BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition March 2019
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics. Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics.
Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
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MARCH <strong>2019</strong><br />
blood and the<br />
looming apocalypse:<br />
Toronto punks are deadly<br />
serious on new album,<br />
PUPDeath,<br />
Morbid Stuff<br />
PLUS! 36? • Melted Mirror • Baroness • Children Of Bodem • Cat Empire • Jenny Lewis
PALOMINO EVENTS FOR MARCH<br />
Friday <strong>March</strong> 8th<br />
Paradise 7” Release Party<br />
Heavydive<br />
Pill Crusher<br />
Foldhed<br />
Saturday <strong>March</strong> 9th<br />
Bad Bodies<br />
LIAM<br />
Natural Twenty<br />
Wednesday <strong>March</strong> 13th<br />
Single Mothers<br />
Mobina Galore<br />
Mademoiselle<br />
Friday <strong>March</strong> 15th<br />
In/Vertigo<br />
Open Air<br />
The Rumble<br />
Saturday <strong>March</strong> 16th<br />
Ashley Hundred<br />
Bombargo<br />
Handmade<br />
Friday <strong>March</strong> 22nd<br />
36? Album release<br />
Future Womb<br />
Witch Victim<br />
Saturday <strong>March</strong> 23rd<br />
Citysleep (EP Release)<br />
Spectre Hearts (Toronto)<br />
Yvette<br />
Friday <strong>March</strong> 29th<br />
HELLZAPOPPIN CIRCUS<br />
SIDESHOW with guests<br />
Forbidden Dimension<br />
KV Raucous<br />
Saturday <strong>March</strong> 30th<br />
Rhodehouse Records<br />
presents Detractions Less<br />
Miserable Split Release Party<br />
with No More Moments<br />
Act Natural<br />
*Advance tickets at Sloth Records or myshowpass.com<br />
Friday April 5th<br />
Silence Kit (Winnipeg)<br />
Miesha and the Spanks<br />
and guests<br />
Saturday April 6th<br />
Counterfeit Jeans (Edmonton)<br />
Erector Set<br />
Hex Beat (Edmonton)<br />
HARSH<br />
Arson Cult (Saskatoon)<br />
Tuesday April 9th<br />
DRI HIEV<br />
Blessed (Vancouver)<br />
Slut Prophet<br />
Friday April 12th<br />
Gone Cosmic LP Release<br />
All Hands on Jane<br />
The Ashley Hundred<br />
COMING SOON!<br />
SATURDAY APRIL 13TH<br />
Whitney Rose, Shaela Miller<br />
and Amy Nelson<br />
FRIDAY APRIL 19TH<br />
Future Womb album release with<br />
Peach Pyramid (Victoria) and<br />
Pancake<br />
SATURDAY MAY 4TH<br />
Harrington Saints (Bay Area, CA),<br />
Reckless Upstarts (Windsor, ON),<br />
Pagans of Northumberland and<br />
Streetlight Saints<br />
WEDNESDAY MAY 8TH<br />
Dead Quiet (Vancouver), Crystal<br />
Mess and guests<br />
SATURDAY MAY 11TH<br />
Beatroute presents; Supersuckers<br />
“The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll”<br />
20th Anniversary Tour with guests<br />
109 7TH AVE SW<br />
403 532 1911<br />
THEPALOMINO.CA
Contents<br />
Mariachi Ghost at the<br />
Block Heater Festival. See<br />
Live reviews, pg 36.<br />
LENORA BENDER<br />
Up Front<br />
4<br />
7<br />
8<br />
The Guide<br />
Torchettes Light up International<br />
Women’s Day<br />
The Agenda<br />
That’s Dope<br />
Top 5 leading ladies in the<br />
Cannabis Industry<br />
Amanda Siebert’s Little<br />
Book Of Cannabis<br />
Music<br />
11<br />
31<br />
36<br />
Concert Previews<br />
Calgary art punks<br />
36? take a trip to Milk<br />
Mountain + Melted Mirror,<br />
Baroness, Children Of<br />
Bodem, GrimSkunk, Calvin<br />
Love, The Blue Stones,<br />
Cat Empire and Homesick<br />
Album Reviews<br />
Jenny Lewis, N0V3L,<br />
Bob Mould, Royal Trux,<br />
La Dispute, The Cinematic<br />
Orchestra, Ex Hex,<br />
White Denim, Andrew<br />
Bird, American Football,<br />
Weezer and more!<br />
Live Reviews<br />
Calgary Folk Festival’s<br />
Block Heater melts our<br />
hearts<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong><br />
blood and the<br />
looming apocalypse:<br />
Toronto punks are deadly<br />
serious on new album,<br />
PUPDeath, Morbid Stuff<br />
Cover Story<br />
24<br />
PUP<br />
Toronto punks channel<br />
doom and gloom of<br />
the here and now on<br />
Morbid Stuff<br />
Cover photo by:<br />
Tanja Tiziana<br />
FREE<br />
PLUS! James Blake • Amyl and the Sniffers • Viagra Boys • Cass McCombs • Jenny Lewis<br />
Movies|TV<br />
38<br />
39<br />
The Arts<br />
37<br />
40<br />
Film Interview<br />
We sit down for a chat with<br />
Through Black Spuce actress<br />
Tanaya Beatty<br />
This Month In Film +<br />
The Binge List<br />
Dance Alberta Ballet’s Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream is for<br />
everyone<br />
Theatre Ghost River Theatre<br />
takes on Andre The Giant at<br />
the Festival of Animated Objects<br />
+ Klimts Playthings and<br />
Lunchbox Theatre’s show that<br />
will not be named<br />
Horoscope<br />
45<br />
Savage Love<br />
46<br />
No matter your sign, there’s<br />
always a song for you here<br />
Dan Savage gives advice on<br />
edging and how to be a good<br />
bottom<br />
Edmonton<br />
Extra<br />
Commiserate<br />
with your fellow<br />
losers pg. 28<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 3
The Guide<br />
MARCH<br />
wCity<br />
Briefs<br />
Torchettes: Lighting up<br />
International Women’s Day<br />
WESTERN CANADIAN<br />
FASHION WEEK<br />
<strong>March</strong> 20-24<br />
Established in 2004, Western<br />
Canada Fashion Week has developed<br />
into a nationally-recognized<br />
fashion and design event that is<br />
now the second-largest fashion<br />
week in Canada. This month,<br />
between <strong>March</strong> 20-24, five nights<br />
of different programming, dubbed<br />
as New Blood, take place with<br />
runway shows presented by<br />
local, Canadian and international<br />
designers. Up to 50 designers<br />
and 400 models selected from a<br />
diversified range will be participating<br />
at the ATB Financial Barns<br />
located in Edmonton at 1000-84<br />
Ave. Tickets are $25/adavnce,<br />
$30/door and $100 for a week<br />
pass. For more info visit www.<br />
westerncanadafashionweek.com<br />
CHANTAL ANDERSON<br />
The National Music Centre and The<br />
Torchettes are teaming up to bring<br />
together a heavyweight roster of<br />
local ladies in honour of International<br />
Women’s Day Weekend.<br />
On <strong>March</strong> 9 and 10, Studio Bell<br />
presents live performances by local<br />
artists and musicians including The<br />
Torchettes, Bebe Buckskin, Nicole<br />
Dawn, Follow the Rabbit, Lashes, Kate<br />
Melvina, Amy Nelson, Yolanda<br />
Sargeant, Kate Stevens and Justine<br />
Vandergrift along with a host of DJs<br />
and dancers. In addition, the largest<br />
female choir collective in Alberta’s<br />
‘herstory’ perform a song of sisterhood<br />
by The Torchettes and a marketplace<br />
curated by female artisans and<br />
entrepreneurs will be set up.<br />
Warming things up on <strong>March</strong> 8, The<br />
King Eddy presents International<br />
Women’s Slay with a lit lineup of<br />
ladies including rapper Ms.Teaze,<br />
R&B vocalist Bvitae, hip-hop-house<br />
DJ Prairie Chola Ayatollah and electronic<br />
tastemaker DJ SoniDef.<br />
Then on <strong>March</strong> 9 The King Eddy<br />
teams up with Girls on Decks, Dnb<br />
Girls and Big Kitty for the Girls on<br />
Decks Dance Party!<br />
From <strong>March</strong> 8-10 celebrate the women who are<br />
playing a role in Calgary’s music and arts community<br />
alongside festivities happening around the world.<br />
<br />
<br />
4 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra<br />
22 + 23 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2019</strong> / 7:30PM<br />
Jack Singer Concert Hall<br />
Showcasing the music of<br />
Tina Turner, Janis Joplin,<br />
Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell,<br />
Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, and Heart!<br />
calgaryphil.com | 403.571.0849
MARCH<br />
The Agenda<br />
108<br />
CAPTAIN MARVEL<br />
Friday, <strong>March</strong> 8<br />
Opening in theatres on <strong>March</strong> 8,<br />
Captain Marvel is the 21st film in<br />
the Marvel cinematic universe.<br />
Set in 1995, this superhero story<br />
follows Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, as Earth is<br />
caught in the middle of two alien worlds locked in conflict.<br />
Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.<br />
16<br />
COCKTAILS AND COUTURE<br />
Saturday, <strong>March</strong> 16<br />
Join Sugar Water at the Glenbow<br />
Museum for an evening<br />
of haute couture and elevated<br />
cocktails. Crafting Dior-inspired<br />
cocktails just for the occasion,<br />
mixologist Kyo-Jean Chung will<br />
share the process behind his<br />
bespoke approach. You can then<br />
enjoy an intimate guided tour of<br />
the Christian Dior exhibition.<br />
22<br />
ANCIENT PIG Friday, <strong>March</strong> 22<br />
Gaze into the mesmerizing snouts<br />
of Saskatoon’s most dark, deranged<br />
psych goblins as they return for a<br />
trio of shows in Edmonton at the<br />
Empress (Thursday, <strong>March</strong> 21) and<br />
Calgary at Without Papers (Friday,<br />
<strong>March</strong> 22). A highlight of Sled Island<br />
2018, expect frightening spiral<br />
riffage and multiple tremolo pedals<br />
set to “Heavy Stun.”<br />
TECH N9NE<br />
Wednesday, <strong>March</strong> 20<br />
at Marquee Beer Market<br />
and Stage<br />
Strange Music presents<br />
Tech N9ne’s Live<br />
In Canada Tour <strong>2019</strong>.<br />
Experience Tech<br />
N9ne with Krizz Kaliko.<br />
Strange music is also<br />
offering a VIP package.<br />
For tickets and more<br />
information head to<br />
www.strangemusic.<br />
Hard copy tickets are<br />
available at The Next<br />
Level Inc and Grass-<br />
20 roots Hemp.<br />
RED AND WHITE<br />
CALGARY COMIC<br />
AND TOY EXPO<br />
Sunday, <strong>March</strong> 10<br />
The Comic & Toy Expo<br />
offers comics, toys,<br />
manga, original artwork,<br />
role-playing games and<br />
much more. Held at The<br />
Red & White Club from<br />
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s $5<br />
admission and kids 12 and<br />
under get in for free. For<br />
more information, visit<br />
www.comicandtoy.ca<br />
28<br />
HELLZAPOPPIN’ Hellzapoppin’<br />
CIRCUS SIDESHOW<br />
REVUE<br />
<strong>March</strong> 28 & 29<br />
is a world-renown, theatrical rock ‘n’ roll circus and freak show where some of the<br />
deadliest stunts are performed live alongside thriving rock music. Be prepared for fire breathers<br />
and fire-eaters, a bed of nails, glass eating, sword swallowing and a cast of human oddities. At<br />
the Starlite Room (Edmonton) on <strong>March</strong> 28 and the Palomino (Calgary) on <strong>March</strong> 29.<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 7
That's Dope<br />
TOP 5<br />
WOMEN IN<br />
CANN<strong>AB</strong>IS<br />
In celebration of<br />
International<br />
Women’s Day we<br />
shine a light on the<br />
Top 5 leading ladies<br />
in the cannabis<br />
industry<br />
By Jamila Pomeroy<br />
1<br />
JODIE EMERY<br />
Cannabis Activist<br />
and Entrepreneur<br />
The Princess of<br />
Pot, Jodie Emery,<br />
has seen it all in<br />
her 14 years of<br />
cannabis activism in<br />
Vancouver. While a<br />
greener hue may be<br />
on the horizon with<br />
legalization, Emery<br />
cautions we have<br />
so much work to do,<br />
especially for members<br />
of the industry<br />
who have remained<br />
on the forefront<br />
during prohibition.<br />
Emery continues to<br />
be one of the most<br />
prominent women<br />
in the Canadian<br />
cannabis industry,<br />
unapologetically.<br />
She has most-recently<br />
extended<br />
her love for hempt<br />
with Jodie’s Joint,<br />
a hemp cafe in Toronto’s<br />
Kensington<br />
Market.<br />
2 3 4 5<br />
TRACY MACRAE<br />
Vice President;<br />
Marketing at Kiaro<br />
MacRae, leads<br />
marketing at Kiaro.<br />
Kiaro means light;<br />
because cannabis can<br />
be, well, illuminating.<br />
The cannabis retailer<br />
aims to destigmatize<br />
cannabis use by<br />
creating inviting retail<br />
spaces, providing the<br />
tools, information and<br />
resources for customers<br />
to not only make<br />
their own informed<br />
decisions, but become<br />
empowered through<br />
provided resources.<br />
MacRae has over 20<br />
years experience in<br />
marketing and is passionate<br />
about socially<br />
responsible cannabis<br />
retail.<br />
SALIMEH T<strong>AB</strong>RIZI<br />
Founder of Cannabis<br />
Hemp Conference<br />
and Expo (CHCE)<br />
Tabrizi is the Founder<br />
of CHCE, the largest<br />
and most comprehensive<br />
cannabis<br />
conference in Canada.<br />
Through CHCE Tabrizi<br />
hopes to legitimize<br />
cannabis with science.<br />
Gathering prominent<br />
leaders, researchers,<br />
patients and government<br />
officials to<br />
explore the endless<br />
benefits of the industry.<br />
BETHANY RAE<br />
Founder of<br />
Flower & Freedom<br />
As a fitness enthusiast,<br />
Rae experienced<br />
judgement and negative<br />
stereotypes while<br />
exploring cannabis for<br />
her own health and<br />
wellness. This inspired<br />
her to create Flower<br />
& Freedom; a female-focused<br />
lifestyle<br />
community dedicated<br />
to reducing the stigma<br />
that surrounds cannabis<br />
use. The creative<br />
fashion designer and<br />
fitness enthusiast,<br />
has incorporated her<br />
professions with her<br />
passion for cannabis,<br />
launching her own<br />
cannabis-themed<br />
clothing line.<br />
THIS MONTH<br />
IN CANN<strong>AB</strong>IS NEWS<br />
AND VIEWS<br />
ANDREA DOBBS<br />
Co-owner of Village<br />
bloomery<br />
Working in management<br />
at Womyns’Ware<br />
Inc for over<br />
ten-years, in Vancouver,<br />
British Columbia,<br />
Dobbs has been<br />
prominent in women-centred<br />
issues<br />
and education. When<br />
she began to experience<br />
Peri-Menopausal<br />
symptoms, she<br />
turned to cannabis<br />
to help relieve her<br />
ailments. She is now<br />
the Co-Owner of Village<br />
Bloomery, where<br />
she extends her love<br />
for education and<br />
alternative medicine;<br />
providing women-centred<br />
resources<br />
and products.<br />
LITTLE<br />
BOOK,<br />
BIG IDEAS<br />
Amanda Siebert’s new book is perfect<br />
for the medical cannabis newbie<br />
who want simple answers By BRAD SIMM<br />
Some people only need one good reason to use marijuana.<br />
Usually that’s the feel-good sensation of getting high. Beyond<br />
the euphoric state, Amanda Siebert looks at the broad<br />
spectrum of cannabis and gives you 10 other reasons why<br />
it’s such a marvelous substance.<br />
“I wanted to have balance with topics that were medicinal<br />
for things like chronic pain and the treatment for cancer<br />
in conjunction with chemotherapy. Then I wanted to have<br />
some light-hearted subjects like cannabis as a super-food or<br />
how it can improve your sex life.”<br />
While there’s a disclaimer that the book is “not intended<br />
to be a substitute for advice for medical advice from physicians,”<br />
Siebert delves into health-related references, arguments<br />
and the flurry of conflicting views whether cannabis<br />
is good or bad for you by presenting a wealth of information<br />
that’s easy to digest and understand.<br />
Of course, the chapter on A Steamier Sex Life garnishes<br />
a lot of attention that Siebert acknowledges with a laugh.<br />
“Yes, everyone wants to talk about the chapter on sex.”<br />
Cannabis as an aphrodisiac is well-known, but Siebert also<br />
discusses how the application and dose levels help to cultivate<br />
the inner workings of a heighten mind-body experience<br />
when sharing or alone.<br />
And then there’s the suggestion that instead of being the<br />
gateway drug, cannabis is actually an exit drug that reduces<br />
other harmful addictions. Getting sober in one step!<br />
<br />
w<br />
8 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
City<br />
Briefs<br />
Publisher/Editor<br />
Brad Simm<br />
Marketing Manager<br />
Glenn Alderson<br />
Event Coordinator<br />
Colin Gallant<br />
Production Coordinator<br />
Hayley Muir<br />
Web Producer<br />
Masha Scheele<br />
Social Media Coordinator<br />
Miguel Morales<br />
SECTION EDITORS<br />
Music<br />
Paul Rodgers, Trevor Morelli<br />
Christine Leonard, Glenn Alderson<br />
Arts/Film / Brad Simm<br />
Edmonton Extra / Mike Dunn<br />
CINEMATIC SUNDAYS:<br />
WESTWOOD: PUNK, ICON,<br />
ACTIVIST<br />
<strong>March</strong> 24<br />
Local musicians are rejoicing after<br />
decades of waiting for a local Vancouver<br />
spot to press its own vinyl<br />
again. Billy Bones, lead singer of<br />
local band Vicious Cycles, is the<br />
answer to their prayers with the<br />
opening of Clampdown Record<br />
Pressing Inc. The plant will press<br />
everything from picture discs to<br />
classic black records, in 7-12 inch<br />
formats. With vinyl’s resurgence in<br />
popularity over the last few years,<br />
it’s a ripe opportunity to crack the<br />
ever-growing market.<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Sarah Allen • Chantel Belisle<br />
Sebastian Buzzalino • Lauren Edwards<br />
Kenn Enns • Karina Espinosa<br />
Tim Ford • Trevor Hatter<br />
Willow Herzog • Robann Kerr<br />
Brenden Lee • Maggie McPhee<br />
Pat Mullen • Jennie Orton<br />
R. Overwater • Johnny Papan<br />
Cole Parker • Jamila Pomeroy<br />
Dan Savage • Josh Sheppard<br />
Josh Wood • Cole Young<br />
Contributing Photographers<br />
Chantal Anderson • Lenora Bender<br />
Sara Grawbarger-Kuefler • Trevor<br />
Hatter • Brad Hollenbaugh<br />
Mary Matheson • Shelly Mosman<br />
Marek Sabogal • Carl Thériault<br />
Advertising Inquiries<br />
Ron Goldberger<br />
ron@beatroute.ca<br />
(780) 707-0476<br />
TREVOR HATTER<br />
MADCOWBOYS RIDE<br />
INTO THE SUNSET<br />
Saturday, <strong>March</strong> 30th <br />
Celebrate the legacy of Calgary<br />
punk mainstays the Madcowboys<br />
with a ceremony of excess at<br />
Broken City. Emerging in 2003,<br />
these cowpunks wrangled hard<br />
coast to coast, sharing the stage<br />
with the likes of Propagandhi,<br />
Youth Brigade, D.O.A. and Face<br />
to Face. The madness will be<br />
missed, but their last words still<br />
hanging on the wind, “Thanks for<br />
everything, sorry about the rest.”<br />
Distribution<br />
We distribute in Calgary, Edmonton,<br />
Banff, Canmore and Lethbridge.<br />
Greenline Distribution in Edmonton<br />
Mike Garth<br />
(780) 707-0476<br />
e-mail: editor@beatroute.ca<br />
E-<strong>Edition</strong><br />
Yumpu.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><br />
Connect with beatroute.ca<br />
Facebook.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><strong>AB</strong><br />
Twitter.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><strong>AB</strong><br />
Instagram.com/<strong>BeatRoute</strong><strong>AB</strong><br />
Copyright © BEATROUTE <strong>Magazine</strong> <strong>2019</strong> All rights<br />
reserved. Reproduction of the contents<br />
is prohibited without permission.<br />
<strong>BeatRoute</strong> Media<br />
Group editor/ publisher<br />
Michael Hollett<br />
Creative Director<br />
Troy Beyer<br />
beatroute.ca<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 9
MUSiC<br />
Concert Preview<br />
36?<br />
Taylor Cochrane and friends<br />
take a trip to Milk Mountain<br />
By SEBASTIAN BUZZALINO<br />
In an age where relationships are measured<br />
in milliseconds with swipes right and digitized<br />
hearts littering our notifications, 36?’s<br />
newest album, Milk Mountain, comes across<br />
as the soundtrack for figuring yourself out<br />
amidst all the noise and chaos. It’s a complex<br />
record, one that takes frontman-songwriter<br />
Taylor Cochrane’s precocious talent<br />
for putting together (and pulling apart)<br />
