BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition November 2018

JB THE FIRST LADY
change has to start right at the front lines
by MICHAEL GRONDIN
Red Empowered Daughter: a critical look at Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people.
Vancouver-based MC, JB the First Lady is
JB says there is a standstill that has happened in
using hip-hop to create digital archives for the discussion surrounding Indigenous issues.
future generations and dismantle systemic racism “I think it’s about the RCMP and police taking
towards Indigenous people.
responsibility for how they treat Indigenous
“For Indigenous people, oral history is very people and people of colour. So, if you look back
important to our community and how we learn to why the RCMP was created, it was to take care
from each other. For me, as a hip-hop MC, I of the ‘Indian problem,’” JB explains. “Change has
am collecting the oral history in 2018, and my to start right at the front lines for police. We need
music is a digital archive for my great grandchildren,”
JB says. “They can think about what was these organizations.”
to re-examine systemic racism that exists within
happening at this time, and what we are talking And with the blending of many elements
about, and what we are advocating for, and what of hip-hop and Indigenous culture, JB says the
has changed. What I want for future generations discussion can grow beyond the loop.
is for them to not have to advocate for missing “For me, as an Indigenous person, when the
and murdered women, or clean water in their stolen land is returned safely to its rightful caretakers,
and we can return to traditional governance
communities.”
JB (Jerilynn Webster) of the Nuxalk & Onondaga
Nations, is releasing a new record titled includes the protection of the environment, water
of Indigenous people across Canada, which
RED (Red Empowered Daughter), a conscious and our relationships,” JB says.
critical look at Canada’s relationship with Indigenous
people.
Femme Wave fest this November, to which JB
JB the First Lady will be featured at Calgary’s
“My new album will be my fifth solo album, says such representation in the community is of
and for me, this album is exactly what I’ve been utmost importance.
wanting to create as an artist. It took four albums “As a woman in hip-hop, which is a very male
to get to the place I am at. I’ve really found my dominated genre (like most genres), we’re only
voice,” she explains.
getting half of the story. I’m bringing a female
With booming hip-hop anthems, JB addresses perspective, but also a story that hasn’t even been
such complicated issues as missing and murdered told yet as a young Indigenous woman,” she says.
Indigenous women, men and two-spirit people, “Honouring these new stories and perspectives
clean water and more.
and creating space for them to grow is so healing.”
“I take my role in the community as a daughter
very seriously,” she says. “We need to stand up for JB the First Lady perform during Femme Wave at
and protect our Indigenous communities.” the #1 Legion Main Flr. on Nov. 16 at 11:30 pm.
BODY LENS
five equals one
Body Lens, the stark experimental-punk
outfit from Lethbridge, is molded from
five perspectives, five minds, and five varying
experiences creating — a dynamic that creates
a cerebral yet ironic, a serious yet playful
experience.
As the band explains, each member adds
an equal weight to the greater whole. With an
unrelenting, heart pounding rhythm section
provided by drummer Rebecca McHugh and
bassist Brittney Ruston, a playful-angular guitar
supplied by Benny Roy and Quinn Lee, and the
ghostly voice of Brandon Wynnychuk, each
piece of their sound is precariously placed until
a bigger picture emerges.
“I’ll counter an idea, and Rebecca will counter
an idea, and it becomes this dance in how
we weave our music together” says Ruston.
“Everyone brings their own ideas and it pieces
itself together. That requires an understanding
and trust. We work with concepts we can all
follow but there’s not really anyone steering
the ship.”
Within this larger thematic whole, Body Lens
infuse their own absurd, cheeky humour to
their dark and dancy brand of post-punk.
“We’re all very dramatic,” says McHugh. Lee
adds, “I think experimental punk music can
be taken a little too seriously sometimes, and
it can come across as a cool club. For us, being
more playful is a way to counter that.”
Body Lens takes collaboration to their core,
scrapping the tropes of a front person and
delving more into a communal effort.
“I think it has a lot to do with the way stages
are set up for sound. It doesn’t really make
sense with our dynamic,” says McHugh of the
front-person cliché.
“Everyone’s part and everyone’s playing is
equally weighted. We don’t think it’s that big
of a deal that we can always reconfigure if
we want to,” says Wynnychuk. Lee responds,
PHOTO: Brandon Wynnychuk
by MICHAEL GRONDIN and Hope Madison FAY
“Sometimes the guitars can really stand out,
or the drums can really stand out on certain
songs.”
This achieves more of a unified feeling created
by five people rather than one person representing
everyone. Six months after releasing
their first self-titled EP, a furiously meticulous
six-song release which showcases a multitude
of skill, patience and spooky moods.
Body Lens speak to how important representation
is within the music community.
Lethbridge hosts Flip Fest, a Feminist music and
arts festival similar to Femme Wave. Ruston
and McHugh reflect on their experiences as
femmes in bands.
“As I get older and a lot of my confidence has
come from playing music and from performing,”
says Ruston. “I have realized that gender
is a performance, and I can play up ideas of
femininity when I perform, and it’s helped me
do that on and off stage.”
To which McHugh adds, “Sometimes you
aren’t perceived as genuine about your art.
There’s always the question of why it is that
you are doing this type of art. You sometimes
are in spaces where you aren’t really
considered equal.”
McHugh says making safe spaces with
friends, relationships, and places where varying
voices can be heard ultimately leads to a more
inclusive community.
“It’s very important for us to be a part of the
conversation and be present and participate in
it. We need to take things into consideration as
much as we can and represent the best selection
of what we’ve got, people who are active
and trying to do things in their community
and supporting each other and lifting up their
community to make good things happen.”
Body Lens plays Femme Wave on Nov. 15 at
Dickens Pub, 11:30 pm.
BEATROUTE • NOVEMBER 2018 | 39