MUSIC PREVIEW: Colditus Winterruption
The biggest gigs this weekend are all part of the inaugural Winterruption festival, which stretches from Thursday all the way through Sunday, with some pretty big names in some common, and some not so common, venues.
Opening night – Thursday – sees Toronto’s Weaves (above) headline a monster lineup at the Starlite Room. The indie pop quartet made a name for themselves with their eponymous 2016 release, which saw them shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, and also nominated for a Juno in the Alternative Album Of the Year category. A pretty heady start, one might wonder how they could hope to top that, and yet their follow-up, 2017’s Wide Open, once again found its way onto the Polaris and Juno lists. Walkaway off this album, their biggest hit to date, is the perfect example of their sound, brilliant and shimmery with incredibly catchy hooks and lyrics, and punctuated by lead singer Jasmyn Burke’s enthralling voice. Other performers for the evening include Shag, Girlfriend Material, and Eamon McGrath.
Friday night the festival stretches across four venues. Some of the evening’s bigger names include Jennifer Castle and Bodega (both playing at Freemason Hall), Calgary’s 36? and Edmonton’s Marlaena Moore (Yellowhead Brewery), and then there’s two shows at the Starlite Room. The latter features GZA, a New York rapper and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, who has a catalog of five solo albums himself to choose material from. In fact, his 1995 solo effort Liquid Swords was named one of the best rap albums of all time in 1998 by The Source Magazine.
Saturday is peak Winterruption, with six venues going strong. Matthew Cardinal, whose 2019 release Music From Digging In the Dirt recently made Gig City’s Top 10 Albums for 2019, performs along with another local group of significant repute, Wares, at Freemason Hall. Coleman Hell, an indie pop artist out of Thunder Bay, whose 2016 album Summerland received rave reviews, headlines an afternoon show at The Station On Jasper. The evening show is equally as strong, featuring Hannah Epperson and Begonia. The Starlite Room has an epic evening lineup, with six bands, including Blessed, Sunglaciers, and concluding with No Age, a Los Angeles noise rock duo with a total of four studio albums to their credit, three of them on the legendary Sub Pop label.
The festival pulls back just a bit for its final day, with three gigs on tap for Sunday, including an outdoor show at Abbey Glen Park featuring three Edmonton luminaries – The Hearts, Raygun Cowboys, and Nuela Charles. The wrap-up party over at Rocky Mountain Icehouse closes the entire festival, headlined by Bully, a grunge-meets-punk-meets-indie group out of Nashville featuring Alicia Bognanno.
For the full schedule, ticket sales, and more, check out the Winterruption website.
Friday 24
Alloys – This local indie-post-punk project headlines a fundraiser for the Beaver Hills Community. Goldenchild, L.N. Baba, and Pleasebeniceyo also perform. Aviary, 8 pm, admission by donation.
Saturday 25
Copyrights – This pop-punk band out of Illinois has been going strong for over a decade, slapping out old school pop-punk with just a timbre of polish. The show’s a little earlier so beware, but it also means you should be on your way home by 10. Imagine that. Buckingham, 6 pm, $15. BUY
Kaeley Jade – Another earlier show just down the road features one of Edmonton’s extraordinarily-talented singer-songwriters. More of a folk-pop bent, perhaps, and Jade is hosting a single release party for the track Years Ago. Supported by Abandon Your Town and Emmet Michael. Almanac, 7 pm, $12. BUY
