It’s Fringe Festival time in Saskatoon once again, and CFCR is pleased as pineapple punch to have wayward host Chris Jensen temporarily back in the fold to bring us another round of his delightful Fringe Fest Flyer, which is a daily dose of all things Fringe. Chris and his merry band of Fringers bring you interviews/reviews/previews and give you the news on all the Fringe Fest shows. Literally. Chris once again vows that, if he doesn’t take in each and every play at the Fringe, he’ll eat his hat. Now, just because his hat is made out of chocolate and Saskatoon berries, it shouldn’t seem like any less of a serious promise.

As we head into the first weekend of the Fringe, you can check out the first two installments of the Fringe Fest Flyer below, or you can just tune in to hear them broadcast on CFCR, each weekday during the festival at 2:30 and 5:30pm.

Fringe Fest Flyer #1 – Thursday, July 28, 2011

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Fringe Fest Flyer #2 – Friday, July 29, 2011

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Hot off an appearance at Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks Festival, Saskatoon’s very own band of dusty balladeers The Deep Dark Woods have announced some more summer/fall tour dates, including a stop at POP Montreal and an an opening gig for Blue Rodeo.

08-04-07 Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Music Festival
08-12-14 Ear Falls, ON – Trout Forest Music Festival
08-20 Regina, SK – The Exchange
08-21 Kelwood, MB – Harvest Sun Music Festival
08-27 Wood Mountain, SK – Wood Mountain Folk Festival
09-11 Banff, AB - The Banff Amphitheater w/ Blue Rodeo
09-15 Winnipeg, MB – West End Cultural Center
09-18 London, ON – Oh! Fest
09-19 Stratford, ON – The Loft
09-21 Hamilton, ON – Casbah
09-22 Wakefield, QC – The Black Sheep
09-23 Montreal, QC – Pop Montreal
09-24 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
09-25 Guelph, ON – Van Gogh’s
10-01 Calgary, AB – Dicken’s
10-02 Lloydminster, SK - Lloydminster Theatre

As previously reported, The Woods are also just about ready to unleash their newest recording and first for premier Canadian indie folk/country label Six Shooter Records, The Place I Left Behind. The album drops on August 2nd, but you can pre-order your very own CD or digital version by visiting the Six Shooter online store now. Check out the cover art below:

And while you’re at it, you might as well listen to opening track “West Side Street” again:

The Deep Dark Woods – West Side Street by killbeat music

In June of this year, Slow Down, Molasses had their collective minds blown when they received an invite to play the End of the Road Festival in Dorset, England alongside such greats as Mogwai, Okkervil River, Joanna Newsom, Beirut & the Walkmen.

To celebrate this unreal opportunity….and help SDM raise some funds to get over to the UK, they’ve invited a bunch of their favorite local bands and are hosting their own mini-festival at Amigo’s Cantina on July 22nd!

Come out and see the most ridiculously packed, logistically insane line up ever at Amigo’s featuring:

Slow Down, Molasses, The Foggy Notions, Eyebats, Maybe Smith, Foam Lake, Pearson, Reform Party, Father Figures, Karpinka Brothers, The Browntones, Jeans Boots, soso & more!!!!

Starts early! First band goes on at 9:00pm sharp! And it’s a steal of a deal at $10 admission. Less than a dollar a band! CFCR is very happy to offer a lucky CFCR member a copy of Slow Down, Molasses’ newest masterpiece Walk Into The Sea on VINYL!

If you want to enter for a chance to win, email contests@cfcr.ca with the subject “SLOW DOWN, VINYL”. Don’t forget to include your Name, Phone and your valid 2011/12 CFCR membership number!

If you haven’t signed up for your 2011/2012 CFCR membership yet, you can……

1. Purchase your membership HERE using Visa, MasterCard or PayPal and we’ll mail your card right to your door!

2. Drop by the station at 267 3rd Ave S, on the 3rd Floor. We accept cash, cheque, Visa and MasterCard.

3. If you can’t make it to our beautiful downtown office, you can mail a cheque to us at:

CFCR 90.5FM
267 3rd Ave S
Saskatoon, SK
S7K 4L4

4. You can get your membership year-round by visiting our friends at Unreal City

Friday, June 24, 2011

“I’m going to fucking die here”.

Cate Francis, art sorcerer and my better half, spat disdainful strings of aggravated nonsense as she white-knuckled the wheel of the car we had borrowed from my mother to get down to 2011′s edition of the Sled Island Music Festival. Our trip towards Calgary had been relatively painless, idyllic even considering the amount of construction and lack of double-lane highways, until the second we reached the city. We had haphazardly negotiated our way in to the cities north-industrial area for a pre-fest errand that had proven to be  a time consuming and fruitless venture, but our true nemesis would reveal itself to be reaching the inner-core of Calgary. We were lost, but with myself as the navigator that was the best we could have hoped for. We were probably lucky to have even found our way in to Alberta.

We had stopped only once to get directions from a local, a young Juggalo with a filthy arm cast proclaiming “Clown Love” and covered in many crudely rendered hatchet-men. Trusting a juggalo would be a most regrettable second lapse in judgment as we found ourselves in the early stages of rush hour traffic on a highway that appeared to change its name as often as Keith Thornton, heading nowhere near our destination. Thanks to a text-based play-by-play from Moas guitar giant Chad Munson we realized that we had already begun to miss the CFCR showcase at the gourmet hot dog spot, Tubby Dog.

“Seriously, I’m going to burn this city to the ground,” Cate reminded me for the sixth time.

The highway had spit us off in to some warehouse district without a straggler in sight to send us in the right direction or juggalo tooling for a crack fix to send us in the wrong one. Eventually we called one of our cow-town confidants, the lovely Kieran of reigning noise-mongers Breathe Knives, and he was patient enough to demote me from navigator to spectator over the phone, while at his day-job no less. He would eventually be knighted a Navigation Ninja over the course of our trip. I was Emasculated anew.

