BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition February 2019

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February‘19
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- With With Tonye Aganaba
PULSE - CITY BRIEFS!
CITY
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- Affinities at the VAG
- Considering Contraints
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- Strain Of The Month
MOVING
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February 2019 3

WITH TONYE AGANABA
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
They’re the opening words of Dickens’ Tale of
Two Cities, but they also sum up 2018 for Tonye
Aganaba. The Vancouver-based singer, songwriter,
musician, and force of nature has been through a
lot in the last few years. From health challenges that
led to a MS diagnosis, to a car accident that broke
her spine, to a record deal, to parting ways with
that label, to falling in love and getting married —
the last few years have given her high-highs and
low-lows. She’s come out with a new perspective,
and a reignited passion to foster connection
through music. For Aganaba music is emotional.
Music is connection and healing. On Dec. 19, at
Blue Light Studios, Aganaba and her 14-piece
band celebrated the release of Villain EP (604
Records), the completion of her newest album, the
independently produced, Something Comfortable,
and the official launch of her podcast, AfroScience.
And there’s more. February is Black History Month,
and Aganaba is bringing her new music and
podcast to new spaces. BeatRoute caught up with
Aganaba by phone to hear more about her ideas for
revolutionizing Vancouver’s music scene.
Your EP was produced under a label, but your
upcoming album is an independent release. How
was the production experience this time around?
It took me a few years after being diagnosed to
even start playing music again because my ability
to write music and my ability to freestyle, my ability
to write lyrics was completely gone. I left Vancouver
because honestly I couldn’t fake it anymore. I
couldn’t even remember lyrics because MS affects
your short term memory. So the new record really
was about me relearning how to write music and
how to approach an instrument that didn’t make
sense anymore because my hands wouldn’t work.
I had to learn how to play guitar again...This new
record that I’ve made with my friends and family
is that, it’s reconnection to that creative energy
that brought me to music in the first place, not the
music industry that I was connected to that helped
me destroy myself.
How did those health issues impact the way you
approach performance?
Before I got sick I was obsessed with getting it right.
And I think that’s what changed for me after I got
sick was that I didn’t want to just put on a good
show anymore. I want to connect to myself and
to God through music, and therefore touch other
people with a performance. It’s not about whether
the notes are right. It’s not about whether my band
gets the notes right. It’s about whether we’re in it
together and we’re doing it honestly...I do music
because I’m a broken ass person and music heals
me inside. When I get on stage I’m like, trying to get
there. You know, I’m trying to get to that zone. I’m
trying to bring people with me.
We hear a lot about how Vancouver’s a tough
Photos by Céline Pinget
Written by Lauren Donnelly
city to be a musician in. What would you say
Vancouver does well that like no other city does?
I would say Vancouver fucks over its musicians and
artists really well. I love that though. I’m grateful.
In the face of that fuckery, so much creativity
comes out. They say that whenever a Republican
becomes president, the art pops off. And I think the
same is true for Vancouver. The more Vancouver
invests in the wrong shit, the more the right shit
has incubation time. That’s the perspective that
allows me to deal with it right now. Vancouver
over-develops really well, Vancouver pushes poor
people to the background really well, Vancouver
ignores its systemic racism really well, Vancouver
renovicts people that can’t afford to find places to
live really well...It doesn’t actually have to be this
way. And we’re making a choice to live like this. And
through conscious effort, we can change our own
realities. I’m changing mine by existing outside of
the confines of the record industry that wants me
to be a part of it. I will do it myself and I will do it in
a way that makes me feel very comfortable.
February is Black History Month. How can
Canadians celebrate Black History this year?
My challenge to myself is to undertake the practice
of understanding myself through AfroScience.
Everybody has their own science. Mine is Afro
because I am an African person...but I am going to
be doing the real research into where the fuck are
we? Where are black people in Vancouver? Where
did we go? We all know — well I mean I hope we
all know — people have heard about Hogan’s Alley.
People have heard conversations about where
black people used to be, people have heard about
Jimi Hendrix having roots here, and stuff like that,
but where really are black people here? Where
are the black-owned businesses? Where are the
organizations that are focusing on supporting black
music? For me specifically, I’m interested in where
I can find significant amounts of black culture in
the city. Where can I find that? I want to focus my
energy not on where black people aren’t, but where
black people are. And so, if you know black artists
that you have seen in Vancouver that perform a
lot, go support their shows this month. Don’t just
do it because it’s February. Just in your life, look for
black people. Look for them. If you look around
your circles and there’s only white people that’s a
problem. I’m not saying that you’re racist. I’m just
saying that’s a problem. Go support black art. I’m
playing tons of shows in February.
Tonye Aganaba is bringing her music and AfroScience podcast to new spaces.
Tonye Aganaba is opening for Mayor Kennedy
Stewart, performing at the 2019 Black History Month
Community Celebration at City Hall on Feb. 1. She’ll
be playing at Granville Island’s Performance Works
for Coastal Jazz & Blues’ Winter Jazz series on Feb. 23.
Her latest album Something Comfortable is available
online Feb. 22.
4
February 2019

CITY BRIEFS!
Black History Month Blood on the Dance Floor Taboo Naughty but Nice Sex Show The Amish Project Year of the Pig Temple Fair
A TASTE OF COEXISTENCE
Until March 20 at Hillel BC, UBC
Two of Vancouver’s favourite
Mediterranean eateries — Chickpea
and Aleph — are coming together in
honour of coexistence and delicious
hummus. Chickpea’s chefs are Israeli
and Aleph’s are Palestinian. The
restaurants are alternating providing
$8 lunches at UBC’s Hillel BC every
Wednesday until March, in an initiative
to celebrate each other and what they
have in common. Their collective
statement is worth a read, but the
bottom line is this: “We believe in
peace, love, equality, equity and justice
for the people of today and the children
of tomorrow.”
AFRICAN FASHION AND ARTS
MOVEMENT VANCOUVER
February 16 at Scottish Cultural
Centre
AFAM is an organization dedicated to
increasing educational opportunity
for young Africans. The fashion show
features African designers from both
Vancouver and other parts of Canada,
as well a showcase of art, dance
performances, and a silent auction
in support of children’s education in
Lome, Togo-West Africa.
BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR
February 6-9 at the SFU Goldcorp
Centre for the Arts
Both written and performed by Jacob
Boheme, this moving production
combines Aboriginal Dance, theatre,
and storytelling to share Boheme’s story
as someone living at the intersection
of Aboriginal, queer, and HIV-positive
communities in Southern Australia.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT THE
VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY
Various VPL locations across the city
The Vancouver Public Library will be
celebrating Black History Month with
an extensive selection of special events
from film screenings of documentaries
like Little Black Schoolhouse to talks
by writers like Chelene Knight. Drop by
your local branch to check them out.
LE SOULIER
February 26-March 9 at Studio 16
When eight year old Benoit goes to the
dentist for toothache as they seem -
but, once there, a story unfolds that is
more problematic than a cavity. Local
theatre company Théâtre la Seizième’s
newest production, Le Soulier, is a
dark comedy that explores behavioral
disorders and self-medication.
LOVE IS GREATER THAN
February 12 at Cinematheque
A group of some of Vancouver’s most
talented young creatives will gather
in this special showcase to tell stories
about love. JUNO-nominated stand
up comedian and political activist
Charlie Demers will be amongst those
performing. Proceeds from the event
will go towards LOVE BC, which
provides artistic support to youth who
have been affected by discrimination
and violence.
TABOO NAUGHTY BUT NICE SEX
SHOW
February 8-10 at Vancouver
Convention Centre
Canada’s largest adult trade show
is back for another year of frisky
fun. As always, there will be plenty
of exhibitors, entertainment, and
seminars. Performances by Body
Heat - All Male Revue and educational
sessions on sex by Dr. Jess are amongst
some of this edition’s highlights.
THE AMISH PROJECT
February 20-23 at Studio 1398
In 2006, the local milkman walked into
an Amish school, shot all the girls, and
then himself. This critically-acclaimed
production by Dark Glass Theatre
explores the tragic event, as well as
how the Amish community forgave the
gunman and embraced his family as
fellow victims.
WINTER JAZZ ON GRANVILLE
ISLAND
February 22-24 at Performance
Works
Coastal Jazz presents three days of free
jazz concerts, in every interpretation
from classic and modern to funk and
soul. You won’t want to miss Geordie
Hart (bassist of The Boom Booms) and
Tonye Aganaba.
YEAR OF THE PIG TEMPLE FAIR
February 10 at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen
Classical Chinese Garden
Happy New Year! The annual Temple
Fair is back to celebrate the lucky Year
of the Pig. Visit the beautiful Dr. Sun
Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and
enjoy a day of storytelling, musical and
dance performances, tea tastings, local
vendors, and more.

CITY
ZADIE SMITH
VOICE OF A GENERATION
LUIZA BRENNER
Zadie Smith and Jael Richardson will meet in Vancouver to discuss her renowned body of work.
NO BLUE MEMORIES
HONOURING ONE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY’S MOST IMPORTANT LITERARY FIGURES
NOÉMIE ATTIA
Zadie Smith is coming to town in a presentation by
Vancouver Writers Fest. With tickets for the event
sold out months ago, the acclaimed British writer
slash literary rockstar will talk about her work to date
and her recent collection of essays, Feel Free.
Born in 1975 in Northwest London to a Jamaican
mother and a British father, Zadie Smith is one of
today’s best-selling authors and has won more prizes
than one would mind keeping track of. In her 20s,
Smith emerged as an original voice to her generation
and was soon elected a fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature.
Her debut novel, White Teeth, published in 2000,
was showered with literary awards, including the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First
Novel Award, and the Guardian First Book Award.
Unlike authors who can’t seem to follow up firsthit-home-running
books, Smith continues to deliver
hit after hit. Her body of work discusses identity
issues and an entanglement with family, class, culture,
and politics.
In White Teeth, Smith portrays the changing
landscape of Great Britain in the 1970s through
the friendship of two World War II veterans. In The
Autograph Man, she shifts her critical gaze to fame
and celebrity culture by chronicling the life of an
autograph collector. On Beauty, winner of the 2006
Orange Prize, is set in a fictionalized American New
England college campus and tells the story of rivalry
between two academic families. Swing Time (2016),
her first novel written in the first person, explores the
complexities of female friendships by following the
lives of childhood friends growing up in council flats
in London.
Even though Smith is best known for her novels,
her essays are what give us the privilege to dive into
the wonders of her mind. A regular contributor to the
New Yorker and a professor of creative writing at New
York University, Smith is, above all, a contemporary
(and non-pretentious) thinker. She doesn’t claim to
have expertise, nor aim to have the final say, on a
subject – quite the contrary. By acknowledging her
lack of “qualifications,” the author opens her latest
book, aptly named Feel Free (2018), with an invitation
to, indeed, feel free. She offers her essays “to be
used, changed, dismantled, destroyed or ignored as
necessary!”
From Brexit to Facebook, from Jay-Z to her
mother’s obsession with bathrooms, no topic is
too big or too small to be addressed. The ease with
which she moves to and from them makes the reader
(always referred to with a feminine pronoun) feel like
she’s talking to a friend over dinner. She manages,
brilliantly, to be casual and engaging, insightful and
light-hearted, all at once.
On February 28, Smith will be in Vancouver
for a conversation with Jael Richardson, author,
broadcaster, and Director of The Festival of Literary
Diversity. The duo will discuss Smith’s body of
work, hopefully carrying the same casual, clever
and contemporary spirit we see in her writing. As
there are no tickets left, we can only hope for good
coverage… and that the encore doesn’t take too long.
Zadie Smith in Conversation takes place on February
28 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.
Biopics – they often glorify personalities and
fail to do justice to the era they represent, or
to reveal anything relevant about ours.
No Blue Memories shows it’s high time
we break this habit.
Manual Cinema created this live
cinematic performance of shadow theatre
with actors, paper puppets and live music to
pay Miss Gwendolyn Brooks a tribute for her
centenary. Brooks was an important poet
from Chicago who had a massive political
impact in the United States for most of the
twentieth century. She was also the first
African American to win a Pulitzer Prize.
“[Brooks] is a personal figure, as well as an
artistic giant in the city,” says Sarah Fornace,
the director of the show and a member of
the Chicago-based arts company, on the
phone. The entire ensemble on stage in No
Blue Memories is African American, all from
Chicago. Each artist in the project had an
anecdote to share about Brooks, as she was
very involved in the local artistic community
throughout her life. It only made sense that
Chicagoans, themselves, recount her story.
8
In the show, actors’ shadows and paper
puppets animate Brooks’ poems and
personal life on a screen, accompanied by
live music composed and performed by
Jamila and Ayanna Woods. “It’s definitely
audio and visual,” Fornace says. “You can just
watch the screen above and it’s like a movie,
or you can look down and see the actors
speaking and the band playing and singing.”
Eve Ewing and Nate Marshall, the writers of
the show, wove their narrative around the
events of Brooks’ life and also the sociopolitical
events happening around her
– most notably, the Civil Rights movement.
“Whether you knew of Gwendolyn
Brooks’ poetry before or not, I would say
that everyone that comes to the theatre
is going to have an amazing emotional
journey,” Fornace says. “And it is some of the
best music and poetry I’ve ever heard on
stage.”
No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn
Brooks takes place on February 24 at the
Chan Centre for Performing Arts.
Photos by Drew Dir
For the centenary of Gwendolyn Brooks, Manual Cinema has crafted an intimate audio-visual tribute.
February 2019

PLACES, PLEASE
YOUR MONTHLY THEATRE GUIDE
LEAH SIEGEL
Children Of God blends ancient traditions and contemporary realities for an emotional musical.
February might only be four weeks long (side
note: why can’t rent be cheaper this month?) but
there’s a ton of good stuff happening onstage.
Grab your Valentine (or your Galentine!) and
buckle up.
Cabaret at Studio 58, January
31-February 24
“Leave your troubles outside,” entreats the emcee
at the beginning of this well-loved musical. “Life is
disappointing. Forget it! In here, life is beautiful!”
No, he’s not pitching Netflix’s newest
advertising campaign. It’s Berlin in 1929, and there
are plenty of reasons for any rational individual to
seek some sort of escape: namely, the economy
sucks, and Nazis are rising to power. Isn’t it neat
how history repeats itself?
Without any sort of streaming service available
(or personal computers, for that matter),
Berliners with loose morals or open-minded
dispositions would frequent seedy hubs like the
Kit Kat Klub, where we find ourselves with the
emcee, chanteuse Sally Bowles, and a Britishwriter-searching-for-inspiration
Cliff Bradshaw,
among other members of the Scooby Gang.
While the show is certainly rife with
interpersonal drama (forbidden love! Early
twentieth century abortion! Secret Nazis!),
what makes this musical stand out from Cats or
Oklahoma is the play’s doomed yearning for the
greener pastures of yesteryear in the midst of
major, life-threatening political upheaval. Quel
juxtaposition, n’est-ce pas?
For the prudes among us, there’s going to be
some skin showing, and a sampling of rather
colourful language. But let’s be honest: with a title
like Cabaret, what were you expecting?
Yoga Play at Gateway Theatre,
February 7-16
An executive at the yoga apparel company Lulule
– sorry – Jojomon gets in trouble for fat-shaming.
Joan is hired to save the company’s image, and
comes up with some, er, creative solutions.
Dipika Guha’s new play tackles issues such
as body image, cultural appropriation, and the
awkward intersection of yoga spirituality with
capitalism, but the show never takes itself too
seriously. “The more serious, the more difficult
something is to talk about, the more we actually
need the laughter to explore it,” says the play’s
director Jovanni Sy. “There’s so much that can be
unpacked through humour.”
Despite taking place in California, Sy adds,
Yoga Play is particularly relevant for Vancouver
audiences. “I think the more you hustle to try
to buy a home where the market is so crazily
inflated, or you try to make rent, the harder it
might be to find a place that is spiritually centred,
where you have a sense of yourself,” he says. “And
what does it mean when that search for self is in
itself a huge, billion-dollar industry? What does
it mean to find that kind of inner peace when
everyone’s trying to sell it to you?”
Children of God at the Cultch,
February 20-March 10
If you don’t think Canada’s residential school
system is the most obvious subject for a musical,
you’re not alone. That didn’t stop playwrightdirector
Corey Payette, though – and his show
Children of God returns this month to Vancouver
after a sold-out run in 2017.
The story focuses on an Oji-Cree family that’s
torn apart by one such school. (Payette himself is
Oji-Cree.) “We felt it was important to tell a more
personal story,” he says. “These were brothers and
sisters; these were aunties and uncles; these were
people that were funny and quirky and had joy
and sadness.”
Critics have called it “must-see theatre for
Canadians,” and say it has “the most punch-tothe-gut
emotional ending I have ever experienced
in my many years as a theatregoer.” Well, dang.
THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND
CARRYING A TORCH FOR YOUR FAVOURITE QUEEN BEE SEPTUAGENARIANS
JENNIE ORTON
It is hard to imagine a universe in which a
network would greenlight a show with the
following synopsis: “The hilarious daily lives
of four women over 65 who share a Miami
bungalow and maneuver the trials and
tribulations of aging, dating, female friendship,
independence, and the reconciliation of oneself
in your twilight years.” Not only does this
universe exist, but, at one time, we were living
in it.
In 1985, four pioneers of the voice of women
in television signed on to do a show that was as
ground-breaking as it was unapologetic. There
have been attempts to reclaim it (the earnest
but ultimately disappointing effort of “Grace
and Frankie” comes to mind) but nothing can
match the impact of the original. With chemistry
so difficult to replicate, there was only one real
solution that made sense for any kind of tribute
show: puppets.
“‘The Golden Girls’ is a master class in sitcom
writing,” says Thomas Duncan-Witt, who cocreated
the show with Jonathan Rockefeller. “It’s
a very attractive fantasy. What person wouldn’t
want to live in a lovely ‘80s retro Miami house
with their three or four best friends and sit
around and eat cheesecake and talk shit all day?”
And get laid. And get arrested. And meet Burt
Reynolds. And chase careers. And slam the door
in the face of your loser ex-husband. It was all
pretty relatable and hilarious material, delivered
by experts at comedic timing.
“Like most successful sitcoms, which are
incredibly rare, it was a bit of lightning in a
THEATRE
bottle,” posits Duncan-Witt. “Obviously you have
a great script, but you have these four actors who
have very successful track records and who were
all available. I suspect it was serendipity that it
did get made.”
“Golden Girls” was a critical hit in both senses
of the word: loved by critics and a meaningful
strike to the patriarchy of prime time network
television. None of the cast were new to female
led button-pushing fare; Bea Arthur and Rue
McClanahan did “Maude,” the former portraying
the title character, which was an “All in the
Family” spinoff that grappled with issues like
racism, homophobia, white privilege, and drug
laws, and Betty White played Sue Ann Nivens, the
fiercely charismatic and veracious portrait of the
housewife archetype squirming against the apron
strings on the also female-fronted “Mary Tyler
Moore Show,” known for its scandalous attempts
to showcase a career-minded woman who dared
wear pants on network television. Literally, pants:
it was scandalous back then.
Today, women are still fighting for equal
pay and for top billing. Issues like gay
marriage, reproductive rights, sexual assault,
intersectionality, and female sexuality (all issues
tackled by “Golden Girls”) are still on the docket
for politicians to discuss. There is no better time
for us to reconvene around the wicker kitchen
set, over a plate of cheesecake, with our favourite
friends and hash it all out.
Thank You for Being a Friend takes place at the
Vogue Theatre on February 13.
The inimitable dynamic between the Golden Girls could only be recreated through puppetry.
February 2019 9

CITY
HERITAGE WEEK
STRENGTHENING THE CULTURAL FABRIC OF THE HERE AND NOW
DAYNA MAHANNAH
$24
TICKETS FROM
Heritage Week: if you haven’t done it, you should.
These days, as time moves faster than ever, it’s easy
to get swept up in the technological advances and
digital trends that hurtle us into futuristic rapture.
But what of the past?
After speaking with Vancouver Heritage
Foundation’s Executive Director, Judith Mosley, it’s
evident there’s a place for our history in the present
and, if we are foresighted enough, in the hereafter.
“The Tie That Binds” is this year’s theme for
Heritage Week, which runs from February 18-24
and will host numerous events and activities to help
people engage with the legacies of Vancouver. “It
helps us understand our communities and our cities,”
Mosley says, “by helping us connect to the history to
[understand] how we got to where we are.”
Walking tours, visiting museums and old
neighbourhoods, and exploring Vancouver’s archives
are some of the ways to enjoy this celebration. VHF
has also been developing online resources that
allow better access to Vancouver’s bygone days – a
perfect instance of how to keep alive the relics and
memories that are the foundation of our culturally
diverse city.
The Heritage Site Finder is an interactive map
listing over 2,200 registered – yes, heritage – sites,
complete with photography and researched
information. Another work-in-progress is the Places
That Matter project, a collaboration aimed toward
gathering history of people, places, and events
that are lesser known to the general public and
acknowledging those stories. They are catalogued
on the Community History Resource website and
celebrated with a researched blue plaque. Places That
Matter will also be the eponymous mainstay event at
Heritage Week.
Still, VHF works year-round to “promote the
appreciation and conservation of historic places in
the city.” For Mosley, this is vital to sustaining the
integrity of where we live. “On someone’s street,
a house restored may mean more people are able
to live in it… that can lead to more people in the
neighbourhood taking on that kind of project as
well.”
Reinforcing communities in this way can have a
bigger impact on Vancouver’s economic and housing
issues. “We encourage people to keep buildings, keep
houses, and find ways to reuse them,” she says. “A lot
of older places are very adaptable and very much a
part of the solution to the challenges we are facing.”
Mosley hesitates to choose a single site as a
favourite. “There are a lot of places I treasure,” she
laughs. “I couldn’t pick just one.” But it is no doubt
they are more than just nostalgic. “Special places
in the city can really help bring people together.
Understanding the stories of the people and the
places where we live and work is really important in
helping us make decisions for the future.”
BC Heritage Week runs from February 18- 24 at
various locations. Find out more at heritagebc.ca and
vancouverheritagefoundation.org.
Photos via The Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Feb 20–Mar 10, 2019
YORK THEATRE
ACTOR: MICHELLE BARDACH | PHOTO: MATT BARNES
Urban Ink (VAN), Co-produced with the Segal Centre (MTL)
Presented with the Talking Stick Festival
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THECULTCH.COM
Vancouver Heritage Foundation is working year round to conserve the city’s historical buildings.
10
February 2019

