| Local Content |
| Written by Richard Amery |
| Wednesday, 03 March 2010 11:28 |
|
March comes in with a roar this week. Blues/folk singer songwriter Darren Johnson returns to the Slice March 4. Also March 4, check out Maurice with the Armchair Cynics at Henotic. Henotic has a couple of excellent shows with Cumako, who were a hit at last year’s South Country Fair as well as Lorrie Matheson, Mark Davis and Chris Page, who are all playing with Jesse And the Dandelions, March 5. Fat Baby Jake is back at the Slice, March 6. Also on March 6, there is a massive dance party blowout at Henotic with DJ Ninety Nine, CKXU DJs, the two Mikes from Still Leanin’ Friday night show and DJ Sleepyhead. Upstairs there will be complete chaos with the reunion of Endangered Ape, Bikeland from Calgary, Krang, Fist City and the Amber Waves. Tickets are $10 in advance. For something completely different, local country singer Alyssa McQuaid is at Pop’s Pub South on the same night. As well, look for Wendell Ferguson and Katherine Wheatley at the Wolf’s Den the same night. Shaela Miller set to release new CD Popular local singer-songwriter Shaela Miller is looking forward to releasing her long-awaited full-length CD “Love is Brave” March 13 at the Bill Kergan Centre. “We’re all very pleased. It’s well worth the wait,” said the soft-spoken Miller of the 11-track release. It includes “Loving You” which was the winning song of the South Country Fair songwriting competition last year as well as a couple from her previous self-titled EP, “Station” and “Vicious Bitches,” and newer crowd favourites like “Scared Love,” “Country Love Song,” “Halfway in Love,” and “Lonely.” While there is a theme of lost and longing for love throghout her songs, Miller insisted they aren’t about her. “They aren’t about my breakups. They are about love and how love can make a person feel,” she said. “These are the songs I wanted to record. Some of them are older, but I needed to make a really good recording of before moving on, ” she continued, adding “Loving Me” was always going to be on the CD. “You’ve got to put the award-winning song on the album,” she said. She recorded the CD over eight days last summer at Audities Foundation studio in Calgary, which she found out about through Michael Bernard Fitzgerald. “They have a lot of old, vintage instruments and recording equipment. They moved up to Calgary from L.A. three years ago,” Miller said. “It’s nice to work in a studio and have the music come out like I wanted it to sound. So there is very much a sense of accomplishment and achievement,” she said, adding she will be sending it to radio stations all over Canada including campus radio stations, CBC and CKUA The CD features Paul Holden on bass and Tyler Bird on drums as well as producer/engineer/studio owner David Kean who plays steel guitar and lead guitar on the CD. Josh Gwilliam engineered the CD. Chevelles playing the Brier Local Top 40 band the Chevelles are quickly becoming the favourite party band of curlers across Canada. They are off to Halifax March 8 to play four shows at the Brier. “We’re just a cover band, we just started doing this for our own giggles so it’s awesome we get to do this across Canada,” said Tim Carter, aka Buck Chevelle, who said the band is looking forward to flying to Halifax March 8 to play four shows at this year’s Brier. The Brier bonspiels draws the country’s best curlers and most enthusiastic curling fans to this annual championship which has gone to the best rink in Canada since 1927. Word spread about the Chevelles after an outstanding performance during the Scotties curling tournament in Lethbridge in 2007 and the band started getting more gigs. The Chevelles, who have been mainstays on the city’s Top 40 cover circuit for many years, are making waves nationally. They just returned from Sault Sté Marie, where they were performing Jan. 29-31 at the Scotties curling bonspiel, “We had a ball,” said Carter between helping customers at Note-able music. “It’ll be the first time I’ve been on the East Coast. “They don’t need us, they’ve got lots of bands over there. But they’re the audience for us; they’re our age. It’s a party atmosphere and we’re a party band. They’re a party audience and that’s where we thrive,” he continued. The Chevelles play a vast repertoire of hits from the ’50s to today. They often play venues such as the Sound Garden and Average Joe’s as well as quite a few weekend gigs out of town. The week that was There were 13 gigs in Lethbridge Friday night. I was only able to hit a fraction of them. Most of the night was spent at a fundraiser for Haiti at the Slice, because I wanted to check out a couple of new blues bands. Some of the proceeds will be donated to Partners in Health and the Humanitarian Coalition which are dedicated to providing earthquake relief and medical care in Haiti. Blues Sen Sa Shun featured Pat Ackerman on bass as well as University of Lethbridge Anthropology professor Dr. Steve Ferzacca. They played a variety of familiar songs, beginning with a laid back version of “Voodoo Chile,” as well as “Can’t You See,” and “The Sky is Crying,” and displayed excellent musicanship throughout their