JULIA MCDOUGALL
Since returning from Vancouver, Saskatchewan woman Julia McDougall's been making all the right moves. Her live performances are better than ever, showcasing an effortless ease with her songs and a great sense of humour. Performing under her own name instead of Julia and Her Piano wasn't a bad idea, either. And she proved that she had the songs to back it all up. The I Don't Really Care EP, recorded with Regina's Andy Shauf, features four songs from the piano songsmith, intricate, enticing and questioning of the future all.
This Club show is one of the dates on McDougall's Western Canadian tour where she'll be performing with a string trio.
LUKE LEIGHFIELD
After some youthful excursions into bad pop-punk, English songwriter Luke Leighfield jumped into a solo career in 2004. Since then, he's released four albums and toured around the world, exposing thousands to his contemplative piano music.
Tickets are available at Vintage Vinyl, Madame Yes or online at Ticket Edge.
CHAINS OF LOVE GUESTS THE FLORALS
MONDAY, MAY 27
THE CLUB
This Vancouver garage-soul act will be coming through in support of their new album, Misery Makers, due out on Manimal Vinyl in May. Hear a cut off that record below.
Supporting Chains of Love are the Florals, a Regina rock trio comprised of Carl Johnson, Piper Burns and Riva Farrell Racette.
ONE BAD SON
Fresh off a hot JUNOfest gig at the Exchange, Vancouver's One Bad Son return to rock us once again.
This group might call Vancouver home now, but they’re all prairie boys. One Bad Son formed in Saskatoon before they took their hook-heavy rock out to the coast. Their music sounds at home among the likes of Bon Jovi, rock music that never sacrifices melody for musicianship.
I AUTOMATIC
VAL HALLA
Regina-born songwriter. A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll.
A portion of the funds raised at this show goes towards the 2013 Don McArthur Scholarship for Education at the White Bear Education Complex.
Tickets are available at Off-Axis, Long and McQuade, Vintage Vinyl and the Exchange during daytime office hours, or by calling 306-540-7301. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door.
KYLESA
Five members with two drummers counted among them is a good way for any band to be, and that's just how Kylesa rolls. They're toured with modern legends like Mastodon but have a name on their own, thanks to a string of well-regarded albums and fans the world over.
The Savannah, Georgia band started building their sludge metal sound back in 2001 and continue to develop it to this day. Their latest album, Ultraviolet, comes out May 28 in North America and has people buzzing.
NORTHCOTE
Get ready for Victoria's Matt Goud to take the country by storm this summer. His newest album, Northcote, from the project of the same name, is a good one.
Some might know Goud as any number of things: a former Saskatchewan hardcore kid, the man behind the Emerson Letters and a solo performer under his own name. Now, as Northcote, he's got a killer backing band, an album, Gather No Dust, already his belt and another, the self-titled, ready to be released on May 7. It showcases Goud and friends in big folk-rock mode, strongly-strummed upbeat songs included. Northcote is propulsive, sure to move people's hearts and bodies in concert.
THE MATINEE
Joining Northcote on tour are the Matinée from Vancouver. Their latest album, We Swore We'd See the Sunrise, showcases all the striving, earnest roots-rock these boys can muster.
CRAIG CARDIFF This Ontario singer/songwriter is known for unusual stagecraft, like looping sounds to make his songs live and passing around a notebook for audience members to write in as he plays. The soft-voiced singer also has a backcatalogue of albums to call on, including 2011's Floods and Fires.
You’ve heard our name, you’ve seen our records, our t-shirts and our stickers. We’re probably the favorite band of someone you know and yet we’re still a mystery to you. Well my friend, that’s okay, I’m here to fill you in and help you to get to know the greatest rock-n-roll band in the world, The Supersuckers.
Our story is almost impossible to believe. This band is literally a human cartoon. We all grew up among the dead-ends and cactus needles of Tucson, Arizona and have known each other since grade school. We graduated from the same high school together at the same time (a school immortalized in our song “Santa Rita High”) and we chose to play in a band together because we liked to hang out together, not because we were great musicians or anything. I truly believe that a band is defined by their limitations, that what they can’t (or won’t) do is just as important as what they can do. I guess that, in this era of pre-fabricated, put-together-to-have-a-hit bands, we’re kind of an aberration and I gotta tell ya that that makes us smile a little every day.