By the time we retrieved our festival bracelets and hurried down to the CFCR showcase we had missed everything except Feral Children, who were already mid-set. I spent the first few minutes cruising around apologizing for my tardiness and then settled in for a cheese & bacon dog and some of Ryan Davidson and company’s immersive next-level psych. They really manage to bring a refreshing almost alien energy  to a corner of sound often devoid of energy at all. Davidson’s powerful voice especially seems to spin so recklessly with passion that Feral Children are a beast I keep my eye on rather than zone out to. It’s an almost redundant observation, but the name really does say it all.

After catching our breath for a moment  I felt disoriented with my surroundings. The showcase was in every sense Saskatoon disembodied. I was shoulder to shoulder with nothing but familiar faces, enjoying some of our finest local sounds and I’m pretty sure I could hear CFCR’s AVL quoting The Simpsons at the top of his lungs somewhere in the room the whole time we were there. It was an Amigos Cantina show with hot dogs instead of Tex-Mex. Bizarre.

The dash from the CFCR showcase to the Olympic plaza saw us meeting with the Buzzcocks midlife….er… mid greatest hits set. It was an enviable effort on behalf of the punk pioneers, and it was hard not to tap your foot and hum along because the songs still work after all these years, but those interested in vitality over nostalgia were eventually distracted. I’m not of the “If you’re old, don’t bother” snob class either, in recent years I’ve witnessed other safety-pin perforated elder-statesmen, most notably the Vanian/Capt. Sensible line-up of The Damned, and lived to eat crow while cleaning my shorts. The Buzzcocks by comparison, legends as they are, simply dissipated in to a muffled backing track to me hovering the grounds looking for water to combat the punishing heat. As a man who gets virtually no sun whatsoever it should be noted that any and all unfiltered sunlight is punishment to me.

Dude-metal darlings The Sword followed to serve as a smoother transition to the headlining Sleep. Of the countless faux-Stoner Rock outfits clogging the heavy music enthusiasts periphery in the last five years, The Sword are among the safest and consequently least vital, and considering how vanilla the majority of their ilk is that is actually a pretty gigantic slight. They are quintessential safe-for-road-trip-with-the-folks-metal and while they do their missing-link-between-Wolfmother-and-Mastodon thing very proficiently, it all counts for naught since they do so without any discernible feeling or purpose. Like so much of their brethren who were on hand as part of Sled Island’s cash in on the recent Stoner/Doom popularity flair, they were lauded only because they were as innocuous as they come.

I suppose though that I shouldn’t complain too much about Sled’s strategic programming this year. Their Stoner-Metal/Rock selections may have been primarily worst of breed (outside of the perpetually raging Bison BC), but they were only really invited to pad one of the year’s most anticipated inclusions, the almighty Sleep.

In their absence, which lasted from 1998 till 2009, riff druids Sleep have assumed the unenviable status of Legend. It sounds nice, but its a long drop. Despite their high quality output since dissolving (Matt Pike with High on Fire and Al Cisneros with Om), it was the perfect timing, as I’ve already inferred, to tarnish their past glory by using Sleep as a relentless cash-cow to ride heartlessly through the summer festival circuit while a splinter genre they helped define was peaking in its popularity. Intentions aside, when a group reemerges after so much time, steeped in as much fable and mystique as Sleep, its hard for a fan to get everything they wanted to get out a monster they never thought they’d meet in person.

Everyone always expects Snake Plissken to be taller, right?

Well, Sleep managed to side step nostalgia and novelty quite entirely through sheer, boundless power and assume relevance by brute force after a lengthy dormancy, reminding the world that those who have tried to follow in their footsteps have failed so miserably. Their cocktail of wanton sloth, vulgar muscle and alchemical psych-prowess threatened to burn the lens-less glasses and po-mo mustaches from the smug throngs of largely uninitiated hipster set who dominate Calgary come Sled Island every year, and ushered in a wave of stoned riff-raff so unfashionable that the side by side comparison was nearly Neil Hamburger funny (okay, not quite). The sprawling opening of the notorious “Jerusalem” (“Dopesmoker” to the latter-day converts) was called to order through guitarist Matt Pike’s endless Sabbath-obsessed dirge which seemed in appropriately hypnotic fashion to roll on forever before being sharpened to focus by the addition of Vocalist/Bassist Al Cisneros and Jason Roeder (of Neurosis fame, sitting in for original drummer Chris Hakius who retired from music in 2009). Cisneros eventually wandered aloofly across the stage to proclaim his now legendary stoner-rock agenda: “Drop out of life with bong in hand”. Judging by the rank stench wafting off the audience they were already way ahead of him. Despite the awkward scrum of crust-kids and hip youths trying to ironically slam-dance, the initiated congregation gathered near the front pulsed uniformly for the duration of the hour and half long set unaffected as the band plowed through most of “Jerusalem” as well as handful of favorites such as “Dragonaut” and “The Aquarian” and some new material which blended seamlessly into their set. This was no scam, Cisneros and Pike aren’t fly by night preachers, this was all that legend shit we heard about. A pure resurrection.

The stupor induced by Sleep saw Cate and I along with most of the members of Shooting Guns as we wandered aimlessly in to the streets of Calgary. They said something about trying to get in to another venue to which I simply nodded dumbly. We got lost on our way over, loudly harangued scene scum in an alley about heatscoring their blow deal, and then found a place for Jim Ginther to piss, which ended up being out in the open in front of an unusually tolerant cop.

We eventually found ourselves in a long line up waiting to see Kurt Vile. After a minute or two my show buzz had started to wear off and I wondered what the fuck I was doing waiting in line for Kurt Vile. Another quick text conference with Munson who was camped out down front at the Palomino for Quest For Fire let us know that the venue wasn’t sold out yet but was, in the two words of his text, ‘Fucking Close.’ Cate and I abandoned the Guns guys and raced in to the basement of the Palomino. As we entered the room the Sled Island staffer made a signal for the doors to be closed behind us. We  were the tipping point. We turned the corner and faced a wall of plaid shirts and shaggy hair blocking our view of the stage. Surrounded.

Claustrophobia creeps in.