undeniable hooks and elevates it all with<br />
intensely personal songwriting that comes<br />
from a position of self-realization, acceptance<br />
and love.<br />
Although it’s the band’s most ambitious and<br />
most polished effort to date, their signature<br />
sound, a free-spirited collision between<br />
art and pop, remains intact. There’s a more<br />
complete confidence driving it forward,<br />
catching the attention of the taste-making<br />
Vancouver label, File Under: Music, who will<br />
release Milk Mountain this month supported<br />
by a tour through the States.<br />
It’s also an album that represents a major<br />
evolution for Cochrane as a songwriter.<br />
CONTINUED ON PG. 12 k<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 11<br />
SARA GRAWBARGER-KUEFLER
MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS<br />
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 11<br />
36?<br />
Since he first started writing<br />
music as a teen, Cochrane has<br />
always considered himself “a<br />
medium for the art to speak<br />
through,” rather than mining his<br />
own personal experiences to<br />
transmute into song. But on Milk<br />
Mountain, for the first time, he<br />
offers up a direct conduit to his<br />
innermost feelings.<br />
“It took me a really long time to<br />
think that way. To really think that<br />
the way I felt about things was<br />
actually worth hearing about. I’ve<br />
always had a lot of confidence<br />
in my ability to create melody<br />
and soundscapes, but it’s always<br />
been a struggle for me to write<br />
directly from experience. I’ve<br />
always kind of felt like the art isn’t<br />
mine, that I’m just this beacon that<br />
it contacts and comes through.<br />
It’s never really felt like my own<br />
SARA GRAWBARGER-KUEFLER<br />
DAIRY ROCK<br />
actual life experiences were really<br />
worthy.”<br />
What makes Milk Mountain so<br />
powerful as a record is that it<br />
offers a glimpse into an identity in<br />
flux — Cochrane in transition not<br />
only as a songwriter, but a person<br />
who is learning to accept who he<br />
is and what he is looking for in his<br />
personal, romantic relationships.<br />
Placing himself as an artist into<br />
the songs front and center, rather<br />
than writing through fictionalized<br />
characters, Taylor came to terms<br />
36?<br />
with Future Womb<br />
Friday, <strong>March</strong> 22<br />
The Palomino<br />
Tix: $10 via Songkick<br />
with who he is in his<br />
own life. On the song<br />
“Jealous,” he straddles<br />
his changing sense of<br />
self in order to explore<br />
his emerging identity as<br />
a polyamorous person.<br />
“With that song, I don’t understand<br />
jealousy at all, but through<br />
the music, I’m trying to explore<br />
what that it feels like, based on<br />
trying to get into the mindset of<br />
the other side of a situation that I<br />
was a part of.”<br />
That particular situation was<br />
realizing that his monogamous<br />
relationship at the time wasn’t<br />
necessarily who he really was, and<br />
that he was being unfair to himself<br />
and his partner by erasing his<br />
identity as a polyamorous person.<br />
With the track “But I Don’t Know<br />
Myself (Suddenly),” Cochrane<br />
continues his exploration, bridging<br />
the chasm between his old identities<br />
and his newfound confidence<br />
— a “catalyst,” as he puts it, for<br />
his self-realization.<br />
“I wrote the first half while still in<br />
that [monogamous] relationship. I<br />
came home from Montreal knowing<br />
that I couldn’t stay<br />
with this person because<br />
I knew they wouldn’t<br />
be okay with a polyamorous<br />
relationship. And<br />
that I couldn’t be myself<br />
without some serious<br />
self-hate staying in a monogamous<br />
relationship… She was at work and<br />
I recorded the first half of the song.<br />
She came home later that night<br />
and we broke up, and I ended up<br />
recording the second half of the<br />
song. And that’s the only song that<br />
I used the original vocals from the<br />
demo, because there’s a moment<br />
that’s captured in there, the realness<br />
of the situation.”<br />
Embracing his polyamorous self<br />
and understanding that his “feelings<br />
are valid, even if they’re not<br />
the norm,” Milk Mountain is driven<br />
by the massive changes in who<br />
Cochrane is and being willing to<br />
accept himself for that.<br />
“The album is almost like the<br />
beginning stages of me figuring<br />
out who I actually am. I guess it’s<br />
an exciting time, for that reason. I<br />
feel like I’m on the cusp of actually<br />
believing in myself.” ,<br />
NMC presents<br />
ALBERTA<br />
SPOTLIGHT<br />
SERIES<br />
A MONTHLY CONCERT SERIES<br />
HIGHLIGHTING SOME OF THE MOST<br />
SOUGHT-AFTER ALBERTA ARTISTS RIGHT NOW.<br />
MARCH 23<br />
THE PRAIRIE STATES<br />
The 2018 Project WILD winners hit<br />
Studio Bell for a night of ‘60s soul<br />
and ‘70s rock-inflected country tunes.<br />
DETAILS AND TICKETS AT STUDIOBELL.CA/WHATS-ON<br />
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre | 850 4 Street SE Calgary, <strong>AB</strong><br />
studiobell.ca @nmc_canada #StudioBell<br />
12 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
ELECTROPUNK<br />
TREVOR HATTER<br />
REFLECT ON THIS<br />
Post punks Melted Mirror embrace the strange passage of<br />
time with the release of Past Life By CHRISTINE LEONARD<br />
Y<br />
ou know that recurring dream<br />
you have about playing full-contact<br />
laser tag with Joy Division?<br />
It’s about to come true! Sliding<br />
out of the shadows of the recording<br />
studio and back on to<br />
the neon dancefloor, where they belong, Calgary-based<br />
synth lovers Melted Mirror are<br />
pleased to present a glimpse into the future<br />
with the release of their second full-length<br />
album, Past Life.<br />
A glossy high-resolution follow-up to 2016’s<br />
Borderzone with its wandering stars and<br />
flying fortresses, Past Life crystalizes Melted<br />
Mirror’s dark charisma and cunning intellect<br />
into a collection of shimmering electro-pop<br />
tracks.Two years in the making, Past Life reportedly<br />
took Melted Mirror only two short<br />
days to record, thanks in part to the prowess<br />
of producer/engineer Nik Kozub (Shout Out<br />
Out Out Out).<br />
“After our first album, a friend suggested we<br />
look into recording with Nik at The Audio<br />
Department up in Edmonton,” says vocalist<br />
Chris Zajko. “Between 2017 and 2018 we<br />
recorded a total of ten songs over three<br />
sessions and then narrowed it down to eight<br />
tracks for the album. The biggest challenge<br />
was simply trying to get everything done in<br />
the time that we had booked for the studio.”<br />
Pressure makes diamonds and that’s exactly<br />
what the refractive trio, rounded out by<br />
synth player/programmer Cian Cocteau and<br />
guitarist Jeebs Nabil, has composed and delivered<br />
with the icy lustings of Past Life. One<br />
thing that technology cannot fabricate is<br />
human emotion, that essential element relies<br />
entirely on the organic beings at the center<br />
of Melted Mirror’s retrofitted motherboard.<br />
“It sounds silly, but when you’re recording<br />
by yourself, you may not have that many resources<br />
or fancy equipment, but you generally<br />
have the luxury of time. You have time to<br />
try things that may or may not work, or play<br />
around with parts, or leave and come back to<br />
a song the next day,” Zajko intimates.<br />
“Past Life refers to the idea that we are<br />
all part of a vast continuum that is largely<br />
beyond our choosing and control. Since we<br />
can’t choose where and when we are born,<br />
our world is an inheritance of history from<br />
the multitude of ‘past lives’ of the people<br />
who lived before us. We try to claim an<br />
ownership to something that is our own and<br />
permanent, but really, we’re all just passing<br />
through.” ,<br />
THE GRAND 608 1ST SW<br />
CUSTOM BROKER<br />
SANDSTONE VALLEY MANAGEMENT INC.<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 13
MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS<br />
BARONESS<br />
CROWNS A<br />
NEW QUEEN<br />
New guitarist Gina Gleason is no novelty act, just a<br />
great player says band leader John Dyer Baizley<br />
By CHRISTINE LEONARD<br />
W<br />
hen <strong>BeatRoute</strong> last<br />
touched base with melodic<br />
metal monarch<br />
John Dyer Baizley, the<br />
leader of Savannah,<br />
Georgia’s Baroness, it was mid-2016<br />
and singer/guitarist/visual artist was<br />
in a warehouse in England, or as he<br />
puts it “an alternate universe version<br />
of preparing for tour by<br />
rehearsing a lot.” Having<br />
subsequently introduced<br />
Europe to their moody<br />
BARONESS<br />
With Deafheaven &<br />
guests<br />
Thurs, <strong>March</strong> 22<br />
Union Hall<br />
(Edmonton)<br />
Grammy-nominated album<br />
Purple, the first release<br />
on the quartet’s newfound<br />
Abraxan Hymns<br />
record label, Baizley more<br />
recently found himself<br />
looking for another mountain to<br />
summit. That challenge unexpectedly<br />
arrived when longtime friend and<br />
member Pete Adams announced his<br />
amical departure from the band after<br />
decade of providing backing guitars<br />
and vocals. Fortunately for Baizley<br />
and remaining crew, bassist Nick Jost<br />
and drummer Sebastian, the next ascendant<br />
to the royal family was waiting<br />
in the wings, axe in hand.<br />
“It was just one of the easiest and<br />
perhaps luckiest things that’s happened<br />
to us in our career,” says Baizley<br />
of Baroness’s acquisition of guitarist<br />
Gina Gleason. “We got really<br />
lucky, Gina is an incredible player<br />
and she’s got a great attitude. She is an<br />
incredibly diligent and hardworking<br />
musician. We have found yet another<br />
incredible musician to join the band<br />
and do what we love doing.”<br />
Novelty never entered the picture<br />
according to Baizley, who perceives<br />
Fri, <strong>March</strong> 23<br />
Palace (Calgary)<br />
Tix, $33.50, Eventbrite<br />
the recruitment of a woman to Baroness’s<br />
muscular lineup with an open<br />
mind and a discerning ear; just as<br />
he did for the ingestion of Jost and<br />
Thomson in 2013.<br />
“Much the same as when Nick and<br />
Sebastian joined the band, our response<br />
time between members has<br />
been phenomenally fast and often<br />
seamless. I’m always afraid<br />
HEAVY METAL<br />
It was just one of the easiest &<br />
perhaps luckiest things that’s<br />
happened to us in our career.<br />
<br />
John Dyer Baizley<br />
fectively broke them in twain, Baizley<br />
is in a better place both physically<br />
and mentally. He explains that the<br />
group would have “more than likely”<br />
gone down an alternate path if destiny<br />
hadn’t intervened “had we not<br />
experienced what we experienced<br />
on the first tour for Yellow & Green<br />
(2012 Relapse Records) - which, of<br />
course, is when we had that flying<br />
bus accident off the cliff - had we not<br />
suffered that and lost members and<br />
had to rebuild and restructure…” It’s<br />
amazing how things can change in an<br />
instant. “When we were a younger<br />
band, we played seven days a week.<br />
After I was injured… I’ve got the type<br />
of injury where I’m a better musician<br />
if I get a few days off a week.”<br />
Taking time to recharge and write<br />
has been beneficial and by Baizley’s<br />
estimates a “not uncolourful” release<br />
from the freshly-forged Baroness is<br />
lurking right around the corner. An<br />
accomplished painter and illustrator<br />
in his own right, Baizley was actually<br />
there’s going to be some extremely<br />
laborious process<br />
of integration and chemistry<br />
building, but it’s just<br />
never been that big of an<br />
issue for us. Her qualifications<br />
for joining the band<br />
and becoming a member<br />
of Baroness had nothing<br />
to do with gender. Anybody with<br />
her skill level that had shown interest<br />
would have gotten it. It just happened<br />
to be her. We couldn’t be happier.”<br />
Baizley continues. “Additionally,<br />
I’d like to think that this band is now,<br />
and has always been, a place where<br />
ideas like gender or age or race aren’t<br />
significant to who we work with and<br />
how we work with those people. It is<br />
awesome. If I’m being honest, I don’t’<br />
think we see enough of it out there in<br />
our scene. It can feel a bit male dominated,<br />
I’m might be the wrong person<br />
to even say that being a male myself,<br />
but she’s proof made flesh that your<br />
gender has virtually no bearing to<br />
what you’re able to accomplish and<br />
the way you’re capable accomplishing<br />
it. And I’m really glad that I can say<br />
this about this band and about this<br />
woman.”<br />
Well-past the terrifying 2012 road<br />
wreck that crippled the band and efcompleting<br />
the artwork for their yetto-be-unveiled<br />
album’s cover as this<br />
interview was being conducted.<br />
“We’ve finished recording the next<br />
album and now we’re just in the process<br />
of figuring out how, when, where,<br />
why, what it’s going to look like. With<br />
each record we lean into something<br />
entirely different. We really pushed as<br />
creatives and as songwriters with this<br />
new record. We were without a doubt<br />
a difficult group of people to satisfy.<br />
We held ourselves to a very high standard<br />
creatively and wrote something<br />
that I think some people will like. I<br />
like the Hell out of it. I think it’s the<br />
best record we’ve ever done. I’m extremely<br />
excited.” ,<br />
SHELLY MOSMAN<br />
14 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
WORLD METAL<br />
GETTIN’ SKUNKED<br />
30 years of making a grand stink GrimSkunk’s globalization<br />
marches on by CHRISTINE LEONARD<br />
EXTREME METAL<br />
French, English,<br />
Russian, Spanish<br />
— There’s no language<br />
barrier that can’t be<br />
bridged by the fragrant<br />
vibes of Quebec’s<br />
legendary ska-rock<br />
orchestra GrimSkunk.<br />
The legendary politipunks are<br />
celebrating 30 years of making<br />
music and mayhem under the flag<br />
of hemp and justice for all.<br />
“When we started our career<br />
punk and metal had already gone<br />
around the block a couple of<br />
times,” says lead singer/organist<br />
Joe Evil. “It was sort of getting<br />
repetitive. We wanted to mix in<br />
a new style. How we became<br />
creative was to do punk and metal<br />
but mix it completely with any sort<br />
of style or language.”<br />
GrimSkunk has always maintained<br />
an amazing sense of humour and<br />
grace when it comes to exploring<br />
inroads to spiritual harmony and<br />
mutual enrichment.<br />
“We sort of did it when it was<br />
okay to do it and now it’s like, the<br />
news is pretty harsh, and can I<br />
understand cultural appropriation.<br />
We’ve taken elements from<br />
everywhere. We’ve had Greek<br />
songs, we’ve had Spanish words<br />
over flamenco-style music, and<br />
GRIMSKUNK<br />
Saturday, <strong>March</strong> 29<br />
with Ninjaspy and All<br />
Hands On Jane<br />
Broken City (Calgary)<br />
Tix $12, Showpass.com<br />
we’ve had North African<br />
songs with Persian<br />
words. We’ve done them<br />
just for the fun of doing<br />
it and the influences<br />
that they’ve had on us.<br />
Because as a ‘global<br />
band’ right at the verge<br />
of the Internet, or before the<br />
Internet, there was world music<br />
and that was a big influence on us.<br />
We were turned on by those styles<br />
and wanted to integrate it into our<br />
punk rock and psychedelic rock.”<br />
A multilingual montage of genres<br />
that keeps the punk rock party<br />
thumping, GrimSkunk’s latest<br />
release, Unreason in the Age of<br />
Madness, was dropped on the<br />
band’s own Indica Records label<br />
in 2018. Also ringing in their 20th<br />
anniversary as a company this<br />
year, Indica has long been home<br />
to an exotic blend of artists who<br />
might not have been heard were it<br />
not for GrimSkunk’s musical green<br />
thumb.<br />
“Obviously, as times goes by, different<br />
styles become popular,” Evil<br />
acknowledges. “We are getting<br />
influenced by ourselves earlier in<br />
our career finally. Now, I can finally<br />
start to relate to bands that have<br />
been around for decades! I can<br />
finally relate to Rush!”<br />
CARL THÉRIAULT<br />
MAREK S<strong>AB</strong>OGAL<br />
BIG FINNISH<br />
Road weariness, introspection and sobriety guide Finland’s Children of<br />
Bodom on their latest album Hexed By JOHNNY PAPAN<br />
Hexed, the forthcoming record from<br />
Finland’s extreme metal outfit Children<br />
of Bodom, may be the band’s most<br />
thought-out album in recent memory.<br />
Frontman Alexi Laiho says this album<br />
found him “branching out” when it<br />
came to penmanship, expressing an introspection<br />
on his addictive personality.<br />
Opening track “This Road” begins the album’s<br />
foray.<br />
“People thought [‘This Road’] was about alcoholism,<br />
but it’s more about being addicted to<br />
being on the road,” says Laiho. “After 20 years<br />
on the road, everything becomes a blur and you<br />
don’t know what the hell’s going on. It’s so emotionally<br />
and physically draining that it feels like<br />
it’s killing you, but you can’t stop doing it because<br />
you love it.”<br />
Despite people’s misconceptions about the<br />
track, Laiho admits his past relationship with<br />
alcohol was a dangerous romance, holding him<br />
with a reaper-like grip. A booze-infused scythe<br />
grazed his jugular with every sip he took, and every<br />
hangover began to feel like a foot in the grave.<br />
“‘Under Grass and Clover’ is about severe alcohol<br />
withdrawal,” Laiho says. “I don’t really drink<br />
like that anymore, but back in the day it was pretty<br />
hardcore. [While writing Hexed] I went back in<br />
time and started remembering what it felt like to<br />
go through detox. I don’t even drink on the road<br />
anymore. I don’t want to fuckin’ feel like that ever<br />
CHILDREN OF<br />
BODOM<br />
Thursday, <strong>March</strong> 28<br />
Vogue Theatre<br />
Tix, $27.50-$35:<br />
eventbrite.ca<br />
again. I’d wake up and take a couple<br />
shots, not to get drunk, but just to keep<br />
an even keel and feel normal. It’s fuckin’<br />
sad.”<br />
Laiho cut back on drinking in 2013.<br />
“I said to myself, ‘It’s either the<br />
booze or the music.’ When you put it<br />
like that, it’s like, ‘What am I talking<br />
about? Of course, the music.’ But I didn’t want to<br />
stop altogether. I wanted to prove I could drink<br />
like a normal person.”<br />
It’s rare that someone can go through detox<br />
and maintain a relationship with their substance<br />
of choice without relapsing, but Laiho seems to be<br />
pulling it off. In fact, Children of Bodom just released<br />
their own beer, which was brewed with the<br />
water of Lake Bodom, the infamous Finnish murder<br />
scene for which the band got its name. For the<br />
last five years, Laiho has refused to drink on tour,<br />
opting only to controllably drink with friends at<br />
home.<br />
“I think that’s the most important thing: admitting<br />
it,” he continues. “If you stay in denial,<br />
that’s not going to take you anywhere. Admit it<br />
to yourself, know yourself, and keep an eye on<br />
yourself. I’ve been there, and I’ve seen people<br />
ruin their lives because of alcohol or drugs. Don’t<br />
get me wrong, I’m not a fuckin’ saint, and I’m not<br />
