
are similar to us stylistically.”<br />
The perfect opportunity to do just that, while enjoying some Albertan<br />
hospitality, <strong>April</strong>’s 420 Music & Arts Festival will surprisingly mark<br />
the well-travelled Wo Fat’s first trip to up to The Great White North.<br />
“It’s our first time to play in Canada, so I’m excited about that! We try<br />
by Christine Leonard<br />
to be strategic about the out-of-town gigs we play – like coming to Calgary.<br />
We’re just flying up there and coming back home, but that’s what<br />
we want to be able to do. To pick and choose cool gigs and do those.<br />
Cuz were not making our living off the band - we’re making our living off<br />
the recording studio.”<br />
A Wo Fat run studio you say? We should have known that the proverbial<br />
enemy of the Hawaii Five-O task force was the one pushing the<br />
buttons all along.<br />
“The drummer, Michael, and I run a recording studio together,” he<br />
elaborates.<br />
“It’s called Crystal Clear Sound and it’s actually one of the oldest<br />
studios in Dallas. I’ve been working there for about 20 years. About<br />
four years ago, we bought the place from the previous owners. Yup, we<br />
bought the company. Now we run it ourselves!”<br />
He continues, “That’s where all of the Wo Fat albums have been recorded.<br />
I’ve been recording professionally for a long time, so experience<br />
has taught me the dangers of becoming myopic and going down the<br />
rabbit hole too far.”<br />
It’s not only anchored the band, but given them confidence in their<br />
jams: after all, when you’re making all the decisions, you’ve got to know<br />
when to pull the proverbial plug on a song, album, or jam session. It’s<br />
made Wo Fat the groovy juggernaut they are today.<br />
“Having spent a lot of time in the studio, I know that you just have to<br />
make decisions and stick to them at some point. I would rather do that<br />
commit and go on than leave something open-ended and never finish it.<br />
I think we’re different from some people in having that attitude.”<br />
Wo Fat are headlining the 420 Music and Arts Festival, which goes down<br />
on <strong>April</strong> 20th until <strong>April</strong> 22nd at Distortion. They are headlining day three<br />
of the festival on <strong>April</strong> 22nd alongside Wo Fat, Chron Goblin, Cowpuncher,<br />
Mammoth Grove, and more. Line-up and ticket information are available<br />
at www.420musicandartsfestival.com<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 47
LANGUID<br />
Edmonton crust punks are battle scarred<br />
Languid, we play hardcore<br />
punk.”<br />
“We’re<br />
So begins Edmonton entity<br />
Languid. The band has no Facebook page; they<br />
don’t offer names. When your Bandcamp is<br />
populated with music, who needs a biography?<br />
Rather than pontificate, they record. Rather<br />
than develop a presence online or take pictures<br />
that represent them as some sort of ‘entity,’ they<br />
head into venues and level the crowd with short<br />
bursts of gruff and powerful songs.<br />
“We’re not reinventing the wheel by any<br />
means, we’re playing punk influenced by<br />
Discharge, and bands that were influenced by<br />
Discharge. We make music that we in turn would<br />
want to listen to, paying respect to those that<br />
have inspired us.”<br />
They continue, “We started in the winter<br />
of 2014 and have been constantly gigging and<br />
writing songs since. Our first actual release was<br />
the Demo 2015. There was a litany of delays in<br />
between then and now in terms of releases, but<br />
meanwhile [we] have been very active.”<br />
On their upcoming full length Resist Mental<br />
Slaughter, the band delivers 12 songs. Captured<br />
by Derek Orthner of Begrime Exemious fame, the<br />
record is bare bones. Like their previous recordings,<br />
the vocals are skillfully placed in the mix,<br />
giving the music a live-off-the-floor feel.<br />
The whole package is heavy and gruff, with<br />
skillful integrations. Take the jarring, high neck<br />
guitar solo in “Total Death,” which veers between<br />
STRIKER<br />
shread-aholics do what they do best<br />
Striker released their fifth studio album in February. Come celebrate!<br />
hardcore punk and metal. It’s comparable to<br />
Battle Ruins, with a hefty dollop of attitude and<br />
weirdness. The album cover also veers into punkis-friends-with-metal<br />
territory with its axe-wielding<br />
warrior, reminiscent of the artwork for Bolt<br />
Thrower’s War Master [1991], as if designed by<br />
Voivod’s Michel Langevin.<br />
“Andy from Darkwood Design in Portland has<br />
been churning out some really insane artwork<br />
so we asked him to do it,” says the band. A quick<br />
perusal of his portfolio reveals artwork that is<br />
consistently strong and stark, featuring exclusively<br />
black and white line work and shading.<br />
“The initial idea was to have a single striking<br />
character like the later Anti Cimex records, we figured<br />
the only way to make it better was to splice<br />
it with the first two Iron Maiden records as well.”<br />
Meanwhile, the lyrics encourage you to damn<br />
the man, resist, and fight.<br />
“Everything we write essentially just has to do<br />
with living day to day dealing with the bullshit life<br />
has to offer, the title track is basically just about<br />
not letting the bastards grind you down.”<br />
You heard ‘em. DON’T LET THE BASTARDS<br />
GRIND YOU DOWN!<br />
Languid will perform at the Edmonton release<br />
party for Resist Mental Slaughter on <strong>April</strong> 15th at<br />
the Sewing Machine Factory. Falsehood, Demise,<br />
and Paroxysm will also perform. To purchase a<br />
copy of the album, contact Languid on Bandcamp<br />
or head to your local record store.<br />
This band doesn’t have a goddamn picture, so we used their album cover instead.<br />
photo: Dana Zuk<br />
“We had some time off between tours and had some<br />
great opportunities come our way so we decided<br />
putting out a new album was our best option!”<br />
Thus begins guitarist Tim Brown of Edmonton thrash metal institution<br />
Striker.<br />
The band has released two albums in two years. They’ve done tours,<br />
music videos, won “Metal Artist of the Year” at the 2016 Western Canadian<br />
Music Awards, and performed on the 70,000 tons of Metal Cruise.<br />
The Striker machine has just kept barreling forward, record label or no.<br />
“Well, since we’ve gone independent it’s a night and day difference,<br />
we’ve had so many amazing opportunities come our way since we made<br />
the switch. In the span just over the last year we’ve played more shows<br />
than we had done in the previous three years combined,” says Brown.<br />
Striker was previously signed to Napalm Records but since the contract<br />
by Sarah Kitteringham<br />
by Jason Lefebvre<br />
ended, they’ve been busier than ever and just independently released<br />
their fifth full-length, the eponymously dubbed Striker.<br />
The album demonstrates musically growth from their youthful,<br />
enthusiastic, pure speed metal approach to a much more refined<br />
modern metal sound. The band has grown to include vocal<br />
harmonies, progressive guitar shredding, and complex rhythms.<br />
The overall flow remains true to the ‘80s traditional heavy metal<br />
sound that the band has become known and loved for, but as time<br />
goes on with Striker, they’ve placed a stronger emphasis on more<br />
empowering lyrics and musical diversity. A strong example of what<br />
Striker has become stands with the song “Former Glory,” which<br />
kicks off the album. It’s loaded with dual guitar shredding and an<br />
anthemic chorus that encourages the listener to “do what it takes/<br />
leave the past behind.”<br />
“It’s just a good song all around and we made sure it was loaded with<br />
shred from front to back. The nice thing about being independent is that<br />
we can do whatever the hell we want,” says Brown.<br />
“There’s no label to tell us they don’t like our direction or that they<br />
