Vancouver quartet Language Arts will show they are not only about the art of language, but the art of melding a whole mess of influences during their debut Lethbridge performance at the Slice, Nov. 12.
“All four of us have different influences which are strengths  when we put them all together,” said Kristen Cudmore, Language Arts’ singer and guitarist who began playing classical guitar when she was 12.
“I heard my uncle playing guitar, a younger uncle who is more like a cousin. So my goal was to play better than him.That’s the 12 year-old mentality. So my mom got me into classical guitar lessons,” continued the Nova Scotia born Cudmore who met  band mate drummer/arranger  Gregor Phillips , Hilary Grist and keyboardist Aaron McKinney who fill out the band’s sound.“We’ll have as many as six people in the band. In Lethbridge there will be four of us. There’s definitely  crossover. Part of it is influenced by everyday events. Lyrically I’ll write about everything from people in high school and wondering what they’re doing now to unicorns, ” she said.

Vancouver progressive metal band Omega Crom’s new CD “Blood Steel and Fire” is a testament to  hard work and to never giving up.
“I started recording this in 2009 and didn’t finish it until 2009,” said Omega Crom singer/guitarist Johnny Ketlo who not only had to deal with arranging pretty complex guitar solos, rhythms and tempo changes, but also had to cope with an ever-changing band line up including the departure of singer Stu Block.
“ I was almost ready to give it all up but some complete strangers at a Slayer concert came up and said you’ve got to keep that Omega Crom  shit going,” he continued. The band plays Scores North, Nov. 14. The current line up includes lead/rhythm guitarist Wayne Holden, bassist Ian Wilcke and drummer Dan LaPierre.
“Getting producer Rob Shallcross really helped out. He said you could either train someone else to sing like Stu did or learn to do it yourself. And Stu is into a lot of System of the Down and screamo. And it comes naturally to him. If it doesn’t  come naturally like that then you really have to work hard at it,” he continued adding he studied classical music in university and was in a choir for four years so he had a good idea of how to arrange music.
“So I studied a lot of Rob Halford and Iron Maiden and a lot of really cool singers and worked hard at it. I’m still learning how to do it and I’m still working at it,” he said adding learning to sing piercingly high notes while playing  complex leads simultaneously came surprisingly easy.
“I played a lot of Megadeth when I was a kid, so that comes pretty naturally and we practice a lot so it comes as a  second nature to us,” he said, adding translating  the CD to a live setting is essential.
“I don’t like it when bands don’t play what’s on the CD,” he said adding Omega Crom’s set will include music from the CD, a Judas Priest cover and some brand new  music from a CD to be recorded, hopefully in the Spring after they have toured extensively on this one.

Shanneyganock, who is known as Newfoundland’s biggest party band,  is not the next Great Big Sea, though they don’t mind the comparisons.
“They’re a completely different band. Great Big Sea is a rock band with traditional influences, we’re a trad band with many different influences,” said Shaneyganock singer/guitarist Chris Andrews from Grande Prairie getting ready to play three sold out shows in the northern Alberta city. They will be making their Lethbridge debut, Nov. 12 at the Blarney Stone.
 The quartet have been playing for 13 years and average 200 days a year on the road in a constant cycle of touring, time off, recording and touring. They have released seven CDs including their latest called “VII” which has been nominated for several Newfoundland music awards.
“The new CD  is really good. We try to make each CD better than the last and I think that we have here,” he said.
“We’re very lucky, but we also work very hard. We play everywhere. We played a little town called Ranier on the southern coast of Newfoundland. There are 300 people in the town but we had 800 people at the show. It was wicked. People all got in their boats and came to the show.  It was Newfoundlanders who brought all of their friends. They made an event of it. We’re hoping we’ll get the same sort of thing happening in Lethbridge,” he continued.
“The days of selling CDs in record stores are over. Now, if you don’t play live, you don’t sell CDs and you better be able to pull it off live because studio magic won’t help anymore if you can’t play it live,” he said.
“It’s no different whether we’re playing for two or 2,000, our main goal is to  turn the energy up to 11, keep everything rolling  and have a great party,” Andrews continued,” adding they have been touring out west for the past eight years, but have never made it down to Lethbridge.

This week in Lethbridge there are several exciting shows beginning tonight at Henotic where it will be duo night. Four duos including Austria, Amelia Earhart, Smoke Stack Jacks and  the triumphant return of Vancouver based garage/blues duo the Pack A.D will all be playing beginning at approximately 9 p.m. Tickets cost $15 at the door or $12 in advance from Blueprint Music.
 Also tonight, Paul Kype and Texas Flood host a blues jam and there is a popular open mic at the 1010 Pub. There are a couple other open mics this week including a Remembrance Day open mic at Henotic with Felipe Rodriguez as well as  the Lethbridge Folk Club’s open mic  on Friday, Nov. 13 at the Wolf’s Den. Though it’s a few weeks away, the Folk Club is bringing in one of my favourite folk groups. Tanglefoot, known for  singing energetic  bluegrass and folk infused songs featuring tidbits of Canadian history. Their farewell tour stops by the Wolf’s Den , Nov. 27. Tickets cost $20 for members, $25 for non-members.
Metalheads will be in their element, Nov. 14 at Scores North where progressive metal band Omega Crom will be playing. Read the interview with them in Music Beat.