BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition April 2019

PLUS! MORRISSEY • BILLIE EILISH • WEEZER • MORMOR • RUSSIAN TIM AND THE PAVEL BURES • EMILY ROWED AND MORE! 

APRIL 2019 

ELISABETH 

MOSS GOES 

FULL ON 

PUNK 

ROCK 

ALEX ROSS 

PERRY’S FILM 

HER SMELL 

WHISTLER’S 

LAST PARTY OF 

THE SEASON 

WSSF 

KICKS OUT 

THE JAMS 

BC EDITION • FREE 

DISCOVER 

THE PORT 

MOODY 

MILE 

THESE 4/20 

GIFT IDEAS 

ARE DOPE! 

KOREAN 

HIP HOP 

HEROES 

EPIK 

HIGH

SPRING HAS 

SPRUNG! 

(TELL YOUR PANTS!) 

Contents 

Up Front 

Music 

4 

7 

8 

9 

10 

13 

The Guide 

Morissey seals the deal 

with his return to Canada 

The Agenda 

VanCity Places 

Get ready to Sing Sing for 

your supper 

That’s Dope 

4/20 gift guide that won’t 

get you high 

The Moody Mile 

A suburban craft beer hub 

takes flight in Port Moody 

Exploits 

World Ski & Snowboard 

Festival gets big air with 

end of season bash 

14 

29 

35 

Concert Previews 

Weezer, White Denim, 

MorMor, La Dispute, Ape 

War, Godsmack, Partner, 

The Murlocs, Emily 

Rowed and more! 

Album Reviews 

Billie Eilish, The Cranberries, 

Foxygen, Blessed, 

The Mountain Goats, 

Priests, Weyes Blood and 

more! 

Live Reviews 

Foals, Cherry Glazerr, 

ACTORS and Noname 

PLUS! MORRISSEY • BILLIE EILISH • WEEZER • MORMOR • RUSSIAN TIM AND THE PAVEL BURES • EMILY ROWED AND MORE! 

APRIL 2019 

Cover Story 

24 

ELISABETH 

MOSS GOES 

FULL ON 

PUNK 

ROCK 

ALEX ROSS 

PERRY’S FILM 

HER SMELL 

WHISTLER’S 

LAST PARTY OF 

THE SEASON 

WSSF 

KICKS OUT 

THE JAMS 

BC EDITION • FREE 

DISCOVER 

THE PORT 

MOODY 

MILE 

THESE 4/20 

GIFT IDEAS 

ARE DOPE! 

KOREAN 

HIP HOP 

HEROES 

EPIK 

HIGH 

EPIK HIGH 

South Korean hip-hop 

wwsupergroup cement 

their own legacy above and 

beyond the world of K-Pop 

Movies|TV 

37 

38 

39 

40 

Film review 

Carmine Street Guitars doc 

tunes into the legendary vibe of 

NYC’s East Village 

This Month In Film + 

The Binge List 

Film review 

Bella Ciao! Director Carolyn 

Combs harnesses diversity of 

Commercial Drive 

Film review 

Her Smell: Elisabeth Moss 

brings chaos to centre stage in 

Alex Ross Perry’s experimental 

rock drama Her Smell 

Vince Staples, Friday March 22 at 

the Harbour Events Centre. Read our 

review of this show and more online 

at beatroute.ca 

The Arts 

42 

43 

44 

Horoscope 

47 

Books Verses Festival invites 

Vivek Shraya to discuss their 

graphic novel Death Threat 

Art qaʔ yəx w - water honours 

us: womxn and waterways celebrates 

expression of identity, 

culture and knowledge 

Fashion Clarie Carreras 

launches White Rhino Bags, 

a fashionable line of vegan, 

cruelty-free accessories for the 

modern age 

No matter your sign, there’s 

always a song for you here 

DARROLE PALMER 

JOHN FLUEVOG SHOES 837 GRANVILLE ST 604·688·2828 65 WATER ST 604·688·6228 FLUEVOG.COM 

2 BEATROUTE APRIL 2019 

APRIL 2019 BEATROUTE 3

The Guide 

Editor-In-Chief 

Glenn Alderson 

glenn@beatroute.ca 

Managing Editor 

Jordan Yeager 

jordan@beatroute.ca 

UPCOMING SHOWS 

Morrissey: 

Seals the 

deal with 

Canadian 

tour 

Sunday, April 14 & Monday, April 15 

Orpheum Theatre 

With the city collectively recovering 

from seasonal depression, spring 

seems like the appropriate time for 

Morrissey to come to Canada. Moz 

fans all over the country are rejoicing 

that the sardonic musician can’t keep 

his promises. Fifteen years ago, the 

boy with the thorn in his side vowed 

never to set foot on Canadian soil 

until the annual seal hunt was abolished. 

Luckily he has come to terms 

with the fact that Inuit are not going 

to give up an important part of their 

struggling economy. Instead Morrissey 

will be touring across Canada 

performing in six major cities with 

part of the profits going to support 

several animal charities. 

Morrissey is touring his 2017 album 

Low in High School, and getting 

some hype before the release of his 

California Sun album, which covers 

artists like Buffy Sainte Marie, Bob 

Dylan and Joni Mitchell. But nobody 

needs a reason to go see the former 

Smiths member, it’s fucking Morrissey. 

He’s one of the best songwriters 

of all time. This is a show you 

don’t want to miss, because who 

knows what his next beef with Canada 

will be. 

Randee Neumeyer 


On my return to 

Canada I feel that 

I can be of more use 

by making sizeable 

donations to animal 

protection groups in 

each city that 

I play. 

City 

Yasmine Shemesh 

yasmine@beatroute.ca 

Exploits 

Jessie Foster 

jessie@beatroute.ca 

That’s Dope 

Jamila Pomeroy 

jamila@beatroute.ca 

Music 

Johnny Papan 

johnny@beatroute.ca 

Music 

Joey Lopez 

joeyy@beatroute.ca 

Live Music 

Darrole Palmer 

darrole@beatroute.ca 

Comedy 

Graeme Wiggins 

Graeme@beatroute.ca 

Film 

Hogan Short 

hogan@beatroute.ca 

Web 

Jashua Grafstein 

jashua@beatroute.ca 

Social Media 

Mat Wilkins 

mat@beatroute.ca 

Contributing Writers 

Raunie Mae Baker • Sarah Bauer 

Jonny Bones • Leyland Bradley 

Sebastian Buzzalino • Kira Clavell 

Emily Corley • Esmée Colbourne 

Lauren Edwards • Rachel Fox 

Kathryn Helmore • Willow Herzog 

Robann Kerr • Brendan Lee 

Christine Leonard • Rhys Mahannah 

Dayna Mahannah • Maggie McPhee 

Noémie Attia • Randee Neumeyer 

Sean Orr • Jennie Orton 

Court Overgaauw • Joshua Shepherd 

Leah Siegel • B. Simm 

Austin Taylor • Quinn Thomas 

Cole Young 

Contributing Photographers 

& Illustrators 

Kelli Anne • Lindsey Blane 

Jo Bongard • Richard Brodeur 

Kira Clavell • Pooneh Ghana 

Kate Killet • Tenzing Lama 

Emily Nicole • Pat O’Rourke 

Alana Paterson • Ian Schram 

Laurin Thompson • Tanja Tiziana 

Olivia VanDyke • Sergio Vera-Barahona 

Ben Weeks• Barbara Zimonick 

Advertising Inquiries 

Glenn Alderson 

glenn@beatroute.ca 

778-888-1120 

Distribution 

Gold Distribution (Vancouver) 

Mark Goodwin Farfields (Victoria) 

BeatRoute Media 

Group editor/ publisher 

Michael Hollett 

Creative Director 

Troy Beyer 

beatroute.ca 

REAL ESTATE 

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS 

MAY 25 

AJJ & ANTARTIGO VESPUCCI 

W/ SPECIAL GUESTS 

APRIL 11 

KT TUNSTALL 

W/ JOE PAORO 

MAY 6 

AMERICAN FOOTBAL 


MAY 16 

PLANTREA X COFRESI 


APRIL 12 

BRUNO MAJOR 


MAY 10 

PLANET SMASHERS 


MAY 31 

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT IMPERIALVANCOUVER.COM 

CHRIS WEBBY 


APRIL 30 

KEVIN MORBY 


MAY 15 

LONG BEACH DUB ALL STARS 


JUNE 5 


LA DAN DISPUTE MANGAN 


FEB MAY 6 


SMINO 

WITH PHOELIX 

APRIL FEBRUARY 5 7 

STEEL PULSE 




SCOTT HELMAN 

THE MUSICAL BOX 


A GENESIS EXTRAVAGANZA 


The 

APRIL 

Agenda 

6 

Catvideofest 

Saturday, April 20 

Vancity Theatre 

All those adorable 

and hilarious cat 

videos you spend 

countess hours watching 

online finally have a whole 

festival dedicated to them. 

CatVideoFest is 

a compilation reel of the 

best cat vids around, 

sourced from a combination 

of submissions, music 

videos, and the World Wide 

Web. Proceeds donated 

to Vancouver Orphaned 

Kitten Rescue (VOKRA). 

20 

25 

Art Vancouver 

Thursday, April 25-Sunday, April 28 

Vancouver Convention Centre 

Now in its fifth year, the global art fair showcases select 

galleries and the works of a variety of both national and 

international artists. It also features lectures, artist-led workshops, 

and a gallery crawl. Make sure you don’t miss artist 

Richard Brodeur — yes, the same legendary Brodeur who 

goal tended for the Canucks. 

MATTHEW GOOD 

LENNON STELLA 


LOVE ME TOUR 

MARCH APRIL 10 18 (SOLDOUT) - APRIL 11 

THE WHITE BUFFALO 

MICHAEL SCHENKER 



APRIL MARCH 22 23 

THE CRYSTAL METHOD 

EPIK HIGH 



MAY 

MARCH 

2 

30 

Vancouver International Burlesque Festival 

Wednesday, April 3 to Saturday, April 6 • Various venues 

The Vancouver International Burlesque Festival is back 

for its 14th iteration, celebrating sexuality and diversity 

through a wide array of performances. Along with intimate 

talks and workshops are performances by some of 

North America’s top burlesque artists, including 

Lou Lou la Duchesse de Rière — the first Indigenous 

performer to be named the Queen of Burlesque. 

23 22 

30 

RIVAL SONS 


MAY APRIL 4 10 

YANN TIERSEN 

WINTERSLEEP 


MAY 143 


TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT VOGUETHEATRE.COM 

SHANE KOYZCAN 


MAY MAY 3 24 

7 

Made In The 604 

Sunday, April 7• Heritage Hall 

This seasonal pop-up market 

celebrates all things 

hyper local and crafty, 

with a mission to connect 

Vancouver-based creators 

with their communities. 

This spring market will 

include more than 40 

makers, including Drift and 

Grow — purveyors of driftwood 

decor for plants. 

Emerge On Main 2019: 

Spotlight On Rising Musicians 

Tuesday, April 23 • Fox Cabaret 

Part of the Month of Tuesdays 

concert series, this event features 

three talented and innovative 

up-and-coming local musicians: 

percussionist Julia Chien, composer 

and interdisciplinary artist Alex 

Mah and improvisational composer 

Matthew Ariaratnam. 

Capture Photography Festival 

April 3-30 • Various locations 

This year, the not-for-profit photography festival places an 

emphasis on both female-identifying and Indigenous artists. 

Among a diverse lineup of local and international talent, 

highlights include BC photojournalist Alana Paterson’s 

“Skwxwú7mesh Nation Basketball” series and Moving Still: 

Performative Photography in India, a group exhibition exploring 

themes of gender, religion, and sexual identity in India. 




Food&Drink 

City 

Briefs 

wBy YASMINE SHEMESH 

That's Dope 

THIS 

MONTH 

IN CANNABIS NEWS 

AND VIEWS 

4 

What’s Up? Hot Dog! Launches 

New Hot “Fricken” Sandwich 

2481 E Hastings Street 

East Van punk rock diner What’s 

Up? Hot Dog! seems to thrive on 

making amazing vegan versions 

of their favourite meat dishes. Inspired 

by a trip to Nashville and the 

birthplace of spicy, Prince’s Hot 

Chicken, they have announced the 

addition of their Vegan Nashville 

Hot “Fricken” Sandwich. The Nashville 

hot craze is at a fever pitch 

right now, and What’s Up? have 

nailed their vegan version of the 

comfort food dish of the moment. 

