BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition December 2018

BONEY M.
you CAN go home again
by Trevor Campbell
Thomas Wolfe famously wrote, “You can’t go home again.”
Well, feel free to flip that jerk the bird as you are tapping
your feet to the songs guaranteed to make you feel like you’re
back at your childhood hearth again. Boney M. is coming to
Calgary and you should be excited. Even if you have no idea
who Boney M actually is, there’s a good chance you know all
the words to a bunch of their songs.
You see, when you were young, around Christmas time, It’s a
Wonderful Life was on your TV, mom had a turkey roasting in
the oven and Boney M. was playing everywhere. They were on in
your dad’s car, on at the mall, at the community centre ice rink,
all your neighbours’ turntables, on at the … you get the idea!
Miraculously, the reggae-inspired ensemble managed to
release a half-dozen Christmas compilations between 1981 and
1998. Songs like “Little Drummer Boy”, “Zion’s Daughter” and
the two-pronged disco-carol sensation “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh
My Lord” quickly became synonymous with the holiday season.
The rest of the year, you’d still hear “Daddy Cool”, “Rivers of
Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring” and, of course, their monster
smash hit “Rasputin”, inspired by a Turkish folk song “Kâtibim”,
that was on repeat all summer – igniting the dancefloor at
every wedding you attended.
The legendary Boney M. formed in West Germany in 1976,
the weirdest place and time in human history, so you know
they’re great. They look like you shot ABBA out of a Bootsy
Collins cannon and sound like The Famous Jamaican Choir and
had a love child with Kraftwerk – silky, effective, Euro-Caribbean
soul! The R&B outfit have sold over 150 million records and,
40 years on, they are still going strong!
Don’t miss the chance to relive the magic of Boney M. Dec. 10 at
TCU Place (Saskatoon), Dec. 11 at the Club Regent Casino (Winnipeg),
Dec. 13 at the Grey Eagle Resort and Casino (Calgary), Dec.
14 at River Cree Casino (Enoch) and again Dec. 18 at Club Regent
Casino (Winnipeg). Tell ‘em Christmas sent ya!
“Hooray! Hooray! It’s a Holi-Holiday”
22 | DECEMBER 2018 • BEATROUTE
CROOKED SPIES
agents of rock from the High Plains
Crooked Spies are raised by wolves.
’m not a number! I’m a free man!”
“I With a band called Crooked Spies,
you just have to include some sort of
weird, dystopian struggle. And in true
Secret Service fashion we met at in a
dimly lit corner booth at the back of
Calgary’s Ship & Anchor pub on an otherwise
inconspicuous evening. Guitarist
Dylan Evanik and bassist Aaron Samson
had the intel and I needed answers.
BeatRoute assignments are no joke. I
had to complete the mission!
The guys inform me that Crooked
Spies are local rockers, originating in 2014.
Having grown tired of an acoustic project,
Dylan and his brother Steven, who handles
lead guitar duties, decided it was time
to “Turn the fucking guitars up!”
A few years later, with Mark Lawlor
providing the beats, Crooked Spies is
able to boast a garage rock catalogue
well-stocked with melodic but boundary-pushing
vibes; a rich storehouse
of creativity that includes elements of
hooky pop and bouncy punk.
“Dirty riffs and hard-hitting rock ‘n’
roll, because it’s about damn time guitar
music came back!” confirms Dylan.
Furthermore, he asserts that they just
want their listeners to smile and enjoy
all the good vibes and bluesy breakdowns.
After all, “If you’re not having
fun that sucks.”
Turning downers into upswings, Crooked
Spies’ 2017 release, High Plains, was the
perfect way for the band into begin a new
year, offering up kick-ass foot-stompers
like “Under The Gun” and “What You
Say,” as well as groovy head-bobber “Call
Like The Water.” The outstanding single,
“Raised by Wolves” has a bold pop-hop
feeling that rounds out an album perfect
for fans of Cowpuncher, High Kicks, The
Black Keys and the like.
“We like to let all our influences shine
through!” Samson exclaims. “We are a
rock band, but our thing is we serve the
song. We like to span the genre, play
throughout it. We are making the music
that I’ve always wanted to hear. I don’t
know what it is about this band or the
combination of people...we are making
music that makes me emotional and
that makes me really just want to play
music forever.”
Expounding on that sentiment, Samson
explains how proud Crooked Spies
are to be part of Calgary’s thriving rock
community, and that he sees big things
on the horizon. Indeed, the overwhelming
wealth of support surrounding them
has inspired the quartet to finally get
back into the studio after over a year.
“Calgary rock is simply amazing. I
think the talent is just ridiculous,” agrees
Dylan, noting that he believes music
lovers are gravitating to the human
connection they get from experiencing
bands live in the flesh.
“Sure in a live performance you’ll miss
by Patrick Saulnier
PHOTO: ROBERT ELOFSSON
chords here and there because you’re
all sweaty, but that’s real shit. People
can see that. One thing we would love
to see is bringing in more outsiders to
the community. Let’s welcome them
and make live music a more regular occurrence
for those that normally might
not do it.”
“Jacked” at the prospect of a busy
winter of writing and recording new
material, Crooked Spies aim to tide the
people with a visual treat; their upcoming
video release for the aforementioned
single “Raised by Wolves.”
“We went out to this abandoned gas
station between Calgary and Canmore
Alberta. There’s a little skate ramp set
up in there with a ton of graffiti. It was
the middle of the winter, we shoveled
it all out, set up our gear and did a little
jam out there and filmed a video. Watch
for that in December.”
With national touring and a stop at
Canadian Music Week as their target,
fresh tracks on the way and video
stardom impending, the group’s 2019 is
shaping up to be a time of conquest. So,
watch the stage and keep a sharp look
out -- there are Crooked Spies among us.
Check out the single “Raised by Wolves” on
Spotify and experience the espionage for
yourself Dec. 5 at the Annual Ship & Anchor
Pub Food Drive (Calgary) and Dec. 20
at Festival Hall for HighKicksMas (Calgary)
ROCKPILE