B.C based country/ roots musician Steve Brockley is excited about “ Le Boeuf,” the second CD from his band, which was officially released April 16.

“We definitely gave ourselves a lot more time to record this album and to make sure the sounds sounded good,” said Brockley from Winnipeg, where he is mid-way through a cross Canada tour in support of the new CD. They have already been from B.C. to Montreal and are making their way westward where they will be  stopping at the Slice, May 15.

They were last in Lethbridge last summer.
“We’re playing all of the new songs and some songs from the first album. And because we have a lot more gigs under our belt even over the past month, the tour will be in full swing so we’ll definitely be firing on all cylinders,” he said.

“ We’re excited to show the new stuff. Last time we were in Lethbridge, everything broke. My car broke, my guitar broke and I broke one of my pedals, so it was a bit of a scramble, but a lot of folks came forward to help out. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he continued.

He is pleased with the new music, which ranges from softer, singer songwriter material full of fascinating metaphors like on “(Grandpa Was a ) Classic Car,” honky tonk country songs, slower folk songs and even a seven minute long epic called Captain Joe, which uses a shipboard mutiny as a metaphor for the government today.

 A lot has happened with Vancouver band Spoon River since they last  played Lethbridge in 2011.

 They recorded a new album and a half in Montreal and Vancouver and in the process added several new members and in the process moved towards a more Rolling Stones rock and roll sound, moving away from their country roots.

 They will be returning to the Slice, May 16 with Buckman Coe.
  The only remaining original members are front man Tavis Triance and his wife Rachel Horst, who plays keyboards and sings plus bassist Chris Young.

 “ We were living on an Indian reserve in Bella Bella because we found it inspirational and then moved to Montreal and recorded an album there with studio musicians with Jace Lasek who is an old friend of mine from Montreal,  then moved back to Vancouver and found we didn’t have a touring band,” he said.

They recorded in Montreal’s Breakglass Studio owned by Lasek who is best known as part of of the indie rock band the Besnard Lakes.

“ We recorded another half an album in Vancouver. So the next one will really be a pan-Canadian album,” he continued adding they will combine songs from both sessions for the July release.

I caught a taste of Moose Jaw indie rock band PandaCorn’s first of two Lethbridge shows this week at the Slice, May 2.
The trio, featuring Megan Nash on a couple of keyboards and Brodie Mohninger on guitar, both trading lead vocal duties, opened up the show for about 25 people, dressed in their trademark unicorn and panda costumes while new drummer Ryan Schnell kept the beat.
 Their vocal harmonies, as usual, reminded me of a more indie rock Twilight Hotel with traces of Keith and Renee.
Nash added subtle keyboard lines while Mohninger looped guitar rhythms, played catchy, sometimes feedback drenched licks and soloed over them.
 They both took turns singing lead vocals and harmonized nicely together.
Nash noted a lot of the songs were about break ups with friends, room mates and, of course, partners.
 They played several brand new songs as well, ending their set with an upbeat power-pop number reminiscent of Fountains of Wayne or the Cars, which ended with a hot guitar solo.

They spent their  day off in Lethbridge by helping University of Lethbridge radio station CKXU 88.3 cleaning the highways near Warner for the highway clean-up, but were still in fine form for their May 4 show  at the Owl Acoustic Lounge with Jesse Northey as well as Jay Bowcott. They played a very similar and enjoyable set which was just as enjoyable.

I hadn’t seen Jesse and the Dandelions for a while, so I was pleased to hear several new songs and a new bassist for this show.
 As always, they played, bright, happy sounding pop sounding like a more guitar based Pet Shop Boys,  mixed with a bit of U2 and a lot of Vancouver indie rock a la Said The Whale.
 They played several songs they wrote about Lethbridge including a good one called “Burning Down” and another new one about people who leave Lethbridge.

 Last, but not least, was Calgary indie rock band Peer Support.
They played a peppy set of  ambient indie rock featuring an electric violin and beautiful vocals from Dominique who also added keyboards and additional percussion.

 They took apart a New Order song, giving a nod to their ’80s pop rock roots and slowed it down a lot, then sped it up for the end.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

Female performance chorus the Southern Accord Chorus celebrate Mother’s Day by singing the music of ABBA and much more at the College Drive Community Church, May 11 with special guests Mike Mountain Horse School Choirs and MC Jeff Carlson. The show begins at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $15 from Long and McQuade.

If you want to laugh, the Drama Nutz are bringing back Bring a Chair Improv back to the NAAG Gallery (255 12C St N,) May 10 featuring host Jonny Kirsch and performers Sam Benty, Shelby Carlson, David Gabert, Hannah Rud and Alisha VanWeiren plus music by Rayne Anne Latchford.
Admission is $7 if you bring your own chair or $10 without. The show begins at 8 p.m.

 And don’t forget about Hatrix Theatre’s hilarious performance of the Larry Shue’s comedy The Foreigner, which takes place May 7-11 at the Moose Hall at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are $15.
 There is also an exotic show, May 11 at Cité Le Prairies, where the Taiko Association will be performing with two groups from Calgary.

The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra has something special this week.  On May 12 and 13 at the University Theatre, they will be joining forces with the Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble for two shows.
 The May 12 performance is a 2 p.m. matinee. There will also be an evening performance on May 13  at 8 p.m. Tickets are $37 for each show.

 In addition to a plethora of local shows this week, the Lethbridge folk club winds up their season with Calgary based roots, rockabilly, folk and proto jazz band the Sadlier Brown band featuring Alien Rebels member Mark Sadlier, May 11 at the Wolf‘s Den. Lethbridge bluesman Leon Barr opens the show at 8 p.m. sharp.