MUSIC PREVIEW: Iron Maiden fantasy
What is it with British metal bands and their sinister fantasies? Demons, dragons, wizards, watery tarts distributing swords as a system of government, dead albatrosses hung around the necks of doomed sailors foolish enough to have shot the wrong bird – it’s not like the British people don’t have enough real violent history that they […]
Family business: The Raven Age opens for Iron Maiden
Let’s get this straight off the top: The Raven Age would not be opening for Iron Maiden if guitarist George Harris weren’t the son of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris. This is rock ‘n’ roll nepotism at its finest. The proper response is: Yeah, so what?! “Of course that’s how we got on the tour,” […]
INTERVIEW: Coleman Hell and his Monster hit
It’s too early to say if Coleman Hell is a one-hit wonder. Then again, anyone who owns a wireless radio must’ve heard his hit 2 Heads about 1,000 times before they even knew who the hell Coleman Hell was. This is typical of the current climate of a music business that breeds one-hit wonders. We […]
Juno Awards celebrate star power
If you were Rip Van Winkle and sealed in a time capsule for the last 20 years, you might find the Juno Awards a bit different than you remember. More star power. Jann Arden is still there – but she’s the host! A competent host she was, too, at the show from her hometown Calgary […]
Marianas Trench not so deep
Hearing the high-powered candy-coated pop-rock-hyphenated anthems of Marianas Trench at Rexall place Friday night and finding it all so strangely familiar, it’s easy to imagine there exists a sinister cabal of songwriters responsible for every hit you hear on the radio. Not so far fetched, is it? Linda Perry, Max Martin, Paul Anka, and Diane […]
Loudon clear on daddy issues
Loudon Wainwright III does not care to get into a discussion of his children’s songs about him. His son Rufus wrote one called Dinner at Eight that deals with the age-old struggle between fathers and sons. “So put up your fists and I’ll put up mine, no running away from the scene of the crime,” […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Latch onto Latcho Drom
The can’t miss gig of the weekend is Latcho Drom, a local experimental-punk group hosting a CD release party Friday night at the Sewing Machine Factory. Sewing Machine Factory is now the official name for what was called The Alley in its first few weeks of operation. They hadn’t decided on a name when they […]
Metric makes manic musical magic
Metric has become a strangely serious band since its roots in the fun times – when the new wave of the old new wave was new again, back in the good old days of the late 1990s, before 9-11, before radio hits thrust this Canadian synth-rock band to medium level stardom. They were merely giddy […]
The Offspring gets off on Edmonton
Well … it looks like somebody had a good time at The Offspring concert on Thursday night. Everybody was stinking drunk, the floors were all sticky, there was vomit in the bathrooms, and two arrests were witnessed before the show even started. Drunk and disorderly. Good gig. The band had the best time of all. […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Raygun Cowboys zap DV8
The Raygun Cowboys look like they stepped out of a casting call for a punk rock version of Guys and Dolls – and sound like a horny fusion of Buddy Holly and the Sex Pistols. How could you possibly go wrong? The growling singer Jon Christopherson, who sports a burly 1950s pompadour to match his […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Who needs SXSW?
With a lot of your favourite Canadian indie bands down in Texas for the SXSW festival, this is a good weekend to check out some of the newer venues in Edmonton, which are in full swing with new talent this weekend. The Needle Vinyl Tavern, for example, hosts Saskatoon’s Close Talker (pictured) on Saturday night […]
Slayer destroys Edmonton
So Slayer wrecked the Shaw Conference Centre on Tuesday night. Their relentless, unrepentant sonic assault literally blew the roof off the place, and caused a structural failure that collapsed the building into an undiscovered coal mine shaft under the river bank. Also an Indian burial ground. The seismic shock waves from Slayer’s explosive riffs also […]
