Horns for Hope offers addicts musical salvation
It started as a joke about music education, whose context has since been forgotten: “Why don’t we just give musical instruments to homeless people and see what they can do?” Don Berner thought that was actually a pretty good idea, so the community-minded Edmonton saxophonist created Horns for Hope, a program where men in drug […]
Local rock band Rend to blow 50 grand wisely
Giving a bunch of musicians 50 grand in cash might sound like a lot, but by the time you’ve rented the tour bus equipped with satellite TV and hired the guy to pick out the brown M&Ms from your catering, there’s barely enough money left for drugs and hookers. It adds up. Seriously, Edmonton rock […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Destroyer will destroy ya
Sometimes the seemingly random nature of tour itineraries result in the statistical improbability of a one night having choices too numerous to fathom. Four, at least. Such is the case when Swollen Members, Zerbin, the Devonian Gardens, and Destroyer all play different Edmonton clubs on Thursday night. Destroyer originally began as a solo project by […]
Jann Arden brings Everything Almost to Edmonton
Now here’s someone we haven’t seen for a while: Jann Arden! The Calgary pop chanteuse who artfully combines humour and sadness returns to play the Jubilee Auditorium on Monday, September 8. Tickets are $49.50, $69.50, $99.50 and go on sale Friday, May 2 at TICKETMASTER. She’s on the road again with new material from a […]
Gods of Alternative to rock Sonic Boom 2014
The multi-talented Jack White will headline the sixth annual Sonic Boom festival, now expanded to three days, Aug. 29-31 at Northlands. Also appearing: Arctic Monkeys, Rise Against, Death Cab for Cutie, Foster the People, Tegan and Sara, the Descendents, Serene Ryder, Cage the Elephant and many, many more. More acts will be announced. Weekend passes […]
Did Chavril make it bad on purpose?
In light of a recent offering of unpleasant pop culture that everyone and their dog is pooping on, a contrarian is duty bound to look on the bright side. There’s so much hate being directed at Avril Lavigne’s new song and video for “Hello Kitty” that you have to wonder if it’s all part of […]
God lives in the music of Black Sabbath!
The difference between eternal salvation and eternal damnation for Black Sabbath may come down to punctuation. The official title of the reunited band’s first new song since 1978 is God is Dead? – with the question mark – and yet in the recording Ozzy Osbourne sings the title of the song so many times that […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Christian Hansen returns with Small Fry
Christian Hansen is giving himself another chance to go national – from Toronto – with the release of new music that local fans can hear live as the Edmonton expat plays two shows this weekend: an all-ages gig at The Artery on Friday night and a no-minors show Saturday at the Pawn Shop. The new […]
Burton Cummings at Rock Fest, reunions at Hot Plains
Festival announcements are piling up, as area citizens try to stuff as much fun and frivolity into the short Canadian summer as humanly possible. We must. First up, because it’s fresh, is the reveal of the line-up for the annual Edmonton Rock Music Festival. Burton Cummings is the biggest name of an all-Canadian classic rock […]