Within moments we deduced that if the inebriated indie-psych lovelies succeeded in their in their titular quest that we would all be singing “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” in Hell with a bunch of scene royalty, and I had no intention of dying before seeing Neil Hamburger, and certainly not with these people. So after only a minute of Quest for Fire, we turned around to climb the steps again only to find them virtually non-negotiable with other late-comers. We forced our way up the snake of bodies out of the building as “Bison Eyes” hammered through the floor. It sounded good. On the street I heard sirens and enough voices that I couldn’t make out the stupid things any one of them was saying. That sounded even better. We beat it a few blocks down to the Local 522 where Saskatoon’s Auld Beak were closing out the Bart Records showcase.

I’ll admit, the scheduling of Auld Beak as a closer on a show so top heavy with championed in-province talent  rubbed me the wrong way. Really, the scheduling allowed me to see them in the first place, so I should be thankful, but I already know how awesome they are, this would have been the ideal opportunity to show the rest of Calgary. They wrapped the evening up to a small-but-attentive audience with their brash and catchy  rock n roll. Their short, punchy tracks were the perfect remedy to pull me out of the fathomless void Sleep had produced mere minutes earlier until tragedy struck as guitarist Evan Vrinten’s guitar rig was choked out very shortly in to their set. Vocalist/Bassist Kyle Martin made the best of a bad situation by treating the audience to an acapella rendition of “He’s Not Heavy” before admitting defeat to technology and ushering us back out on to the street. Auld Beak is a great band and they should have had a better spot. They also should have had working gear though, so the moral might just be “Shit happens.”

Saturday, June 25, 2011

We started the second day off a little on the late side at the Olympic plaza once more. It was a marvel of architecture the place was still intact after Sleep’s punishing set the night before. We arrived just in time to catch The Ravonettes shamble their way through a set of their patented noir bubble-gum. I hadn’t seen The Ravonettes since “Pretty in Black” dropped in 2005 and was pleased to see them stick to their story so resolutely. Their output on record has seemed redundant for me for quite a few years (I haven’t been inspired to pick anything up since “Chain Gang of Love”), but they always seem to hold up on stage. This afternoon Sharin Foowas was handling both bass and vocals, and put on an infinitely more sober performance then last I had seen them. Still though, band leader Sune Rose Wagner’s resemblance of Spenser Rice as a lost Reid sibling will always be a personal distraction for me.

Our next detour from the festival came in the form of a barbeque with two-thirds of Breathe Knives and some family. Hot-dogs for day one, bacon-wrapped chicken wings on day two. Calgary didn’t seem very health conscious, but it sure was hospitable.

The second night of Neil Hamburger’s two-night stand at the Auburn Saloon was met with some odd anticipation. By the wee hours of Friday night word had already spread about the bedlam that befell the Auburn hours earlier that saw ‘America’s Youngest Comedian’ calling a young lady a whore (not uncommon at a Hamburger performance), said young lady retaliating with violence, Hamburger throwing a drink in her face (again, not uncommon), and then a frantic pummeling before security was forced to take over, finally leaving poor Neil to soldier through his set. This fiasco turned one of the festivals more bizarre (and certainly most inspired) choices in to a last-minute hot ticket item.

The bacon-wrapped chicken wings of my dreams ended up being a double edged sword of nightmare. Cate and I, along with our personal chef and Breathe Knives member Cory, arrived late due to our gluttony and were met with a daunting opponent in the form of a line-up. I cursed my satisfied belly. As time stretched out more and more we watched other hard-nosed “I’m not going anywhere” types drop like flies (including Jim Ginther and Charles Lemire, shaming Shooting Guns and The Foggy Notions respectively). Festival ambassadors came out at one point with earnest faces to warn us that the chances of getting in were growing unlikely. Within minutes the length of the line-up doubled and eventually tripled in size, stretching down the plaza steps on to the sidewalk. We held on, nervously. A quick glance at the program guide only irritated matters, reminding us that there was no consolation prize for missing this show.

“Look at all the people leaving…” Cory Assured us over and over again. He had a ticket and was getting in regardless, we were lowly wristbanders. “There’s no way you’re not getting in. Seriously.” As the line thinned we were able to see inside of the club. The front row was mainly Saskatoon residents, including Friends Electric icon Drew Davies who had warned us to get there early. He had even tried to save seats for us. Steve Reed waved at us and laughed.

For our faith we finally received admission with only minutes to go before ‘America’s Funny Man’ took the stage. As we surveyed the room for the best available vantage point we were nudged out of the way by Hamburger himself, three overflowing drinks dampening his suit jacket sleeve. Cate apologized with a hint of pleasant surprise in her voice as he took his time staring each of us down, his bottom lip protruding grotesquely, nondescript grumbling sounds denied exit through his closed mouth. He looked like some awful gargoyle turned flesh, trying to settle in to sentient life as a 70s game show host. Cory patted him on the shoulder and he pulled away. Neil Hamburger wasn’t built for warm embrace.

Once on stage he went through the motions, selling his schtick for all it was worth, and thank god for it. Hamburger executed a very calculated set of old favorites (no way of winning a twenty-something crowd over than with 15 vitriolic minutes of heroin jokes directed towards the Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and carefully placed duds which are often themselves old favorites, broken up by his trademark throat-clearing and Gilbert-Godfried-after-throat-cancer mantra of “Whyyyyyyyyyyy?”

A quick glance around the room was very telling and if I had to guess I would say that more than just a few completely dumbfounded tables had only taken up valuable real estate in the crowded Auburn hoping to see a reprieve of the violence the night before.

At one point during a particularly drawn out and completely lame joke I decided to be ‘that guy’ and booed the stage, at which point Hamburger tore a few strips off of me and accused me of being a plant from the Schmirnoff Ice people.

I also found out for the umpteenth time why Courtney Love won’t be having any craaaanberry sauce for Christmas dinner this year, which is always helpful.

Our Sled Island experience ended there, with so many options still available to us, but frankly being told off by Neil Hamburger could not have possibly been topped and our last stop in Calgary that night was to a technicolor living room (think the shock moments in Romero’s Creepshow frozen in time) attended exclusively by people dressed as the elderly, surrounded by snakes, mantises, and dozens of tarantulas, listening to the police and debating latter day Lynch (Eraserhead‘s Lynch, not Dokkens’).

