May 16th

 On May 16th, 2014 I went to a show at the awesome Wunderbar in Edmonton with the following bands playing as part of the Hot Plains Music Fest. The bands being Bombchan, Marlaena Moore, Diamond Mind and The Secretaries. I miss the old Wunderbar, such a fun live music venue.

January 20th

 On January 20th, 2017 I went to an art show by artist Kevin Kunce at The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts. The opening night of the art show had the Edmonton band Bombchan performing, a great blues based rockin' band.

Bombchan Live January 20th 2017

On Friday night my Cuz and I went to see a friends band called Bombchan at the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts. This show was part of an art show by artist Kevin Kunce who is a friend of the bands. Kevin had his art displayed on the walls of the gallery and had a good turnout for his art show. Kevin's art is pretty decent, I am no art expert by any means, but it seemed a lot of people took an interest in his art. Good on you Kevin. Kevin's art exhibit runs through until February 10th. I too was impressed.

As for Bombchan, I haven't seen them play in a while and it was what I was expecting, although a little lower in volume then usual with the show being held in an art gallery. The band which consists of Mike Park on slide guitar and vocals, Ayla Brook on guitar, Karie Brown on bass and Grant Stovel on drums sounded better then the last couple of times I have seen them. Their music is blues based style reminiscent of T-Model Ford and RL Burnside. The band rarely if ever rehearse which is a shame because if they did this band could really be a tight unit. Nonetheless it was a good show and a lot of fun. Free beers always help! Good times!!!

T-shirt with logo designed by artist Kevin Kunce.

In other news...Ayla Brook who plays guitar in Bombchan just recently released his first solo album in eight years. The album is called "(I Don't Want To Hear Your) Break Up Songs", Ayla is backed up by his five piece band The Sound Men and is available through his bandcamp page and iTunes. It's a great sounding album and well worth picking up. The album can also be streamed on Spotify and Soundcloud. To hear the album click on either link.

You can also download Bombchan's music on their bandcamp page by clicking here.

Bombchan Live June 10th 2016

Holy shit, it's been over a week already since Hurl and I went to the Bombchan show at Bellevue Community Hall. This was my seventh time seeing Bombchan in concert and second time in the past month, and yet again the guys haven't been rehearsing. On top of that they had a guy sitting in on drums as drummer Grant Stovel had previous commitments with CKUA Radio in which he DJ's for.

We got there at the tail end of Cayley Thomas's set, the hall was pretty much empty therefore the sound was freaking awful, unless you got up close to the stage. Something we didn't do, as we were sitting in the back bullshitting with the guys from Bombchan and having some beers.

Bombchan this time around started slow, unlike most times they start strong and tail off, but this time it was the exact opposite which makes sense considering they had someone new on the drums. So the show got stronger as it went on but you could tell Mike Park, lead singer and guitar player seemed to struggle the most with the change in the line up. Nonetheless it was a fun show with cheap beers and the tickets were free. This would be a great place to see a show with a good crowd as the hall is nice size, as is the stage, but with no crowd the sound is awful. Thanks Hurl for the lift to the show and ride home. Good times!!!

Bombchan.

Bombchan at The Aviary in Edmonton May 13th 2016

Last Friday my buddy Hurl and I went to the Bombchan show at a new club here in Edmonton called The Aviary. This was my sixth time seeing Bombchan play live. Bombchan is a blues based rock n' roll band that have been around since 2008. if you are a fan of blues artists like RL Burnside, Model T Ford and such you will love this band. While they don't play a lot of shows, it's always a pleasure to catch them performing. Now if only the band would rehearse, this would be a band to be reckoned with. But because they seldom rehearse, their shows can be hit and miss sometimes. Talking to the guys before the show, I had asked what was new and if they had been practising, only to be told this was the first time since December that the guys had got together to play. So who knew what we were in store for on this night. Well, as usual with these guys, they started strong, the first song was amazing, with Mike Park on slide guitar and vocals sounding good, and Ayla Brooks on guitar sounding amazing, Ayla is one hell of a guitar player. Bombchan is rounded out by Karie Brown on bass and Grant Stovel on drums. The rest of the show was hit and miss again. This show was much better then the last time I saw them which was in December. But after talking to the guys after the show, it sounds like the band is going to get more serious about rehearsing and playing live shows, let's hope this is true. As they have another show coming up on Friday June 10th at Bellevue Community Hall. Other bands on the bill are Fever Feel, Tropic Harbour and Cayley Thomas.

