The Arkells

The Arkells are one of those bands that snuck up on me a bit.

I kept hearing the name everywhere......friends were asking me the million dollar question,
"Have You Heard the Arkells?"
To which I reply every time they ask me that type of question....."I've heard OF them......don't know em".

Then one day my band was asked to play Phogfest, a celebration of the Phog Lounge in Windsor being named
"Canada's Best Live Venue" by CBC Radio 3. As we eagerly awaited to see the list of bands added to the bill,

Holy Fuck
The Pack A.D.
Yellow Wood
The Peace Leeches
Michou
.....The Arkells!

I was at work the next day and one of my co-workers asked me if I'd heard of the Arkells... Here we go again!
Turns out my co-worker went to Mcmaster with Max, the lead singer/guitarist of the Arkells. He said he could put me in touch
with Max via facebook so that we could chat at Phogfest. I had no idea what to expect.

So then I got the idea.....why don't I call up my friend, Drew Skitt host of "London Calling" (London TV Show), to come down and do a special show on Phogfest! When I told Drew the list of bands, he heard the Arkells......"Hey! They're amazing....lets interview them!"

And so we did. I held the camera, Drew asked the questions. Max was nowhere to be found but Mike and Dan caught my band's set and we snagged them. They were very friendly funny guys.....and I got the impression quick that they had been on quite a whirlwind ride that summer. They talked about playing shows down in the US, big shows it sounded like.

Here is the interview that eventually made it to London Calling.



After the interview they took the stage and Rocked........The..........Place
How had I never heard of these guys? They played some Motown covers and that really hit home. I've always been a sucker for Motown. I rushed over to buy their CD, but their manager caught me in my Bee-Line and handed me one for free. "Thanks for the Press"

So there you have it. The Arkells. Just when you think the only good stuff is the quirky and underground....... they come along and bash you over the head with loud proud anthemic good old Canadian Rock.

After that show I heard their name a lot more........and saw them play the Vancouver Olympics on TV. And I'm secretly hoping they become the biggest band in Canada. Maybe you are reading this blog right now and will click below and check them out too. They are playing tomorrow night in London, ON and I'm going to see them. They just might be worth a follow up post in a few days.......yeah

Enjoy

Grooves Record Store, London, ON

Did you hang out in record stores?
Are you a part of that generation?

I was watching a documentary called "I Need That Record!" Which talks about the death of record stores, and it made me realize very quickly.....that is one of the biggest losses of the new generation of music lovers. That enjoyment that came from digging through bins and discovering new music with your hands and ears.....not through TV Commercials or Facebook Groups.

And I'm guilty of owning an ipod and buying music from itunes.....and selling my bands record on itunes....but the other day I was in London, Ontario with an hour to kill. I dropped by my favourite place in the whole city; Grooves Record Store.

Grooves is the classic record store. Built with the natural flow in mind where you walk in the front door and the first thing you see is the new releases rack....full of great new indie releases. As you walk to the right, there are racks of local music and used gems. Then you can walk around the whole store in a loop, CDs alphabetically on the left, Records alphabetically on the right.

Troy, the owner, is your typical audiophile nice guy and advocate for local artists. He even opened Grooves in a punk rock way; by leaving the record store he worked at for years and years....and opening his own. And the workers are local musicians, audiophiles, and music fans so if you take your items to the checkout, theres a good chance you will be cashed out by a local indie musician and you can find out what is going on....where the show is that night, or who needs a drummer or they are going to break up.

So that day I needed to slow down the pace a little. I had driven to London to get a bunch of work done and I was on a very tight schedule. But I stopped in and just went up to the checkout and asked what was new and local. They fixed me up with 3 CDs just off the top of their heads....