Don’t tell me I missed out, I know how to party.

Skot Hamilton
End-Times Transmissions
Thursdays, 11pm-12:30am

DANA vs. SLED ISLAND

Thursday, June 23, 2011

I’m new to urban camping, but it’s not that bad. Fellow CFCR correspondent Brendan Flaherty and our friend Aryn were set up in a backyard in Calgary’s Bridgeland neighbourhood. Think of it as their Riversdale – it’s got a bright future.

We had an extension cord to power our gadgets overnight, a backgammon board, bathroom access, bags of fruit to keep from getting scurvy, and lots of beer and whiskey. Essentials.

Set-up, Aryn and I biked down the steep nearby hill to try to find Brendan and see Two Bicycles at a venue called Emmedia. At least that was the plan. It turns out that Google isn’t always the best at finding out where something is. My ever helpful smartphone told me that Emmedia was in a parking lot next to a giant corporate building on 11th st  that definitely didn’t have a venue in it. I had to search for it the old fashioned way – asking people on the sidewalk. Barbaric stuff to be doing in this, the 21st century. They had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, but a dude biking by overheard and stopped to tell me that it was three blocks down the street.

I made sure to get a paper schedule (with map) there and kept it in my bag all weekend. It had the correct addresses and everything.

Fortunately, we got there before he had started. This was the only Two Bicycles show of the weekend, while his other project, Teen Daze, was playing a few. The venue itself was a small dark room that encouraged floor sitting. The only light came from three projectors set up to show some looping nature imagery on three of the walls. It complimented the atmospheric, instrumental set well.

Next we headed to the Distillery to see Gobble Gobble and Man Man. This Distillery is a funny venue – it comes off as a sketchy dive bar with a stained glass dome above the dance floor. Gobble Gobble were their normal exuberant theatrical selves. I’d seen them recently here in Saskatoon at a show where they got a bit over zealous and knocked a chandelier with a shovel, breaking its glass over top of the crowd. They still do the shovel bit, but now it’s with a shovel and (what appeared to be) a copy of the board game Sorry. The other shovel’s still hanging at Jale if you want to see it. The set itself was manic and fun, creating at least one circle pit and numerous bursts of enthusiasm. This band puts on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen and I was a bit worried about anyone having to follow it up. Man Man didn’t disappoint, however, taking the stage in glowing warpaint and ridiculous costumes and played an impressive set of experimental gypsy-pop. Frontman Honus Honus is an intense dude and knows how to get a crowd riled up.

Friday, June 24, 2011

I got a late start Friday, but made it to Tubby Dog just in time for the final part of the CFCR Showcase. The last bit of Shooting Guns was one of the louder shows of the weekend – I couldn’t quite see the hot dogs shaking on the grill, but that was only because I couldn’t get in far enough to see the hot dogs. The crowd was large and enthusiastic. Feral Children closed it out with a tight set that did us all proud. The showcase only did Saskatoon favours and I can’t wait to see it grow next year.

After that I had to bike back to the tent to get my bike lock since everyone was splitting up and I’d forgotten it. I couldn’t bike fast enough and missed the Buzzcocks, and then I missed most of the Sword’s set while I found some food before Sleep came on. I mostly remember wandering around Olympic Plaza trying to bump into friendly faces (something that is apparently only difficult to do while trying to do it. Saskatoon was everywhere at this festival) and trying to figure out where I’d go next.

Julianna Barwick was a name I’d heard thrown around a lot over the last twenty-four hours, so I biked down to the Marquee Room. I didn’t know much about her going in, and was surprised to see her onstage without much in the way of gear at all besides a looping  station and a mic. She uses her exquisite voice to excellent effect, looping it over itself until it’s a swirling tangle of ambient dream-folk.

Ears soothed, I took off to see some friends play at the Local 522. Auld Beak were playing  as a part of the Bart Records showcase, and I arrived just in time to have them tell me I’d just missed one of their favourite bands of the weekend, the Bayonets!! Ah well.

They weren’t going to be on for another half an hour, so I left to check out the situation at the Legion. Kurt Vile was high on my list of people to see, so I thought I might be able to get a stamp so I could get back in later. Luckily, I met Henry from Friendo/Memory Screen on my way there and he told me not to bother.

“It’s at capacity,” he said, “I’m heading for greener pastures.”

I shrugged and turned around. The band was still setting up when I got back, so I got a beer and came up with a new plan for the night.

Despite the fact that Auld Beak is from Saskatoon and made up of friends, this show was actually my first time seeing them. Their regular drummer was on tour with another band, so Colin from Night Danger was filling in. The crowd was small but enthusiastic, engaging Evan in some back and forth even though he has a policy of “never talking on-stage.”  The band’s songs are short, fast, and fun, and I’m going to make sure I don’t miss them the next time they play here, since their set was unfortunately cut short due to a problem with Evan’s amp. A tough break for some good dudes who drove a long way.

My new plan for what to do next was shaky at best, but I was drunk and in a good mood and I knew I had friends back at the Marquee Room where Braids were about halfway through their show. I’d missed them when they were in Saskatoon for vivefest and I already had a stamp for the venue, so the reasons to go there were piling up.

It was worth it, too. Braids put on an excellent live show. Lead singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston pulls off some pretty impressive vocal work, and the rest of the band don’t slouch either. It’s easy to be skeptical of any band in the heights of such buzz, but Braids are enduring it nicely.

I convened with Brendan outside afterwards. We were losing Aryn, but he was drunker than I was and so easy to talk into joining me at Dicken’s Pub for Crocodiles and Deer Tick. I didn’t realize just how much drunker than me he was, though – he was following me by bike down the street Dicken’s is on and completely disappeared. I circled around and didn’t see him, then decided that I was actually hungry anyway and set off in search of the least sketchy night pizza I could find.