We formed the band in 1988 and we were initially a five piece called The Black Supersuckers ( a name found in some quality “adult literature” we had laying around in our impeccably clean band house!), with me on bass, Dan “Thunder” Bolton and Rontrose Heathman on guitars, Dancing Eagle on drums and a lead singer by the name of Eric Martin. After firmly proving ourselves to be the best band in town we decided it was time to get out of Tucson and try our luck somewhere else. So we tossed a coin with heads as New Orleans and tails as Seattle. Tails it was and in May of “89 we packed up and went north.
We had no idea that Seattle was about to become “Rock Mecca USA”, we just wanted to go somewhere where we could wear our leather jackets a little more often. It was exciting and encouraging to see all of the great bands there, doing their own thing and making some kick-ass, aggressive rock-n-roll that we could relate to, so we started recording immediately. After some classic “creative differences” with our lead singer, we decided to try it as a four piece with yours truly as the singer (I was the only one who knew all the words) and The Supersuckers, as you may or may not know them today, were born.
Our first recordings as a four-piece wound up on various singles for small labels and then were compiled for a C.D. called The Songs All Sound The Same. (For the full story on these recordings I highly recommend picking up the re-issued version on our own label, Mid-Fi Recordings). But it was our live shows that caught the eyes of the good people at Sub-Pop Records and, after a particularly scorching show one night, they offered to put out our records. We said ,“Buy us some beer and you got a deal!” And our long and enduring rock-n-roll ride was officially under way.
Starting with 1992,s “The Smoke Of Hell”, we released a total of three rock records, one country record, split singles with Steve Earle and The Rev. Horton Heat, countless singles and a “best-of” double album (all on Sub-Pop,) then we put out what is considered to be our finest recorded moment to date “The Evil Powers Of Rock-n-Roll”(Koch/Aces & Eights) in late 1999. We’ve also been touring our asses off all over the world with bands like Mudhoney, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, The Ramones, Motorhead, The Toadies, The Butthole Surfers, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Dwarves and White Zombie. We’ve played a couple of Farm Aid shows and backed Willie Nelson on The Tonight Show. Our music has appeared in T.V. shows (Beverly Hills 90210), Movies (Baseketball, Hype) and commercials (Mountain Dew) as well as countless snow and skateboarding video compilations.
Throughout this entire time, our sole mission has been to create and perform timeless, quality music and get as many people as possible to hear it. That goal has never changed. The pursuit of that perfectly imperfect rock-n-roll moment is all we’ve ever been after. We’ve been doing this for well over a decade now and we’re just getting started.
2001 found us starting our own label; Mid-Fi Recordings. We’ve finally decided to take control of all of our affairs and have become a lean, mean, self managed, totally independent rock-n-roll machine. We’ve got the greatest fans in the world and no one cares more about them and our music than we do. Having our own label gives us the freedom to make more of our music available to them without the hassles of “the middle-man” worrying about things like “marketing” or “demographics”. Hell, these are just hard words. All we want to do is get some kick-ass music out to the people and with Mid-Fi we have been able to do just that. Our first release was a live country record entitled “Must’ve Been Live”, that came out in March, 2002. Since then, we have dug into our “private reserves” and released several singles of some our finest outtake stock (a habit we intend to keep). We’re also planning some split singles with other great artists, the first one being “Never Go Home” by The Hangmen b/w “Flyin’ Into The Mid-Day Sun” by the ‘suckers.
But, by far the most exciting thing we’re doing now is gearing up for the release of our new rock record, Motherfuckers Be Trippin’. It’s the perfect follow up to The Evil Powers Of Rock-N-Roll and will be available to rock your ass on April 22, 2003. We feel better about this record than any we’ve done to date, which is amazing for a band that has been around as long as we have, and we know you’ll dig it as much as we do. It truly seems like we’re just getting the hang of this music making thing!
So, the next time you see The Supersuckers name, whether it’s in the record store or on the marquee at your local nightclub, know that there’s some quality, honest, ass-kicking, hard working individuals in there, trying to make your life a little better through the “Evil Powers Of Rock-n-Roll” (and the occasional detour into the country of course) and we’d love nothing better than to have you there with us. Just remember to wear you clean underwear, because we’re gonna rock your pants right off of you.
A GrassRoots Regina presentation.
