L.A. Beat

Time: 9 p.m.

Cover: none

Rumrunner http://www.myspace.com/rumrunner  or sonicbids.com/rumrunner

 Eight years. One hundred condemned halls. Five hundred odious bars. Ten thousand miles of lonely highway. Two hundred thirty squalid parking lots. Eighty eight suspicious security guards. Fifty-six dubious police officers. Seven justified public drinking offences. Three showers. Ninety wistful phone calls to loved ones. Two visits to the emergency room. Eleven stitches in the head. One thousand broken strings. Four hundred broken bottles. Five broken hearts. Five shattered dreams. Five disenchanted personas. Five crestfallen vagabonds. Five unrepentant Calgarians. Five persevering outsiders. .. Eight years. Thirty-eight taxing studio days. Dozens of idiomatic anthems. Two eclectic producers. Three aberrant seven-inch records. Six commendatory catalysts for ideas. Three dogmatically resplendent full-length records. Five tortured souls reprieved. Five proud artificers. One disdain towards the prevailing winds. One contempt towards musical definition. One perpetual propensity towards levity. .. Eight years of respite. Eight years of camaraderie. Eight years of inspiration. Eight liters of blood. Eighteen liters of vomit. Eighty liters of sweat. Eighty thousand pints of Guinness. Five solar pessimists. Five romantic egotists. Five disheartened idealists. Five dipsomaniacal sentimentalists. Five steadfast traditionalists. One perpetual sense of apathy towards anybody else’s opinion on the matter. .. - Derek Stevie, 2009

India Pale Al - Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica.. Mikey Fingers - Guitar, Vocals.. Kurt "Hawkeye" Jensen - Bass, Vocals.. Carey "One Shot" Maillot - Drums.. Spencer Jo - Banjo, Guitar, Vocals.. 

Audio/Rocketry http://www.myspace.com/audiorocketrymusic

Brief History of A/R: In the fall of ’05, I moved to Edmonton from my hometown of Drumheller, Alberta. In that same season, I bought the “mostly-acoustic compilation,” Experiments in Audio Rocketry, and after the first listen, I was immediately inspired to write acoustic folk music. As songs evolved and new ones were written, I began to play them under the compilation’s name, paying direct homage to its influential drive. Having limited luck with regards to booking shows during the first year, the music found life on the streets of Edmonton at various busking locations on Whyte Avenue and LRT stations. Through a mutual friend, I met Anders, a devout black metalhead, who would go on to play drums with me for about two and a half years. When we booked our first show together in early ’06, we incorporated the forward slash into our band name to represent the binding of our different styles as a congruent pair. Anders and I played forty-odd shows together as a guitar/drums duo by the time Matt Murphy joined us on the bass guitar. Unfortunately, Anders departed shortly after Matt’s addition; nevertheless, the duo dynamic of the band continued to characterized us as a traveling outfit until our good friend, Kevin Klemp from Feast or Famine, joined us on the banjo and accordion. After three years of playing shows throughout Western Canada, A/R hit the road eastward toward the maritimes, but as a solo endeavor on this tour due to Kevin and Matt’s respective work and school schedules. With the company of my friend Lane, better known as Rusty, him and I trekked our way across Canada by train, bus, and thumb. Having endured a healthy dose of adversity, stress, and uncertainty, it was a true triumph when we finally tasted the salty air of the Atlantic coast. As we landed in Halifax,a welcoming sense of joy was experience as a longtime dream was fulfilled and an accumulation of new friends was accounted for. Upon my return to Edmonton, we pressed our first full length album, "Buskin’ Songs with Audio/Rocketry," which included a wide-range of songs spanning from the inception of the band when I initially moved to Edmonton. A year later, we released our second album, "Eastward + Onward," a collection of troubadour songs written from the roadside of many Canadian highways during the Eastward tour of ’08. In support of its release, we have toured most of Western Canada and rural Alberta in the company of our Edmonton comrades, Fire Next Time. As a wonderful addition to our recent summer tour, Paddy Sperling joined the band in April and has been a reckoning force on the kitchen spoons, stomp board, and shakers ever since. Reminiscent to the progression of the band’s music, it has been a slow and relentless effort in creating a network to call our own here on the prairies. Nevertheless, I’m very proud and humbled by the growing community that is being developed within Edmonton and the various rural Alberta regions over the past few years. And as the circle continues to swell, I reckon we let it be unbroken and inclusive for all.