Nov. 16, 2005 - Issue #526: Sex, Lust & Love
Music Notes
Juliette and the Licks • Starlite Room • Fri, Nov 11 • reVUE Like a sexy cross between an aerobics instructor and a rock ‘n’ roll pole-dancer, Juliette Lewis took the Starlite Room by storm last weekend. It’s hard to tell if the packed room was full of curious onlookers waiting to see if the actress-turned-rocker’s stageshow would be a trainwreck or not, but she pulled it off like a pro. The Licks are obviously seasoned road warriors creating a powerful sonic backdrop against which Lewis shone like a yellow satin star. While it’s pretty obvious Lewis’s celebrity wattage played a role in dragging out the large crowd, her electric performance kept ’em front and centre screaming for more. — Phil Duperron
Trish and Kacie benefit show • With the Dirtbags, Panik Attak, the Pervs and Fistacuffs • New City • Sun, Nov 20 Local punk band the Intensives are currently in the middle of an extremely unwelcome hiatus. On the evening of Friday, September 30, Intensives drummer Trish Kennie and a friend were hit by a truck driven by a drunk driver as the pair crossed Whyte Avenue in front of the 7-11 on 101 Street after a show at nearby Octopus Ink Records.
“I got a phone call early in the morning, and I kind of went ‘holy shit,’” says Intensives guitarist Bad Mattitude, a.k.a. Matt Mark, of the moment he heard the pair had been thrown six metres through the air by the impact. “Based on what I heard I actually thought she was done, you know, but they both survived and are recovering.”
Both girls are currently in rehab and are expected to recover fully, but as the financial pressures of being unable to work continue to take their toll, the local punk community has come together to organize a charity show to help the pair cover some of their expenses.
“We’re putting on this show so that both girls can pay their rent and pay their bills,” Mark says, explaining that Kennie’s injuries, while serious, appear to be less debilitating than the band originally feared, at least in terms of Kennie’s ability to pound the skins.
“She’s already drumming again, if you can believe it—we jammed just a few days ago,” Mark enthuses. “It will take a few months for her to heal, but she’s already doing a lot better than any of us thought, which is great.”
While advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving is involved in the show, Mark doesn’t necessarily want to focus on this aspect of the evening, instead preferring to gush about what he sees as the overwhelming empathy and generosity of Edmonton’s tight-knit punk community.
“The punk scene here is amazing—we have the best punk scene in all of Canada if you ask me,” he raves. “Everybody knows everybody, and everybody supports everybody, so this show was really easy to set up.”
“We got so many ‘get well’ emails from guys in other bands—not even just punk bands—and so many people went to see the girls in the hospital to cheer Trish up,” Mark continues. “It’s been pretty amazing—I’m just so grateful for everything everyone has done to help.”
South Side Riots • With London Disturbance Force and Deadcity Serpents • Econo Lounge • Sat, Nov 19 Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited new album by the unintentionally self-parodying Guns N’ Roses, is rumoured to be slated for release sometime in 2006, nearly 10 years after recording and production began. Comparatively, then, the year-long gap between the recording and eventual release of local surf-rockers South Side Riots’ debut full-length seems positively brief.
“We finished the actual recording session in late October of last year, but then we all went on vacations of different sorts, so it’s taken a year for us to get it produced and into our hands,” explains Riots bassist Mason Wilson, who admits to seeing the humour in the Axl Rose-esque interlude between the album’s production and release.
“We were joking about calling the album Early Years, because it seems like it was recorded so long ago,” he laughs. “I mean, we still play all of the songs on this album, but we have definitely changed a lot as a band since we made this recording. We’re hoping to get back into the studio right away so we can release this next one a little quicker.”
All the power to them, but, to be honest, this seems a little doubtful. With members having jetted off to Cuba, Atlantic Canada and Fort McMurray in the last year, the Riots find even practicing on a regular basis to be a little taxing. “We’ve always tried to set up a regular practice schedule, but to be honest we rarely even jam once a week—it’s usually a couple of times a month if we’re lucky,” Wilson admits, although he is quick to point out how little bearing this lack of preparation seems to have on the final product.
