Seven Inch Saturday (C'mon/Pride Tiger)

Today's seven inch single is a split seven inch with two great Canadian bands. The two are C'mon and Pride Tiger and sadly neither band is still together.

This single came out in 2009 and was first available while both bands toured together in may of 2009. I saw this double bill at the Pawn Shop here in Edmonton, which is where I picked this up. This single came out on Yeah Right Records! in a limited run of 600 copies and features a silk screened cover art, mine is number 193 of 600 on black vinyl. Only 200 copied were released on black vinyl while the other 400 were orange vinyl.

Side Yeah features the Toronto band C'mon which is led by Ian Blurton, of whom has been in such bands as Change Of Heart, Blurtonia and C'mon. Ian has also produced a lot of albums in between his own bands. Ian is now in a band called Public Animal.

The song is called Stealing Seconds which is a great garage rock n' roll song.

Side Right features the Vancouver band Pride Tiger who was led by Matt Wood on drums and vocals, something you don't see very often. Matt now drums for the metal band Bison. Pride Tiger only released one full length album which was called Lucky Ones, a great album by the way.

The song by Pride Tiger on this release is a song called No Distractions which reminds me of a mix of Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy.

You can listen to these two songs by clicking here. Enjoy!!!

Leeroy Stagger Live In Edmonton May 28th 2015

On Thursday night my buddies Hurl, Buzzard and I made our way to the Mercury Room here in Edmonton to catch Victoria roots rocker Leeroy Stagger who is now based out of Lethbridge, Alberta in concert. This was my ninth time seeing Leeroy Stagger in concert and my first time seeing a show at the new live venue Mercury Room, which is a great place to see a show by the way. Sadly we missed opener Calgary musician Mariel Buckley.

What surprised me about this show when I got to the venue was how few people were in attendance, I would guess maybe forty people. Which is very disappointing considering how good Leeroy is live and also that the last time he played here which was at the Artery and was to a full house. Why Leeroy can't draw a decent crowd here is beyond me. He just can't catch a break here in Edmonton. Having said that, it sure doesn't stop Leeroy and his band from putting on a stellar show as he did once again on this evening.

Leeroy is out on tour this summer touring across Canada in support of his tenth studio album Dreaming It All Away which is an awesome album, and the new songs sound even better in a live setting. His new album is available through itunes, his bandcamp page and of course at his shows. I highly recommend picking it up.

Leeroy and his excellent back up band played an hour and a half playing lots of new stuff, opening with two new songs Dream and Happy Too, he didn't forget his back catalog though either playing such songs as I Believe In Love from his album Little Victories as well as Stormy and a song that makes me tear up called Brothers from the Everything Is Real album and a couple from his Radiant Land album including the title song and a rocking version of Dirty Windshields. he also dug deep to a couple of older songs from his album Depression River again the title song and a tune called Saskatoon also from that album. Other new songs he did were Something Beautiful which has been getting a lot of airplay on CKUA radio in which his album is at the number one spot right now, as well as Living In America in which opener Mariel Buckley did back up vocals, the song New Music Biz Blues which has a real Bob Dylan sound to it, and another rocker called Angry Young Man. When Leeroy and his band get rocking it reminds me off Neil Young & Crazy Horse at times, great stuff. Leeroy also did a couple of covers on this night, doing a version of the Mavis Staples song You're Not Alone and Heart Of Gold by Neil Young.

Speaking of the Neil song, this song is available from Leeroy by purchasing one of his tour posters which are available at his shows, on the back of the said poster is a download code to get his Dream It All Away Tour EP which is an album of eight cover songs, well worth checking out. I won't ruin the surprise of what he covers, but this something you really need to get.

All and all this was am amazing show to a small but appreciative audience. Good times!!!

Leeroy Stagger at the Mercury Room.

Poster that comes with download code for the Dreaming It All Away Tour EP.