STEVE WINTER
LIFE THROUGH THE LENS OF A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHER
RHYS MAHANNAH
Photos by Steve Winter
Steve Winter’s photography highlights the importance of education and conservation.
Steve Winter thought he was a dead man.
He’d set out to find the resplendent quetzal, a sacred
bird in ancient Mesoamerican mythology, after he’d
gotten the story idea from an ornithologist. Now, he
was somewhere deep in the Guatemalan jungle.
One night, alone in a one-room shack, he heard it.
Creaking floorboards, then creaking stairs. Scratching at
the door, then heavy sniffing.
Terrified, he radioed the nearby naturalist, who
responded: “Steve, don’t worry – it’s just a black jaguar.”
The experience would prove life-changing and
career-defining. “That’s the moment big cats chose
me,” says Winter, now a multiple award-winning nature
photographer for National Geographic.
Winter has travelled the world, from India’s remote
mountains to Myanmar’s dense jungles to Los Angeles’s
urban centres, to capture rare and stunning images of
these “charismatic, sexy animals.”
His adventures, sometimes months-long in the most
grueling of weather, have led to something else: a sense
of responsibility.
“One can’t do a story on these animals, then let them
disappear,” he says. Beyond the aesthetics, he uses his
photography as a medium for discussing, and hopefully
expanding, conservation efforts for his animal subjects.
“My favourite photos tend to be those which make
CITY
the biggest difference to a particular species at a
particular time,” he says.
One example is his iconic Hollywood Cougar,
featured in “Ghost Cats,” the headline story in the
December 2013 issue of National Geographic.
“I love that photo, because it got people in greater
L.A. to acknowledge they have animals,” says Winter. “It
was also a catalyst to get people interested in building
one of the world’s largest wildlife overpasses.” That
overpass, to be built over California’s Highway 101, is
scheduled for completion in 2022.
Winter’s latest gig, a talk entitled “On the Trail of Big
Cats,” is the next step in his education and conservation
efforts. It comes to Vancouver this month.
The goal is not only to delight audiences with
outstanding photography, but also to highlight the
intimate connection between humans and nature – a
connection we often don’t think about, and one that
could prove essential to our own survival.
“If you stop and think about the areas where big
cats live, they’re also important to us. So if we can save
them, then we can help save ourselves.”
National Geographic LIVE presents Steve Winter’s “On
the Trail of Big Cats” on Wednesday, February 27 the
Orpheum Theatre.
MICHAEL LANDSBERG
#SICKNOTWEAK TURNS THE VOLUME UP ON THE CONVERSATION AROUND DEPRESSION
LAUREN EDWARDS
“Silence is suicide’s biggest ally,” says long-time TSN
reporter Michael Landsberg, over the phone from one of
the stops of his #SickNotWeak Canadian tour. He travels
across the country with the focus of spreading his message
about depression, “the invisible disease” he has been
suffering from for 20 years.
Landsberg founded #SickNotWeak in 2009 as a
community platform that recognizes depression’s looming
voice and encourages more people to open up about their
experiences to help end its stigma. One of the weapons
depression uses to induce suffering are the negative
connotations associated with having a mental illness.
“Dialogue within the community is how you disarm the
stigma,” states Landsberg.
In 2013, he released Darkness and Hope: Depression,
Sports, and Me, a memoir that featured elite athletes like
Olympian Clara Hughes, Stanley Cup winner Stéphane
Richer and World Series winner Darryl Strawberry speaking
about their struggles within the sports industry. It would
later receive a nomination for a Canadian Screen Award for
Best History or Biography Documentary.
Moving from film to stage, Landsberg says that “if
you’re a decent speaker, doing it face-to-face with people
is way more powerful than any other format. I think
every individual benefits from it, from hearing someone
talk about it. I know when I speak to a group of a couple
hundred people, at least one person will walk out of there
and see themselves differently. That it will change their
life.”
Landsberg exudes confidence as he speaks eloquently
about depression. Committing time to talk about his
personal battle, he explains, “It works both ways. When
people feel like they’re understood, because I know what’s
been going on in their brain, I feel understood as well.”
There is no doubt a bigger stigma with men about
mental illness. A contributing factor could be young boys
conditioned that they are not allowed to cry and should
instead “man up.”
According to Statistics
Canada’s 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey
on Mental Health, about one in five Canadians have
experienced depressive thoughts at some point in their
lives. Statistically, women are more likely to experience
depression than men – however, “Men will suffer in silence
because they think it is a weakness, and do not want to
show it,” Landsberg explains.
#SickNotWeak could also benefit parents, especially
those faced with their children opening up to them about
suicidal thoughts. However, the reality nowadays is that
many kids may not feel comfortable going to their parents
for help. “It would be a little easier if parents mentioned it
first,” Landsberg suggests. With a reduced stigma, perhaps
the next generation will feel they can ask for help without
fear. “The way we get to that position is from talking about
it, from desensitizing people,” says Landsberg, “This is not a
weakness, not self-inflicted. This is an illness, like anything
else.”
If you would like to know more, check out sicknotweak.
com and @SickNotWeak on Twitter.
Michael Landsberg speaks at Congregation Beth Israel on
February 13, in support of #SickNotWeak.
Michael Landsberg is working to minimize the stigma against depression.
February 2019 11

Spring 2019 Exhibition
February 16 to June 15
Catherine Opie 700 Nimes Road (2010-2011) (one of ) 50 archival pigment prints on Canson platine paper 310 gsm,
two letterpress inserts, silk lined linen box with embossed text | each 24 7/8 x 30 3/8 x 1 3/4 in ( 63 x 77 x 4.5 cm ) framed
Rennie Museum | 51 East Pender St | Vancouver

AFFINITIES
VISUALS OF THE PAST DEMAND RELEVANCE TO THE MODERN AGE
JAMILA POMEROY
Photos by Rodney Graham
Affinities showcases the ways French artists influenced Canadian art in the 20th century.
CONSIDERING CONSTRAINTS
ARTIST ZANDI DANDIZETTE IS A SPECTRUM OF COLOUR
MIA GLANZ
Drawn from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent
collection, Affinities: Canadian Artists and France
explores the significance of French modernism, cultural
theory, and the impact these cultural and visual
revolutions have had on Canadian art. Tracing a century
of avant-garde art making, the exhibition displays art
informed by French intellectuals of the mid-to-late 20th
century.
“The exhibition looks at the affinities: the Canadian
artist’s [connection to] France, in terms of the art that
was produced there, but also in terms of the philosophy
and thinking that has come out of France over the last
120 years,” says curator Grant Arnold.
Broken into three sections, viewers explore
impressionism, post-impressionism, the art of 1950s
Montreal, and both French and French-Canadian
surrealism. “The first section focuses on artists who
studied in France in the late 19th or early 20th century
who were influenced by impressionism and postimpressionism,”
explains Arnold.
This visual exposé of French art touches on Montreal’s
relationship with France: in this, we discover these artists
of true innovation were merely inspired by their French
forefathers, far from the misconceptions that they were
only replications and transplants of the revolutionary
scene. Featuring the likes of James Wilson Morrice,
Maurice Cullen, A. Y. Jackson, and Emily Carr, we are
able to see the direct impact French culture has had on
Canadian technique and the statements these works
CITY
superimpose.
The second section of the exhibit explores the
abstract: in response to the French surrealist poet André
Breton, Paul-Émile Borduas and Jean-Paul Mousseau
undertake visual revolutions based on automatic writing.
“It looks at painting in Montreal in the ‘40s and ‘50s,”
says Arnold, who sees the France-to-Montreal exodus as
paramount to current Canadian artistic culture. “At that
time, the discussions of art-making in Montreal were
probably the most advanced in the country, or at least
the most up to date in terms of modernism. There were
a number of artists, Alfred Pellan being one of them,
who had been in France for quite a long time. Alfred
Pellan came back to Montreal at the beginning of the
Second World War, after living in Paris for 14 years. He
was very familiar with cubism and surrealism and recent
developments of French painting.”
With more recent works of the exhibit largely
informed by French theorists, and aligned deeply with
the post-modernist feminism of that time, viewers obtain
a deeper understanding of just how interdependent
these visual movements were with the voice of the
people, and further, statements reacting on the societal
and political states of the time. With artists such as Mary
Scott and Lucy Hogg, we are given visual waves of French
theorists such as Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva.
Affinities: Canadian Artists and France runs from February
16-May 20 at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Pink, purple and blue are Zandi Dandizette’s
colours. Not only in terms of dress: even
their lips, hair, and eyebrows are painted in a
Care Bear palette. Every morning, Dandizette
steps out of their bedroom at the James
Black Gallery, of which they are founder and
artist-resident, and into the “transition” room,
where the walls and ceiling are plastered in
amorphous conglomerations of pink, blue,
and purple.
Colour associations are immediate, but not
instinctive. “In the past, pink was considered
a really loud colour, and a totally masculine
colour,” Dandizette explains. They use
colour to explore identity in their exhibition
and curatorial work, the latter being “an
extension of [their] thought process.” Beyond
Dandizette’s work as an artist, a curator, and a
part of the James Black Gallery and residency
program, they are Programs Coordinator for
CARFAC and on the Board of Directors at
VIVO Media Arts Centre.
Don’t be fooled by notions of pink –
colourful Dandizette is a force.
Expect more figurative colourations at
Dandizette’s upcoming exhibition, Considering
Constraints, at Conduit Gallery. The project
has installation and performance components,
and the space will be transformed with “a lot
of baby foam mats, and then polyurethane
blobs coming out and interrupting the strict
grid pattern.” The baby foam mats reference
childhood as the period when humans are,
Dandizette explains, “forced into gender
constraints.” A video loop of hundreds of
people’s faces, close-ups without contextual
markers of gender, will play on the gallery
walls.
At the closing show on February 21,
Dandizette will wear a morphsuit inviting
people to draw on them in order to “ascribe
their own meaning and how they view the
body.” The presence and reaction of people
whose faces play in the video loop will add to
an experience of the space.
For Dandizette, today we are constantly
interacting with visual tropes. In old films, the
pacing was different. “At the time they needed
to develop the character,” they say. “Nowadays,
we have all this film history and these tropes
in place so we can immediately identify that
character.”
In their practice, they seek to use and
highlight visual language to “discuss, subvert,
and hopefully make people question why they
think the way they do,” – starting with pink,
purple, and blue.
Considering Constraints runs from February
7-21 at the Conduit Gallery.
Zandi Dandizette uses colour to explore identity in both their exhibition and curatorial work.
February 2019 13

MARY ZILBA
Reality TV star enters budding realm of cannabis
JAMILA POMEROY
Mary Zilba invests in medicinal properties of cannabis.
Recording artist, business woman, TV personality
and philanthropist, Mary Zilba, enters the budding
realm of cannabis. With the announcement of
her new company, Marz Ventures INC, Zilba plans
to incorporate her ethics grounded in women’s
rights and empowerment, while helping to end the
negative stigmas of the plant. “It was a very natural
thing for me to get heavier into the cannabis
space. I’ve never had a problem with [cannabis]
because I never believed it caused the problems
that a schedule one drug should cause. I’ve always
felt that alcohol is the more evil of the two;
without the side-effects that alcohol can cause.
I’ve never had a negative thought about cannabis
and It’s never something I’ve thought badly about,”
explains Zilba.
“It’s something that hits close to home,” says
Zilba, who shares that her son was able to get off
his seizure medication with the use of cannabis.
“He had a very debilitating seizure disorder since
he was three. He had been on every kind of
medication that you could imagine, every anticonvulsive
medication they could possibly get him
on, because nothing was controlling his seizures. A
lot of pharmaceuticals take trial and error for them
to work, and sometimes a lot of them don’t work;
so patients are stuck having seizure after seizure,”
explains Zilba. With symptoms only getting worse,
her concerns grew deeper. “He had been having
such difficulties at school, he wasn’t able to stay
awake, he was having really dark thoughts and
they weren’t controlling the seizures,” she explains.
After searching the Internet for alternatives, Zilba
stumbled across the high CBD strain, Charlotte’s
Web. After much research, Zilba introduced
cannabis oil into her son’s medical regime,
foreverchanging his life. “He’s 23 and hasn’t has a
seizure since. It’s incredible and it makes me cry
when I tell the story” she shares.
In addition to the great success with her son,
Zilba has seen cannabis change her family in
other positive ways, including helping her brother
combat addiction. “I have six brothers and sisters
and one of my brothers was addicted to opioids
and cocaine for a very long time. He’s now clean,
but you know, we were a big catholic family and all
professionals and my brother just took the wrong
road. He ended up being quite addicted,” she
explains. While cannabis may have been labeled
as a gateway drug for years, it’s hard to see it as
anything other than an exit drug, with cannabis
being so prevalent in alternative addictions
counseling. “I’m very familiar with addiction, what
it can do and how it can rip families apart [...] It
wasn’t until recently that my brother had to utilize
cannabis to get off the opiods. He’s 51 now and
since 18, has been an addict. So the miraculous
things I have seen over time, have really been the
reason I have gotten into the cannabis business,”
Zilba explains.
It’s stories like these that really help remove
the negative stigma of the plant, and people like
Zilba, that are helping give a new, welcoming face
to the industry. Amidst the recurrence of cannabis
greatly improving the lives of the people around
her, Zilba had began working on the media side
of the industry. “in the meantime I had started
my company LadyPants Productions. We started
doing cannabis content for different companies.”
A product of the production company, is the
popular cannabis cooking series, BAKED, which
showcases different recipes including cannabis. “In
doing all of that cannabis content, I started getting
more and more involved in the cannabis space
and meeting more people. I started really finding
there was a great lack of knowledge and education
for patients, and really anyone who is interested
in cannabis. I began to get really passionate about
helping, particularly women, understand the
benefits of cannabis,” she explains.
It may be easy for some under the spotlight, to
kick back and relax, but for Zilba, the importance
of using her following for good is paramount. After
realizing her passion for the cannabis industry, and
larger, her passion for helping others, Zilba began
to reach out to cannabis companies, eventually
leading her to forming Marz Ventures INC. “It’s
really encapsulating everything I have been doing
in the cannabis space, all in one company, but
ebelishing on that and being able to take it to
a world-wide level. Marz Ventures is a global,
fully integrated company: including branded
dispensaries, cannabis product lines and grow
facilities, while providing consumers with ample
information about the plant. With plans to adhere
their quality premium product, with ethics that
serve patients and consumers; we can only expect
the company to make giant positive waves in the
cannabis industry.
STRAIN-OF-THE-MONTH
Charlotte’s Web
Great for consumers who don’t want their medication to affect their daily tasks, Charlotte’s Web
is the low THC, high CBD strain sent from above. Known for helping to treat seizures, as well as a
large range of other medical conditions, the strain has gained worldwide recognition due to the
higher than average CBD content. Cultivated by the Stanley Brothers for a young epileptic patient
named Charlotte, the strain has helped spark medical research while helping clear negative stigmas
associated with cannabis. Charlotte’s Web boasts scents of pine and citrus, all adding to the painrelieving
and anti-inflammatory qualities of the strain.
14
February 2019

LIFE INSIDE THE DOME
ALLAN STANLEIGH’S WONDERFUL WORLD
KIRA CLAVELL
photos by Kira Clavell
CITY
RIO
THEATRE
1660 EAST BROADWAY
FEBRUARY
6
FEBRUARY
7
8
10
FEBRUARY
FEBRUARY
FEBRUARY
9
FEBRUARY
The Fictionals Present
IMPROV AGAINST
HUMANITY
Game of Love
First Thursday of Every Month!
PAUL ANTHONY’S
TALENT TIME
11th Anniversary Special!
Nicolas Cage Double Bill!
MOONSTRUCK
AND
David Lynch’s
WILD AT HEART
Haida Language Feature
EDGE OF THE KNIFE
#CDNFilm
Tainted Love Double Bill!
Glenn Close & John Malkovich
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
AND
Uma Thurman
HENRY AND JUNE
FEBRUARY
13
STORY STORY LIE
Fool for Love
The Gentlemen Hecklers present
THE NOTEBOOK
FEBRUARY
14
April O’Peel presents
BURLESQUE DUOS
A Valentine’s Day tradition
In the picturesque, dreamlike Bloedel Conservatory, custodian and graphic novelist Allan Stanleigh crafts worlds all his own.
Dense fog has settled over the city
the day I’m to meet Allan Stanleigh at
the Bloedel Conservatory. The mist is
an appropriate intro for the late shift
custodian at the bird sanctuary atop
Queen Elizabeth Park. Stanleigh is also
a writer of graphic novels, screenplays,
podcasts, and the managing director
of West Ghost Publishing. One
wonders what life is like after hours
in the solitude of the dome. Would
you pause from sweeping up fallen
seeds to lean your head upon the
hilt of your broom and gaze through
the leaves to the stars above? Is this
when you dream up stories, beneath
and beyond the glass panels arching
around you?
Driving towards Bloedel, the
fog lifts and sunlight pours across
the grassy slopes leading up to the
conservatory. Outstretched barren
tree branches seemingly point
towards the dome. This sudden clarity
seems befitting: readying the reveal
of Stanleigh and his temperatureregulated
exotic world. Perhaps these
are all just images conjured from
reading Caretakers, his charming,
ghostly graphic novel series based on
a screenplay that has fans awaiting
the third installment to find out what
has happened with baby Ginnie and
captured the attention of a national
network with its all-ages appeal.
We meet at the entrance. Stanleigh
is mild-mannered and soft-spoken.
“When I first started, I heard voices,
and it’s the birds,” he says. “I’d be
walking around, and I’d hear, ‘Hi!
Hello!’ It sounds so human-like, but
it’s the birds. I’m the only human in
here.”
A pheasant is quietly weaving
around our feet, leading us as we walk.
Stanleigh introduces me to Gidget,
a gentle cockatoo, and, of all the
birds, she seems the closest to him,
even in personality. Rudy, an African
grey parrot, protectively watches
over them both. Our conversation is
punctuated by screeches of “Hi Art!”
from Art, the macaw who loves to
talk. The air is humid and pleasant,
and the trees are full and lush. I follow
Stanleigh up a steep metal staircase to
the uppermost landing that overlooks
the conservatory. Steam hisses from
small vents above our heads, pushing
moisture into the air. Droplets form
on the panes of glass. “That’s what’s
collecting up there and falling down
like raindrops.” It’s a breathtaking view
— a birds-eye perch not generally
seen by the public. Looking down
upon the tropical land below, I’m
expecting to see a Brachiosaurus
emerge, nibbling on the flora.
“I’ll take you to see the tunnels.”
Yes, please. The mechanics are a sharp
contrast to the languidness of foliage
and feathered companions. It strikes
me as more attuned to Stanleigh’s
USNA (United States of North
America) graphic novel series. It’s a
vision he and his fellow co-writers
started writing 25 years ago about a
world where Canada and the United
States have amalgamated. “It’s about
the rebels, because I would want to
be a rebel.” Indeed. There are stories
upon stories Stanleigh can introduce
you to if you are ever lucky enough
to see him at Bloedel, and even more
if you look up his work through West
Ghost Publishing.
Darkness envelops us once we
emerge from the dome. The fog has
returned, and Stanleigh uses the
flashlight on his cell to illuminate the
steps down the slope as we make our
way from the sanctuary.
FEBRUARY
15
FEBRUARY
15-23
FEBRUARY
16
FEBRUARY
22
FEBRUARY
24
-TO -
MARCH
3
MARCH
1
Baz Luhrmann’s
MOULIN ROUGE!
Friday Late Night Movie
JFL NorthWest presents
VANCOUVER’S
JUST FOR LAUGHS
FESTIVAL
The Geekenders Present
UNCAPED CRUSADERS
A Batlesque tribute to The Dark Knight!
ARMY OF DARKNESS
Friday Late Night Movie
VANCOUVER
INTERNATIONAL
MOUNTAIN
FILM FESTIVAL
Info www.vimff.org
Takashi Miike’s
AUDITION
20th Anniversary Remaster!
Friday Late Night Movie
Gaspar Noé’s
*CLIMAX
MARCH
Jonas Åkerlund’s
4 LORDS OF CHAOS
*www.riotheatre.ca for additional times
COMPLETE LISTINGS AT WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA
February 2019 15

MOVING MOUNTAINS
photo by Ryan Flett
The Josie Hotel
Pioneers A Winter
Oasis In Rossland,
B.C.
By Glenn Alderson
In the middle of downtown Rossland is an iconic
bronze statue of a stoic looking man named Olaus
Jeldness, holding a pair of skis and looking wistfully
over the West Kootenay town of approximately
3,000 from atop his permanent perch.
Jeldness moved to the quaint mining
community in 1896 and is credited with
pioneering the establishment of competitive skiing
in Western Canada. Originally from Norway, he
caused quite the stir in 1857 when, at the age of
15, he ski jumped a distance of 92 feet. That’s 28
meters in Canadian; longer than the distance from
first to second base, for all you baseball freaks.
What brought Jeldness to Rossland was the work,
but if you spend one weekend in this magical
town, it’s clear he stayed for the same reason most
do to this day — that sweet, sweet powder. It’s
actually a common theme in Rossland; those who
come don’t really ever seem to leave. They just
have one simple rule — don’t tell anyone.
The secret is one worth keeping, but the cat
seems to be out of the bag. Located just 15
minutes north of the US border, Rossland is easily
one of the most Canadian towns in Canada and it
doesn’t even have a Tim Hortons. Instead it’s got
an intimate and independent vibe that is fostered
by its budding community of young and old.
Spend one night hanging out and drinking at their
local hotspot The Flying Steamshovel and you’ll
immediately sense why the residents don’t want
their secret to get out. Imagine Whistler back in
the day, before they got their first Earls and opened
the floodgates for big business and international
visitors alike to après their way through hell every
winter season.
Not only is Rossland home to RED Mountain,
one of the oldest and most heavenly ski hills in
North America, it’s also host to the Rossland
Winter Carnival. Established in 1898, it’s one of the
oldest winter carnivals in Canada, second only to
Quebec City.
It’s a crisp Friday night in January. The snow on
the side streets is piled up about five feet high,
but Columbia Avenue — the street Jeldness’s
bronzed, beautiful body is looking out over — is
packed with spectators for the carnival’s annual
parade. There are fire spinners, floats packed
with kids throwing candy, a herd of wiener dogs
being guided by their bundled-up owners... a
random pick-up truck with one dude in its cab,
driving with their music cranked. And then come
the new kids on the block, the staff of The Josie,
Rossland’s brand new boutique hotel. Hanging out
the windows of an SUV decorated with Christmas
lights, they’re wearing the hotel’s signature
bathrobes, honking and waving to the excited
onlookers.
The Josie opened its doors to the public at the
end of November 2018. Located at the base of the
town’s coveted RED Mountain Resort, the fresh
and vibrant oasis blurs the line between luxury
and accessibility in hospitality with ease. If RED
Mountain is celebrated as one of the last great
unspoiled resorts, then The Josie, much like Olaus
Jeldness, is a pioneer, offering a first of its kind in
dining and hospitality for the modest and modern
mountain town.
Born from a partnership between William
Cole Companies, a Texas company who operates
another similar property in Bryan, TX called The
Stella, and Noble House Hotels & Resorts, The Josie
offers a stunning ski-in/ski-out experience with
106 rooms for their guests, plus an opportunity
for casual fine dining at their locally-inspired
restaurant, The Velvet. Named after one of the
most famous and valuable mines in the area
originally discovered by old man Jeldness, the
restaurant is as fresh and funky as it is warm
and inviting, offering stunning views of the
mountain’s base during the day and a cozy feeling
of intimate seclusion in the evenings. Executive
Chef Marc-Andre Choquette has thoughtfully
curated a locally foraged menu with French
influences that range from baked French onion
soup and charcuterie starters to mains like baked
sablefish and confit rabbit pappardelle pasta with
mushrooms, leeks, chile, garlic zucchini and basil
puree. If you’re in a sharing mood, make sure to try
to their rack of lamb served with cumin-date purée
and roasted carrots, or the generously portioned
dry-aged 26 oz beef striploin, served with roasted
root vegetables and pomme purée.
Back in the town’s mining heyday, the infamous
Jeldness was also known for hosting mountaintop
tea parties — most notable was the one way up at
the top of the Velvet mine. It’s fun to think back on
these interesting pieces of Rossland’s rich mining
history while enjoying the new luxuries that
The Josie has worked so tirelessly to bring to its
patrons. If Jeldness was still alive to experience the
comfort and care The Josie has brought to town,
it’s almost guaranteed that he’d be moving those
tea parties inside and inviting all of his Instagram
friends and followers that he undoubtedly would
have amassed.
It’s now Saturday morning, and after a
relaxing evening in one of The Josie’s premium
king suites, there’s no better way to continue
the winter carnival festivities than by standing
at the top of one of the town’s steepest hills,
watching the Sonny Samuelson Bobsled Race
down the menacingly steep Spokane Street. One
after the other, these homemade death traps
are being lined up to brave the icy track that’s
lined with spectators. At the bottom of the hill,
a representative from the local radio station is
sitting atop an outlook station, calling out the
times as each team comes barreling down at
alarming speeds. “Fifty-six kilometers an hour for
the Pillbillies! Not bad,” he says while Lil John’s
“Get Low” is blaring on the speakers behind him.
Everyone in the town is out for this bobsled
spectacular and the energy is high. After the races,
the local Legion is hosting a borscht smorgasbord,
complete with both Ukrainian and Russian
renditions of the dish — $7 per bowl and an extra
$2 if you want a piece of pie.
Respectfully removing our hats, we grab a bowl
and pull up a seat next to a couple of retired local
women, June and Alma. June is 83 and has been
living in Rossland for more than 50 years. She’s
already been skiing 25 times this season. It wasn’t
more than five minutes before Alma was offering
up the ski gear of her recently deceased husband.
“So you’re writing about Rossland for a
magazine?” June says, chipping away at the crust
of her lemon meringue pie. “Yes,” I say, trying to
divert the conversation away from Alma’s generous
but awkward offer.
“Is there anything I should know before writing
it?” I ask.
“Yes, tell your readers that Rossland is just ok,”
she said with a smirk on her face.
Don’t worry June and Alma, your secret is safe
with me.
Don’t go to Rossland. Don’t ski RED Mountain. Don’t
go to The Josie. You’ll hate it ;)
16
February 2019