That took half an hour, either because downtown Calgary is lame and almost completely shuts down at night or because I was drunk and sucked at following directions. I did find pizza, though, and perhaps unwisely bought two veggie slices. I felt like this made up for having skipped supper.

Full, I found Dicken’s and headed inside. I found Brendan inside and we watched most of Deer Tick’s set. They proved themselves more than ready for a crowd of rowdy drunken festival goers than I would have given them credit for, which was a good thing as the bar was full of exactly that.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Saturday afternoon was all free barbecued ribs and outside hangs at the Palamino. Brendan beat me there and managed to catch Jon McKiel, which still makes me jealous.

I got a text from him that said “Better hurry up, the free food’s going fast.” He always knows just what to say. I finished my breakfast beer and hopped on my bike for my final day at the festival.

C’mon took the stage shortly after I got there and mocked our BBQ-induced lethargy, using it to leverage themselves into an even more epic than usual show. Their near disaster table-top guitar solos managed to wake some of us up.

Ottawa’s Camp Radio was up next and played a straight ahead set of classic punk rock, full of guitar solos and jump kicks. Jim Bryson and a third guitarist joined them for their last few songs and they filled every inch of that place with sound.

The Raveonettes were about to go on at Olympic Plaza, so that was my next destination. They were a member short but, since they’re rock stars and not babies, they crunched out a great set anyway.

At this point I left to find the artist’s lounge with some Saskatchewan musicians with the intention of interviewing them on the way. The interviews happened (they should be up on this website sometime soon!) but unfortunately, the lounge was closed.

We made it back to Olympic Plaza in time for Minus the Bear. I’d seen them once before at another festival and used to listen to them a bunch. That said, I couldn’t help but be a little bored by their set. It felt like much the same thing I saw them do years ago, except they looked older. I did get excited as soon as they played their bangers, I’ll admit. They’re a precise band who’re really good at what they do, and they make me feel a tad nostalgic. Good songs are good songs.

The Dandy Warhols played next and were fun. I’ve never been that into them, personally, but they’re the kind of band that have sing along songs anyway. The Olympic Plaza crowd was at it’s weekend zenith by this point. I’d been catching glimpses of dudes in white bathrobes hanging out backstage and, through brilliant deduction, surmised that they were probably members of weird Georgian baroque-psych-funk-pop band of Montreal.

Of Montreal is another band clearly deserving of the hype surrounding them. They played a killer set of old and new songs amidst an ongoing theatrical on-stage saga involving lucha libre wrestlers, patriotic American women in distress, dudes with comically large fake boners, and hoop jumping, to name a portion of the antics. Entertainment at its finest.

It was the kind of show that would normally end a night, but not at Sled Island. More music was waiting down the street. I ended up at the Marquee Room to see now Saskatoon-based Shuyler Jansen (he’s originally from Edmonton) playing with the brothers Ross from Foam Lake. These are all dudes who know their way around their instruments and the stage. Watching them play makes me feel awful for not being as amazing at something as they are by now but also grateful for being in a position where I can be at a music festival in Alberta watching them do their thing. Shuyler’s new album, Voice From the Lake, is his best yet and well worth checking out. Foam Lake has an album of their own coming out soon and I can already tell you it’s one of my favourites of the summer. Eyes open on that one, folks.

Meanwhile, on the sidewalk, my bicycle was being locked to another bicycle. I didn’t have a clear plan for where I was going next, but I still regarded this as a problem. Since the lock was only looped through the rear brake line I managed to borrow a wrench from the movie theatre that operates below the Marquee Room (how cool is that?) and free myself. I was without rear brakes, but I was free to roam.

The important question was where to roam to. I hadn’t been to the Legion at all yet, and that place is fun, so I headed in that direction only to be greeted by a line-up outside the door. Waiting in line to see bands I’d already seen the night before felt lame, so I sat down and pulled out my by now quite crumpled and ripped paper schedule to find something that would be line-free. My night was losing momentum and I was feeling a bit lost.

New York’s Cheeseburger, a band my friends Matt and Tannara had raved about at last year’s festival, were just about to go on at Vern’s. I headed back and locked my bike up about five feet from where it had been before, since Vern’s is across the street from the Marquee Room.

Feeling a bit dumb I headed downstairs and wandered around behind the crowd to get a feel for the band. Their general atmosphere is a friendly drunken obnoxiousness, like an old friend that wants you to drink cheap beer with him in an alleyway while he occasionally yells at strangers. The lead singer looks a bit like Ron Jeremy (but don’t tell him) and sings quick dirty punk songs about tigers and late nights and pirates. Sing-alongs are encouraged, even if he’s singing from the bathroom. I even found some Saskatoon friends in the crowd, which pretty much always helps everything.

I followed those friends back to the Legion to see Wild Flag. They were another band that I’d heard a lot about over the weekend. “They’ve got that chick from Sleater-Kinney!” No more line, we walked in and found the place still mostly packed, band members and more Saskatoon friends included. That’s one nice thing about a festival I should mention – seeing members of bands you love in crowds and on the street and having the best time. Wild Flag slayed their set, by the way. I hope they tour Canada when their album comes out in the fall.

There’s a lot of words above these ones, but I’ll sum the whole thing up with: best weekend of summer, go next year if you didn’t get to this one. It’s worth it.

Dana Durell
When Insects Rule The World
Thursdays, 9-10pm

Sled Island Day 3 – Saturday, June 25

On the third and final day of my Sled Island adventure, I decided it was high time to do some record shopping. Since I relied on others for my ride to Calgary, I was left with public transit as my most affordable option for getting around. For those that don’t know Calgary’s civic planning motto, I think it’s something like “As Far As The Eye Can See,” “A Sprawling Good Time” or maybe simply “Spread ‘Em.” Calgary takes up so much damned space that I remember hearing a statistic comparing its physical size to that of Los Angeles. Not to say that it doesn’t have its pockets of densely populated coolness, but even when looking at the record shop situation, there’s a fair amount of bouncing around town to be done.

