When I last interviewed Vancouver punks the Rebel Spell, I was surprised to discover that, long before the band had formed, their singer and principal lyricist Todd Serious knew the Subhumans’ Gerry Hannah. Stepha and Todd were living in ...
The venue shift for the Subhumans May 15th gig - from the Anza to the Ukrainian Hall (805 E. Pender) - returns the band to the scene of the famed 1979 Rock Against Prisons benefit, which also included Tunnel Canary, AKA, the female-fronted ...
Over a pitcher of Molson Canadian at the Princeton Pub, while a startlingly able roots-rock ensemble hosts the open stage night behind our table, we ask Bison’s vocalist-guitarist James Farwell how he feels about his band’s recent signi...
Grade 4/5 students attending McKenzie Elementary produce poems and pictures for Swan Creek bridge
GWAR – Oderus Urungus Does Not Smoke Crack Well With Others
Oderus Urungus is not the sort of intergalactic barbarian warlord who minces his words. I spoke with the leader of GWAR recently, and between copious puffs on his crack pipe,...
Thee Manipulators
The morning after I first saw local 5 piece garage rock band Thee
Manipulators I woke up with two maracas in my bed and a lot more pins
on my jacket. Strangely, I had acquired a pin of an intoxicated/hungry looking fe...
Illustrator Val Lawton is interviewed by Calgary Public Library regarding her illustration career and the impact of the library
I'm a white rocker, born of Abbotsford. All through high school I associated rap music with delinquents farting bass out of Honda Civics and punching people. But time passed, and at SXSW in Austin this past March, I stumble upon the Canadia...
There were moments of giddy transcendence a few weeks back when this very magazine held its official Launch Party featuring a host of Vancouver talent, among them a long-standing (but largely overlooked punk band) named Aging Youth Gang, wh...
Bison members I spoke to agree that the closure of The Cobalt would (or is it will?) be a “huge blow” for the Vancouver music scene. “Bison has played The Cobalt probably about five times,” guitarist/ vocalist James Farwell tells me...
With her fifth album release on April 1 and Western Canadian tour dates throughout April, Orit Shimoni’s Bitter is the New Sweet opens up an exciting new chapter in the life of one Canada’s most brilliant and lyrically impactful vocalis...
For those unknowing, Bison are Vancouver’s currently-reigning champions of The Riff, trafficking in mercilessly heavy, sludgy, and addictive sonic terror. Think discarded beer cans peppered with shotgun holes, full-size back-patches, pall...