S
ome comedians train their whole lives
to secure an HBO special, headline a Just
for Laughs festival, host Netflix’s first
late-night comedy talk show, or speak
at the White House Correspondents’
Dinner. Michelle Wolf is not some comedians. In
fact, she never planned to be a comedian at all.
After studying kinesiology in college, Wolf jumped
headfirst into a career on Wall Street despite never
having taken a business course. She started at Bear
Stearns in the summer of 2007, less than a year
before its collapse during the stock market crash of
2008.
“I got a job on Wall Street, mostly because I
was an athlete and I got good grades and those
are people who are competitive and want to win,”
says Wolf. “Around the same time that Bear was
collapsing, some friends came to visit me, and we all
went to a taping of SNL. I’ve always been such a big
fan, so afterwards I googled how people get onto
the show, and most of them started in improv. So I
just signed up for an improv class.”
For someone known for their controversial
speech-turned-roast at 2018’s White House
Correspondents’ Dinner, it might be surprising to
learn that Wolf is not interested in overtly political
comedy. Whether you’re watching her 2017 HBO
special Nice Lady or seeing her at The Comedy Cellar
in New York City, tune into her stand up and you’re
not likely to hear much of a political persuasion: “I
will never do a Trump joke in stand up,” she says.
Her aim at the Correspondents’ Dinner was not just
to roast Trump’s administration, but also to hold the
media accountable for profiting off of publicizing
the policies they claim to staunchly oppose. In 2018,
Wolf became Netflix’s first late-night host on a
weekly program called The Break with Michelle Wolf
(it was the network’s second-ever talk show, after
Chelsea Handler’s self-named, two-season series).
Though she claims not to be interested in analyzing
politics with her humour, many of the topics she
touches on in The Break, such as ICE, women’s
rights, and the epidemic of backlogged, untested
rape kits across the United States, are, decidedly,
highly political. The show is laced with sketches that
are apolitical too, though, like one about a “Too
High Squatty Potty” – a four-foot-tall Squatty Potty
that, quite simply, is too high.
“We just did anything we thought was going to
be fun,” she says. In one episode, there are several
minutes of jokes about crows having sex with dead
crows. “We all wrote, like, so many crow jokes. We
had to do it – they were all funny! We cut probably
five to eight minutes out of that. And I guarantee
you no one else on any late night show was talking
about it. We really just wanted it to be fun, and for
people to maybe not have to think about what’s
happening in the world right now.”
After its 10-episode run, Netflix decided against
renewing The Break. The modern day algorithm
simply wasn’t conducive to the old school latenight
format, especially when you take into account
that most late-night programs are allowed dozens
of episodes to figure out a formula that works for
them.
“I’d like to potentially try it again in the future,
but I’d want to wait until the landscape is less
political,” says Wolf. “Political comedy, what late
night shows are doing, it bores me. It’s all the same.
I feel like right now, a lot of people just want to
hear ‘Trump is bad.’ We already know that! Hearing
it again isn’t going to change anything. I mean, you
can just vote. That’s really all we can do.”
Despite the fact that Netflix has yet to properly
discern an effective method of marketing a talk
show through its
streaming service, The
Break was, ultimately,
not a failure. Watching
the show, it’s plain to see
that the stage is Wolf’s
natural environment.
Even the jokes the
audience doesn’t quite
get are funny, if only
because she’s enjoying herself so
much up there.
Wolf talks modestly of her
days as an athlete. But the title of
athlete doesn’t give her enough
credit. In 2018, Wolf ran her first
ultramarathon – that’s 50 miles
(or 80 kilometres). It took more
than 12 hours. Perseverance and
relentless commitment helped
prepare her for a career on Wall
Street, sure, but it’s also one of
the reasons she attributes to becoming successful in
comedy so quickly.
“Comedy is a marathon, not a sprint,” she says.
“Anyone can be successful for a couple years. But
can you be successful for a couple decades? You’ve
got to be consistent. You can take a day off every
once in a while, but you’re only going to get better if
you’re dedicated to it and you keep pushing yourself
and you try to get back to the point where you’re
uncomfortable. When you feel uncomfortable,
you get better. Part of the reason I think I’ve done
well in comedy is because I’ve applied that training
mentality; most of it is just putting your head
down and doing the work. One of the best things
about stand up is that you create your own success.
You’re always in charge of how many jokes you have
and what your hour looks like – it’s completely
up to you. It’s just having that determination, the
discipline, and putting in the time and effort.”
Discipline doesn’t always take the same form.
Whether it’s running at higher mileage increments
every week or committing yourself to writing one
joke every day, Wolf proves that the process you
take to get there isn’t really what matters, as long as
you get it done.
“I never write the same way,” she says. “If I had
one way that I wrote and I knew it worked all the
time, I’d be thrilled. But sometimes I’ll think of
something when I’m just walking around, or, you
know, staring at a wall. Most people don’t realize
that comedians need a lot of time just to think.
And then you think of something, and you’re like,
‘Oh, now I know what this joke is.’ But it’s endlessly
frustrating that there’s no one way that that works.
The number of times I’ve thought of something
as I was going to sleep and then thought ‘You’re
definitely going to remember this,’ and then not
remembered it in the morning because I did not
write it down – I mean, I’m an idiot for not writing
it down. I’m always like, ‘This is so good! I’ll never
forget this.’ It’s an ego thing at some point.”
JFL NorthWest is quickly approaching, and one of
Wolf’s favourite places in the world is Vancouver’s
sea wall. Try to catch her set, but if not, you’ll surely
be able to catch her mid-run, training for the next
ultramarathon.
“I’m excited to be in Vancouver,” she says. “I had a
great time last time I was there. And I love Canadian
chocolate. You guys have Coffee Crisp! Every time
I’m there… I mean, I’ve eaten so many of them.”
Michelle Wolf performs at the Vogue Theatre on
February 23 as part of JFL NorthWest.
MICHELLE
WOLF
BREAK IT
TILL YOU
MAKE IT
Whether performing stand up or working on Wall
Street, Michelle Wolf takes an athletic approach to
everything she does.
Written by Jordan Yeager
February 2019 17

IVAN DECKER
MOVING UP AND MOVING ON
BY TONY BINNS
Talk to most comedians and they’ll tell you straight
up what they want — awards, festivals, talk show
appearances. So what happens when you actually get
there? If you’re Ivan Decker, you start from scratch.
“The big thing for me now is the production of new
material,” Decker says in a phone interview from his
home in Los Angeles. “So I’m spending the next few
months leading up to this show in Vancouver and
onward trying to come up with a brand new act, a new
hour for 2019 that will be good and hopefully people
will enjoy.”
That may seem like something effortless for one of
Canada’s fastest rising comics, but Decker’s material
is very meticulously laid out. It may appear that he’s
just talking about something as mundane as a subway
sandwich, but Decker brings a unique perspective and
dry observational humour that can make the prospect
of a new hour daunting, more so when you’ve made
your reputation on clean material. “It’s kind of always
been the way that I write” he muses “I was always a
big fan of that kind of comedy. When I started I loved
Chapelle and Chris Rock, I still love them I think they’re
hilarious, but I’ve just never been able to sell dirty
material.”
Fortunately, Decker has never had to. He’s had
an impressive run lately, with a Juno Award for best
comedy recording, a Netflix special and an appearance
on Conan. It’s clearly a breakout year by any definition,
but it does make for an unusual experience living in
L.A. when you aren’t quite a household name yet.
“It’s a bit of an adjustment because I have to
integrate myself into a comedy scene that nobody
really knows me in,” he explains. “When people have
never seen you before, they assume you’re not very
good. So you can go up and do well and people are
actually surprised, so it’s very fun.”
Up in Canada, where Decker has made a few more
in-roads, he continues to work hard to give a return
audience something new to see.
“This is kind of a production phase. Last year was
a really big year for me in terms of the industry side
of things…this year is going to be more of a nose to
the grindstone tour and try to come up with new
material,” Decker says. “You want to make sure when
you’re forced on to that big stage that you can deliver.
That’s the thing about entertainment…it only gets
harder.”
Ivan Decker will be performing at the Comedy Mix on
February 15.
Comedian Michelle Buteau has strong opinions on
Vancouver. Having recently spent time here filming
Ali Wong and Randall Park’s new movie Always Be My
Maybe she developed quite the affinity for our city.
“I was like, this is how the world should live,”
she says. “Look at all these windows and the fun
shrubbery on top. Everything I wear is grey and I felt
like I could just fit in. And the air is so clean.”
It’s not only the atmosphere she appreciates, it’s
also the food: “I have to walk everywhere because
I’m going to gain weight. I could be on ‘My 600 lb
Life’ in Vancouver because the food is so good.” Even
Vancouver’s elderly get props from Buteau: “I’m sure
people over 65 are having sex because they all have
good hips – is everyone hiking all the time?”
A long-time veteran of the comedy world, Buteau
has reached a bigger audience this year after being
featured on HBO’s 2 Dope Queens, starting her own
talk show podcast Late Night Whenever and starring
in a special on Netflix’s The Comedy Lineup. Her
comedy is brash and honest. She’s not worried about
getting trouble or having to self-censor: “I don’t have
to do much filtering. I’m not a monster or an asshole,
right?”
While it’s becoming a thing as of late for
comedians to ruin their chances for prime
opportunities, she doesn’t feel like she has much to
worry about. “If the Academy was like, ‘Do you want
to host the Oscars?’ tomorrow, I’d be like, ‘Sure.’ And
if someone went through my Twitter feed I could
sleep at night because I have certain values and
morals. I just don’t think a certain way.”
You can tell that seeing those kinds of situations
play out is disappointing to her. She values her
integrity too much to let that happen.
“You have the platform,” she says. “It’s not just
to make a lot of money and get famous and have
stand up be a vehicle for that. No, you should have
a backbone and a moral compass.” And while she’s a
versatile comedian, able to tailor her set to whatever
audience, you don’t have to worry that this integrity
will come at the expense of being funny. She’s not
going to compromise on that. “It’s always gonna
sound like me. I’m not gonna give you Jerry Seinfeld
with back-fat. It’s gonna be freewheeling and sassy.”
Michelle Buteau will be performing at the Biltmore
Cabaret on February 21.
MICHELLE BUTEAU
ON NOT BEING AN ASSHOLE
BY GRAEME WIGGINS
photo by Mindy Tucker
18
SAM JAY
CONSCIOUSLY KEEPING IT REAL
BY GRAEME WIGGINS
Career arcs look different from outside perspectives. By all
appearances, comedian Sam Jay has had an incredible year.
She dropped her debut album Donna’s Daughter to much
acclaim, she’s written for SNL, and she had a new special
for Netflix’s The Comedy Lineup. That’s a lot of success for
one year, after years of toiling in the comedy world. But for
Sam Jay, this is just the beginning.
“I don’t really quantify things that way, but it feels
like the right steps are being made, you know?” she says.
“It’s such a long process building a career, and all these
things are building blocks to that. It’s a culmination of an
entire career. This is great, but it’s not it. It feels like I’m
starting, as weird as that sounds. It feels like I’m finally at
the beginning. Even Just For Laughs: New Faces wasn’t
the beginning – it was the thing that gets you to the
beginning, and now it’s like, okay, my career is starting.”
It’s clear that Jay thinks big, and it’s that kind of big
thinking that motivates her bold album, a hilarious debut
which is centered around her divorce.
“I’m not going to not talk about what I’m going
through,” says Jay. “I was in the middle of going through all
this stuff with my soon-to-be ex-wife, and it was just hard
to not get up there and talk about it.” The album is a wellthought-out
introduction to who she is as a comedian.
This, too, was a very conscious decision. As she puts it: “I
wanted the album to be really honest, and to be a true
introduction to an artist. I wanted it to have a ‘90s hip-hop
Ready to Die, Illmatic feel where you feel like you’ve spent
the day with this person, truly getting to know who they
are.”
That consciousness extends to her choice of both
well-polished older material and newer, less-refined bits:
“I wanted it to be brutally honest and raw in some ways. I
wanted some of it to feel unfinished because it was – I was
going through it. I wanted you to have that refinement of
some of the jokes to be really polished and really on and I
wanted some of it to have that looser, ‘Hey, we’re working
on stuff’ feel to it, just because I wanted it to be a rounded
view of me as an artist.”
It’s a great debut, and if she has her way, it’s only just the
beginning.
Sam Jay live will be performing at the Biltmore Cabaret on
February 20.
February 2019

NICOLE BYER
COMEDIC QUEEN OF CAKES CHARMS CROWDS
BY RANDEE NEUMEYER
Nicole Byer is a busy person. Her Netflix special was
released last month as part of the series Comedians
of the World, she hosts the hit amateur baking show
Nailed It! (also on Netflix), and she stars in a hilarious
podcast asking the eternal question: Why Won’t You
Date Me?
Byer became a household name when she became
the host of Nailed It!, a show in which contestants
unsuccessfully try to recreate cakes from Pinterest.
“They just presented me with essentially a one-page
sheet on what they were trying to go for,” says Byer.
“‘We need you to teeter the line between calling out
what you see and not being too harsh.’ That seemed
like a fun challenge, and it just all fell together in a
really great way.”
Now she tours all over the United States performing
for a variety of different audiences.
“The best thing about touring is you learn how
to tell a divisive joke without being super divisive. I
learned how to tell Trump jokes on the road. I learned
that you can’t just be like, “He’s bad.’ Statistically,
someone in the audience voted for him, and he’s not
my cup of tea but also I’m not everyone’s cup of tea.
Learning how to tell jokes in a way that everyone can
laugh at is very useful.”
Byer’s stand up material is very honest, sharing
personal details about her life on a range of topics
from finding poop in an airline blanket to her dating
life.
“Sometimes things happen where I’m like, ‘This is
too bonkers not to share with people.’ The way people
talk on dating apps is insane, so when I talk about that
I feel like it’s pretty much universal that everyone’s like,
people are wild in these streets out here,” says Byer.
Along with performing stand up at the festival, she’ll
be doing a live taping of her podcast Why Won’t You
Date Me?, which started when she wanted to ask past
dates why they didn’t want a relationship with her.
Now she invites hilarious guests and they dive into
the world of dating and sex. Byer often has the guest
critique her Tinder profile, and reads comments sent
to her from questionable men.
“Audiences now know what kind of performer I am
before they get there, as opposed to ‘Oh, I’ll just see
a comedian. Who’s up this weekend?’ I have people
coming to see me, which is really awesome.”
Nicole Byer performs at The Rio on February 23.
The best-laid plans don’t always work out the way you
intend them to. My intention in interviewing veteran
comedian and podcaster Todd Glass was to talk about
how his podcast The Todd Glass Show influenced
his comedy, how and why he tours with a band, his
infamous love of comedy venues getting things just
right, and his Netflix special Act Happy. And to be fair,
we did have that discussion. But nearer the end of the
interview he went on a tangent, as he is prone to do,
and the result was a refreshing take on a topic that’s
been tread to death.
“I hear so many comedians be like ‘The walls are
getting smaller and smaller; you can’t say anything
anymore,’” says Glass. “You can always say pretty much
anything you want. 30 years ago if you talked about
not believing in God, just you not believing in it, just
your view, you couldn’t do that. I wish some comedians
would take a second from thinking about what they
can’t say anymore and instead think about what they
can say.”
It’s not as though he doesn’t understand the
motivation, but rather that he sees it as emphasizing
the wrong things. As Glass puts it, there are a lot more
things comedians can talk about than they used to
be able to: “I get it, sometimes you have to ignore the
outcry about ‘We didn’t like that joke!’ If we didn’t
ignore the collective pulse of a comedy club some
nights, we wouldn’t have good comedy. The audience
isn’t always right, but they aren’t always wrong either.
When you say you can’t say anything anymore, how
about sexuality? How about me? I want to say to all the
comedians who say you can’t say anything anymore,
how about the fact that I can mention that I am gay on
stage for two minutes? I talk about it and then move
on. It used to be that you could talk about it, but if you
did you had to talk about it for the whole hour because
they’ll never get over it. That’s a big deal! It’s a big
goddamn fucking big deal!”
This lack of understanding is sad to Glass – it’s as
though these comedians are aging out of comedy. “Once
you say ‘the kids today,’ you’re done being relevant in
comedy,” he says. “Fucking throw in the towel. Have you
no humility as a comedian? Do you not hear yourself?
You’re a grandpa, give it up!” With a positive attitude
like that, let’s hope Glass never grows up.
Catch Todd Glass live as part of JFL Northwest at the Rio
Theatre on February 20 or performing a live version of his
podcast, The Todd Glass Show, on February 21 at the Fox
Cabaret.
TODD GLASS
NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE KIDS RUINING COMEDY
BY GRAEME WIGGINS
PAUL F TOMPKINS
THE WAR ON THE SOUL OF COMEDY
BY JOSH SHEPPARD
The meaning of what comedy should stand for has never
been more questioned than at the present moment. Two
camps have been formed: those who view comedy as a tool to
criticize power, and those who view comedy as the vanguard
of free expression. Paul F Tompkins has found himself caught
in the middle of this heated debate.
‘’There’s a growing chasm between people who use comedy
as a tool to call out people who are powerful, and people
who use it as an aggressive tool to shut people up who they
consider to be whiny,” says Tompkins. “Things change, society
evolves, and you want to get hung up on a word that hurts
people’s feelings – that’s the hill you want to die on?”
Looking back at comedy of the past has always inspired
mixed feelings, as our heroes may one day lose their luster.
Should the past be viewed with present-day sensibilities or
should we judge the people by the standards of the times that
were presented before them? Comedian Norm Macdonald
recently defended the modernist writer Ernest Hemingway
who was labelled as an example of toxic masculinity, stating
that this form of criticism was “presentism at its worst.”
“Here’s the thing: as you grow up, some of the people you
viewed as heroes in your youth won’t necessarily stay your
heroes,” says Tompkins. “The thing that drives me crazy about
something like ‘presentism at its worst’ is like, you’re saying
this isn’t something worth talking about? Like there’s nothing
valid here at all? Just because someone lived a long time ago,
do they get an endless free pass? You can still like Hemingway’s
work, that’s fine, but it’s completely valid to discuss the life
that he lived especially as it affected the themes of his work.
That’s an intellectual pursuit and we could get something out
of it as a society.”
Spontaneity is one of the most important tools a comedian
has to display their wit. Tompkins even has a podcast,
SPONTANEANATION, that examines the subject deeply.
“The essence of spontaneity is being present and open –
you’re aware of what’s going on,” he says. “You’re aware of
what’s going on in the room right at the moment. You’re
feeling how everyone feels and you’re allowing things to enter
into that vibe.” The combination of that spontaneity and
his well thought out intellect should make his show one to
remember.
Paul F Tompkins and Mark Evan Jackson present A Two
Gentleman Improv Show at the Vogue Theatre on February 17.
February 2019 19