4/20 

GIFT 

GUIDE 

SOMETHING 

TO SING 

ABOUT 

Welcome to the new Sing Sing Beer 

Bar, your new neighbourhood mainstay 

By GRAEME WIGGINS 

While it might be named 

make for a comfortable 

SING SING 

after New York State’s BEER BAR 

and welcoming space. 

infamous maximum-security 

prison, new Main 

Street eatery/beer parlour 

2718 MAIN STREET 

11 am -to late, daily 

It also has a large garage 

door window that opens 

onto the street, making 

Sing Sing Beer Bar shares noth- 

ing but the name with the penitentiary. 

It’s a beer- focused, bright, 

open space with food that complements 

the drinks. Sing Sing just 

opened in February on Main, replacing 

Kiso Island Sushi, and is a collaboration 

between Regan Truong, the 

brains behind ping-pong bar Back & 

Forth, and well-known bar entrepreneur 

Jeff Donnelly. 

Truong is straightforward about 

his intentions: “An awesome craft 

beer bar that Main hasn’t really seen 

yet. When people ask me what it is, I 

say, ‘24 craft beers, 20 rotating taps – a 

craft beer bar first and foremost that 

just happens to serve pizza and pho.’” 

The roomy 3,000 square foot 

room was designed by Ricky Alvarez 

from Tinto Creative, one of the 

designers behind the look of Bells 

& Whistles – and Sing Sing shares 

a similarly simple, modern design. 

It’s got spacious, high ceilings, and 

its emphasis on light birch wood 

combined with lots of natural light 

it a welcome spot for summer beers. 

Shared seating tables encourage a 

social environment. 

The food, curated by head chef Jo 

Hognestad, is tailor-made for beer. 

There are five kinds of pizza, three 

kinds of pho, and a variety of appetizers. 

While they are still finalizing 

the menu, a highlight is the kimchi 

grilled cheese, a spicy, crispy delight. 

The chicken pho is another standout, 

with a flavourful broth and quail 

eggs – a perfect mix with one of the 

many beers on tap. There are also a 

number of vegan options. 

“Nothing on the food menu is over 

15 bucks,” Truong says. “It’s easy to 

execute, so you’ll get your food in a 

timely manner. And we’ll change the 

menu seasonally. We want people 

to come back two or three times a 

month. We want it to be affordable, 

comfortable, warm. Relaxed.” They 

are working on getting a patio going 

as well, so this spring and summer, 

Sing Sing should be a mainstay in 

your neighbourhood bar rotation. , 

A Month of Tuesdays 

April 2-30, Fox Cabaret 

Music on Main presents this series 

of concerts held every Tuesday 

throughout the month of April at 

the Fox Cabaret. The organization 

— a champion of post-classical 

composition — will feature both 

local and international performers, 

from emerging artists to legendary 

composers. Attendees will be 

treated to a versatile program, that 

spans solo percussion to Bach. 

CONTINUED ON PG .12 k 

JORDAN ADAMS 

1 2 3 5 

Five new cannabis products (that don’t get you high) By Jamila Pomeroy 

1 

FeelCBD 

As an elevated vape pen experience, 

FeelCBD combines 

non-psychoactive full-spectrum 

CBD with organic essential 

oils. The companies “Calm” pen, 

features the relaxing and delicious 

essence of vanilla, lavender and 

mint. The pens sleek design, which 

is no bigger than the width of an 

iPhone, fits conveniently in your 

pocket making transport for public 

use hassle-free. While CBD on 

its own is known for its calming, 

anti-anxiety properties, the addition 

of carefully curated essential oils 

sets a new precedent for holistic 

health these calming oils, known 

to carry similar properties to CBD, 

add depth to the experience, 

eliminating the often talked about, 

“metallic,” aftertaste CBD can 

carry, while expanding further into 

the realm of holistic health. 

2 

Fluers 

“I used the ‘WOKE’ blend 

throughout college to help 

with studying. I lose focus really 

easily and it completely helped 

me with retention and focus,” says 

Tee Krispil about her company Fluers. 

Integrating herbs and tea into 

the cannabis experience, Fluers, 

the CBD tea company, delivers a 

high-end product with real results. 

The “Woke” tea features spearmint, 

lemongrass, ginkgo biloba, 

horsetail, and CBD (among many 

other beneficial herbs;) leaving tea 

drinkers refreshed, focused and 

sharp, while providing a boost without 

a burn-out, like coffee. Fluers 

also carries “DOZE,” as a sleep aid; 

“CHILL,” to help lessen anxiety; 

and “CLEAN,” as a detox tea. 

3 

Delush 

While it may be easy to fall 

in love with the companies 

wide-range of beauty 

products, which boasts heavenly 

scented bath bombs, creams and 

body scrubs, the Delush “Liger 

Balm” is the sure cure to your 

aches and pains. Whether you are 

in recovery-mode post-workout, 

our battling chronic pain, this is 

your new BFF. This magic stick 

contains 300mg of CBD, a potent 

blend of active natural herbs, and 

velvety smooth butters. While there 

are a few “magic sticks” on the 

market, the Liger Balm takes the 

cake. Combining the effects of the 

well-known Tiger Balm, with cannabis, 

the stick is ideal for immediate 

pain-relief-- perhaps after a bath 

with their Blue Raspberry scented 

bath bomb. 

4 

ICaria 

With so many CBD tincture 

brands to choose 

from, it’s easy to become 

overwhelmed and unsure. Icaria, 

is the holistic supplement brand 

that helps busy professionals 

reduce stress and anxiety so they 

are free to enjoy their life. “I am a 

nutritionist, so you can imagine I’m 

very particular about what goes 

into my body,” says owner Nadya 

Pecherskaya. ICaria CBD tinctures 

includes hemp seed oil, organic 

MCT coconut oil, cannabidiol 

extract; offering an aftertaste-free 

experience, in a convenient easyto-use 

eyedropper. 

5 

Fashionably High 

While their products may not 

contain cannabis, Fashionably 

High aims to elevate 

the cannabis experience and help 

end the stigma around cannabis 

culture. With the pursuit of creating 

a product that could be marketed 

to mature women, not fitting in with 

the “babes and bongs” culture, 

the tea cup was born. Featuring a 

wide-range of designs, the cups 

are helping empower women to 

not be ashamed of consuming 

cannabis, in the boys club that is 

the cannabis industry. In complementary 

fashion, the company 

has expanded into other lifestyle 

products such as stash boxes, tote 

bags, pillows and leggings. 




THE 

MOODY 

MILE 

A Suburban Craft Beer 

Hub Takes Flight in 

Port Moody 

By KATHRYN HELMORE 

Taps and Tacos 

To say that Taps and Tacos serves 

Mexican food would be an understatement. 

The 40-seat restaurant with a 

modern glass exterior, BC craft beers 

on tap and an open concept kitchen 

strives to offer diners a unique and 

fresh experience. 

“We are saturated with tacos,” says 

head chef Jordan Braun. “Here, we are 

trying something different. We use the 

taco as a base and get creative on top. 

Only raw, fresh ingredients, seasonal 

fish. We are introducing ceviche.” 

The restaurant’s not-so-basic 

offerings include Korean Pork, a 6 inch 

flour tortilla that features red cabbage 

and black sesame. And try the Yellowfin 

Tuna, a fresh dish loaded with 

seared Ocean Wise tuna, wasabi aioli, 

pickled wakame and cucumber slaw. 

The spot also offers vegan BBQ 

Jackfruit Street Tacos, Pulled Pork 

Burritos and a selection of house 

made hot sauces. 

Certainly not your average Mexican 

food. 

O 

n a wooden boardwalk 

suspended above an 

ocean inlet teeming 

with life, imagine a 

woman with electric red 

hair beating an acoustic guitar 

to the sound of Sia’s “Titanium.” 

The squawks of seagulls, the 

laughter of children and the lapping 

of waves play background 

vocals. 

The redhead is Port Moody 

City Congresswoman Amy Lubik, 

and the boardwalk is where 

the ocean meets the Moody 

Mile, a newly chartered track 

of restaurants, craft breweries, 

bakeries, ice cream parlours and 

fish and chip stalls, hidden near 

the last stop on the Millennium 

skytrain line. 

Originally conceived as the 

terminus for the Canadian Pacific 

Railroad in 1879, Port Moody 

was set to become a major west 

coast metropolis. Much to the 

vexation of locals, though, these 

hopes were dashed when the 

rail line was extended several 

kilometers farther west to a new 

town called Vancouver. 

Yet Port Moody is no longer 

the abandoned child of west 

coast expansion. Benefitting 

from Vancouver’s boom, the 

community is making a comeback 

that started with a number 

of craft breweries and has 

resulted in lip-smackingly good 

food and award-winning craft 

Gabi & Jules 

Handmade Pies 

and Baked Goodness 

Walking through the fabulously 

pink front door of Gabi & Jules, 

one is welcomed by the aroma 

of fresh baked flour, ridiculously 

friendly staff, an assortment of 

locally crafted gifts and, of course, 

displays overflowing with delicate 

and decadent pies. 

“Pie is just a vessel,” says 

co-founder and owner Lisa 

Beecroft. “You can do so much 

with it. There is also something 

warm, fuzzy and nostalgic about 

pie. We go back to these roots by 

using real, whole foods with ingredients 

you can pronounce.” 

This joint is not scared to get 

creative. New pies come to the 

display counter every Friday. A new 

addition is the Espresso Cream Pie, 

a graham cracker base loaded with 

creamy espresso dulce de leche, 

chocolate whipped cream and 

toasted almonds. 

Gabi & Jules aims to foster a 

collaborative environment inclusive 

of all individuals. Of their 24 employees, 

seven are on the autism 

spectrum. 

“Our autistic employees bring a 

unique flavour to the kitchen,” says 

Beecroft. “One of our employees 

was stuck slicing bread all day. 

Now he has diversity. He plays 

K-pop at the end of the day and 

gets creative. He is in a culture of 

kindness and acceptance. This is 

not just a job.” 

Moody Ales 

Founded by home brewers Adam 

Crandall and Dan Helmer, Moody Ales 

sticks to its moonshine roots with 

weekly experimental casks and small 

batches. Lusty Chocolate Oatmeal 

Stout, Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian 

Imperial Stout and Sublime Pineapple 

Hefeweizen are three of the beers on 

tap at Moody Ales. 

Needless to say, this brewery 

gets creative. 

Yet, when pressed, “creative 

brewery” is not how the Moody Ales 

crew defines their location. 

“What defines us?” ponders Operations 

Manager Nick Andersen. 

“Community. Moody Ales is the ideal 

place to feel like part of a community, 

to chat with strangers on long 

shared tables. Whoever you are.” 

Locals know Moody as part 

brewery and part community venue. 

Dwarfed by immense, stainless steel 

fermenters that reach to Moody’s 

refurbished warehouse ceiling, live 

bands entertain crowds every Friday 

and Saturday night. On Wednesday 

nights, eggheads flock to the location 

for Simpsons, Family Guy and 

Friends themed Trivia Nights. 

Much like the Moody Mile itself, 

beer is only half the story. 

As the sun sets across the Burrard 

Inlet and fairy lights start to pick 

up in breweries across the Moody 

Mile, the skytrain can be heard 

whooshing to a stop in the station 

above. Friends and lovers wander 

across the bridge that connects the 

hidden Moody Mile to Highway 7, 

escaping to a collection of unique 

tacos, lovingly made pies, a rich selection 

of homebrewed craft beers 

and, of course, community. 

Parkside 

Known for its neon pink and teal 

sign, Parkside is a craft brewery 

that’s been leaving a mark across 

Vancouver and BC since its inception 

in 2016. Co-owners Sam Payne and 

Vern Lambourne are veterans of 

Vancouver’s homebrewing scene. 

“We came out here and found this 

old building,” says Payne. “It was a 

machine shop. We tore it up, cleaned 

it up, and rebuilt it into this.” 

Armed with experience and 

passion, the 30-hectare brewery 

has won multiple awards including 

second place in the Belgian Ale 

category and third place in the North 

American IPA category at BC Beer 

Awards 2017. 

The location offers a full range 

of imaginative concoctions on tap, 

including West Coast Pale Ales, 

Imperial Stouts and German-style 

Pilsners. 

The location is not all beer, though. 

