by Jay Allen, CFCR Program Director

The final official day at Sled Island 2012 was kind of a strange one. In past years, I’d spent Saturday afternoon record shopping, followed by an evening of venue-hopping, checking out as many bands as possible. This year, I had but one thing in mind: being at the front of the stage for Archers of Loaf at the end of the night’s bill at The Republik.

Of course, I still had to do some record shopping, so after hitting some of Calgary’s hotspots like The Inner Sleeve, Melodiya and Sloth, CFCR Music Director Arnie and I headed over to The Palomino, where Calgary label Saved By Radio/Vinyl was holding their showcase. Saskatoon’s Foam Lake was on the bill, which was incentive enough to attend, but in all honesty, it was the free BBQ that really had us following our noses to the downtown smokehouse/rock venue.

Like last year, the Saved By showcase was upstairs in the restaurant portion of The Palomino, and people were crowding in as we arrived to see the last bit of Foam Lake’s set. We chowed down on some pulled pork, BBQ ribs, corn and fries while Calgary’s Miesha & The Spanks rocked out, and by the time I came out of my food coma, I managed to check out and snap a couple photos of Halifax duo Cousins. Cousins’ latest album The Palm At The End Of The Mind deftly combines garage rock and lo-fi echo pop and is one of my favourite Canadian releases so far this year.

Cousins

After Cousins, Arnie and I, along with Jeanette “Jeans Boots” Stewart, headed out into drizzly downtown, towards the Calgary Tower, which was the very romantic home of Sled-quarters, the festival’s administrative hub. Despite the long wait for and ride on the elevator, having the artist/sponsor lounge at the top of such an iconic landmark was decidedly cool.

After checking out the sights from the tower (it’s crazy to think that the Calgary Tower, now dwarfed by several buildings in Calgary’s core, used to be the tallest structure in the city), and taking some photos out the window and of Arnie and Jeanette (“Use your good camera,” Arnie said to me. “No, not that big one with all the lenses, your iPhone camera!”), we headed up the last flight of stairs to the lounge, where we enjoyed some beverages and had a nice sit.

It was at this point that I started to think about getting to The Republik for what was for me, the show of the festival: Archers of Loaf. This Chapel Hill, North Carolina band was around in the mid- to late-90s and was really pivotal for me at the time when I was discovering “indie rock,” back when those words actually meant “indie”-pendent and “rock”-and roll (not to sound like an old curmudgeon.. which I am). Archers combine punk with angular college rock, while never letting melody stray too far away. After a long hiatus, they have reformed and are playing a bunch of festival dates booked over the summer.

Vancouver pop-punk band Needles//Pins were scheduled to kick off the night at The Repbulik, so I was looking forward to hitting the venue nice and early. Needles//Pins are putting out some really solid classic poppy punk, a la Teenage Head (they even cover “Picture My Face” on a recent 7”), and have a brand new album called 12:34 on Lethbridge label Mammoth Cave.

Needles//Pins

After Needles//Pins, I had to take a break from standing, so I found a spot to rest my injured knee. I had a nice chat with Adam from Needles//Pins for a while and then just hung out while Camp Radio played their set. Once they were finished I decided it was time to start staking my claim by the stage, so I lugged my camera gear over to one of the corners of the stage while Bend Sinister started their set of piano-prog-pop.

My anticipation levels were getting very high by this point, which can often result in crippling disappointment, so I was a bit anxious about how the Archers of Loaf set was going to go. However, as soon as they took the stage and hit note one, all my worries flew out the window as I was reduced to a giggling, smiling, top-of-my-lungs singing, giddy little school child for the next hour and change. While this behaviour might sometimes have me feeling a little self-conscious, I quickly realized that I was among friends. Looking around the crowd, I could see several other 30-something bearded dudes and tattooed girls, with pin- and patch-covered jackets of both jean and leather, belting out Archers favourites like “Web In Front,” “Fabricoh” and “You And Me.” They played selections from all their major releases, even a couple from their last album White Trash Heroes, much to Arnie’s delight.

Between songs, front man Eric Bachmann told the story of how a bunch of their luggage and equipment was “misplaced” by the airline when they arrived in Calgary. Left without a keyboard, the band decided to download an app for their iPad so Bachmann could use it to perform the keys for White Trash Heroes slow-burner “Dead Red Eyes.” It was actually pretty amazing how close to the record it sounded.