So, I trudged on foot to Sloth Records on 17^th Avenue SW, where I was pleased to see a copy of Shooting Guns’ debut album Born to Deal in Magic: 1952-1976 on the counter. Behind said counter was a familiar face from our Tubby Dog showcase the day before, a lovely young woman named Megan. She said she had just finished playing the Guns’ album in the store, which immediately reaffirmed why a showcase like the one CFCR put on is so valuable for our local bands.

Not finding anything to purchase at Sloth, I hopped a bus up to The Inner Sleeve, located a good jaunt away from the central part of Calgary south-downtown. I found a couple quick purchases at The Inner Sleeve (and saw another stack of Shooting Guns records being processed for sale) before running out to find Melodiya Records, back on 17^th Avenue SW. It was at this point that I started to look at my watch, with a light panic setting in about my chances of crossing downtown in time to catch Raveonettes at the Olympic Plaza main stage site. But as if it was planned that way, as I walked into the shop, I ran into fellow Saskatonian and CFCR host Ben Hettinga, who was making his second or third trip to Melodiya that weekend. Ben was going to hit up Recordland in the city’s Inglewood neighbourhood (remember the comparison to LA?), and he offered me a ride downtown.

Feeling more relaxed, I dug through Melodiya’s stacks, finding a few gems including Retribution Gospel Choir’s hand-numbered, self-titled album.

So, with records in-hand, I got a ride with Ben and his friend downtown, hopping out of the van about a block from Olympic Plaza, where I zoomed in to the “backstage” area, gained a press-pass sticker and arrived in the photographers’ galley mere seconds before the first note of the Raveonettes’ set. Check and mate.

The Danish band was down a member (he was held up at Heathrow in London and was on his way to Calgary as they took the stage), so their set felt a little short and a little thrown-together-last-minute, but they muscled through it like pros and played to a ravenous, sun-soaked crowd.

Raveonettes

After the Raveonettes, I headed to the nearby Palomino for the last band of a showcase put on by Calgary label Saved by Radio/Saved by Vinyl. The showcase had featured sets by the likes of C’Mon, Camp Radio, Mark Davis and Rae Spoon, but I just made it in time to catch Calgary’s own band of boisterous psych pop-rocking troubadours, Deadhorse. Their set included songs from their recently released self-titled album on Saved by Vinyl, as well as some new songs and one penned by their bass player and solo artist Ryan Bourne. Seriously, keep your eyes on Deadhorse. Their songs are great and their live show is even better.

Deadhorse

From The Palomino, it was time to take a quick break at the hotel before going back to Olympic Plaza for a bit of The Dandy Warhols. Now, I’ve never really gotten into The Dandies, but I have been thinking about that film Dig! lately, so I felt like it made sense to give them another try.

I arrived too late to get into the photog’s galley again (you only get to be in there for the first three songs), but Sled staff allowed me to keep my camera out in the crowd, so I shot some pics over the crowd’s head. Though I can’t say I was particularly won over, I did enjoy their early evening set.

The Dandy Warhols

On our first night at Sled, we met a dude named Dave who was in a local Calgary band called Lab Coast. I had played their songs a couple times on the air, so I was interested in dropping in for their show on Saturday night at the Legion. It was the first set of a long evening of music, so attendance was pretty sparse, and that seemed to affect the band. They show a lot of potential, and they have some really great melodies, but their set of lo-fi indie pop at the Legion seemed very tentative, or maybe they were just nervous.

Lab Coast

The next set at the Legion had a lot more get up & dance to it. At the controls was Montreal-based three-piece band Uncle Bad Touch, featuring Priestess frontman Mikey Heppner. While you can hear some of that Priestess-style melodic power metal in Mikey’s singing & guitar playing, UBT is packaged with garage-psych paper and a 60s rock n’ roll ribbon.

Uncle Bad Touch

I left the Legion hoping to catch the end of Saskatoon songster Shuyler Jansen’s set at the Marquee Room, but I also forgot exactly where the Marquee’s parent Uptown Theatre was. Unfortunately, this was the difference maker, and I walked in literally on Shuyler’s last note. Despite my disappointment, I was looking forward to the vintage pop sound of the next act, San Francisco’s Sonny and the Sunsets. I’ve just recently gotten into this Sonny dude, and I can’t help but feel like he’s San Francisco’s answer to Shakey Wilson. OK, maybe it’s the other way around, but either way, Sonny has an affinity for classic (and often pretty beat up) instruments, classic pop sounds and though his songs are somewhat hit-and-miss, there are a lot of nuggets of greatness in his music. His set at the legion wasn’t particularly high energy, but it kept me feeling pretty happy about the general state of music.

Sonny & The Sunsets

I had been hoping to see another San Francisco band after Sonny’s set at Broken City. Thee Oh Sees were slated to go on at 1 AM, but as I walked from the Marquee, I started to feel like I may be too late. My fears were confirmed as I approached the club, with a lineup of people outside. I knew the last band had already finished playing, so I had missed any chance of a mass exodus. I decided to wait for a bit to see what happened, as I was only about 10 or 15 people deep in the line. But the line didn’t move an inch. At about 10 minutes to 1 o’clock, I received a text from my friend Colton that Saskatoon’s darlings of the hour The Sheepdogs had arrived at Tubby Dog for a “secret” appearance after their opening gig with The Sadies that evening, and that Sadies guitarist Travis Good was in tow. I immediately bolted from the line and started b-lining it to Tubby Dog on a pair of blistered feet that felt like they were both wearing 10-pound hot pillows (again, next year I’m bringing my bike).

I got to Tubby Dog to find it pretty packed, but I was able to squeeze my way to the front of the crowd, which was almost literally standing on top of the band as they tried to get set up. Before long, they were ready to go and they started their set to a huge cheer from the crowd. Though it goes without saying, it’s been pretty wild to see the dramatic increase in the notoriety of this band. As they approach the announcement of whether they’re the next furry mugs on the cover of Rolling Stone, their popularity is literally blowing up.

Despite the cramped conditions at Tubby Dog, they played their brand of fringe-vested rock and roll like champs. I was about a foot from singer Ewan Currie’s microphone, and my camera was right in his face (sorry Ewan). Lucky for me I had my super wide-angle lens.