want different sounds. So in that sense it’s a very creative space to be in.”<br />
It’s also a triumphant space to be in, made evident by the fact that<br />
the band is answering these questions while on a massive European tour<br />
with power metal act Sonata Arctica. They arrive home in mid <strong>April</strong>,<br />
and then play three CD release parties in their home province. It’s nice to<br />
know that nothing will hold them back.<br />
“My amp exploded tonight so that’s about as close as we get,” counters<br />
Brown, laughing.<br />
“We are all really excited to do what we do and nothing is going to<br />
hold us back.”<br />
Striker will perform on <strong>April</strong> 13th at Dickens with Ravenous: Eternal<br />
Hunger and In/Vertigo. They also perform <strong>April</strong> 14th in Edmonton at the<br />
Starlite Room with the Tylor Dory Trio, and on <strong>April</strong> 15th in Red Deer with<br />
Wraith Risen and Bodies Burn Black.<br />
48 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE SHRAPNEL
D.R.I.<br />
beneath the wheel and under the sun<br />
by Christine Leonard<br />
This Month<br />
In METAL<br />
The Dirty Rotten Imbeciles are invading a venue near you!!!<br />
SHRAPNEL<br />
at the airport getting ready to get on a<br />
plane to Puerto Rico to do a show. I had to<br />
“I’m<br />
get up at 3:30 a.m. and I’m a little sleepy,”<br />
confesses D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) vocalist<br />
Kurt Brecht.<br />
“I’m excited cuz we only have one show, but we’re<br />
there for four days. I’ve been there once before in<br />
2012, but didn’t get to go to the beach, we just got<br />
abandoned in some suburb. This time I want to go<br />
snorkeling or something; I’m all over that.”<br />
And, yes, to answer your question, D.R.I. are those<br />
guys dressed in black T-shirts on the beach.<br />
“All pasty and sickly looking. That’s us.”<br />
Soaking up a little R ‘n’ R has taken on new<br />
significance for the legendary hardcore thrash punk<br />
outfit, who emerged from Houston, TX in 1982.<br />
First introduced to the world via the Dirty Rotten<br />
LP a year later, D.R.I.’s fanbase swelled thanks to a<br />
string of blistering releases including Dealing with<br />
It! (1985), Crossover (1987), 4 of a Kind (1988) and<br />
Thrash Zone (1989), with Definition and Full Speed<br />
Ahead following in the '90s. A D.I.Y. punk pioneer,<br />
Brecht and founding guitarist Spike Cassidy scraped<br />
together a following of likeminded hardcore and<br />
metal lovers and, in the process, went on to become<br />
a genre-defining band.<br />
“As kids growing up we didn’t know if there was<br />
an underground music scene. There wasn’t that type<br />
of music then. Only hard rock. We just went to rock<br />
concerts and stadium shows and stuff. And, I was<br />
into the harder, heavier bands. Then, once we discovered<br />
punk rock, it was all over. We were like 'Yeah,<br />
this is way better. Way more aggressive!' and we just<br />
kind of mixed the two together. Hardcore. Hardcore<br />
punk rock. That’s what we wanted.”<br />
Akin to speed metal crossover acts such as Corrosion<br />
of Conformity and Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I.<br />
is accustomed to being at the eye of a human hurricane<br />
that feeds off acerbic wails, high-velocity guitar<br />
work and breakneck percussion. The self-made<br />
quartet, including bassist Harald Oimoen and recent<br />
addition Walter "Monsta" Ryan on drums, harnesses<br />
the energy of the crowd to generate an frenetic<br />
energy that must been witness to be believed.<br />
“I think it’s the music that’s full-throttle,” says<br />
Brecht. “Our performance is just us playing the<br />
songs, we don’t have a big stage show or anything.<br />
The audience is usually the show. I’ve seen some brutal<br />
stuff. I think if you’re at a thrash show you’d just<br />
better expect that you might get walked on or dove<br />
on to. You can always try and stand in the back,<br />
or whatever, but good luck there too. Sometimes<br />
I just see it go wall to wall. No safe places to stand.<br />
Ah, well. Nothing you can do about something like<br />
that; can’t start writing rules. Then it’s just going to<br />
be lame.”<br />
Still packing those venues and generating new<br />
material like 2016’s surprise EP But Wait...There's<br />
More!, D.R.I. is enthusiastic about their Western<br />
and Eastern Canadian tours. According to Brecht,<br />
dividing the nation into two runs of performance<br />
dates in <strong>2017</strong> is the ideal scenario, as it allows him<br />
the flexibility to pursue his non-musical passions.<br />
“It does give you more time for sure. I’m heavily<br />
into gardening. And, I travel a lot, too,” he says.<br />
“We’re super excited about Canada, because we<br />
never get to play there, and a now we get to do two<br />
tours of Canada! We’re getting special shirts made<br />
up! I’m usually out there selling the merchandise all<br />
the time, so I’m talking to everybody.”<br />
D.R.I. are performing in Winnipeg on <strong>April</strong> 21 at the<br />
Park Theatre, on <strong>April</strong> 22nd in Saskatoon at the University<br />
of Saskatchewan, on <strong>April</strong> 23rd in Edmonton<br />
at Union Hall, and in Calgary on <strong>April</strong> 24th at the<br />
Marquee Beer Market & Stage.<br />
<strong>April</strong> is the best, because it’s when shows<br />
start happening so frequently you can’t<br />
keep up with them all. So here weeeeee<br />
gooooooooo!<br />
Head to the Nite Owl in Calgary for the second<br />
annual Extreme Metal Radio festival. It runs <strong>April</strong><br />
6th until the 9th. Bands like Display of Decay,<br />
Planet Eater, Path To Extinction, Vile Insignia,<br />
Graveyard Nemesis, W.M.D, Train Bigger Monkeys,<br />
and more are performing. Shows are $20 each<br />
night at the door, and there will be loots for prizes<br />
and giveaways.<br />
That same weekend in Edmonton, the third<br />
round of the Stabmonton D.I.Y. Fest will be going<br />
down. Los Angeles grindcore acts Vulva Essers and<br />
Zaklocic will be performing, as will Archagathus,<br />
Messiahlator, Tekarra, and many more. If you<br />
dig your music filthy, crusty, political, and fucking<br />
ferocious, this is the fest for you.<br />
If you live in Calgary, there are several shows to<br />
steal your attention on Thursday, <strong>April</strong> 13th. You<br />
could to head to the Striker album release party at<br />
Dickens (just make sure you read our feature on the<br />
band first); you could also head to the Palomino<br />
Smokehouse and Social Cub for Monolith <strong>AB</strong>,<br />
Snake Pit, Regress, and Mortality Rate. Either way,<br />
you’re going to have a blast.<br />
If you’re not heading to the 420 Music and<br />
Arts Festival in Calgary (which, let’s face it, is a<br />
rather ridiculous decision on your part), then<br />
there are several great gig options in Edmonton<br />
Power metal legends Hammerfall perform at Dickens on May 4th!<br />
that weekend. On Saturday, <strong>April</strong> 22nd, Vancouver<br />
sludge mongers Anciients are playing at the<br />
Mercury Room with Dead Quiet, Tekarra, and<br />
Solarcoven. That same evening over at the Forge,<br />
Aggression is playing with Quietus, Skepsis,<br />
and Tessitura.<br />
The stoner gigs are coming hard and fast this<br />
month! On Tuesday, <strong>April</strong> 25th, sludge legends<br />
Weedeater will perform at Distortion with Primitive<br />
Man, Nosis, and Rebuild/Repair. If you dig<br />
your bands getting sister fucking wasted on couch<br />
syrup and delivering a wall of sound, this gig will<br />
deliver yer fix.<br />
Near the end of the month, Blind Beggar Pub<br />
in Calgary has a metal gig going down. On Friday,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 28th, DTR performs with Red Cain and Sage<br />
Rhoades.<br />
With publication dates being the precarious<br />
beasts that they are, there was no way to fit in this<br />
gig for a story, which is a real shame. Nevertheless,<br />
