Vancouver retro grunge band the Jins made a surprise visit to the Owl Acoustic lounge, Saturday, Oct. 19.
 I missed Mombod, Morii and the Perverts.

The Jins channelled the spirit and the raw power of Nirvana and then some, even resembling Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and  Krist Novoselic.
 They backed that up by pretty much clearing the room of people who probably saw Nirvana the first time round with an excruciatingly loud, ear bleeding, but tight set of snarling grunge and punk music.

 So there were lots of power, feedback and distortion.
 They drew a lot from ’90s grunge, powering through their CD “Death Wish,” winding things down with “ She Said.”

 Those who remained  called them back for an encore. Though their bassist broke this strap, the trio powered through one more.

Winnipeg area musician Del Barber returns to the Geomatic Attic, Tuesday, Oct. 22 in support of his new CD “Easy Keeper,” a record he never thought he’s ever get to make.
“I’ve been busy being a dad and trying to reconcile that with touring and not being there,” said Barber, who has a busy tour schedule booked into 2021.
Barber underwent a period of soul searching when he parted ways with True North Records and his manager, around the same time he settled down on his wife’s parents’ farm in southern Manitoba.

“I didn’t think I would get to make music again, so a lot of songs come from that point in time. I’m always writing. But people still want to hear from me,” Barber continued, adding Rolling Stone magazine just published an interview with him abut the new album.
“That’s the first time they have ever paid any attention to me so that’s like the Holy Grail,” he said.

 No Depression magazine, the go to source for alt country and roots magazine, also interviewed him.
 “I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years and people are starting to listen,” he said.

This week rocks and pops.
Things get started with Gabe Thaine’s High Level Variety, Show onOct. 15 at 8 p.m.  Michael Bartz is the host.
Classic rock fans will be in hippie Heaven as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s  John Fogerty returns to the Enmax Centre, Wednesday, Oct. 16 with his “My 50 Year Trip Tour.”
 Expect to hear CCR classics and Fogerty’s solo hits.

 Tickets are $29.95, $49.50, $79.50, $99.95 (Incl. GST) + s/c . The show begins at 7:30 p.m.

 For a little bit of a contrast to that, Sherwood Park alt-pop band The Royal Foundry return to the Slice, Oct. 16 as well. Winnipeg based songwriter Roman Clarke is also on the bill plus local singer songwriter Tyson Ray Borsboom.
 Expect a plethora of wild and wonderful musical instruments and manic ’80s pop energy from Royal Foundry.
For something a little more mellow, Northern Albertan country musician Maddie Storvold, who was on CTV’s the launch and recently released her hit single ’Don’t Say you Love Me’, plays the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Oct. 16 as well.

If you love acoustic guitar pyrotechnics and percussion, Australian born, Nashville based virtuoso, Daniel Champagne returns to the Slice, Oct. 17.
Admission is $20. He sold out the Slice almost exactly a year ago.
The weekend is all about pop music.
 Average Joes features welcomes Tyler Shaw’s “Wanted” tour to the stage, Friday, Oct. 18.
 Shaw was nominated a for the 2019 pop album of the year for his sophomore CD  “Intuition,” which spawned the hit singles ”With you” and  “To the Man Who Let Her Go.”
 He will be joined by Craig Stickland on guitar.
 Strickland, who has toured with Alessia Cara and Matt Good, will also be opening the show, which begins at 10:15 p.m.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

 Jon Martin returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge with Edmonton musician St. Arnaud, Oct. 18.

 It’s great to see Bridgette Yarwood on stage again. She brings her jazz/ pop duo to Good Times, Oct. 18 at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $5 in advance $10 at the door. If you miss that show, she is also playing a big afternoon  fundraising concert at the Gate Church, Saturday, Oct. 18. Also on that bill are local blues band Coda, Deacon Harley and thew Spark and Behold.  Tickets are $10. The show runs from 1-5 p.m.

Average Joes presents the a eleventh annual Scotchtoberfest, Oct. 19 from 8-11 p.m. with local rock bands DNR, the Nova Scotiables and the Lethbridge Firefighters Pipes and Drums.The event is a fundraiser for A New Dawn. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

This week’s folk fix comes courtesy of Winnipeg musician Vince Andrushko who plays the Slice, Oct. 19 with George Arsene. Prairie Huckster play folk  and roots music music at Plum on Oct. 19 as well.They are also at Theoretically brewing on Friday with Casati and john Greenshields. The show begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $10.

Hanna born, Lethbridge based Trevor Christensen and El Mule  will be be playing country and rock at Casino Lethbridge all weekend.

Ottawa area based indie rock/ pop band Hollerado are calling  it a day after about a dozen years on the road. They return to the Slice one last time, Tuesday, Oct. 22.
 They just released one last album “ Retaliation Vacation,” but all people want to talk about is their retirement.

“We think it’s our best one yet, but all everyone wants to ask us about is our retirement,” observed frontman Menno Versteeg.
 To go along with the new album, they released a weird video for “Time on Earth, featuring a break dancing battle between an old man and an alien.

“We’ve always been irreverent so it just suits us. Besides it’s our last tour, so we didn’t really care if anyone likes it,” Versteeg continued, adding people ended up really liking it.
Guitarist Nixon Boyd, drummer Jake Boyd and bassist Dean Baxter complete the quartet.

“We’ve always marched to the beat of our own drum,” quipped drummer Jake Boyd.
“Oh, a drummer joke,” Versteeg chuckled.

“It’s just time to retire. How many of your favourite bands’ sixth album is your favourite,” Boyd added.

“We‘re still best friends, so there’s no juicy gossip,” Versteeg emphasized.

“ We’ll probably miss it during festival season. But now we’ll all just be going to the festivals to watch and without having to lug any gear. And we’ve got enough friends that we can go back stage and hang out with them and drink their beer and eat their food and play their instruments and maybe play a Hollerado set,” Versteeg laughed.

 They are pleased with the new CD.
“We did it all ourselves. We recorded it in Nick’s studio down the street. It was a really fun process,” Versteeg said, adding they didn’t  have to cull any songs from the collection.