trying to preach here. This just worked for me.<br />
It’s actually pretty fucking great, not feeling so<br />
fuckin’ shitty everyday.” ,<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 15
MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS<br />
BRAD HOLLENBAUGH<br />
THIS<br />
MONTH IN<br />
METAL<br />
by JOSH WOOD<br />
Misery Signals<br />
T<br />
he Wacken Metal Battle is<br />
raging across the country.<br />
Dickens Pub hosts<br />
Calgary-Round Three<br />
on <strong>March</strong> 6 featuring<br />
Osyron, Red Cain, Hyperia and<br />
Vexerity. Meanwhile, Logan’s Pub<br />
is hosting Victoria-Round One on<br />
<strong>March</strong> 9 featuring Electric Druids,<br />
Liberatia, Krypteia, and Forever<br />
Frost. The Red Room is hosting<br />
Vancouver-Round Two on <strong>March</strong><br />
10 featuring Kayas, Crnkshft,<br />
Hunting Giants, Ophelia Falling,<br />
and Age of Entitlement. The Red<br />
Room hosts once again for Vancouver-Round<br />
Three on <strong>March</strong> 24<br />
featuring Apprentice, Alice Hardy,<br />
Fallen Stars, Roadrash, Desert<br />
Merc and Blackwater Burial. Then,<br />
it’s back to Dickens on <strong>March</strong><br />
27 for Calgary-Round Four with<br />
bands TBA. Phew!<br />
Circle the date! <strong>March</strong> 15 finds<br />
no less than five metal gigs all<br />
falling on one night in Calgary.<br />
U.K. black metallers Cradle of Filth<br />
descend on the Marquee Beer<br />
Market during the Canadian leg<br />
of their Cryptoriania World Tour<br />
with Wednesday 13 and Raven<br />
Black in tow. That same lineup will<br />
be in Edmonton on <strong>March</strong> 16 at<br />
The Starlite Room. Right after the<br />
Cradle of Filth gig head across the<br />
parking lot and show your ticket<br />
stub to save $5 off at The Blind<br />
Beggar Pub for the Hazzerd vinyl<br />
release party with Blackest Sin,<br />
Tessitura and Hyperia. If those<br />
two throwdowns are not for you,<br />
rumble on over to the County Line<br />
Saloon for a night of death metal<br />
with Enterprise Earth, Aethere,<br />
Vultures, Born For Tomorrow and<br />
Gutter King. Not in the mood for<br />
the heavy stuff? Head over to the<br />
Palomino Smokehouse to enjoy<br />
In/Vertigo, Open Air and The<br />
Rumble. Last, but not least Stab<br />
Twist Pull, Bazaraba, Vectivus,<br />
Without Mercy and PDS will be<br />
tearing the roof off at The Brass<br />
Monkey.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 16 has WMD and<br />
Chained By Mind playing an<br />
all-ages show at the Upper Deck<br />
Public House in Calgary.<br />
Milwaukee metalcore<br />
outfit Misery<br />
Signals is in Alberta<br />
for the St. Patrick’s<br />
Day Weekend Slam.<br />
They’ll be in Calgary<br />
at Dickens Pub<br />
with Sight &<br />
Sound, Trench<br />
and Spiritbox<br />
on <strong>March</strong> 16 and<br />
then again with the<br />
same bill in Edmonton<br />
at The Starlite<br />
on <strong>March</strong> 17.<br />
Bookburner is<br />
hosting an all-ages<br />
metalcore gig at<br />
McHugh House in<br />
Calgary on <strong>March</strong><br />
18 featuring<br />
Underlier (London,<br />
Ontario), Bastian<br />
(Vancouver), Exits<br />
Cradle Of Filth<br />
(Edmonton) and Calgary’s own<br />
Spurn.<br />
Baroness, Deafheaven and Zeal<br />
& Ardor are touring the west with<br />
gigs in Edmonton on <strong>March</strong> 22<br />
at Union Hall and in Calgary on<br />
<strong>March</strong> 23 at The Palace Theatre.<br />
The 420 Music and Arts Festival<br />
is throwing a Beer Launch<br />
party on <strong>March</strong> 29 at Next Level<br />
Brewing with a performance by<br />
psych-rock legends Hypnopilot as<br />
musical enticement. Cheers!<br />
Guitar gods invade the region<br />
with John 5 and Jared James<br />
Nichols shredding Calgary at<br />
Dickens Pub on <strong>March</strong> 29 before<br />
hitting up Edmonton on <strong>March</strong> 30.<br />
If that wasn’t enough, Uli John<br />
Roth will be at the County<br />
Line Saloon in Calgary on<br />
April 3 for his 50th<br />
Anniversary Tour<br />
doing a special set of<br />
old Scorpions’ tunes.<br />
Don’t flip your<br />
calendars just yet,<br />
Saturday <strong>March</strong><br />
30 San Diego’s<br />
Tzimani will<br />
heat up<br />
Dickens Pub<br />
with the aid<br />
of Calgary<br />
locals Hrom<br />
and Tyrants<br />
of Chaos.,<br />
Turn Up the Temperature!<br />
Enjoy a FREE Vibrator<br />
with purchase over $100 CAD<br />
canadastoybox.com<br />
16 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
INDIE ROCK<br />
FELLING THE LOVE<br />
Calvin Love’s<br />
vocals take<br />
centre stage<br />
By BRAD SIMM<br />
Fuzz rock duo The Blue Stones practice<br />
alternative accents by TREVOR MORELLI<br />
After eight years in the trenches,<br />
Windsor fuzz-rock duo The Blue<br />
Stones dropped their debut album,<br />
Black Holes, last dropped last October<br />
and have been playing their guts<br />
out ever since. Although the record<br />
is actually a batch of previously released<br />
tracks, singer/guitarist Tarek<br />
Jafar feels it’s the perfect mix to get<br />
people acquainted with his heavy outfit.<br />
THE BLUE<br />
STONES<br />
Thurs, <strong>March</strong> 28<br />
The Rec Room<br />
(Edmonton)<br />
Fri, <strong>March</strong> 29<br />
The Gateway (Calgary)<br />
Tix $15 advance/<br />
$20 door<br />
“It’s kind of nice to have different songs from different<br />
times, because they all have a different feel to them,<br />
rather than a batch of songs that are all written at the<br />
same time,” says Jafar. “I really like that about this album<br />
in particular.”<br />
While comparisons to rock duos like The Black Keys<br />
and The White Stripes are inevitable, Jafar believes The<br />
Blue Stones add different textures and a lot more sonic<br />
boom which keeps them fresh.<br />
“People like to lump us in the whole rock duo sort<br />
of thing, which isn’t wrong, but I feel like we have more<br />
alternative accents. I listen to a lot of R&B and a lot of<br />
hip hop as well. That kind of comes through in my writing<br />
style. At the end of the day, I would put it down as an altrock<br />
duo, with a lot of blues rock influence.” ,<br />
FUZZ ROCK<br />
CALVIN LOVE<br />
Tues, <strong>March</strong> 26<br />
Broken City, (Calgary)<br />
Wed, <strong>March</strong> 27<br />
Starlight Room,<br />
Edmonton)<br />
Tix $?<br />
“A lot of albums these days, in my<br />
opinion, sound like one long song,<br />
and it’s hard to distinguish between<br />
songs.”<br />
Calvin Love doesn’t shy away<br />
from expressing himself so it grabs<br />
attention. An early video with him<br />
portrayed as a gregarious manabout-town<br />
full of street swagger takes an abrupt turn when<br />
he puts on a ridiculous party-prop chicken head setting off<br />
the theatrics. While that video and others like it from years<br />
before don’t represent Love as he is now, there’s no denying,<br />
he’s still an artist that delivers absolute distinction.<br />
Highway Dancer, his latest release, is a notable transition<br />
that moves from the ‘80s synth groove he’s often played<br />
with to a far more rootsy sound bringing in acoustic guitars,<br />
twangy stratosphere solos, the crack of a real snare and<br />
even a jazzy, sultry saxophone. It’s a well-rounded recording,<br />
diverse and yet distinctly Calvin Love.<br />
“I made the album I wanted to hear,” states Love. “I<br />
wanted to make Highway Dancer very dynamic. Instrumental<br />
soundtrack segues, rock song, country song, folk song, ‘80s<br />
synth ballad etc., etc. All held together by the one consistent<br />
evolving instrument, my vocal.”<br />
With a fondness for melody, groove and catchy hooks, all<br />
of which pour out of the ‘80s, Love acknowledges Prince,<br />
The Cars, Roxy Music and even Whitney Houston are on<br />
his old school playlist. No doubt Brian Ferry looms large. At<br />
the same time, he’s a connoisseur of musical tastes that are<br />
shaped by the profound, personal DIY stamp he lays down.<br />
“I listen to all kinds of music, so naturally my influences<br />
come from many difference styles. The DIY approach has always<br />
been in me. I have a vision and I work to crystallize this<br />
vision into something uniquely mine. At the end of the day it’s<br />
up to me to make it all happen.” ,<br />
BLACK HOLE SONS<br />
ROOTS<br />
ROUGH EDGES<br />
AND SWEET GRIT<br />
Oliver the Crow takes a refined<br />
approach to their souther blend<br />
of Americana By BRAD SIMM<br />
For Ben Plotnick<br />
and Kaitlyn Raitz,<br />
both classically<br />
trained, the move<br />
and exploration into<br />
folk, country and<br />
bluegrass equates<br />
CALVIN LOVE<br />
Thursday, <strong>March</strong> 21<br />
The Aviary, (Edmonton)<br />
Friday, <strong>March</strong> 23<br />
The Ironwood, (Calgary)<br />
to learning a new language. That they transplanted<br />
themselves from strict, academic<br />
environments in Montreal and Toronto and<br />
jumped into Nashville’s barrooms playing<br />
alongside three and four generations of<br />
deep country and bluegrass, that learning<br />
curve has a radical incline.<br />
“There’s a lot of layers to Nashville. It’s the<br />
number one bachelorette party destination<br />
in the country,” laughs Plotnick. While Broadway<br />
St. is littered with musicians playing Top<br />
40 keeping the party alive, that’s not the<br />
world he and Raitz associate with. Rather<br />
“there’s a really great bluegrass scene and<br />
a really amazing Americana song-writers<br />
scene” they’re involved with that includes<br />
not only real Southern blood but also educated<br />
Northerners that are bluegrass purists<br />
of a different sort.<br />
“A lot of bars we like are dingy, hole-in-thewalls.<br />
There’s something about singing in<br />
those places that’s really intense. You can<br />
hear the experience and grit that never<br />
makes it onto records or top-end radio.<br />
That’s what we like to blend into our band.”<br />
Drawing from parlour music and spirituals<br />
that they mix with rich country, folk and<br />
bluegrass, Oliver the Crow’s blend of Southern<br />
style is definitely refined, but with all the<br />
right kind of rough edges and sweet grit.<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 17
CANADA’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT CONCERT PROMOTER<br />
UPCOMING SHOWS<br />
UPCOMING SHOWS<br />
MATTHEW GOOD<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
RANK & VILE<br />
DARREN FROST & KENNY ROBINSON<br />
MARCH 8<br />
COMETHAZINE<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
MARCH 27<br />
WITH RALPH<br />
MAR 18<br />
<strong>March</strong> 14 - The Vogue Theatre<br />
THE CRYSTAL METHOD<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
MARCH 30<br />
THE MUSICAL BOX<br />
A GENESIS EXTRAVAGANZA<br />
APRIL 3<br />
MORGAN JAMES<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
APRIL 10<br />
WINTERSLEEP<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
MAY 3<br />
CHRIS WEBBY<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
MAY 7<br />
J.I.D<br />
WITH SS<strong>AB</strong>A<br />
MAY 22<br />
AVATAR<br />
WITH DEVIN TOWNSEND<br />
May 29<br />
TICKETS ARE AVAIL<strong>AB</strong>LE AT GARRICKWINNIPEG.COM
MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS<br />
INDIE ROCK<br />
COAST TO COAST<br />
Steven Bowers dials in to long distance<br />
recording By MIKE DUNN<br />
Sunday, <strong>March</strong> 17<br />
Ironwood (Calgary)<br />
Tuesday, <strong>March</strong> 19<br />
The Aviary (Edmonton)<br />
A<br />
decade is forever in rock n’<br />
roll. Victoria singer-songwriter<br />
Steven Bowers took a<br />
break from performing and<br />
touring after his last record,<br />
2011’s Beothuk Words, to support his<br />
wife as she finished her degree<br />
and took on contract<br />
STEVEN<br />
work, travelling across the BOWERS<br />
country from their home in<br />
St. John’s. While Bowers<br />
had built a modest career in<br />
Eastern Canada, his wife’s<br />
professional fulfillment was<br />
important to him and he moved along<br />
with her across the country.<br />
“I started this record about five<br />
years ago,” says Bowers, “and it<br />
wasn’t just like, going in and cranking<br />
out a record in three weeks. I picked<br />
up some home recording gear, and I<br />
recorded my own vocals, piano, and<br />
guitar at home, and send them back<br />
to Jason (Mingo, producer) in Halifax.<br />
He and his wife, Meaghan Smith would<br />
add parts and send them back, and<br />
then I finished it up with Colin Stewart<br />
out here on the Island.”<br />
The result, Elk Island Park, is a lush<br />
indie rock record that marks something<br />
of a progression from Bowers’<br />
early records. Where Beothuk Words<br />
and 2009’s Homing were more instrumentally<br />
spare, Elk Island Park is more<br />
expansive, with layers of atmospheric<br />
instrumentation enveloping Bowers’<br />
spare guitar and piano compositions.<br />
Through his travels, Bowers<br />
found work with iHuman<br />
in Edmonton, a youth society<br />
that allows at-risk kids to<br />
drop in and create things for<br />
free, rather than being out<br />
on the street.<br />
“I think that working with all these<br />
young, creative kids had something to<br />
do with me wanting to finish the record,”<br />
says Bowers, “They come in, and<br />
they’re so engaged and grateful to have<br />
this musical space, and they’d come in<br />
for eight hours at a time to create these<br />
great musical pieces. Being in that<br />
environment where there’s a music studio,<br />
an art studio, a fashion studio, and<br />
seeing all these kids come in to work<br />
and create, as a 36 year old guy, it really<br />
energized me creatively. I was lucky that<br />
the work allowed me to stay connected<br />
to creation in that way.” ,<br />
ALBUM OUT MARCH 29<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 19
MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS<br />
CLUB<br />
CULTURE<br />
By PAUL RODGERS<br />
It appears that <strong>March</strong> madness is very<br />
real for <strong>2019</strong> — there is an absolutely<br />
staggering assortment of shows<br />
happening this month so let’s get right<br />
into it.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 9<br />
As part of Habitat’s 10 year celebrations,<br />
the creator of the “mushroom<br />
jazz” sound himself Mark Farina will be<br />
performing. Always a treat to see this<br />
long-time tastemaker do his thing, he<br />
never disappoints.<br />
The last time this London-based DJ<br />
was in town was not that long ago and<br />
it must have been something really<br />
special because The HiFi is already<br />
bringing her back. Catch rapidly-rising<br />
UKG and baseline house master Flava<br />
D on <strong>March</strong> 9 with support from locals<br />
Burchill and BB Mars.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 15<br />
Dickens Pub is set to get torn apart on<br />
<strong>March</strong> 14 as one of the most creative,<br />
talented and influential turntablists of all<br />
time graces the stage. Do not miss DJ<br />
QBert and The Fresh Crew. Just don’t<br />
do it.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 15<br />
sees the return of the exceptionally<br />
talented and entertaining Kytami to Calgary.<br />
Head over to the Junction to catch<br />
her shred the fiddle alongside insane<br />
drum and bass and dubstep, creating a<br />
truly hype synthesis of electronic and<br />
classical music.<br />
F Also on the 15, if straight-ahead<br />
dubstep is more your speed, head down<br />
to Dickens to catch Truth, one of New<br />
Zealand’s greatest musical exports.[Text<br />
Wrapping Break]<br />
<strong>March</strong> 16<br />
Then on the 16, HiFi is hosting two<br />
really forward-facing artists, Thelem and<br />
Psymbionic. Will be a great night for the<br />
deep heads.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 23<br />
Amsterdam’s Ferreck Dawn has been<br />
doing great things in the house world<br />
for over 15 years now, with releases<br />
on labels such as Toolroom, Relief and<br />
Defected. His track “In Arms”, released<br />
20 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
SOMETHING<br />
TO WRITE<br />
HOME <strong>AB</strong>OUT<br />
Homesick gives his sights and<br />
sounds a club vibe<br />
on Defected, was one of my favourites<br />
of last year and his mixes<br />
are on regular rotation. Catch him<br />
at the Habitat on <strong>March</strong> 23.<br />
F The Librarian and Mat the Alien<br />
have a long history of performing<br />
live together, stretching way back<br />
to their residency in Whistler at<br />
Maxx Fish’s Really Good Tuesdays.<br />
Individually they are also two<br />
of the most accomplished and<br />
most salient DJs in the west coast<br />
scene with the Librarian co-founding<br />
Bass Coast, Mat starting Really<br />
Good Recordings and both of<br />
them being permanent fixtures on<br />
pretty much every festival across<br />
the country. See them both at the<br />
HiFi on <strong>March</strong> 23.<br />
<strong>March</strong> 30<br />
GET IN THE GODDAMN POOL<br />
— the Loop Daddy himself, Marc<br />
Rebillet will be at the HiFi Club<br />
on <strong>March</strong> 30. He has become<br />
an overnight viral sensation for<br />
his live loop performances that<br />
are equal parts deftly skilled<br />
and extremely hilarious. See this<br />
madman for yourself if you know<br />
what’s good for ya.<br />
By PAUL RODGERS<br />
This is not the first time local artist HomeSick<br />
has graced the pages of this publication, nor<br />
shall it likely be the last — based upon his<br />
continuing drive to push his limits and reach<br />
new accomplishments. In the past we’ve written<br />
about his time at the Redbull Music Academy<br />
in Paris, and about his performance at Barcelona-based<br />
festival Sonar. The latter of these two<br />
major events for Shaun Lodestar (real name)<br />
has consequently led to another achievement, a<br />
vinyl release on Defrostatica, a record label out<br />
of Leipzig, Germany.<br />
That relationship came about after Defrostatica<br />
hosted a German date on Homesick’s<br />
2016 European tour, soon after they wanted to<br />
put out his music. The six-track album, entitled<br />
Burnout 2099, features sounds indicative of<br />
what HomeSick has become known for —<br />
far-out, high BPM club beats that incorporate<br />
stylistic input from numerous genres but adhere<br />
to no single one.<br />
“There are plenty of tracks on this album that<br />
are definitely inspired by more of the West-<br />
Coast festival sounds, but I still think it’s a good<br />
mix of the fast paced, footwork-inspired club<br />
music people have come to expect from me.”<br />
The artist himself expresses that he’s always<br />
had a tough time putting his tunes or the tunes<br />
he collects into one specific labeled box. The<br />
first few months of <strong>2019</strong> leading up to the<br />
release of the record marked a transition for<br />
HomeSick, moving from a period of intense creative<br />
output and self-published releases in the<br />
final months of 2018 into one in which he put<br />
the bulk of his efforts into promoting Burnout<br />
2099.<br />
“The end of 2018 I really put a focus on just<br />
creating a platform for myself to push music<br />
out, which is new to me, but I wish I had done<br />
it sooner because it’s really gratifying and a<br />
new way to be able to oversee every step of the<br />
process.”<br />
Anyone familiar with his work knows that<br />
Lodestar truly is behind every aspect of his<br />
artwork, from making the artwork himself,<br />