power metal legends Hammerfall are playing<br />
with Delain and Ravenous: Eternal Hunger on<br />
Thursday, May 4th at Dickens. Two days later on<br />
Saturday, May 6th, metal spoof band Okilly Dokilly<br />
will be playing at the same venue. Perhaps then<br />
people will figure out how truly awful they are<br />
musically, rather than marveling at their Simpsonsworship-Ned-Flanders-aping-shtick.<br />
The band will<br />
also be performing in Edmonton on May 7th at the<br />
International Beer Haus & Stage.<br />
• Sarah Kitteringham<br />
photo: Tallee Savage<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 49
musicreviews<br />
Father John Misty<br />
Pure Comedy<br />
Sub Pop<br />
Father John Misty is worth listening to because of the<br />
work his listeners must put forth in order to understand<br />
him. There’s nothing he does that can be taken at face<br />
value, whether it’s a song, album, interview, or short film,<br />
because, as he admits himself, it’s all for show. He admits<br />
this in many ways: he smirks at whatever camera happens<br />
to be trained on him, he over-exaggerates already<br />
melodramatic stage antics.<br />
FJM gets away with this because he is an acknowledged<br />
character; a moniker with which former somber<br />
songwriter Josh Tillman can (ironically) express a<br />
different, truer side of himself. Father John Misty is an<br />
exuberant, attention-seeking, self-serious singer – one<br />
who takes pleasure in what sometimes feels like performance<br />
art. In all of his music, it’s clear Misty’s usually<br />
making fun of someone, but on Pure Comedy, the<br />
third album he’s released as Father John Misty, Tillman<br />
sets his sardonic sights on making fun of humanity and<br />
existence in general.<br />
In 2011, Tillman released his first album as Father<br />
John Misty, the wandering, folk-rocking Fear Fun,<br />
which may be the piece of art most clearly related to<br />
the Misty character to date. It leans heavily on aesthetics<br />
and musical styles established in the early ‘60s and<br />
‘70s by Kris Kristofferson and Neil Young, the latter of<br />
whom Misty name checks on the album’s free-reeling<br />
riff on life in Laurel Canyon, “I’m Writing a Novel.” In<br />
2014, he released I Love You, Honeybear, where he continued<br />
to keep his audience at arm’s length, but draws<br />
back the curtain ever so slightly, bridging the gap in<br />
some ways between the man and the character, even<br />
though his performances then became more stylized<br />
(read: more ridiculous). On “Chateau Lobby #4” he<br />
sings, “Dating for 20 years just feels pretty civilian / I’ve<br />
never thought that / Ever thought that once in my<br />
whole life / You are my first time.” Knowing that as he<br />
wrote Honeybear he married his girlfriend turns his<br />
lyrics from interesting character-wise to touching in a<br />
more tangible, appreciable way.<br />
Now, on Pure Comedy, an album filled to the brim<br />
with references to Misty himself, his past albums and<br />
their obsessions with romancing L.A. life, and pointed attacks<br />
on politics, love, and humanity’s exceptional ability<br />
to absorb and recycle these things, he’s his least funny<br />
– but it suits the present. Another smirking comedian,<br />
arms-crossed wearing a know-it-all persona isn’t what<br />
we need, we need someone known for jokes to revisit his<br />
old seriousness and use how big a deal that switch is to<br />
emphasize his point.<br />
On “Leaving L.A.,” the crux of the album, it feels as<br />
though he’s pointedly acknowledging it’s time to hang<br />
up many of Misty’s most enigmatic qualities in pursuit<br />
of a more personally fulfilling, open relationship with his<br />
audience; a method that, based on the way the songs<br />
come across, and the tone with which he delivers them,<br />
makes it easier for him to comment on the present without<br />
the trouble of framing everything within the context<br />
of this other Self. Still, Tillman displays his relentless<br />
self-awareness; he’s always known exactly how he’s come<br />
across (“‘These L.A. phonies and their bullshit bands /<br />
that sound like dollar signs and Amy Grant’ / So reads<br />
the pull quote from my last cover piece / titled, ‘The<br />
Oldest Man in Folk Rock Speaks’”).<br />
The irony of the album’s first track “Pure Comedy,”<br />
which gives the album its name, is that for the first<br />
time this isn’t in reference to his own kind of comedy, it<br />
seems like it’s a reference to everybody else’s. The song’s<br />
accompanying music video depicts (amid a chaotic<br />
swirl of crude cartoons) memes, viral Youtube clips, and<br />
political sound bites, all of which were cited and used<br />
again and again throughout the presidential campaign<br />
and for a time afterwards. For the first time Misty seems<br />
comfortable not only creating something for his fans to<br />
look at, but something he can look at too, next to them,<br />
with them, instead of across from them at a vantage<br />
point where he can take their temperature and adjust<br />
accordingly.<br />
There is slight disappointment with Pure Comedy being<br />
made of the same (or similar) ingredients found on I<br />
Love You, Honeybear. However, there are some inspired<br />
arrangements from in-demand composers Gavin Bryars<br />
and Nico Muhly, like on the album’s penultimate track,<br />
“So I’m Growing Old on Magic Mountain,” a song where<br />
Misty sounds tired, resigned to the fact that he’s spent<br />
too much time running from adulthood, and is therefore<br />
destined to become lost, unable to use his latent<br />
self-awareness for anything other than perspective, or at<br />
best to help others. Really, it’s gorgeous. It is reminiscent<br />
of Neil Young in style, and once that becomes clear,<br />
there’s little investigative work necessary to draw it to<br />
one of Young’s similarly themed tracks, “Sugar Mountain.”<br />
Another bright spot on an otherwise musically satisfactory<br />
album comes in the form of the Bowie, “Young<br />
Americans”-esque, “Total Entertainment Forever,” the<br />
only song that balances lyrics and music as perfectly as<br />
anything on Honeybear, where the inclusion of buzzing<br />
horns successfully distracts from the increasingly foreboding<br />
song lyrics – a method of delivery which suits<br />
them perfectly, as throughout the song Misty warns that<br />
although we’re living in the greatest age, where we seem<br />
to be our happiest, it’s all superficial happiness.<br />
The rest of the smartest arrangements on the album<br />
should be considered as such not because they do<br />
anything splashy, but quite the opposite: they leave<br />
large space for the lyrics and Misty’s unmistakable voice<br />
(which has never sounded better).<br />
Even with its similarities to Honeybear, the music is<br />
intoxicating, immersive, and satisfying. Still, Misty has<br />
always been a more gifted lyricist (able to translate and<br />
articulate humanity’s worst, modern insecurities) than<br />
he is a musician, which he acknowledges in a way on<br />
“Leaving L.A.” “So I never learned to play the lead guitar /<br />
I always more preferred the speaking part.”<br />
He bookends the album with the message that none<br />
of this really matters – no matter how good or bad it<br />
all may seem. “We’re hurtling through space,” he sings<br />
on “In Twenty Years or So.” This message, which he<br />
delivers like it’s his ultimate point, contradicts a lot of<br />
what he says throughout the album’s second act. It’s<br />
an indication Misty’s as confused as we are. As he puts<br />
forth a variety of argumentative theses that tackle why<br />
the country is the way it is, where it’s headed, and why<br />
it’s headed there, it’s a comforting notion that he, too,<br />
is unable to make reasoning the present seem like it’s<br />
anything other than a method of throwing everything at<br />
the wall and seeing what sticks.<br />
• Alex Southey<br />