With a sundeck out front, pop up 

stalls selling grub such as fresh 

oysters, a shuffleboard round back 

and vintage decor, the brewery has 

a family vibe, yet is nevertheless 

buzzing with energy. 



VanCity People 

wCity 

Briefs 

Exploits 

IAN SCHRAM 

FOR MUSICIANS, 

BY MUSICIANS 

Fulfilling a 20-year dream Rufus Guitar 

and Drum Shop opens a second location 

By YASMINE SHEMESH 

Rufus Guitar and Drum Shop is 

opening a new location this month, 

in the old Wonderbucks Trading 

Company building on the corner 

of Commercial Drive and East 2nd 

Ave. For Blaine McNamee and 

Allan Harding — the owners of 

RUFUS GUITAR AND 

DRUM SHOP 

1803 Commercial Drive 

Mon-Fri 10-8, Saturday 

10-6, Sunday 12-6 

Rufus Guitar Shop and Rufus Drum Shop, respectively — 

it’s a realization of something they’ve been steadily working 

towards, and, indeed, dreaming about, for almost 20 years. 

Rufus’ first location, the guitar shop on the edge of 

Kitsilano on Alma Street, has been a massive success: 

fully-booked music lessons, a stop where touring rockstars 

marvel at the merchandise, and a local go-to for the best 

sound advice around. Their drum shop is right around the 

corner, on 10th and Alma. The sprawling new Commercial 

Drive space will have nine lesson rooms – six for guitar and 

three for drums. Across both locations, Rufus now employs 

over 60 local musicians. It all comes back to a community-driven 

ethos that McNamee and Harding abide by. 

Ahead of Commercial’s grand opening, BeatRoute met 

McNamee and Harding for coffee on the Drive. Before 

sitting down to chat, Harding, after ordering his brew, took 

a moment to look out the window at the building across the 

street. “It just feels surreal,” he smiles. 

You were saying this was your 

dream 15 years ago. Tell me more 

about that. 

Blaine McNamee: I started working 

at a guitar store when I was 

15. My teacher at the time opened 

his own guitar store. I went to go 

work for him when I was 20 and I 

realized I could open my own store. 

And then I moved from Edmonton 

when I was 24, because I felt like 

Vancouver was a better opportunity, 

and I started working for Rufus 

Guitar Shop [Alma St.]. I bought 

that store in 2014. 

What’s been the coolest drum set 

or guitar that you’ve had come 

through so far? 

BM: We sold a 58 Fender P bass to 

Scott Shriner from Weezer. I love 

Weezer, so that was very cool. We 

went to meet him in Seattle and 

got to see Weezer play. That was 

an online sale. Tom Waits came 

into the shop once and I sold him 

a guitar. 

Allan Harding: You really see the 

difference between a big prairie 

town and an international Olympic 

city. Justin Timberlake was in town 

– his drummer came in, Brian Frasier 

Moore. Bob Seger was in town 

and his drummer came in. And the 

regular locals who pass through, 

like Bryan Adams. It’s a real pro 

vibe too, which is unique. 

BM: I think that’s because we sell 

so much vintage. We’ve got some 

really crazy pieces, like Fenders 

from the 60s, really old Gibsons. 

Blaine McNamee (left) and Allan 

Harding expand their musical vision 

to Commercial Drive this month. 

When people come to town, they 

come see us for that stuff. I don’t 

know what’s the coolest thing 

we’ve had in. I usually take them 

home. [laughs] 

How do you feel right now, 

looking at the new shop and 

considering everything that 

you’ve worked towards? 

AH: When I moved here, Blaine 

and I were doing a late night walk 

up and down the Drive, having 

some drinks, and Blaine said to 

me, ‘That’s my dream location.’ 

He always said, ‘It’s going to 

happen. We’re doing it.’ I don’t 

know many people like Blaine. I 

actually don’t know anyone like 

Blaine – Blaine’s one of a kind. 

BM: You’ve got put your hours in. 

I worked for 13 bucks an hour for 

a long time. 

AH: It’s hard to see the forest 

when you’re in the trees. 

Everyone’s like, ‘You must be so 

jacked!’ and it’s like, “I’m worried 

about the freakin’ printer!’ It’s 

hard to appreciate what we’ve 

accomplished sometimes, 

because we’re in the fire. But 

the cool thing is stepping back. 

I’m sure 15 years ago we’d be 

freaking out if we saw into the 

future. We wouldn’t even believe 

it. I couldn’t even imagine. There 

I am, sitting on Whyte Avenue, 

Edmonton, running my tiny little 

shop. It’s beyond words. It makes 

me a little emotional, actually. 

And we’re just getting going. 

KELLI ANNE 

k CONTINUED FROM PG. 8 

Ponytails 

Friday, April 12 at Fox Cabaret 

The Vancouver surf-pop band are 

still wrapping up the recording 

of their full-length LP, but, in the 

meantime, they’re celebrating 

the release of a new single, “Just 

Yours,” and an accompanying 

music video. 

Vancouver Tattoo 

And Culture Show 

April 19-21 at Canada Place 

Celebrating their 11th year, the 

Vancouver Tattoo and Culture 

Show showcases the work of 

talented local and international 

tattoo artists and provides a 

unique opportunity to meet them. 

The festival also features a huge 

array of unique vendors to peruse 

for inspiration while you contemplate 

that tramp stamp you keep 

meaning to get. 

WSSF: 

LAST 

CHANCE 

TO KICK 

OUT THE 

JAMS 

World Ski & 

Snowboard Festival 

gets big air with end 

of season bash 

By LAUREN EDWARDS 

T 

he World Ski and 

Snowboard Festival 

(WSSF) is the last big 

bash of the ski-snowboard 

season and 

Whistler Blackcomb is 

gearing up for another celebration 

with a wide array of music, arts 

and athleticism on the program. 

Sporting categories like the 

Slush Cup and Monster Boarderstyle 

Championships, paired 

with the WSSF After Dark programming 

ensures the action 

continues from morning to 

night. Rounding out the music 

component, the Outdoor Concert 

Series is welcoming Snotty 

Nose Rez Kids, Michael Franti 

and Spearhead, Little Destroyer, 

Old Soul Rebel and more to the 

stage this year. 

More than 17,000 spectators 

migrated to Whistler last year and 

Snotty Nose Rez Kids 

this year is expected to 

keep that momentum going 

with their focus now 

on the local talent that 

makes their community 

the vibrant place 

that it is. 

WORLD SKI & 

SNOWBOARD 

FESTIVAL 

APRIL 10 TO 14 

Whistler, BC 

wssf.com 

“We’re really focused on local 

athletes, local artists, and 

bringing everyone together 

at the end of the season as a 

big wrap up party,” says Megan 

Wilson, one of the World 

Ski & Snowboard Festival’s 

organizers. 

The Saudan Couloir Race 

Extreme features both men’s 

and women’s snowboard categories. 

The 2500 ft. vertical drop 

— one of the steepest races in the 

world — becomes a “thigh-burning 

slugfest,” describes Wilson. Spectators 

can watch competitors from 

a cliff-viewing area and from the 

Rendezvous Lodge. 

Returning to the festivities are 

2018 winners, recent Olympians, 

and athletes coming fresh off the X 

Games — including female snowboarder 

Laurie Blouin who won 

Gold in Big Air at the X Games and 

Silver in Slopestyle at the 2018 PyeongChang 

Olympics. 

This year also weaves in more 

Indigenous culture, renaming the 

Big Air competitions — a 60 ft. 

jump — to Sp’akwus Ski Invitational 

(from the Squamish nation) and 

the Halaw Snowboard Invitational 

(from the Lil’wat Nation). Both 

“sp’akwus” and “halaw” translate 

to “eagle,” and each nation will use 

traditional imagery and folklore. 

Medals won are engraved with 

eagles, and the event’s opening 

ceremonies include ambassadors 

from the Lil’wat Nation, Squamish 

Nation, and the Squamish Lil’wat 

Culture Centre (SLCC). 

“This festival is about the people 

involved, and whether you’re 

visiting or you’ve been here for 

10 years, you’re with your chosen 

family, coming together through 

an activity,” says Wilson. 

And just like any family, any beef 

between skiers and snowboarders 

is just “like brothers and sisters,” 

says Wilson, a snowboarder 

herself. “I was 

pretty happy we got a 

lot of snowboarders 

in, because it’s different 

to race on skis and 

snowboards in terms 

of strategy. What’s 

easier, what’s harder, what’s faster… 

it’s apples to apples, considering 

when this event launched 

[in 1996] it didn’t even have snowboarders.” 

“It’s a true mountain culture 

festival, not just about sports or 

music,” Wilson explains. “It’s a mixture 

of both local heroes and big 

names competing together. It’s a 

well-rounded event. If you’re young 

and you’re here to party, you can ski 

in the sun all day and party all night.” 

With only so many days left in 

the season, this is the best time to 

soak it in, go all out, and make it 

count. , 



MUSiC 

Our theme 

PAINT IT 

BLACK 

Weezer guitarist Brian Bell looks 

back on the band’s sonic hurdles 

By JAMILA POMEROY 

I 

f you ask Weezer’s Brian Bell what’s the best way 

to drink coffee is he’ll undoubtedly reply, black. Bell 

spent the morning at home fixing his espresso machine 

and explains that after too many bad brews, 

he had to take matters into his own hands. 

“It has to be dark, thick and drip slow like 

chocolate,” says the ’90s defining California 

band’s guitarist, backing vocalist and keyboardist. 

After recently hitting a coffee shop to risk 

outsider espresso, Bell heard a record that 

changed everything. “It was so classic to 

me and I was like ‘Who is this guy covering 

Black Sabbath?’ I thought it was a classic 

record,” says Bell, recounting first hearing 

Charles Bradley cover Black Sabbath’s, 

“Changes.” 

Taken by Bradley’s ability to make music 

sound simultaneously current and classic, 

Bell has been playing the album on tour 

with a portable record player, further inspiring 

him to get back into analog technology. 

With band-longevity based on blending 

classic and current sounds, there’s pressure 

for bands to tick both boxes, while 

maintaining a sonic entity of their own. 

Something that for Bell, Bradley mastered. 

In their own way, Weezer have been 

has always been 

not fitting in and 

looking at the world 

as an outsider. 

Weezer’s Brian Bell 

crafting classically current 

what side you’re on, the album 

WEEZER 

albums throughout their entire with The Pixies 

features a strong narrative of 

career as a band, lifting the Sunday April 7 unacceptance, revealing the 

spirits of wounded dorks 

struggle between the freedom 

Rogers Arena 

around the world. While they 

to create and complying with 

Tix:$45-$120, Ticketmaster 

may have had the craze of 

the bounds of a record company— 

preventing Weezer to age 

teenage Weezer fandom backing 

them up in their 90s Blue Album era, with grace and be themselves, unapologetically. 

those fans appear to have grown up and 

checked out. The band’s hunger to have “Our theme has always been not fitting 

a seat at the cool kids table in 2019 is a in and looking at the world as an outsider,” 

little off-putting, their awkward efforts to fit says Bell. While this is perhaps true for 

in, like a dad trying to sing Ariana Grande Weezer (The Black Album), in a lyrical 

while driving his kids to school. 

sense, sonically, the band fits in perfectly 

Prior to their latest release, Weezer with today’s pop music. If approached as a 

(The Black Album), the band put out a concept album or social statement reflecting 

on the state of the music industry and 

collection of covers hinting at what was to 

come. Weezer (The Teal Album), features 

remakes of TLC, Toto, and just like be understood and enjoyed. Weezer (The 

the evolution of Weezer, there is more to 

Charles Bradley, a Black Sabbath track. Black Album) is a response to the industry 

While Weezer (The Teal Album) generally not allowing the band creative freedom, 

received positive reviews, Weezer (The and in turn, being outsiders to their own 

Black Album) fell flat in comparison to its creative process. 

amuse. With conflicting reviews it may be “It’s about observing people and situations 

and trying to figure out how to fit in,” 

confusing as to whether or not the album 

is a hit, or terrible miss. Regardless of he says. 

While the struggle for the 90s rock 

band aging into 2019 can be felt, there are 

serious narratives based in mental health 

and overcoming depression, pushing 

movements of empowerment onto their 

fans. During a serious battle with depression 

in 1998, lead singer Rivers Cuomo 

was rumoured to have painted the walls, 

ceiling and windows of his Los Angeles 

apartment black. He withdrew from the 

band and the world for months on end, 

supposedly due to poor reviews of the 

band’s Pinkerton album. 

