You don't need to go 88 MPH to get excited for this stuff!
Come on, how good of a title is that?! :)
I figured I would post a few things I have my eye (or ear?) on coming up in the near future.
Island SoapBox favourite Steph Macpherson has some Toronto shows coming up. For those of you living in the "Big Smoke", free up March 22 (Canadian Music Week Showcase show at Dakota Tavern), or March 24 (Canadian Music Week Showcase at Cadillac Lounge). Get out and see her. You won't be disappointed, I promise you!
Macpherson has an album release in the coming months, and she will be back here in Victoria for some shows before then. You can get out and pre order the album while she is here in town. It's an album I eagerly anticipate!
Steph will be playing Friday April 6th with another SoapBox favourite, Jeremy Fisher, at St Ann's. Sounds like $18 well spent!
Some other albums people are eager to hear are streaming for us right now. Said the Whale, Plants and Animals, and Yukon Blonde all have something to tickle your ear canals (?).
And one more album that I'm super pumped for, Zacharly Lucky has a new offering coming soon, and of course if you follow Lucky at all, you know he's touring. No Victoria stop planned yet, but expect a review of his latest coming soon to Island SoapBox!
Ben Worcester of Said the Whale
talks with Island SoapBox
Well due to some circumstances that we really don't need to get into, I was a little slow on setting up the details of an interview with Said the Whale, while they were in town this past week touring with Dinosaur Bones and Tokyo Police Club. Now just because I didn't get this thing set up in time doesn't mean that you, the reader, should suffer. So I've decided to do the next best thing, and that is just make shit up for them! So here it is folks, the interview with Said the Whale's Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft, that never happened, but might as well have ;) (Please note NONE of this is real)
It's great to finally meet you guys! When I started setting this thing up (the interview), you guys were Juno nominees, and now a few months later, Juno Champs! Has there been enough time for that to really sink in? You guys have had some major accomplishments over the past 6 months.
Worcester and Bancroft sit in ridiculous lazy boy recliners (they added 5 Burgundy suede recliners to their Rider after notching the Juno), Worcester plays with his phone through my questions, cheering and cursing the Canucks every move (when women come near, he mumbles non-sense about overseas stock markets), he's not heard one word of mine. Bancroft, unbelievably, is eating grapes from the vine as his new assistant feeds him. Through Gold plated aviators, and after staring at me just long enough to make me think he wasn't going to answer, Tyler offers up his thoughts.
"Let's face it, waiting for the weekend of the Juno's was just a formality. Who the hell else would have won that Juno? Hollerado? What, cause they made a music video in 5 and a half minutes? No it was gonna be Tyler Bancroft and Said the Whale the whole time, we knew this."
Not even Bancroft's complete exclusion of Worcester from the Juno talk can get Ben's attention. At this point he's busy working the venue manager, apparently the wrong sparkling water has been supplied for his tooth brush.
A little taken back from their demeanour, I decide to ask them about the upcoming election. How they feel about the whole process, and this election in particular. I look over at Ben, hoping this will get him going.
He whispers something into Tyler's assistant ear. The assistant hurriedly runs off to get his own personal assistant. This assistant quickly informs me that Ben wants Tyler to answer this question. Tyler spits grape seeds into his assistants open hand, and begins to answer.
"We think the election is garbage. There is no doubt this country needs a new leader, and there is no doubt Ben Worcester is that leader. When the election was announced, Ben was ready to take the "Independent Music Party of Canada" straight to the top. He had people ready to run in 400 ridings. That's more than even exist. But then the big Media Consortium decided that Ben could only be involved in the CBC Radio 3 debate, mediated by Grant Lawrence. When it was found that only Elizabeth May would meet at the R3 event, we said screw it. We're god damned Juno winners, and they want Ben to play second fiddle to the Green Party and Elizabeth May? Forget it. So now we're more interested in the American Story, and possibly helping Donald Trump with his campaign down there."
With one more answer looming before I can get to my seat to enjoy the show, I decide to take the easy way out, serve them up a real beach ball that they can knock out of the park. I ask them, "What's next for Said the Whale?"
Worcester has the correct water for his toothpaste now, and is brushing his teeth, complete with spitting onto the Sugar Nightclub floor. His assistant wipes his chin. Tyler thinks about his response as his assistant tries to shine his sneakers. Finally he starts.