$15 in advance. $20 at the door.
Advance tickets will be available at Vintage Vinyl, Bach and Beyond and Buy the Book in mid-May.
SILVERSTEIN You could bet that when Silverstein formed over a dozen years ago, they didn't have a clue that they'd still be playing in 2013, outlasting countless peers. But hear they are. And not only has one of Canada's best post-hardcore groups stayed true to their roots, they've built on them, too, with their new album, This Is How the Wind Shifts.
"While many similar acts have either folded or released poor imitations of past work," writes AbsolutePunk.net in a review of This Is How the Wind Shifts, "the Ontario quintet continues to challenge their selves."
THE WONDER YEARS Phildelphia pop-punk. They're currently touring around the world in support of their new album, The Greatest Generation, out May 14.
SHORT STORY
Regina/Moose Jaw band, playing a reunion show.
POOR YOUNG THINGS "There's a war on the middle class and everybody feels so insecure. But I don't want to be like that and work my hands to dust." So says Matt Fratpietro, singer/guitarist for Toronto's Poor Young Things, on their new album, The Heart. The Head. The End. Later in the same song, he sings, "Heart is not enough," but I'm guessing the band are betting against. The five members of Poor Young Things bring pure hearts to their brand of pop-rock.
They used to be known as Uncle Bad Touch, but now they've officially trimmed that down to the snappier "UBT". Just in time, too, as the Montreal band is putting out what sounds like will be a doozy of an album.
Former Priestess frontman Mikey Heppner and his band mates are diving into some high-level psychedelic garage-pop on their new album, Ego Orientation, out June 3 on Psychic Handshake.
Savy music fans have heard of the Sled Island Festival, Calgary's annual music explosion that brings in acts from far and wide to play their fine city.
This year, God Not God has brought together bands heading out to Sled Island in addition to groups touring on their own and locals to play Toboggan Island, a one-day mini-festival happening at the 11 Hooks Studio, the Exchange and the Club.
These include: Burning Love; Code Orange Kids; La Luna; Monomyth; the Wizards; Pandas in Japan; Lords Kitchner; the Faps; Nap Eyes; Weak Ends; Black Thunder; the Jump Off; Bermuda Love; Birch Hills; FPG; and more.
Go to God Not God's website for more information, including lineup and ticketing details.
OLD MAN MARKLEY
This eight-member Los Angeles band has always wowed people with their live show. How could they not –– with everything from guitar to autoharp to banjo onstage, an Old Man Markley concert is a spectacle before they even start playing.
Their latest album, Down Side Up, proves they have the songs to back it up. Released this march on Fat Wreck, it shows their mix of bluegrass style with the punk ethos is the real deal.
Advance tickets will be available at Vintage Vinyl, Madame Yes and online at Ticket Edge.
DAVE LANG AND THE TWIN OTTERS
GrassRoots Regina presents a concert from the renowned Dave Lang. A musician's musician, Lang's built on his stellar songwriting matched by sterling wit. His western/folk style continued with a trio of albums released last year with his backing duo, the Twin Otters, the most recent of which was Champagne Breakfast. The Otters feature clarinet and upright bass, making a Dave Lang concert an even more enticing concept.
MELECHESH
The members might be scattered to the winds, living across Europe and in the United States these days, but they've never lost sight of their origins. The black metal band started in 1993 in Jerusalem where their interest in the occult earned them a measure of notoriety. They kept at it, recording albums inflected with the history and sound of Mesopotamia. Their last record, The Epigenesis, was lauded worldwide.
VREID
Norweigian black metal. The band's been going since 2004, blending classic metal elements with their homeland's penchant for dark storms of metal. Their newest release, Welcome Farewell, came out in April and continues to make black metal with hooks tossed in.
THE BESNARD LAKES Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, husband and wife and the songwriters behind the Besnard Lakes, have always created their own dense worlds lyrically. Their songs sometimes reach for the ethereal and sometimes spin off into great epics. They've matched that sonically, too, with music that's often achieves beauty in its post-rock majesty.
That trend's continue on their latest album, Until in Excess, Imperceptible U.F.O., out now on Outside Music. If that titles finds you a little confused but enticed, you're certainly not alone. The Besnard Lakes challenge as much as they astonish, on record and in concert.