tight set. The Shawna Romillowa band were a highlight as well. Romillowa is usually singing back up with local funk/disco band Hippodrome. Her band plays a similar style of R and B. They performed exceptional versions of “Hound Dog,” and “I Can Change For You.” They added a touch of reggae which had much of the full house cheering and dancing. The Dave Renter Quartet finished off the night with some upbeat jazz. Saturday night was a great night for hearing loss as there were several ear-bleeding shows to choose from. I don’t mind the hearing loss when it’s the result of listening to people who can really play their instruments and/or sing. Prism has always been one of my favourite ’70s rock bands. And judging by an almost full house at Average Joe’s Feb. 27, they’re a favourite of a lot of other people too. Lone original member Al Harlow is a monster of a talent. I arrived at the tail end of one of the band’s newer songs, just in time to catch Harlow, who also handles lead vocal duties, launch into his trademark screeching blues-based slide guitar solo. I’m always impressed by that every time I see him play it. This time he wandered into the audience, borrowed a beer bottle, played slide with it, then jumped on a table, then off again. The show included excellent newer songs like the exotic “Tangiers,” for which he played a sitar line on his guitar, as well as Prism hits like “Young and Restless,” which had the crowd dancing and singing along, as well as “See Forever Eyes,” original singer Ron Tabak’s favourite “Take Me Away,” on which Harlow did his dearly departed friend’s memory justice by hitting all of his high notes almost note perfect, and lighter-worthy ballad “Night to Remember.” Though my favourites “See Forever Eyes,” “Take Me To The Captain” and the talk box solo on “Mirror Man” stood out for me. Of course, they ended with “Armageddon” and were called back for an encore of “Trouble” and crowd pleaser “Spaceship Superstar.” The other deafening show was at the Slice where Lustre Creame tore it up with a typically strong set of finger-bleeding progressive rock. Calgary power metal band Kobra and the Lotus brought back the spirit of the ’80s by starting their second set with a very cool version of Christmas carol “SIlver Bells” as well as some Metallica. Singer Brittany Paige is a pint-sized powerhouse and constantly had me wondering how this classically trained vocalist could bring such a huge voice from such a tiny frame. She had the crowd banging their heads in front of the stage, as the guitarists kept the metal riffs coming. At Henotic, there were two big shows. Papa King, Darryl Düus and Tyler Bird brought the blues for a tight couple of set which were being recorded. Papa King played my favourite original of his ‘Beale Street Blues,’ as well as numerous originals and blues standards. Düus played restrained solos, but was let loose for a couple including a couple on which he sang. Upstairs, The Pine Tarts, Miesha and The Spanks, the Jeremy Clarkson and Amelia Earhart brought the garage-rock scene out. I only caught part of the first band and a fraction of local drums and bass duo Amelia Earhart’s set. Calgary acoustic blues duo Bill Hills and Ray Lemelin returned to the Slice to play for another sparse audience Feb. 24. Bill Hills blew an upbeat harp solo to kick off the show, while Ray Lemelin added some sweet acoustic guitar, then launched into the blues classic “Easy Rider,” which sounded like Elvis was singing it. Hills was a bundle of energy throughout, slapping his knees, snapping his fingers, dancing in his seat while stomping his feet. What the audience lacked in numbers, they made up for in enthusiasm. They played a lot of their latest CD “Neither Here nor There,” blues standards including a really laid back version of ‘Bring it on Home,’ and a really cool song about the music business called ‘Frogs to Snakes.’ Maurice excited about major label debut Victoria power pop band Maurice is looking forward to beginning their tour on their major label debut “Young people with Faces,” in Lethbridge March 4 at Henotic. Lead singer/guitarist Jean Paul Maurice is excited about the March 2 release of the new CD. “We had some trouble with record companies and management companies,” he said, adding the CD was recorded and mixed back in 2008, though the delays gave them time to add two new songs, “Kerosene” and “How You Spend Your Time.” “We’re definitely a pop band, that’s what we were going for,” he said, adding early reviews of the new CD has drawn comparisons to Journey. Though Maurice’s voice is reminiscent of April Wine’s Myles Goodwin, they weren’t an influence, though he agreed he could hear power pop similarities. Their keyboard heavy sound also bears similarities to Queen and early Peter Gabriel-fronted Genesis. Maurice’s vocals are also reminiscent of the Gin Blossoms. The band’s musical roots go further back than that. “I listened to a lot of old 60s pop like the Beatles and the Everly Brothers brothers and I was born in the ’80s so my parents listened to a lot of ’80s pop,” he continued, adding Victoria rock radio station the Zone chose Maurice as their band of the month and has