Time: 8 p.m.
Cover$20
Time: 9 p.m.
Tickets:$20
The Neon Chalet Shaker is our '80s themed ski lodge concert, which is happening up in the Zoo. So bring your best ski outfit or your best tight and bright clothing as you dance the night away!
THE THIRD ANNUAL FROSTBITE RAILJAM IS BACK!
BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE BOARDERLINE & ULSU THIS EVENT BRINGS TOGETHER
ALL THE BIG NAME SKIERS & SNOWBOARDERS IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA. WATCH
THEM COMPETE FOR THEIR CHANCE TO WIN $1000 AND TONS OF FREE PRIZES
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ALL SPECTATORS AND IS LOCATED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE (THE BREEZEWAY)
REGISTRATION FOR ALL RIDERS IS FROM 11-12:30PM
ENTRY FEE $20
STAY TUNED FOR A SITE MAP
SPONSORED BY;
DINOSAURS WILL DIE SNOWBOARDS, VOLCOM, MY PAKAGE, ELECTRIC GOGGLES, CASTLE MOUNTAIN, VANS BOOTS, UNION BINDINGS, COAL HEADWEAR
Mo Kenney http://www.mokenney.com/
Mo Kenney never had that archetypal I-want-to-be-famous moment. But somehow she was always going to make albums, play live and get noticed in her native Canada and way beyond.
Maybe the clues were there in the way she saved up her lunch money to
buy records, begged her parents to book guitar lessons for her and made
demos in the modest recording facility at a school she wasn’t even
attending. Now, Kenney’s brilliantly accomplished ‘In My Dreams,’ one of
Canada’s most acclaimed records of 2014, is about to become one of the
freshest and most inventive releases on the international stage this
autumn.
And stage is the word, because the artist, born in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, views staying on the road and playing for as many
people as possible as her life’s work. The reward is in the recognition
she’s enjoying from her discerning album audience.
‘In My
Dreams’ is already an award-winning follow-up to Kenney’s
much-decorated, self-titled debut of 2012. The new set swiftly secured
an ECMA (East Coast Music Award) for Pop Recording of the Year, to sit
alongside the same trophy that was bestowed upon its predecessor, which
also took a Canadian Folk Music Award for New/Emerging Artist of the
Year and no fewer than three Nova Scotia Music Awards.
The
sophomore set is produced, as was Mo’s previous album, by Joel Plaskett,
the Canadian rock icon who can fairly be described as her great mentor
and key creative collaborator. It was recorded in his bespoke studio,
New Scotland Yard, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and for his label, New
Scotland Records. We’ll return to the story of Plaskett’s role in
Kenney’s career shortly.
In an undeniable progression from the
sometimes acoustic folk-pop of the first record, the rockier framework
of the new one reflects the fact that Mo is working more often with a
band, in the studio as on stage. It’s also a perfect showcase for her
incisive lyricism. “That’s something that’s changed a lot from when I
started writing, when I guess there was a lot more covering up of the
truth,” she says. “I’m more direct now, and I like it that way.”
“When I’m writing, I’m not thinking about people that are going to be
listening to it, which is helpful, so I don’t have to worry about what
I’m saying, I just go and record it.” Indeed, to borrow a phrase,
friends probably think this song or that song is about them. “Oh, so
many people say that to me,” she laughs. “If it is, I tell them.”
The album’s flagship song ‘Telephones’ arrives with a suitably engaging
and amusing video and provides an imaginative take on the traditional
romantic predicament. It was first written and recorded by Canadian East
Coast rock band Mardeen in 2008, and suggested by Plaskett as
potentially rich material for Kenney. “I don’t think very many people
knew of it,” she says. “But it was kind of a perfect fit.”
Mo
is now reaping the rewards of the musical inquisitiveness that started
at an early age. She’ll happily admit to the poptastic pre-teen period
we all go through, when she momentarily favoured Danish hitmakers Aqua.
There was even a stage when she was at home to hard rock, in the form of
AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne.
But then Kenney realised that instead
of just listening to the guitar, she should be playing it. Unlike many
artists who were dragged kicking and screaming to their first
instrument, she begged her parents to arrange guitar lessons for her.
“I’m not sure why I wanted to play guitar so badly,” she says. “I don’t
even remember asking my mum to put me in lessons, I was that young.”