“I don’t know what triggered that, but 

I remember that period and it was when 

him and Mikey (Welsh, former Weezer 

bassist) were living together. Rivers got 

himself a pet lizard, I know that much,” 

Bell recalls. Despite the media coverage 

of the trying time, Bell says he never saw 

the place painted black. “I stayed away 

from it and just met them at the rehearsal 

space. We were experimenting with very 

riffy songs, very metal sounding songs, 

way darker than what The Black Album 

is now. A lot of those songs never saw 

the light of day, we just jammed them 

at the rehearsal space. It scared our 

manager at the time, to death, that we 

were going in that direction.” 

Although far from heavy metal, 

Weezer (The Black Album) does carry 

the capacity of chaos—indirectly. 

The album is eclectic and sometimes 

confusing, with more aggressive 

lyrics than expected, including “Die 

You Zombie Bastards.” This confusion 

and chaos may very well have 

originated from the band’s pressure 

to conform to today’s pop music, 

pulling them far from their dreams of 

ever being a heavy band. 

And when asked if we will ever see 

the band veer towards heavier tones, 

Bell says, “I never say never.” , 

WHITE NOISE 

White Denim stay fresh and embrace the Side Effects 

WHITE DENIM 

Friday, April 19 

The Rickshaw 

Tix: $20, Ticketweb.ca 

By EMILY CORLEY 

W 

hite Denim bassist 

Steven Terebecki 

is fresh 

from the band’s 

latest SXSW appearance. 

“It’s 

still fun!” he laughs, fondly. He’s well placed 

to reflect upon SXSW’s recent history, having 

played there with White Denim every single 

year since their inception in 2006. 

The band’s distinctively upbeat, 

dance-friendly rock and roll is influenced 

by a vast range of genres, making them ideal 

ambassadors for the many styles offered by 

these Texans’ ‘local’ festival. 

“In the past we’ve tried to categorize it and 

someone came up with grog-rock, which is 

nice. I guess like, a garage-y prog-rock? But 

that doesn’t work for quite a few of our songs. 

We just like so many different styles.” 

After all these years, SXSW must feel like a 

second home to Terebecki and White Denim’s 

other remaining founding member, James Petralli. 

“SXSW has evolved continuously.” Terebecki 

says, unaware that he could easily be 

describing his own band. “It’s actually a lot 

smaller than it used to be. There are definitely 

less pop-up backyard parties; no matter where 

you went, there would be people set up in the 

streets with a PA playing. But it seems a little 

bit more controlled now.” 

Controversially, Terebecki also mourns the 

loss of corporate sponsors and their associated 

promotional merchandise. “Around 2010 

- 2012 huge corporations like Taco Bell started 

throwing parties, but that’s 

over now, which kind of makes 

me sad. I have the best Doritos 

SXSW shirt; it’s a guitar and the 

body is a Dorito. I mean, it was 

worth going to SXSW just to get 

something like that!” One positive change he 

cites is that the festival now puts greater emphasis 

on record labels supporting showcases 

for up-and-coming acts. “But there’s still a 

lot of the square-peg-round-hole thing happening 

- they’ll try to put on events in spaces 

where there just shouldn’t be events. That’s 

always been a part of SXSW.” 

Because they’re veteran rock, White Denim 

exude a palpable and seemingly effortless energy, 

captured both in their live shows and on 

every record they’ve ever released. Their latest 

album, Side Effects (out March 29), is no 

exception. It seems that their secret is closely 

linked to their high productivity: 

“We’ve definitely tried our hand at a bunch 

of stuff that we don’t ever end up playing live, 

so we decided to stick to writing songs that 

would really come across in our live show.” 

White Denim are a band with a passion for 

just jamming together and the lack of preciousness 

over their ideas is refreshing. Terebecki 

admits that the relatively recent additions 

of Greg Clifford on drums and Michael 

Hunter on keys have helped the band keep it 

fresh. “You kind of get a new spark; the whole 

band does. The drummer we have right now 

- he’s 22, and he has nothing but energy. He’s 

keeping us old guys young!” , 

JO BONGARD 



MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS 

WE WANT MOR 

T.O. alt pop breakout star 

MorMor acts on instinct 

and intuition By JOEY LOPEZ 

M 

orMor, real name Seth Nyquist, 

practically came out 

of nowhere. Coalescing 

onto the alt pop mainstage 

with a fresh and familiar 

sound, his 2018 single, “Heaven’s 

Only Wishful,” racked up millions 

of streams within days. Nyquist’s 

bouncing falsetto backed by emotionally 

evocative synth and simple 

guitar riffs lends itself perfectly to 

any coming of age drama. His vocals 

are controlled and almost sheepish, 

as if he were avoiding eye contact. 

Nyquist practically grabs you by the 

face, as he stares into your eyes and 

shouts exactly how he feels, pushing 

his voice to its limits. 

Nyquist channeled the energy of 

his hometown of Toronto into the 

song about how the city made him 

feel. The popularity of the song came 

from a string of lucky coincidences, 

getting into the right hands and being 

passed around and played at Toronto 

parties, eventually getting into the 

hands of the label, Don’t Guess, who 

gave MorMor his start. He even landed 

Adele’s manager within his first 

year of releasing music. 

Since then, life has quickly 

changed for Nyquist, releasing his 

first EP, Heaven’s Only Wishful, 

FLEMISHEYE.COM 


shortly after the release 

of the titular single, winning 

acclaim from fans 

and critics alike. 

“It’s been special and 

surreal. I’ve definitely 

been on more planes,” Nyquist 

laughs, telling BeatRoute how much 

has changed in the past year, “It’s just 

been really surreal.” 

His latest single “Outside” is a 

powerful demonstration of the kind 

of artist MorMor is becoming. In 

only a year, his arrangements have 

become more complex, and nuanced. 

He sounds like he’s caught in a rushing 

current, face turned up for air, 

seeing the sky for the last time, content 

with what’s about to come. Mor- 

Mor has a mature understanding of 

his own fear and accepts that there’s 

no point in turning away. His songs 

have always been personal and “Outside” 

takes on the subject of mental 

health. 

“I was trying to talk about the 

anxiety of going outside and dealing 

with depression. I wouldn’t say it’s 

necessarily any more personal than 

my other songs but I think this one 

is definitely special to me. I think 

at first it was subconscious. I think 

maybe now I’m more expressive, 

but it goes way back. When I was a 

kid I would hum melodies when I 

was nervous and I would drum on 

my desk. My teachers would always 

get mad and tell me to stop banging 

MORMOR 

Tuesday, April 30 

The Biltmore Cabaret 

Tix: $23, eventbrite.ca 

‘THE SAME BUT BY DIFFERENT MEANS’ 

OUT NOW 

“He stitches his micro-songs and abbreviated 

epics into a sprawling opus that’s as comforting 

as it is uncompromising” 

PITCHFORK (8/10) 

on the desk. Something 

in that energy calms me. 

I’m kind of defining that 

inner child in my music.” 

Nyquist still lives in 

Toronto, where he’s been 

playing music since before he can remember. 

Although his music can be 

an expression of his city he doesn’t 

necessarily feel like he needs to express 

love for it, just explore his experience 

of it. His songs are not love 

letters, but more an explorer’s notes 

on a journey through the diverse and 

fast paced environment. His methods 

of pulling inspiration are unique; 

instead of looking to other musicians 

he looks to artists of other disciplines 

and how they expressed themselves 

through their individual crafts. 

“I’m sort of inspired by what I’m 

feeling or what’s around me, what a 

day feels like and I like to interpret 

those feelings. I wouldn’t say I’m 

like Basquiat but there was so much 

information in his paintings and feelings 

expressed through the way he 

painted and what his collages represented 

compared to his actual paintings. 

The way I like to do things is to 

not think about it too much and let 

the feelings come and let the music 

come from that. I just let happen as it 

happens. In “Heaven’s Only Wishful” 

the entire end of that song is freestyled. 

All the little inflections and 

everything I didn’t even think about 

them, I just let it happen naturally.” 

MorMor is a stand out because he 

acts on instinct. Allowing the music 

to flow from him the way a paintbrush 

moves across a canvas and 

building on improvisation to create 

a natural and honest sound. MorMor 

has crafted a musical identity unlike 

‘NOVEL’ OUT NOW 

“N0V3L’s guitar lines are a wonder to behold.” 

NME 

“The angular riffage and existential 

socioeconomic mires of the self-titled debut EP 

is post-punk updated for a modern audience.” 

BEATROUTE 

anyone else. It might prove difficult 

not to disappear into the wash of Canadian 

talent erupting from the East 

and taking over the mainstream, but 

MorMor is proving that completely 

being yourself is the best way to go. 

, 

O 

POONEH GHANA 

SURREAL LOVE 

Post-hardcore heavyweights La Dispute 

wrestle with grief and embrace accountabilty 

By JOEY LOPEZ 

LA DISPUTE 


Vogue Theatre 

Tix: $22.50, eventbrite.ca 

bserving grief secondhand through someone you love 

can feel like being trapped in a perpetual Sunday evening: 

Monday steadfastly approaches, and the bloom 

of a beautiful sunset becomes a gradient of dread. Everything 

feels eerily silent, as if you were trapped in a 

soundproof bubble with only an echo of sadness 

bouncing around you. It isn’t your sadness, but an 

aura that latches on and conjures hopelessness – you 

can’t fix grief. You can only sit and watch. 

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based post-hardcore 

band La Dispute puts a voice to that feeling, often 

tackling heavy subjects of loss and despair in a way that feels 

like a powerless observer screaming from the sidelines into the 

faces of those who choose to turn a blind eye toward the injustices 

around them. La Dispute’s expressiveness and emotion is a 

product of vocalist Jordan Dreyer’s shouts of desperate protest 

poetry that come as if they were spoken through a megaphone 

at a rally. With their latest record Panorama, Dreyer wanted to 

express grief in an almost surrealist sense. 

“Panorama” is about experiencing grief directly and experiencing 

it in proximity – you will have 

two different perspectives,” says Dreyer, 

taking time to weigh each word as 

he speaks. Panorama came into being 

during long drives Dreyer would take 

with his partner across Michigan into 

her hometown, where they saw memorials 

for those who died on that stretch 

of road. She would tell him stories of 

the effects those deaths had on the 

community and those in her life who 

knew them. The album plays out like 

a road trip through the seven stages 

of grief with periodic points that jump 

into the lives that were taken too soon. 

“Part of my intention on this record 

is to talk about how grief is intangible 

and, as a result, doesn’t obey the rules 

of space and time,” he says. “It will provoke 

a past memory of trauma that will 

almost bring you back to that memory 

in a very real way. I wanted the record 

to feel otherworldly and a break in the 

reality of everyday, so that was very 

deliberate to make it feel a bit more 

ephemeral, a bit more cosmic than 

maybe our last albumRooms in the 

House, where everything is very directly 

related to recountable events.” 

Panorama has the same sense of 

frustration as La Dispute’s previous 

records. Anger accumulated over time 

by a lack of control one has over the actions 

of others and the consequencs. . 

Dreyer believes we all hold responsibility 

for what happens in our communities 

and, by not taking action, we allow 

avoidable tragedy to occur. “I think we 

all bear culpability to death that occurs by some preventable fashion 

whether or not we’re all “King Park,” one of La Dispute’s most 

famously emotional and politically charged tracks, has the same 

sense of anger towards the death of a young person that permeates 

through Panorama. “I guess it’s hard to not be more affected 

by those stories, but I think in general that’s something that’s always 

very morbidly fascinated me,” says Dreyer. “Not necessarily 

those stories specifically, but just the general inevitability of our 

death, the randomness of it all and who goes and who doesn’t. I 

think that’s something that’s always been there for me subconsciously 

, whether or not I’m actively thinking about 

it. Stories of people who have been taken too early by 

some preventable fashion are devastating and worth 

discussing.” 

This time around, La Dispute takes a less direct approach 

with the message they are trying to convey. In 

previous records, they smashed their ideas into our heads until 

we understood what they were trying to tell us, peeling back our 

eyelids and forcing us to watch the horrors before us. With Panorama, 

Dreyer doesn’t want to tell us what to do or how to feel, 

instead expressing what he thinks he could be doing better with 

the direction of his emotions. 

