Toronto Indie rock/ pop band Ace of Wands are looking forward to a fierce show at the Slice in support of their debut CD “Lioness,” April 19.
Lead singer Lee Rose created a couple lioness masks which appear in two of the three videos they have created  for the CD including the title track as well as 10,000 Feet. Though  The idea didn’t happen in time for the first video “ Grown For Good.”

“We had just  finished shooting that video, but the mask wasn’t done in time for it but it would have fit,” said Rose, noting the CD deals with some heavy issues about her own battles with anxiety and depression.

 “Every song I write is very personal. And every song is very visual, like the videos. We have the song Lioness  which is about being full of anger that goes along with anxiety and depression and the masks  we wear to cover them. A lioness is full of anger and energy, but at the same time, a lioness has a strong nurturing, motherhood quality. The song inspired the imagery. I also made cheetah and cougar masks for the video,” she said.

“ We don’t perform with them, because that’s  difficult. But they usually find their way on stage as props,” she continued.

“Though we wore them for our CD release party, but took them off to perform,” she added.

“This  music is about my struggles with anxiety and depression. I’ve been in bands for all my adult  life. I was in a band with my brother and when that fell apart, I was as going through a period of depression and self reflection,” she said, adding meeting guitarist Anna Mernieks and drummer Jody  Brumell inspired her to form a new band after her previous band broke up in 2014.

“ I just loved Anna’s energy. She was backing Ron Hawkins on a tour in 2017,” she said adding they recruited popular session drummer Jody Brumell.

“He‘s such a great person and he just bashes his drums, so we’re very loud,” she said.

Rose‘s voice is reminiscent of Sarah McLaughlin.
“II’ve never heard that before. Usually we get compared a lot to PJ Harvey and Florence and the Machine. I’m also influenced a lot by Elliott Smith, because he writes really pop sounding songs, but his lyrics are really dark. But we also get compared to the Cranberries a lot,” she said.

Edmonton musician Billie Zizi and her partner Ryan Funk return to Lethbridge to play a full show during the Slice’s Thursday jam night, April 18.
“ (Bassist) Ryan’s been playing with me for about two years and Jesse (Miller, drummer) came on board about a year ago,” said Zizi, boarding a ferry to Gabriola Island. They have been enjoying touring B.C. for a few weeks before heading back to Alberta.

“It’s beautiful here. It’s green  and it was a drab brown in Alberta when we left,” she said.
 She has been busy writing  new music and living in an artists collective with her partner.

“We run a house concert series, art shows and  talks about suicide prevention. We’re also helping refugee families. We’ve sponsored and supported five so far,” she said, adding the  extra interests haven’t directly inspired the new music.

Adyn Townes had a good crowd out on a Wednesday night, April 3 at the Slice, for a night of heartfelt singer songwriter and folk music.

I missed  Tyson Ray Borsboom and Poor Nameless Boy (Joel Henderson)’s opening sets, but caught most of Townes. It has a been a few years, a name change and a musical style change since Townes, aka Andy Brown played Lethbridge.

 He sang  in an appealing tenor voice reminiscent of the likes of Donovan Woods, Dan Mangan and even Paul Simon in place. He and lead guitarist Bruce Rooney, played an upbeat set without a lot of  mid song banter.

 Rooney had a beautiful feel on his instrument, playing perfectly tasteful solos,
They ended with a pretty cover of Bruce Springsteen‘s “ I’m On Fire,” as Townes noted “I hate it when people  ask me to sing when I’m  at a concert, so sing if you want to, or not. You do you.”

 Sam Weber (not the same Sam Weber from the Weber Brothers Band) and his band returned to The Owl Acoustic lounge, Saturday, March 30 for an upbeat set of groovy folk rock.

The North Saanich, B.C. based Weber brought his hot trio, bassist Tyler Chester and drummer Don Heffington to rock the place while seated and while singing superb vocal harmonies.
 He played a bit a of country

music and added some subtle slide guitar throughout. He switched to acoustic  guitar then invited Evan Uschenko to add some extra electric guitar soloing and ambient sounds.

 Those songs reminded me of Danny Michel with the more exotic feel of Tri Continental.

 Weber noted he was excited to get warmed up for a big 20 date tour including a couple of American stops in Montana with the Lethbridge show.

“ I Know” was a highlight.Unfortunately I missed most of Danny Vacon’s opening set, but he was winding up with a big, soulful number before turning the stage over to Weber.