promoting the music and shopping it out, to<br />
scheduling tour dates and running his own night<br />
Percolate, which made its grand return in 2018<br />
after a hiatus.<br />
Beyond some piano and guitar lessons in his<br />
early years, Lodestar is completely self-taught,<br />
which applies to his music production but also<br />
to his artistic work. He was inspired by 3D<br />
animation and started doing it in combination<br />
with graphic art.<br />
“It kind of morphed into my music productions<br />
and I think it was probably just recently,<br />
in 2018, when I had the confidence to be able<br />
to make something that I really believed was<br />
special.”<br />
His animations and artwork, which have been<br />
used for his own album art, promotional purposes<br />
and for the Footwork Jungle Mix series<br />
that he oversees, play tricks on the human brain.<br />
“I love in 3D rendering when you hit the<br />
‘uncanny valley’ point where something looks<br />
real but it could be portraying some impossible<br />
image like, shiny metallic textures behaving as<br />
a cloth or flag material would. It has the visual<br />
satisfaction of a photorealistic texture but is<br />
behaving in this knowingly impossible way.”<br />
Similarly, in his musical output, the sounds<br />
of HomeSick often illicit a double-take — and<br />
on his latest release he further demonstrates his<br />
ability to merge and bend seemingly disparate<br />
sonic vibrations into one cohesive, club-friendly<br />
sound.<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 21
UPCOMING EVENTS<br />
MAR 8<br />
KING BULL<br />
w/ Set and Stoned & From the Flame<br />
MAR 15<br />
MAR 16<br />
MAR 17<br />
MAR 22<br />
MAR 24<br />
PAQS<br />
BBCAN 4 Winner & DJ<br />
CRAIC THE LENS<br />
w/ Raised by Wolves & David Bradford<br />
THE SHILLELAGHS<br />
St. Patrick's Day Party<br />
MUSIC VIDEO DANCE PARTY<br />
DUSTIN NELSON<br />
FT. LUNA COAST<br />
w/ Krowns & Mentality<br />
Tickets and full listings<br />
TheRecRoom.com<br />
The Rec Room® is owned by Cineplex Entertainment L. P.<br />
UPCOMING EVENTS<br />
MAR/APR EVENTS<br />
WEDNESDAY, MAR 6<br />
FRI.03.01<br />
FUNNY 1060AM PRESENTS:<br />
TAGGART & TORRENS<br />
LIVE PODCAST<br />
SAT.03.30<br />
VIRGIN RADIO PRESENTS:<br />
VIRGINIA 2 VEGAS<br />
with SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
WEDNESDAY, MAR.13<br />
FRI.03.29<br />
THUR.03.28 FRI.03.15<br />
THE GATEWAY PRESENTS:<br />
PRE-ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARTY<br />
with THE NOVA SCOTI<strong>AB</strong>LES<br />
FUNNY 1060AM PRESENTS:<br />
RANDY’S<br />
CHEESEBURGER PICNIC<br />
THE GATEWAY PRESENTS:<br />
THE BLUE STONES<br />
with THE PISTOLWHIPS<br />
WED.06.05 FRI.05.03 THUR.04.04<br />
THE GATEWAY PRESENTS:<br />
ELECTRIC SIX<br />
with SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
MRG PRESENTS:<br />
CHRIS WEBBY<br />
THE GATEWAY PRESENTS:<br />
OCEAN ALLEY<br />
with SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
TRIVIA<br />
WEDNESDAY, MAR 20<br />
OPEN MIC<br />
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3<br />
WEDNESDAY, APR.10<br />
TRIVIA<br />
.COM/GATEWAY<br />
THE GATEWAY IN SAIT CAMPUS CENTRE, 1301 - 16 AVENUE NW, CALGARY, <strong>AB</strong>. 18+, LEGAL ID REQUIRED. THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL SAIT STUDENTS, STAFF, FACULTY, ALUMNI, MEMBERS, AND GUESTS. PLEASE VISIT SAITSA.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.<br />
22 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS<br />
FUNKY FANGS<br />
The Cat Empire roll out their big top on this tour with<br />
tough, bold, brassy downunder funk By TREVOR MORELLI<br />
JAZZ-FUNK ROCK<br />
When Australia’s The Cat<br />
Empire dropped their<br />
self-titled debut album<br />
more than 15 years ago,<br />
frontman Felix Riebl had<br />
no idea what kind of<br />
journey he was about to<br />
embark on.<br />
“I didn’t expect it to be<br />
going this long,” he says.<br />
“The band started because a bunch<br />
of musicians got together from all<br />
different parts of sound, and there’s<br />
just a real chemistry there. Something<br />
just clicked.”<br />
The Cat Empire is a six-piece<br />
orchestrated mix of steamy pop and<br />
bold, brassy, deep funky grooves<br />
that translate on stage to busting<br />
a move in rainbow colours and<br />
visual theatrics. Coming overseas<br />
to promote their new album Stolen<br />
Diamonds, Riebl says it’s one of the<br />
most inspiring records they’ve ever<br />
made.<br />
“I feel like Stolen Diamonds is the<br />
end of a trilogy. It’s the third part of<br />
us having made these albums with<br />
Jan (Stubiszewski, producer), which<br />
is not to say it’s the same as the<br />
others – it’s really different. We really<br />
wanted to write songs that would<br />
translate and be really tough going<br />
from the studio to the stage… (with)<br />
rhythm sections that would just carry<br />
on a big festival stage. We really<br />
wanted to make some tough albums.<br />
THE CAT EMPIRE<br />
Thursday, <strong>March</strong> 14<br />
Winspear Centre<br />
(Edmonton)<br />
Friday, <strong>March</strong> 15<br />
MacEwan Hall<br />
(Calgary)<br />
Tix, $37-$47<br />
It’s probably one of the<br />
most musically challenging<br />
that we’ve made.”<br />
With eight records under<br />
their belt, the live show is<br />
a jubilant mix of old and<br />
new as Cat Empire strives<br />
to find the, ahem, purr-fect<br />
balance of fan favourites<br />
and improvised pieces.<br />
“There’s always been this big<br />
struggle in our band between songs,<br />
in the sense of songs that people<br />
sing back [to us], and sections that<br />
make music interesting and challenging<br />
for us on stage as well,” Riebl<br />
admits. “Both of them have their<br />
place in a set, but you want to get<br />
the right tension between those two<br />
different coasts. The good shows<br />
are the ones that kind of have an arc<br />
between both of those things, because<br />
they give an audience a sense<br />
of going somewhere, having been<br />
somewhere that’s very unique to that<br />
night, not just having seen a show<br />
that’s kind of cookie cutter.”<br />
As for their upcoming Canadian<br />
tour, Riebl says the group feels right<br />
at home despite being thousands<br />
of kilometers from their native land<br />
down under.<br />
“Canada has been a bit of a<br />
second home for us. I always feel<br />
like we’re being made very welcome<br />
in Canada. It’s always a tour that’s<br />
really fun for us.” ,<br />
Joe Ceci<br />
for Calgary-Buffalo<br />
Fighting for you<br />
Authorized by Alberta’s NDP - 1-800-465-6587<br />
RachelNotley.ca<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 23
MUSiC COVER STORY<br />
TANJA TIZIANA<br />
24 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong><br />
PUP (L-R): Zack Mykula, Stefan Babcock, Steve Sladowski and<br />
Nestor Chumak. Toronto, Ontario’s punk rock road warriors<br />
combat depression with laughter on their new album, Morbid Stuff,<br />
set for release on the band’s brand new label Little Dipper.
Life of<br />
the party<br />
Toronto punks channel doom<br />
and gloom of the here and<br />
now on Morbid Stuff<br />
T<br />
oronto has just recovered from a week-long<br />
winter apocalypse and PUP frontman Stefan<br />
Babcock and drummer Zack Mykula are sitting<br />
in a craft beer hall in the city’s West End,<br />
nursing their beverages while pinball machines<br />
clink away loudly in the background.<br />
Torontonians have an interesting, if not comedic, relationship<br />
with winter. Remember 20 years ago when<br />
the mayor had to call in the military to help them battle<br />
mother nature? While this year didn’t call for a full<br />
blown national emergency, it was still pretty dark — for<br />
Toronto.<br />
“I actually love the doom and gloom of winter, but<br />
that long Canadian winter does play into the songwriting<br />
and general vibe of our songs,” Babcock says.<br />
Surviving winter is one thing, but the story of PUP<br />
is actually rooted in survival, with a bit of deep-seated<br />
nihilism thrown in for good measure. The young punk<br />
band has just finished the final touches on their new<br />
album, Morbid Stuff, and they’re enjoying some downtime<br />
before they take off on tour for what’s basically<br />
looking like the rest of the year and then some.<br />
The album is so fresh they haven’t even had a chance<br />
to think about what this installment of their discography<br />
means to them yet, but you can tell by the album<br />
name alone that it’s pretty much the same old PUP doing<br />
what their fans have grown to love from their previous<br />
albums, up to and including 2016’s defiant The<br />
Dream Is Over.<br />
If you don’t know the story, the narrative around<br />
the album is one of perseverance; one that defines the<br />
band’s ethos through and through. In 2015, on the first<br />
day of a six-week tour, Babcock discovered a cyst on<br />
his vocal chords. The band was in Baltimore and he<br />
CONTINUED ON PG. 26 k<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 25
TANJA TIZIANA<br />
I mean, yeah man, the<br />
fucking apocalypse is<br />
coming. Get ready!”<br />
Lead singer, Stefan Babcock<br />
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 25<br />
felt something was off so they went to a clinic at Johns Hopkins<br />
Hospital. This is where he would meet the doctor who would be<br />
the source of inspiration for the album name when she uttered<br />
the four words no artist ever wants to hear — “The dream is<br />
over.”<br />
But in actuality, PUP’s journey was just beginning.<br />
Babcock recalls: “She was like, ‘Just go home, this band thing<br />
is over for you.’ So, all of us being very defiant in the face of that<br />
stuff, we decided to just keep going and we ended up getting<br />
through five weeks of that tour, which was crazy.”<br />
The actual crazy part is that when they finally landed back<br />
home in Toronto on week five, Babcock’s<br />
voice had finally had enough.<br />
“In our home market with the<br />
most pressure and the most fans and<br />
everything, just before we went on, I<br />
literally couldn’t make a sound,” Babcock<br />
continues. “It just wasn’t there<br />
at all. And we played that day and I<br />
PUP<br />
With Pkew Pkew Pkew<br />
and Brass<br />
Tue, <strong>March</strong> 2<br />
Commonwealth (Calgary)<br />
Wed, <strong>March</strong> 27<br />
Starlite (Edmonton)<br />
SOLD OUT<br />
was just croaking. After that I went to another specialist in<br />
Toronto and found out I hemorrhaged my vocal chords. Essentially<br />
the cyst burst apart and filled my vocal chords with<br />
blood.”<br />
Vocal chords have to meet to make a sound and the blood<br />
was preventing Babcock from using his voice so he had no<br />
choice but to stop. After weeks of silence and months of healing,<br />
Babcock eventually trained himself to sing again. It was<br />
a total of four months recovery before the band could even<br />
start thinking about playing shows again. While their future<br />
was never certain, the band persevered.<br />
From the “Dark Days” Babcock sings about on their 2013<br />
self-titled debut to the “dark thoughts,” as heard on the track<br />
“Scorpion Hill” from their soon-to-be-released Morbid Stuff,<br />
the band has always maintained their emo composure blended<br />
with pure punk rock sensibilities, but the reality is PUP is thriving<br />
in their nihilistic tendencies that have carried them all over<br />
the world many times over.<br />
Are things really that bad though?<br />
“Yeah, pretty not good,” Babcock says. “But music is what we<br />
do because it’s fun. That’s why we play in a band and that’s why<br />
we quit our jobs to make no money and it’s a really positive way<br />
for us to deal with a lot of negative garbage in this world.”<br />
It makes sense then that one of the pre-orders for Morbid<br />
Stuff is the “Annihilation Preparedness Kit,” complete with an<br />
inflatable boat.<br />
“I mean, yeah man, the fucking apocalypse is coming. Get<br />
ready!”<br />
I<br />
n the meantime, PUP have three already-sold-out west<br />
coast shows scheduled for Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.<br />
You could say the band is road testing their new<br />
album in some tried-and-true Canadian markets before<br />
they leap over the pond for a string of dates throughout<br />
the UK, France and Germany.<br />
“It’s funny because when we do something cool like<br />
play smaller shows, all it does is make people pissed at us because<br />
they couldn’t get tickets. We get so many angry messages<br />
and try to reply to as many of them as we can,” Babcock says<br />
with a genuine smile on his face. “Sometimes bands make decisions<br />
selfishly because we want to play a smaller show. We’ll be<br />
back and play a bigger room and everyone will get the opportunity<br />
to see us eventually, but if we don’t do these kind of things<br />
for ourselves once in a while, we’re fucked.”<br />
Regardless of the size of shows they’re playing, PUP has succeeded<br />
at capturing the DIY work ethic of the new millennium.<br />
Babcock knows things are fucked but it’s through embracing<br />
them with a sense of humour and humility that they’re able to<br />
rise up and persevere. Having climbed the ranks of the music<br />
industry in a most respectable way, Babcock cut his teeth in the<br />
all ages scene, playing in a ska band called Stop Drop ‘N’ Skank<br />
(it was a different time back then, okay?), and eventually found<br />
himself working music industry odd jobs, including marketing<br />
for Toronto-based indie imprint Arts & Crafts. He was even the<br />
manager for METZ at one point in time and has been known to<br />
offer grant writing tips and assistance to younger, less experienced<br />
bands.<br />
Music is a lifestyle but punk rock is a commitment that ultimately<br />
chooses you. And while PUP continues to climb the<br />
ranks of the music industry and gain notoriety through their<br />
catchy songs and impressively executed music videos, they’ve<br />
never forgotten where they came from because they’re still active<br />
members of the same scene they grew up in.<br />
“As much as we’ve all been a part of building a community<br />
since we were 15 playing in bands, all of the people who have<br />
helped us along the way have really inspired us. It made us realize<br />
that once you get a little bit of traction as a band, it’s your<br />
duty to help other people.”<br />
Later on that night, three active and notable Toronto bands —<br />
Casper Skulls, Greys and Chastity — are playing a show at a venue<br />
in downtown Toronto. In the middle of Chastity’s set, looking out<br />
into the sea of fans, you can see Babcock wearing the same clothes<br />
he was in earlier that day during our interview, rocking out with<br />
ear plugs in and a huge pint of beer in his hand. The big smile on<br />
his face suggests he’s clearly surrounded by friends and you can<br />
tell he wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. Because no matter the<br />
weather, it’s the music and the community you’re a part of that<br />
carry you through those dark winter nights. ,<br />
26 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
CJSW Presents:<br />
ALL-AGES @ McHUGH HOUSE<br />
C J SW.C O M<br />
FRIDAY, MARCH 22 @ 7:30PM<br />
BODY LENS - FITNESS - CASUAL LUXURY<br />
PAY WHAT YOU CAN<br />
1515 CENTRE ST S<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 27
EDMONTON<br />
EXTRA<br />
MARY MATHESON<br />
DRUNK HISTORY<br />
Vancouver Polka Punks The band draws inspiration from<br />
all sorts of influences but continue<br />
The Dreadnoughts Pay<br />
their infatuation with polka while<br />
Homage To World War I experimenting with other genres<br />
On Foreign Skies<br />
according to vocalist and lead guitarist<br />
Nicholas Smyth. “There’s a<br />
By CHANTEL BELISLE<br />
style of music called Balkan Beats.<br />
Over the past 12 years, The It’s got this serious, deep, violent<br />
Dreadnoughts have built a following<br />
for themselves in Vancouver’s dance music of all kinds in Eastern<br />
beat,” he says. “There’s traditional<br />
drunk punk scene with their Europe and there’s gypsy sort of<br />
unique brand of polka infused beats and styles with traditional instruments<br />
and a lot of people over<br />
punk rock and continue to win<br />
over new fans with their high-energy<br />
live shows.<br />
it with other<br />
there are using that and combining<br />
elements.”<br />
Their most recent album,<br />
Foreign Skies, is a concept album<br />
about World War I where the band<br />
took a different turn from their<br />
usual polka fuelled romps. The<br />
album’s progression takes you<br />
through the rough waters of that<br />
time in history.<br />
“You just can’t do something<br />
as important and serious as the<br />
first world war without trying to<br />
be a little more reflective about it,”<br />
Smyth says. “It starts off kind of<br />
gung ho and then it gets kind of<br />
sombre and then things really go<br />
to hell.”<br />
Foreign Skies takes on a<br />
sequence of songs that incorporates<br />
Balkan and Klezmer romps,<br />
German polka, Viking<br />
chants and of course<br />
some punk rock<br />
thrown in to the mix.<br />
But according to Nicholas,<br />
the band doesn’t<br />
plan on staying on the<br />
path of musically mapping<br />
out the course of<br />
history.<br />
“Never again,” he says. “Never<br />
ever again are we going to do<br />
something that complicated. It<br />
was so hard to know how to do<br />
it right. I still don’t think that we<br />
did it right but we did it. It was<br />
so much work and we ended up<br />
realizing that what we are best at<br />
is probably the more fun-loving<br />
THE<br />
DREADNOUGHTS<br />
Friday, <strong>March</strong> 22<br />
Dickens Pub (Calgary)<br />
Tix: $15<br />
Saturday, <strong>March</strong> 23<br />
The Starlite Room<br />
(Edmonton)<br />
Tix: $20<br />
chaotic stuff, where<br />
we get into the studio<br />
and have a few<br />
songs we like and<br />
bash them out and<br />
probably drink too<br />
much while we are<br />
doing it. And that is<br />
sort of our spirit.”<br />
The band has spring Canadian<br />
and European tours lined<br />
up, and are looking forward to<br />
getting back to the roots of their<br />
shenanigans — drinking. Expect<br />
to hear more of their good ol’<br />
fashion liquor fuelled fun, alongside<br />
songs from Foreign Skies<br />
and sneak peaks of their new<br />
material. ,<br />
Coral<br />
Plaza’s<br />
Cultural<br />
Collective<br />
Edmonton’s newest arts<br />
venue prioritizes under<br />
represented artists and<br />
communities<br />
By STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT<br />
It’s no secret that the state of<br />
venues in Edmonton has been on<br />
the decline. Since 2015, the city<br />
has lost five venues including The<br />
Forge, Wunderbar, The Artery,<br />
Industry House, and The Needle<br />
Vinyl Tavern. Sure, some of the<br />
spaces have been replaced by<br />
28 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
F IS FOR<br />
FAILURE<br />
Sharing the rollercoaster of professional failure with<br />
peers is the big idea behind Fuckup Nights<br />
By STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT<br />
One of life’s greatest ironies is<br />
the construct of failure being a<br />
marker of success, but it’s true.<br />
Humans are constantly failing<br />
and no matter what society or<br />
advertising tells you, failure is a<br />
good thing. That’s the principle<br />
Fuckup Nights is built on—a<br />
global movement and event series<br />