“This is a record about healing and about how grief is cyclical 

and about how I needed to be better. Ultimately, I think it’s about 

making a declaration of love and what that means in a tangible 

sense.” , 

RIO 

THEATRE 

1660 EAST BROADWAY 

APRIL 

4 

APRIL 

5 

APRIL 

6 

APRIL 

10 

APRIL 

12 

APRIL 

13 

APRIL 

17 

APRIL 

18 

APRIL 

19 

APRIL 

20 

APRIL 

21 

APRIL 

24 

APRIL 

26 

APRIL 

Paul Anthony’s Talent Time: 

Renaissance Faire! 

First Thursday of Every Month! 

Oscar-winners! 

*FREE SOLO 

*BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY 

CANDYMAN 

Friday Late Night Movie 

Peter Jackson’s 

THEY SHALL NOT 

GROW OLD 

STORY STORY LIE 

The Hangover Edition 

The Gentlemen Hecklers present 

CATWOMAN 

THE HANGOVER 


20th Anniversary Screening 

THE MATRIX 

The Fictionals Comedy Co. Presents 

IMPROV AGAINST HUMANITY 

Superhero Comedy Special! #IAHATRIO 

Fundraiser screening for 

Dude Chilling Park 

THE BIG LEBOWSKI 

The 20th Annual 

*ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS 

Luke Perry Tribute! 

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 


WILLY WONKA & THE 

CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) 

FLEETWOOD MAC BURLESQUE! 

“Oh, hai, Mark!” 

*THE ROOM 

16th Anniversary Screening 

With Greg Sestero Live! 

THE CRITICAL HIT SHOW 

A #DNDLive Improv Comedy Adventure 

Elizabeth Moss in Alex Ross Perry’s 

*HER SMELL 

David Lynch’s 

FIRE WALK WITH ME 


The Geekenders Present 

TALK NERDY TO ME! 

27 

APRIL 

A ‘Nerdlesque’ Variety Show 

UWE BOLL Double Bill! 

APRIL 

Documentary 

*F*CK YOU ALL: THE UWE BOLL STORY 

29 RAMPAGE 

Plus Live Q & A with UWE BOLL! 

The Geekenders Present 

MAY 

A NUDE HOPE 

A Sci-Fi Burlesque Adventure *Also May 4 & 5 

3 TALKING HEADS: STOP MAKING SENSE 


MAY An Evening of Corporate Drag 

With Mike Bonanno! 

12 

(The Yes Men) 

*www.riotheatre.ca for additional times 

COMPLETE LISTINGS AT WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA 

S 



368 Terminal Avenue ∙ (604) 734-4886 

vancouver@long-mcquade.com 

At all Long & McQuade locations, including: 

MONTH 

Get special pricing and special 

financing on Gibson and Epiphone 

products all month long! Plus 

don’t miss the exclusive models, 

giveaways, and contests. 

1363 Main Street ∙ (604) 986-0911 

northvan@long-mcquade.com 

DAN BRITTAIN 

GOING 

APE 

Ape War find their voice (again) 

and prepare for the looming 

apocalypse By JONNY BONES 

W 

alking the razor’s edge 

APE WAR 

between crust, thrash 

and grindcore, Ape 

War has been offering 

an auditory onslaught 

to the city’s underground music 

scene since their inception more 

than seven years ago. Within that 

time the band has gone through 

multiple members, released four 

albums and is prepping for the end of days 

with their newest offering, War Ape. 

“There’s been steady evolution,” says 

guitarist Jonny Bumknee. “OG Ape War 

dissolved a few years ago. Waves of jobs, 

weddings, breeding, the usual stuff. You 

know that feeling where you dread going 

to jam, rather than get pumped and end up 

making excuses to skip it a lot?” 

Suffering another exodus of members in 

the summer of 2016, just as Bumknee had 

brought second guitarist, Squealy Dan, into 

the Ape War army, things were looking grim. 

Pub 340 


with Old Iron, 

Mess & Nehushtan 

Avant-Garden 


with Balance, Terrifying 

Girls High School & 

Shearing Pinx 

Refusing to submit, the band began to 

reach out. “I started asking friends if they’d 

be into helping to continue Ape War,” Bumknee 

says. “It reassembled really quickly, like 

within a month of it being mostly dead. It was 

refreshing to jam with new input and talent.” 

Having been through battle, Ape War have 

emerged with a new roster, new songs, and 

a refinement of their annihilistic sound, the 

results of which can be heard in the new 

album. “We really try to write quickly,” says 

Bumknee. “Overthinking songs tends to take 

all the energy out. We’re all pretty equally 

involved. There’s not one person showing up 

with riffs.” 

As the new album began to take shape, 

a new challenge arose with the departure 

of vocalist, Doug Gregoire, leaving the band 

without a voice only a week 

before they headed to the studio. 

“No hard feelings” Bumknee explains. 

“They just didn’t have the 

time, which was a real bummer.” 

Never ones to say die, the 

position was filled by longtime 

friend and fan of the band, Dylan 

Aine. 

“Dylan was at pretty much 

every show. Always got the pit 

going, just amped up the gigs, so it was a no 

brainer to ask him to step in,” Bumknee says. 

“We’d been rehearsing without vocals for so 

long, once we heard vocals, it was like a new 

fire was lit.” 

With the final piece in place, Ape War has 

once again found its voice and the result 

is 17 minutes of auditory assault. You can 

catch them ushering in Armageddon with 

this month’s release of War Ape. If you ever 

wanted to listen to the apocalypse, now is 

your chance. , 

BEN WEEKS 

IN 

GOD 

WE 

TRUST 

After 20 years, 

Godsmack rise up and 

turn the page on a new 

chapter 

By JOHNNY PAPAN 

W 

hen Godsmack first 

hit the scene with 

their self-titled debut 

in 1998, fans 

were bathed in the 

raw-aggression 

of downtuned guitars and guttural 

vocals pushed forth by a young and 

pissed off Sully Erna. 

Godsmack’s sound connected with 

angsty teens of the new millennia 

and, alongside a multitude of award 

wins, their 2003 breakthrough, Faceless, 

earned the band several Grammy 

nominations. With the taste of 

success came a whirlwind of substance 

abuse and anger issues that 

followed the band for much of their 

career. For years, Godsmack was consistent 

with their sound and lifestyle. 

But now, 20 years after their debut, 

the band has found a new zen, which 

is reflected in their songwriting. 

When Godsmack first announced 

that their then-upcoming album, 

When Legends Rise, was going to 

see them explore more commercially 

friendly stylings, purist fans hated 

the idea of the band selling out. The 

debut single, “Bulletproof,” stayed 

true to Godsmack’s intentions. It was 

catchy, simple and crafted for radio, 

but the album as a whole is much 

heavier and still retains their fundamental 

core, layered with polished 

evoluti 

“It was risky,” frontman Sully 

Erna admits. “Sometimes you have 

to take those steps. Even though it’s 

scary, a lot of great things can happen 

from it and you can find yourself in 

a much better position later. That’s 

kind of the theme that runs through 

GODSMACK 


Abbotsford Centre 

Tix: $79.50, ticketmaster.ca 

this whole album: rebirth 

and transition. It also 

gave us an opportunity 

to put something out that 

people weren’t expecting. 

I really like the element 

of surprise. I don’t want to be predictable. 

I thought ‘Bulletproof’ was 

a good way to tell the fans that we’re 

not going to be making the same record 

over and over again.” 

When Legends Rise gave Godsmack 

a chance to break everything 

down and rebuild from scratch. Erna 

compares the album to a phoenix rising 

from the ashes. Lyrically, it’s one 

of the band’s most intimate releases 

to date. And as much as the record 

is a look towards the future, it’s also 

an introspective dive into paths once 

followed. 

“I went through this transitional 

period a couple years ago where 

I realized there were a lot of people 

who were there for the wrong reasons,” 

Erna says. “As we 

talk about crossing paths 

in our lives, coming to 

crossroads, people coming 

in and out of your life, 

one of the main things 

that I realized is that everybody is 

in search of love. Whether it’s from 

your parents or your wife or your 

kids or whatever. Unfortunately, we 

go through some damage in our relationships. 

Because of that, sometimes 

you meet someone that could 

be great for you, but you fuck it up 

because of the scars that you carry. 

The song ‘Under Your Scars’ is a 

representation of meeting somebody 

who could really be a positive influence 

in your life and understanding 

that they have their damage. It’s 

about basically telling them ‘I’m willing 

to live with your scars as long as 

you’re willing to live with mine,’ because 

we all have our own baggage.” 

Erna concludes: “I think this is like 

I think 

this is like a 

gateway album for 

us, a new beginning. 

We’re hoping people 

come along for 

the ride. 

Godsmack’s Sully Erna 

a gateway album for us, a new beginning. 

Whatever we did from zero to 

20 is one chapter in our lives, and 

from this point forward could be a 

whole new sound, but we’re trying 

to be sensitive to not going too far 

that it’s going to alienate our core audience. 

You have to be able to grow 

with your fans, and the fans have to 

grow with us because we’re different 

people now. I’m not that same angry 

guy I was when I wrote the first record. 

This is where we are musically 

right now, and we’re hoping people 

come along for the ride.” , 



Media partner 

second show added! 

chris 

D’elia 

Follow the Leader 

2019 TOUR 

May 19 . 7 & 9:30 pm 

Victoria Royal Theatre 

TICKETS 

250-386-6121 OR 1-888-717-6121 

RMTS.BC.CA 

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IT’S A LOC 

Austrailian psych rock masterminds, 

The Murlocs will 

make you squirm with their 

latest episode By COLE YOUNG 

W 

ith two members 

THE MURLOCS 

of Austrailian powerhouse 

King Giz- 


The Fox Cabaret 

zard and the Lizard 

Tix: $17.50, Ticketweb.ca 

Wizard in the mix, 

it’s no surprise 

that the Murlocs are making waves with their 

unique take on psychedelic-soul. 

Frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith is an absurdly 

talented harmonica player, keyboardist 

and vocalist and based off of the amount of 

amazing records that he’s majorly contributed 

to he’s also easily one of the hardest working 

people in the business. 

Although the band put out their debut EP, 

simply titled EP, nearly a decade ago, it seems 

their real run has just begun. Manic Candid Episode 

is the Australian outfit’s most recent and 

strongest release to date, packed full of captivating 

modern psych rock without getting trapped 

by repetition like so many of their peers. 

The album is full of surprises and a wonderful 

palate of styles that are tastefully layered 

throughout the 40-minute adventure. At times 

you’ll be banging your head completely enthralled 

by the power of rock and roll, at others 

you’ll be deep in melancholic thought, provoked 

by frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s 

potent poetry. 

There are the expected inspirations, ever-present 

’60s rock, and R and B sounds 

piercing through various songs, met kindly 

with grooves that could easily slide into funk 

and soul territory. A deeper dig also unveils 

hip-hop as a point of inspiration for the band. 

“The first kind of music I got into after blues 

was Grandmaster Flash, Wu-tang, Cypress Hill 

and NWA,” says Kenny-Smith, “I’ve just found 

it hard not to rhyme things. I’ve done it a bit 

unintentionally. Naturally I kind of relate more 

to types of rhymes that might be unexpected.” 

A hard edge to the Murlocs 

emerges in the video for their latest 

classically cool single, “Comfort 

Zone.” 

“I think the lyrics are crawling 

back into you while you’re sitting 

in a chair, squirming while seeing the point of 

view of a psycho,” says Kenny-Smith. “Which, 

uh, is unpleasant. I think it made sense to 

have something shocking to go along with that 

track.” 

The deeply soulful piece explores how the 

modern world is becoming alarmingly numb 

to constant violence. The brilliant video 

switches back and forth between a Clockwork 

Orange-esque scene of Kenny-Smith twitching 

slowly, yet frantically in a seat and a POV shot 

of a clearly disturbed man going around committing 

increasingly violent and destructive 

crimes. The quick turn to darkness shocks the 

viewer although it’s done in a certain manner 

to not scare you away. It keeps the audience as 

appalled as it does intrigued. It suggests modern 

media is keeping the public stupefied or 

morbidly entertained by depictions of everyday 

violence. 

Seems to be a running theme with this gang. 

The Murlocs are lots of things but they’re never 

predictable. , 

KATE KILLET 

KATE KILLET 

HOWDY PARTNER 

East Coast queer duo Partner go country and save the date on new EP By EMILY CORLEY 

L 

ucy Niles and Josée Caron of Partner are 

I think the spirit is fun loving and experimental.” 