1. Shawn Clarke - like birds too tired to fly
11 tracks of light poppy melodies. Reminds me a bit of the Fruit Bats


2. Handsome Dan and his Gallimaufry - Provincial Parks & Breaking Hearts
6 neu-country / folk tunes.


3. Say Domino - who's we?
rockin, fast moving, tight drumming indie goodness

The guy behind the counter is in "Olenka and the Autumn Lovers" who are in my opinion the brightest light in the London scene. Troy walked up to me while I was checking out and handed me a zine called "Eye Spy" by Chad VanGaalen. He said that Chad told him to only give the zine to "not jerks". (Chad told him to? He knows Chad?)

I contemplated releasing my bands last record digital only...but then I woke up and realized that I wanted to still have a physical CD to hold and share. I guess I just narrowly missed being a "Jerk"

I drove away from Grooves that day remembering what I love about record stores...and music in general. It isn't about just going in and buying a cd. Its about the community and the friendships that the stores create. It is about talking to your friends about new bands and meeting people at rock shows. I've lost a little bit of that since starting my career and watching friends move away. I think I'm going to make a point of it to drop by Grooves whenever I'm in town.

If you want to be a part of a great community and learn about what is going on locally....not just on television, If you want to remind yourself what Vinyl smells like or feels like, then stop in at Grooves on Clarence st. You won't be disappointed.


Heres a link to an in store performance by a friend named Henry Svec, performing a song from the CFL Sessions.
The song was written just after being cut from the Argos.

Apostle of Hustle

My cousin Steve has awesome taste in music....and he really should be the person I call whenever I want to know what is new and good. He still manages to stay on top of things.....whereas I am generally stuck about 10 years back.

I remember when he introduced me to Apostle of Hustle. "Its the dude from Broken Social Scene"....thats what you might think he said. Actually he just played me The opening track to "National Anthem of Nowhere" (2007). I remember hearing it and loving the pop-indie hooked-ness. So we went to Call the Office (legendary London, Ontario haunt) and checked out their show. To my amazement, I didn't really hear the pop-indie hookedness coming from the stage. Instead I heard this strange latin influenced almost flamenco sound emanating from the well-worn speakers.

I was really blown away by that show. There was an electric vibe......one that If you told me "hey man, goin to see this latin influenced indie band".......I would have said. "no thanks".

But thank goodness I went to that show under false pre-tenses because I opened my mind up and loved what I took in.

Fast forward a bit.....to 2009 and Apostle released "Eats Darkness". Again, my cousin Steve called me up to see if I was going to the show. By this point I was helping out a buddy at "London Calling", a local cable show. I got adventurous and called up Arts & Crafts (apostle's record label) to see if I could get an interview in addition to catching the show. To my surprise they were super nice and encouraging.

Not only was Andrew Whiteman the rock star persona I'd hoped he would be......quirky, mysterious, funny, and carrying a load of experience from the road......but he was very engaging as an interviewee. He didn't just lay down and answer our questions. He challenged us, made us feel a bit uneasy, but also gave us some insight that surprised me......told us things I thought he might hold a bit more private. We bought him a nice bottle of scotch to show that we did some homework. (he is known as a scotch man), and he enjoyed the bottle with us. He told us stories about how a trip to Cuba influenced his music, and how he had met William S Burroughs as a personal life accomplishment.

The best part of that day was that I also accomplished something cool.....I interviewed someone that I really respected as a player in the Canadian Indie music scene. Not everyone could say that I guess.

He then went on to play a scorching set in the London Music Club. Super intimate, SUPER powerful thanks to the mind blowing drumming of Dean. (I'm a drummer so thats what I tend to use as a guage of a great show).

The result is....at least 1 in 3 times that I get in the car and turn on my ipod.....apostle is the first place I click. and Eats darkness is the definite choice. So to everyone reading this....if ANYONE is reading this, check out Apostle of Hustle. In my opinion one of the most unique and vibrant artists in the Canadian Music Scene......pushing the limits of what is "indie rock".

Here is the piece I did on Apostle for London Calling. I'm especially proud of how the live music segments turned out....I hope you enjoy it too.

Sonic Youth

Its safe to say that everyone who knows me......knows that SY are my all time favourite band. Not because I listen to them all the time, or know every post-washing machine song word for word, but because of the way they affected me in a pretty impressionable time in my life.