MUSIC
BEIRUT
THE PERPETUAL MOTION OF A CREATIVE GIANT
JORDAN YEAGER
Beirut, like many bands, is often thought of in
terms of its frontman and founder, Zach Condon.
Originally it did start out as his solo project, but
its magnitude and vision were too vast to be
carried out by one man alone; and over the years,
the band’s shape shifted. Paul Collins, the group’s
bassist, has been there almost since the beginning
after he witnessed a one-man performance by
Condon in Beirut’s earliest solo days by sheer
happenstance.
“I was working at a punk rock festival in Santa Fe,
and he was playing,” says Collins. “I was like, ‘holy
shit.’ I think he was 19 years old, and I just couldn’t
believe it. Santa Fe is a pretty small town in terms
of music and most of the bands I was playing in
were post-punk bands, and there was a lot of emo
and hardcore stuff. Zach just seemingly came out of
fucking nowhere, and I loved it. I helped him find a
drummer, his friend Perrin played cello, and then he
added me just to play the ukulele and do whatever,
and then the live band was formed. So basically it
was out of necessity. I think if Zach had it his way
he would have just been by himself all these years.”
At the time, Collins was in school studying film,
but ultimately realized he “was not disciplined
enough to be a filmmaker.” Music was something
that had always come naturally to him – he felt
compelled to create it, and seeing Condon perform
sparked something in him.
“I honestly wasn’t disciplined enough to be a
musician either, but I just love music so much that
I could get by,” he laughs. “Jonas Mekas was an
experimental filmmaker – although he hated that
term – in New York City, and he just died the other
day at 96 years old. He talked about how his work
and his life were one inseparable thing, and I really
connected with that, in terms of how I see music.
It’s not really a career endeavour. It’s always just
been a part of the ether for me. It’s outside of me. It
just, like, happens.”
Something else that just, like, happened was the
20
photo by Olga Baczynska
After 12 years as a band, Zack Condyn and Beirut continue rocketing to new heights with Gallipoli.
magnitude at which Beirut accelerated from a band
formed out of the necessity to perform live into a
full-fledged indie-rock group touring the world.
“It was like a fucking rocket,” says Collins. “It just
so quickly gained speed. I remember calling up my
parents and being like, ‘Hey, so Beirut is moving
to New York, and I still have a year left of school,
but I think I need to do this.’ And my parents, to
their credit, were like, ‘Great.’ You don’t know my
parents, but that was surprising to me. Suddenly
this band was in SXSW, which I thought was the
biggest thing ever. And then we had a tour of the
US, and I couldn’t believe it was happening.”
“Gallipoli,” the premiere single off their
forthcoming album of the same name, is classic
Beirut: brass, drums, a steady bassline, and vocals
reminiscent almost of a choir in a huge, echoey
room. Suitably, they recorded the album in
Gallipoli, a coastal town in the south of Italy, for
no real reason other than the fact that they could.
“Those are the moments that are so exciting – I
almost love knowing that we’re going to go
somewhere more than even going there,” laughs
Collins. And for a group with a history spanning
more than 12 years, five albums, and five EPs, those
moments have scarcely slowed down.
“My friend Jeremy Barnes [of A Hawk and a
Hacksaw and Neutral Milk Hotel] always said to
define yourself in music. The one thing you have
to do is just keep making music,” he says. “If you
keep making music and put out a record every year,
then you have created your own world by the end
of it all. I think working as much as possible is the
best thing you can do as a musician. I have so many
brilliant friends who stopped playing music for
stupid fucking reasons and it’s so self-defeating as
opposed to just getting shit out and making it. Even
if it’s bad – that’s how you get better.”
Beirut performs at the Orpheum Theatre
(Vancouver) on February 26.
MEN I TRUST
PROVING YOU REALLY CAN DO IT ALL
JUDAH SCHULTE
When the Montreal-based three piece isn’t
touring across continents, Jessy Caron (bass),
Dragos Chiriac (keys), and Emma Proulx
(guitar and vocals) are hard at work recording,
producing, and releasing singles and music
videos to promote their upcoming album Oncle
Jazz, which is set to release this month. From
mastering tracks to coordinating interviews,
the group handles everything except booking
shows, reminding us that “indie” is short for
“independent.” For a band with such a heavy
workload, their sound is impressively light. Their
blissed-out brand of indie-pop has lyrics rich
enough to dissect and rhythms that make your
hips move, satisfying both body and mind. For
the members of Men I Trust, the lightness is
not just an aesthetic choice but a philosophy,
one that explains how they can keep their cool
amongst so much bustle.
“We like to put an emphasis on positive values,
something higher than us, instead of destructive
moods, which we all like, but it’s trickier to write
other types of songs. It’s a challenge to not be
obviously negative,” says Proulx.
The intention they invest in the content
of their songs extends also into the process
of writing them. “Overall, we don’t want to
write lyrics about things that don’t happen to
us, like pick a theme and write about it. That
would be too weird,” says Proulx. “When a
story is more personal, it’s brought up by just
one of us. But once we all start working on the
song, the general questions are brought out of
the personal experience, making it a bit more
philosophical.”
By filtering personal experience through the
lens of each member’s perspective, MIT’s songs
are at once intimate and universal, the result of
three minds working toward the same end, like
three separate notes coming together to make
a chord.
Whether it’s the lyrics, guitar tones, or music
videos, everything the band releases seems to
exist in the same dreamy universe. In the video
for “Seven,” the images of young women gliding
along a river in kayaks are superimposed over
shots of a lush, sun-dappled forest. With the
same grace, the guitar on “I Hope to Be Around”
glitters atop a textured synth bass line. This
consistency is indebted in part to the band’s
multi-disciplinary interests. Proulx studied art
in university, Chiriac studied philosophy, and
Caron studied jazz, all informing, in one way
or another, the sound, image and ideals of the
band. These varied interests combined with
an uncompromised independence is what
upholds the cohesiveness of their work. “We do
everything together. When we’re filming videos,
we’re together; on tour we’re driving and sound
checking together. But we’re not against the idea
of a label,” says Proulx. “In the beginning, not
many people had an interest in us, so we learned
to do everything ourselves. When you’re so
involved in the process, you don’t lose anything.
We know everything that’s going on with the
band, and that helps us stay grounded.”
Aside from their ideology, the band cites
nature as a major source of inspiration. MIT has
a cabin they go to near Chaudière-Appalaches,
a mountainous region in Quebec, where they
recorded many of their songs and filmed the
video for “Tailwhip.” But even on the road,
the group seeks greenery to decompress and
recollect. “While we’re on tour we like to stop
in quiet, wide open spaces,” says Proulx. These
landscapes seem to come through into their
music, each song feeling as easy and free as a
breath of fresh air.
With upcoming tours through Europe and
North America, as well as the release of a new
album, the members of Men I Trust show
no signs of slowing down. And thanks to the
balance they’ve struck between thoughtful
lyricism, simple but infectious rhythms, and an
impenetrable sense of mellow, we can do just
that: slow down and appreciate the sounds of
art, nature, and philosophy working in harmony.
Men I Trust play the Biltmore Cabaret on February
22.
Men I Trust keep their indie rock independent and stay connected to the world as a result.
February 2019

DAN MANGAN
EVERY MORNING’S A RESURRECTION
JOHNNY KOSMOS
photo by Vanessa Heins
Dan Mangan remains himself, but with a greater sense of focus on More Or Less.
Dan Mangan is one of those artists that always seems
to be challenging and pushing himself with each new
record he produces. You can always tell when an artist
is truly living life or just going through the motions.
In the six years Mangan took off from touring, he
lived a lot of life. A year of rest turned into two kids,
a marriage, multiple film and television scores and
plenty of time for reflection. All of the above have
changed the man and the artist. “It just took a lot of
time. Back in 2012 the phone wouldn’t stop ringing; we
were stuck in this positive feedback loop.”
Years of childrearing and domestication presented
a steep learning curve for a man who had spent years
on the road. “Your kids don’t care about all this cool
stuff you do. They just care
about how you are as a
dad.” Rock stars aren’t rock
stars when they’re at home;
they’re just dads. During
this time, Mangan wrote the
experimental Club Meds
with Blacksmith and scored
the incredible Hector and
the Search for Happiness, as
well as a number of other
films and TV shows.
On his latest release,
More or Less (2018 Art & Crafts), Mangan remains
himself, but with a greater sense of focus. “I came to
the realization I wasn’t done. I had more songs in me, I
had more I wanted to accomplish,” he says of his return
to the business of making music. “That whole process
took years.”
When Mangan decided he was finally ready to step
back into it he contacted producer Drew Brown and
the wheels were in motion. “Took us nearly two years
to get all of the people together that he (Drew Brown)
wanted. During this time Drew encouraged me to keep
writing, by the time we hit the studio I had all these
new songs that weren’t in the demos.”
Was it worth the wait?
Mangan seems in awe as he states, “I had the
same rhythm section, playing through the same
microphones, in the same studio, with the same
hardware and the same engineer as Sea Change
(Beck 2002 Geffen).” Their influence on More or Less
is apparent right away. Upon first listen, the album
evokes a sense of gentle reflection; it’s much more
stripped-down than Club Meds (2015 Arts & Crafts).
It’s not exactly a return to his roots, but more of
an acknowledgment and transformation he’s gone
through. This is still very much a Dan Mangan record,
but this a new Dan Mangan. “We all have our heroes.
Joey (Waronker)’s cases said ‘Roger Waters’. Jason
(Falkner)’s cases said ‘Beck’. These guys work with the
best of the best. When I first got to LA and went into
the studio I was nervous, like, ‘What are they going to
think of me?’” Mangan confesses. “But they just trusted
Drew. They were so nice and really gave themselves to
the material. By the end, they were saying, ‘Great songs,
man!’ None of us is impervious to flattery. Having this
affirmation from people that I admire so much, I felt
like I was getting my groove back.”
Mangan’s groove is definitely back on this album.
The subtlety and vulnerability in the vocals bring the
listener into a very personal space, one filled with
MUSIC
stillness and the musical equivalent of sitting and
staring. “You need to reserve space in your mind that’s
just for you.” Mangan says, “I don’t meditate, but I try
and be bored for a couple minutes a day. If you can be
peacefully okay with yourself just sitting it will make
you better prepared to deal with the never-ending
stream of bullshit.”
There was a full on stream of bullshit when he first
started recording More or Less. While out for dinner
his first night in LA, his car was robbed of everything
except his guitar. Laptops, hard drives full of the demos
he was about to track, his passport. Everything. “I
spent the whole next morning trying to find my stuff
and get my passport reinstated. So, I went into the
studio, do one take
“Your kids don’t care
about all this cool stuff
you do. They just care
about how you are as a
dad.” - Dan Mangan
of “Lay Low” and Paul
McCartney pops his
head into the studio!”
Mangan continues
sarcastically, “Of
course, when Paul
McCartney hears my
music it’s not the
finished product, it’s
the first take of the first
song I’m doing with my
new band. He gave me
some suggestions, but then we scrapped everything he
heard. My Mom was devastated when I said we didn’t
use any of Paul’s suggestions.”
“What the hell is wrong with everyone now?”
a line from his song, “Troubled Mind” is fitting on
days such as that (and in the grander context of
humanity as a whole). “People are an equal amount
of fucked up, always. There’s so much to take in now,
so much information, so much pain, so much going
on all the time.” Mangan says of society, “It’s up to us
to be informed citizens, so we’re not just passively
distracted.”
There are lessons being taught everywhere, every
day. You just need to pay attention and take risks.
The day Mangan decided to take a break from
touring he got a call from a producer to score a film.
“Every time I’ve scored something I’ve learned about
a deficiency in my musicality that I’ve overcome,” he
says of the experience. “And you come out the other
end and go, ‘Aw, man, I didn’t know I could do that.’
It’s a beautiful thing when you know you can still
surprise yourself.” When it came time to prep for the
tour, Mangan enlisted Don Kerr (Rheostatics), Jason
Haberman and Michael Brian.
With an all-new gathering of people behind him,
Mangan took a couple weeks to rehearse in Toronto.
He found that time and this new group gave a breath
of fresh air to his previous work. “It was injecting all
this new personality into the old material. We started
to think, ‘What’s the best way we can deliver these
existing melodies and songs in a live context?’”
Reinventing yourself in the tireless pursuit of
relevancy is daunting and exhausting. While no
doubt an intimidating endeavor, it’s a good thing
Dan Mangan keeps trying because we missed him.
Welcome back, Dan.
Dan Mangan performs February 12 at the Vogue
Theatre.
February 2019 21

MUSIC
BRONCHO
DODGING FORMULAS AND ROLLING THE DICE
J.J. POWELL
BRONCHO is perhaps best known as the band
behind “Class Historian,” a diabolically catchy rock
song with a haunted melodic stutter as its vocal
refrain. It showed up in a few television shows,
commercials and films, and demonstrated the
band’s ability to write an indie hit. But what’s most
interesting about this group is their willingness
to dodge formulas and roll the dice with every
release.
“Yeah the one plan usually, is that we don’t have
COLD CAVE
FINDING LOVE IN THE TRIBULATIONS
JOSHUA SHEPPARD
Photo by Pooneh Ghana
Ryan Lindsey and his band have been cherry picking the hits for your enjoyment since 2011.
a plan,” explains Ryan Lindsey. He’s BRONCHO’s
affable front-guy, currently in a car bound for
Tulsa, Oklahoma, where most of the band reside.
“See what happens, that’s the way it’s always been.
Who knows though, we could get really organized,
start really doing it right, start making plans.”
Can’t Get Past the Lips, BRONCHO’s 2011
debut, was a bratty assault of art-scuffed punk,
with an array of influences from Wire to Stiff Little
Fingers to the Beach Boys. Those schizophrenic
tendencies were slightly less pronounced on 2014’s
Just Enough Hip to Be Woman, with nods to the
Pixies and Joy Division unified by steadier, more
hypnotic rhythms and trench-reverbed vocals.
Sounding like a broken Beach Boys cassette
played in the gleaming darkness of a huge crystal
cavern, 2016’s Double Vanity was all distortion
and reverb, with no cute, catchy parallels to
“Class Historian”. Further investigations revealed
a melodic loveliness and structural cunning more
mesmerizing with every play. Fuzzed-up guitars
make thick austere shapes under watery leads,
while slow-motion drums trudge noisily alongside
slacker vocal hooks and sweet-heart harmonies.
The band achieved a cohesion and a signature
sound on this album that set it apart from their
previous efforts, although Lindsey says it came
together naturally. “It’s really moment to moment
with our stuff, like anything could happen in
any particular song, so being open to where the
environment takes the song, and being open to
the situation. Whoever’s in the room, be open to
what they can bring to it and see which way things
go.” Laughing he adds, “But it’s also being open to
maybe changing that up, so, you never know.”
In 2017 BRONCHO changed things up again
with an exclusive digital single called “Get in My
Car.” Sounding like a bedroom demo next to
the thunderous bombast of Double Vanity, it’s
a gentle, muted affair, with no distortion and
severely reigned-in reverb. Nevertheless, the
disarming happy-sad melody and seductive refrain
of “Wanna, wanna make you feel good!” turned it
into a weirdo summer anthem and prepared fans
for a strange new sound.
“‘Get in My Car’ just kinda happened,” Lindsey
explains. “It felt like it was a song that should
come out during the summer, so we put it out real
quick thinking we were going to finish our record,
but we never did till maybe a year later,” he laughs.
Akin to its early lead-off single, Bad Behavior
seemed wildly stark upon release last summer.
It’s an album built on minimalist drumbeats and
guitars that rejoice in twangy rawness, absent
of fuzz. “Sometimes you just make a move that
makes no sense. And I like doing that.”
There’s a scene in their recent video for
“Sandman/Boys Got to Go” where Lindsey
hand-feeds a single cherry into the mouth of
the hesitant, haunted protagonist. Asked if this
gesture is symbolic of an approach or feeling
within the band, Lyndsey responds in his typically
kindly, cryptic manner. “Cherries just seemed to
make a lot of sense. We didn’t really have to even
talk about it,” he muses. “It’s probably a little
portrait of our world, trying to keep as sharp a
sense of humour through the dark as you can,
because the dark can get pretty funny sometimes,
if you know how to laugh.”
BRONCHO performs at the Fox Cabaret on
February 7.
Over the course of this decade, Wes Eisold has
reached a sonic culmination from his bedroom
producer experimentations under the moniker
of Ye Olde Maides to the fully-fledged postpunk,
darkwave, ‘80s inspired sounds of Cold
Cave. Throughout Cold Cave’s decade-long
existence, Eisold still feels most comfortable
creating music that is intrinsically personal,
influenced by his internal self rather than
outside perspectives.
“My experience with these bedroom projects
was simple instrumentation, starting with
Ye Olde Maides, which was an anonymous
indie-pop project with a fictitious duo as
its narrative,” says Eisold. “Over the years
I’ve been able to retain my own ideas – my
inspiration comes to me when I’m at my
most independent. If I’m able to stay true to
what I think without taking into account any
externalities, it’s where I’m most comfortable.”
As the son of a Navy officer, his beginnings
as an army brat in the ‘80s created a sense
of fluidity when it came to travelling, never
truly being situated in one specific place. This
peripatetic lifestyle has never truly left him as
he continues to tour and travel to new locations
with his music.
“[Growing up] I didn’t have solid roots in
any one place and always felt like I was at the
mercy of the sea, hence my sea sick tattoo,” he
says. “This lifestyle definitely became habitual,
traditional. The whole process of travelling
is engrained in me because growing up as a
military brat took me to all parts of the world.
I find more comfort in motion and moving
rather than feeling comfortable at home.”
Being part of this travelling lineage of musical
acts, Eisold has found himself in both the
most beautiful and the worst music clubs, but
is always able to appreciate the history that
certain venues hold. “I still romanticize about
the history of the people that have played
the venues I’ve toured in; it’s still very much
inspiring to me. From going as a no-name punk
band to playing venues of artists I’ve always
loved, my appreciation just keeps growing. ‘’
The poet Ira Cohen once said “Epiphany is
momentary sanity,” and this sentiment relates
to the creative process Cold Cave employs. The
“first record curse” is a trapping many artists
fall prey to, which was something Eisold was
conscious of when he started his hardcore band
American Nightmare in the late ‘90s.
‘’I find sanctuary and happiness in the
creative process – besides that, it’s all about
making sure things don’t fall into shambles,”
he says. “My approach has changed over time.
But I found ways to ensure I didn’t lose out
on finding my voice by searching deeper into
myself for inspiration. I’ve been able to remain
me throughout my whole life, for better or for
worse. A lot of my inspiration is from how I was
born and that world outlook is still cemented
into who I am; I can’t change it. I still am trying
to continuously search for what I’m trying to
say.”
On Cold Cave’s new EP, You & Me & Infinity,
Eisold explores the sentiments of finally finding
the love he has been searching for his whole life.
“[It’s about] attaining this ideal of love that I
thought I needed, that I thought I could never
have – actually finding that love in my life,” he
says. “It’s a reconciliation of that search, the
hunt and the finding of it. I’m here now and this
is what it’s like, and it’s beautiful and amazing.
I was finding it and now I’m living it, but is it
gonna be okay? Am I gonna be okay with it?
Am I gonna blow it? Am I gonna break it? Let’s
do this.”
Cold Cave plays the Imperial on February 20.
Cold Cave find ways to express their creativity from within.
22
February 2019

WAXAHATCHEE
AWAITING THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
GRAEME WIGGINS
HUMANS
CRAFTING A DISTRACTION WITH PROGRESSIVE SONIC EVOLUTION
JOEY LOPEZ
MUSIC
Katie Crutchfield is embarking on a west coast tour as Waxahatchee before taking some time to slow down.
It’s been a busy few years for Katie Crutchfield.
Recording under the stage name Waxahatchee,
Crutchfield dropped her debut, American
Weekend, in 2012 and has since added three
further albums and one EP to her discography.
Add to that a fairly consistent touring schedule
and it’s not hard to see why she might be a little
worn out. It may be surprising, then, to learn she’s
starting off the new year with yet another tour.
“It’s funny,” Crutchfield laughs. “I keep calling
2019 my sabbatical year. I mean obviously it’s not
because I’m going on tour, but the idea was to do
some west coast shows that were headline shows
because I haven’t done that since Out in the
Storm came out [in 2017].”
After that, however, it will be time for a break.
“I have been passively writing for a while,” she says.
“The plan is to just take it easy. I’ve burned it from
both ends for a few years now, so to get myself
excited about it again I need to go away and read
and write and not play shows.”
With that time off to write, we shouldn’t
necessarily expect a return to the quiet side of
Waxahatchee that she has seemed to tease about
wanting to return to. “It’s funny: when Ivy Tripp
came out I told everyone I was going to make a
really quiet album, and then I made Out in the
Storm, which is the opposite of that,” she says. “So
it’s hard to say. To me, Great Thunder was sort of
that, but it’s a like a diffuser of sorts – it was old
songs that I had some detachment from.”
For a songwriter who handles such personal
subject matter, her interviews in the wake of Out
in the Storm talked a lot about connection and
audience. This was partly just due to the relatable
idea surrounding the record. Her thoughts about
personal writing versus writing for an audience
tend to vary record by record.
“American Weekend, when I think about
writing that record, it was just for me,” says
Crutchfield. “I felt like I was singing into the abyss.
I made it and sat on it for a year before I even
played it for anyone.”
The more audience-focused aspect of Out in
the Storm is something she’s working against
going forward: “It’s a headspace I really want to
get out of. I really want to write lyrics about what
I’m feeling, and as your audience grows, it gets
more challenging. I’m in the process of turning
that entire thing off and getting off the grid and
focusing on my feelings at the moment.”
Out in the Storm was a roaring portrait of
overcoming a troubled relationship. It showcased
more anger, but also more hope, than her previous
work; there was a new self-confidence apparent.
However, it’s not as though her next record will be
brimming full of pure positivity.
“Positivity is interesting,” she says. “I feel like in
2019, everyone is all about positivity. When I first
started making music it was all about being super
emo. Super sad and negative and really exploring
pain. I feel like it’s out of fashion to do that. It’s not
what people want to hear, but also it’s what has
always inspired me and I have a lot to draw from.”
Until that comes about, it will be a while before
she’s here again, so we’ll have to settle for her
upcoming show.
Waxahatchee performs at the Wise Hall on
February 24.
Vancouver’s very own electronic dynamic-duo
HUMANS have just released their full-length
album Going Late, a follow-up to their EP The
Feels that dropped earlier this year. Going Late
feels like the electronic anthem of Vancouver.
Unique as a duo in their own right, Peter Ricq
and Robbie Slade find a way to still capture the
nightlife of the city they call home.
“I can only speak for myself, but we’ve been
doing this band long enough that all of this is
a product of being a Vancouverite for the past
fifteen years. With how things have changed [in
the city] and how weird it is right now… I don’t
know, it’s challenging being a Vancouverite,” says
Slade. “We were in that headspace while writing
all of this stuff. I mean, we try not to do this
because I think it’s kind of stupid to have a point
when writing lyrics. We try to write fun stuff.
‘Breakfast with Liz’ is literally about going out for
breakfast with my friend Liz.”
Everything they write comes from the source
material of their lives and from Vancouver as a
whole. Existing as a Vancouverite in its current
climate is tough and HUMANS are bringing
levity to the challenges by creating a danceable
distraction with Going Late.
“It’s kind of darker and there are a couple
movements to every song. It evolves,” says Ricq
of their sound and the sound of Going Late. “It’s
a movement and it always evolves. We call it
progressive. There’s always a progression to the
sound. There’s two parts, sometimes more, it’s
like dancing. We always try to make something
that moves you, something that’s not your typical
polished sound. We try to take on challenges
and I think every time we do an album we try
something new, something we haven’t done
before.”
With Going Late, HUMANS do something new
by breaking the conventions of what makes an
electronic album. According to Slade, it’s barely
using electronics in exchange for something
more traditional. “Everything has very loose
percussion. There’s a lot of bass, guitar, keys and
live drummers. It’s a lot more live.”
“On some of these tracks it’s Robbie and I
playing bass over three different sessions really
stacking it up and Robbie playing more guitar and
more live drums than ever before. We were trying
to experiment and have more of a band sound
without creating it with a band. We’re getting
more comfortable after doing “Noontide” and
wanted to do it before, but it didn’t feel right.
After working with our producer Nik (Kozub) we
feel like we can do whatever we want.”
With Going Late HUMANS want listeners
to be able to put the record on at anytime and
turn everything into a dance party, while being
able to chill, unwind and listen to alone. And of
course, HUMANS wants their fans to come out of
listening to Going Late with one thing most of all,
“We want them to think we should win a Juno,”
says Slade without a second of hesitation and a
laugh.
Humans perform Feb. 15 at Celebrities Nightclub.
Peter Ricq and Robbie Slade capture the sound of Vancouver’s challenging nightlife on Going Late.
February 2019 23

