Bill Johnson contributes eight originals to his Still Blue, each one a fine example of a contemporary blues song, not merely a retread of a familiar 12 bar theme, and each sung in his evocative voice. The variety of approaches, from the sne...
Metal Blade Records
Bison is the most hyped band in Vancouver right now. Sometimes hype can be a tough thing to deal with, but these fuckers keep coming through every time. Every show is better than the next, so every album is obviously ...
Deb Rhymer has worn numerous hats over the years, from Bette Midler impersonator to daycare operator. But the one that fits her best is blues booster.
Rhymer, a Victoria native, spends almost all her waking hours dedicated to blues, eith...
Best of 2016: The Garage received a lot of blues CDs this year and all of them were above standard, but ultimately had to be judged for other reasons of personality, believability, skill and versatility, etc. Take a bow Michael Kaeshammer a...
BLACK MOUNTAIN
In The Future
Jagjaguwar
When I hear Stephen McBean’s slowly-picked A-minor guitar intro for “Stormy High,” I’m almost tricked into thinking it’s a cover of “Hell’s Bells,” but then the swing-time Black...
Eric joins Jon Williams on the Afternoon Zone to talk about the upcoming 10th Anniversary of the band.
Marble Rye CD release party Friday May 8th
w/ The Matinee and Analog Bell Service
The Railway is a decent room to watch a few amazing local bands tear it up. Even with a totally irrational layout that makes it appear packed to the gil...
A time capsule of early nineties Hip.
Over a pitcher of Molson Canadian at the Princeton Pub, while a startlingly able roots-rock ensemble hosts the open stage night behind our table, we ask Bison’s vocalist-guitarist James Farwell how he feels about his band’s recent signi...
Sometimes musicals aren’t all happy and cheery like many make them out to be.
Set in the late 1800’s, the dramatic musical Fires Burning takes the audience to a disaster that hits the small western town of Caldoon’s Crossing.