The Sheepdogs

After a few songs, they invited Travis Good to come and play a few songs with them, to the crowd’s delight. They played a few cover songs including Neil Young’s “Down By The River” and The Guess Who’s “Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon,” a somewhat cheesy but very appropriate selection.

The highlight was when Currie and guitarist Leot Hanson both climbing up on the service counter for a dueling guitar solo of epic proportions.

After the show, I was left feeling pretty darned satisfied (musically). Colton and I had heard from our pal AVL that there was to be another “secret” performance, this time by Washington, D.C. psych band Dead Meadow at a Beatroute Magazine wrap party and since I missed them on Friday while setting up our Sask showcase, I was keen to catch them. But as we arrived at the Beatroute office, there was a huge lineup outside and cop cars in the parking lot, so I was pretty sure we weren’t going to get in. It’s just as well, though, as that Sheepdogs set seemed like the perfect way for a Saskatoon boy to cap off the weekend, especially as CFCR aims to up the 306-content at Sled Island. Watch out for more next year, Calgary!

Stay tuned to CFCR.ca for more Sled coverage coming from CFCR hosts Dana Durell and Skot Hamilton!

Jay Allen
CFCR Program Director

CFCR was proud to present one of the great Bessbourough Gardens shows as part of the 2011 SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. And what a show it was! The evening featured local acts The Oral Fuentes Reggae Band and, newly re-named, The Steadies (formerly Mobadass), as well as the classic hip-hop of co-headliners De La Soul and Arrested Development, who both put on brilliant performances, keeping people dancing right till the end (though the mosquitoes may have had something to do with all the movement as well).

See below for photos of De La Soul and Arrested Development:

De La Soul

Arrested Development

Stay tuned to CFCR.ca for some video work of this show and some of the other CFCR-presented Groove Series shows, as shot & edited by our friends at Chuckla Productions.

Alberta-to-Kansas-to-Nokomis, Saskatchewan’s Little Miss Higgins has a busy summer planned, playing gigs in Edmonton & Toronto as well as Ontario festival Hillside in Guelph and Trout Forest in Ear Falls to the Filberg Festival in Comox, BC. She’s also found time to make a video for her crowd favourite “Bargain! Shop Panties,” where she professes her love for… well… panties… from the Bargain! Shop. Guitarist Foy Taylor seems to be quite fond of them as well, even when he’s shoveling them into the back of a grain truck with a pitchfork.

Check the video out below. Thanks to Craig at Planet S for the 411:

Little Miss Higgins – BARGAIN! SHOP PANTIES from Colin Hubick on Vimeo.

The Sleducation of Brendan Flaherty

Summertime in the Northern Hemisphere means certain things to certain people. It’s that time of the year when you bust out your favourite groin-hugging piece of swimwear and hit the beach, sip a Tom Collins on a patio somewhere, or simply curl up under a blanket in a darkened basement reading Nietzsche (I’m talking about you, goths). It’s also the season for music festivals, a worldwide circuit that gets everyone to pay big ticket prices to stand in a sun-baked field somewhere and sort of see the Dave Matthews Band (if only that tall guy would move his head a little to the left). To the ever-growing list, add Sled Island: Calgary’s answer to the bloated outdoor indie Meh-stivals. I went to Sled for the first time this year not knowing exactly what to expect. I knew I would see a lot of bands; I also knew I would probably learn a thing or two about how to go about things for the next time. Here’s what I learned:

1) I’m out of shape.

The shows that take place over the 4 nights of Sled Island take place in 30 venues spread out over Calgary’s infamously sprawling downtown areas. It’s recommended to “do” the fest by bike. It’s quicker than walking and you save lots of time on transportation that you could be using to see more bands. My first night in Calgary I was on foot the entire time and, while not particularly tiring, it was time-consuming enough to be bothersome. Not to mention that all night long I watched well-prepared scenesters whizz by me on their fixies, seemingly taunting me with their good sense. I opted to bike for the remaining nights of Sled, which proved to be a good decision. I also biked during the day, however, and this served only to remind me that I don’t often bike ALL DAY. By closing time on Friday, for instance, I was experiencing enough fatigue that I was considering pounding the pavement the next day. But I sucked it up. Biking is more fun.

2) Who needs context?

There were certain bands I told myself I had to see at Sled Island 2011: Twin Shadow (they killed it at the Hifi Club), of Montreal (their live show is spectacular in every sense of the word) and Crocodiles (showmen and songsmiths who craft great tunes and put in the work), among many others. These were shows I’d go into with expectations, and most of the time the expectations were exceeded. Some of the truly inspirational and affirming moments of the weekend came with the exposure to new acts I’d never heard or heard of before: bands like Red Cedar (an up-and-coming Vancouver 5-piece who would fit on a bill with Yukon Blond) and Bayonets!!! (a fun Edmonton nerd-punk outfit that played a long-for-them 16 minute set on the same bill as Auld Beak) really made the trip worthwhile. 

3) I’m addicted to technology.

While the real story of Sled Island was the music, I wouldn’t have seen nearly enough without electronic devices. This occurred to me the night before the trip when I was charging my phone, my iPod, my computer, my video camera and my portable recharger simultaneously. My phone alone was a Sled Island schedule, a map, a resource of information on the bands themselves and sometimes a phone. Time and time again, after pausing on a street corner to search on my smart-phone for the directions to the next venue, I was regarded as a local and asked for directions by strangers. I was rarely, if ever, actually helpful to these people. I’m sure I did a bit of damage to the reputation of all Calgarians, so you’re welcome Saskatoon.

4) I’ve got my work cut out for me.

In an effort to capture the essence of Sled Island for cfcr.ca, I brought along my trusty camcorder with the hope of getting lots of good footage. I did… a little too much. The tape was rolling at multiple points during every band I saw but, since I saw 26 bands (of a possible 200+), I have just a bit of sifting to do. Check back here for video highlights of Sled Island, as well as interviews with Slam Dunk, Bayonets!!! and Charles Rowell from Crocodiles .

4) We need to feed our scene.