PARTNER 

quickly becoming everybody’s favourite, with Wintersleep Caron nails it when she says, “You know how Will 

loveable light-hearted lesbians with their Friday, April 26 Smith plays Will Smith in The Fresh Prince? Well 

irresistible mix of country corn and cutting The Commodore 

Partner is Lucy and Josée playing Lucy and Josée. 

commentary all wrapped up in charmingly Tix: $30, Ticketmaster.ca The root of it is our shared experience, but what usually 

ends up coming out is silliness, because when we 

catchy pop-punk. 

Their latest single, “Tell You Off,” embraces their shared rural 

roots (Niles hails from Goose Bay, Labrador and Caron is from 

Summerside, PEI). “I’ve heard it described as hipster country 

and shit, but it’s not. It’s real country,” insists Niles with peppy 

indignation. The new release comes ahead of their first “official” 

five track EP, Saturday the 14th, which lands April 5. “But our first 

actual EP was called Healthy Release and it’s only available on 

tape,” explains Niles. 

“It’s actually not available at all. Because we’ve run out,” 

get together we just have a lot of laughs.” 

Partner are fresh from their latest tour, already heading back 

on the road with Wintersleep this month. There’s a smile in 

Niles’ voice when she says, “I can’t wait to get back on the road.” 

Both admit touring can be emotional and sometimes even boring, 

but their excitement for life on tour is palpable, especially 

when they discuss playing the Commodore Ballroom. “Our manager 

is from Vancouver and she keeps saying the Commodore is 

‘the place to be.’ So I would say we’re honoured,” enthuses Niles. 

Caron pitches in. The duo go on to explain the surreal experience 

of trying to listen to their own music online and drawing a blank 

because their original output was only ever released on tape. “It’s 

weird! We’re like the Nardwuars of the world,” laughs Niles. 

Partner are known for experimental sound and observational 

comedy, lavishly exemplified by the farmyard medley at the beginning 

of “Tell You Off.” “It’s about the sketchy places we grew 

up in. It’s about being a kid and some other 

kid pisses you off.” For Caron and Niles, 

songwriting often takes the form of retribution. 

It’s about allowing yourself the 

opportunity to consider how you “wish” 

you’d have responded to a situation. 

“Writing a song is getting to say exactly 

what you want to say, after taking the 

time to think about it,” laughs Caron. 

“It’s that ‘get off my lawn!’ energy.” 

Despite their latest foray into 

“real life country,” Partner describe 

their sound as post-gothic 

rock though they agree the 

description doesn’t cover the 

many facets of their musical 

personality. 

“I guess what unifies 

it isn’t the sound, but 

the spirit. And that’s 

hard to describe. 

, 




VERBODEN 

FEST: A 

LABOUR 

OF LOVE 

Rob Katerwol sacrifices 

his car for the love of his 

dark wave music fest 

By ESMÉE COLBOURNE 

At its conception, 

Verboden was a 

conversion of many 

catalysts. Most 

notably, the absence 

of a fitting Vancouver 

music festival for 

post-punk, EBM and 

Coldwave. Four years later, Rob 

Katerwol, the enigmatic organizer, 

musician and all around music 

VERBODEN 

MUSIC FESTIVAL 

April 11 to 14 

The Astoria and the Rickshaw 

Tix: $75 (festival pass), 

$20-22 (individual tickets) 

brownpapertickets.com 

fan is wearing a lot of hats, organising 

international names like Boy 

Harsher, Light Asylum and Mr. Kitty. 

Katerwol, while funding most of the 

festival out of pocket. 

“I’m selling my sins. I’ve got my car 

up for sale,” he says. 

Luckily every year the festival has 

managed to break even. “I’m going to 

do it until I completely drown and go 

bankrupt probably,” he jokes. “I used 

to have fine art on the walls.” 

Dedication to genre and Katerwol’s 

grassroots approach to 

collaboration has brought one of the 

most exciting acts, Brooklyn-based 

electronic music duo Light Asylum, 

which currently consists of Shannon 

Funchess and Raphael Radna, to 

Vancouver. “I always get so excited 

when somebody doesn’t know one 

of the headliners, especially with 

Light Asylum.” Funchess’ 

voice is big and crazy 

and Light Asylum’s dark 

and tense synthpop will 

definitely blow the audience 

off their feet. 

“Verboden is so 

fulfilling on the day of,” 

Katerwol says. “That’s really why I do 

this. It feels really nice to be around 

bands you really like and know 

they’ve travelled here to bring people 

together. It’s the closest thing 

that I have to a family reunion in a 

weird way too, a reunion of friends.” 

Through Katerwol and his team’s 

thoughtful curation, friendship and 

fan-like approach to the music community, 

Verboden 2019 promises to 

Boy Harsher 

be a spectacular event featuring a 

smorgasbord of some of the best 

local and international darkwave, 

EBM and post-punk talent. 

NEDDA AFSARI 

LAURIN THOMPSON 

FROM 

RUSSIA 

WITH 

LOVE 

Pop punks on a mission, 

Russian Tim and the 

Pavel Bures break out the 

Greatest Super Hits 

By COURT OVERGAAUW 

T 

im Bogdachev AKA Russian 

Tim is the sort of guy 

who gets genuinely excited 

at the prospect of tossing 

on some short shorts and 

exposing his legs to the 

cold, just to recreate a hockey card 

from 1991. 

It might be because the card in 

question features another Vancouver 

legend of Russian origin, Pavel 

Bure, and the namesake of the 

band he sings in, Russian Tim and 

Pavel Bures. It might just be that it’s 

a fun thing to do, and Bogdachev 

loves fun. 

For the unacquainted, Bogdachev 

is a man who wears many 

ushankas. Lead singer, host of the 

weekly Rocket from Russia radio 

show on CiTR, and organizer of 

the annual Rocket from Russia 

Festival, which brings together 

what Bogdachev believes to be the 

best of Vancouver punk rock over 

the course of a weekend every 

summer. 

To get an idea of Russian Tim 

and the Pavel Bures’ sound, 

imagine Fat Wreck’s pop 

punk cover junkies Me First 

and the Gimme Gimmes if 

they only played covers of 

Russian standards, and only 

sang in Russian, the way 

Bogdachev would have 

heard them as a kid back in 

Siberia. 

Siberia is big. Like, 

humongous big. At 13.1 

million square kilometers, 

it’s humongous enough 

that if it were a country 

on its own it would be 

the earth’s largest. Yet to 

most of us in the west, 

Siberia is known primarily 

for being cold, and for 

being the sort of place 

people are sent to as a 

punishment. 

It certainly seems 

like an unlikely starting 

point for Bogdachev, a 

man who’s established 

himself as 

being one of the 

hardest working and 

most prolific members 

of Vancouver’s 

punk rock community 

(20 shows as 

a performer locally in 2018, along 

with organizing and promoting his 

weekend long festival). 

Get to know Bogdachev a little 

better however, and it all starts to 

make sense. If you’re a young kid 

getting into punk rock without an 

established infrastructure or scene, 

you can either quit, or you can 

create. Bogdachev chose the latter 

and his early experiences played 

a major role 

in the development of 

the skill set he brings 

to bear on all of the 

projects he’s involved 

in, and his commitment 

to developing a scene 

where people feel 

welcome. 

A strong sense of 

community make up a 

RUSSIAN TIM AND 

PAVEL BURES 

with The Corps, You Big 

Idiot, Aanthems, The 

Greatest Sons and Modern 

Terror 


The Wise Hall 

Tix: $15, showpass.com 

part of Russian culture that Bogdachev 

wishes was better understood 

in the West, where our 

perceptions 

are shaped 

by a media 

which focuses 

on politics 

rather than 

people. 

“Russian 

people are 

very warm and 

will go out of 

their way to 

be hospitable 

and make you 

feel special,” he 

says. 

Bogdachev is 

pragmatic. His 

approach is to do 

what works in a 

practical sense, 

and not waste 

time worrying 

about things that 

are out of his control. 

Doing things 

this way allows 

him to maintain an 

optimism about the 

long-term viability of 

punk rock in Vancouver. 

As he puts it, his 

vision is always “glass 

half full.” 

“I come from an 

environment where we 

had only one or two 

small clubs. Coming 

here where there’s five 

or six, I’m just amazed 

there’s an opportunity,” 

he says. 

Even when asked about his 

band’s new album, Greatest Superhits, 

he resists the obvious opportunity 

for self-promotion and 

chooses instead to describe the 

record as a collection of songs 

that were “the most ready.” 

He goes on to say that the 

album “won’t be life changing for 

anybody, but serves as an advertisement 

for our live shows, which 

for us is the key.” 

The songs on the record 

capture some of the feeling contained 

in what the band describes 

as their “superFUN and megaENERGETIC” 

live performance. 

Letting everyone in on that fun, 

and the exchange of energy 

that arises from performing and 

connecting with his audience is 

something he’s grateful for, inspiring 

him to give his all with every 

show. It’s also the key to keeping 

it fun for Bogdachev. 

Keeping it fun is the key to 

his continued involvement in the 

punk rock community in Vancouver, 

both as a musician and as a 

promoter of new music. “I want to 

have fun while I do this stuff, and 

as soon as I stop having fun, this 

will stop the next moment.” , 


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SUPERSTAR BOY BAND TURN THE PAGE 

TO A NEW CHAPTER IN THEIR OWN CEMENTED 

LEGACY IN THE WORLD OF KOREAN HIP-HOP 

BY JORDAN YEAGER 

M 

ass-marketed, carefully controlled 

was released in 1990. Ever since, Korean hip-hop 

EPIK HIGH 

K-pop, with its slick dance moves 

has evolved to stand alongside American hip-hop as 

May 2 and 3 

and studio scripted tunes, has been 

a fully-fledged, storied genre in its own right. At the 

Vogue Theatre 

taking over the music world for decades. 

But an edgier sound with in- 

Epik High consists of Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ 

forefront of Korean hip-hop is Epik High. 

Tix: $57.50: eventbrite.ca 

fluences gathered from tracks that U.S. soldiers Tukutz. According to frontman Tablo, they’re “a trio made up of 

were listening to was also emerging: Korean hiphop. 

Clubs like Seoul’s Moon Night Dance & Night Club in the pany your lonely nights. Mithra is the Drax of the group, Tukutz 

three wildly different personalities that makes music to accom- 

Itaewon neighbourhood located near the American military base is Rocket, and I’m Star-Lord. All of us together are Groot.” 

in Yongsan were home to these burgeoning beats and often catered 

to American tastes. It’s no wonder, then, that Korean music acters offers a glimpse into their senses of humour, which have 

The Guardians of the Galaxy-based description of their char- 

as a whole came to have such audibly American influences. Korean 

hip-hop is no exception. 

ing. They’ve also refined their sound, which is alternative and 

been collectively honed in the 16 years they’ve spent collaborat- 

Rather than being rap- and lyric-focused, early Korean hiphop 

of the mid to late 80s was centred around dance music. It growth. Some of their lyrics are written in Korean, and others 

soulful, examining topics like community, identity, and personal 

had catchy, energetic beats that inspired dancers to face off in in English; being bilingual allows them to encapsulate a wider 

competitions that attracted attendance from people across the range of feelings within their words. Together, they’ve watched 

city. Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment, who would go on to the Korean music industry become the international monolith it 

represent some of the country’s most prolific acts, discovered is today, all the while playing a pivotal role in helping to shape it. 

some of his first stars at Moon Night – the first was Hyun Jinyoung, 

whose premiere album as Hyun Jin-young and Wawa feels inadequate to encapsulate it,” says Tablo. “All you have 

“It’s become so big and so diverse that the moniker ‘K-pop’ 

do 

Epik High’s Mithra Jin (left), Tablo and DJ Tukutz 

is hear it and you’ll see what I mean. Epik High albums are a good 

place to start because we have the most eclectic collaborations. 

We honestly don’t care what people categorize us as. It’s a great 

entrance into the wonderful rabbit hole that is Korean music today; 

we don’t fit snugly into any realm anyway.” 

As true entrepreneurs as well as artists, Epik High knows 

that to survive as long as they have, it’s imperative that they 

adapt with the times. Right now, that means leaving the safety 

of a labwel behind and pushing forward independently. The last 

three of their 11 studio albums were released through one of Korea’s 

“big three” labels, YG Entertainment. Their latest venture, 

Sleepless in ____, was produced and released independently, and 

in their words is “very Epik High.” 