When I was getting into high school, everything was Nirvana for me. I was at this party for grade 8 graduation and one of my pals handed me a cd with a baby floating in a swimming pool, and what ensued was total obsession.....an obsession shared my many many kids at my school. Sometime during grade 9, another pal handed me a video called 1991: The Year Punk Broke, and although I'd heard of Sonic Youth and thought they were OK......I was blown away by the fact that Sonic Youth was clearly the 'reason' for the video. Nirvana was just a tag along act on their tour, and I wanted to know why that was.

So that got me curious. After Kurt committed suicide, Spin magazine put him on the cover. Me and all my friends rushed out to get it.

Somewhere in the middle of that mag, there was an advertisement from Geffen that talked about Sonic Youth re-issuing their back catalog. I remember staring at the page in disbelief that they had THAT many albums! How did I not know about this band sooner?

I tore out the page and stuck it to the wall by my bed. I decided at that moment I needed to own all of those records. In those days, it wasn't so easy to collect albums. The record store in Chatham didn't carry anything cool. My friends and I had to hop on a train to Toronto in search of these elusive re-issues. $80 bucks later, we arrived at HMV and pooled all of our dough, buying Daydream Nation, Sister, Evol, Goo, and Dirty. We taped them for each other in true best buds style. I remember I got to keep Daydream and Evol as my own.

Then I joined Columbia House, solely for the purpose of trying to track down the other albums. I found Confusion is Sex, The Whitey Album, Bad Moon Rising, and Experimental all at the same time. This all happened in a 3 - 4 week period so I was truly in SY overdose mode, listening to them every day all day. I remember countless times just laying back on my bed with my eyes closed and imagining the most amazing landscapes and images to try to put the music into perspective. I suppose I could try and sound cool by saying I got stoned to them and heard messages in the music......but I was pretty straight laced at the time. I think one time I was even moved to tears by the beauty of the full on chaos that closes out 'Expressway to Yr Skull', so who needs psychotropic enhancement when guitar tones could alter my perception.

Think about that....how amazing that is, to have people listen to your music and just want time to stand still.......to feel like you put them in a perfect moment. Would I ever make music that had that effect? I suppose thats nothing anyone should consciously try to do. I wonder if SY even realized what was happening behind closed doors with their albums.

Among my group of friends....SY were mine. Nobody truly loved them like I did. So it was something I could be proud of and grab on to. That statement may sound silly to kids growing up in NYC, where I'm sure SY fans are a dime a dozen. But in Blenheim District High School......being a SY fan was an identity. And I felt fearless when they were in my walkman or blasting out of my stereo at home.

I finally scored some tickets during the Thousand Leaves tour......and went with a car-load of friends. I remember hoping I could get close to the stage, and I remember hoping they would sound as good live. I had come to grips with the fact that they probably couldn't re-produce those insane sounds on stage....but I was ok with that. Nobody's perfect.

They ended up playing the whole Thousand Leaves album with Death Valley 69 as an encore.....and if you'd told me that was what I was going to see, I would have been disappointed; wanting to hear 'the classics' probably.

But they were un-be-lievable. They re-created all of the impossible feedback and guitar textures live, to my amazement. They sounded so much bigger and better live than I could have imagined. I don't even remember how it happened, but I pushed my way to the very front. All that stood between me and my idols was a huge mean looking bouncer and a guard rail.

I saw them many times after that, and they were just as amazing every time. They deliver live consistently what many bands can only aspire to deliver once.

I'm sure many people have stories like this about many bands, and they all hold a band near and dear to their hearts like I hold Sonic Youth. Looking back on my devotion to SY and where it has calmed to since Rather Ripped was released......I have no regrets. I suppose my obsession could only last so long....through so many albums. Who knows......maybe I'll dig out some Sy and throw it in Monday morning for the drive to work.

Maybe you should too. Here is a taste to get you in the mood.