Sled is great and, while a uniquely Calgarian experience, involves a couple of long drives for us out-of-towner music fans. Once in the city, I found myself running into Saskatonians everywhere- fellow Sled attendees, Toon-town expats, even strangers that turned out to have common acquaintances. The place was crawling with Hub City natives. Saskatoon is still a small city with an even smaller music community, but that’s no reason not to dream big for the future. We do have rambunctious upstarts working their butts off to bring bands to our town for us to see, even in the festival template (ViveFest comes to mind), but nothing yet on too large of a scale (at least for independent music). This can change, and everyone can help it along by doing small things; go to a couple more shows, tell a few more friends about a band you love, fly blind by going to see somebody you’ve never heard of. Go to something like Sled Island and spread the word about Saskatoon, the Paris of the Prairies. Imagine if we had The Dandy Warhols, The Buzzcocks, or of Montreal coming to town. Now, all we have to do is make it happen.

Brendan Flaherty
Host, Green Eggs & Ham
Thursdays, 6-8am

Sled Island Day 2 – Friday, June 24

Day two was the most highly anticipated day at the festival, at least for me. For one, CFCR was putting on a showcase of bands from Saskatoon at Tubby Dog in the mid-to-late afternoon, and I was going to see Kurt Vile for the first time.

The day started early, with CFCR Music Director AVL and I rising at around 8am so that we could make it to the University of Calgary campus in time for a 10:15-ish interview at CJSW 90.9FM. I used to do radio at CJSW when they were in the basement of MacEwan Hall, but like CFCR, they’ve been lifted up out of the dungeon and into an office with windows; a beautiful space with lots of light, lots of studios, and lots and lots of music. We sat in for a quick interview on morning show Up For It. Maybe you heard it…

After the interview, it was time to start making our way to Tubby Dog to set up our showcase, which was an idea we had after last year’s festival. We wanted to bring some Saskatoon bands to the festival to show folks what our city has to offer. Though we would have loved to host more bands, we were excited about having Friends Electric, Foggy Notions, Shooting Guns and Feral Children on the bill.

On top of being an amazing hot dog restaurant, Tubby Dog is also a great little venue. The staff is welcoming and accommodating, and they even fed the bands hot dogs & beer!

Once we got set up, it was time to start the show, which (sort of shockingly) was running right on schedule. First up was Friends Electric, who got the show started with a great set of synthy jangle-pop.

Friends Electric

Next up was Foggy Notions, whose members almost all play in Friends Electric as well, making the bands a perfect one-two punch. The Notions put on a really stellar set, playing mostly songs from their brand new release Beginning To See.

Foggy Notions

After a couple of pop-oriented bands, it was time to switch gears, so Shooting Guns came up next to devastate some ear drums and shake some hot dogs off their buns with their sonic assault. The Guns sludged & droned their way through some of the instrumental rock gems from their debut full-length album, Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976, which they had just received on vinyl the week before the festival.

Shooting Guns

Last up in Sask-travaganza was trippy psych-rock/pop experimenters Feral Children. Each time I see this band, it’s a little different, and a little better. Frontman Ryan Davidson ditched his sampling/looping duties and focused solely on guitar and vocals. This gave him the opportunity to really let his personality (and his dance moves) shine, which made for an extra engaging performance.

Feral Children

The showcase was a big success, with a great turnout and amazing sets by all the bands. Thanks to all those who attended and helped out with the show!

After the showcase, we had to quickly haul all the gear out of Tubby Dog, as they were setting up for another showcase that evening. Once the dust had settled on our showcase (and once I had fed my face with a “Cheetah” hot dog, complete with saurkraut, cheese & mustard), I headed over to the main stage at Olympic Plaza to catch some deep stoner metal jammery by San Jose legends, Sleep. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera into the show since I was arriving mid-way through the set.

After Sleep, I re-united with my camera and made the quick walk over to the Palomino, where Quest For Fire was about to take the stage. Having never seen the Toronto psych rock band live before, I was pretty excited for the set. I made my way up to the front, where the band seemed to be having some trouble with the vocal mix, and that showed once they started their set. Singer Chad Ross appeared to be having issues hearing himself, but they still forged ahead, playing a mix of tracks from their self-titled debut and their latest release, Light From Paradise.

Quest For Fire

I didn’t stay for QFF’s whole set, as I wanted to get over to the Legion in time for Kurt Vile & The Violators’ set, which was at the top of my list of bands to see at the festival. On my way out, I ran into some friends who proposed a quick eye-opener, which ended up taking waaaaaay too long at the bar, so I left a bit later than I would have liked.

Luckily, the Legion is a mere half-block from the Palomino, but much to my chagrin, I approached the building to see a line-up outside, with CFCR Music Director AVL standing there looking a bit anxious. This was the first time I had encountered trouble gaining access to a show at the festival, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. So we stood in the slowly moving lineup, watching people with stamps come and go through the doors. Sled staff and security personnel were outside, telling people that they were ‘over capacity,’ which increased my anxiety levels substantially, but we continued to wait, and eventually we managed to get in.

Despite the ‘sold out’ nature of the show, it was still reasonably easy to move up towards the stage, where I set myself up to shoot some photos.

Vile and his band took the stage to a rousing cheer from the crowd and got their set started, playing a variety of songs, mostly from his latest album Smoke Ring For My Halo. I really liked the band’s performance, but honestly I felt like there was something missing or off about Vile himself. He seemed quite reserved and didn’t want to connect with the crowd; so much so that he didn’t leave his veil of long, brown hair for the entire set. The only time I saw his face was when he was setting up. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need an artist to suck up unnecessarily to a crowd, but it sort of didn’t seem like maybe he wanted to be there. Despite this, I still really enjoyed the set and left for the hotel feeling down right satisfied.

Kurt Vile & The Violators

Day two, check. Next up, day three. Raveonettes, Deadhorse, Dandy Warhols, Labcoast, Uncle Badtouch, Sonny & The Sunsets and a special secret show by The Sheepdogs! Stay tuned.

Jay Allen
CFCR Program Director

Photos (c) 2011 Jason Allen