“I believe that a life, like a book, should have chapters,” says 

Tablo. “It was time to turn the page and once again thrust ourselves 

into uncertainty. That’s when the best art manifests itself. 

Some musicians make club music, and Epik High makes the music 

you listen to on that strangely serene Uber ride home after 

the club. This is that kind of album.” 

It wasn’t until 1998 that Korean hip-hop as it exists today truly 

came to be. The group Drunken Tiger, which originally consisted 

of Tiger JK and DJ Shine, went against the norms of K-pop – like 

rigorously practiced choreography and lyrics written by studio 

execs – stirring up controversy and securing themselves a place 

atop the public radar. In 2005, DJ Shine left the group; Tiger JK 

continued making music under the Drunken Tiger moniker until 

2018. 

Of the three members of Epik High, Tablo is probably the 

most excited to embark on this North American tour. He spent a 

significant portion of his youth in Vancouver and credits the city 

with shaping him into the artist he is today. 

“I lived in Vancouver since I was eight years old, and my last 

year there, I went to St. George’s for eighth grade,” he says. “It 

was a very strict school, at least at the time, with uniforms and 

a million old-fashioned rules. My friends and I were considered 

troublemakers. I constantly rebelled. What I’m trying to say is 

that I think the artist part of me was birthed there. It was the 

grain for me to go against. Vancouver will always be a part of me 

because it was the last place where I was just a kid and where I 

began to grow up. I can’t wait to meet the Vancouver fans.” 

Tiger JK also started the Movement Crew in 2000, a hip-hop 

collective that provided a community for aspiring artists. Epik 

High found a home with the Movement Crew, whose members 

were often influenced by message-centric ‘90s hip-hop from 

the U.S. Rather than focusing on making their music danceable, 

members of the Movement Crew starting thinking instead about 

rhyme schemes, lyrical structure, and, above all, the meaning 

they wanted their lyrics to convey. They were taking inspiration 

from the American art they were surrounded by while adapting 

it into something all their own – more than anything, Korean 

hip-hop was a response to the environment they found themselves 

in. Since the Movement Crew’s inception, hip-hop artists 

in Korea have set their own precedents, no longer referring to 

American hip-hop for inspiration and influence. While there are 

parallels, a comparison between the two genres is not really necessary. 

“When done right, hip-hop, or any art at all for that matter, 

is unique to each individual doing it,” Tablo says. “I don’t think 

geographical grouping means anything in the world we live in 

now. Our fans everywhere happen to be intelligent, kind people 

with great taste and an awesome sense of humour. Impeccably 

dressed. Super energy. With that said, Korea has many, many 

wonderful individuals worth paying attention to.” 

No matter where in the world you go, boy bands prevail. Tablo, 

for one, embraces the title: “I thank you from the bottom of 

my heart for calling us a boy band.” , 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF 

KOREAN HIP HOP 

By Sebastian Buzzalino 

1980s 

1993 

Deux debuts in 

1993 with “Turn 

Around and 

Look at Me,” 

popularizing 

hip-hop-influenced 

choreography 

and fashion in 

Korea. 

2001 

Epik High forms 

in 2001 after 

Tablo returns 

from his studies 

in Vancouver. 

Their debut 

album, Map of 

the Human Soul, 

comes out in 

2003. 

2005 

Epik High 

releases their 

mainstream 

breakthrough 

album, Swan 

Songs, in 2005. 

The title track, 

“Fly,” quickly 

tops domestic 

charts. 

2016 

Epik High becomes 

the first 

major Korean 

hip-hop act to 

play at Coachella 

in 2016. 

Korean hip-hop 

begins with club 

dancers in the 

1980s performing 

to New Jack 

Swing in Itaewon 

clubs, known for 

their proximity 

to the American 

Yongsan military 

base 

1998 

Drunken Tiger 

emerges in 1998 

as Korea’s first 

commercially 

successful hiphop 

act. Their 

first album, Year 

of the Tiger, 

changes the 

landscape of 

K-pop forever. 

2004 

Dynamic Duo 

releases Taxi 

Driver in 2004, 

going on to 

sell more than 

500,000 copies 

for the first time 

in Korean hiphop 

history. 

2014 

Epik High tops 

the Billboard 

World Albums 

Chart in 2014 

with Shoebox. 

2019 

By 2019, notable 

acts like Red 

Velvet, BLACK- 

PINK, WINNER, 

and MXM all 

announce 

extensive North 

American tours, 

including a stop 

at Coachella 

2019 for 

BLACKPINK. 




NEW KID 

ON THE 

BLOCK 

High School Confidential: 

Zoey Leven wins Nimbus 

battle of the bands and 

drops a colourful debut on 

the world By JORDAN YEAGER 

I 

ndie rock singer-songwriter 

Zoey Leven sits in a booth at 

Timbertrain Coffee Roasters in 

downtown Vancouver, flanked 

by her mom-turned-momager, 

who’s sipping a latte. The 

18-year-old always knew she’d be a 

musician. Growing up in the Disney 

Channel era, she wanted to be the 

next Selena Gomez – and really, who 

among us wasn’t inspired by the likes 

of Gomez, Hilary Duff, and the Jonas 

Brothers? Dreams of international superstardom 

saw Leven’s aunt giving 

her piano lessons as a child. Singing 

lessons followed, and once Leven realized 

she could combine the two to 

compose her own songs, she started 

chasing those dreams full throttle. 

She began competing in singing and 

songwriting competitions at age 12. 

Now, in her final year of high school, 

Leven just won the Nimbus Battle of 

the Bands. 

“Once I wrote my first song, I was 

like, this is something I could actually 

do with my life,” says Leven. “The 

dream has changed a little bit [from 

the Selena Gomez days] – a little 

more realistic, now that I’m getting 

more familiar with the industry and 

what it’s really like. I’m on a small record 

label, so the goal is to get a booking 

agency, to book shows to get me 

more well-known, and maybe be an 

opening act for a bigger name.” 

ZOEY LEVEN 

harnessing her competitive side for a series of 

wins 

Zoey Leven Harnesses Her Competitive Side 

for a Series of Wins 

Tags: local, indie rock, blues, Zoey Leven, 

Messy 

That small record label is Amalien 

Records, and they discovered her after 

she placed third in a Vancouver songwriting 

competition. They recently 

released Leven’s promising premiere 

six-song album, Messy. Leven is a 

multi-instrumentalist and usually 

hires a drummer to keep the beat 

while she records vocals, guitar, bass, 

and keyboard on her own. She credits 

her family for her talent. 

“My mom’s side is very musical. 

My nonno was a very musical guy. He 

would go play the accordion at Italian 

banquets in Burnaby growing up, and 

everyone knew who he was. So I say 

that I got my musical abilities from 

him, and maybe it skipped a generation,” 

says Leven, looking at her 

mom with a sly grin. 

Leven knows perseverance is key 

to success and has performed in 

competitions, local venues and breweries 

for six years. She finally feels 

like she’s beginning to break into the 

business. 

“All those years doing competitions, 

it never really felt like I was 

going anywhere,” says Leven. “In the 

past year, I met my record label guy, 

and he introduced us to all these different 

connections and possibilities. 

It just blossomed from there. I did a 

music video, which was a first time, 

cool thing. It was pretty surprising 

seeing it come together and watching 

it for the first time.” 

“We didn’t get to watch it with 

her for the first time,” adds Leven’s 

mom, Lisa. “She’s like, ‘I need to 

watch it first, by myself,’ and then we 

get to watch it without her, by ourselves.” 

“None of this would be possible 

without my support system,” Leven 

says, gesturing towards her mom. 

She says the best advice she has 

ever received “is probably from my 

mom. Nothing is guaranteed in this 

business, and you shouldn’t get discouraged 

from that. Even if people 

promise you something, it’s not a 100 

per cent sure thing, so just don’t go in 

with any expectations.” , 

RESISTANCE 

IS FUTILE 

Emily Rowed wakes up and writes 

a love letter to herself, puts her 

unpolished journal entries to song 

By KATHRYN HELMORE 

V 

ancouver has escaped the clutches of 

a viciously dreary winter as streaks of 

unadulterated 

sunlight and warm EMILY ROWED 

springtime breeze Thursday, April 25 

titillate residents The Fox Cabaret 

with the promise of life, 

Tix: $15, 604records.com 

clear horizons and freedom 

from gore tex. 

Emily Rowed sits in Turks coffee shop on Commercial 

Drive, perched on a wooden chair, clad in pastels, 

‘Budapest’ printed on a light, pink T-shirt. As the 

sunlight sneaks through the window and casts a halo 

around her bleached blonde hair, Rowed talks about 

waking up. 

“If nothing else, I’ve become intrigued to be alive,” 

she says. “I’m here and adventure awaits on my 

finger tips.” 

Yes. Emily Rowed makes electro-pop music but 

she ain’t no basic bitch. Her music trades drugs, 

clubs and chandeliers for lyrics tracing those familiar 

scars that mark the psyche of our human experience. 

“If you want to change you’ve got to let your heartbreak,” 

says Rowed. 

April, a 10-track album set to release on April 12, 

is raw, emotional voyeurism that talks about just this; 

heartbreak. 

“I think this is a delicate, cinematic and intimate 

album,” she says. “It has a documentary quality with a 

vinyl, watery texture. It is unpolished journal entries.” 

The album begins on the corner of Frances Street 

and Commercial Drive in Vancouver where Rowed 

finished a pivotal phone call and cut ties with the past 

to embark on a new journey. In the following days, she 

would give up her car, her apartment, a plethora of 

relationships and take a trip to Maui. Two and a half 

years later, Rowed remains comfortably uncomfortable, 

fliting across North America equipped with just a bag 

of clothes, a computer, a cell phone and mini keyboard. 

No car keys and no permanent address. 

“The first of April 2017 marked the first day of 

freedom,” says Rowed. “I traded things for experiences. 

For movement, exploration, stories and feeling. It 

was temporary destruction for a rebuild. It felt like I 

was asleep before. There is something magical about 

actually observing life.” 

But ‘April’ is not some ‘Minimalism for Idiots’ textbook 

in auditory form. It’s impossible to paint Rowed as a self 

righteous hippie chick demanding you chug the kool 

aid. The album is not a sermon. It is not a parable. It is 

just a personal story from a naked, vulnerable, honest 

artist. 

“The album is the story of my return to being 

human. I choose deep feelings rather than attempts 

to ‘get ahead’ or ‘gather things’. If nothing else, it is a 

bare record. It’s all there. Every struggle. It’s all true. 

And yes, telling strictly the truth is one of the most 

terrifying things I could do. But if it’s not scary, you’re 

not telling the whole truth.” 

For the most part, the album is chronological. The 

first track talks about a phone call on the corner and 

winds through the experience of saying goodbye to 

everything. 

“It’s bliss in the front, grief in the back,” says 

Rowed. “It expresses a 360 degree view of myself.” 

Such a rollercoaster story fits well into the album’s 

release date. April is, afterall, a month of extremes: 

pure joy, envy, gooey dreamy love, suffocation, destruction 

and rebuilding. 

The album’s story promises to meld into the genre 

of electronic with poignant harmony. 

“After I said goodbye to everything there was no 

relief,” she says. “There was just a feeling of ‘here we 

go’. A WHOOSH. Like an elevator. Like the rise to a 

beat drop. There was a sense of ‘this is happening 

weather I like it or not. I did not resist.” 

The album was co-produced with La+ch,a Toronto-based 

artist, across 21 days spent in his 9x9 

apartment. 

“La+ch was a chameleon,” Rowed says. “He 

stepped in and listened to what I was trying to do 

and made it a little cooler. He is intensely creative, 

he used vocal mistakes for beats. The intention was 

not to write an album. When we started we just wrote 

about the weather. But the story came out. In some 

sense, we were really diarying.” 

After strolling down to Frances Street, Rowed 

dons her plastic pink sunglasses and takes a Car2Go 

back to her Airbnb, leaving an empty street corner. 

The March pavement is remarkably dry with concrete 

warmed by sunshine and a warm spring breeze. 

Sunshine, suffocating rain showers, and breathtaking 

sunsets are on the horizon. 

April is coming. , 



A P R I L 

MUSiC 

Album Review 

THURS 4 

DOORS @ 8:00PM 

HALEY BLAIS, BLUE J, JENNY 

BANAI, AND THE LIVING 

SUN 14 

DOORS @ 8:O0PM 

TEN FE 

WITH EVAN KONRAD 

FRI 26 


NO REQUEST FRIDAY 

INDIE, ROCK, ALT, 80S, 90S, & 2000S 

FRI 5 



INDIE, ROCK, ALT, 80S, 90S, & 2000S GEMS! 