MUSIC
SLEEPY DOG
ANYTHING BUT TIRED
COLE YOUNG
Sleepy Dog craft country psych rock that will keep you up at night.
“I woke up the next day fully clothed on top of
the duvet and the screen door was on my feet
all tangled between my legs, so we hid it under
the mattress.”
Luke Basso, guitarist and vocalist, reminisces
about a wild night at Sled Island Music Festival
in Calgary a few years back. It was the night
when him and Henry Peters, the band’s other
guitarist and vocalist, met their new friend and
now bassist Scott Postulo. The three of them are
STEVE BROCKLEY
NO LOVE WITHOUT DARKNESS
JOHNNY KOSMOS
Steve Brockley’s vintage folk ages well on his latest, Is Not Was.
The sappy love song is a tired trope. Steve
Brockley’s latest release, Is Not Was, is far from
sappy. While Brockley might sound exasperated
and drained, the music itself isn’t tired. “I really
appreciate a love song that’s not all happy and
hunky-dory,” says Brockley. “I try not to sugar
coat anything.”
The title, Is Not Was, might as well have a
comma and read more like “Is, Not Was.” The
album, written and recorded while Brockley
24
photo by Jenna Beaudry
joined by drummer Christofer Reimar to form
Sleepy Dog. Their interview with BeatRoute
was full of whiskey and cigarettes while Daniel
Romano sang his heart out in the background.
These boys may love to have a good time but
don’t get it twisted, they’re not in it for the
party, they’re putting the time in and crafting
heartfelt country psych-rock that is just as
reminiscent of Johnny Cash as it is John Dwyer
of Thee Oh Sees. Peters explains the origins of
photo by Louis Bockner
was going through a rough patch with his now
wife, is a tale of life, love and the dark side of
it all. “We are current, not past,” Brockley says
of the title. “It was all about pulling it together
and repairing it, and how can we move through
this?”
Written during the spring of 2016 and
recorded that June at Vancouver’s legendary
Afterlife Studios, Brockley played most of the
instruments on the album, an impressive feat
Sleepy Dog, “I went to try and work on the oil
rigs but then nothing was happening. I was
working like one day a week so I just sat at
home and wrote a couple songs and brought
them to these guys when I got back.” Postulo
adds that as soon as he heard the songs Peters
had been working on he knew he had to be
a part of it. “It’s just totally the kind of thing
I’m into.” These guys have a real bond over
the music, with members from other notable
Vancouver-based bands such as Dried Out,
Skinny Kids, The Prettys and more. When
they’re not already on the same page, they’re
intrigued to learn more about each other’s
perspectives and reasons.
Basso at one point taking over as interviewer
asked Peters to explain the story and idea
behind their track “Getting High With Jesus.”
“I’m from a really religious town so everyone
I know from home interprets that as me getting
high with fucking Jesus,” Peters says. “But I don’t
mean it like that at all; I mean me getting fucked
up with a guy named Jesus from Mexico. I like
to play on the line with it.” Postulo points out
that he first interpreted the song as someone
getting high by themselves in a hotel room and
thinking that they meet Jesus due to the drugs.
At the end of the day, they’re all just excited
to be discussing and creating art together.
Sleepy Dog perform at the Fox Cabaret
(Vancouver) on February 26.
considering they recorded it in two days. John
Raham (Frazey Ford, Be Good Tanyas) lent his
technical prowess and production instincts to
the project. Raham’s live approach to recording
is essential to the natural and vintage feel of the
record.
Brockley is based out of the West Kootenays,
where he lives on an acreage with his wife and
child. Born and raised in Vernon, BC, Brockley
moved to Montreal where he played in a bunch
of bands, gigging and touring all over Canada.
“It was a great place to cut your teeth,” he says
of his time in Montreal. “It’s dirt cheap to live
out there so you can afford to make music and
not work all the time and there are tons of live
music venues — the opposite of Vancouver.”
It was there that he met his wife, also from BC.
Tired of the big city, they moved back west to
raise a family.
The perils of love are hard to overcome.
Making an album about it is even harder.
Brockley has done both.
Is Not Was is now available on all streaming
services via Afterlife Records.
STATIC JUPITER
THE NEW HOME OF PSYCH ROCK IN VANCOUVER
COLE YOUNG
“Anyone can have a projector, but when the liquid light
show is happening in real time, you just know that the
artist is experiencing the music the same way the artists
playing it are. It’s just beautiful.”
Valeria Kvochkova, owner and lead engineer of
Static Jupiter, is bursting with passion when talking
about Vancouver’s local music scene. Whether it’s the
aforementioned live analog liquid light show present at
every gig she hosts at her venue, the bands playing, or the
people who show up, it’s clear that every ounce of her
spirit is dedicated to helping the music scene grow and
flourish.
Static Jupiter is Vancouver’s newest DIY venue, hosting
mostly garage-rock type shows every weekend. On top
of being a great place to catch one of your favourite local
acts, Static Jupiter is also a recording studio during the
week. Kvochkova is busy working with tons of local groups
such as Brother 12, The Rambling Derelicts, Oswald and
Primp. On top of her passion, Kvochkova is full of talent,
knowledge and creative ideas. She’s currently waiting to
get her reel to reel tape recorder fixed and she will then
not only be able to record to tape, but also will have live
sets running through it which will then play through the
PA at shows so that the audience gets to experience the
sound of reel to reel during a live performance. She also
plans to purchase a vinyl cutter so she can record the sets
straight to vinyl. Once she has this set up she will be the
only one in Vancouver recording live shows straight to
vinyl, something she is really looking forward to. “You have
this event captured on beautiful vinyl and if you listen to it
you’ll feel like it’s happening again in real time,” she says.
Kvochkova has put an incredible amount of time and
energy into making Static Jupiter what it is today. From
installing acoustic treatment to design and promotion, she
puts everything she’s got into the space. “All I want is to
contribute to the music scene, and when people are here
you just know that’s it’s become a community. People are
actually here to listen to the bands. It’s not about doing
drugs and getting drunk, it’s the complete opposite and I
really respect that. It’s probably why I’m still doing it, even
though I’m tired as hell.”
Static Jupiter is located at 25 E 6th Ave. in Vancouver.
Owner Valeria Kvochkova is dialled in to local music.
December 2018

MUSIC
DANIEL ROMANO
A COSMIC COLLAPSE BETWEEN ART AND AUDIENCE
SEBASTIAN BUZZALINO
photo by Sebastian Buzzalino
Finally free — Daniel Romano knows that there is no truth in rock ‘n roll, but his postmodern approach to songwriting makes him one of the most enigmatic and exciting songwriters in Canada.
Daniel Romano is wildly prolific and
bound to no one but himself — an
artist equally comfortable kicking out
the jams before 300 mad girls in Madrid
with his free-wheelin’ rock ‘n’ roll group,
The Outfit, as he is nestled in a cabin
deep, far-off in the solitude of a waning
Swedish summer. In pursuit of music,
poetry and painting aimed towards
discovering a sort of truth in art, he
ends up confronting the notion that
perhaps truth isn’t the right question
to ask.
“I don’t think the truth of a song
matters at all,” says Romano. “I never
listen to music and think, ‘Is that
true?’ I get uncomfortable with very
literal language in song, it makes me
feel uneasy. Outside of the personal
relationship of trust, I think the truth
doesn’t matter so much.”
For Romano, the profound, there
is no truth in rock ‘n’ roll, no fixed
horizon, no centre from where we can
get our bearings. Our heroes are dead,
the gods are long gone and the only
thing that’s left is an exploration of the
human condition as it unfolds alongside
us. His lyrics, penned somewhere
between Dylan and Rimbaud, exist
in a paradise populated by Greek
mythology and take on the mantle of a
soft resistance, a call for freedom.
On his recent album, Finally Free, this
is particularly true. The songs slip in and
out of feverish dreamscapes littered
with translucent bodies and weeping
angels, characters trying to get out
from under the machinations of their
own thumbs. It’s an apolitical warning
where freedom from corruption
moves towards freedom in love and
expression. There’s honesty in his lyrics,
but not necessarily truth — at least
none that you or I could access. Not
that it would matter anyway, we make
our own truths as much as he has his.
“The song changes as soon as it’s
written,” claims Romano. “You write a
song with a purpose, with somewhat
of a meaning in mind, or, more
interestingly to me, a mood. But then
you can’t replicate that mood once it’s
done. I mean, you’re singing the words
in so many different circumstances and
playing the song in so many different
places for people, and people are always
going to feel differently, that I wouldn’t
want to try and replicate that original
mood. That would be so exhausting.”
He adds, “A show is, ‘Take these [songs],
I made them and maybe they’ll do
something for you as they did for me.”
This postmodern approach to
songwriting makes Romano one
of the most enigmatic and exciting
songwriters in Canada. He understands
he is dead as an author but alive as
the artist, and that the intersection
between him and us is where we create
instant meaning in the moments we
share.
“You can find anything in anything, if
you want to. I used to worry that things
were too in the moment and not exact
and concise, as far as whatever the
process is for getting thought into word
in my songs. But it’s really more to do
with the mood than anything.”
On the track “Between the Blades
of Grass,” Romano sings about the
“liberating in the language of love.”
It’s a common thread throughout his
work that clarifies what, if anything,
can fill the void — a deep, empathetic,
spiritual sort of love that binds us
together, a nucleic bond between artist
and audience. To illustrate his point,
he mentions a new poetic project he’s
wrapping up with long-time friend and
artist, Ian Daniel Kehoe.
“We started a poetic correspondence.
We send each other poems in
dedication to each other. Interestingly,
2019 is the year of eros, the origin of
erotic nature. We had decided, previous
to knowing that, that it was going to
be sort of erotic, in the early Greek
meaning of the word, exchange. As our
correspondence continued, the poems
became tributes to each other, more
so than how we think of it as modern
eroticism… you can sense this kind of
symbiotic and drastic metamorphosis
of almost two people becoming one.
There’s a unification of thought and
feeling.”
This unification, this becoming of
one, can be read as a blooming process
that, again, resists the easy packaging
and distribution of a singular sense of
being. Romano and Kehoe’s bodies
move towards each other into one and,
in the cosmic collapse, an impassioned
universe of love emanates, entire
constellations tracing out nostalgic
histories and emergent presents.
The same applies to Romano’s art,
musical or visual: it’s a tense, symbiotic
relationship between art and audience,
between creation and consumption, a
crucial link in the survival of both.
Thus here we stand, at our own brink
of collapse together — Romano and his
audience, Romano and Kehoe — the
ground already crumbling at our feet
in anticipation of emancipation. Will
2019 be the year of eros, a complex
metamorphosis? What becomes the
meaning of love? Are our spirits truth?
And are our bodies free?
Daniel Romano performs February 25 at
the Biltmore Cabaret (Vancouver) and
February 26 at Lucky Bar (Victoria).
February 2019 25

MONSTER TRUCK
BAKING A BIG BATCH OF THUNDER
CHRISTINE LEONARD
DEAD MEADOW
20 YEARS OF PSYCH ROCK GOLD
MADDY CRISTALL
photo by Mathew Guido
With a little help from Twisted Sister’s Dee Snyder, Monster Truck are all revved up and ready for you.
Dead Meadow is one of the most important
gems in the ever-changing and beloved sea of
psych rock. The genre is perhaps now more
popular than ever with the array of artists such
as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Thee
Oh Sees and Ty Segall perpetually releasing
innovative music. Dead Meadow is a 20-yearold
band that may just be the epitome of psych
rock. Their music is simultaneously heavy yet
melodic; it’s an accessible mosaic of sound.
They’re known for generous concerts that
melt the faces off drooling audience members,
present company included.
The band has always consisted of lead singer
and guitar icon Jason Simon as well as Steve
Kille on bass and sitar. Every strong psych band
requires a sitar. The two primary members
have rotated drummers over the years, but
each original member is featured on their latest
album The Nothing They Need. This is the
band’s eighth studio album and arguably their
best yet.
“It felt like a reunion – we got into the studio
and it was like 1999 again,” Simon says. Perhaps
that’s what makes this record so special. It
doesn’t feel nostalgic; it feels brand new. The
band is originally from Washington, D.C. but
now resides in L.A. When asked if they are
famous in L.A., Simon coyly laughs.
“Who knows, are we famous anywhere?” he
says. The answer to that question is that, to
most, they’re not. To some, though, they make
the world’s most important music.
“The music industry has changed so much
over the years, it’s hard to know if there still is an
industry,” says Simon. “We signed with Matador
in the early 2000s and I don’t know if bands can
just do that anymore.”
Their latest video for “Here with the Hawk”
features Michael Horse a.k.a. Deputy Hawk
from Twin Peaks. The video is a wonderful
representation of the infinite magnetism that
Dead Meadow so seamlessly emanates. Dead
Meadow remains interesting because they are
authentically excited to make music.
Dead Meadow plays at the Rickshaw Theatre on
February 23.
Big, bad and mean, Monster Truck is a Hamilton
phenomenon with the multi-dimensional clout
of a rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut. Since the four-piece
released their third studio LP, True Rockers, last
September, Monster Truck has been riding high on
the momentum along with the testosterone-fueled
lead single “Evolution,” featuring Twisted Sister’s
Dee Snider. Racking up tens of dozens of live shows
since their previous album Sittin’ Heavy (2016),
the close-knit band has come to appreciate the
simple pleasures of life. Who knew that making a
homemade meal could compete with opening for
Deep Purple? Monster Truck, that’s who.
“I like to do a lot of culinary stuff. I put a fair
amount of time into making sourdough bread in
addition to doing a lot of Thai cooking. Basically,
just enjoying being in the kitchen and trying to
find new recipes to make and to liven up the ol’
dinner time at home,” reports guitarist Jeremy
Widerman.
Along with breaking out ear-grabbing
rock anthems at the drop of a checkered flag,
Widerman is also a self-professed sourdough dealer
to the stars. Or, at least, he’s trying to be.
“No one really wants it. It’s such an investment
of time to get through the entire day of building
the dough and then letting it sit overnight, and
baking it the next day to have it turn out like shit,”
Wilderman says of his efforts that he also tries to
pass off to his bands member. “It really was like two
or three months of not getting great results for me
before I started getting some loaves I was satisfied
with. So, I don’t know if people have enough time
to wanna put into learning how to make bread.
For me it ended up being worth it. But I’m not sure
that’s something everyone wants to dive headfirst
26
into.”
For a hot minute there we thought Widerman
was talking about making an album instead of
baking a loaf.
“You could say that,” he observes. “In the studio
it’s a lot harder actually than in the kitchen with
the sourdough. The sourdough kind of ends up
being a thing where you know it’s good by looking
at it the second you cut into it. You can see it from
the outside, it’s got an exterior element to it that is
crucial to knowing whether or not you did a good
job. In the studio you don’t know if you’re happy
sometimes until after the fact.”
An essential component of Monster Truck’s
success lies in their unified vision for a putting on
a riveting live show that will have fans reaching for
their wallets and their beers.
“That’s definitely a fundamental aspect of trying
to figure out whether or not a song is good. And
that’s what I most envision when I’m working on a
song, a transition, a part or a vocal hook with the
band. I always try to put my mindset of how it’s
going to feel to play live.”
If you believe the signals, it looks like Monster
Truck has a long career of selling the edge of seats
ahead of them.
“This is something that we’ve done over 10
years, but we’re the same band as when we started.
There are people who are just getting onboard now
who are bummed that they missed out eight years
ago. They’re like, ‘Where have you been my whole
life?’ and we’re like, ‘We’re right here!’”
Monster Truck perform February 6 at Capitol
Ballroom (Victoria), Feb. 7 and 8 at Venue Nightclub
(Vancouver).
After 20 years, Dead Meadow frontman Jason Simon still has no idea if his band is famous.
February 2019

CONAN
TOTAL CONQUEST CITY
CHRISTINE LEONARD
Liverpool, England, may be nicknamed “the
Pool of Life,” but it was the primordial ooze of a
million down-tuned guitars that gave birth to the
grinding sludge metal band Conan. Emerging from
the estuaries of Merseyside in 2006, the stoneshattering
three-piece has grown to become one
of the most revered and recognizable artists on the
photo by Matt Negus
Conan embrace a strong sense of altered reality, if not all-out fantasy on Existential Void Guardian.
Napalm Death record label.
Most recently, the lumbering fuzz giant
unleashed its fourth studio LP, Existential Void
Guardian. A melodic yet bludgeoning answer
to 2016’s Revengeance, Conan’s latest onslaught
continues to benefit from the grounding presence
of bassist/vocalist Chris Fielding. The producer of
several of the band’s previous recordings, Fielding
has been adding his gravitas to the sonic frenzy
generated by guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis and
drummer Johnny King. As Davis confirms, the
complex riffs and vexing grooves of Existential
Void Guardian foretell a new epoch in the history
of Conan.
“I think the main thing was how heavy it came
out and how the songs took shape in an almost
effortless manner. We had quite a disjointed 12
months leading up to the recording of the album
and there was a risk the album would suffer, but
I’m very happy that we put out a cool recording in
spite of it all.”
Rising above the din, Conan’s first recording
featuring drummer Johnny King (Dread Sovereign,
Malthusian) stands out from the crowd with Davis
delivering his bloodstained lyrics with a poetic
passion that runs hot and cold.
“I think my lyrics have usually been kind of
concise and I think it works, because it doesn’t give
too much away,” says Davis. “It helps the listener
use their imagination, which is absolutely what
we want them to do while listening to the music.
I ‘defo’ use colloquialisms in normal conversations
but try not to do it in the lyrics. I find that would
be a bit limiting for the tracks and I’d hate to make
myself cringe further down the line!”
One thing Existential Void Guardian has in
common with the trio’s earlier works is a strong
sense of altered reality, if not all-out fantasy. After
hours of exhaustive research, Davis concludes that
Conan’s back catalogue is best paired with the
following video games:
“Horseback Battle Hammer (2010 Throne
Records)–Rastan (Commodore 64 version),
Monnos (2012 Burning World Records)–Quake
(PC version), Blood Eagle (2014 Napalm Records)–
Skyrim (PS4 version), Revengeance (2016 Napalm
Records)–Renegade (Amiga version), Existential
Void Guardian (2018 Napalm Records)–Karateka
(C64 VERSION).”
It’s only a matter of time before the industry
comes knocking, especially now that Robert E.
Howard’s beloved Conan character has returned to
Marvel Comics and the public eye.
“Hold on, I’m just about to put a down payment
on our new tour bus,” Davis jests, predicting an
upsurge of interest in the necromancer-smashing
barbarian and the band’s namesake. But seriously,
you just never know where the group’s doomy
Cimmerian sounds are going to turn up.
Conan performs February 28 at The Astoria..
IMONOLITH
SUPERGROUP’S HOMETOWN DEBUT
ANA KRUNIC
Despite its relatively small population, Vancouver
has spawned a surprising amount of internationally
acclaimed acts. It’s even more surprising when you
consider how many of them come from the metal
or alternative scene: Skinny Puppy, 3 Inches of
Blood, D.O.A., and, of course, Devin Townsend and
his insane genesis as Strapping Young Lad. When
Townsend announced that he was putting the
Devin Townsend Project (DTP) on hiatus last year,
his bandmates, drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen
and guitarist/bassist Brian Waddell, had time to
spend on something that had been brewing for
a while. Without the constraints of the relentless
tour schedule that the Devin Townsend Project
demanded, Imonolith sprung forth.
“Brian and I started writing material for
Imonolith back in 2015,” Van Poederooyen says.
“In between tours we just started jamming, since
we grew up on the same kind of music – Pantera,
Van Halen, that kind of stuff. We’d been writing
music for the past few years, and we thought, let’s
do this, now is the time. Let’s get some artists that
we’d truly love to write and play in a band with
and get it going. In February we made the calls,
we got in touch with everyone. We were already
kind of jamming with Byron [Stroud, of Fear
Factory and Strapping Young Lad] so he was the
first guy we added, then we got Jon [Howard, of
Threat Signal] and Kai [Huppunen, ex-Methods of
Mayhem]. And that’s Imonolith.”
The songwriting for this project is, so far, a joint
effort between Van Poederooyen and Waddell
since they already had a body of work together
before forming the supergroup.
“There’s guitar leads and stuff that’s been added,
but for a base sound everyone loved what Brian
and I had already written. As the band progresses
and everyone gets used to touring with it and
playing the music, we’re going to evolve much
more.”
Coming from that kind of musical background
creates preconceptions from fans who assume
they’re going to follow in Devin’s prog-metal
footsteps. But Imonolith is coming at their sound
from their own angle, as heard in their first single,
“Hollow,” which came out along with a music
video on January 18.
“Everyone in the band has different influences
and that’s how we want to present the music,”
he explains. “We don’t just want to come out
with crushing metal – we have a catchier radio
side to us, which the world’s going to hear with
‘Hollow.’ We don’t want to be a one trick pony. We
want to have our heavy side, our catchy side, our
experimental side and everything in between.”
The single is a precursor to a full-length album
they’re hoping to release this summer, with their
first-ever show happening in their hometown of
Vancouver.
“We’re excited. Brian and I have been touring
constantly for the past 10 years to the point where
if we got four or five months off, it was a long time.
And now, the last show I played was on December
photo by Dave Benedict
Imonolith has a lot of experience and broad influences that lend to their many sides and sounds.
31, 2017. So for me it’s like, holy shit, I need to get
out there, man. To play the first ever show with
this project in our hometown, especially after this
long, is amazing.”
Imonolith plays at the Red Room on February 23
with guests Touch the Sun.
February 2019 27

BPM
LOOP SESSIONS
AN UNDERGROUND INCUBATOR FOR CREATIVE EXPLORATION
JOEY LOPEZ
CLUBLAND
YOUR MONTH MEASURED IN BPMS
JOEY LOPEZ
Winter isn’t over yet and the cold might make you want to
stay in all day, but you’re not going to want to be a homebody
forever so get out there and catch some of the electrifying
shows that February has to offer. Grab your Valentine’s Day
date and impress them with your impeccable tastes at this
month’s upcoming shows.
BOOMBOX CARTEL
February 7th at Celebrities
The LA-based electronic dance duo with Latin roots, Boombox
Cartel are guaranteed to bring the house down at Celebrities
Nightclub with their trap and hip-hop influenced production.
Get ready to be danced into a daze by their hypnotizing
grooves that is both dramatic and romantic with a touch of
head-banging dubstep snuck in there to keep you guessing
WTF will come next. Get ready to experience two club DJs on
creative steroids.
Loop Sessions creates a space that welcomes creatives free of charge and free of ego to learn and create.
There are few things left that are found out by way of word of
mouth. The internet has provided immediate access to nearly
all information known to humans and spontaneous discovery
becomes rarer every day. There’s something special about
something that is truly underground – unadvertised and not
promoted or reposted one hundred times over to gain mass
attention. Loop Sessions is just that. An opportunity for raw
creative improvisation: once a month a group of 30 producers are
brought under a single roof and given the same song to sample.
Each producer is then tasked to create a two to three minute
beat based on that sample within a three hour time frame. From
there, they reveal their creations to each other – something wholly
original with no two songs sounding the same.
Loop Sessions is a hidden gem, not only just to Vancouver but to
places all around the world. Its origins are the brain child of a group
of producers from Brazil that sought to bring artists together under
the name Deep Brasilia. From there it found its way to Montreal by
way of Canadian producer Dr. Mad.
Bringing it to Vancouver was practically serendipitous. While
recording I M U R’s latest album in Montreal, band member Mikey
Blige came across the Loop Sessions that was happening there and
immediately sought to bring it back home with him. Unbeknownst
to him, Nick Wisdom of producing duo Potatohead People
happened to have the exact same idea,
“I met up with Dr. Mad on my trip to Montreal and told him
that Mikey went to Loop Sessions and how I wished I could have
gone. He was like, ‘You guys have to start it in Vancouver. That’s
your mission you have to do this.’ Says Wisdom of the beginnings
of Loop Sessions Vancouver, “When I came back to Vancouver I
was planning on starting [Loop Sessions] with Nick and I didn’t
even know he was given this mission. It was kind of perfect timing.
And we didn’t even have a space but the owner of Nemesis Café
really likes hip-hop and he offered us the space for anything we
wanted,” Blige mentions of the synchronicity of the event coming
together. According to Wisdom, the mission itself was to create a
space that welcomed creatives free of charge, free of ego and free of
clout chasing.
“The best part of it is you get to see so deep into somebody
by what they choose to do with those two hours. Everybody’s
vulnerable and none of these beats are masterpieces, but that’s
not what it’s about. It’s about giving people something to do. I
remember the feeling of the first one and being so inspired by
28
photo by Bailey Morgan
seeing 30 people making beats, 25 of which I had never seen in my
life and now we see them all the time.”
“We don’t even want to advertise it because we don’t want too
many people coming and resulting in someone being turned away
[due to space], so we invite people that we know make music or
anyone who was at the past Loop Sessions. There’s already been
this great community of people that have naturally gravitated
toward it.” Says Blige, “But we want to open it up to more newbies
and more women. We have a lot of men come in and we’re
wondering how we can change that,” chips in Wisdom about
building on the accessibility of the event.
The solitary practice of creating beats in one’s own room
becomes a social event, putting those who normally shy away from
the spotlight centre stage for their peers to witness and admire.
“During the month we started this in Vancouver, without any
external contact, Loop Sessions Brussels and Loop Sessions Buenos
Ares started at the same time. And now there’s a Toronto one, too,”
Says Blige, solidifying the collective consciousness behind Loop
Sessions and affirming that this is exactly what producers around
the world have been craving. “ We hope in the future with a little
bit of love we can build something where people are travelling
city to city, bringing people from like Loop Sessions Montreal out
here and we send people out there and when people go travelling
to whichever city they will know there’s a Loop Sessions there.
Creating a bigger network and crossing more paths.” says Wisdom,
hopeful for the future of turning Loop Sessions into a worldwide
networking opportunity, “We really want to establish more public
support. What we’re hopeful for in the future is to get more high
profile curators, so people who are producing locally will have a
bridge to those who are on the international circuit. There’s a huge
opportunity there,” Says Blige on the future plans of Loop Sessions.
With Vancouver’s DIY venues suffering from the meteoric rise
of unaffordable real estate and the gentrification of lower income
neighborhoods with great losses happening across the city,
something like Loop Sessions is exactly what Vancouver needed.
An accessible space, free of charge where artists can create freely
and where newcomers to the scene can rub shoulders with local
legends.
Loop Sessions is held monthly at Nemesis Coffee free of charge and
is open to the public. Catch February’s Loop Sessions hosted and
curated by DJ Flipout.
CHALI 2NA
February 14th at The Imperial
Oh shit, Chali 2na himself! The OG from the legendary Jurassic
5 is going to be bringing his brand of classic hip-hop to The
Imperial on Valentine’s Day. When we say classic hip-hop we
mean it and this is the show to be at if you want to spend the
most romantic day of the year if you feel like you’re getting
funky with one of the grandfathers of the Chicago rap scene.
YVES TUMOR
February 16th at Celebrities
Do you have plans February 16th? Well, forget them. Forget
them now! Drop everything and go see Yves Tumor at
Celebrities Underground. Coming off of a collaboration
with Blood Orange and their incredibly strong album Safe
in the Hands of Love, Yves Tumor is the best he’s ever been
and you’re going to want to see what he has to offer. Fans of
experimental hip-hop and avante garde soundscapes will have
field day with this show.
JOJI
February 22nd at Fortune Sound Club
A member of 88Rising and former YouTube sensation Joji has
quickly risen in the ranks of the alternative R&B world with
his dark, moody style. If Valentine’s Day wasn’t for you and
you’re still rocking that single life then lose yourself in Joji’s
brooding tracks about sadness and heartbreak. Embrace that
inner sad boy and catch what is most definitely going to be an
interesting performance.
YVES TUMOR
February 2019

