the smalls Reunion

Some cool news came out this week about an Edmonton band re-uniting for a couple of gigs. The band I am talking about is the smalls, a metal band that shut it down over 10 years ago. This band was hugely popular during the 90's in Western Canada, releasing four albums, and constantly touring, which helped them sell over 40,000 albums independently in there time.

There had been rumours for a while now about a reunion, but with Corb Lund doing good on his own with his country/roots band Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans, I didn't think this reunion would happen. But lo and behold the band will be playing two gigs this summer, Calgary's X-Fest (Aug.30th) and Edmonton's Sonic Boom Fest (Aug.31st) both held during the September long weekend.

It will involve all the original members Corb Lund on bass, Mike Caldwell on vocals, Dug Bevans on guitar and Terry Johnson on drums. These shows promise to be very popular and hopefully lead to more gigs and maybe a new album, here is hoping so.







In other concert news...Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans will be playing the Interstellar Rodeo Festival in Edmonton on Friday July 25th headlining the opening night of this festival.

Hot Plains Music Fest- Bombchan at Wunderbar May 16th 2014

On Friday the second edition of the Hot Plains Music Fest in Edmonton started, which is a three day music festival of mostly local bands playing all kinds of venues in the Old Strathcona (Whyte Avenue) area of Edmonton.

I went to the Friday show at Wunderbar as the band Bombchan was playing, a band I am a huge fan of, and a band that doesn't do enough gigs in the city. Also the venue they were playing is one of my favorite venues in the city to see a band. Other bands on the bill were Marlaena Moore, Diamond Mind, Bombchan and the reunion of The Secretaries.

Firs artist of the evening was Marleana Moore an artist who plays a folk style of music, she started by playing solo and then was joined by a full band. I found her music to be interesting and the lady has an awesome voice. She was quite good in her 30-40 minute set.

Marlaena Moore at the Wunderbar.

Next up was Diamond Mind, another band I had never heard or seen before, they play I guess what you would call an indie pop style of music. They were actually quite good too.

Diamond Mind at Wunderbar.

The next band up was the reason I was at the show, and that band would be the band Bombchan lead by singer, slide guitar player Mike Park. I have loved this band since the first time I saw them in 2012. They have one album so far (Do Me Right), this show was billed as an album release show so that excited me thinking there would be a new album available. In reality what it was, was a two song EP release party, which is only available on there bandcamp page. Nonetheless, the band was on fire this night, the last time I saw them which was at the same festival last year. Only last year, the boys had indulged a bit too much before hand which affected their show as it fell apart about half way through. But on this evening, they kicked ass big time. Mike Park was sounding good, his playing was stellar and Ayla Brooks also on guitar was burning it up all night with is solos. Then of course bass player Karie Brown and drummer Grant Stovel held down the back end real well. There almost hour long set rocked from start to finish with the band looking relaxed and joking with the crowd in between songs. Why these guys don't do more shows around town and play places like The Commercial Hotel (the blues bar of Edmonton) is beyond me. They could really show the blues fans of Edmonton how it is done. If you like your music, not just blues music, but music in general, rocking, gritty and full of jam, this is the band to see. Keep your eyes and ears open for this band Bombchan.

Bombchan at Wunderbar.

After rocking out during Bombchan and having a few beers, I had enough to drink and figured it was going to be hard to follow those guys, I call it a night. So I ended up missing the last band of the night The Secretaries. All and all though, an awesome night of local independent bands. This is a great music festival and seems to be doing quite well. Here is hoping this festival lasts many years and congrats to those that put it together and venues that are hosting the bands. Good times!!!

Old 97's New Record

It's not often that I do a record review as I find most of them are boring and I am just not good at it. But after listening to this album I had to say something. I am talking about the new album by a band called Old 97's out of Dallas, Texas. A band I have yet to see in concert, damn it!!! Anyways, this is their tenth album, an album called "Most Messed Up" and wow, this one ass kickin' fuckin' record. From the opening track "Longer Then You've Been Alive" (this is one of the best opening songs for an album I have heard in a while, if not ever) to the closing track "Most Messed Up" this album rocks from start to finish. This is the fourth album of theirs that I have bought and have to say this is my favorite. Go to your local record shop and be sure to pick this one up. This album is stupid good!!!

Sometimes you can tell just by the song titles that this will be some tunes you will dig. This is one of them for me.

Opening song of album.


Closing song of album.


Have to say it is not often that I listen to the same album 3 times in a row, but I jus' dun' did er'!!! Favorite lyrics from the album " twenty good years of about twenty-five".