illustration: Cristian Fowlie<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 51
Do Make Say Think<br />
Stubborn Persistent Illusions<br />
Constellation Records<br />
While Canada has a rich and diverse history of musical expression,<br />
few genres are so indebted to our cold, northern climate as<br />
post-rock, and Montreal’s Constellation Records have been at the<br />
forefront of the often scoffed-at niche for so long that no other<br />
label even really comes close.<br />
Sure, there are other ‘big’ instrumental groups, ones that have<br />
managed to grace film scores and art installations alike, but none<br />
are so deserving of their due as Do Make Say Think, and Stubborn<br />
Persistent Illusions — the collective’s first record in eight years —<br />
isn’t so much another fitting transplant into the swell of Canada’s<br />
post-rock repertoire as it is a life-affirming appreciation of the<br />
expressive power of sound in its purest form.<br />
As though brimming with energy from their almost-decade<br />
away, Do Make Say Think open up Stubborn Persistent Illusions<br />
with “War on Torpor,” a five-and-a-half minute anthem of panicked<br />
percussion, fired off with a frenetic urgency reminiscent of<br />
the crescendoing buildups of 2000’s Goodbye Enemy Airship the<br />
Landlord is Dead.<br />
From there, “Horripilation” slips in as the Yin to “Torpor’s”<br />
Yang, showcasing the archetypal Do Make Say Think: sliding bass<br />
lines as addictive as any earworm, brief reposes of crystalline flittering<br />
held together by the puncture of drum-strikes, and enough<br />
turns to keep from dragging out its emotional stay, before slipping<br />
in ceaselessly to the shuddering “A Murder of Thoughts.”<br />
But the tides of Stubborn Persistent Illusions find no break<br />
on the shores of a lacklustre middle ground, instead only being<br />
amplified on “Bound” (along with its sister-track “And Boundless”)<br />
resulting in a bombastic expression of ephemera, pent-up<br />
emotion, left-field signature-switches and sheer rhythm as it rushes<br />
ahead undeterred.<br />
The first two tracks released from Stubborn Persistent Illusions,<br />
“Bound” and “And Boundless,” represent some of the strongest,<br />
most rhythmically jarring, and downright exciting sound-shifts<br />
since “Mladic,” from fellow Constellation label-mate Godspeed<br />
You! Black Emperor’s Polaris-prize winning album ‘Allelujah! Don’t<br />
Bend! Ascend! in 2012 (another track forged from extended<br />
hiatus and triumphant return).<br />
The latter half of the album finds the instrumental group<br />
honing their introspective skills, and from the placid “Her Eyes<br />
on the Horizon” through to the hopefully melancholic “Return,<br />
Return Again,” the group further explores the swelling, humming<br />
fragility found across many of the records from Constellation’s<br />
stellar roster.<br />
In their eight year absence, Do Make Say Think have managed<br />
to reinforce their sound without stagnation, returned to familiar<br />
rhythms without relying on tropes, and Stubborn Persistent Illusions<br />
strikes down the notion that instrumentalists offer nothing<br />
but lackadaisical ambiance.<br />
• Alec Warkentin<br />
52 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE<br />
Drake<br />
More Life<br />
Universal Music Canada<br />
Drake’s newest album, More Life, is stylized as a “playlist” by<br />
the rapper for a good reason. While the track listing is 22 songs<br />
long, it feels like he’s unable to get a coherent message across to<br />
listeners. With a few catchy tunes that are both like and unlike<br />
Drake’s usual style, the overall theme of the album seems like<br />
something we’ve heard before.<br />
Solo tracks make rare appearances on this album, with most<br />
songs including features from a variety of artists like grime<br />
dons Skepta and Giggs, to South African house mainstay Black<br />
Coffee, to a cast of many including Jorja Smith, Sampha, Quavo,<br />
Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Young Thug, Kanye West, and PartyNextDoor.<br />
It’s not surprising that Drake’s OVO label mate PartyNext-<br />
Door is featured on the album either, continuing a long trend<br />
of Drake hooks carrying the Toronto auto-crooner’s career. It’s<br />
these lacklustre coincidences that make the playlist less than<br />
perfect. It doesn’t help that Drake’s lyrical content covers well<br />
worn territory. Drake’s celebration of success, word of warning<br />
to the haters, and pining for women, are all themes that have<br />
been heavily overdone by him already.<br />
What’s new on this album? Its sound is disconnected, from a<br />
relatively interesting, house-influenced “Passionfruit” to what<br />
sounds like Drake’s attempt at a club hit, the Black Coffee sampling<br />
“Get It Together.” “Portland” sounds like a beat he’s used<br />
in previous albums, with added panflute. While grime features<br />
like Giggs and Skepta definitely add value to the “playlist,”<br />
their lyricism sometimes end up standing out and being simply<br />
laughable, finishing off “KMT” with the lyric, “Batman/da-na-nada-na.”<br />
Looking past what’s not working on this album, some tracks<br />
do have some saving elements. The aforementioned “Passionfruit”<br />
sounds like Drake has finally realized that making things<br />
sound less like Drake means they’re commercially successful. In<br />
the same way “One Dance” infected, or rather still infects, top<br />
40 radio stations, so can we expect “Passionfruit” to follow a<br />
similar path.<br />
It’s no surprise that the Kanye West-featuring “Glow” is a<br />
playlist highlight. “Watch out for me/I’m bound to glow” won’t<br />
go down as one of Kanye’s most lyrically complex hooks, but it<br />
has that signature Kanye infectiousness that adds to an otherwise<br />
mediocre track.<br />
Overall, it seems like the album was a lot of tracks that Drake<br />
had nothing to do with anymore, which explains the “playlist”<br />
stylization of the album. Individually, the songs are decent to<br />
listen to, and it’s the Drake fans are used to and that’s about it.<br />
Fans of Drake don’t expect revolutionary music from the rapper,<br />
but rarely does his music feel like this much of a grab bag.<br />
• Amber McLinden<br />
Future<br />
FUTURE / HNDRXX<br />
A1/ Freebandz / Epic<br />
The king of trap and mumble rap returns to the ad-lib battle with<br />
something to prove, releasing two chart-topping albums in two<br />
consecutive weeks. Unfortunately for Future, this is now a post-Migos<br />
kingdom that is difficult to conquer without a Quavo feature. There’s<br />
no denying Future’s tireless work ethic, but it’s also his biggest downfall.<br />
Instead of creating one great album, Future took the time to create two<br />
bloated albums with practically no features or variety.<br />
FUTURE, the first of the two projects, showcases the Atlanta<br />
rapper’s shallow and generic lifestyle that comes with fame. The lines<br />
about money, drugs, and broads in Atlanta dominate every track, but<br />
they are largely forgettable and uncreative.<br />
On “Might as Well,” Future sounds particularly unconvincing despite<br />
his ad-libs suggesting otherwise: “Either way it goes/We buyin’ out the<br />
stores (for real)/We ain’t never runnin’ out of lean (never).”<br />
Future does his best to heat up the frozen dish he’s serving even<br />
though it would simply taste better if it were fresh.<br />
Although Southside dominates the production credits on this<br />
album, you wouldn’t be able to tell without looking it up. Every trap<br />
beat fulfills its purpose well enough, but only a few tracks stand out<br />
from the rest of the pack. The same could be said for Future’s rapping<br />
on this project: it just does enough to be marketable and enjoyable, but<br />
it turns stale after a few listens.<br />
While there’s no track on FUTURE that compares to “Xanny Family”<br />
off EVOL, songs like “Scrape” and “Zoom” feature varied production and<br />
elite ad-libs that will impress all connoisseurs of hip-hop. There are a few<br />