been playing the first single “Love is Love.” “The month is almost over, so hopefully they will continue spinning the disc,” he said. The band opened for Said the Whale two years ago at the Slice and Individual members have played Lethbridge throughout the past year. They will be playing at Henotic with the Armchair Cynics. They will be beginning work on a new CD this summer including four or five songs in French. “The first side will be in English and the second side will be in French. We’ll see how it goes,” said Hills, adding they are planning this project because Lemelin is from Quebec and also they home to get more exposure in Quebec from it. Tim Williams is set to produce this CD, as he did the previous CD. “The last one came out in March, so it’s about time for another one,” he continued, adding they are taking part in Calgary’s winter blues festival, where they were opening a show for slide guitar master Sonny Landreth. On Friday, At Henotic, Calgary-based, Manitoba-born singer songwriter Trina Nestibo was playing a more sedate, country folk flavoured set. It included some accordion, and some excellent countrified playing on the part of her accompanist Bryan Bayley. I enjoyed her song “Hit The Road” near the beginning of the set which featured her on accordion. Ferguson more than just a funnyman Toronto guitarist Wendell Ferguson is the first to admit his mouth gets him in trouble; however, he is also quick to admit that touring with Katherine Wheatley’s down-to-earth and sensitive personality and stage presence provides a great counterbalance to his wicked and often politically incorrect humour. “She’s so sweet; people have been calling our tours, the ‘loved her, hated him tour,’” laughed Ferguson from his home/studio in Toronto. They will be coming to Lethbridge March 6 to play the Wolf’s Den as part of their latest Western Canadian tour. “She can make you cry; I can make you laugh. It can get pretty emotional,” he continued. “My mouth used to get me fired pretty regularly. I have a strange sense of humour. I don’t have a filter between my brain and my mouth. What ever I say just comes out of my mouth,” Ferguson said. “I used to play with Terry Sumsion and he’s a pretty big fellow. One time we were on stage and someone pulled the fire alarm. So I said ‘Watch out, Terry’s backing up.’ So he got mad at me and fired me. The next year, he’d be mad at me or forgot about it and hired me again the next year,” Ferguson chuckled, adding Katherine has also been subjected to some of his off colour jokes on stage. “She’ll get mad at me as well. And she’ll say, ‘Don’t ever tell a joke like that on my stage again.’ I’ll say something but I’ll pay for it later. I know I’m an arsehole,” he said. It’s not all about the jokes, Ferguson is also an exceptional guitarist. While he has played on CDs by Toronto humourists the Arrogant Worms, he also won the Canadian Country Music Association Guitar Player of the Year from 1995-99. “I’m 55. I should be a lot better. I’ll go to music showcases like NAMM and see these 18-year-old kids playing and they’ll blow me away. I couldn’t play like that when I was 18, just imagine where they’re going to take it,” said Ferguson, who has toured with country musicians Duane Steele and bigger names such as Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks, George Fox, Cindy Church Murray McLauchlan and even Gordon Lightfoot. The show begins at 8 p.m. March 6. Tickets cost $20 for members, $25 for non members. March 3 Slice— Stone Iris Henotic— open mic March 4 Beaches Pub— open mic Shark Club— Mahoney Slice — Darren Johnson Henotic— Armchair Cynics and Maurice UNiversity of Lethbridge — Unidentified Human Remains 8:00 pm – David Spinks Theatre; 2:00pm matinee March 6 Tickets: $11 regular/$7 students and seniors. Box Office: 329-2616 HBs LOounge — Gong Show March 5 Lethbridge Casino— Bamboo Guppies UNiversity of Lethbridge — Unidentified Human Remains Henotic — Chris Page with Mark Davis and Lorrie Matheson Henotic— Cumako Slice— Unzipped Mocha Cabana— Herb Hicks Jazz Quartet March 6 Mocha Cabana— Herb Hicks Jazz Quartet SLice— Fat Baby Jake Henotic— House Party with Ninety Nine #10 Lethbridge Casino— Bamboo Guppies Pop’s Pub South— Alyssa McQuaid 9 p.m. Mocha Cabana— Herb Hicks Jazz Quartet University of Lethbridge— Unidentified Human Remains Wolf’s Den— Wendell Ferguson and Katherine Wheatley Yates theatre— Ammena Dance company March 7 Bar One (Sandman Inn) —open mic March 8 Slice— Yes Nice, Darren Frank, Jesse Northey and the Dandelions 1010 Pub— open mic March 9 Slice— Carson Downey Band hosts open mic Henotic — Electronica open decks March 10 Slice — Carson Downey Band. GeoMatic Attic— Stephen Fearing and Andy White Henotic— Karen Romillowa hosts open mic March 11 Slice— Twilight Hotel Henotic— Living Luca Beaches Pub— open mic Shark Club— Mahoney HB’s Lounge_ Gong Show Good Earth Coffee House— open mic |
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| Trevor Panczak releasing his new CD with a party Sept. 9 08/09/2010 | Richard Amery for the Sun Times There are a couple big shows this week. |
| Due for an overhaul? 08/09/2010 | Dave Sulz, Sun Times I’m embarrassed. |