After the last song of the encore, folks started flooding out of the venue. I nabbed a copy of their set list and had the band sign it, something I really don’t do often. I think I just didn’t want to leave the venue, since that would accept that the whole thing was over.

Archers of Loaf

Sled Island 2012 was a smash hit for me. Even though it may have seemed like a slower year on paper, I got to see some great bands that I knew, that I didn’t know, and that I never thought I’d get to see. And once again, expectations soar high for next year. See you there.

All photos (c) 2012 Jason Allen

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Last month, CFCR packed up shop (well, some of the shop) and headed to the 6th Annual Sled Island Festival in Calgary, AB. We held a showcase at Tubby Dog for the second year in a row featuring some of our favorite Saskatoon bands. The great Castle River was one of them. So when it was time for the CFCR crew to wake up bright and early (10am… cough), we dragged these two hooligans out of bed and stopped by to visit our compadres at CJSW 90.9FM in Calgary. Truth is, they ended up there before us and rocked the airwaves mightily.

Castle River performs a new track “Consistent Sister.” Watch below!

Be sure to check out CFCR’s blog for our continuing coverage of the Sled Island Festival, by Program Director Jay Allen & host Matthew Stefanson.

by Matthew Stefanson for CFCR.ca

Sled Island Report: Shadowy Men

Something that is becoming a universal truth at music festivals is that you can’t trust the schedule as gospel. There are time changes, drop-outs (looking at you, Grimes) and of course, elusive secret shows. It’s becoming so that you need to have a smartphone and a good nose for secrets to catch the best shows. I am lucky enough to have both of those things.

Whilst sitting at the Palomino, wondering why none of the members of Extra Happy Ghost!!! were on stage during their timeslot — and more importantly, why they kept playing a different band’s songs — I discovered a secret show being played by Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. I quickly rushed over to Broken City, elbowing my way to the front of the house for what turned out to be my favourite show of the festival.

The group is best known for their song “Having An Average Weekend” which was the opening credits song for CBC’s sketch show Kids In The Hall.  One of my greatest disappointments was being unable to see them two days prior. The loss was so much worse because the Toronto surf rock group has actually been broken up since 1996. Their original bassist, Reid Diamond sadly passed away in 2001 so their inclusion on the schedule was both confusing and exciting. It was a musical resurrection.

With Sadies member Dallas Good manning Diamond’s old spot, the group started playing a few shows earlier this year to promote the re-release of their old catalogue coming out on Mammoth Cave Records. This secret show was in fact one of only a handful that they’ve played in over a decade.

If you didn’t know the backstory, you would never suspect the long hiatus the group had been on. Lead string section Brian Connelly and drummer Don Pyle haven’t lost a step and with Dallas Good playing perfectly on Diamond’s old bass it’s stunning to think that they’ve been off the stage for so long.

I hounded down Brian Connelly after the show for an interview on the roof of Broken City. Check it out below:

by Jay Allen, CFCR Program Director

Similar to last year, Friday was the big day at Sled; for myself and my travel partners. Friday marked the day where CFCR was to host our second annual showcase of bands from Saskatoon at the Calgary fest. For the second consecutive time, it was to take place at the fabulous Tubby Dog hot dog restaurant, and we were super excited for it.

This year, we named the showcase “Peace From One Province East,” and brought another group of four bands to play: Foam Lake, Jeans Boots, Haunted Souls and Castle River.

We had booked an interview with University of Calgary radio station CJSW, and they had also invited Castle River down to play a set live on the air. So, CFCR Music Director Arnie and I got up bright and early to get to the U of C campus with time to spare. I called down to the hotel front desk to have Alfie (my minivan) brought out of parking by the valet service, which was a constantly amusing feature of the weekend, since Alfie is a ’93 Plymouth Voyager van. He’s in decent shape, but when he got stolen last winter, the ignition was wrecked so I have a small screwdriver in place of the key, which definitely enhanced the valet experience.

We arrived at CJSW’s studio and shot the shit with their staff & volunteers for a while before we were shown into the on-air booth for our interview. We could see through the glass into the recording studio that the Castle River boys were setting up.

After a quick on-air chat with host Dana, we threw it over to Castle River, who played a great three-song set, much to the delight of CJSW staff & volunteers, who collected in and around the studio for the performance. Castle River then joined us in the studio to talk more about the showcase and the music scene in Saskatoon.