that shares stories of professional<br />
failure. The Edmonton chapter<br />
of Fuckup Nights is still relatively<br />
new with the event this month<br />
being the fifth.<br />
“I’d heard a lot of stories in<br />
the news about failure before<br />
I heard about Fuckup Nights,”<br />
says Edmonton Fuckup Nights<br />
coordinator, Virginia Potkins.<br />
“People talking about business<br />
failures, personal failures and how<br />
we should talk about them more<br />
and how it brings communities together<br />
to have a support system.<br />
I knew this is what we need here<br />
instead of people only talking<br />
about all the good things that<br />
supposedly happen in their lives.<br />
You see all the glitz and glamour<br />
on Facebook and I think it kind<br />
of isolates people. So,<br />
we need to be more<br />
supportive of each<br />
other.”<br />
After coming<br />
to that realization,<br />
Potkins<br />
reached out<br />
to Fuckup<br />
Nights HQ<br />
and began<br />
building the foundation<br />
of the Edmonton equivalent.<br />
She reached out to<br />
her friend and colleague<br />
Amanda Nielsen, and<br />
the two began planning.<br />
“She graciously said<br />
we should go for wine<br />
one evening. So we<br />
went and had half a bottle of wine<br />
and I loved the idea,” Nielsen says.<br />
“My husband and I are in the process<br />
of almost going into a year<br />
of our startup business. The bad<br />
times, you’re just like, ‘Am I fucking<br />
up completely?’ And I thought,<br />
‘What a fabulous way to meet<br />
people who are experiencing life’s<br />
FUCKUP<br />
NIGHTS<br />
Wednesday,<br />
<strong>March</strong> 20<br />
The Avairy<br />
(Edmonton)<br />
Tix: $20 advance,<br />
$25 door<br />
ups and downs and have a realistic<br />
dialogue on what life looks like and<br />
how to be resilient.’”<br />
The concept of Fuckup<br />
Nights is simple.<br />
The night is made<br />
up of speakers<br />
who reveal their<br />
personal fuckup<br />
on the job. After<br />
their story is<br />
shared through<br />
a series of<br />
slides, there’s<br />
a mini Q&A<br />
session.<br />
“We’ve had<br />
some speakers where<br />
they’ve shared their<br />
story and it’s hilarious, but<br />
we’ve also had speakers<br />
who have teared up on<br />
the stage and talked<br />
about an experience that<br />
was so intimately personal<br />
and raw,” Potkins<br />
says. “It can be a big emotional<br />
rollercoaster of a night, but in<br />
some ways, that’s what owning a<br />
business is like so it works out.”<br />
So far, many of the speakers at<br />
Edmonton’s Fuckup Nights have<br />
been people Potkins and Nielsen<br />
know from their professional and<br />
social circles and interestingly,<br />
a majority of them have been<br />
women.<br />
“We’re going to have our first<br />
male speaker soon and I’m really<br />
jazzed about that because one<br />
really curious thing we found is<br />
women are a lot more open to<br />
come and share their stories of<br />
failure. We’ve had a lot of men in<br />
the audience, but finding men to<br />
go and take that mic is harder to<br />
obtain,” Nielsen says.<br />
Ultimately, Fuckup Nights is<br />
a way to think differently about<br />
failure and success.<br />
“Failures aren’t negative, they’re<br />
just learning experiences,” Potkins<br />
says. “People take failure so hard,<br />
but when you start talking about<br />
it, suddenly you aren’t alone. I’ve<br />
taken a lot from the speakers so<br />
far. It really makes you think ‘Wow,<br />
maybe i can approach my next<br />
screw up in a different way.’” ,<br />
newer venues, but the reality of<br />
becoming a surviving venue is<br />
becoming more and more scarce<br />
due to financial, bylaw and other<br />
factors. Yet, a relatively new arts<br />
performance space is aiming to<br />
persevere in this harsh climate.<br />
Inspired by DIY culture and<br />
spaces in New York City and<br />
parts of Eastern Europe, Coral<br />
Plaza—one of Edmonton’s newest<br />
arts performance and event<br />
venues—has been running for a<br />
little over two months now. The<br />
venue has become a safe space<br />
to represent all forms of art like,<br />
but not limited to: music, visual art,<br />
fashion, lectures, poetry readings,<br />
film screenings, etc.<br />
“We wanted a space in Edmonton<br />
that prioritizes under represented<br />
artists and communities,<br />
where you can go to one venue<br />
and find everything,” says one<br />
of Coral Plaza’s founders, Sarah<br />
Seburn. She adds that the space<br />
is all about connecting different<br />
cultural genres and communities<br />
together.<br />
And even though many of Coral<br />
Plaza’s events are largely supported<br />
by word of mouth and Facebook,<br />
the little venue has had quite<br />
a few successful events such as<br />
the pop-up electronic party Coral<br />
Harts, presented by the popular<br />
house and techno community<br />
initiative, Connect.<br />
“We are very new, but in the<br />
months we’ve been open have<br />
seen a tremendous amount of<br />
interest,” says another founder,<br />
Rachel Seburn.<br />
In keeping up with the<br />
DIY-grassroots ethos, naming Coral<br />
Plaza also follows a long-standing<br />
tradition in Edmonton of<br />
selecting venue names.<br />
“Shark Tank, Octopus Ink, Baby<br />
Seal Club, Coral Plaza,” says<br />
another founder, Selah Dawn.<br />
“Coral has a dual meaning, coral<br />
being a living organism that helps<br />
facilitate ocean life, as well as a<br />
feminine colour. Plazas are [also]<br />
meeting spaces for communities<br />
to organize, learn, and express.”<br />
Being so new to the venue<br />
world, Coral Plaza doesn’t yet<br />
have a set safe space directive—a<br />
quality that every venue<br />
needs to keep its patrons<br />
assured—but the staff are<br />
working with various individuals<br />
and non-profits to develop<br />
one.<br />
“Each person booking the<br />
space has their own unique<br />
needs as to what a safe space<br />
looks like to them, and how<br />
they would like to facilitate<br />
that,” Dawn says. “Our staff<br />
is here to listen and follow<br />
through when concerns are<br />
brought up to us.”<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 29
EARLY<br />
LATE<br />
SAT MAR. 9 • LATE<br />
M A R C H<br />
B R U N C H • L U N C H • D I N N E R • L I V E M U S I C<br />
SAT<br />
MAR. 2<br />
ROMAN CLARKE<br />
M US I C FOR<br />
M E X I CO<br />
FUNDRAISER<br />
WED<br />
MAR. 13<br />
EARLY<br />
BUCKMAN<br />
COE<br />
MARCH 22<br />
SLEEPWRECK<br />
WITH KALI YUGA<br />
A N D T H E GENESA<br />
PROJECT A N D<br />
METAFLOOR<br />
international<br />
blues sensation<br />
ERJA LYYTINEN<br />
march 8<br />
CORINTHIAN<br />
WITH CARBOLIZER<br />
+ WISH LASH THU MAR. 14<br />
MS. TEAZE<br />
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international<br />
women slay<br />
MAJOR<br />
Drew<br />
GREGORY<br />
FRI MAR. 15<br />
LOVE<br />
WITH THOMAS THOMAS<br />
THU MAR. 28<br />
SAT MAR. 9 • EARLY<br />
CASUAL CLASSICAL<br />
WITH<br />
EILEEN KOSASIH<br />
GIRLS ON<br />
DECK<br />
DANCE PARTY<br />
ERICA DEE, JODIE B<br />
& MOLLYFI<br />
RYAN E A R L Y<br />
MCNALLY<br />
F R I M A R . 2 9<br />
SILVERLING<br />
RELEASE SHOW<br />
L A T E<br />
SPRING<br />
SNEAK<br />
PEAK<br />
STEVEN TAETZ<br />
JOYFULTALK<br />
// STEGOSARAHS<br />
&<br />
VISIT KINGEDDY.CA FOR<br />
INFO, NEW SHOWS, AND TICKETS<br />
THE<br />
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Reviews<br />
MUSiC<br />
Album Review<br />
JENNY LEWIS<br />
On the Line<br />
WARNER BROS. RECORDS<br />
With the release On the Line, it<br />
seems Jenny Lewis has traded<br />
in her once-signature rainbow<br />
blazer for an even bolder outfit<br />
choice: the album cover displays<br />
an up-close photo of a silken teal<br />
jumpsuit, fit snugly onto Lewis’<br />
torso. But a change of wardrobe<br />
isn’t the only thing that distinguishes<br />
this eqra in her career<br />
from the rest. Both literally and<br />
figuratively, Lewis ditches the<br />
summery tunes and cotton candy<br />
aesthetic of her previous work to<br />
take a more straightforward look<br />
at her life and her music.<br />
Five years have passed since<br />
the arrival of 2014’s The Voyager,<br />
but Lewis’ songwriting abilities<br />
have only sharpened since then.<br />
On her fourth record, she revives<br />
the Seventies power-rock vibe<br />
and amps up her country-tinged<br />
confessionals heard in her<br />
previous solo work. Only this<br />
time around, Lewis’ sound is even<br />
more polished and self-assured.<br />
Serving as guest performers on<br />
the album are some notable rock<br />
‘n’ roll heavy hitters, including<br />
Beck, Ringo Starr, former Tom<br />
Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist<br />
Benmont Tench, bassist<br />
Don Was, and renowned session<br />
drummer Jim Keltner.<br />
Since her days as the frontwoman<br />
of Rilo Kiley, Lewis has<br />
been a master of crafting evoc-<br />
CONTINUED ON PG. 33 k<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 31
MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS<br />
N0V3L<br />
Novel<br />
Flemish Eye<br />
BOB MOULD<br />
Sunshine Rock<br />
Merge Records<br />
ROYAL TRUX<br />
White Stuff<br />
Fat Possum<br />
LA DISPUTE<br />
Panorama<br />
Epitaph Records<br />
GARY CLARK JR.<br />
This Land<br />
Warner Bros. Records<br />
N0V3L represent a distinct ideal<br />
of Vancouver’s many housing<br />
artist collectives. As the housing<br />
and rent crisis forces artists to<br />
either leave in droves to more<br />
livable situations or to unite and<br />
collaborate, this forceful push for<br />
survival has its own unique set of<br />
opportunities. These creative eco<br />
systems can help bridge the trauma<br />
of isolation, encouraging more<br />
focus on creative pursuits and<br />
eventually great creative works.<br />
The angular riffage and existential<br />
socioeconomic mires of the<br />
self-titled debut EP is post-punk<br />
updated for a modern audience.<br />
Harkening back to the likes of<br />
Gang of Four and new wave<br />
aesthetics of Devo with a touch of<br />
Clockwork Orange. The urgency<br />
and compact structure of the<br />
songs lend to a youthful exuberance<br />
where one can only hope<br />
to spasm to the syncopations at<br />
play.<br />
However, don’t let the infectious<br />
grooves on display fool you, they<br />
are formidable, tightly knit into a<br />
package ready to force a factory<br />
line walkout. From the corporate<br />
frustrations of ‘’To Whom This<br />
May Concern’’ to the jangle pop<br />
sensations of ‘’Take You For’’<br />
N0V3L deliver a consistency that<br />
lands them in the pantheon of<br />
their many post-punk forbearers.<br />
One could almost imagine Kafka<br />
being sent into a spiral of paranoia<br />
after listening to this.<br />
<br />
Josh Sheppard<br />
If a wave of nostalgia for the emo/<br />
screamo/post-hardcore movement<br />
is inevitable, as nostalgia for<br />
styles tends to be, it’s probably<br />
time to listen to Bob Mould’s<br />
records a lot more.<br />
His latest, Sunshine Rock, sees<br />
Mould pushing the beat as he<br />
always has, like a longboard on<br />
fire. Sunshine Rock is relentless<br />
from the downbeat of the opening<br />
title track with its pogoing punk<br />
rock hooks. Mould is writing<br />
from a place of sincerity and, as<br />
the record blazes through its 39<br />
minutes, you sense he knows time<br />
is catching up.<br />
“The Final Years” has a great<br />
synth hook and you can sense<br />
Mould is pensive about the time<br />
he’s got left when he sings, “Foot<br />
caressing pavement with caution,<br />
not like before when we ran with<br />
abandon across the rocks and<br />
cracks of fissured earth and shattered<br />
sky.”<br />
Sunshine Rock sees Mould’s past<br />
clearly, and it’s hard to overstate<br />
his presence in the rock n’ roll<br />
that his generation grew up<br />
with. There comes a point for<br />
a songwriter to look back and<br />
notice that 1989 was thirty years<br />
ago and give some thought to<br />
their lifetime, whether they were<br />
the ones making the music that<br />
defined an era, or were just kids<br />
discovering it.<br />
<br />
Mike Dunn<br />
White Stuff is the first full-fledged<br />
Royal Trux album since 2000’s<br />
Pound for Pound and if you’ve<br />
been patiently awaiting more of<br />
this band’s low-fi, sloppy-Stonesblues-slurry,<br />
you’ll likely be<br />
pleased. Here, Royal Trux founders<br />
Jennifer Herrema and Michael<br />
Hagerty continue the famously<br />
drug-addled meandering they first<br />
embarked on in the late ’80s.<br />
But this doesn’t seem like music<br />
originating from a warm, velvety<br />
heroin-cocoon. Nor does it come<br />
from the abrasive, jaw-grinding<br />
stridency of the cocaine use<br />
alluded to on the album cover.<br />
This is the lurching, attention-deficit-causing<br />
buzz of a trailer-park<br />
concoction whipped up from a<br />
case of cough syrup and a jug of<br />
household cleaner.<br />
Sounding like a string of<br />
tape-splices, the title track kicks<br />
the album off with tight guitarstylings<br />
jammed between jumbled<br />
piles of slacker-rock fuzz. Next,<br />
Herrema and Haggerty drift into<br />
the syrupy glue-trap that is “Year<br />
of the Dog.”<br />
By the time White Stuff finally<br />
hangs itself on the sharp hooks of<br />
“Under Ice,” we’ve been treated to<br />
a rock album as satisfying as it is<br />
disparate. And, make no mistake,<br />
this is a rock ‘n’ roll album. Which<br />
means that, in <strong>2019</strong>, White Stuff<br />
deserves to be heralded as the<br />
rare and magical beast that it is.<br />
<br />
R. Overwater<br />
Panorama, Midwest post-hardcore<br />
group La Dispute’s fifth<br />
full-length release, is the band’s<br />
most dichotomous work. Bouncing<br />
rapidly between subdued<br />
spoken word interludes backed<br />
by shimmering lead guitar is<br />
contrasted harshly by the raw,<br />
emotional bellows and blistering<br />
artillery barrages of drums and<br />
drop-D power chords they build<br />
beautifully into.<br />
While this repeated buildup<br />
and breakdown can often sound<br />
formulaic, La Dispute manage to<br />
make each crescendo feel earned<br />
and wholly heartbreaking.<br />
Trumpets accent “Rhodonite<br />
and Grief,” a track that commits<br />
to the group’s melancholy to deliver<br />
a harrowing story of trauma<br />
through a partner’s eyes. This<br />
is broken up quickly by “Anxiety<br />
Panorama” that never seems to<br />
give up on the all-out pummel its<br />
title promises.<br />
These two trenches of restraint<br />
and full, all-feeling emotion<br />
showcase the vast empty space<br />
of sentiment that exists between<br />
them.<br />
Panorama sees La Dispute’s<br />
storytelling and songcraft stand<br />
out as the group paint poetic<br />
pictures of their hometown landscapes<br />
and indulge in their desolate,<br />
grief-ridden soundscapes.<br />
Cole Parker<br />
Grammy Award winning singer/<br />
songwriter/guitarist/Texan Gary<br />
Clark Jr. returns to his birthplace<br />
for solace and inspiration on his<br />
third full-length release, This<br />
Land.<br />
Destined to become a classic in<br />
its own right, This Land declares<br />
that Mr. Clark is pissed and has a<br />
mighty big axe to grind.<br />
“What About Us” conjures a<br />
deep but glorious groove that<br />
plows through a subterfuge of<br />
surging strings and modern conundrums.<br />
Lyrics that tip a hat to<br />
showmen like Prince and electric<br />
guitar flourishes that pay homage<br />
Hendrix aren’t just spiritual ornamentation;<br />
they’re a means to an<br />
end.<br />
Stepping beneath the shady<br />
boughs, the slow sway of “I Got<br />
My Eyes on You (Locked & Loaded)”<br />
and “Pearl Cadillac” allow<br />
ample room for Clark’s voice to<br />
breathe and bloom with an irresistible<br />
combination of vulnerability<br />
and strength.<br />
Meanwhile, the boppin’ rocker<br />
“Gotta Get Into Something” fills<br />
the air with dust and smoke as<br />
“Got To Get Up” puts in hard<br />
labour on the bluesman’s chain<br />
gang.<br />
Traversing drought and flood,<br />
This Land is a remarkable<br />
17-chapter scrapbook of Americana<br />
that draws a line of conscience<br />
in the sand between the<br />
unnecessarily nostalgic and the<br />
crucially historic.<br />
<br />
Christine Leonard<br />
32 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
EX HEX<br />
It’s Real<br />
Merge Records<br />
Mary Timony is nothing short<br />
of prolific. Through her work<br />
in Helium, Wild Flag and time<br />
spent in the Washington D.C.<br />
math-rock band Autoclave, her<br />
influence is expansive. Ex Hex is<br />
no exception. Certain tracks on<br />
this sophomore offering (“Another<br />
Dimension,” “Cosmic Cave”)<br />
wouldn’t feel out of place in Helium’s<br />
discography, but the band<br />
doesn’t rely on ’90s nostalgia. The<br />
vocal harmonies are layered on<br />
top of guitar solos and impressive<br />
riffs that act as a welcomed show<br />
of skill instead of feeling masterbatory<br />
or over-the-top.<br />
It’s Real feels truly collaborative.<br />
You can hear bassist Betsy<br />
Wright’s recent work in her power-pop<br />
project, Bat Fangs, mesh<br />
well with Timony’s more hard rock<br />
leaning and evocative guitar play.<br />
The first single, “Tough Enough,”<br />
feels like what should be played<br />
as movie credits roll. With Timony<br />
crooning that she “thinks about it<br />
all the time / back when you were<br />
mine / four tears down your golden<br />
cheek / won’t bring that back<br />
to me” as the leads drive down an<br />
empty stretch of highway into the<br />
sunset.<br />
Ex Hex lack the pretentiousness<br />
that often is associated<br />
with early success. Instead, they<br />
apply their clear skill to creating a<br />
record that is genuinely enjoyable<br />
and fun to listen to.<br />
<br />
Kenn Enns<br />
THE CINEMATIC<br />
ORCHESTRA<br />
To Believe<br />
Domino Records<br />
There is beauty in simplicity. Only<br />
a few piano keys and soft vocals<br />
are in The Cinematic Orchestra’s<br />
emotionally compelling composition<br />
“To Build a Home,” which was<br />
released in 2007 and became<br />
a hit single. Twelve years later,<br />
they’re releasing To Believe, which<br />
carries just as much raw emotion<br />
as its predecessor.<br />
The album shines through simplistic<br />
introductions with acoustic<br />
chords and piano keys, before a<br />
violin slowly joins and hauntingly<br />
beautiful vocals, like Moses<br />
Sumney, drawing the listener into<br />
the eponymous album opener.<br />
The second track “A Caged<br />
Bird/Imitations of Life,” strikes<br />
a match, carrying a toe-tapping<br />
beat highly differing from the<br />
melody of the first. Featuring the<br />
strong vocals of Roots Manuva,<br />
he pairs well with the song’s jazzy<br />
electronic instrumental.<br />
The familiar transcendent<br />
sounds of The Cinematic Orchestra<br />
eloquently unfold through the<br />
rest of the album, reminding that<br />
an instrumental song unravels<br />
feelings of nostalgia. Such as in<br />
“The Workers of Art,”—which<br />
flows into the hopeful, slightly<br />
more upbeat “Zero One/This<br />
Fantasy.”<br />
Whether it’s in an amphitheatre<br />
or listening through headphones,<br />
the creative genius of The Cinematic<br />
Orchestra’s latest will make<br />
a believer of us all.<br />
<br />
Lauren Edwards<br />
WHITE DENIM<br />
Side Effects<br />
City Slang<br />
It’s only been a hot minute since<br />
Austin’s White Denim released<br />