“My uncle had a guitar. He was the only person in my family that I knew
of that had a musical instrument. I remember it would just be kicking
around at family gatherings, so I’d fiddle around on it. So maybe that’s
why. But I was so obsessed with playing guitar when I first started, I
kind of assumed I’d be doing something with it later on in life. But I
wasn’t sure what it would be.”
As her listening tastes
developed alongside her own playing, Mo began to empathise with one
much-admired composer in particular. I didn’t really have a guitar idol
when I was growing up,” she says. “I only started listening to Elliott
Smith when I was 14. That was the first kind of confessional songwriting
I’d really heard. I was obsessed with him. I still am.”
When
she started to experiment with her music, fate took a hand. “There were a
few bands recording at this school in downtown Halifax,” she recalls.
“I didn’t go there, but I knew some people who did. They had a little
makeshift studio where everybody could just go in and make demos, and
Joel came to talk to us one day about the music industry, trying to give
us advice on being a musician.”
“So we played him one of our
songs each and that was it, he went away. I think that was about 2007, I
showed him my song, he really liked it and then I didn’t hear from him.
In 2010, I got a call from his manager, who’s now my manager, inviting
me to a songwriting camp.”
“Joel had recommended me, and I
hadn’t talked to him in three years. Actually, it was my birthday. I was
heading to work to go and make pizzas and I got a call. It made my day.
I’d just been playing open-mic, and that wasn’t really doing anything
for me except helping me with my live show. I don’t know how I would
have managed if it hadn’t been for Joel.”
When Plaskett went on
to sign Kenney to his label, she had the platform from which to create
that debut album, and to find out about the music business. “It was a
huge learning curve,” she admits. “I had an idea in my mind what it was
going to be like, and it was totally different. I was just really
fascinated by how everything works.”
As well as having toured
in Canada with Plaskett, Ron Sexsmith and extensively in her own right,
Mo is already no stranger to international audiences. She has played
Iceland Airwaves, The Great Escape and Green Man Festival in the UK,
where early in 2014, she toured for six weeks with her good friend,
Scottish artist, Rachel Sermanni. Kenney is heading back to Britain,
Ireland, and Germany in support of ‘In My Dreams.’ The stage is
literally set for her.
“Besides writing, the aspect of being a
musician that I like most is playing live,” says Kenney. “I love
touring, so if I can build up audiences all over the place, then I can
stay on the road forever, which is what I want.”
Dear Rouge http://www.dearrouge.com/
While bands often spend their early days discovering their musical directions and vying for visibility, the story of Vancouver’s
Dear Rouge is something unique and almost unheard of in Canada. The
band is led by husband and wife duo Drew and Danielle McTaggart. Between
the two of them, they carry years of touring and recording with
multiple bands and different musical ventures. Drew and Danielle met in
these days of initial musical exploration. Both driven by a passion to
create energetic music with a creative backbone, they formed Dear Rouge
and their debut EP Heads Up Watch Out.
Their 2012 follow up EP
Kids Wanna Know helped hone their alternative dance-rock sound and also
led to the duo winning the Peak Performance Project that year, the
largest artist development project in Canada. Bolstered by their success
and now financially equipped to delve further into their music, Dear
Rouge got straight to work on their first full-length record. The
record’s lead single, “I Heard I Had”, is a driving synth-rock jam,
which shocked the entire Canadian music industry by steadily climbing
the alternative and rock charts to the Top 5 - with no label or album
backing it; a rare feat, especially for a band that had no previous
charting history.
Dear Rouge’s debut album is complete and is
scheduled for an early 2014 release. First listens of the album showcase
punchy guitar hooks, uplifting synth layers, and the sincerely powerful
vocal delivery of Danielle. Producer/Engineer Ryan Worsley and Drew
produced the majority of the album, providing a steadfast vision for
their sound whilst working alongside the input of some of Canada’s top
producers; Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sara, Mother Mother) and Gavin
Brown (Metric, Billy Talent). The team helped develop what has become
Dear Rouge’s instantly recognizable mature sound.
It feels as
if Dear Rouge has been in existence for quite some time; a thought that
was stirring in the mind of this duo since before they met or first
started playing music. Now that this idea has been realized, it will
soon be in your head too.
Ria Mae http://www.riamae.com/