BPM
SHAD
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE ENERGIZED
ALAN RANTA
photos by Justin Broadbent
Damn the man, Shad smashes the state on his sonically aggressive and forward-thinking, A Short Story About War.
Kenya-born, Canada-raised rapper Shad has been
through a lot since he dropped Flying Colours, his
third consecutive Polaris Prize short listed album,
in 2013. He became a positive face for CBC’s q
after Jian Ghomeshi was fired in disgrace, hosted
the award-winning documentary series Hip-Hop
Evolution, and most recently became a husband
and father. If you think parenthood is going to
make him soft, you’ll be dead wrong.
“I thought that maybe it would make me feel
more conservative, just in terms of wanting to be
stable,” Shad says over the phone. “But it’s actually
made me feel like I have to live out my values even
more, like there’s somebody watching. I assumed it
would make me get more pragmatic and sensible,
but it’s kind of done the opposite. Made me think
even more about what it looks like to live out my
values every day.”
Returning to hip-hop production after a five
year gap, A Short Story about a War is arguably his
most ambitious work yet. It’s a complex concept
album set on a desert planet waging a seemingly
ceaseless world war. The album is a staggering,
insightful examination of humanity’s attempt
to survive the drawn out effects of a desperate
capitalist system.
“This album is really anti-capitalist, more than
I think I even realized when I was making it,” Shad
says. “Do I think we’ll survive? I want to say yes,
but there are a lot of challenges. I think the biggest
challenge is how quickly things change, and it’s
difficult for us to get our heads around what to
do, frankly. Our institutions are big and slow.
Our governments are big and slow. Meanwhile,
technology is shaping us really quickly. I don’t
know how we are supposed to contend with
that. There is something energizing about having
a problem to solve, and our generation has a lot
of big problems to solve, everything from the
environment to inequality. I don’t know if we’ll
figure it out, but I do feel energized that we have a
task at hand and we have something to do. There’s
potential there.”
From a purely sonic standpoint, A Short Story
about a War is the most aggressive and forwardthinking
album Shad has produced, compared to
the warmer throwback De La Soul vibes of Flying
Colours. With guest appearances from Kaytranada,
Lido Pimienta, Eternia and Yukon Blonde, there
is as much going on aurally as lyrically, requiring
multiple listens to fully appreciate its many
flavours.
“I wanted it to carry the feelings I wanted
people to feel with the album, which to me
felt imaginative, apocalyptic, intense, exciting,
anxious,” Shad desired. “All that means, for the
most part, getting away from the soul samples
that I still love, but, for this project, weren’t right...
Part of the fun trying to put this together was the
task of making it listenable, approachable and
manageable, even though it’s dense and intense
by nature. I had that idea of interludes going back
to the classic hip-hop thing of interludes that
feel almost live, like you’re hearing a poet or a
storyteller in a room stitching the thing together.”
Hitting the road for his first real tour in years,
Shad is excited to reconnect with his fans across
the country, to see how his challenging new tunes
have resonated. It’s not going to be all doom and
gloom, though. He’s going to mix it up.
“This lineup, as far as the musicians and sounds,
is kinda why I went away from live bass and
live drums because I wanted to at least make
everything sonically consistent with the darker
sounds that are on the [new] album,” Shad
muses, “So that’s why there’s the synth bass and
programmed drums. The tricky thing has been
incorporating some of this stuff in with the old
stuff, and have it make sense altogether… Some of
this stuff is going to a different place emotionally,
and then I have to make a turn to some of the
other material that I want to do, especially live,
because people like it. And it’s fun and that’s the
energy I want to give people in a live setting, but it
can be a hard turn.”
Pushing the aesthetic boundaries of his music
and taking the structure and meaning of his
lyrics to new heights, A Short Story about a War
deserves to be the one to finally claim the Polaris
Prize more than anything else he has yet released.
In any case, it’s sure to resonate deeply across
Canada and beyond.
Shad performs Feb. 21 at Fortune Sound
(Vancouver) and Feb. 23 at the Capital Ballroom
(Victoria).
February 2019 29

FILM
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
AND THE AWARD GOES TO…
HOGAN SHORT
It was only three years ago that the 2016 Oscars
inspired the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag. Chris Rock
hosted those 88th Academy Awards, ironically
joking that if he didn’t take the job it would mean
losing yet another gig to Kevin Hart. We’ve seen
how that turned out, but that’s another story.
Chris Rock had another funny line in his standout
opening monologue, “I’m sure, in one of the years
when Sidney (Poitier) didn’t put out a movie, I’m
sure there were no black nominees.” He definitely
had a point. The Oscars started in 1929. It took
10 years for the first black person to win an Oscar
because Hattie McDaniel was just too damn
incredible in Gone with the Wind to ignore. It
then took another 24 years for Sidney Poitier to be
awarded number two. From 1949-2000, 29 black
actors were nominated for acting awards out of a
possible 510 nominations. African-American film
workers have not been given roles or positions
LORDS OF CHAOS
BLACK METAL DRAMEDY PACKS A GRUESOME PUNCH
AUSTIN TAYLOR
Denzel Washington as
Malcolm X, 1992
BeatRoute’s film editor looks back at some of the most overlooked nominations by the Academy in years past.
historically, and when they are, the voting body of
the Academy is 94 per cent white males over the
age of 50.
Here we have a short list of a few contributions
to film that did not even receive a nomination.
Every year incredible talent goes ignored or
unnoticed, but these examples are genuinely
egregious snubs.
MALCOLM X
Best Director: Spike Lee
First he had She’s Gotta Have It and Do the Right
Thing (which wasn’t even nominated), and then
Mo Better Blues, and yes, they are all worthy of
best picture. But now Spike Lee has a bona fide
star in a fleshed out biopic featuring what might
be the best performance of Denzel Washington’s
career. And nothing? Washington got nominated,
and the film was nominated for Best Costume
Design, too. Lee got his first nomination ever this
year, but it should have been one of many to date.
SELMA
Best Director: Ava DuVernay
Best Actor: David Oyelowo
This is considered one of the biggest snubs of
all time. It came out late in the year, receiving
incredible reviews for its intense and dramatic
power. Was it too late to be considered? No,
because they did give it a Best Picture nomination.
How a film could be one of the best of the year
and get a 99 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes
yet not receive a nod for its direction or for the
brilliant portrayal of an icon is still confusing.
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
Best Original Screenplay: Boots Riley
One of the best-reviewed films by critics and an
audience favourite, this is a film that delicately
carries humour while having a strong critique on
capitalist society and being black within those
borders. If this movie was destined for one award,
it was for its script.
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
The sad thing about this award is that I barely have
enough content to discuss. Try and think of five
well-written films with a black female lead. Angela
Bassett should have 10 examples herself. Great
supporting roles happen often, even though they
are rarely nominated. Kerry Washington has never
had one, and think about Django Unchained and
The Last King of Scotland. On IMDB’s list of the
top 100 actresses, only three of them are black.
BOYZ N THE HOOD
Best Picture
John Singleton was the first black person ever
nominated in this category, which is ridiculous
enough. And it didn’t even get a Best Picture nod,
which is even more ridiculous. The two are not
always hand-in-hand, but without calling any film
in particular out, Boyz n the Hood was by far more
deserving than most of the other forgettable films
in the category.
Many people have expressed their disdain for the
achievements of Black Panther, calling it overrated
and unworthy, but for many, it’s the first time they
have seen themselves represented onscreen as
a superhero and politician. We made it through
17 Marvel movies before we saw a black person
leading the story, and that story went on to be
the Marvel Universe’s most profitable. Strides
are being made, and things are becoming more
inclusive in film. What we need now is complete
inclusivity. Not just as the friend in a romantic
comedy, but as the lead. Not just as the first
person to die in a slasher film, but as the person
who makes it out alive. Get Out was huge for a
reason, but now it is time for Hollywood to allow
for more films of its kind – not only when a genius
filmmaker decides to comment on society’s many
flaws, but also when a filmmaker just wants to tell
a great story.
When Vice Films announced they were making
a movie about the Norwegian black metal band
Mayhem, most wouldn’t have guessed its genre
would fall under “dramedy.” Considering the
band initially gained notoriety with a revoltingly
graphic album cover in 1990—featuring a
photograph of their lead singer post suicide via
shotgun to the head—one might conjure images
of thriller or horror. Following the debut of the
album cover rumors, often sparked by members
themselves and later proven in the court of law,
Mayhem’s notoriety spread like the fires of the
ancient churches rampantly being burned in
their Norwegian community. Lords Of Chaos
features these myths without censorship, including
members of the band wearing skull fragments
of their dearly departed lead singer as necklaces,
acts of animal abuse, senseless vandalism and,
most horifically, brutal murder. It’s unclear what
the producers were expecting would come out of
this film but there’s nothing like Macaulay Culkin’s
kid brother Rory to sprinkle some of that Home
Alone 2 charm into one of the most sinister tales
in contemporary music history.
30
Lords Of Chaos melds dark humor and dark
music in a way that makes such a gruesome
narrative barely digestible. It’s just enough to reach
fringe mainstream audiences without repulsing
them away within the first five minutes. Even
so there were scenes that were so macabre and
grisly it’s difficult to maintain eye contact with
the screen. If death and gore isn’t your thing, you
might want to skip this one.
The narrative closely follows the true chronicles
of Mayhem founder Øystein Aarseth a.k.a.
Euronymous and Burzum’s Varg Vikernes as they
establish the black metal subgenre. In the film the
duo quickly amasses a cult following, which fuels
their egomania, initiating a gruesome game of
one-upmanship of who can be the most fucking
metal. The viewer quickly learns that being metal
doesn’t just mean growing your hair long and
wearing t-shirts with band names spelled in
ornate illegible fonts. In one scene, “The Black
Circle,” not being a poser involves burning down
Christian churches for album art, murdering
your best friends for clout and raiding your local
butcher for pig heads to be used as stage props.
Lords Of Chaos chronicles the origins of black metal and its originators, Mayhem, through an objective lens.
The film does an interesting job portraying the
nearsightedness of the group’s ideas on how to
achieve absolute metal-ness. It illustrates the
shortcomings of their ideology by juxtaposing the
realities of their everyday lives with the vision of
“metal” that they are hoping to project onto the
world. Realities such as group members wealth
upbringings. Including, Euronymous pulling a
Volvo out of a pristine suburban driveway, hiding
a bouquet from his parents during the opening
day of his pretentious record store, or the fact
that the record store was fully funded by them.
The mystique of someone being truly black metal
to the core quickly vanishes when you watch
members of the band eat donair or practice their
scowls in the mirror of their IKEA-clad apartment.
Considering Mayhem invented black metal, you
would assume the director (Jonas Akerlund)
would make them endlessly cool, but it was
refreshing to see this was not the case.
Regardless of your emotional connection to the
band or knowledge of this page in metal history,
the admirably concocted blend of solid casting
and convincing acting, morbidly raw violence and
comic relief keep this film engaging from start to
finish. If you have any level of sentiment for the
legends of Norwegian black metal or just want to
see someone eat another person’s brains, Lord’s of
Chaos will fit just perfectly into your Valentine’s
Day plans.
February 2019

FILM
DESTROYER
DIRECTOR KARYN KUSAMA EXAMINES WHAT IT TAKES TO BREAK A SOUL
HOGAN SHORT
THIS MONTH IN FILM
YOUR MONTH MEASURED IN BPMS
BRENDAN LEE
Velvet Buzzsaw
February 1
Jake Gyllenhaal and Dan Gilroy, who directed Nightcrawler, team
up again for their next mind twister, this time about an eccentric
art critic and a set of paintings with terrifying, unholy powers.
Behind thick-framed black glasses, Gyllenhaal looks to be at his
weird, weird, best.
According to director Karyn Kusama, Nicole Kidman took to method acting to portray her storied character, Detective Erin Bell.
Karyn Kusama, like any woman working in
film (or any industry, really), has worked
incredibly hard to get where she is now.
She had early success in film and television
and has now, along with her screenwriter
husband, found herself able to create
the stories she wants to tell. Her new
film Destroyer is the second film in an
unconnected L.A. trilogy, the first being the
under-appreciated psychological horror
The Invitation. Destroyer is a character
study of a woman whose soul has broken.
Nicole Kidman plays Detective Erin Bell,
who must connect with various people
from a past undercover case to find any
semblance of peace. Kusama talks about
making this gritty character study with one
of Hollywood’s biggest stars and how they
found each other to begin with.
“Nicole actually approached me for
the part,” says Kusama. “She had read the
script before we started casting and was
interested in talking creatively. She loved
the character. Unlike a lot of actors who
won’t have a conversation until they know
the offer, she is willing to hear a director’s
vision of the film and then be a part
advocating for it. The openness in which
she approached this allowed me to be
purely creative.” Kusama’s films have always
had a deep supporting cast, recruiting
top talent to different roles no matter
how small or large. Destroyer is carried by
Kidman’s powerhouse performance but is
held up in every moment by an amazing
ensemble that includes Sebastian Stan (I,
Tonya), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black),
Bradley Whitford (Get Out), and many
more. To piece a cast like this together
while writing each character to have depth
and a real sense of uniqueness is rare, and
Kusama has handled that task beautifully.
“I got a great piece of advice a long time
ago from director John Sayles (Lone Star),
who I was an assistant for for three years,”
she says. “He read Girl Fight [Kusama’s first
film to earn wide critical acclaim] and he
told me, ‘As you get closer to finding your
story, put yourself through an exercise of
looking through the eyes of every person
as if they were the main character.’ It gives
a vividness and specificity to everyone
onscreen. My hope is that it means I get
to work with really special actors who can
really fill those roles. Casting is the single
most crucial part of the process.”
Kidman’s performance in this film is
doubly impressive when considering she is
essentially playing two different characters.
She plays a young undercover Erin Bell,
in love and excited about the work. She
also plays an aged, broken down Erin Bell,
seemingly incapable of feeling happiness
on any level. On set, there was a creative
and budgetary decision to shoot Kidman’s
later years first. “As we were prepping, we
recognized that it would be really nice
to get a sense of what the present-day
Erin Bell was like, what informed her and
emotionally drove her. Nicole would then
be able to hook into younger Erin Bell,
because by the time we finished all her
material she was pretty rung out. To be able
to play the younger version who is more
optimistic, it came at the right time to
jump into that work.”
Jumping into the work was something
Kidman did completely, to Kusama’s
surprise: “She stayed in character. She
approached the role as a method actor
more than I anticipated. On set when I
chatted with Nicole about an adjustment
or a performance, I wasn’t speaking with
Nicole. It was Erin Bell, which was a little
more daunting. Initially I thought she was
really grumpy, but no, she’s just Erin. Erin
lives in that broken, dissatisfied place, so it
was interesting to have the a-ha moments
on set. In many respects I was witnessing a
channeling of the character through Nicole
until we finished.”
One of the most important characters
in Destroyer is actually the city of Los
Angeles itself. Typically, in gritty, street level
detective films like Taxi Driver and Serpico,
we see New York City. L.A. seems to be
used for sprawling sunset car chases and
palm trees. Kusama and her locations team
have created this dirty, small world in L.A.
that we haven’t seen very often on film.
“It was really important we keep this in
L.A.,” she says. “Destroyer was written to be
an odyssey in a dense and complicated city.
Few cities for that bill the same way as L.A.
because you have to drive everywhere, so
there’s a sense of a quest, like you have to
chariot across the city. We live in and love
this city. We wanted to uncover corners of
the city and the original inspirations came
from New York filmmakers. That sense of
struggle with despair and the larger world is
the same in any city.”
Destroyer is a film that burns into you.
It forces you to live in this despair with
Erin Bell, but also keeps you asking what
happened to this person. When answers
are revealed, you are forced to ask yourself
about what is right and wrong in life and in
love. This is a complex film with complex
characters in a year that also included so
many beautifully layered female directed
films like Can You Ever Forgive Me (Marielle
Heller) and You Were Never Really Here
(Lynne Ramsay). The Oscar nominations
were announced the day of this interview
and Kusama, as a powerful female voice in
this industry, touched on what it means to
see another year without a single female
nominated for Best Director.
“I’m a sober person about the march of
progress,” she says. “I’m old enough now
to understand the march is really slow
and sometimes zig-zags. It’s disappointing
because there was so much strong work
from so many women this year. All of
the editors, sound mixers, visual effects
artists, writers, and producers who aren’t
even getting a cursory nod, that feels
beyond insulting and has to change. I don’t
know how to change it, but when I see
nominations like this I feel disheartened.”
Hopefully powerful films like Destroyer
can raise voices like Kusama’s and create
the change for equality.
Piercing
February 1
Written by Ryu Murakami and based on his novel of the same
name, Piercing depicts a night in the life of a man who only finds
release in the brutal killing of prostitutes. It’s gruesome, ethereal,
and a sick kind of fun – if you’re into that kind of thing.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot
February 8
I’m generally not one to judge a book by its cover, but damn.
Calvin Bar has lived most of his adult life knowing he has Adolf
Hitler’s blood on his hands. Now, years later, his next target is an
even bigger, scruffier legend.
Lords of Chaos
February 8
They painted their faces black and white, they played an
aggressive, teeth-shattering form of rock ‘n’ roll the kids were
calling “black metal,” and to top things off, they actually burned
churches. Lords of Chaos tells the true story of Mayhem, the
Norwegian band of misfits who defined a genre and caused a
whole lot of it.
Hotel by the River
Feb 15
The latest art-house feature by South Korean auteur Hong
Sang-soo is shot in bleached black and white and follows a poet
nearing the end of his days. The man invites his two estranged
sons to stay in a lone hotel at the edge of a river, where two
women also happen to be staying for their own reasons. And as
fate has a tendency to do, their five paths intertwine.
Velvet Buzzsaw
February 2019 31

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9
FRI 1
DOORS @ 7:00PM
TRACYANNE & DANNY
WITH PHOTO OPS AND JODY GLENHAM
THURS 14
DOORS @ 6:O0PM
MORGAN MURPHY
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
THURS 21
DOORS @ 6:00PM
MICHELLE BUTEAU
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
FRI 1
DOORS @ 10:30PM
NO REQUEST FRIDAY
INDIE, ROCK, ALT, 80S, 90S, & 2000S GEMS!
THURS 14
DOORS @ 8:30PM
SUPER MEGA LIVE
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
THURS 21
DOORS @ 8:30PM
LAS CULTURISTAS
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
SAT 2
DOORS @ 10:30PM
NITE*MOVES
DANCE PARTY JAMS FOR THE YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND BORED!
FRI 15
DOORS @ 6:00PM
GIRLS GOTTA EAT
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
FRI 22
DOORS @ 6:00PM
WATCH FOOLISH WHAT FAR CRAPPENS BACK
PRESENTED BIG SHOES. BIG BY HAIR. JFL BIG NORTHWEST
ATTITUDES.
THURS 7
DOORS @ 7:00PM
GREY’S ANATOMY TRIVIA
WITH IQ 2000 TRIVIA
FRI 15
DOORS @ 8:30PM
MATTEO LANE
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
FRI 22
DOORS @ 7:45PM
MEN FOOLISH I TRUST FAR BACK
BIG SHOES. BIG HAIR. BIG ATTITUDES.
WITH GUEST MICHAEL SEYER
FRI 8
DOORS @ 7:00PM
HILLSBURN
WITH THE LONG WAR
SAT FRI 1517
DOORS @ 10:30PM
NO REQUEST FRIDAY
INDIE, ROCK, ALT, 80S, 90S, & 2000S GEMS!
SAT FRI 22 17
DOORS @ 11:30PM
NO REQUEST FRIDAY
INDIE, ROCK, ALT, 80S, 90S, & 2000S GEMS!
FRI 8
DOORS @ 10:30PM
NO REQUEST FRIDAY
INDIE, ROCK, ALT, 80S, 90S, & 2000S GEMS!
SAT 16
DOORS @ 7:00PM
DPK 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
2 NIGHTS
SAT 23
DOORS @ 6:00PM
DUCE SLOAN
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
SAT 9
DOORS @ 7:00PM
KEUNING
WITH WRITTEN YEARS
SAT 16 17
DOORS @ 10:30PM
NITE*MOVES
DANCE PARTY JAMS FOR THE YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND BORED!
SAT 23 17
DOORS @ 7:45PM
SAVES THE DAY
WITH REMO DRIVE & MIGHTY
SAT 917
DOORS @ 10:30PM
NITE*MOVES
DANCE PARTY JAMS FOR THE YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND BORED!
SAT SUN 17
DOORS @ 7:00PM
DPK 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
2 NIGHTS
SAT 23 17
DOORS @ 11:30PM
NITE*MOVES
DANCE PARTY JAMS FOR THE YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND BORED!
SUN 10
DOORS @ 7:00PM
DRAMA
WITH CLAIRE GEORGE
MON 18
DOORS @ 7:30PM
NASTY WOMEN COMEDY
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
SUN 24
DOORS @ 7:00PM
PEDRO THE LION
WITH TOMBERLIN
TUES 12
DOORS @ 7:00PM
MASS APPEAL
WITH FASHAWN, STRO, EZRI, CANTRELL & 070 PHI
WED 20
DOORS @ 6:00PM
SAM JAY
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
MON 25
DOORS @ 7:00PM
DANIEL ROMANO
WITH DEAD SOFT
SAT WED 17 13
DOORS @ 10:00PM
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME
ANTI-VALENTINE’S DAY PARTY
WED 20
DOORS @ 8:30PM
LIZA TREYGER
PRESENTED BY JFL NORTHWEST
TUES 26
DOORS @ 8:00PM
CURRENT JOYS
WITH HARLEQUIN GOLD