their album Performance, but the<br />
prolific rockers have plenty of outfits<br />
in their wardrobe that are just<br />
dying to be trotted out. Enter Side<br />
Effects the band’s latest effort for<br />
the Berlin-based City Slang label<br />
and their eighth record to date.<br />
An attempt to bottle the magic<br />
elixir of White Denim and their<br />
mood-altering live concerts, Side<br />
Effects drips with the very juices<br />
of life.<br />
The ebullient opener “Small Talk<br />
(Feeling Control)” bursts with a<br />
colourful joie de vivre that pulls<br />
the rest of the album along in<br />
its wake. Bringing the weird,<br />
“Hallelujah Strike Gold” runs<br />
headlong into the radiant waves<br />
of “Shanalala” before surrendering<br />
to the crosstown traffic of<br />
the seven-minute commuter “NY<br />
Money.” Smooth transitions to the<br />
rolling hills of “Reversed Mirror”<br />
and wiggly roads of “So Emotional”<br />
come easily to the breezy<br />
psych-blues troupe as they set<br />
“Heads Spinning” with riffs that<br />
tickle the senses. Dissolver “Introduce<br />
Me” finishes the deed with a<br />
smeared tempo that magnifies the<br />
imperfect and forgets your name<br />
the instant you pronounce it; most<br />
likely a side effect of too much<br />
sunshine and Bonnaroo-brand<br />
champagne.<br />
Christine Leonard<br />
JENNY LEWIS<br />
kCONTINUED FROM PG. 29<br />
ative narratives that are both specific and universal. The<br />
record opens with the piano-driven ballad “Heads Gonna<br />
Roll,” in which the songstress tackles the familiar story<br />
of leaving a toxic relationship. Her dreamy voice floats<br />
between layers of acoustic guitar, piano and lush orchestral<br />
strings, which altogether work to give the song greater<br />
poignancy. And yet, while the song exudes technical<br />
sophistication, the writing comes across as casually as a<br />
conversation. Lewis takes a clear-eyed view of her doomed<br />
love, but she still manages to insert a few witty one-liners in<br />
her lament: “I hope the sycophants in Marrakesh/Make you<br />
feel your very best/Anonymity must make you blue.”<br />
Lead single “Red Bull & Hennessy” commands attention<br />
with its distinctive piano riff and sparkling vocals à la Stevie<br />
Nicks. Like Lewis’ earlier compositions, the song carries<br />
the same tone and tempo that instantly transport you to a<br />
lonesome American landscape. On the track, her voice is<br />
as strong and beautiful as ever, and when sung over bluesy<br />
guitars and loud drums, it sounds full of authority. While<br />
“wired on Red Bull and Hennessy,” she even proclaims that<br />
she’s “higher than you.” But it becomes clear that she’s<br />
chasing after someone who doesn’t reciprocate her feelings,<br />
and her desperation shines through. It’s seen in songs<br />
like “Wasted Youth” and “On the Line”—the songwriter<br />
uses her bright and sultry voice to mask her gloomier<br />
lyrical content.<br />
A song entitled “Rabbit Hole” closes out the record,<br />
which might be the only instance of a catchy, indie pop<br />
tune comparable to Lewis’ Voyager work. Unlike the similarly<br />
named “Rabbit Fur Coat” from her eponymous 2006<br />
album, here it seems Lewis is stepping away from the<br />
shadows of her past—in this case, an unhealthy romantic<br />
fling—to take more control over her life. But despite going<br />
it alone, she recognizes she may not break her bad habits<br />
entirely: “I’m not going down the rabbit hole with you/I’m<br />
going down the rabbit hole without you,” she sings. It’s<br />
a vulnerable position to put yourself in, but when you’re<br />
already on the line, it’s a risk worth taking. Karina Espinosa<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 33
MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS<br />
HAWKSLEY<br />
WORKMAN<br />
Median Age Wasteland<br />
Isadora Records<br />
The business of making music<br />
has long been child’s play for<br />
singer-songwriter Hawksley<br />
Workman. From polishing the<br />
glam-pop pole with “Stripteaze” to<br />
warming the hearth of humanity<br />
with “Almost a Full Moon” the<br />
multi-talented instrumentalist and<br />
author has successfully encapsulated<br />
the modern Canadian<br />
experience while panhandling his<br />
way into the hearts and record<br />
collections of rock and folk music<br />
fans around the globe.<br />
Sizing up personal demons on<br />
his self-exploratory 16th studio<br />
album, Median Age Wasteland,<br />
Workman (who turns 44 this<br />
month) applies his careful yet<br />
ebullient craft to tracks like the<br />
equally luminous and humourous<br />
“Lazy” and the small town summer<br />
ditty “Battlefords.” As ever,<br />
soaring vocals and cafe corner<br />
guitar rambles ease any sense of<br />
awkwardness as the true north<br />
troubadour dives headlong into<br />
another library of unabashedly<br />
innocent and sentimentalized<br />
moments. “Birds in Train Stations”,<br />
cigarettes, lucid dreams, bingo<br />
cards and cars perched on blocks<br />
are all fair game as the obtuse<br />
and observant “Skinny Wolf”<br />
catalogues his impressionistic adventures.<br />
Elevating the mundane,<br />
he readily points out “Nobody<br />
really asked for this,” but by the<br />
time you’ve reached your 40s it’s<br />
not so much about getting what<br />
you want, but rather claiming what<br />
you need. Christine Leonard<br />
HELADO NEGRO<br />
This Is How You Smile<br />
RVNG Intl.<br />
Roberto Carlos Lange’s—known<br />
on stage as Helado Negro—recent<br />
album This Is How You Smile<br />
is just the boost of vitality we<br />
need in these confusing times.<br />
Fringing on lo-fi, experimental pop<br />
and aural indie acoustic rock, the<br />
new work doesn’t over or under<br />
stay its welcome. The rejuvenating<br />
opening track “Please Won’t<br />
Please” moves at a steady clip,<br />
set with a steady drum clip and<br />
glimmers its way to climax full of<br />
clarity and organic joy.<br />
The album harkens back to Helado<br />
Negro’s Private Energy work<br />
and remains consistently ethereal<br />
and aurally pleasing. Lange’s song<br />
writing on the song “Fantasma<br />
Vaga” is some of his best work<br />
yet, utilizing his calming voice and<br />
young Latin pride with vocals in<br />
Spanish.<br />
The instrumentation is hallucinatory<br />
and exploratory, relying on<br />
an array of whirring instruments<br />
that are impossible to label. And<br />
yet, the track remains as one of<br />
the most digestible on the album.<br />
Indeed, at first listen songs like<br />
“Pais Nublado” and “Two Lucky”<br />
sounds like a Devendra Banhart<br />
track and that’s because Helado<br />
Negro’s sound is on par with the<br />
freak folk maestro.<br />
In all, This Is How You Smile<br />
is tranquil and addictive and demands<br />
your full attention.<br />
<br />
Stephan Boissonneault<br />
AMERICAN<br />
FOOTBALL<br />
LP3<br />
Polyvinyl Records<br />
American Football released their<br />
self-titled debut album in 1999<br />
and split up shortly afterwards.<br />
The album didn’t receive much attention<br />
at the time but it amassed<br />
a cult following over the next 15<br />
years.<br />
Following up on their long-awaited<br />
2016 sophomore, the Midwest<br />
emo pioneers make a lateral move<br />
with their direction on LP3, even<br />
delving into shoegaze territory.<br />
The opening track, “Silhouettes,”<br />
is moody and atmospheric with<br />
rich layers of guitar and Mike Kinsella’s<br />
echoing vocals, while “Heir<br />
Apparent” has dreamy volume<br />
swells.<br />
LP3 also features some unique<br />
guest vocalists, including Paramore’s<br />
Hayley Williams on “Uncomfortably<br />
Numb.” Kinsella and<br />
Williams display beautiful vocal<br />
chemistry against a backdrop of<br />
plucking harmonics, trumpet and<br />
calming waves of tremolo picked<br />
ambient guitar.<br />
One of the most rewarding<br />
moments on the album is when<br />
“Doom in Full Bloom” reaches its<br />
climax with its repeating, slightly<br />
overdriven arpeggio that builds<br />
into a breathtaking crescendo.<br />
American Football take a bold<br />
step in a developed direction<br />
on LP3. They still maintain the<br />
confessional lyrics, twinkly guitar<br />
and unconventional time signatures<br />
they’re known for, but at the<br />
same time, they’ve expanded their<br />
range of sound.<br />
<br />
Robann Kerr<br />
AVEY TARE<br />
Cows on Hourglass Pond<br />
Domino<br />
David Portner’s third studio<br />
album as Avey Tare is so textured<br />
and diverse it feels like a sonic<br />
interpretation of a topographic<br />
map. Delving back to the Mayan<br />
era and forward into a robot-filled<br />
future, this map somehow spans<br />
all of space and time. Cows on<br />
Hourglass Pond does so with humility—not<br />
claiming to understand<br />
the universe but boldly venturing<br />
into it nonetheless.<br />
The opening track greets the<br />
listener, “Welcome to the Goodside,”<br />
then unravels into echoes<br />
asking: “what is? is? is? is? I can’t<br />
even find it on the map.” The ensuing<br />
songs see Portner grapple,<br />
both with this unanswerable question<br />
and across landscapes that<br />
can never lead him to an answer.<br />
Cows on Hourglass Pond honours<br />
the act of curiosity.<br />
Portner builds his layered, elliptical<br />
sounds into worlds sprinkled<br />
with rays of luminous guitar and<br />
populated with transient samples.<br />
In constant kaleidoscopic metamorphosis,<br />
sounds once earthy<br />
turn celestial. On “Our Little<br />
Chapter,” sparkly synths pulse<br />
and recede like waves as Portner<br />
reminisces on the undoing of a<br />
relationship.<br />
Cows on Hourglass Pond calls<br />
on the vastness of the universes<br />
to wonder about personal things,<br />
inviting listeners to try it out too.<br />
<br />
Maggie McPhee<br />
ANDREW BIRD<br />
My Finest Work Yet<br />
Loma Vista<br />
As hard as it may be to imagine<br />
Andrew Bird exceeding his<br />
already impressive discography,<br />
My Finest Work Yet lives up to its<br />
name.<br />
On the album art, Bird re-imagines<br />
a famous image of the<br />
French Revolution, The Death<br />
Of Marat, wherein the radical<br />
journalist Jean-Paul Marat is<br />
lying dead, murdered in his bath.<br />
Jacques-Louis David’s work is<br />
touted as the first modernist<br />
painting for the way it blends the<br />
personal and the political.<br />
Similarly, Bird is employing his<br />
artistry on this latest collection of<br />
songs to comment on the world<br />
at large. A past columnist for the<br />
New York Times, Bird transmutes<br />
the world he lives in, fuelled by<br />
his eloquent compositions and<br />
profound storytelling abilities.<br />
The album leads with single<br />
“Sisyphus,” highlighting his signature<br />
whistle as leading accompaniment.<br />
Elements of folk and jazz<br />
carry him through familiar guitar<br />
and piano-laden territory, making<br />
this a relatable yet refreshing ride.<br />
Folksy melodies with beautiful vocal<br />
harmonies are heard throughout<br />
as Bird offers upbeat anthems<br />
that contrast his tortured words.<br />
Bird paints in broad but effective<br />
strokes, which is ultimately<br />
what makes every piece of music<br />
he releases a masterpiece in its<br />
own right.<br />
<br />
Sarah Allen.<br />
34 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
WEEZER<br />
Weezer (The Black Album)<br />
Atlantic Records<br />
Fresh off the high from their surprise<br />
January release of refreshingly<br />
non-ironic covers that was<br />
the Teal Album, one might go into<br />
Weezer’s newest release expecting<br />
the same level of refreshment<br />
and self-awareness. One will be<br />
disappointed.<br />
Weezer fans would be better<br />
served going in with no expectations<br />
at all. After all, there’s been<br />
no roadmap for their creative<br />
direction since Pinkerton and their<br />
adult life spent in Los Angeles<br />
has driven them headfirst into<br />
background noise territory.<br />
The Black Album starts with a<br />
thrusting ode to the gig economy<br />
with “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” an<br />
admittedly fun song to listen to.<br />
From there are a series of fairly<br />
harmless odes to the Beach Boys<br />
without innovation.<br />
Songs run the gamut from<br />
mildly catchy ditties like “Zombie<br />
Bastards” to completely forgettable<br />
offerings like “The Prince<br />
Who Wanted Everything” and<br />
“Byzantine.” But it’s in the radio<br />
noise tracks like “High as a Kite”<br />
and “California Snow” where you<br />
might start to formulate theories<br />
in your mind about some greater<br />
joke Weezer is telling that you’re<br />
just not in on. But no matter how<br />
much digging through the band’s<br />
colour-coded discography you<br />
do, there’s no narrative present to<br />
explain the band’s official fade to<br />
black.<br />
<br />
Jennie Orton<br />
STEVE EARLE<br />
& THE DUKES<br />
Guy<br />
New West Records<br />
Guy Clark certainly had a way<br />
with hooks. Steve Earle & The<br />
Dukes put every swing in Clark’s<br />
words on Guy, their tribute to the<br />
folk legend, with tasty drums and<br />
big bass that shuffle in time with<br />
Earle’s phrasing. There’s a dance<br />
to be had in Clark’s songs, and a<br />
lived in story in every one of his<br />
lines.<br />
Clark was a master heartbreaker<br />
and “Desperadoes Waitin’ On A<br />
Train” stands nearly alone in that<br />
regard; the story of the bonds<br />
between youth and mentors with<br />
no detail in hiding. In “The brown<br />
tobacco stains all down his chin”<br />
or “Wondering ‘Lord has every<br />
well I drilled gone dry,” Clark<br />
is unflinching in the colours he<br />
uses, painting a window into how<br />
hard men live and grow old. The<br />
deathbed handshake of “Come on<br />
Jack, that son of a bitch is comin’”<br />
brings the heartache to a gentle<br />
close. <br />
Earle sings Clark’s songs<br />
ragged, feeling like one live shot<br />
of songs he’s known for 50 years.<br />
His voice provides a close up<br />
with the weariness of his own 64<br />
years, being the last of three good<br />
friends who spent their years<br />
trying to write the best songs in<br />
the style they pioneered.<br />
<br />
Mike Dunn<br />
3404 5 Avenue NE ∙ (403) 245-3725<br />
calgaryeast@long-mcquade.com<br />
LONG & McQUADE<br />
FREE CLINICS<br />
DURING MARCH<br />
A series of free career-enhancing clinics specifically<br />
tailored to the needs of musicians, songwriters, producers<br />
and home studio enthusiasts.<br />
At all Long & McQuade locations, including:<br />
225 58 Avenue SE ∙ (403) 244-5555<br />
calgary@long-mcquade.com<br />
10 Royal Vista Drive NW ∙ (587) 794-3195<br />
calgarynorthlessons@long-mcquade.com<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 35
LiVE<br />
MUSiC<br />
Pokey Lafarge<br />
BLOCK HEATER<br />
MUSIC FEST<br />
February 21 – 23<br />
Calgary Folk Music Fest’s<br />
3-day winter extravaganza<br />
did not dissappoint<br />
By MIKE DUNN<br />
Photos by LENORA BENDER<br />
THURSDAY NIGHT,<br />
FESTIVAL HALL<br />
Snotty Nose Rez Kids<br />
and Cartel Madras<br />
Calgary Folk Fest’s fourth annual Block<br />
Heater winter festival kicked off at Festival<br />
Hall with a blast of highly conscious<br />
hip-hop from two of western Canada’s<br />
best developing artists. Both Snotty<br />
Nose Rez Kids from the Haisla Nation<br />
on B.C.’s northern coast, and Calgary’s<br />
Cartel Madras put the packed house in<br />
Inglewood on blast, with not only jacked<br />
up beats and thick bass grooves, but<br />
with a consciousness that is often missing<br />
in contemporary folk music.<br />
Cartel Madras led off the night, and<br />
their tight, harmonized flow was a<br />
revelation. The ability to spit rhymes with<br />
airtight phrasing was a demonstration of<br />
the skills that have made Cartel Madras<br />
Calgary’s most well-received hip-hop<br />
export.<br />
Snotty Nose Rez Kids hold nothing<br />
back in a time where artists are increasingly<br />
conscious of how their words will<br />
be received. On tracks like “Savages”<br />
and the rallying cry of “SKODEN,” their<br />
straight-from-the-street hip-hop has<br />
more than supplanted traditional folk<br />
styles as the voice of the under-represented<br />
and marginalized. SNRK’s beats<br />
were big and infectious, and they laid<br />
down blazing, pointed rhymes creating<br />
one of the festival’s best moments<br />
early on. Heading into the crowd, Yung<br />
Trybez staged a sit down while Young D<br />
let the crowd know that when the beat<br />
dropped to hit their feet and bounce<br />
hard. It brought the room together, a<br />
visceral sharing of music and truth in the<br />
line, “Y’all say we all look the same, and I<br />
can’t remember my name.”<br />
36 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
Matt Mays<br />
Andrew Combs<br />
SATURDAY NIGHT,<br />
STUDIO BELL/<br />
KING EDDY/<br />
CENTRAL LIBRARY<br />
Andrew Combs,<br />
Matt Mays And Eamon<br />
Mcgrath Devastation<br />
Trio<br />
Andrew Combs’ clear,<br />
searing lonesome Texan<br />
tenor, clean-picking<br />
guitar style and charming<br />
delivery between songs<br />
put on an intimate solo<br />
show upstairs in Studio<br />
Bell decorated with Calgary<br />
Folk Fest memories<br />
as part of the festival’s<br />
40th Anniversary NMC<br />
exhibit. Matt Mays and<br />
his lean acoustic band<br />
were a highlight for<br />
many in attendance at<br />
the Central Library that<br />
appeared to include good<br />
representation of Nova<br />
Scotia expats. May’s<br />
new show is a quiet,<br />
stripped-down affair that<br />
roams through his Thrush<br />
Hermit days and his rock<br />
‘n’ roll solo career with<br />
the attention to detail<br />
in his arrangements a<br />
particular strong point.<br />
Fresh off a European and<br />
a Western Canadian tour,<br />
Eamon McGrath and the<br />
Devastation Trio’s blend<br />
of punk, folk and country<br />
is the real deal. McGrath<br />
is one of Alberta’s best<br />
young exported songwriters,<br />
and his willingness<br />
to follow the less beaten<br />
path a signpost for people<br />
who care about music<br />
that doesn’t come out of<br />
the same cracker factory<br />
that’s mass consumed.<br />
Once again, Calgary<br />
Folk Fest raised the bar<br />
for festivals in town. The<br />
King Eddy was packed all<br />
weekend. Their staff were<br />
as pro as the players<br />
and organizers running a<br />
tight, gracious ship that<br />
provided a really nice<br />
atmosphere to watch a<br />
gig. And the NMC and<br />
Central Library, beautiful<br />
pieces of civic architecture,<br />
housed and featured<br />
the most diverse lineups<br />
which both challenged<br />
and thoroughly satisfied<br />
expectations. ,<br />
FRIDAY NIGHT,<br />
STUDIO BELL/KING EDDY<br />
Shaela Miller, Kacy & Clayton,<br />
Ashley Macissac The Wet<br />
Secrets and The Mariachi Ghost<br />
Friday saw a blitzkrieg of<br />
cross-county talent starting with<br />
Lethbridge country singer Shaela<br />
Miller and her crack band of Windy<br />
Mariachi Ghost<br />
City honky-tonkers. On stage for<br />
nearly three straight hours, they<br />
delivered a roadhouse shuffle in<br />
the sweaty, old-school tradition of<br />
hard-working country bands. Saskatchewan’s<br />
Kacy & Clayton put on<br />
yet another excellent show in town<br />
with their ‘70s Californian-flavoured<br />
folk rock punctuated by a serious<br />
amount of laid-back charm. The ATB<br />
Ashley MacIsaac<br />
Stage in the Studio Bell lobby was<br />