"This is probably it for Said the Whale. I mean you can only be on top, and stay on top for so long. So this is as good as time as any to shut it down. I don't think there's any question now about who the greatest independent band with the word "whale" in their name is, or ever was. So what's left? No one can afford us, the stuff we write now is so astoundingly good, that no one can even "get" it. It's a shame to let someone listen to the best music they've ever heard, and have them not have a clue. The ignorance is mind numbing. It's time to get out before we just go mad."
Worcester has bailed on the interview long before this point. He's actually stopped Dinosaur Bones in the middle of their set to let everyone in the audience know they won't be getting any leadership worth while May 2, and they should "mass exodus" to the U.S. to support his upcoming campaign with Trump. Bancroft's assistant wipes my outstretched hand with disinfectant before Tyler shakes it. The end of my strangest interview that never was had come.
*****Please remember that none of this happened, or was even somewhat close to happening. I have nothing but respect for Said the Whale, and so does the rest of Canada! If there is one thing you should take out of this ridiculous post, it's that you should CHECK OUT SAID THE WHALE!
I did not realize that Hannah Georgas, Aidan Knight, Jeremy Fisher and Said the Whale would play the entire evening together. What a pleasant surprise. Even better was how well they played together. You would think the 8 musicians on stage play together on a regular basis. The music was great, all members in sync with each other, their interaction with the crowd and each other was good, they were funny, never leaving any "gaps" in the performance. Spending this much time together riding from show to show, the chemisty was clearly visable on the stage. It was obvious that they were just having a great time, and that feeling seemed to spread through Sugar Nightclub.
It didn't seem to matter who's song they were playing, the crowd ate it all up. Both halves of the set were great, the 2nd half having a bit more energy. The crowd really fed off of that, and the 2nd half seemed to fly by. Live shows are always great, but I haven't witnessed a show that good in a long while. It was just a perfect storm on stage.
You don't often get to see 8 musicians share the stage, nevermind the collection of talent that has gathered for this Malahat Revue Tour. The opportunity to see such great Canadian artists collaborating was a ton of fun, and for those of you who have the chance to catch this tour still, I strongly suggest you do it!
Another amazing West Coast musician has dropped by The SoapBox. Extremely talented, and incredibly humble, Aidan Knight was kind enough to give up some of his time. It's also the first audio interview here, and I'm fully abusing the term "podcast". Check it out :)
*I apologize for the less than perfect Audio quality. It was supposed to be a podcast, downloadable and such, but I can't figure out how to post it appropirately. If you would like an MP3 version, I can email you one no problem, just send me a message!*
Here are a few sites of interest as well.
myspace.com/aidanknightmusic
twitter.com/aidanknight
aidanknight.com
aidanknight.bandcamp.com
I thought you all deserved a treat, so I have come up with this :) Said the Whale and their album "Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia" from 2008. This group takes pride in their music and in their country, and in return, Canada takes pride in the group. With a moose and evergreens front and centre on the bands website (www.saidthewhale.com), Canadiana is on display. The music, is no different. There is no better album going to match the happiness of Spring. Crawling out from Canadian Winter (although most of us had a pretty easy go this year), this is a listen that will bring a smile as big as the sun (in fact listening to the album may be even healthier than a good dose of sunshine, forget vitamin D!). The album uses different sounds, and skipping between genres at points, (including bubblegum folk (”The Light Is You”), thundering hard rock (”Last Tree Standing”) and gentle ukulele ballads (”The Real of It”). It truly is a treat, impossible to tire of, because you're not sure what you will hear next. It makes sense that the band has such diverse talent. Recently during a "twitterview" ;) the band listed Phoenix, Gord Downie, and Jay-Z as artists the group collectively enjoys. Of course the band released "Islands Dissapear" last year, and the hit single "Camilo(The Magician)", which grew the bands fan base even larger. This is also a very good album front to back, but I think fans will agree, listening to "Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia" makes you like the follow up even more. With the band touring almost non-stop, fans get plenty of chances to see the group perform, and a great mix from recorded albums, as well as songs yet to be recorded. The energy from the songs definitely makes its way to the stage, as the performance is fun to take in, knowing the band likes playing the songs as much as the fans like listening. Perhaps the difficult part for the group now, is whether they can continue to put out top notch albums, one after the other. With so much touring, you wonder how the band has time to write at all. Yet all they do is record great tracks, one after the other. Something tells me that Canada has plenty more to look forward to as "Said the Whale" evolves, let's all enjoy the ride and grow with them.