After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed over to Tubby Dog to get an idea of when we could get set up. After seeing the Castle River dudes, we had touched base with all the bands playing our showcase… except Foam Lake. We had heard they were leaving Saskatoon very early in the morning to make it to Calgary in time to load gear into Tubby Dog, and that Jeans Boots guitarist Levi was going to be riding with them. So, I asked Jeans Boots bassist (and Slow Down, Molasses frontman (and my hotel roommate)) Tyson McShane to text Foam Lake’s Paul Ross to see where they were at. Expecting to hear that they were on the road nearing Calgary, Tyson got a response that they were at Tubby Dog already and had just seen Thurston Moore walk by!

Feeling much more relaxed about having all our bands in the right place, we arrived at Tubby Dog to get things set up.

Tubby Dog, for those who haven’t had a chance to check it out, is a really kitschy, stylish hot dog restaurant on 17^th Ave SW, sort of on the western periphery of the “17^th Ave Strip.” They have some of the most amazing and definitely messiest hot dogs you’ll ever eat. They have standard toppings like sauerkraut, bacon bits, chili, relish and mustard, as well as more out-there additions like potato chips, peanut butter & jam, Cap’n Crunch cereal, wasabi and fried eggs. They also host tonnes of shows there and never charge a cover. It’s a small-ish room, so it works great for showcases during Sled Island. We were really happy when we got Tubby as our venue last year, and were excited to have a repeat showing there this year.

First up was Foam Lake, who were minus one member (bassist Barrett Ross could not make the trip), but these guys are real pros and managed to put a set of their songs together that sounded really great as a three-piece, with their patented soaring vocals and driving rhythm.

Foam Lake

Next was Jeans Boots, who put on an emphatic, spirited set of thoughtful singer-songwriter tunes, drenched in a thick, gooey layer of noisy pop. With a  rotating cast of backing players, Jeanette Stewart (aka Jeans Boots) found a great mix of energy and precision with Tyson on bass, Levi on guitar and CFCR’s very own Arnie (AVL) on drums.

Jeans Boots

After Jeans Boots’ set, upstart punk rock band Haunted Souls took the Tubby Dog stage (read: an area of the floor cleared to barely house a band and its gear). This four-piece hasn’t been together too long, but they were chosen to be included on a compilation of Saskatoon bands put out by Mammoth Cave Recording Co. and have started to get noticed by the right people, hence their acceptance to Sled and CFCR’s showcase.

Haunted Souls play classic garage punk rock, with gritty riffs and melodies in between singer Will Robbins’ battle yelps.

Haunted Souls

Last on the ticket was Castle River. These guys are a two-piece band that used to be called Father Figures. They play a mixture of indie rock, prog and blues, with intricate time-signature changes and vocal harmonies. And since they use multiple amps, their guitar sound is thick and juicy despite not having a bass in the mix.

Castle River

Following the showcase, I took some time to devour a hot dog (I opted for the A-Bomb, which features bacon bits & potato chips as toppings) and a beer before looking at the schedule to figure out what to do next. One thing earlier on in the evening that interested me was Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore at the Theatre Junction Grand with opening act Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. After being turned away from Hot Snakes the night before, I was on high alert with the bigger venue-based shows, and this was a soft-seat theatre, so capacity would be even more limited. We lucked out and got to the door before they had even let people into the theatre. So we sat for a beer and waited for the floodgates to open. Despite being well back in line, we got great seats just a couple rows back, which worked great for me and my bum knee, since I didn’t have to get up to shoot photos.

First up was eclectic up-and-coming buzz band Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, a Montreal/Toronto band who fuse experimental music with performance art. YT//ST mix elements of proggy metal with weird Asian pop, percussive chanting and painted faces. After catching a portion of their show at Amigos in Saskatoon in May, I was looking forward to seeing a full set. And they did not disappoint. Sometimes their dense soundscapes almost lulled me to sleep, but it was definitely more of a hypnotic trance than a nap.

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan

After YT//ST, the legendary Thurston Moore was up. I went outside to get some air, confirming that I would be able to get back in with my stamp, and went out to the rainy sidewalk. By this time, there was a lineup of hopeful people, so I decided not to push my luck and I just went back inside. However, in the three minutes that I was outside, the volunteers at the door got all confused and discombobulated, and there were some anxious moments before I was allowed back into the theatre. This is the difficulty of hosting a festival like Sled Island. Many of the shows are individually ticketed, so there has to be a lot of organization to make sure nobody gets short-changed, with all the full-festival, one-day and single show passes to keep track of, never mind the “VIP” folks that always try to get in at the last second (when I was waiting in line for Hot Snakes the night before, I heard the door guy say “Feist just showed up with like eight people at the back door”).