other standout tracks, but the album would really benefit from a feature.<br />
Anyone - hell, even Yo Gotti - would help break up the Future fatigue.<br />
HNDRXX, the second album, is reminiscent of Future’s R&B days.<br />
Fans of 2014’s Honest will likely prefer this album to the first, but it<br />
suffers from the exact same problems, heightened by the two main<br />
features on the album. Predictably, two of the best songs are “Coming<br />
Out Strong” featuring The Weeknd and “Selfish” featuring Rihanna.<br />
These two singers break up the Future fatigue perfectly, both for the<br />
listener and for Future himself. It seems like Future is at his best when<br />
he is riding off the energy of other artists, so it’s disappointing he didn’t<br />
borrow the talents of his peers for these two projects. Future can hold<br />
it down without help on a few tracks, but he’s not offering enough<br />
individually for two 17-track albums.<br />
Almost as to apologize for the two overly long albums, Future drops<br />
the mic with “Sorry.” This track showcases what Future can do when<br />
he’s possessed by a beat, exorcising record sales and dollar signs from<br />
his mind for over seven minutes. The keys on this track are simple,<br />
evoking Kanye’s “Runaway,” but they are memorable and expressive.<br />
Switching up his flow constantly, Future balances his showboating<br />
with refreshing bars about fame scaring him. If every solo Future track<br />
sounded this inspired, he would have no competition. Unfortunately,<br />
that won’t happen until he realizes less is more. Until then, he’s constantly<br />
sabotaged by his own ambition.<br />
• Paul McAleer
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 53
Mount Eerie<br />
had to move my own inflection…” while her<br />
voice maneuvers various rhythms, powerfully,<br />
before reaching a long drawl and celebratory,<br />
LOUD, horns. This crescendo brings the song<br />
home and demonstrates the artist’s prowess for<br />
wordplay.<br />
Now at eight albums, Amelia Curran is a<br />
Canadian musical institution showing no signs<br />
of relenting. She’s willing, still, to share more<br />
with her audience, but it’s got to be a trade-off.<br />
If we’re going to get more from her, we’ve got<br />
to start trying a little harder, as she sings on the<br />
second last song “Try,” in our own way, to make<br />
this country a little more loving.<br />
• Trent Warner<br />
Fucked Up<br />
Year of the Snake<br />
Tankcrimes<br />
“Shadows” is one of the finest Future Islands<br />
tracks of all time, largely due to a surprise<br />
Debbie Harry feature. Harry and Herring compliment<br />
each other in a way that demands a<br />
full-length duet album.<br />
Herring’s songwriting and vocals on this<br />
album are its biggest strengths, but that’s not<br />
to say the instrumentation is lacking. Each track<br />
features memorable bass, drums, and synths,<br />
but it’s hard to imagine how the album would<br />
hold up without Herring. Other synth-pop and<br />
indie rock groups spew interchangeable lyrics<br />
without believing in them. With Herring driving<br />
the boat, every song feels genuine and unique.<br />
While “Seasons” remains undefeated as a<br />
single, The Far Field showcases the band at their<br />
best, offering a handful of songs that come close<br />
to taking the crown.<br />
• Paul McAleer<br />
Arca<br />
Arca<br />
XL Recordings<br />
Arca is an artist that exists between worlds.<br />
Intermittently, his beats might attract fanfare<br />
from ravers, art aficionados, or even up and<br />
coming pop stars. If you’re familiar with his experimental<br />
sound, you’ll know to expect dissonant<br />
kick drums, howling synths, or iconoclastic<br />
machine music. His first album Xen was clearly<br />
influenced by classical sounds and melodies, but<br />
by 2014’s Mutant he was forcing a new musicality<br />
unlike anything before it. On his self-titled<br />
third album, he brings his own voice, his own<br />
history, and his own language to the juncture of<br />
these ideas.<br />
While working on the album he was inspired<br />
by his Venezuelan heritage, and walks through<br />
a Victorian Burial Ground (and popular cruising<br />
spot for gay men) in London. As he says, “…so<br />
much poetry: Life. Death. Gayness.”<br />
And there’s a certain melodrama - a certain<br />
pain - that gay men, historically, have evoked so<br />
well. Think Oscar Wilde, think Pedro Almodóvar.<br />
Arca is no exception. Of the eight songs<br />
where his vocals are present (thirteen make up<br />
the album), all are in Spanish, and act in direct<br />
obstruction to their instrumental counterparts.<br />
“Coraje,” a beautiful choral arrangement will<br />
stretch your heart strings and fill you with hope,<br />
before it erodes into “Whip,” a spastic interlude,<br />
which syncopates obtusely and assaults<br />
the listener, catching its stride and shifting to a<br />
rhythmic hip-hop beat in the final counts.<br />
Though his music may not be everything to<br />
everyone at a given time, he offers a labyrinth of<br />
sounds a listener can get lost in, finding harmony<br />
in the edges of musicality.<br />
• Trent Warner<br />
Jom Comyn<br />
I Need Love<br />
Independent<br />
Listening to the new Jom Comyn record, I Need<br />
Love, feels exactly like shaking off the dusty,<br />
dirty snow of winter and s<strong>print</strong>ing into the sun<br />
while wearing sparkly hot pants. Or being able<br />
to fondly look back on a relationship once it’s<br />
over. That good feeling.<br />
The 28-track record features several Edmontonian<br />
all-star appearances including Marlaena<br />
Moore, Jesse Northey, Renny Wilson, Mitch<br />
Holtby and more. It’s broken up into bite size<br />
lovelorn morsels, from tender and earnest to<br />
twangy and sassy. The quality of the album<br />
is in no way surprising, but the sudden shifts<br />
between jangly country on the track “All or<br />
Nothing,” to cavernous and somber tones on<br />
“Echo Chamber,” do offer wide variety. The first<br />
single, “Why Do You Love Me?” has a danceable,<br />
Motown vibe and perks up some of the sadder<br />
tones on the rest of the record.<br />
Each full listen through offers up a new set of<br />
emotions to comb through. Sometimes while<br />
sitting quietly alone in the dark, or up on your<br />
feet shakin’ it. The many layers and flavours<br />
present on this album have already cemented<br />
it as one of the best in <strong>2017</strong> thus far. I think we<br />
have plenty of reasons to love you, Jom Comyn.<br />
Plenty.<br />
• Brittany Rudyck<br />
Amelia Curran<br />
Watershed<br />
Six Shooter Records<br />
After seven albums, it seems a strange shift for<br />
Amelia Curran to be at her most vehemently<br />
political on her latest album Watershed. However,<br />
it’s a welcome change, as her sharp wit has<br />
been present throughout her whole career, and<br />
the political undertones of this album especially<br />
are complemented by the grit in her voice.<br />
Lyrically, she’s always been open, if you’ve<br />
been paying attention and reading between<br />
the lines. On Watershed, she’s more direct and<br />
more readily available – something that can be<br />
attributed to her work as a mental health advocate<br />
in Canada over the past few years.<br />
At her softest and most tender on “Act of<br />
Human Kindness,” Curran calls for empathy and<br />
love to ensure that humanity makes it out of<br />
her perceived darkness. Shortly after, she’s at her<br />
hardest. On “No More Quiet,” she is backed by<br />
Canadian blues artist Shakura S’aida for a feminist<br />
anthem against the patriarchal status-quo<br />
often found in the music industry. She sings, “…<br />
the river has changed its direction, while I’ve<br />
Sitting atop a pedestal that few post-millennium<br />
hardcore bands can even begin to fathom,<br />
Canadian punk outfit Fucked Up have been<br />
downright prolific since winning the prestigious<br />