Throwback Thursday...Willie Nelson

A couple of posters from the times I have seen Willie Nelson in concert.

Seven Inch Saturday (Judas Priest)

Today's seven inch is a Judas Priest long play compilation that was released in 1983 on Pickwick International a UK import. The six songs on this release are as follows.

Side A
* Hell Bent For Leather from their 1978 release, the title song
* Ripper from the 1976 release Sad Wings Of Destiny
* Exciter from the 1978 album Stained Class

Side B
* Hot Rockin' from Point Of Entry 1981 album
* Sinner from the 1977 album Sin After Sin
* Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) from again the Hell Bent For Leather album

Throwback Thursday...Bone Club

I couple of posters from times I have seen Bone Club in concert.

Seven Inch Sunday (Thor)

Today's seven inch single is from the Canadian musician known as Thor, his real name is Jon Mikl. This single was released in 1984 on the label Albion/Ultra Noise out of the UK. The two songs featured on this single are "Thunder On The Tundra" and "Hot Flames" which both would later be released on his 1985 album Only The Strong.

Joel Plaskett Live in Edmonton May 9th 2015

On Saturday night my partner Janis and buddies Hurl and Buzzard and I went to the Joel Plaskett show at Union Hall here in Edmonton. Opening act for this show was Mo Kenny, whom is also from Nova Scotia, so it was a double bill of East Coast Canadian music for the evening.

Opening the night was Mo Kenney, which couldn't happen quick enough having been at the venue for an hour already. Only because if your not at this venue early and find a decent place to stand, your not seeing much of anything. So we were there early.

Mo Kenney is touring in support of her latest album In My Dreams which was produced by Joel Plaskett. Her band consists of Mo on vocals and guitar backed up by a bass player and drummer. There half hour set was alright, I thought a lot of her songs sounded a lot a like, but her show got better as it went on as the songs got a little more upbeat near the end.

Mo Kenney at Union Hall.

After a forty minute wait it was finally time for headliner Joel Plaskett Emergency to hit the stage. This was my fifth time seeing Joel in concert and again, another awesome show. Joel is out on tour in support of his newest album Park Avenue Sobriety Test which is really good.

Joel played lots from the new album including the title song as well as Alright/OK, which is my favorite song on the new album, they also did Song For Jersey, Broke, Illegitimate Blues, Credits Roll and Captains Of Industry. I was surprised by how many people in the audience were singing along to the new tunes as the album hasn't been out very long. But it's not hard to tell that Joel has a big following in this city. Seemed like there were a lot of people from the east coast at the show.

Joel and the band of course played lots from there back catalog in the hour and forty minute set. Including Ashtray Rock, Rollin', Rollin', Rollin', Love This Town, North Star, Down At The Khyber among many others. Opener Mo Kenney also sat in with Joel Plaskett Emergency for a handful of songs and did a great job on backing vocals and guitar. And as usual Joel was quirky self, looking like he was having a blast and doing his weird little dance shuffle while playing. Joel's back up band which is Dave Marsh on drums and Chris Pennell on bass did a fabulous job with Chris seeming like he was in a feisty mood on this night kicking down the drum cymbals at the end of the set. An amazing show and the best concert I have seen so far this year. Great show, shitty venue. Good times!!!

Joel Plaskett Emergency at Union Hall.

Throwback Thursday...Stephen Malkmus/Pavement

A couple of posters from times I have seen Stephen Malkmus and Pavement in concert.

Dead Venues the Movie/Jr. Gone Wild Live May 8th 2015

On Friday night Cuz, Janis and I made or way to the Garneau Theatre to catch the Dead Venues documentary that was part of the Global Visions Film Festival, and then after the film a performance by the Edmonton band Jr. Gone Wild.