MUSIC REVIEWS
Homeshake
Helium
Sinderlyn Records
It’s ironic that in this day and age, when the ability
to produce high-quality recordings is just a local
studio booking away, DIY music continues to
grow in popularity. Rather than spotlighting the
technicalities, “lo-fi” musicians embrace human
imperfection and put an emphasis on pure emotion
and artistry. Their subdued approach creates a
distinct vibe and overall earnestness, resulting in
music that sounds, thinks and feels like the people
actually listening to it.
Montreal-based Peter Sagar is one of the best
examples today of a lo-fi musician who creates art
with a pulse. Formerly known as the touring guitarist
for Mac DeMarco, Sagar has since made a name
for himself with his dreamy, synth-pop project,
Homeshake. His fourth release, aptly entitled Helium,
is perhaps his most honest work to date; unlike his
previous work, Helium was recorded and mixed by
Sagar alone in his apartment. Making music without
worrying about external factors allowed Sagar to
proceed with a much clearer mental state.
Helium is a continuation of the buoyant synth
lines, tranquil guitar riffs and hypnotic tones that
were last heard on 2017’s Fresh Air. But whereas
the previous record adhered to the formalities of
notes and chords, Helium gives precedence to rich
textures, timbre, and atmosphere. Sagar trades in the
accessibility of conventionalism for the accessibility
of emotion, resulting in an intimate record that
encapsulates Homeshake’s unique brand of R&Binfused,
lo-fi pop.
The definitive song of the album is “Like Mariah,” a
surprisingly charming ode to one of Sagar’s favourite
musicians. Like the R&B songstress, Sagar stretches
the limits of his vocal range and sings in the upper
registers. Although he impresses with his best Mariah
Carey-lite notes, Sagar admits to having insecurities
about his voice. In his lyrics he wistfully imagines
what it would be like to be a musician of Carey’s
caliber, fantasizing about possessing her talent and
fame. His quivering voice expresses a mixture of
yearning and disappointment when he realizes that
this scenario would only increase his loneliness.
Layered between silky synths and a full-bodied
bassline, the song sounds both relaxing and eerie,
exposing a very human vulnerability that contrasts
the glamorous image his idol projects.
The R&B influence continues to flow throughout
the rest of Helium, but it crops up in unexpected
ways. Unlike the typical, virile crooner, Sagar isn’t
writing party anthems or songs that promote his
sexual prowess. Instead, he reworks the conventions
of the R&B genre to reflect his own thoughtful
meditations. On the track “Just Like My,” a crunching,
Nineties boom-bap maintains a dominant presence
and is juxtaposed with Sagar’s lofty voice. And from
the frantic and fragmented lyrics, it’s clear that Sagar
isn’t concerned with crafting a perfect image of
himself: he separates himself from the outside world
to the point at which he isn’t sure whether or not
it’s a Sunday. This then prompts him to compare his
fading memory to that of his 98-year-old grandma.
It’s an interesting inversion that underscores just how
far removed Sagar is from accepted norms.
One song that isn’t as weighed down by heavy
synths or themes is “Nothing Could Be Better,” a
romantic ballad sung in a falsetto quaver. With its
memorable hook, the track stands out as the one
that most closely resembles a conventional pop song.
Sagar employs an accessible set of lyrics and croons
about ditching a social function to be with the one
he loves. With each verse he grows increasingly
honest, even hoping that he’ll never blink so that
he could stare into his lover’s eyes forever. The sense
of isolation that permeates the rest of the album is
gone, and the tone is self-assured and blithe. Once
he’s alone with his sweetheart, Sagar unshackles
himself from his uneasy feelings and proclaims, “Got
me smiling finally / Got no reason to be sad.”
Which isn’t to say that the rest of the album is
morose or lacking in confidence. Woven into the
14-song tracklist is a series of instrumental interludes,
including “Early,” “Heartburn,” “Trudi and Lou”
and “Couch Cushion.” Here Sagar seems to take
cues from Japanese ambient composer Haruomi
Hosono, crafting songs that could easily fit into the
soundtrack of a MUJI store. They may not stand
out on their own, but the tracks add to the album’s
overall meditative soundscape. Their woozy, slowchurning
grooves move at an unhurried pace and
reinforce the dream-like state that Sagar inhabits.
Sentient and sincere, the songs reflect Sagar’s desire
to build his own world amidst the confusion and
overstimulation of the present. And this is exactly
what Homeshake sets out to do with Helium: Sagar
is responding to his shifting, existing environment
by creating spaces of serenity or stillness. His reality
may be cold and often alienating, but there is a
comforting repose that accompanies his solitude.
Helium’s brooding yet tender ambient pop is a
worthy addition to Sagar’s body of work.
Whether you’re mellowing out alone in your room
or roaming around in a crowded city, Homeshake’s
music is the type to lose yourself in.
• Karina Espinosa
• Illustration by Michael Markowsky
(@MarkowskyArt)
February 2019 33

Better Oblivion Community Center Cass McCombs - Tip Of The Sphere The Claypool Lennon Delirium - South of Reality Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
Better Oblivion Community Center
Better Oblivion Community Center
Dead Oceans
Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers: name a
more sensible duo. Together as Better Oblivion
Community Center, on their self-titled debut
album the pair comes across as kindred spirits in
dialogue, blending indie nostalgia with road trip
rock, implicating “you” and “I” in their unflinching
observations on human futility.
There’s a fourteen-year age gap between the
two, which makes their collaboration all the
more a tribute to the timeless influence of artistic
synthesis (considering the Xanga/Myspace emo
landscape of Oberst’s early 2000’s Bright Eyes
heyday versus the YouTube dispatch of today,
where Phoebe Bridgers reigns).
Separately, Bridgers and Oberst possess vocal
ranges that one could index as having a Venetianglass
quality, wistful or (in Oberst’s case), on the
edge of a sob. Together on songs like “Chesapeake”
and “Sleepwalkin”, these melancholy tones merge
and layer, creating a sense of heightened sonic
fortitude, capturing each voice individually and in
unison as something wholly fresh and enigmatic.
Their harmonies on hearty tracks like “Dylan
Thomas” and “My City” establish the voice of this
community, a place for fans of both and for new
listeners.
All of this, and more: synth-rock flows on
“Exception to the Rule” and “Big Black Heart”
without sounding contrived, and “Forest Lawn”
and “Didn’t Know What I Was in For” return to
sad-sounding roots with tenderness and nuance.
Both artists are lyrical Eeyores, but Better Oblivion
Community Center expands an otherwise darklyshaded
tapestry with a hint of comedy, giving
listeners new readings on charity runs, Celine Dion
power ballads, and having “fun.”
Oberst and Bridgers engaged a vast and
impressive team of musician friends in recording
the album’s ten tracks, which took place over the
summer and fall of 2018 in Los Angeles, including
members of Dawes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Jack
White’s band. Better Oblivion Community Center
has good bones, and with Oberst and Bridgers
as an ideal pairing, their music together makes
perfect sense.
• Sarah Bauer
Backstreet Boys
DNA
SONY Music
For people of a certain age, the Backstreet Boys
were one of the ubiquitous sounds of their youth.
The inescapable group cranked out hit after hit
over their course of their first three records from
1996 to 1999.
Along with N’Sync, Britney Spears and Christina
Aguilera, they defined the sound of turn-ofthe-century
pop music. And while the celebrity
machinery ground up Spears and spit her out,
Aguilera moved into what’s essentially the highest
profile A&R position on the planet hosting The
Voice, and N’Sync became irrelevant when Justin
Timberlake assumed his role as the biggest pop
singer of his generation, the Backstreet Boys stayed
mostly together, and have continued to make
music that, while no longer genre-defining, is still
tuneful, melodic and easily palatable for fans of
the style.
DNA, the group’s first record since 2013’s In A
World Like This, leads with a melancholy piano on
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, before one of the
Boys lays down some quick flow before the beat
drops with a big bass nightclub groove.
It’s a solid cut, and opens the record showing
a few different ideas. The hook is cool, if a little
simple, with a hot falsetto crying, “Baby, don’t go,”
before the harmonies chime in, “breakin’ my heart,
breakin’ my heart.” The bass groove, together with
that hook and the drop that precedes it are exactly
the kind of club jam that could get people to max
out their credit cards on Cristal and a fast-arriving
cocaine dealer.
“Breathe” opens with some Beach Boys-inspired
barbershop harmonies over a groove of snapping
fingers. It’s a cool trick, and the Backstreet Boys
really pull of some subtlety with a couple cool
vocal changes and spot on vocal deliveries.
Musically, its lack of the overbearing and brash
club groove is a smart move and makes it a
highlight of the album.
“New Love” tries on some fuzz bass with an
up-tempo groove and a flute hook. It might be
risky, in this era, to lead with a line like, “Who are
you, the sex police? My sex don’t know no rules,”
but the groove of the tune is unmistakably catchy,
as is “Passionate” with its Chic-y guitar riff over the
funkiest groove on the record, though some of the
harmonies come off dry in the mix.
While their continued productivity since
their youthful prime has negated some of the
comeback/nostalgia narrative so common in
midlife releases, the Backstreet Boys are a capable
group of singers, wholly indebted to some of
the earlier ’90s groups like Boyz II Men and
New Kids On The Block (and obviously Michael
Jackson), groups that also had massive singles and
records. The difference with the Backstreet Boys
is their massive success in the last era of mass
consumption of physical copies which put them
in a position to grow as singers and remain, if not
visionary, an adequate arbiter of the style they
represent.
• Mike Dunn
Cass McCombs
Tip Of The Sphere
ANTI-
On his ninth album, Cass McCombs doubles down
on what makes his dream-like musical prose so
appealing, sending listeners on an introspective
trip that proves to be as relaxing as it is thought
provoking. Settling back into an armchair, it’s very
easy to get carried away by the soothing Eastern
influences of “Real Life,” the moody outro of
“Rounder,” or the wistful guitars on “I Followed
The River South To What.” But beneath it are all
lyrics that are observant and contemporary, lyrics
that croon laments to the human condition and
sling poetic condemnations to larger political
bodies. The effect is engrossing, and the music is
34
February 2019

Whitehorse - The Northern South Vol.2 Le Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL Lee Harvey Osmond - Mohawk The Lemonheads - Varshons 2
given identity through dusty Americana flavours,
mixed neatly with folk and indie sensibilities.
The underlying anxiety culminates on “American
Canyon Sutra,” an outlying track with synthetic
percussion and bleakly spoken lyrics, before
breaking back into melancholic and folksy
familiarity on the album’s closers. It’s a reminder
of the inherent cycle of all things, and few capture
this meditative sensation better than McCombs.
• Brendan Reid
David Storey and the Side Road
Scholars
Made In Canada
Independent
David Storey has travelled the world, but there’s
only one place he fits in. This sense of home is
celebrated with his latest release Made In Canada,
and through it the romantic, somber and nostalgic
charms of our nation are explored with a countryfolk
flair.
Storey and his backing band, the Side Road
Scholars effortlessly bring the boot-stomping,
sing-along energy when the time is right, but
also know how to settle into more pensive
moments, reflecting on the wholesome aspects
of Canadian life. These emotions are coupled
with strong storytelling sensibilities, and Storey
easily transports you to the minds of dreamyeyed
hockey players, small time bar bands, and
remorseful murderers alike.
Storey proudly carries the torch of Canadiana
folk-rock, and does so with the confidence of a
man who has fallen deeply in love with his home.
The effect is heartwarming and honest, inspiring
one to raise their stick in appreciation.
• Brendan Reid
Dream Theater
Distance Over Time
Inside Out Music / Sony Music
Time and again, Dream Theater have brought
complex musical ideas to the table and made
them sound both interesting and effortless. Few
bands are able to match their technical expertise,
making them a highly respected band, especially
among musicians. Whether it’s John Petrucci’s
guitar virtuosity or Mike Mangini’s double time
kick drums, the Long Island, NY quintet has built
a dedicated following around its methodical
wizardry and inspired legions of Guitar Hero
wannabes since 1985.
With Distance Over Time, the band displays a
confident, sonic power that resonates more with
every listen. Attacking hard from the outset with
“Untethered Angel,” Dream Theater brings an
all-hands-on-deck approach to their latest effort.
Canadian James LaBrie’s vocals soar on “Paralyzed,”
Petrucci’s furious shredding shines on “At Wit’s
End,” and Mangini’s pulse-pounding drums
dominate the Rush-esq opus “Barstool Warrior.”
Hardcore fans might argue that it’s not as epic or
influential as their previous efforts, but Distance
Over Time is a worthy mind-bending journey
nonetheless.
If Dream Theater is burning out after 14 albums
and nearly 25 years as a band, they certainly
don’t show it on Distance Over Time. Instead,
they’ve given us another collection of beautiful,
thought-provoking, and hard-hitting prog-metal
tunes that challenges us to think about how we
hear music. After you listen to a band like Dream
Theater, conventional songs sound half-baked and
oversimplified.
• Trevor Morelli
Le Butcherettes
bi/MENTAL
Rise Records
Who doesn’t have complicated feelings about
their family? For El Paso-based garage punk
group, Le Butcherettes, family drama is a source
of inspiration. bi/MENTAL, their first full-length
album with Rise Records, is a deep dive into the
relationship between family and self-perception.
With Teri Gender Bender on vocals, guitar and
piano, Alejandra Robles Luna on drums, Rikardo
Rodriguez-Lopez on guitars and synth, and
Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez on bass, each of the
13 tracks are diverse, sonically challenging, and
emotionally-intricate.
The lead single off the album, spider/WAVES
features punk legend Jello Biafra and explores
internal strife with religious -- often blasphemous
-- imagery. Teri Gender Bender’s vocals shift
between Gwen Stefani, Portishead, Heart, and
Kate Bush’s falsetto lilt. “nothing/BUT TROUBLE”
features an industrial groove, sinister chord
progression, and indie rock vocals. “in/THE END”
slows things down and lightens up with layers of
synthy strings, lumbering tom groove, patches of
psychedelic dissonance and huskier vocals.
Produced by Talking Heads member Jerry
Harrison, the album is a mixed bag and an intricate
listen. “I’ve never been to a therapist before,” says
Gender Bender. “I don’t talk to my friends about
this stuff. Music keeps me away from trouble.
It keeps my mind free.” This album’s an artistic
investigation, and there’s a lot to unpack. With bi/
MENTAL The band defies generic expectations and
challenges perceptions of identity, family, and what
it all even means.
• Lauren Donnelly
Lee Harvey Osmond
Mohawk
Latent Recordings
Hamilton, Ontario’s Tom Wilson has a storied and
well-deserved place in the canon of Canadian rock
‘n’ roll history. He’s the dynamic leader of alt-rock
mainstays Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and prior
to that, he cut his teeth in the ‘90s blues funk
outfit Junkhouse. Wilson certainly pours his heart
and soul into every release, and his solo work as
Lee Harvey Osmond is no different.
On Mohawk, Wilson continues his intriguing
and surprising journey of self-reflection after
discovering his true lineage in his 50s. Wilson
was actually adopted and recently learned his
biological parents were from the Kahnawake
reserve outside of Montreal. He is, therefore,
Mohawk by heritage and it’s led him to reconsider
many of the things he once thought he knew
about himself.
Catchy first single “Forty Light Years,” lays down
a groovy beat that’s contrasted nicely by angstridden
acoustic protest songs like “Whole Damn
World.” “A Common Disaster” employs fuzzy
Beatles guitar tones, while closer “What I Loved
About You” tells a seductive story about the highs
and lows of love. Although the story behind it is a
little more interesting on paper, Mohawk is still an
eclectic mix of sultry, poppy and folk-inspired jams
crafted by an expert songsmith.
• Trevor Morelli
Malibu Ken
Malibu Ken
Rhymesayers
In some ways it seems like this would be a match
made in heaven. Rapper Aesop Rock’s lyrics push
the boundaries of language in novel and abstract
ways, while Tobacco’s hallucinogenic sounds can
move the listener into new worlds of sound. The
concern might be that it would be too much;
dense lyrics with psychedelic music might just
be too much going on to enjoy either. With this
new album that concern turns out to unfounded.
Tobacco’s beats are subtle and woozy, providing
a consistent sonic palate for Aesop Rock to
work from. While in some sense, Tobacco takes
a little bit of back seat to Aesop Rock’s complex
wordplay; the subtle touches and mood really
complement the rapper. This comes across
strongest on the body-horror invoking “Tuesday,”
which Tobacco infuses with disorienting, sea-sick
synths, as well as album highlight “Acid King,” a
song detailing the story of a supposed satanic
murder set to an almost ’70s or ’80s horror movie
soundtrack. Aesop Rock, for his part, is on the
top of his game here, with off-putting stories,
anecdotes and wordplay so dense one finds
something new on every listen. It says something
of the collaboration that this never gets too heavy.
It takes a light touch and chemistry, which these
two have in spades.
• Graeme Wiggins
Millencolin
SOS
Epitaph
Lean and mean. That’s how Millencolin plays it on
their latest studio album, SOS. The Swedish poppunks
were born out of the ‘90s skate punk power
chord boom, and their formula hasn’t changed
much since then. That’s not to say SOS is a bad
record. It’s a loud, speedy effort with enough rough
edges to turn some heads. After all, if it ain’t broke
… keep milking it for years to come.
With few songs running past the three minute
mark – and none over four – SOS is a raging,
sharp and well-polished album. Front loaded with
rocket launchers like “For Yesterday” and “Sour
Days,” it’s clear the quartet is aware of their age
but more interested in rocking on than pining for
the past. Their lyrics are always interesting, letting
a little cheekiness to shine though without being
downright silly.
Later, the band touches on relationships on “Do
You Want War” and politics on the amusingly
titled “Trumpets & Poutine.” SOS doesn’t veer
much from Millencolin’s last album True Brew
(2015, Epitaph) – or any of their other albums for
that matter – but at least they bring the distortion
pedals every time. Even in 2019, Millencolin prove
that a little dose of pop-punk can be good for the
nostalgic part of your soul.
• Trevor Morelli
Panda Bear
Buoys
Domino Records
Noah Lennox, a.k.a. Panda Bear, has put out a
wide collection of music in the past two decades,
both as a solo artist and as a member of famed
and acclaimed psychedelic pop group, Animal
Collective. His music has mostly stayed within the
reverb-laden wheelhouse he’s familiar with, but the
experimental nature of the genre has allowed his
music to remain fresh through the years.
Buoys is his sixth solo album and it’s incredibly
stripped back compared to previous releases,
with Lennox’s voice and acoustic guitar serving as
the meat and potatoes of each track. Sampling,
feedback and other miscellaneous noises garnish
rather than serve as main attractions. Lennox’s
February 2019 35

Malibu Ken - Malibu Ken Millencolin - SOS Panda Bear - Buoys
voice sounds bland and flat fairly often and the songwriting only
sometimes justify this focus on the barebones.
On album standout, “Inner Monologue,” the percussive sound of
Lennox’s sliding fingers on the neck of the guitar and heavy breathing
bake in a bevy of effects while his voice bounces between dipping
into a lower register and remarkably harmonized shocks of a higher
range that punctuate the track’s hook. On other tracks, Lennox flirts
with an interesting textural idea before quickly abandoning it, only
to return to his frequently repetitive vocal melodies. Most of Buoys is
restricted rather than liberated by his minimalistic approach.
• Cole Parker
Phaeton
Phaeton
Independent
From the mountainous stronghold of Kimberley B.C., Phaeton
charges forth with their first full length album offering an epic
progressive metal listening experience. This self-titled album
showcases an instrumental endeavour that doses the imagination
with scenes of shiny sci-fi fantasy, grave adventure and the
impending interference of an unknown mystical power. Inventive
throughout, Phaeton tells its story by swapping between bright,
technical arrangements, ominous battle riffs and foreboding war
drums. Each song playing like a chapter of a novel, the listener
gains further omniscient perspective into the universe Phaeton
has created, watching the events unfold from above. The album
creates a sense of good versus evil taking place in a futuristic world
with the fate of humankind hanging in the balance. Blasting the
listener with layers of intense progressive metal over dreamy operatic
chants, piano pieces and sounds of the ocean, Phaeton churns out a
heart pounding, head banging album that brings the audience on a
journey deep into a world not of this realm.
• Trevor Hatter
Said the Whale
Cascadia
Arts & Crafts
Vancouver based indie trio Said the Whale continue to outline
their West Coast sound with the aptly titled Cascadia. The JUNO
award-winning band consisting of Tyler Bancroft, Ben Worcester and
Jaycelyn Brown bring together more than a decade of musical talent,
following up their 2017 album, As Long as Your Eyes are Wide.
A piano riff, a strum on an acoustic guitar and eclectic keyboard
sounds introduce Cascadia. It begins with “Wake up,” a satisfying
beat complemented by twinkling piano notes, followed by
“UnAmerican,” a head-banging electric guitar rhythm. The songs
cascade into ten tracks that showcase the band’s broad indie music
capabilities; an excellent introduction for any person unfamiliar
with Said the Whale. Cascadia hits its stride with songs “Moonlight”
and “Love Always,” graced with music and poetic lyrics relatable
36
to anyone experiencing love’s mixed blessings. “Gambier Island
Green” closes off Cascadia with a nostalgic ambience and beautiful
composure, ideal for any romantics pining for a past love.
• Lauren Edwards
Seer
Vol. 6
Artoffact Records
Vol. 6 is Seer’s most fully realized work to date. The Vancouver-based
doomster’s signature elements can still be picked out – bluesy stoner
riffs, moody Americana, eerie ambience and, of course, doom, baby,
doom. All those bits have had time to simmer and ferment, the
flavours intermingling and complementing one another, swirling and
bubbling into a thick, satisfying stew. The stoner repetition is more
selective and, thus, more effective. The ritualistic, ambient moodsetters
are more pronounced, more powerful.
Bronson Lee Norton’s commanding vocals exude confidence and
charisma, perfectly giving voice to the heavy metal doom swagger
of the music. The decidedly more menacing vibe introduced on
Vol. 5 is maintained in this latest chapter, and is improved upon,
in and of itself, and by its enmeshing with the existing sonic pillars
outlined above. Best of all, the darker approach does not sacrifice
any of the stomping, headbanging fun, it just means there’s more
of it now. As great as this latest offering is, there’s a sense that Seer’s
masterpiece still lies ahead. In the meantime, Vol. 6 is the latest and
weightiest step in what is proving to be a consistently impressive and
adventurous musical pilgrimage.
• Daniel Robichaud
Sneaks
Highway Hypnosis
Merge Records
For their third full length release, Eva Moolchan packs up her
minimal post-punk solo project and takes it in a new direction.
Sneaks’ previous LP’s are comprised of mostly brief, bass-driven songs
with a whole lot of (s)punk. But on Highway Hypnosis, Moolchan
lets the drum machine take the wheel. The result is a set of energetic
and playful bangers that could be played in your bedroom or at the
after-hours club.
The title track starts things off with a sample of someone laughing
and repeating “Highway hypnosis” under a beat, aptly introducing
the listener to the sample rich, experimental tracklist ahead. As
the songs ensue, so do the rapid fire hi hats and thudding kick
drums, pulling from trap, grime, even darkwave during “And We’re
Off”. Though Eva’s new stylings draw from very established and
recognizable genres, the record is far from formulaic, experimenting
with creative vocal samples and off the wall synth garnishes.
With Highway Hypnosis Sneaks takes us on a scenic detour with a
fresh, inventive fusion of pop, trap and post-punk.
• Judah Schulte
The Claypool Lennon Delirium
South of Reality
ATO Records
Picking up where Monolith of Phobos (2016 Rancho Relaxo), Sean
Lennon and daddy long legs Les Claypool are once again voyaging
beyond the horizon to an realm of pure lyrical and melodious
delights. A playful “Within You Without You” vibe pervades
throughout the psych-rock duo’s second collaboration. The watery
fairytale “Little Fishes” with its loping bass lines opens the scene with
a silliness that combines Claypool’s Wonka-esque showmanship with
scaly geometric progressions. It’s a bubble that refuses to burst as he
muses, “Gone are the days when your gender tells you where to piss.”
Pastel shades of John inevitably seep through Sean’s lackadaisical, and
at times lonely, vocals on “Love and Rockets,” and reaping strawberry
hued fields with the metallic edge of a sharpened chord. Determined
to set the world on fire, or at least to get the New Gen up on their
hind legs, title track ignites with a ‘60s tambourine shakedown and
electric organ boogie. Deep waters and whale songs beckon on the
menacing “Boriska;” a vortex of warped, nasally vocals and punkish
guitar gales that conjures the story of Forrest Gump. The quirky
biopics keep on truckin’ with the cinematic “Toadyman Hour” and
the sultry grooves of the Bukowski-inspired “Easily Charmed by
Fools.” Debatably, the most compelling and seductive daytrip of
the lot, “Cricket Chronicles Revisited” is a magic carpet ride of sitar
synths, ponderous fret paddling and multilayered reverb piloted
by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This hand-clapping raga on ‘roids
distends and transcends before it ends - with a warning list of utterly
bizarre side-effects that (almost) put big pharma to shame.
• Christine Leonard
The Lemonheads
Varshons 2
Fire Records
Yes, The Lemonheads are back. Far gone from the ’90s heyday, and
even ten years gone from their last offering of covers with Varshons
(2009), leader Evan Dando is back with a crazy focused collection of
cover songs with Varshons 2. Like a 21st century Joe Cocker, Dando
lends his pop sensibilities and distinct vocal style to such artists as
John Prine, Nick Cave, Lucinda Williams, Yo La Tengo, and yes, even
the Eagles. These are deep cuts, and the songs are treated with pure
heart. Dando has a talent to see to the soul of a track, and his voice is
stronger than ever, but this is no solo effort. The “Lemonheads” that
he has assembled are no stranger to lovely harmonies, ripping guitar
solos and a killer rhythm section, and that’s no easy feat. Check the
stomping drums and face melting organ and guitar displayed on “Old
Man Blank” (The Bevis Frond). It seems Dando has been meticulously
assembling songs to express himself, as well as the people he wants
to tackle that task with. Listen to his version of the Jayhawks’ “Settled
Down Like Rain” and tell me Dando isn’t living happy ever after.
• Chad Martin
February 2019

