BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition May 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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quo and make their own rules,<br />
“like outlaws.”<br />
Peck embraces the contradictions<br />
of being a country musician;<br />
a rebel and performer, clad in<br />
rugged jeans and bedazzled satin<br />
shirts, craving normalcy and seeking<br />
freedom, embracing machismo<br />
and homoeroticism. The phallic<br />
imagery evoked by his 10-gallon<br />
hat and fringed leather mask<br />
is probably no accident. Within<br />
these fluid binaries, he moulds<br />
masculine western tropes into<br />
something personal for him as a<br />
queer musician.<br />
At the core of this alchemy lies<br />
a sense of respect for himself and<br />
for country music listeners.<br />
“A mainstream country radio<br />
station would look at what I do<br />
and think it’s too inappropriate for<br />
their listeners,” Peck says. “But I<br />
receive messages every day from<br />
middle aged white men who live in<br />
Alabama telling me they’re driving<br />
their kids to school every day with<br />
their wife and they’re all listening<br />
to ‘Dead of Night’ in the car.”<br />
Country music audiences are<br />
dying for diversity and Peck feels<br />
part of pushing for the genre’s<br />
comeuppance. He harkens back<br />
to his punk roots, laughing that<br />
being a “weird country star” feels<br />
like being a punk rocker because<br />
he’s rallying against this “facade of<br />
what people are still trying to push<br />
as country music.”<br />
His fans tell Peck they crave<br />
fresh perspectives and idiosyncratic<br />
stories. They want to outgrow<br />
country music’s “stigma of<br />
being a conservative, bland pedestrian<br />
genre.”<br />
Pony stands in bold opposition<br />
to these stereotypes. Peck assembles<br />
sprawling and sparkling landscapes<br />
within which his cast of<br />
outsiders love, lose, and long. On<br />
opener “Dead of Night,” drawn<br />
out chords craft a never-ending<br />
desert for he and his man to drive<br />
through.<br />
Peck’s lingering, rumbling vocals<br />
on “Big Sky” carve a skyscape<br />
expansive enough to hold a lineage<br />
of ex-lovers. And on “Buffalo Run,”<br />
thrashing guitar and rhythmic<br />
drums transmute into stampeding<br />
buffalo.<br />
Setting plays a major role in<br />
Peck’s storytelling. “When I started<br />
putting together these songs,<br />
the places I’ve visited and the people<br />
I’ve met, those are the things<br />
that have really stuck with me.”<br />
Having been on the move his<br />
whole life, from the Pacific Northwest<br />
to London, England, to Toronto,<br />
Peck developed a strong<br />
memory connection to environment.<br />
“It’s definitely important to the<br />
cowboy and western aesthetic because<br />
it’s so much about travelling<br />
and being this nomadic soul,” he<br />
explains. “You leave a little piece<br />
of yourself everywhere and you<br />
take a little piece with you as well.”<br />
These pieces sneak into Pony<br />
in subtle ways. Peck draws inspiration<br />
from his experiences on<br />
the road as well as his personal<br />
obsessions with theatre, cinema<br />
and a slew of musical genres. He<br />
cites new wave, gospel, girl groups,<br />
punk and 80s rock as things he enjoys<br />
that “just had to kind of creep<br />
in for the record.” The end result<br />
is a sound “rooted in outlaw country”<br />
that can travel into rougher<br />
territory and sometimes soars into<br />
glittery falsetto.<br />
“I think if you’re doing anything<br />
with sincerity it will always have a<br />
uniqueness to it,” he says.<br />
Peck has just started his first full<br />
North American tour. “I’m not really<br />
a fan of apathy,” he says of performing.<br />
“You can expect a lot of<br />
drama and cool outfits and stories<br />
wrapped up with sincerity, hopefully<br />
to come and hang out in Orville<br />
Peck’s world for a while.” ,<br />
MASKED FOR MUSIC<br />
Some artists love basking in the warm glow of the<br />
bright stage lights they’re performing under. Others<br />
would rather hide in anonymity and let the music<br />
speak for itself. Here are some of our favourite<br />
artists hiding in plain sight.<br />
By BEN BODDEZ<br />
Daft Punk<br />
All hail the dance-party<br />
powering robots. These iconic<br />
helmets have evolved, now<br />
coming equipped with colourful<br />
LED displays. It’s rumoured that<br />
these impressive and complex<br />
extensions of the famous duo<br />
cost $65,000 each to produce.<br />
Nobunny<br />
Wearing an unkempt bunny<br />
mask and often not much<br />
else, the identity of the sweaty<br />
garage rock anti-hero isn’t as<br />
hidden as most. At the same<br />
time, it’s a strangely perfect,<br />
albeit creepy, accompaniment<br />
to his chaotic live shows.<br />
Pussy Riot<br />
Donning colourful balaclavas,<br />
the Russian punk rock activists<br />
remain masked for different<br />
reasons than most as they’re<br />
known to stage public protests.<br />
“Anybody can be Pussy Riot, you<br />
just need to put on a mask and<br />
stage an active protest of something,”<br />
says band member Nadia.<br />
Leikeli47<br />
More than a fashion statement,<br />
Brooklyn rapper Leikeli47 says<br />
her trademark bandannas and<br />
balaclavas help her cope with<br />
shyness. She takes her dedication<br />
to the mask a step further, staying<br />
concealed in interviews and other<br />
public appearances as well.<br />
Marshmello<br />
The latest EDM star to cross<br />
over to the pop world with<br />
some big-name collaborations,<br />
this sweet-tooth foam enclosure<br />
was inspired by the artist’s<br />
fascination with fellow masked<br />
party starter Deadmau5. .<br />
MAY <strong>2019</strong> BEATROUTE 19