packed for Ashley MacIssac, the<br />
iconic Nova Scotia fiddle maestro<br />
laying down a blazing violin workout<br />
with pulsing beats provided by his<br />
sideman on only a cajon. Then Edmonton<br />
alt-rock weirdos, The Wet<br />
Secrets, unleashed an energetic<br />
cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick<br />
In The Wall Pt. 2” before frontman<br />
Zaki Ibrahim,<br />
Lyle Bell ripped a fuzzy, punk rock<br />
bass solo. While known for their<br />
theatrical performances, Winnipeg’s<br />
The Mariachi Ghost would be nowhere<br />
if they weren’t skilled players<br />
and singers. With new songs from<br />
their upcoming record based on the<br />
Mexican novel Pedro Páramo, they<br />
played a powerful set late into the<br />
chilly Calgary night.<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 37
MOViES|T.V.<br />
CALM, QUIET<br />
STRENGTH:<br />
AN INTERVIEW WITH<br />
THROUGH BLACK<br />
SPRUCE ACTRESS<br />
TANAYA BEATTY<br />
By PAT MULLEN<br />
T<br />
anaya Beatty is asked what she learned most from<br />
playing Annie Bird, the young heroine portrayed in<br />
Through Black Spruce.<br />
“Strength,” she replies. “Definitely strength.”<br />
Beatty pauses, lets the answer hang in the air, and<br />
considers the role. “Annie and I had some parallels<br />
in that we came into ourselves as women, even though she’s<br />
around 23 in the script and I’m 28,” says Beatty. “We both found<br />
a different level of maturity and independence. Playing Annie<br />
taught me that I am capable of carrying a story like this.”<br />
Based on the 2008 Giller Prize winning novel by Joseph<br />
Boyden and directed by Don McKellar (The Grand Seduction),<br />
Through Black Spruce follows Annie as she searches for her<br />
missing sister, Suzanne. The performance calls for raw vulnerability<br />
as Annie walks in Suzanne’s footsteps, encountering the<br />
all-too-relevant violence that Indigenous women face in Canada’s<br />
streets.<br />
The role of Annie demanded a lot from the Vancouver-born<br />
Beatty. It’s her first lead role after small parts in films like Hochelaga,<br />
Land of Souls and Hostiles, and roles in TV series like<br />
Yellowstone, Arctic Air, and The Night Shift. “Every different<br />
character teaches me something new,” observes Beatty. “If<br />
it’s on a medical drama, I might learn new technical aspects,<br />
or if I’m playing a role like Sacagawea [on HBO’s long-delayed<br />
mini-series Lewis and Clark] and learning an entire dialect,<br />
that’s what I love about being an actress.”<br />
Reading Through Black Spruce as a teenager gave Beatty<br />
something to which she could aspire because she related to<br />
Annie. Beatty says that as a dynamic, complicated Indigenous<br />
female lead, Annie arrived when she felt uninspired by the roles<br />
that were available. “The audition came just as I was telling my<br />
boyfriend that I wished there was something like Annie that I<br />
could do,” says Beatty.<br />
Through Black Spruce demands strength of any performer as<br />
it comes steeped in controversy following questions raised about<br />
the legitimacy of Boyden’s Indigenous heritage. Beatty is diplomatic.<br />
“I think that it’s its own standalone piece,” she says. “I’m<br />
grateful that Joseph wrote this story,” adds Beatty. “I’m grateful<br />
that this film was even put on its feet and that somebody like<br />
Tina Keeper is the one who spearheaded it. It’s rare that even<br />
happens.” Keeper plays Annie’s mother, Lisette, and is the film’s<br />
mother in her own way as producer.<br />
The film situates Suzanne’s disappearance within the greater<br />
mystery of missing and murdered Indigenous women, a cause that<br />
has gained more attention in the ten years since Boyden’s novel<br />
was published, but still not nearly enough. Beatty says this aspect<br />
of the story is what gave her strength. “I’m still carrying that weight<br />
and that responsibility with me. It feels like that’s something that<br />
doesn’t go away,” says Beatty. “Given my history and my ancestors<br />
and my peers, these stories just feel so close to my heart.” ,<br />
In Theatres <strong>March</strong> 29, <strong>2019</strong><br />
38 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
THIS MONTH IN FILM<br />
WOMAN AT WAR<br />
<strong>March</strong> 1<br />
Delivering quirky black comedy<br />
in true-to-form Icelandic style,<br />
Woman at War tells the story of<br />
Halla, a lovely choir-master by<br />
day and a DIY eco-terrorist by<br />
night. Premiering in 2018 in festivals<br />
such as Cannes and TIFF,<br />
it’s a perfect blend of funny,<br />
brutal, and hopeful activism.<br />
THE BiNGE LIST<br />
THE BOY WHO<br />
HARNESSED THE WIND<br />
<strong>March</strong> 1<br />
Best known for his Academy<br />
Award-nominated role in 12<br />
Years a Slave, Chiwetel Ejiofor<br />
tries his hand at Writing/Directing,<br />
and does so with marked<br />
passion. The Netflix-distributed<br />
film is based on the memoir of<br />
the same name, and tells the<br />
story of a young boy who builds<br />
a wind turbine for his village.<br />
CAPTIVE STATE<br />
<strong>March</strong> 15<br />
John Goodman plays evil again,<br />
aliens designed with an eye for<br />
post-modern realism invade<br />
earth, and 10 years later, the<br />
people must overcome. From<br />
the Writer/Director of Rise of<br />
the Planet of the Apes comes<br />
a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller<br />
that looks to be a mix of Arrival,<br />
District 9, and Independence<br />
Day all in one.<br />
US<br />
<strong>March</strong> 22<br />
There’s nowhere to run this<br />
time, no place to hide. The<br />
monsters have invaded the living<br />
room, they sit at the dinner<br />
table, they scratch behind the<br />
mirror… The monsters are Us.<br />
Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated<br />
follow-up to last years<br />
Oscar-winner, Get Out, tells a<br />
dark tale of monstrous doppelgangers,<br />
and emanates with<br />
uncanny, satire-horror vibes.<br />
<br />
By Brendan Lee<br />
AFTER LIFE / SEASON 1<br />
NETWORK: <br />
NETFLIX<br />
AIR DATE: MARCH 8<br />
“A good day is when I don’t go<br />
around wanting to shoot random<br />
strangers in the face, and then<br />
turn the gun on myself.” Ricky<br />
Gervais (The Office, Extras)<br />
drags his hilarious, narcissistic<br />
butt back to Netflix with his<br />
latest dark dramedy. After Life<br />
tells the story of Tony, a man<br />
whose wife’s sudden death<br />
corkscrews him into a depression<br />
that isn’t deep enough to kill<br />
him, just enough to turn him into<br />
an insensible asshole. Produced,<br />
Directed, Written, and Starring<br />
the man himself, the 6-part first<br />
season promises to be classic<br />
Gervais, with his knack for<br />
saying whatever, whenever, the<br />
subject of close examination<br />
that begs the question: Why<br />
care about anyone else, if you<br />
don’t care about yourself?<br />
TURN UP CHARLIE /<br />
SEASON 1<br />
NETWORK: <br />
NETFLIX<br />
AIR DATE: MARCH 15<br />
Idris Elba – the name carries<br />
such a weight these days. He’s<br />
the man best known for his roles<br />
in HBO’s The Wire, BBC’s Luther,<br />
and everybody’s dream-choice to<br />
be the next James Bond. With another<br />
big leap, Elba takes a crack<br />
at co-creating and producing with<br />
Turn Up Charlie, a comedy about<br />
a DJ treading water who’s given<br />
a chance at long sought-after<br />
success when he’s forced to be<br />
a nanny for his famous bestfriend.<br />
It’s a premise that doesn’t<br />
immediately kick you in the pants,<br />
but the eight-episode first season<br />
is worth a watch for Elba alone.<br />
Also, look up DJ Big Driis – Elba’s<br />
real-life DJ pseudonym – and the<br />
appeal intensifies.<br />
HANNA / SEASON 1<br />
NETWORK: <br />
AMAZON PRIME<br />
AIR DATE: MARCH 29<br />
You may remember the 2011 film<br />
with the same name, starring<br />
Saorsie Ronan and written by<br />
Seth Lochhead while a student at<br />
Vancouver Film School. Well, nine<br />
years later, David Farr (co-writer<br />
of the original script) has adapted<br />
the story for television, and the<br />
first episode – released for a 24-<br />
hour period at the beginning of<br />
February – has already whitened<br />
more than a few knuckles. The<br />
dramatic-thriller follows Hanna<br />
(Esme Creed-Miles), an extraordinary<br />
girl with violent skill. Cut-off<br />
from all things civilized and<br />
bunkered in a forest on the edge<br />
of Eastern Europe, Esme hides<br />
Idris Elba takes a spin at<br />
being a DJ in Turn Up Charlie.<br />
out with a man named Erik (Joel<br />
Kinnaman). With veiled mystery<br />
surrounding Hannah’s past, the<br />
man who’s taught her to kill, and<br />
the rogue CIA agent who hunts<br />
them both down (Mirelle Enos),<br />
only time will tell how deep this<br />
foxhole goes.<br />
BARRY / SEASON 2<br />
NETWORK: <br />
HBO/CRAVE<br />
AIR DATE: MARCH 29<br />
In case you missed it the first time<br />
around, with the inaugural season<br />
released in <strong>March</strong> of last year,<br />
Barry is the next hit HBO-produced<br />
comedy series. Co-created<br />
by Alec Berg and Bill Hader, a<br />
depressed, ex-marine turned<br />
serial killer looks for fulfillment<br />
in his life when his hits just aren’t<br />
doing it for him anymore. So, like<br />
a wandering stray dog, Barry<br />
stumbles his way into the arms<br />
of a local theatre group where he<br />
pretends to have a passion for<br />
the stage – and then begins to<br />
actually develop one. The show’s<br />
become known for the way Berg<br />
and Hader juxtapose gut-wrenching<br />
violence with laugh-out-loud<br />
comedy and emotionally staggering<br />
scenes. If you haven’t seen it<br />
yet, I’d advise that you sign up for<br />
Crave, binge the first season, and<br />
buckle up for Season 2 while you<br />
still have the chance.<br />
<br />
By Brendan Lee<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 39
MOViES|T.V.<br />
THE VIDIOT / DIGITAL DOWNLOAD & DVD<br />
A STAR IS BORN<br />
The best things about sleeping<br />
with a famous singer are the<br />
costume changes and pyrotechnics.<br />
However, the vocalists in this<br />
drama are both gifted so sex gets<br />
pretty smoky.<br />
After a concert one night,<br />
rock-star Jackson Maine (Bradley<br />
Cooper) inadvertently catches<br />
a performance by emerging<br />
artist Ally (Lady Gaga), and is so<br />
impressed by her vocal range that<br />
he offers to help refine her singing<br />
and song-writing talents. But as<br />
Ally’s star begins to rise and she<br />
garners accolades and awards,<br />
her mentor – now husband -<br />
descends into drink and a deep<br />
depression.<br />
Although this is the fourth<br />
remake of the 1937 original, firsttime<br />
director Bradley Cooper<br />
and his leading lady Gaga both<br />
make stunning debuts, which<br />
helps the dated material feel<br />
relevant. While it’s darker than<br />
previous versions, this adaptation<br />
has the added bonus of<br />
original songs.<br />
Incidentally, marriage is a lot<br />
easier for rock-stars because<br />
they have roadies.<br />
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY<br />
When a band is named Queen<br />
don’t be surprised if all of their<br />
songs are about Welsh Corgis.<br />
And while the group in this biography<br />
doesn’t dwell on dogs their<br />
output does run the gamut.<br />
Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek)<br />
goes from fan to front-man<br />
when he replaces<br />
the singer of his<br />
favourite band.<br />
Backed by the<br />
original guitarist,<br />
drummer and<br />
new bassist,<br />
Freddie christens the band<br />
Queen and they release a<br />
successful album. However,<br />
Queen’s eclectic sound makes<br />
them a hard sell, while Freddie’s<br />
alternative lifestyle makes him a<br />
media darling.<br />
Framed by their 1985 Live Aid<br />
performance and sprinkled with<br />
their timeless tunes throughout,<br />
this behind-the-scenes<br />
look at the legendary band<br />
skims over the important<br />
parts and instead focuses<br />
too much on the nominal<br />
contributions of the other<br />
members and their qualms<br />
with Mercury.<br />
Nonetheless, without<br />
Queen the only music<br />
played at sporting<br />
events<br />
would<br />
be the<br />
national<br />
anthem.<br />
,<br />
LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT MARCH 28<br />
APRIL 22-28, <strong>2019</strong><br />
GLOBE CINEMA<br />
40 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
SPRING HAS<br />
SPRUNG!<br />
(TELL YOUR PANTS!)<br />
JOHN FLUEVOG SHOES 837 GRANVILLE ST 604·688·2828 65 WATER ST 604·688·6228 FLUEVOG.COM
ARTs<br />
BALLET<br />
GOES<br />
BROADWAY<br />
Bruce Wells’ adaptation<br />
of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream<br />
is a family spectacle<br />
By B. SIMM<br />
As a ballet, Shakespeare’s A<br />
Midsummer Night’s Dream first<br />
debuted in New York, 1962 under<br />
the direction of famed choreographer,<br />
George Balanchine. Since<br />
then Midsummer has had several<br />
different incarnations, and the one<br />
Bruce Wells is currently presenting<br />
with Alberta Ballet promises to be<br />
innovative, invigorating, visually<br />
ablaze and, above all, not boring.<br />
“When you’re trying to introduce<br />
people to the ballet,” says Wells,<br />
renowned choreographer himself,<br />
“their worst fear is that they’re<br />
going to be bored and not understand<br />
an awful lot. Some ballets<br />
do go on for three hours, Swan<br />
Lake and Sleeping Beauty. They’re<br />
really huge events, like going to the<br />
opera. So I made a very conscious<br />
decision to make it [A Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream] the same length as<br />
The Nutcracker, which is two hours<br />
including intermission.”<br />
At the Boston Ballet, Wells produced<br />
a both a holiday season and<br />
springtime Nutcracker<br />
giving children another<br />
opportunity to dance. In<br />
cutting down the length<br />
of Midsummer and wanting<br />
it to appeal to the<br />
same audience as The<br />
Nutcracker, Wells decided<br />
to bring 30 children<br />
into his Midsummer<br />
production.<br />
“It allows for a really enchanting<br />
forest, filled with all these little<br />
characters, all fairies and elves. I<br />
wanted to create a family event.<br />
I think for all the fathers sitting<br />
in the audience with their young<br />
A MIDSUMMER<br />
NIGHT’S DREAM<br />
<strong>March</strong> 13-16<br />
Southern Jubilee<br />
Auditorium (Calgary)<br />
<strong>March</strong> 21-23<br />
Northern Jubilee<br />
Auditorium (Edmonton)<br />
Tix $41-$144<br />
daughters, they can go<br />
with confidence that it’s<br />
going to be a joyful time<br />
for them and not just an<br />
extended period of time.”<br />
With the visuals,<br />
humour, fantasy and otherworldly<br />
elements plus<br />
the sensual tension of the<br />
dancers, there’s a lot of<br />
entry points, a wide spectrum for<br />
an audience to engage with. Wells is<br />
also quite conscious in bringing out<br />
the colour and dynamics all through<br />
the performance and feels A Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream lends itself<br />
particularly well to ballet.<br />
“Women on pointe in long tutus<br />
and men in tights can really draw<br />
on that otherworldly element.<br />
It’s a very easy story for the ballet<br />
stage. It’s midsummer, set in the<br />
late evening, in the forest and<br />
there’s a lot of blue light. At the<br />
same time, I wanted the audience<br />
to see everything clearly so my<br />
version is really a midsummer<br />
evening ballet.”<br />
Wells adds, “I take a very broad,<br />
humorous approach to this. The<br />
lovers in particular, I really let<br />
them get into it big time. For<br />
ballet, it’s almost like a Broadway<br />
show or a musical.” ,<br />
42 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
CITRUS PHOTOGRAPHY<br />
ARTs THEATRE • COMEDY • DANCE• ART • PERFORMANCE<br />
THIS IS BIG<br />
Ghost River Theatre’s Giant strings together the<br />
life and legend of a professional wrestler through a<br />
female lens By TIM FORD<br />
When most people think of<br />
puppets, they might picture Punch<br />
and Judy, Pinocchio or socks on<br />
hands. But for five days and nights<br />
in <strong>March</strong>, the Festival of Animated<br />
Objects shows Calgarians how<br />
puppetry can be huge, small, and<br />
everything in-between.<br />
“Puppetry is like opera,” says<br />
Festival Co-Artistic Director<br />
Pete Balkwill. “It has the ability<br />
to address grand and epic<br />
themes. In puppetry, you have<br />
an object imbued with<br />
life by audience and<br />
puppeteer. Because<br />
it is imbued with life,<br />
it has supernatural<br />
qualities, it’s able to<br />
defy logic. It operates in<br />
extremely cinematic ways.”<br />
This year’s Festival features<br />
live shows and puppetry<br />
performances, augmented<br />
reality work, workshops, and<br />
film presentations, across a halfdozen<br />
venues including the Globe<br />
Cinema and GRAND theatre.<br />
“We have an incredible show<br />
coming from France,” says<br />
Balkwill. “It’s a local chance to<br />
see some rare international work.<br />
We’re partnering with the Globe<br />
to do a screening of The Dark<br />
Crystal, which is being rebooted<br />
as a TV series. There’s a whole<br />
host of local work, including<br />
dancer Pam Tzeng, and a ‘festival<br />
within a festival’ with Wünderbriefs,<br />
an all-ages series of mini<br />
performances that are all free.”<br />
The big headliner this year, in<br />
more ways than one, is Ghost<br />
River Theatre’s Giant. This<br />
new show from co-creators<br />
David van Belle and Eric Rose<br />
is an exploration of the late<br />
professional wrestler Andre the<br />
Giant’s life. In development for<br />
several years, Van Belle and Rose<br />
were partly inspired by the release<br />
of Box Brown’s graphic novel,<br />
Andre the Giant: Life and Legend,<br />
and were interested in the<br />
challenge of bringing the colossal<br />
pro wrestler to theatre. To do so,<br />
GIANT<br />
Festival of Animated<br />
Objects<br />
<strong>March</strong> 13-17<br />
Tix, $35<br />
they transform the<br />
stage into a literal<br />
wrestling ring with a<br />
cast of five women<br />
utilizing narrative,<br />
wrestling moves and<br />
objects large and small<br />
to tell the story of the beloved<br />
actor and performer.<br />
“It’s kind of impossible to cast<br />
an Andre,” says Rose. “I love<br />
impossible things. We started<br />
talking, ‘What if it was actually a<br />
small female performer? What<br />
if we scaled things down? What<br />
would it mean for a female lens<br />
to the interrogation of what we<br />
think about wrestling?’”<br />
Rose adds, “It’s also an<br />
exploration of scale. How we<br />
imagine what legacy is. If we<br />
were given the opportunity to<br />
step into someone else’s shoes,<br />
and their lives, what information<br />
could we glean from that?”<br />
Both Balkwill and Rose<br />
see the festival as a place for<br />
theatre lovers, puppet lovers,<br />
and imaginative audiences of all<br />
backgrounds and ages.<br />
“Puppets aren’t actual things,<br />
they become representations for<br />
things,” says Balkwill. “The use<br />
of metaphor is immense. It’s a bit<br />
like poetry in motion. That can<br />
be a very intellectual art form,<br />
and it can be a very simple and<br />
naive art form. In both instances<br />
it can touch us in ways that we<br />