Polaris Prize almost a decade ago for The Chemistry<br />
of Common Life.<br />
Year of the Snake, the latest 12” in their<br />
acclaimed Zodiac Series, further emboldens the<br />
crew as quasi-art-hardcore forerunners, finding<br />
them mixing methodical, diegetic noise with<br />
vocalist Damian Abraham’s telltale growl over<br />
two new tracks: the 25-minute epic “Year of<br />
the Snake,” and “Passacaglia,” which finds the<br />
group exploring a more introspective, nuanced<br />
approach to heavy and relentless.<br />
While Fucked Up are no strangers to bending<br />
the formula of what constitutes a solid-whilestill-brutal<br />
album, the beauty of Year of the<br />
Snake lies in its ability to avoid common hardcore<br />
tropes: There’s no egregious noise for its<br />
own sake, no shriek or howl that’s not uncalled<br />
for or unwarranted, and even the experimentalism,<br />
something usually frowned upon in hardcore’s<br />
dedicated niche, is done immaculately<br />
and dystopian instrumentals occupy more space<br />
on the album than anything else.<br />
In short,Year of the Snake is a strong release<br />
from a band who obviously knows what they’re<br />
doing, and the only gripe, really, is when the<br />
fuck is the next full length?<br />
• Alec Warkentin<br />
Future Islands<br />
The Far Field<br />
4AD<br />
Around 12 seasons ago, Future Islands danced<br />
their way into the mainstream spotlight with<br />
a career-changing performance. Other than<br />
leaving David Letterman elated and confused,<br />
“Seasons (Waiting on You)” from 2014’s Singles,<br />
landed a spot on nearly every song of the year<br />
list. We’ve been eagerly waiting for new material<br />
ever since.<br />
“Ran” is the lead single from The Far Field<br />
tasked with going toe-to-toe with “Seasons.”<br />
Lyrically, “Ran” is slightly less memorable, but<br />
Samuel T. Herring’s vocal performance carries<br />
the track in a way that few musicians can. A love<br />
song that features the line, “Nobody seems to<br />
me so perfect and so sweet,” sounds like it came<br />
from a fifth grader’s crayon-covered Valentine’s<br />
Day card when read out loud. When Herring<br />
delivers a line like this, it is truly so perfect and<br />
so sweet.<br />
Mobina Galore<br />
Feeling Disconnected<br />
New Damage Records<br />
Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, punk rockers<br />
Mobina Galore have returned with their second<br />
full-length album, Feeling Disconnected.<br />
As a duo, Mobina Galore only have a guitar<br />
and drums in their arsenal, which seems not to<br />
matter since they’re totally fucking killing it.<br />
Comprised of two fierce females, Mobina Galore<br />
are proving to be a force to be reckoned with,<br />
while completely kicking ass in a scene monopolized<br />
by men.<br />
These ladies are dominating the fast, hard<br />
hitting and melodic punk rock style. The vocals<br />
are heavy but belted-out gently when required.<br />
Vocalist and guitarist, Jenna Priestner possesses<br />
a vocal range that many dream of, destroying<br />
both melodious and scratchy stylings at will.<br />
The guitar is fierce and Priestner executes addictive<br />
hooks with ease and at a comparable class<br />
to veteran punk bands. The thunderous beats<br />
are courtesy of drummer, Marcia Hanson, who<br />
also provides the perfectly harmonized backing<br />
vocals. Their sound is an anthemic punk-style;<br />
fast, catchy riffs and aggressive tempos. Tracks<br />
“Nervous Wreck,” “Start All Over,” and “Going<br />
Out Alone” are all stellar examples of the overall<br />
sentiment of Feeling Disconnected. And despite<br />
the title of the record and the underlying lyrical<br />
content, Feeling Disconnected is sure to resonate<br />
with many listeners.<br />
• Sarah Mac<br />
Leeroy Stagger<br />
Love Versus<br />
True North Records<br />
Too often, an artist focuses on using as many<br />
parts of their musical vocabulary on a record,<br />
without concentrating on defining their sound.<br />
Leeroy Stagger’s latest, Love Versus, shows his<br />
uncanny ability to meld disparate elements into<br />
his own, rough hewn roots rock sound. The<br />
result is an album that hits high notes in both<br />
songwriting and production throughout.<br />
Kicking off with “I Want It All,” Stagger uses<br />
a friendly, “Hey Jude”-like chant to examine the<br />
dichotomy of want versus need. It’s interesting to<br />
set this question to a feel that has currency in the<br />
folk-punk style, as though it’s an advance answer<br />
to a possible critique, Stagger cleverly using a bit<br />
of the pop formula to skewer notions of commercialism<br />
while making motions to “tear down<br />
54 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE
eligion,” and in the end, seek balance in life and<br />
career. That’s a tight rope to walk, and Stagger<br />
pulls it off deftly. The title track follows up, with a<br />
slight, chiming chorus riff as a rhythmic counterpoint<br />
to the gently picked acoustic riff, not unlike<br />
a cut from The War On Drugs, before Stagger lays<br />
down a series of questions about the nature of<br />
power, and it’s influence in what we’re brought<br />
up to loathe and fear. The chorus, with its ascending<br />
melody and massive harmony, quickly sets a<br />
standard for the rest of the record.<br />
On Love Versus, Stagger, along with producer<br />
Colin Stewart, and the crack band of<br />
Tyson Maiko, Pete Thomas, Paul Rigby, and<br />
Geoff Hilhorst have dropped an album that is<br />
immediately catchy and rollicking, but Stagger’s<br />
willingness to be unflinchingly honest with<br />
himself never loses sight of the bigger picture;<br />
our care for those close to us, and caring for<br />
the world around us are inextricably linked, and<br />
have more effect on us than maybe some of us<br />
are willing to admit.<br />
• Mike Dunn<br />
Mount Eerie<br />
A Crow Looked at Me<br />
P.W. Elverum & Sun<br />
It’s reductive to try and encapsulate A Crow<br />
Looked at Me purely in its context. This is an<br />
album about the death of Phil Elverum’s wife,<br />
recorded in the room she died in, using her<br />
instruments. Yes, the record is just as dreary as it<br />
sounds, but it’s hardly as simple. Elverum’s work<br />
as Mount Eerie, as well as The Microphones, and<br />
his own name, share a collective downtrodden<br />
temperament, but nothing this forward.<br />
The true genius of A Crow… comes from its<br />
detachment; melodramatic it is not. From the<br />
first line of the first track, Elverum introduces<br />
his own discomfort with the act of grieving<br />
through song. “When real death enters the<br />
house all poetry is dumb,” Elverum whimpers<br />
on “Real Death.” The record is stark, bare, and<br />
strikingly direct. Elverum refuses to entertain<br />
fanciful notions of death<br />
and dying, only it’s unflinching, dark impenetrability.<br />
This groundedness provides a realism<br />
that reinforces the emotionality of the record.<br />
Elverum reveals his grief like an old friend over<br />
coffee: honestly, and with pause, with emotion<br />
welling up in the breaks between the lines. We<br />
know he’s grieving because he tells us he is, but<br />
we feel it because he doesn’t want us to.<br />
• Liam Prost<br />
Prozzäk<br />
Forever 1999<br />
Lefthook Entertainment<br />
There’s something to be said about the movement<br />
going on in the last few years; that whole<br />
resurgence of somewhat popular bands from<br />
the early-to-mid-‘90s, throwing an album down<br />
like “yes! We’re still here! And it’s not just for the<br />
royalty cheques!” Except, IT IS JUST FOR THE<br />
ROYALTY CHEQUES.<br />
It seems we’re living in an era where people<br />
seldom hear the word “no” anymore. Maybe their<br />
label agreed, and said of course the fans want to<br />
hear more, even if the duo has been inactive for<br />
twelve of their nineteen years in the business.<br />
What’s to say, then? You could look at<br />
Prozzäk’s Forever 1999 with the same sort of<br />
wonder and amazement a toddler would look<br />