THE HIGHEST ORDER Featuring members of One Hundred Dollars, this Toronto group plays psych-tinged country music. (Or country-tinger psych rock. One way or the other.) On their recently released debut, If It's Real, guitarist and main vocalist Simone Schmidt has the pipes of an off-the-cuff Johnny Cash and it suits the record perfectly.
THE FLATLINERS Toronto melodic hardcore. Their last release was 2010's Cavalcade on Fat Wreck.
A WILHELM SCREAM
This New Bedford, Massachusetts band has been going since 1996 and are still pumping out their melodic hardcore to this day. They've been gigging hard while working on a followup to their 2007 album, Career Suicide.
TRIGGER EFFECT
Montreal punk. Following the release of their latest, What's Left to Eliminate?, Trigger Effect are hitting the road, touring around Europe before making to Regina.
BLACK THUNDER
Regina stoner rock. The trio recently released a new full-length, Through the Mirror.
THE TREBLE The Winnipeg quintet plays sensitive pop music influenced by the new folk revival. Their latest release, Northern Lights, has been getting them some positive buzz. The group was last in Regina for the 2013 JUNOfest, opening for Down with Webster at the Riddell Centre Multi-Purpose Room. Now's your chance to see them in a more intimate environment.
SNFU
The Queen City is lucky enough to be a stop on SNFU's Pig Headed Tour. Having just celebrated their 30th anniversary, the Canadian hardcore legends are gearing up to release their first album in nine years, Never Trouble Trouble Until Trouble Troubles You. Before that happens, they'll be rocking the Exchange.
ROYAL RED BRIGADE
Regina garage-punks. Welcome them back from a May tour of the United States, where they were spreading the word about their full-length, Give in to the Violence.
TOMORROW STARTS TODAY
Regina hardcore. They released a split seven-inch with Kleins96 last year and were featured on Harvest King Records second Shredded Wheat compilation.
FRIDAY, JULY 5
THE EXCHANGE
Doors at 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets will be availble for $20 at X-Ray Records. See the Facebook event for more information.
"Gauthier, a teen runaway who attended college in Louisiana and operated a Cajun restaurant in Boston before getting sober, long ago learned how to go with the flow. And to be patient. Because it takes time to get good enough to wing it."
She's takent that time, too, performing on the road for over a decade before recording her live album, 2012's Live at Blue Rock. Currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, Gauthier certainly has her stagecraft down, and will be bringing it along with her to the Exchange.
WITH SUPPORT FROM SCOTT NOLAN AND JOANNA MILLER.
JULY 6
THE EXCHANGE
$20 ADVANCE. $25 AT THE DOOR.
TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT BACH AND BEYOND, VINTAGE VINYL AND BUY THE BOOK STARTING MID-JUNE.
FAREWELL, MY LOVE
Phoenix, Arizona theatrical rock band, touring behind their latest Ep, Mirror, Mirror. Founded in 2011 and taking inspiration from bands across the rock and punk spectrum, the quintet has become known for a big live show and a fanatical devotion in their fans.
SNOW WHITE'S POISON BITE
Finnish horror punks. Formed in 2007, their most recent album, Featuring: Dr. Gruesome and the Gruesome Gory Horror Show, is out now on Victory Records.
CHOMP CHOMP ATTACK
Montreal screamo. Their latest release, the How Do You Like Me Know EP, came out late last year.
SCORPIOS The Americana-inflected side project features members of any number of notable punk groups, from Me First and the Gimme Gimmes to Lagwagon to No Use for a Name and more. They started in 2011, self-releasing a self-titled album to accompany them on tour.
HOLY GRAIL
We've got you covered with our unofficial Kiss afterparty featuring these Pasadena heavy metalers. Their latest album, 2013's Ride the Void, was driving bit of metal reaching for epic heights. Together, the band blends power-metal vocals, harmonized guitar work and death metal rhythms to great effect.
ANTI-MORTEM
Oklahoma heavy metal. The band recently signed to Nuclear Blast, the same label as Holy Grail, and are joining them on tour.
TUESDAY, JULY 16
THE EXCHANGE
Doors are at 8 p.m. Tickets will be available at Vintage Vinyl and online at Ticket Edge.
WEST OF HELL
Gruff rock/heavy metal. The band originally started in New Zealand before the core members made the move over to Vancouver, where they continue to rock to this day.
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