Said the Whale - Cascadia Seer - Vol. 6 Sleepy Dog Sneaks - Highway Hypnosis
Whitehorse
The Northern South Vol.2
Six Shooter
When the Polaris Prize-nominated duo Whitehorse
released The Northern South Vol. 1 EP back in
2016 it added a new layer to the bluesy glam folk
rock sound Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland
had become known for.
Now with Vol 2., Whitehorse is still showing
how sinister, sexy and striking the blues can really
be. Made up of fiery traditional blues gospel tracks
and jams, Vol. 2 doesn’t stray too far away from the
original compositions and sounds, but adds just
the right pinch of Whitehorse flavour.
Beginning with Howlin Wolf’s “Who’s
Been Talkin,” a song about a lover being less
than faithful, Doucet and McClelland utilize
the Wurlitzer, melodica, and of course some
foreboding lead guitar to reanimate the 1957 track.
Next comes a take on Jimmy Reed’s classic “Baby
What You Want Me To Do,” which stays pretty
true to the blues minimalism Reed portrayed.
Still, the jittery Gretsch squeals enhance the
track and keep it groovin. “John the Revelator”
finds its way onto the album except with some
more up to date lyrics about the sorry state
the United States finds it in, global warming,
consumerism, and of course, religion. It might be
the most experimental and interesting track on
Vol. 2.
“Baby Scratch My Back,”—Slim Harpo’s classic
sexist ditty—is morphed into a track of female
empowerment with McClelland on lead vocals.
To cap the album off is Whitehorse’s take on “St.
James Infirmary,” an American jazz blues standard
with unknown origins made famous by Cab
Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and more recently,
The White Stripes. Whitehorse’s version is a great
take on ethereal blues that brings the album to a
blissful halt, leaving the listener wanting more.
• Stephan Boissonneault
Weezer
The Teal Album
Crush Music / Atlantic
If everything in life was as poppy and sweet as
Weezer’s Teal Album, we’d be just fine. The band
surprise-dropped the record late last month,
giving us nine more cover songs on the heels of
the (relative) success of their rendition of Toto’s
“Africa.” Don’t worry, that track is included here if
it hasn’t made you want to punch a wall yet.
In any case, The Teal Album gives us nine more
songs of sugary, energetic pop-rock covers, notably
focusing on ‘80s favorite from greats like Tears For
Fears, Eurythmics, A-ha, and Michael Jackson. Like
“Africa,” they’re all insanely faithful covers, which
make for a fun, short, and pleasurable listen.
Weezer fans of old might be a tad disappointed
with the disc though. The closest thing you’ll find
to edginess here is their take on Black Sabbath’s
“Paranoid,” which amps up the distortion but
again, sticks closely to the script. Other standouts
include covers of The Turtles “Happy Together”
and ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky.”
The Teal Album is harmless rock delivered
with a sugary coating. Luckily it doesn’t stray into
Twisted Sister territory or overstay its welcome.
Now bring on The Black Album already!
• Trevor Morelli
February 2019 37

LIVE
photo by Tenzing Lama
NAO
The Vogue Theatre
January 12, 2019
Lovely East London singer NAO, aka
Neo Joshua, packed the Vogue up to the
nosebleeds.
Every element of the show felt directed
at Joshua’s fans. The show started with an
instrumental from her first-rate, all male band
and a blue glow - a perfect distraction that
allowed NAO to head into the centre of the
crowd, erupt from it with a spotlight and
create mass excitement with opening song,
“Another Lifetime.” More surprises followed:
glowing white balloons (a symbol from the
Saturn album) that were floating in a bunch
on the side of the stage were given to the
audience. A good idea in theory, in practice
it meant lost ones were floating high up,
dangerously close to lights.
Interestingly, Joshua paused a lot during
the show, but it didn’t affect the performance.
She had a really great rapport with her
audience, giving us insight into her love of
D’Angelo and the creation of “Inhale Exhale,”
and letting us empathize with her about
finding her inner goddess with help from
her grandma. Her dialogues also allowed us
to transition emotionally from songs such
as “A Life Like This” into dance tracks like
“Complicated.”
NAO’s friendly demeanour, exciting
approach to R&B, and vocal prowess bundled
us with intimacy and coziness. The show’s
balanced set list and NAO’s acts of kindness
and engagement with the audience made a
large difference to what normally feels like a
one-sided, staged interaction. Everyone left
her show buzzing, lighter in their hearts, with
smiles on their faces.
• Esmée Colbourne
Still Woozy
The Biltmore Cabaret
January 11, 2019
When Sven Gamsky aka Still Woozy ran on
stage — and he actually ran — the crowd at
the Biltmore erupted. Accompanying him
was a bassist who looked like a millenial
version of Mario in overalls and dangling
earrings as well as a drummer introduced
as Skinny Pete, both as energetic as their
frontman.
The energy continued on both sides of the
stage while Gamsky ran around it, cycling
between guitar, bass and mad dancing.
Woozy played through all six of his released
songs as well as covers from both Hank
Williams and Mac Demarco. Still Woozy
may have a limited discography, but he’s
got plenty of hype surrounding him. The
set was executed with the same excitement
and attention to detail that you hear in Still
Woozy’s recorded work, proving himself well
worth the hype.
The 25 year old sold out the Biltmore,
which was just one of 14 sold out shows on
his North American tour. With a summer full
of festival dates, including Coachella and the
Governor’s Ball. Next time we see Gamsky
and co. we can expect it to be on a bigger
stage.
• Judah Schulte
photo by Darrole Palmer
photo by Raunie Mae Baker
Peter Murphy
The Vogue Theatre
January 19, 2019
For decades goth kids have been carelessly slumped
into the same category as the emo kids, with no
recognition for the subtle, but prevalent differences
that exist between the two subcultures. Here are the
facts: Emo kids listen to the Smiths, and goth kids listen
to Bauhaus. Hellish frontman Peter Murphy and fellow
founding member David J, dawned upon the Vogue
Theatre to play a ghoulish set of Bauhaus classics.
The night began with the band performing songs
from their seminal debut album, In the Flat Field.
Bathed in an evil, red glow, Murphy was loose and far
more dynamic than in past visits. Though he remained
stoic, never revealing any hint of sunny disposition and
harnessing energy from the heavens above as he stood
crucified amongst his congregation.
The songs from In the Flat Field were heavy and
grotesque as David J crawled his fingers across a fretless
bass, but it was fan favourites “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and
“She’s In Parties,” in the band’s second set, that really
got the crowd fired up. Murphy’s baritone voice has
aged well breathing new life into these beloved goth
rock anthems with calculated ferocity.
After 40 years, Bauhaus’ bleak image still resonates
heavily with those enamoured by the dark and
mysterious. Murphy’s enigmatic stage presence was
a grim ballet enjoyed by all Joy Division shirts in
attendance.
• Jeevin Johal
38
February 2019

UPCOMING SHOWS
COLD CAVE
WITH ADULT. & VOWWS
FEB 20
RIA MAE
WITH MATTHEW V MUSIC
FEBRUARY 18
DAVID AUGUST
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
FEBRUARY 21
SHARON VON ETTEN
REMIND ME TOMORROW TOUR
FEBRUARY 22
COAT HANGERS
WITH LITTLE SPROUT & BB
MARCH 2
JULIA HOLTER
WITH TESS ROBY
MARCH 4
THE WHITE BUFFALO
WITH SPENCER BURTON
MARCH 16
LOW
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
MARCH 19
WET & KILO KISH
W/ HELENA DELAND
MARCH 23
AGAINST THE CURRENT
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
APRIL 3
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT IMPERIALVANCOUVER.COM

UPCOMING SHOWS
SCOTT HELMAN
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
march 14
CHOIR!CHOIR!CHOIR!
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
february 7
DAN MANGAN
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
february 12
JUNGLE
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
march 9
SOLD OUT!
SOLD OUT!
WITHIN TEMPTATION & IN FLAMES
WITH SMASH INTO PIECES
march 15
BARONESS & DEAFHEAVEN
WITH ZEAL & ARDOR
march 20
MATTHEW GOOD
WITH POESY
march 23
BROODS
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
APRIL 2
SMINO
WITH PHOELIX
april 5
THE MUSICAL BOX
A GENESIS EXTRAVAGANZA
april 9
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT VOGUETHEATRE.COM

photo by Danny Kresnyak
Colter Wall
Commodore Ballroom
January 19, 2019
Colter Wall’s knife edged baritone-voice cut
through the sold-out Commodore Ballroom like a
prairie wind blows white across the yellow grass of
the Qu’appelle Valley.
The 23-year old ginger bearded son of
Saskatchewan’s 14th Premier took the stage in
a pork-pie Stetson, denim shirt, blue wranglers,
black silk scarf and worn brown cutter-toe cowboy
boots. The first four songs of his set was a solo
performance, just Wall and his Martin acoustic,
strumming chords to the legend of Wild Bill
Hickok and the delight of a hard drinkin’, boot
stompin’ crowd of yahoos, hipsters and hell raisers.
Let’s get this out of the way, due to Wall’s
political lineage some have called the credibility
of his “Outlaw Plainsmen” image into question,
but these people have never seen his show. While
Colter may not have been born on a dirt farm
like Johnny Cash, or raised in a train car like Merle
Haggard, neither were Townes Van Zandt, Gram
Parsons or several other privileged martyrs of
country music’s mythological past.
LIVE
Once his band, the Scary Prairie Boys, joined
him — a group of hairy Nashville impresarios
under wide brimmed hats — the show took
on a livelier tone. Wall’s music is riddled with
the scars of classical country influences. The
guttural emotive vocals on his first hit, “Sleeping
on the Blacktop” has appeared in the films Hell
or High Water and Three Billboards Outside
Ebbing, Missouri, reminiscent of Johnny Cash’s
posthumous holy war anthem “God’s Gonna Cut
You Down.” The song “Calgary Stampede” off his
recently released Songs of the Plains got the crowd,
many of who had crushed up against the stage
barricade, to open up and several small two-step
dance floors became visible amongst the monolith
of sweat and flesh.
Wall performed a slow-tempo version of Billy
Joe Shaver’s “Georgia on a Fast Train” that brought
the crowd back down to impassioned focus,
before the raucous Wild Dogs. For an encore,
Wall brought out his own rendition of a classic
written by legendary Texas songwriter Ray Wylie
Hubbard, and popularized by original outlaw Jerry
Jeff Walker, a popular honky tonk sing along, “Up
Against the wall, Redneck Mother.”
• Danny Kresnyak
Travis Scott
Rogers Arena
January 25, 2019
A theory: Travis Scott is the distant scion of Willy Wonka,
Astroworld is his chocolate factory, Kylie Jenner is his darling
Oompa Loompa, and you’d be lucky to snatch a golden ticket.
Astroworld swept across the world with the velocity of
the miniskirt in the ’60s, or the Black Death in the 1340s. The
second leg of the eulogized tour was kicked off at Vancouver’s
very own Rogers Arena, as rabid masses swarmed to worship
at the sold out altar of La Flame.
Living in the Western Hemisphere, you would have to be
deaf and blind to not have caught a whiff of rap superstar
Travis Scott; amid his near airwave monopoly, upcoming
Superbowl performance, and babymamadrama, sensory
deficit seems like the only plausible explanation.
Devastation hit Houston, in 2005 with the demolition of Six
Flags AstroWorld. “They tore down AstroWorld to build more
apartment space,” come the eternal words from Scott himself
(GQ), who was 12 year old Jacques Berman Webster II at the
time. Ironically, it was the existence, but more importantly the
death of AstroWorld that turned Webster to music, to cope
with the day-to-day humdrum previously assuaged by the
amusement park. And so began the steady metamorphosis.
Little Jacques met Kanye, dropped the “$”, and the rest is
history; yet no lackluster mixtape could’ve prepared the world
for the genius of Rodeo — the widely recognized rebirth of
trap music — and later its (true) successor Astroworld
The opener was none other than Cactus Jack Records
signee Sheck Wes, whose sleeper hit Mo Bamba erupted mid-
2018 and has been overplayed at house parties ever since.
Love it or hate it, when else would you hear 20,000 voices
scream “Fuck! Shit! Bitch!” in perfect unison?
The elaborate reconstruction of the stage took at least
30 minutes. The space was in constant motion throughout
the night, with the giant Scott-head, trippy graphics, and a
functional roller coaster spanning across the arena; your eyes
would not know where to look.
Scott held the crowd on an energical plateau despite
the ebb and flow of the tempo, with high intensity tracks,
like “No Bystanders” and “Butterfly Effect”, rousing as much
enthusiasm as slower songs, like “Drugs You Should Try It”
and “Love Galore”. Then came “Sicko Mode” and it was over,
and just :(
When it comes to the spectacle itself, Scott’s show is like
no other; it pushes and shatters all limits of the performative
paradigm, transcends into uncharted territory and teeters at
the very precipice of reality.
• Maryam Azizli
photo by Zee Khan
photo by Kira Clavell
KISS
Rogers Arena
January 31, 2019
An electricity emitted off the skin of the fans that
filled a nearly sold out Rogers Arena. Nothing could
sour the mood of the kids in KISS makeup rolling
around the hallway floor, nor the parents who
watched over them while holding nine dollar cups
of Budweiser.
Before the show had even begun, I had seen
or bumped into forms of “The Demon” and “The
Starchild” a hundred times over. Some fans simply
donned the classic KISS facepaint, while others
embodied the characters in full costume. One
Gene Simmons look-alike slithered his tongue out
salaciously at me while crossing paths down a hall.
Compared to the real Gene, he was a bit inadequate.
KISS exploded onto the stage with “Detroit Rock
City,” igniting flames complemented by fireworks
and sparklers, engulfing the arena with the smell of
sulfur. This was a common thread throughout the
show.
Other standout moments were Gene Simmons
being elevated high above the stage, shrouded
by mist and thunder, spewing blood as the band
prepared for “God of Thunder.” Paul Stanley ziplined
from one stage to another platform at the other end
of the arena for “Love Gun,” and the disco-classic “I
Was Made for Lovin’ You.”
Perhaps most impressive was, beneath all the glitz
and glamour of the production, were four talented
musicians who could still play their instruments
raw and well after all these years. I was in awe
witnessing some of the greatest minds in music
business perform. The band ended their set with the
megahit, “Rock And Roll All Nite.”
• Johnny Papan
February 2019 41

NEW MOON RISING
YOUR MONTHLY HOROSCOPE
QUAN YIN DIVINATION
Month of the Fire Tiger
As we pass the second new moon
following winter solstice, we begin the
Lunar New Year and welcome in the
Year of the Earth Pig. The annual marker
of February 4 (known as Lichun, or the
coming of spring) indicates in Chinese
astrology whether the year will be lucky
or not. It is said that a year started after
this date is propitious, and one that
begins before it is not. February 5 is
marked as this year’s day of celebration,
moving it forward to ensure it is well on
the new year side of Lichun – making
this year a lucky one for marriage and
investments.
Starting the year on the right foot is
important, and it is customary to buy
new clothes, clean the house, and have
a blessing at the front door of your
business to help bring in the energy of a
fortuitous year to come. This is a good
time to speak highly about the future,
share your goals and aspirations, and
set clear intentions. The first 14 days of
the Lunar New Year are said to be well
spent enjoying the company of good
friends and family in celebration for the
year ahead. Anything that is said now
with emphasis will have greater power
than during other times of the year.
Rabbit (Pisces): Say little, and say it
gently. Your leadership is appreciated
now if you can remain neutral,
diplomatic, and patient. By refusing
to take sides, you help others take a
different perspective and pave the way
for peace and harmony to prevail.
Dragon (Aries): Multiple objectives
can pull you in many directions, but
real progress can only be made step by
step. Slow down, resist taking shortcuts,
and dig deeper to find the strength you
need to get to the heart of the things
that matter most to you.
Snake (Taurus): Humility is your
greatest asset this year, as the Pig
clashes with the Snake. Work harder for
less, stay behind the scenes, and retreat
with like-minded friends to escape the
pressures that may surround you now.
Horse (Gemini): A long-awaited
change for you is coming now, and it’s
time to settle into your new routine
and hang your hat for a while. There is
still plenty of excitement for you this
year, but it will be more restful as you
decide to do less, and achieve more.
Sheep (Cancer): Taking an evening
course or following a new track can
help your talents to shine. Relaxing is
now a priority. Let go of any ambitious
thinking or overzealous attitudes for
accomplishment. To be is enough.
Monkey (Leo): Proceed with caution
and remember to take things one step
at a time. An overenthusiastic attitude
or strategic plan may backfire if the
timing isn’t right. Carefully plan your
next steps and be sure to anticipate
how others may react, so you’re ready
and steady.
Rooster (Virgo): Stick close to people
you know and trust to ensure your
good fortune this year. After a busy and
active 2018, a restful time of rebirth and
renewal awaits you into a time that will
give you back a good return on your
investments. Stay true to your purpose
and don’t get distracted.
Dog (Libra): Keep your eye on the
goal and make good use of your time,
but don’t overdo it. Less effort and
more planning can prevent burn out
and conserve your energy for when
it’s needed. Take it easy – some things
can definitely wait, so why not just
procrastinate?
Pig (Scorpio): Spontaneous rewards
arrive out of a carefree and laissez-faire
attitude. There is wisdom in the path
of non-action. Keep your word, be on
time, and stay open to the possibility of
everything working out just fine.
Rat (Sagittarius): Step outside your
routine. Travel to a place you’ve never
been to restore your optimism and
curiosity. Make plans to go solo, refresh
yourself by exploring creative interests,
and take in the best in entertainment.
Ox (Capricorn): It is possible that you
don’t have the whole story and it might
look quite different when it comes to
light. Some secrets are best kept and it
might be better now if you don’t ask, or
don’t tell. Stay present, quiet, and keep
your lips sealed.
Tiger (Aquarius): Superficial
connections may inspire your dreams of
a different life. Look before you leap, as
what you find now may only be skin deep.
Susan Horning is a Feng Shui Consultant
and Bazi Astrologist living and working
in East Vancouver. Find out more about
her at QuanYin.ca.
INVENTORY
BLOWOUT
+
Half Price
Rental Day
FRI
SALE
Huge deals!
Great savings!
FEBRUARY
SAT
15 16
1/2
Price
Saturday
March 2 nd
Applies to any new rentals
taken on March 2, 2019.
1 month maximum term.
PLUS 0% FINANCING ON EVERYTHING IN THE STORE
6 MONTHS WITH PRE-AUTHORIZED PAYMENTS.
DAIRAKUDAKAN
MARCH 8 & 9 @ 8PM
VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE
21 SURREAL
SENSATIONAL
DANCERS
INFO & BOX OFFICE:
604.662.4966
VIDF.CA
VANCOUVER
368 Terminal Ave.
(604) 734-4886
NORTH VANCOUVER
1363 Main St.
(604) 986-0911
Dairakudakan photo by Hiroyuki Kawashima
42
February 2019

CANADA’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT CONCERT PROMOTER
UPCOMING SHOWS
DANIEL ROMANO
W/ DEAD SOFT
February 25
The Biltmore Cabaret
CHOIR! CHOIR! CHOIR!
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
February 7 - The Vogue Theatre
VUNDABAR
WITH THE RED PEARS, LE GROTTO & MILK
February 8 - Fox Cabaret
DAN MANGAN
Feb 12 - The Vogue (Soldout)
Feb 13 - Kelowna Community Theatre (On Sale)
SOLD OUT!
THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
February 13 - The Vogue
RIA MAE
WITH MATTHEW V MUSIC
February 18 - The Imperial
COLD CAVE
WITH ADULT. & VOWWS
February 20 - The Imperial
MEN I TRUST
WITH MICHAEL SEYER
February 22 - Biltmore Cabaret
SAVES THE DAY
WITH REMO DRIVE & MIGHTY
February 23 - Biltmore Cabaret
PEDRO THE LION
WITH TOMBERLIN
February 24 - Biltmore Cabaret
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT MRGCONCERTS.COM