The film Dead Venues was a documentary about some live music venues that used to be part of the Edmonton music scene. The filmmakers of this movie are Mike Siek and Eden Munro whom put together this hour long movie, along with a lot of help from the fans and the collectors of posters, ticket stubs, photos and live footage. The filmmakers did a great job of putting it all together. The venues covered in the film were the Ambo (Ambassador), it was cool hearing stories about that venue. Other venues were the Sidetrack Cafe, Power Plant, Rebar and the Bronx/Rev. Having seen shows at all these places I could relate with every story told by all those that were interviewed. It was also nice to hear the big round of applause for Kirby when the picture of her was shown in the movie. Having just lost her to cancer in the last year, she was a lady that was involved in every aspect of the Edmonton music scene.

In the lobby of the Garneau Theatre they had hundreds of posters from past shows of all the mentioned dead venues. It was cool to see all those old posters. I myself contributed some posters for the show as well. Great job on the movie to all those that were involved.

Some of the posters that were hanging in the lobby.

After the movie and a brief intermission so that you could get a few beers in you, they had Edmonton band Jr. Gone Wild perform. This was a great band to have play to cap off the night, with JGW having been a big part of the music scene since the 80's.

Jr. Gone Wild played an hour and a half show and sounded great. This was the first Edmonton show the band has played in about a year, and was my fifth time seeing them, so it was good to see them play live again as they always put on a good show.

What did surprise me about the show was how many people left right after the movie and didn't stick around for the concert. The theatre was packed for the movie but dwindled down to about a hundred people for the live performance. Nonetheless it didn't stop JGW from putting on a spectacular performance. JGW played lots of old favorites and even a couple of brand new songs, which was really good to hear, as it has been many years since JGW has put out any new music.

There were three new songs played, one being called "Barricades" which was written by Steve Loree the guitarist in the band, and a profanity laced song called "Fools Errand" penned by lead man Mike McDonald and then to close out the show the band did a countrified cover of the SNFU song "Cannibal Cafe". It was a real different version to this classic SNFU punk song. From what I understand JGW have recorded this song for an album that will be coming out of bands covering SNFU songs to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of SNFU's debut album ...And No One Else Wanted To Play.

A great night out seeing a great movie and a great performance by Jr. Gone Wild. Good times!!!

Jr. Gone Wild at the Garneau Theatre.

Seven Inch Saturday (Death By Stereo)

Today's seven inch single is by the Orange County, California hardcore punk band Death By Stereo. This single was released in 2000 on Indecision Records and includes these two songs "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Salvation" on Side A from their Day Of The Death album, and the Side B song is "Would You Like To Be My Neighbour?" which was a previously unreleased song.

Book Review (Live at the Commodore)

I recently finished reading a book that my brother had bought me for Christmas. The book is wrote by Aaron Chapman and is called Live at the Commodore, The Story Of Vancouver's Historic Ballroom. And just like the title says, it a story about the history of this famous Vancouver concert venue.

The Commodore has been around since 1929 and is still thriving today in the same location in downtown Vancouver on Granville Street. It did close down for three years 1996-1999. But is again up and running hosting concerts on an almost daily schedule.

This book is well written, and tells many a stories about the early days of being a ballroom hosting dances and such, and of course stories of the many bands that have played shows there, including bands such as Nirvana, KISS, Pearl Jam, U2, James Brown, Ween, Tagically Hip and just about every band you could possibly think of. It's a perfect midsize venue holding about a thousand people.

I myself have only seen a handful of shows there myself, which were Steel Panther, Drive-By Truckers and Ween twice. And I have to say it is one of the best venues I have seen a show at, not that I have seen shows in to many places, but yes, it is a great venue. If your not from Vancouver and have a chance to see a show there, do it.

A great book and well worth picking up. The author Aaron Chapman also has another book out about another great club in Vancouver. That book is called "Liquor, Lust and the Law" which is about the Penthouse Nghtclub which is a great strip bar on Vancouver.

A great surprise for me with this book which I didn't realize until I started reading it, is that its an autographed copy. Thanks Bro!!!