at anything. Those words don’t always have to<br />
imply a positive connotation, by the way, but for<br />
fairness sake, uptempo, bubble-gummy, radio<br />
electro-pop appeals to some people because it’s<br />
catchy, uncomplicated, relatively easy to ignore,<br />
and won’t cause allergies or homicides.<br />
To this reviewer, it’s like deliberately causing<br />
someone to suffer anaphylactic shock. “Love me<br />
Tinder?” No, stick with “Sucks to be You.” I know,<br />
I know. Be nice. Unfortunately, numbers don’t<br />
lie, and if we can go ahead and compare this to<br />
prescription anti-depressants (big reach there)<br />
it’s safe to bet that out of 100 people, at least 65%<br />
will suffer an adverse reaction to this album.<br />
• Lisa Marklinger<br />
The Real McKenzies<br />
Two Devils Will Talk<br />
Stomp/Fat Wreck Chords<br />
Canadian rebels The Real McKenzies have<br />
returned with a brand-new album, Two Devils<br />
Will Talk.<br />
This latest album is a stellar example of the<br />
McKenzies’ style and sound, which after 25 years<br />
hasn’t slowed down or sold-out. Two Devils<br />
Will Talk is the tenth full-length release from<br />
these rowdy Scottish-Canadians, and the follow<br />
up to 2015’s Rats in the Burlap. Two Devils<br />
features the raw, thundering vocals of founding<br />
member and frontman Paul McKenzie, as well<br />
as his bandmates’ perfected harmonies. Both<br />
accompanied by the classic melodic tempos we<br />
all love raising a glass and singing along to. The<br />
album is reminiscent of early punk-rock scene,<br />
slightly gritty with dark undertones. As always,<br />
the McKenzies combine this with old-fashioned,<br />
Celtic-hymn-style bones, giving the album a<br />
cozy pub feel we’re all familiar with.<br />
And who could forget the bagpipes? A staple<br />
in the McKenzies’ sound, bagpipes can be heard<br />
throughout Two Devils, which is something<br />
their fans look forward to.<br />
<strong>2017</strong> marks the 25th anniversary of the Real<br />
McKenzies and Two Devils Will Talk is a perfect<br />
way to celebrate such a momentous achievement.<br />
An album which pays tribute to both<br />
their Canadian and Scottish roots, as well as the<br />
journey that got them here.<br />
• Sarah Mac<br />
The Shins<br />
Heartworms<br />
Columbia<br />
To be honest, when I first listened to this album<br />
it sort of irritated me. Coming from the camp<br />
that listened to The Shins for emotional reprieve<br />
when going through sweetly powerful and sad<br />
times, this album often feels too happy. Perhaps<br />
it was my own foolhardy intent of listening<br />
while lying morosely in a dark bedroom. The<br />
sounds just clashed.<br />
Upon second listen, walking in a bright, sunny<br />
and warm day, everything clicked into place.<br />
The title track of the album, “Heartworms,”<br />
manages to capture that impetuously squirmy<br />
feeling of being unable to shake a crush, a love,<br />
a feeling. There are moments that feel overtly<br />
BEATROUTE • APRIL <strong>2017</strong> | 55
Beatles-y (the complex mysticism and elation of<br />
“Fantasy Island”), moments that feel like a humble<br />
southern country throwback (“Mildenhall”),<br />
and moments that do touch upon that old Shins<br />
vibe of being somber and saccharine at the<br />
same time (“The Fear,” “So Now What”). With a<br />
perfectly balanced production, this album slowly<br />
scratched and crawled its way into my heart,<br />
like its own little Heartworm. It’s burrowed its<br />
way in and is there to stay.<br />
• Willow Grier<br />
Suicide Silence<br />
Suicide Silence<br />
Nuclear Blast<br />
Trying to improve on deathcore by making it<br />
into nu-metal is like trying to improve a pool of<br />
cold vomit by eating it and turning it into shit.<br />
That’s what California’s Suicide Silence have<br />
done on their fifth and definitively worst album.<br />
Self-titling an album is a bold statement: this<br />
is us, pure Suicide Silence, the closest you’ll<br />
get to a best-of. It’s probably not a good move<br />
on SS’s part to abandon their sound (more or<br />
less prototypical deathcore; death metal and<br />
metalcore mixed without a single good element<br />
of either) in favor of toned-down baggy-shortscore<br />
with a reliance on clean singing that inflicts<br />
every one of vocalist Hernan “Eddie” Hermida’s<br />
inane lyrics on you.<br />
They’ve not only gone nu-metal for no particular<br />
reason but released a bad nu-metal record.<br />
Nowhere do they match KoRn’s groove or Deftones’<br />
soulful slow burn: all that’s left is a band<br />
that could be on the 2006 Family Values Tour,<br />
scheduled mid-afternoon between 10 Years and<br />
Deadsy then forgotten.<br />
• Gareth Watkins<br />
Surf Dads<br />
All Day Breakfast<br />
Grind Central Records<br />
While it is doubtful that Regina duo Chris Dimas<br />
and Gage McGuire are fathers, they are the<br />
talent behind the Surf Dads. After releasing three<br />
EPs, they come at us with their first full-length<br />
album, All Day Breakfast. While it might be a<br />
little bold to call them the fathers of surf, this<br />
album is warm and breezy and encapsulates the<br />
young energy that summer brings. The first of 12<br />
tracks, “Up All Night,” is reminiscent of bands like<br />
Weezer and Alvvays, with the fast guitars, nimble<br />
drums and starry-eyed vocals. It speaks to the<br />
mistakes we make and the remorse that often<br />
follows. It’s like doing the walk of shame in your<br />
head. Beyond the catchy hooks and shimmery<br />
riffs, there is substance in the lyrics. On one hand<br />
you have the track “Pinpoint,” where “dig your<br />
own hole / I’ll pass you a shovel” is hollered out,<br />
only to have Beach Boys like harmonies in “Apologies”<br />
two tracks later. Yet the album flows well,<br />
the energy is wired and to resist the urge to dance<br />
like a maniac would be futile.<br />
• Aja Cadman<br />
Tennis<br />
Yours Conditionally<br />
Mutually Detrimental<br />
Staring at the cover of Tennis’ new album Yours<br />
Conditionally, I can’t help but feel that I’m staring<br />
at a sun-bleached portrait of my parents in<br />
the mid to late ‘70s, shortly after they would<br />
have met. The album harkens to that period,<br />
where my parents were falling in love; my mom<br />
had the same tight curly hair, and my dad had<br />
a hilarious, if not ironic, Gregg Allman-esque<br />
mustache, both like Tennis’ Alaina Moore and<br />
Patrick Riley.<br />
Through its softness, opener “In the Morning<br />
I’ll Be Better,” reminds the listener that your<br />
physical or mental exhaustion can be cured<br />
by morning. Atop Moore’s soft falsetto, the<br />
reminder is bittersweet, like ice cream melting<br />
down the cone and into your hand on a brazen<br />
summer day.<br />
Like a long-term relationship or a particularly<br />
scorching summer, the album kind of<br />
moves in and out of a haze; there are moments<br />
of heartache and grandeur. Besides the above,<br />
“Modern Woman” and “Ladies Don’t Play<br />
Guitar” are two standouts. The first is a heartbreaking<br />
lament for friendships lost, which<br />
uses musical repetition and haze as a means to<br />
an end. The second is a sarcastic take on the<br />
instances where females have been (and still<br />
are) treated as muses, not musicians, in music<br />
journalism. The sting of its wit and of its guitar<br />
don’t go unnoticed.<br />
Unfortunately for Tennis, I don’t think this<br />
album will stand the test of time quite like my<br />
parents (29 years and counting!). It’s enjoyable,<br />
light, airy, and sweet, but fades from mind too<br />
quickly.<br />
• Trent Warner<br />
Western Addiction<br />
Tremulous<br />
Fat Wreck Chords<br />
For fans of San Francisco based hardcore band,<br />
Western Addiction, it is time to rejoice! The<br />
band has finally released their very long-awaited<br />
follow-up record, entitled Tremulous.<br />
Released 12 years after their debut album,<br />
Cognicide, Tremulous was worth the wait. To<br />