Finally back in my comfy seat, Thurston Moore took the stage (again, read: floor) to start his set. It was a very earnest and personable set, with awkward stage banter, forgotten chords and misplaced instruments. It was really cool to see such a legend of music in such an intimate environment.

Thurston Moore

I left a little bit early, as I was keen to get over to the Legion for California band Terry Malts. My lighter had just run out of fluid, so I asked a kind-looking dude on the street for a light. He reached into his pocket, pulled out two lighters, handed me one and said “Merry Christmas.” I thought it was good luck to hang on to a Bic lighter until it died without losing it or having it stolen, but then getting a free one from a random good samaritan? That was twice as nice.

The Legion was nowhere near capacity, which suited me just fine. I hobbled up to the stage to shoot some photos of Terry Malts, a San Francisco “chainsaw pop” trio who brought a much more punked up sound to their live show than what is heard on their album Killing Time.

Terry Malts

The cool thing about the Legion #1 is that there is an upstairs and a downstairs, so after a band is finished on the main stage, you can head up the stairs to catch what’s going on there. The acts overlap, so you don’t get to hear the whole set, but it’s cool that you can constantly be hearing music if you so desire. I went outside for a minute, but could hear the sweet sounds of Night Beats, playing another set, this time in the smaller, upstairs venue.

Following Terry Malts on the main floor stage was Memphis/North Carolina garage rock band Reigning Sound, featuring former Oblivians & Compulsive Gamblers frontman Greg “Oblivian” Cartwright. For me, RS doesn’t live up to either of Cartwright’s former projects, but I’m a sucker for that garage sound, so I wasn’t running for the exit.

Reigning Sound

After Reigning Sound, I was starting to fade, so I put my camera away and found a seat for long enough to check out a couple tunes by Canadian punk stalwarts Nomeansno, who are always a treat and in this case were a great end to the night.

Check back very soon for more coverage of the Sled Island festival right here at CFCR.ca!

All photos (c) 2012 Jason Allen

Todd Barry photo (c) Punchline Magazine

by Matthew Stefanson

Sled Island Report, Thursday June 21. Comedy night.

Beer in Alberta is plentiful and cheap. I always forget that fact, and sometimes it interferes with the proper fulfillment of one’s duties, such as when one realizes they are supposed to be interviewing comedians in half an hour, have just ordered another pint and are at least a 20 minute walk from the venue. Beer also makes one relentlessly determined, so after arriving only twenty minutes late I was luckily still ten minutes ahead of the show.

Sled Island’s comedy portion has featured some great names in the past. On the very first year that they included comedy they somehow snagged Fred Armissen, and last year Neil Hamburger was attacked with a glass during his set. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again when I see him tonight, but god I hope it does. This year the big names include Todd Barry, the man who made “The Doggie Bounce” into America’s favourite dance craze. The aforementioned Neil Hamburger is performing as well, but the festival also features some home-grown talent.

On the bill at the Auburn Saloon Thursday, three calgary natives were slated to perform. Ryan Kukec, the host of Sled Island’s comedy section for the second year in a row returned from his new home of Toronto to warm up the room for Calgary based and chronically “local” comedian Chris Gordon. Graham Clark, Vancouver-based comedian and podcaster on the Maximum Fun network, also returned to his hometown to perform a great set.

The comedy aspect of the festival may seem like a bonus to most of the attendees, but for me it was a once in a blue moon chance to see some of my favourite comedians. Especially coming from a place like Saskatoon where comedians are much less likely to stop by, seeing Todd Barry do an hour is something that a comedy fan can’t pass up. As the festival continues, the comics it can book should become even more impressive, especially if they can keep the attendance at the level that it is.

Check out my interview with Stop Podcasting Yourself’s Graham Clark and “still local” comedian Chris Gordon here.

Oh and I also saw an amazing group called Prince Rama at Broken City later in the night that a couple of locals helpfully described to me as “a couple of smelly Brooklyn hippie chicks” [quote cleaned up for publication]. Thanks, Calgary.