(RERUN) NAME GAME: The 2nd coming of Big Wreck
Naming a band is like branding a cow. It screams and resists the process, but once the pain goes away, only the scar remains. The poor thing hardly notices its brand at all, which loses most of its original meaning beyond conferring identity and ownership. “It’s just the name of the band, man,” say band […]
MORE CONCERTS: Mother Mother, Black Label Society
Run for your lives! And your credit cards! Concert announcements are falling like cabinet ministers’ reputations! Just another two more today, and that should be it for the week: First, the Canadian alt-rock band so awesome they named it twice: Mother Mother, at the Shaw Conference Centre on Thursday, Dec. 4. And then the perfect […]
Sam Roberts Band at the Jube in November
Sam Roberts is a slippery fellow. Just when we thought he was turning into another one of these heartland hit machines like Bryan Adams, he zigs and zags and dips and turns until we don’t know what to call him anymore. A soulman in rock clothes? Or a rock ‘n’ roller with depth and groove? […]
Bryan Adams returns with the best years of his life
If Bryan Adams got his first real six-string in the summer of 1969, he would’ve been nine years old at the time. “Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard,” he sings. “Jimmy quit, Jody got married. I should’ve known we’d never get far.” These events must’ve happened at […]
Photog plants roots in Edmonton Musician Project
It always seems surprising when an artist moves to Edmonton from somewhere else, survives a winter or two and still decides to stay. When music photographer Erin Walker moved here from Burlington, Ontario two years ago, her friends thought she was crazy. “My parents did, too,” she says. “Everyone thought I was crazy going to […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Eye on Edmonton
Early September typically brings about what could be described as the eye of the hurricane: A relative calm between the frenzy of the summer music festivals and the cavalcade of autumn tours by both Canadian and international acts. It gets busy. Coming soon will be Big Wreck at Encore on Sept. 19, Lyle Lovett and […]
The Fronts radio friendly ‘by accident’
Saved from a lifetime of playing other people’s music, it’s a brave leap to the original for any professional musician. Professional merely means making a living at it, no day job. In most places on Earth, you can’t do that without playing in a cover band. Only the very elite of original artists get to […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Death by Robot a good way to go
This weekend has its usual share of album release parties, but one of the most anticipated of the year may be Death By Robot at the Pawn Shop on Friday. One of the bands to watch on the local music scene for the last year or so – and confirmed by their selection as last […]
EMO-BRO: Dierks Bentley brings feelings to Edmonton
Seriously, there’s another bro-country bro coming to town?! Which one of these bros is which, anyway? And which one of these articles about bro-country is which, for that matter? Like their subjects, they’re all the same. But let us not be so hasty as we examine the evidence in the case of one Dierks Bentley, […]
Beware the Invasion of The Voice judges!
What band at what festival recently had a song along the lines of “There is not any rest for the wicked?” We honestly can’t remember, because it’s onto the next thing already. Concert announcements are dropping like flies. This just in, the Invasion of The Voice Judges continues (Maroon 5 with Adam Levine just announced): […]
Maroon 5 returns to Rexall in early 2015
Recent news of the Maroon 5 world tour was met with great rejoicing amongst enthusiasts of finely-crafted pop music – because as anyone with an ear for music knows, for every 10 one-hit flavours of the radio this week, there is only one Maroon 5. Tickets go ON SALE Saturday, Sept. 13 for the band’s […]
REVIEW: The smalls go big at Sonic Boom
Fears that the smalls were going to be out of place – and out of their league – for their reunion show at Sonic Boom 2014 were banished soon enough. Greatness shines through. Performing a suppertime set at Northlands on Sunday, the smalls are different, no doubt about it. Next to a weekend sparkling with […]