WAX

On Saturday Night I was at the Phog Lounge and saw this sticker on the wall:

....and it reminded me to go home and listen to Wax Mannequin the next day.

So I guess it did its job; it wasn't stuck in vein. If you've never listened to Wax before, then the picture really says it all. He is creative, he is different, he makes art from the unlikely.

First time I saw him live he was playing solo with a drum machine at the London Music Club....and he had roses stuffed down the collar of his shirt.....coming out like a ruffle. To those who had seen pictures or previous performances, this might have been a familiar sight. To me, it was new and captivating. After every couple songs he took out a rose and tossed it on the ground in front of him. No explanation what for....just part of the show.

Not that its always about me.....but that couldn't help but remind me that I used to come up with odd art, I used to be more of an artist every day. I don't see Wax in his day to day life but I get the feeling he lives his art.....sees everything in slightly a different angle than the rest of us.

I tried playing some Wax for some friends when I was in Toronto one night, and they didn't get it. I play it in the car for my wife and she hates it. But something about the wreckless abandon of his song structures and powerful yet controlled vocals just makes sense to me. He sings as though no one else is in the room.....like some sing in the car or shower when they don't have to hold back. And the lyrics are clever and well thought out......vocals used as an instrument more than just a means to an end.

Anyways, I'll let YOU be the judge. I think Wax Mannequin is one of the true Gems that has come out of SW Ontario......and deserves more attention than he necessarily gets.

#1 best song of the 90's? Pavement? What?

Today I got a real blast from the past.....Stumbled upon pitchforks staff "the top 200 tracks of the 90's". My friend had said something about it on facebook.

And number one was Pavement: Gold Soundz?!

My first feeling was......god I love that song. That was the song that I listened to over and over.....and while my friends argued whether Wowee Zowee was better than Slanted and Enchanted, I was thinking "what about Crooked Rain?". Then it transported me back to when I first listened to Crooked Rain. Those opening chords of Silence Kid, the lovely twang of Range Life, the warm tones of Elevate Me Later, or the hopelessness of Stop Breathin.

For me though it was always still about Gold Soundz. But how could that song possibly be #1. What other songs were on this list?

Mazzy Star - Fade into You

Belle and Sebastian - The State I Am In

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Bjork - Hyperballad

Radiohead - Paranoid Android

Pulp - Common People

and more....

Pretty darn good list.....maybe I should be working at Pitchfork, chatting at the watercooler with people whose hearts stop when Bjork comes on the radio, or they flip the channel and hear Pulp screaming out of their little TV speakers..rather than the usual garbage played on the elevator station at my job.

I turn to my wife with this big grin, about how cool it would be if Pavement was really worthy of the number one spot. What is wrong with that anyways? What IS wrong with Pavement being #1 on that list? Is Gold Soundz a good enough song? Why have I turned my back on this band that I used to obsess over?

Anyways, I'm not sure why this was such a big deal to me.....I guess maybe because of how little praise Pavement Gets. Half the people I know now in my life never heard of them. They were always mentioned in the same breath as Sonic Youth, but never before them.

So maybe a few more people will read my buddy's facebook post and click the list and think..."who the hell is Pavement and why are THEY #1?" and then seek them out and download Crooked Rain. Maybe a few of the people that went to the Toronto Island this past June and wondered why Broken Social Scene would open for this unheard of band will try to learn more about them.

So to the staff of Pitchfork......thanks for the reminder. You've just put one of my favorite bands of all time back on my playlist. To everyone reading this, click below and enjoy.

.....So

I've been meaning to start blogging for some time. What can I say, I am surrounded by some pretty amazing people making uncanny art every day. I feel as though I have had the privilege of growing up during a pretty fascinating time. I also think there is a ton of great work out there that is undiscovered, under-appreciated, sometimes just needs a spotlight, a story, or even just a reminder to keep going. So I intend to write about the great things I see, the great things I remember, and perhaps the people that I want to see make it. That was always the mission of Spur of the Moment.....to get the music and art that my friends were making out to the world.