Booze laws will not help live music!
Legalizing live entertainment in licensed beverage rooms is NOT the answer to Saving the Edmonton Music Scene! It will foster an infestation of “cover bands,” choking off the artists who write and perform their own music. Art will be judged on how much alcohol it sells. It will herald a hegemony of dreaded “booking agents” […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Animal act launches Almanac
There always seems to be a natural ebb and flow to the music venues in this city, doesn’t there? Sure, we lost a lot of live spots last year, but they are slowly being replaced by new ones popping up around the city. Perhaps for the smaller spaces, the current state of the music business […]
ZZ Top at the River Cree in April
Like the days of the week of the weeks of the months of the year in Edmonton, it’s inevitable that ZZ Top should return. This time, the bearded Texans are at the River Cree Casino on Friday, April 1, no foolin’. Tickets are $59.50 to $89.50 and go on sale Friday. The pre-sales start Wednesday. […]
10 Edmonton Bands Pushing the Envelope
The Top-10 list is a little different this year. Rather than extolling the virtues of the best albums, we’re tackling a list of a different sort – the who’s who of the Edmonton scene that’s pushing the limits of normal, tackling the experimental and laying down glorious chaos for the rest of us to follow. […]
New Year’s Eve Music Preview
Ask musicians what they like the most about playing New Year’s Eve and most will probably answer: “We wouldn’t do it at all if it weren’t for the money.” “Good exposure” or “great crowd” is down on the list. Verily, this is the richest payday of the year for any working musician, and yet curiously […]
REAR END IN VIEW: Stick a fork in it
For the fourth year running, a story about Purple City was one of the most widely read articles on GigCity. It’s an Edmonton thing. Among all the weird attractions in a weird town is this time-honoured ritual of getting high and going to stare at the lights outside the Alberta Legislature at night. After a […]
Super silly satire a spectacular success
Ben Spencer didn’t plan to become a children’s entertainer. He kind of stumbled into it. And now it could become his true calling. The Edmonton singer-songwriter, who’s just moved back home after 10 years in Montreal, with a French wife and two toddlers in tow, is a little new at this. The release show for […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Freecloud Records marks 30 years
The man who runs one of Edmonton’s last remaining record shops is also the frontman for Mad Bomber Society – so of course Rich Bomber gets to play for his own Freecloud Records’ 30th anniversary shows this weekend. The concerts happen Friday at the Rocky Mountain Icehouse with the Mad Bombers, the Cygnets, the Fuzz […]
Getting in Rolling Stone the best Revenge
A mysterious and sinister Edmonton band you may never have heard of has wound up in Rolling Stone magazine’s 20 Best Metal Albums of 2015. This list includes the usual suspects: Lamb of God, Clutch, Napalm Death, Slayer, and at No. 1, Marilyn Manson for Pale Emperor. Coming in at lucky No. 13 is a […]
CASSETTE COMEBACK: Are you kidding?!
They hiss, they rattle, sometimes they get eaten. Like snakes, cassettes are great survivors. From the brink of extinction these humble little tapes have been revived by a thriving sub-culture of young musicians and music fans. Who would’ve thought? Old people – who got rid of their turntables to buy tape decks, then ditched their […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Half Moon Run, full speed
If there’s a bigger Canadian buzz band than Half Moon Run this fall then it would be a shock to most music writers. The Montreal band has released two singles this year, Trust and Turn Your Love, the latter of which hit No. 11 on the Canadian alternative charts. Formed in 2009, multi-instrumentalists Devon Portielje, […]
Huron Carole founder speaks on Syrian refugees
Coming from Tom Jackson, words of support for Syrian refugees carry a lot more weight than the usual pundits. The 67-year-old actor and singer perhaps best known for his role in North of 60 has dedicated his life to helping less fortunate people. “When there are vulnerable people, we need to let it be known […]