The other band on the Friday night bill at The Aviary was Bonspiel, we only hung around for three of their songs and that was enough. Good times!!!

Bombchan at The Aviary.

If you are interested in checking out Bombchan's album "Do Me Right" it is available for free by clicking here.

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!!!

5 Years Ago Today...July 7th

It was five years ago today that I saw Mark Knopfler play the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.

Also on this day, three years ago, I saw Tool play Rexall Place here in Edmonton.

And it was this time last year that I saw local bands A Bunch Of Marys with Bombchan play New City Legion here in Edmonton.

Bombchan at the Wunderbar May 19th 2013

Last night my buddy Hurl and I went to the last evening of the inaugural Hot Plains Music Fest here in Edmonton held at my favorite bar in the city The Wunderbar (8120-101st Street) on Whyte Avenue. This little dive of a hole in the wall bar and I mean that in the best way. It is like Edmonton's version of New York's famous CBGB's. They have been open for three years now and host live music almost every night of the week. And all the staff that I have ever dealt with there are super nice.

We went for the Sunday night session that had the all Edmonton line-up of Renny Wilson, Bombchan, The Fortrelles and Field & Stream. Actually I believe the whole festival were all local bands. Anyways, the main reason we went was to see the band Bombchan. A band I have only seen once before but have been keeping my eyes open for another show, and lo and behold they were playing this festival. Seems they don't do very many shows, at first when I heard of the show I was disappointed it was on a Sunday not realizing that it was a long weekend, so super bonus.

Hurl I made our way down to the bar early as we were sure this show like all the others was going to be sold out, as the bar only holds maybe a hundred people. After a few wobbly pops at my place we there nice and early and continued on having a good time. Much to our surprise the first band of the night was going to be Bombchan, the band we went there for.

Well after stepping out for a smoke before the show got going we ran in to a couple members of the band that were indulging, so we joined them. Everyone had a good glow on by the time they hit the stage. If you have never heard or seen Bombchan before, I would call them Edmonton's version of R.L. Burnside, some wicked gritty rock n' blues slide guitar music. The band consists of Mike Park on slide guitar and vocals, Ayla Brook on guitar (he's fucking awesome too) and rounded out by Karie Brown on bass and Grant Stovel on drums (he also is a DJ for CKUA). Bombchan played a fourty-five minute set that started out awesome with them playing all the tunes from their EP "Do Me Right", after the first twenty minutes of the set, things started to get sloppy. Maybe it was all the indulging before the show was starting to set in, or lack of rehearsal, but things kind of went downhill, I still really enjoyed the show, but you could tell it just wasn't as tight as it had started. Nonetheless they rocked the soul out crowd and everyone seemed to be having a good time rocking out.

Bombchan at the Wunderbar.









After Bombchan the next band on was Field & Stream. They didn't do much for me therefore I spent more time outside the venue then I did in it.

Next up was The Fortrelles who are soul revival group fronted by three ladies doing covers of classic soul music. Again another band that did nothing for me, they were good at what they did, to me they belong playing in a casino, as I am sure they would do quite well with that kind of crowd.

The Fortrelles.



Hurl and I didn't stick around for the last act of the night Renny Wilson as we had a damn good glow on and had run out of money.

All and all I believe the people putting on this festival have the right idea and hope to see it get bigger and better as the years go on. Good times!!!



A few pictures of the inside of the Wunderbar.









Best tip jar ever.



Bombchan video.