“We play shows after not seeing each other for months and they seem to go okay,” he laughs. “I mean, this show is on Saturday, and we’re probably going to get to practice on Friday for the first time in weeks, but I’m sure we’ll sound the same as always.”
The Fat Dave Crime Wave • With the Spitfires and Cripple Creek Fairies • Sidetrack Café • Sat, Nov 19 (8 pm) “Fat Dave” Johnston is something of an institution in the local music community. As a member of bands like the Open Wounds and Black Market Inc., and a founding partner of recently deceased independent record store Ruckus on Whyte, Johnston has been a fixture on the E-town scene, but since his departure from Ruckus and the demise of Black Market Inc., Johnston has been conspicuous more so because of his absence than any type of artistic endeavour. This dearth of Fat Dave is set to be ameliorated, however, as Johnston prepares to unleash his latest project, the Fat Dave Crime Wave, with two shows this weekend. So, um, what does the Fat Dave Crime Wave sound like, then?
“It’s a little more fun—it’s a little swingier, and a little more blues-based,” Johnston explains. “I guess I’m getting away from the ‘punk rock’ thing a bit, although if someone wants to call it punk rock, I’m not going to stop them. The problem is that you can’t really say ‘punk rock’ without someone thinking of Good Charlotte or whoever, which is too bad.”
Indeed, although the Crime Wave will likely have at least a little of the raw energy of punk rock, having been officially formed merely three weeks ago in anticipation of this weekend’s gigs. “It was like ‘hey, let’s book a show,’ so we were kind of forced to get it together,” says Johnston, who is backed up by bassist John Phillips (of Greyhound Tragedy) and drummer David Leigh (Hardy Drew & The Nancy Boys). Because of the pedigree of all three of the trio’s members, local audiences may think they know what to expect from the Crime Wave, although Johnston predicts such preconceptions will be shattered.
“I think there’s a certain expectation that people might have because all of us in this band have been in or still are in other bands,” he admits. “If people expect it to sound like my old bands—and I’m sure there’s a few that do—than that’s a little narrow-minded. Just because someone plays in one kind of band doesn’t mean that’s the only kind of band they’ll ever play in.”
Sonance • With Texas Blood Money and Pind • Victory Lounge • Sat, Nov 19 Everyone can probably picture in their mind the stereotypical image of an old-timey hobo—you know, the blown-out shoes, the grizzled beard, the misshapen hat; a caricature, sure, and an outdated one, at that—I mean, no one actually still hops traincars in 2005, do they?
Well, actually…
“We were on our way back from a show in Kamloops,” begins Lee Waters, guitarist in Jasper-based punk band Sonance, “and we were kind of traveling in a convoy, and one of the vehicles broke down right by Blue River, so the guys that were traveling in that car [guitarist Fabe Valcourt and vocalist Simon O’Mahony] hopped a train from there all the way to just outside Jasper.”
“They must have figured hopping a train would be easier than hitchhiking back home,” Waters speculates. “I guess they were, um, hobos.”
Waters is unable to provide specific answers to Music Notes’s more detailed queries (Did they play harmonica the whole time? Did they carry their belongings in one of those handkerchief/stick contraptions?), instead preferring to talk about how Sonance, which also includes drummer Jamie McCardle and bassist Tom Deagle, ever came to be in a resort town that isn’t exactly bubbling over with hot young bands.
“Only Tom is actually born and raised here—the rest of us all transplanted ourselves here from Kamloops or Edmonton,” says Waters. “We all came up here to work and party for a year or whatever, but the lifestyle here gets pretty comfortable, and after being here four or five years and having this band we don’t feel like we’re transients at all.”
According to Waters, Jasper is actually not a bad place to call home for a band. “We organize a lot of the shows that come through town—we play at the Atha-B [that is, the bar in Jasper’s, ahem, rustic Athabasca Hotel] quite a bit, and if we want to play with certain bands we’ll just bring them in,” he explains. “We’re actually not that isolated—we’re four hours from Edmonton, four hours from Calgary and four hours from Kamloops, so it’s kind of a nice jump-off spot. Jasper is definitely our home.” V
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