produce this record, many of the band’s founding<br />
members were called upon, which rooted<br />
Tremulous with the same aggressive feeling as<br />
their past recordings. The difference from past<br />
releases is the distinctive melodic sound, which<br />
gives the album a twist that both fans and firsttime<br />
listeners will appreciate.<br />
Tremulous is a dark and heavy album featuring<br />
deep, brooding lyrics, but unlike most<br />
hardcore releases, Tremulous features frontman<br />
Jason Hall’s finest attempt at singing. Not the<br />
hoarse, scathing vocals normally heard in the<br />
genre. Songs like, “Righteous Lightning,” will<br />
have you chanting along, while “Honeycreeper,”<br />
will have you yearning for a circle pit. Although<br />
the overall feel of Tremulous is dark, the rhythm<br />
has its highs and lows; upbeat and melodic to a<br />
steady downtempo.<br />
The guys in Western Addiction haven’t lost<br />
their edge in the decade that’s passed, they’ve<br />
fine-tuned their sound and perfected their style<br />
to produce a record worthy of waiting 12 years<br />
for and absolutely one to be proud of.<br />
• Sarah Mac<br />
56 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE
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curious minds...<br />
I recently spoke at Curious Minds Weekend in Toronto at the Hot<br />
Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Audience members submitted questions<br />
on cards before the show—anonymously—but the moderator, Lisan<br />
Jutras of the Globe and Mail, and I were having so much fun talking<br />
with each other that we didn’t get to many cards. So I’m going to<br />
quickly answer as many of the questions from the audience at Curious<br />
Minds as I can this week.<br />
My husband and I have been seeking a third for a threesome. After a very<br />
palpable night of flirtation, I asked a mutual friend (as we shared a cab)<br />
if he would be down for a threesome. He said yes, but I was not about to<br />
spring him on my husband that night. So I texted him later about it, and<br />
he has ignored me. What should I take from this?<br />
The hint.<br />
A friend’s BF won’t go down on her no matter how much she asks. She still<br />
won’t break up with him, even though she told me that oral is the only way<br />
she has ever had an orgasm. How do I get her to realize her sexual pleasure<br />
is a priority?<br />
If your friend’s BF doesn’t know oral is the only way she can orgasm, she<br />
should tell him. If she told him and he doesn’t care, she should dump<br />
him. If she told him and he doesn’t care and she won’t dump him, you’re<br />
not obligated to listen to her complain about the orgasms she’s not<br />
having.<br />
I’m a bisexual 42-year-old female with an extremely high sex drive who<br />
squirts with every orgasm. How do I deal with friends—even people at a<br />
sex club—who think you’re a freak because “women aren’t supposed to be<br />
horny all the time.”<br />
If your friends—presumably people you aren’t fucking—complain<br />
that you’re horny all the time, maybe it’s because you don’t talk about<br />
anything other than the sex you just had or the sex you hope to have<br />
soon. If people at sex clubs (!) are complaining about how horny you<br />
are… either you’ve accidentally wandered into a yacht club or even<br />
people at a sex club wanna talk about something other than sex every<br />
once in a while.<br />
My very Christian friend is about to get married. Though she is socially very<br />
liberal, she is pretty sexually repressed. I want to do something to encourage<br />
her to explore her sexuality a bit before she takes a try at partnered<br />
sex. How weird would it be to buy her a vibrator as a shower present?<br />
Don’t give your friend a vibrator at her shower—gifts are opened in<br />
front of guests at showers—but go ahead and send her one. Tell her it’s a<br />
pre-bachelorette-party gift.<br />
Two guys divorced in order to bring a third man into their relationship on<br />
equal terms, and they now plan to start a family with their sisters acting as<br />
surrogates. Thoughts?<br />
Mazel tov?<br />
I am 31. My husband (newly married) is 46, almost 47. He takes FOREVER<br />
to come, no matter what I do. How do we speed up this process? My jaw,<br />
fingers, etc., are all very sore.<br />
Your husband speeds up the process by incorporating self-stimulation<br />
breaks into the blowjobs, handjobs, etcetera-jobs you’re giving him. He<br />
strokes himself while you take a quick breather and/or an Advil, he gets<br />
himself closer, you get back to work.<br />
I’m 47 and my wife is 31. I take a lot longer to come and recover than she<br />
would like. Could you please explain to her that it’s normal for a man my<br />
age to “slow down” and it’s not her?<br />
Happy birthday. And, yes, it’s normal for a man to slow down as he<br />
ages—it’s not her—and there are younger men who take a long time<br />
to come. But such men need to take their partners’ physical limitations<br />
into consideration. To avoid wearing out their partners’ jaws, fingers, etc.,<br />
they need to take matters into their own hands. They should enjoy that<br />
blowjob, handjob, twatjob, or assjob, take breaks to stroke their own dicks,<br />
eventually bring themselves to the point of orgasmic inevitability, and end<br />
by plunging back into that mouth, fist, twat, or ass to blow their load.<br />
I have been reading your column since the early 1990s. Since that time,<br />
what has struck you in the kind of problems people write you about?<br />
People don’t ask me about butt plugs anymore. I used to get a letter<br />
once or twice a week from someone who needed to have butt plugs<br />
explained to them. But butt plugs have their own Wiki page now, so no<br />
one needs me to explain them anymore. But for old times’ sake: They<br />
look like lava lamps, they go in your butt, they feel awesome, and they<br />
typically don’t induce gay panic in butt-play-curious straight boys.<br />
Would you share your thoughts on our prime minister, Justin Trudeau?<br />
I think Justin needs to stop fucking around and legalize weed already, like<br />
he promised.<br />
When are you going to move to Canada already?<br />
See above.<br />
Polyamory after marriage—is it okay?<br />
For some.<br />
by Dan Savage<br />
I’m a submissive gay boy. I saw you walk into the theater tonight wearing<br />
combat boots. Is there any way I could lick your boots clean after the<br />
show?<br />
Sadly, I didn’t see your question until after I got back to my hotel.<br />
Straight male here. My best male friend of 20 years transitioned to female.<br />
I’ve been super supportive since day one, but her transitioning is all she ever<br />
talks about, and it’s getting tiresome. I miss our discussions of bicycle repair<br />
and Swedish pop music. How can I tell her to give it a rest while remaining<br />
supportive?<br />
If she began transitioning last week, then of course it’s all she can talk<br />
about. If she transitioned five years ago and it’s still all she ever talks<br />
about, then you’ll need to (gently) be the change you want to see in the<br />
conversation. Listen supportively when she discusses trans issues and<br />
seize opportunities (when they arise) to change the subject (“So how do<br />
you think Sweden will do in Eurovision this year?”).<br />
Why are so many lesbians into astrology?<br />
All the lesbians I know are strict empiricists. So the more pertinent question<br />
would be this: Whose sample is skewed—mine or yours?<br />
My male partner never masturbates and we have sex only once a week.<br />
We’ve been together four years. I’m a woman. I would like to have sex just<br />
a little more, but he isn’t into it. Is there something weird about me masturbating<br />
a bunch during the week and just having weekend sex?<br />
Nope.<br />
Dude? Trump? WTF?<br />
ITMFA (ITMFA.org).<br />
savagelovecast.com.<br />
mail@savagelove.net<br />
@fakedansavage on Twitter<br />
58 | APRIL <strong>2017</strong> • BEATROUTE