CKXU 88.3 F.M rocked it hippie style with a ’60s themed night at the Slice to kick off Lethbridge’s independent radio station’s annual FUNDrive  on Friday, Oct. 30 with a sold out show featuring several local bands reinterpreting ’60s classics.
 Most of the audience was dressed in ’60s hippies garb. I arrived as a new band called Lotion was playing garage  rock versions of girl group songs like “My Boyfriend’s Back.”
 A new band including the Grow Show’s Dan Espelien, called Mint Tea  brought a case of ’60s psychedelia to the Slice by playing some impressively weird  Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. There was impressively mind-expanding bass playing and some plenty of trippy  delay laden guitar action going on.
But I was impressed as always with  the Record Holder, who featured Nicole Hembroff  on violin and doing a bang up job and vocals  for a variety of Beatles classics including“Taxman” among others. They had the Beatles’ vocal harmonies down and showed some tight musicianship. Last, but not least, Lustre Creme with Tod Robinson on keyboards carried on with some psychedelic progressive rock that had lots of wild guitar playing and more than enough energy which kept the audience rocking, ’60s style.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

Quite a few unusual shows this week began with the Secretaries and  the Hank and Lily Show, tearing up Henotic’s stage, Oct. 29.
Edmonton garage /pop band the Secretaries added a touch of jazz with their horn section “the Brassholes” playing a more prevalent role in the music than the last time I saw them at South Country Fair. At the end they flailed and sprawled all over the stage like a scene from a Marcus Glenn painting.
 They had a lot of energy and played a variety of instruments from guitar to accordion and sang some superb harmonies. Even Lily Fawn,  done up as a green haired zombie with  antlers , joined the Secretaries on stage for the last  few songs, which  had the band rolling all over the stage, grooving to their music as an enthusiastic crowd writhed in front of the stage savouring  the show.

It helps for band members to be from all over Canada, especially when embarking on their first cross Canada tour.
Vancouver based rock band  Minto, who play Henotic, Nov. 6, are enjoying  it so far.
“We’ve had really good shows and we’ve played with a lot of really great people. And we’ve sold a lot of merch. We’ve had to order more,” said Fredericton born Minto lead singer Ryan Hoben, adding there has also been a few mishaps along the way.
“Our guitar player almost died in a four wheeling accident in Morden, Manitoba. He flipped his quad over,” Hoben added, noting the guitarist, Kalvin Olafson is fine now. They were staying at Olafson’s parents’ farm for Thanksgiving.
“So we got the full fresh farm Thanksgiving experience,” he said.
Minto brings an interesting combination of country, rock, pop and folk which is reminiscent of Tom Petty and Cross Canadian Ragweed.
 They started out as straight folk combo, but their sound has evolved to be a little more Neil Young and Crazy Horse style heavier.
They recorded  their new CD (“Lay It On Me”), their first as Minto,  in Chicago with producer Steve Albini who has worked with the likes of Cheap Trick,  Nirvana and the Pixies.

“It was a little un-nerving on the first day, but he’s such a cool cat. He lives in his studio. It was the best experience of our lives. But he hates being called a producer, he’s an engineer,” Hoben enthused adding the band got a chance to check out Chicago  as well.
“It was awesome, we lived and breathed  in his studio in Chicago for two weeks. He’s got students working for him so they were bringing us coffee. It was the best experience of our lives,” he continued adding the new CD shows the next step in the band’s musical evolution.
“We started off as an outlaw country band and that seemed to work, but we’ve just started  getting progressively heavier,” he said adding the tour is going well.

Marq DeSouza is coming home again. For a week anyway. DeSouza, who moved from Lethbridge to Vancouver in the mid-’90s to be a musician, has released two CDs with popular Vancouver band Solarbaby and three solo CDs including his latest “… And All His Boyish Charms.”
He will be spending this week in Lethbridge writing with  his old friend  Shane Love and will cap off his visit  with a  gig at Henotic , Nov. 9.
“Last time I was here  ( a few months ago) I was on tour and  I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to visit with people I knew,” DeSouza said. Love will be playing double bass on stage with him.
“Two times ago when I played here, I had a full band with me, last time it was more acoustic. This time  it will be even more stripped down,” DeSouza said adding he is hoping  lots of people he hasn’t seen for a while will come out even though it is a Monday night show.
“(the different line ups)  keep me from being boring and  it keeps it fresh for the audience,” he continued.
He has not only released a New CD this year, but has also  re-released his first solo CD, “Temporary Redemption,” which he is giving away for free on his website www.marqdesouza.com.
“It’s exactly 10 years since I put it out. When you look at things you did in the past, there are always  things you want to improve,” he said.
“It took some work because I had to transfer  it from actual tape that I recorded on a four track. I basically redid a lot of vocals and did some touching up,” he said adding there also CD versions of the project which he has available at live shows.
 He is just as proud of the new CD which has evolved since he began playing.