forgot we could be reached.”<br />
<strong>March</strong> 12-24, with the<br />
Festival’s main dates <strong>March</strong> 13-<br />
17. ,<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 43
ALBERTA BALLET IN BRUCE WELLS’<br />
A Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream<br />
Escape into this magical comedic fantasy<br />
of forest fairies and sprites in this masterful<br />
retelling of a classic the whole family will enjoy.<br />
TICKETS STARTING AT $41<br />
CALGARY MAR 13-16<br />
EDMONTON MAR 21-23<br />
Tickets available at AlbertaBallet.com<br />
Go as a group! Book 10 or more tickets and save 25%.<br />
Your group discount will apply<br />
automatically when purchasing online.<br />
ARTs THEATRE • COMEDY • DANCE• ART • PERFORMANCE<br />
STEP INTO THE<br />
<strong>AB</strong>ATTOIR<br />
The Abattoir, Theatre Encounter’s<br />
nickname for their studio at cSpace<br />
King Edward, is an intimate venue, which<br />
made it perfect for the indie company’s<br />
latest creation, Klimt’s Women: Part I.<br />
Inspired by the real-life models of painter<br />
Gustav Klimt, Theatre Encounter Artistic<br />
Producer Val Duncan and her crew sought<br />
to communicate the intimate one-on-one<br />
nature of looking at paintings.<br />
“Even though a lot of our work doesn’t<br />
look like traditional theatre, we<br />
do still always take the seed of<br />
a classic,” says Duncan. “In this<br />
case, we decided to go from a<br />
classic piece of visual art.”<br />
Translating the medium of<br />
paintings into live performance<br />
might not seem like a natural fit, but<br />
finding that space between mediums is<br />
what Theatre Encounter is all about. While<br />
Duncan jokes that the Abattoir might be<br />
about “butchering the classics,” she adds<br />
more seriously that it’s about “rebuilding<br />
them into something new, something a<br />
little more relevant.”<br />
With Klimt’s Women, Duncan and<br />
Theatre Encounter Artistic Director<br />
Michael Fenton are visiting the same topic<br />
- the models of Gustav Klimt. The second<br />
THE SHOW<br />
WITH NO NAME<br />
KLIMT’S<br />
PLAYTHINGS<br />
Theatre Encounter<br />
<strong>March</strong>, 27-30<br />
Tix, $24<br />
installment called, Klimt’s Playthings<br />
is described as “an alluring blend of<br />
expressionist dance, music and light…<br />
an unsettling and sensual experience for<br />
a limited number of audience,<br />
who sit in the midst of the<br />
action of the performance.”<br />
That kind of experience is the<br />
“core” of what makes Theatre<br />
Encounter unique.<br />
“We’re somewhere in that<br />
space between contemporary dance and<br />
theatre,” says Duncan. “But depending on<br />
the show you see, you might get more of<br />
one than the other. I hope that people who<br />
come to our shows are adventurous...I<br />
don’t need audiences to love what we<br />
do here. I need them to leave feeling<br />
something about it. A gut reaction is what<br />
I want.”<br />
Theatre Encounter’s KLIMT’S WOMEN: PART<br />
II runs Mar. 27-30. For more information visit<br />
theatreencounter.com<br />
<br />
By TIM FORD<br />
they wanted to explore different sides<br />
of theatre for the company. “Our slogan<br />
to start was ‘Once upon a beyond.’ We<br />
wanted to explore the ‘beyond.’”<br />
[title of show] is a gentle ribbing of<br />
how theatre artists explore their medium.<br />
Stockton says the comedy-musical offers<br />
the chance for audiences to be a “fly on<br />
the wall” for what goes into making a<br />
musical.<br />
“If people have never been involved in<br />
a theatre production, they’ll come away<br />
with a bit of insight into how it’s all put<br />
together. The comedy comes from the<br />
absurdity of what theatre is, really. That<br />
attitude of ‘Let’s build something that<br />
nobody’s ever seen before. And let’s do it<br />
in three weeks, and let’s do it about us.’”<br />
That meta-narrative is the bare bones<br />
story behind [title of show], the latest<br />
production from Birnton<br />
Part of that cheeky fun comes in the<br />
strange nature of what theatre<br />
Theatricals. Now entering<br />
its seventh year of creating<br />
work for audiences of all ages,<br />
Birnton Theatricals is moving<br />
more and more into the “adult”<br />
side of programming with what<br />
[TITLE OF SHOW]<br />
<strong>March</strong> 6-16<br />
Lunchbox Theatre<br />
Tix, $21<br />
really is. “What is a play?”<br />
Stockton askes. “It’s a group<br />
of people getting together to<br />
say a bunch of words that one<br />
person wrote, to another group<br />
of people, and hope it moves<br />
Artistic Director Chris Stockton calls its<br />
Mosaic Series. With it, Stockton says<br />
them. That’s kind of hilarious in of itself, to<br />
want to do that over and over.”<br />
<br />
By TIM FORD<br />
44 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
Horoscopes<br />
MESSAGES FROM THE STARS: A LOOK INTO THE CYCLES AND COSMIC<br />
DETAILS OF AN UNFOLDING FOREVERMORE, PAIRED WITH A SONG<br />
SUGGESTION CURATED FOR YOUR SIGN by Willow Herzog<br />
Aries (<strong>March</strong> 21 - April 20)<br />
A deepened connection to self<br />
means not compromising in ways<br />
that can be detrimental to your<br />
form. As your truest expression<br />
continues to shape and expand stay<br />
dedicated, aligned and working<br />
towards future dreams. Affirmations<br />
of motivation, determination<br />
and returning to the ever-changing<br />
self. This is a month of becoming<br />
stronger in your sense of self and<br />
what you stand for. Watch for habits<br />
that want to pull you off course and<br />
use discernible discipline. Step into<br />
a dance of otherworldly lulling to<br />
offset strong work demands this<br />
month.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Hello from the Edge of the Earth” -<br />
Mary Lattimore<br />
Taurus (April 21 - May 21)<br />
Your internal duties are communicating<br />
to your life purpose. Take this<br />
on with motivation and honor the<br />
creative muses that desire to work<br />
with you. Cultivating power through<br />
process and getting the good work<br />
done. This is a month to continue to<br />
grow in your professional pursuits<br />
and align with greater potency to<br />
your purpose. You have innovations<br />
and gifts of paramount to share with<br />
the world.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Poem” - U.S Girls<br />
Gemini (May 22 - June 21)<br />
Enlargement of dreams and plans of<br />
expansion. Allow your heightened<br />
sense of mission to inspire and<br />
widen your reality. A walk in the<br />
clouds isn’t for everyone but for you<br />
it is where you build your castles<br />
and turn them into your life. Keep<br />
close to what inspires you and in<br />
turn inspires your community. Turn<br />
up your language into forms that<br />
count as you deepen in your voice<br />
of honesty. Speak to those who will<br />
help you build your empire and feel<br />
gratitude for all you have already<br />
accomplished.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
Harm in Change” - Toro y Moi<br />
Cancer (June 22 - July 23)<br />
Harmonious alignment in collaborative<br />
pursuits holds time and space<br />
this month. There is a pull to retreat<br />
into contemplation and evaporation<br />
that meets a surge of conspiring<br />
creativity within relationships. Let<br />
these two opposites create a whole<br />
and allow yourself to ebb and flow<br />
as destined. There is healing in the<br />
realm of self-esteem and worthiness<br />
for all that is forming in your reality.<br />
Take time to get right with yourself<br />
so you may get right with life and<br />
your mission.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Diagonals” - Stereolab<br />
Leo (July 24 - Aug. 23)<br />
Honouring right relationships and<br />
those who really see you. There is<br />
a change in the relationships close<br />
to you and how you may perceive<br />
and interact with them. Life holds<br />
increased opportunity to exchange<br />
hearts with those you hold dear and<br />
in turn hold you. Allow yourself<br />
to be held in love’s warm embrace.<br />
You have gone through a plethora of<br />
changes and leveled up professionally.<br />
This is a time to let those changes<br />
change your compass and proceed<br />
with navigational clarity.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Woman Is a Word” - Empress Of<br />
Virgo (Aug. 24 - Sept. 23)<br />
The seemingly never-ending work<br />
flux of the everyday continues to pile<br />
and make mountains. Good thing<br />
you have the ability to move mountains.<br />
Enjoy the flow of the everyday<br />
and make room for unexpected<br />
experiences, pleasure and surprises.<br />
Orienting your present moment to a<br />
state of calm will be essential for all<br />
that needs to get done this month.<br />
Pull a Marie Kondo and clear the<br />
clutter from your life so you may<br />
have space to think and dream.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Peripheral” - Eartheater<br />
Libra (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23)<br />
Healing deep feelings, old wounds<br />
and family ties are priority as you<br />
move into this next cycle. Make way<br />
for new, old and fluctuating feeling<br />
states but hold close peace and vibrational<br />
pull to what rings true. Check<br />
in with the layers of your psychic<br />
experience and remember to clear<br />
out outdated views and self-inflicted<br />
behaviours that don’t serve. You are<br />
going through an energetic recalibration,<br />
allow yourself healthy physical<br />
outlets for excess emotion.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Beautiful Blue Sky” - Ought<br />
Scorpio (Oct. 24 - Nov.<br />
22)<br />
Calling yourself back to yourself<br />
and stepping into a vibration of<br />
returning to your internal well of<br />
exquisiteness. This is a passage<br />
that asks you to reclaim time with<br />
self in a way that nourishes and<br />
inspires. Beautify your space, your<br />
bedroom, buy some flowers for<br />
your table and wash your floors<br />
with rosewater. This is also a time<br />
of much work, projects, figuring<br />
out the details. Having a nourished<br />
home space and honouring space<br />
for reflection will do wonders for<br />
your ability to see, feel and receive<br />
beauty.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“I’m Clean Now” - Grouper<br />
Sagittarius (Nov. 23 - Dec. 21)<br />
Commitment to the many tasks<br />
and opportunities that punctuate<br />
your reality. Stay concentrated,<br />
pouring joy and love at the<br />
projects that have come into your<br />
sphere of influence. There is a reason<br />
for what has been presented<br />
on your path. Stay honest, check in<br />
and communicate with authentic<br />
potency. Old mind layers are<br />
disappearing and a new way of<br />
experience is becoming evident.<br />
Sit in the stillness and be ready to<br />
change your mind once again.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“The Hollow Sound of the Morning<br />
Chimes” - TOPS<br />
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 20)<br />
What have you healed? What has<br />
come full circle? Perhaps it is time<br />
to start anew in some key areas<br />
while letting go of what doesn’t<br />
serve you. Patterns and potential<br />
with finances are highlighted as you<br />
look at where your funds go and<br />
how they may leak. Taking your<br />
abundance into your own hands<br />
and create a practice of moderation<br />
paired with gentle indulgences.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“symbol” - Adrianne Lenker<br />
Aquarius (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19)<br />
What is hidden in plain sight? What<br />
direction is the energy of your<br />
life taking you? This is a period of<br />
recoiling back to your foundation so<br />
you may build with greater strength.<br />
Strategize and prioritize so you may<br />
construct your empire and experience<br />
the totality of your dreams.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Bent (Roi’s Song)” - DIIV<br />
Pisces (Feb. 20 - Mar. 20)<br />
To quote Leonard Cohen “I don’t<br />
trust my inner feelings. Inner<br />
feelings come and go.” This is a<br />
time of taking your feelings into<br />
account but realizing the fluctuating<br />
nature of being a deep feeler.<br />
Regather yourself in essential ways<br />
so that you may serve yourself and<br />
community in the potent ways you<br />
do and dream to. It’s okay to say no,<br />
take a step back and stay in for sake<br />
of self-preservation.<br />
Song suggestion for the month:<br />
“Unconscious Melody”<br />
- Preoccupations<br />
U.S. GIRLS OUGHT TORO Y MOI DIIV GROUPER<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 45
Savage Love BY<br />
DAN SAVAGE<br />
LET’S SAY MY KINK is edging<br />
and I edge myself for a few days<br />
leading up to a date. Is it my responsibility<br />
to tell my potential partner?<br />
There are a few variables here that<br />
are important to note. This is a first/<br />
Tinder date, and it’s just a coffee<br />
date, BUT she and I have talked<br />
about our expectations and there<br />
will likely be a physical aspect in<br />
whatever potential relationship may<br />
ensue. I understand that it’s never<br />
cool to involve someone in your<br />
kink without their consent, but what<br />
are the rules here? On one hand, if<br />
I don’t divulge this information, I<br />
could see how my production of an<br />
unexpectedly large amount of ejaculate<br />
could be upsetting, depending<br />
on the circumstances/activity. But<br />
on the other hand, at least some<br />
amount of come is expected, right?<br />
If I randomly had massive loads<br />
every single time through no effort<br />
of my own, would I be responsible<br />
for letting a partner know? Perhaps<br />
it would be the polite thing to do.<br />
I guess I’d feel comfortable saying,<br />
“Hey, by the way, I produce very<br />
large loads,” if sex was imminent.<br />
But when you add the kink factor<br />
into the mix, I think something<br />
like that should be talked about<br />
before sex is “imminent.” So what<br />
responsibility do I have to divulge<br />
this information? And if I do have a<br />
responsibility to divulge this, when<br />
would be the appropriate time to<br />
bring it up? I feel like it could be<br />
sexy to be so open about a taboo,<br />
given that we’ve already discussed<br />
the desire for a physical aspect to<br />
the relationship. But at what point<br />
between sex being “not off-limits”<br />
and “my parts are going to be interacting<br />
with your parts as soon as our<br />
clothes are off” is the right moment<br />
to disclose my kink?<br />
<br />
What Ought One Do?<br />
Let’s say… you blow that load.<br />
I can’t imagine your new friend<br />
will be shocked. Blowing loads,<br />
after all, is what men do* with<br />
their penises**, WOOD, and most<br />
people who are attracted to men<br />
are aware of this fact. And anyone<br />
who’s slept with two or more men<br />
is aware that some men blow bigger<br />
loads than others. Volume varies.<br />
Volumes vary between men,<br />
and the volume of an individual<br />
man’s loads can vary naturally or<br />
as the direct result of an intentional<br />
intervention, like edging.<br />
Backing up for a second: Edging<br />
entails bringing yourself or being<br />
brought to the edge of coming<br />
over and over again. It’s about<br />
getting yourself or someone else<br />
as close as you can to the “point<br />
of orgasmic inevitability” without<br />
going over. Draw out the buildup<br />
to a single orgasm for hours or<br />
days—by edging yourself or being<br />
edged by someone else—and the<br />
resulting load will be larger than<br />
normal for the edged individual.<br />
But even so, an edged dude’s<br />
load can still be smaller than the<br />
load of a guy who just naturally<br />
produces more ejaculate.<br />
And in answer to your question,<br />
WOOD, no, I don’t think there’s a<br />
pressing need to disclose your<br />
kink to your date. If it gets sexual,<br />
she’s going to expect you to<br />
produce ejaculate at some point.<br />
And even if the load you wind up<br />
blowing is enormous, you’re not<br />
going to drown her or wash out<br />
her IUD.<br />
Frankly, WOOD, your letter<br />
reads like you got baked out of<br />
your mind and sat up half the<br />
night trying to come up with an<br />
excuse to tell this woman about<br />
your not-that-kinky kink and “I<br />
should tell her as a courtesy” was<br />
the best you could do.<br />
If you want to tell her, go ahead<br />
and tell her. But since there’s no<br />
need to tell her that you sometimes<br />
like to stroke for a bit<br />
without climaxing, there’s a strong<br />
chance she’ll react negatively to<br />
your “courtesy” disclosure. Even<br />
if she’s made it clear there could<br />
be “a physical aspect in whatever<br />
potential relationship may<br />
ensue”—even if that’s not just<br />
dickful thinking on your part—<br />
she’s going to be scrutinizing you<br />
for signs that you aren’t someone<br />
she wants to get naked with. She’ll<br />
be looking for red flags at your<br />
first face-to-face meeting, and<br />
if you come across like a creep<br />
with piss-poor judgment—and a<br />
needless conversation about how<br />
much ejaculate you produce and<br />
why you produce so much ejaculate<br />
will definitely come across as<br />
creepy—then she may decide not<br />
to ensue with you.<br />
I’M A QUEER MAN who usually<br />
tops with men. A bad first try at<br />
receiving anal at age 16 led me to<br />
not bottom for years. After seeing<br />
the looks of delight on my partners’<br />
faces, I decided to give bottoming<br />
another go. I followed your advice—<br />
lots of lube and relaxation, a little<br />
weed—and tried lots of different<br />
positions and dick sizes. But no<br />
matter what, I never seem to get<br />
past the pain and into the pleasure<br />
zone. I enjoy being fingered and<br />
using a prostate massager, so I know<br />
my prostate is in there. How many<br />
times should I try bottoming before<br />
I decide it’s not for me?<br />
Twentysomething Into Glutes<br />
Had To Have Orgasms Lustily<br />
Elsewhere<br />
There’s no set number of times a<br />
queer person has to try bottoming<br />
before deciding it’s not for them,<br />
TIGHTHOLE. A person—queer<br />
or straight—can make that call<br />
without ever having tried bottoming.<br />
An exclusive top who isn’t<br />
afraid of his own hole, i.e., a queer<br />
guy who enjoys being fingered<br />
and using a prostate massager,<br />
doesn’t have a hang-up; he’s just a<br />
guy who knows what works for his<br />
hole and what doesn’t. And that’s<br />
more than most people know.<br />
On the Lovecast, we got punked!<br />
Listen at savagelovecast.com.<br />
mail@savagelove.net<br />
Follow Dan on Twitter<br />
@fakedansavage<br />
Get Lucky<br />
and into some shenanigans<br />
3812 Macleod Trail S | 403-287-3100<br />
6411A Bowness Rd NW | 403-247-3103<br />
46 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong><br />
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<strong>March</strong> 20 - Commonwealth Bar & Stage<br />
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Mar 19 - Marquee<br />
Mar 21 - Starlite Room<br />
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Mar 22 - Union Hall<br />
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Mar 25 - The Palace Theatre<br />
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THE CRYSTAL METHOD<br />
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