TUES 16 


ALICE MERTON 

MINT TOUR 2019 

SAT 27 


STRAND OF OAKS 

WITH GUESTS WILD PINK 

SAT 6 


BYE FELICIA 

VANCITY ROYALTY DRAG PARTY! 

WED 17 


SAWYER FREDERICKS 


SAT 27 


NITE*MOVES 

FOOLISH FAR BACK 

DANCE BIG SHOES. PARTY BIG JAMS HAIR. FOR BIG THE ATTITUDES. YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND BORED! 

BILLIE EILISH 

When We All Fall Asleep, 

Where Do We Go? 

Darkroom/Interscope 

SUN 7 


TUES 9 


THURS 11 


FRI 12 


SAT 13 17 

DOORS @ 7:O0PM 

HOP ALONG 


MISSIO 

WITH BLACKILLAC AND SWELLS 

THE TROUBLE NOTES 

LOSE YOUR TIES TOUR 



GIRLPOOL 

WITH HATCHIE AND CLAUD 

THURS 18 


SAT FRI 1917 


FRI 19 


SAT 20 17 


SAT WED 17 24 


ONYX 


EX HEX 

WITH FEELS 



BYE FELICIA 

VANCITY ROYALTY DRAG PARTY! 

KERO KERO BONITO 

WITH GUEST JAKKO EINO KALEVI 

SUN 28 


SAT MON 17 29 


TUES 30 


WED 1 


SAT THURS 172 


LAUREN FOOLISH RUTH FAR WARD BACK 

BIG SHOES. BIG HAIR. BIG ATTITUDES. 

WITH GUEST JESSE JO STARK 

COAST 2 COAST LIVE ARTIST 

SHOWCASE 

MORMOR 


NICK WATERHOUSE 

WITH GUEST BEN PIRANI 

LADY LAMB WITH KATIE VON 

SCHLEICHER AND ALEX SCHAAF 

Some people were born to perform, 

and looking at Billie Eilish, 

it’s evident that she’s among them. 

From her often-silver hair to her 

eccentric, neon-drenched brand 

of personal style, Eilish commands 

attention. She was only 14 when 

her breakout single, “Ocean Eyes,” 

took off unexpectedly. Three years 

later, the singer-songwriter has 

seen seven tracks hit the Billboard 

100 and has amassed billions of 

streams – without ever releasing an 

album. Until now. 

The world can’t get enough of 

this angsty, irresistible performer 

who seemingly came out of 

nowhere (LA, actually), delivering 

hit after hit since her unlikely debut. 

Her first full-length release, When 

We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We 

Go? delivers on all of that promise, 

building on her strengths – catchy 

production underscoring cheeky 

lyrics – while not afraid to go in new 

directions. Finneas O’Connell is 

the producer and co-writer of all of 

Eilish’s music, and he also happens 

to be her brother. On this record, 

they take on a more experimental 

CONTINUED ON PG. 32 k 

SAT 13 


NITE*MOVES 

DANCE PARTY JAMS FOR THE YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND BORED 

FRI 26 


TURNOVER & TURNSTILE 

WITH GUESTS REPTALIENS 

FRI 3 


DIZZY 

WITH GUESTS 

28 BEATROUTE APRIL 2019 MARCH 2019 BEATROUTE 29

MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS 

THE CRANBERRIES 

In The End 

BMG 

In The End was always going to be 

a tough listen; an album finished 

posthumously after lead singer 

Dolores O’Riordan’s tragic death in 

January 2018, this was destined to 

be part eulogy and part resurrection. 

However, when you listen to 

the obviously lovingly crafted album 

you pick up on a resigned sadness 

in the lyrics that rings, in hindsight, 

like a warning bell. 

The album is a selection of soft 

and aching laments to loss and 

regret and a seeping hopelessness 

shrouded in self-medication. The 

band has done a stellar job of embracing 

the sadness of the material, 

as if to give themselves and the 

rest of us a place to put the grief 

about O’Riordan’s pain and how it 

ultimately got the best of her. 

Songs like the anguished “Lost” 

and “Summer Song” speak openly 

about the fleeting reality of life’s 

elements, while “The Pressure” and 

“Got It” play with the notions of 

coping and what we tell ourselves 

in order to do so. And “Catch Me 

If You Can” is a full tilt cry for help. 

By the time the last strum closes 

out the title track at the end of the 

album, you feel goodbye happen 

whether you are ready or not. 

Fitting. 

 

Jennie Orton 

FOXYGEN 

Seeing Other People 

Jagjaguwar 

“We’re never gonna turn time 

back,” Foxygen’s co-creator Sam 

France admits on Seeing Other 

People. It’s a revelatory statement 

for France, who with multi-instrumentalist 

Jonathan Rado cemented 

Foxygen like a Hollywood star on 

the Walk of Fame for nostalgic and 

uncanny pop-rock on early records 

Take The Kids Off Broadway and 

We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors 

of Peace & Magic. 

Their next grouping of albums 

- …And Star Power and Hang, 

drove gamely off-course, with 

dense orchestration and fandangled 

concept tracks. So to hear 

France admit his powerlessness 

against the eternal death march, 

while bouncing with Rado between 

Bruce Springsteen homage, 

mid-eighties synth guitar and Mick 

Jagger wails, is to experience the 

band as wildly talented as ever, but 

also a bit damaged. 

Within the economy of nine 

tracks (“…an album of singles,” 

France reminds label Jagjaguwar in 

his press letter), Rado and France 

cook up delicious time warps, 

demonstrating Rado’s intense 

growth as a producer, who since … 

And Star Power has influenced the 

success of Whitney, The Lemon 

Twigs, and others. 

From the opening track “News”, 

which barges in with France on 

grand piano, to the “Conclusion” (a 

sun-drunk soul track suggesting 

“We should just be friends”), Seeing 

Other People leaves few popular 

genres between 1975 to 1985 

behind, while keeping one foot 

firmly in the present. The past is 

celebrated, not investigated; a fine 

strategy for maintaining sanity. 

Sarah Bauer 

BLESSED 

Salt 

Independent 

“Let there be work and bread and 

water and salt for all.” – Nelson 

Mandela 

On Salt, the latest LP from 

Abbotsford’s Blessed, we see 

the band’s tireless work ethic pay 

off. The constant toiling of that 

fertile Fraser Valley creativity has 

finally reaped a full length’s worth 

of material from a band that has 

consistently strived to reinvent 

themselves. Incredibly, they’ve 

played 225 shows across North 

America, including stops at Sled 

Island and SXSW, plus supporting 

slots with acts such as Preoccupations, 

The Courtneys, Chastity 

and The Austerity Program. 

In a suburban garage somewhere 

a dad’s Styx CD is skipping 

while he’s working on his car. 

Somewhere on Spotify there’s a 

playlist with Omni and Uranium 

Club and Ought. Suddenly, Salt 

comes up in the algorithm and 

some kid in rural Minnesota is 

stoked. 

Salt is smart and gritty, yet tightly 

wound and expansive at the same 

time. It’s ambitious but accessible. 

It’s prog for people who like punk. 

It’s punk for people who like jazz. 

It’s classic rock for people who like 

Echo and the Bunnymen. It’s for 

people like me who grew up listening 

to Black Rice, Minus the Bear 

and Dismemberment Plan. 

Sean Orr 

CRAIG FINN 

I Need a New War 

Partisan Records 

Both as singer for Minneapolis bar 

rock legends The Hold Steady and 

in his more recent solo material, 

Craig Finn makes music about bad 

decisions. 

His characters smoke too many 

cigarettes while seeking redemption 

in the arms of their fellow 

drugged out lonely people while 

crashing on couches and scraping 

together money to get another 

drink and find a way to move their 

life forward. If you’ve ever been 

that dirt bag, seeking hope in the 

despair of burned out after-hours 

parties, Finn’s songs might be 

your anthems. If not, it can be a 

touch voyeuristic and grim, like the 

character in “Her With The Blues” 

that takes pictures of the grimy, 

authentic side of city life. 

It all might be a little too much if 

the songs weren’t so good. Finn’s 

writing is in top form here. The 

way the idea of gratitude is played 

within “A Bathtub in the Kitchen” 

is nuanced and complex, while 

the vivid description of a veteran’s 

post-war life of the protagonist on 

“Magic Marker” is neither patronizing 

nor trite. Finn’s songs resist 

simple answers or solutions. 


GUIDED BY VOICES 

Warp and Woof 

Guided By Voices Inc. 

With 24 songs that clock in at 37 

minutes, there’s no escaping that 

more is less. The impetus for Warp 

and Woof stems from a “magical 

boombox writing session,” in which 

six “fully-formed” songs came flowing 

out of Robert Pollard’s stream 

of consciousness. After that, he 

plugged in the band and knocked 

off an album littered with joyous 

gems that sparkle, shine and blaze 

all through their 100-second romp. 

While it seems dubious, even 

ludicrous, to label such short snippets 

as fully-formed, Pollard definitely 

pulls the rabbit out of the hat 

on most of these tracks, digging in 

deep with infectious melodies and 

golden guitar hooks that accentuate 

GBV’s garageland glory. 

His post-modern mind can’t 

be overstated either. It’s one 

thing to embrace minimalism as a 

bare-bones production, and quite 

another to stage mini-sagas that 

each pack a mighty-big starburst 

punch. In addition to the swagger 

and three-chord crunch, Pollard 

also roams down fleeting, folkpsych 

pathways making Warp and 

Woof a kaleidoscopic journey that 

maintains its urgency and hypnotic 

pull. 

Tom Waits is an unlikely comparison, 

but Pollard’s spin-on-a-dime 

storytelling contains the same weirdo 

charm when a love song called 

“Cohesive Scoops” might just be 

about a kitty and their litter box. 

B. Simm 

KEVIN MORBY 

Oh My God 

Dead Oceans 

Kevin Morby’s first true concept 

album is brimming with as much 

grace, confession and glory as 

any contemporary religious album 

today. 

It’s equally as bright and thoughtful 

as the folk-meets-lo-fi singer/ 

songwriter’s previous albums, but 

with a happy scoop of homecoming; 

a nod to his Methodist roots. 

Morby admits he and his family 

were largely impartial to religion 

growing up, and Oh My God is a 

snapshot of someone who only just 

acknowledged religion’s permanence 

around them. 

The album’s title track opens 

with a 20-second piano warm-up 

reminiscent of Sunday morning 

worship before easing into the 

voices of a backup gospel choir. 

These voices permeate throughout 

the album. 

“OMG Rock and Roll “ is a reworked 

version of the same song, 

only at half the time and twice the 

speed. Maybe Morby wanted more 

to play with, expanding the song’s 

potential with a change of genre, or 

maybe he’s just having fun. Either 

way, Oh My God might be Morby’s 

most fully realized and enlightened 

album to date. 

Leyland Bradley 

PRIESTS 

The Seduction of Kansas 

Sister Polygon 

The Seduction of Kansas forms 

itself as a wide-ranging critique, 

reclamation and celebration of 

Americana and its discontents. The 

follow up to 2017’s Nothing Feels 

Natural is a clearer, more confident 

sonic and thematic progression for 

the Washington D.C. outfit. Priests 

are your tour guide through the 

sunken and monochromatic strip 

malls and drug addled dwellings 

of the red states. As the name 

suggests, location is the key thematic 

element as it flows through 

multiple American locales; from the 

cornfields of Kansas, to the deserted 

strip malls of Nevada and the 

industrialized backwaters of Texas. 

Each song feels like a mini essay 

on the current cultural climate that 

is facing the United States with a 

brilliant sense of heart and nuance. 

The rampant destructive force of 

the military industrial-complex in 

‘’Good Time Charlie’’ to the societal 

weight of projected cultural propaganda 

in ‘’68 Screens’’ run the 

complete gambit of what you might 

consider to be the ills facing American 

society today. A gorgeous 

sense of polish to the songs and 

how each interweave with each 

other makes for a solid mosaic of 

art rock. This is the timeliest and 

more intellectually sophisticated 

album of the year thus far. 

Joshua Shepherd 

THE DRUMS 

Brutalism 

ANTI- 

Jonny Pierce is back with 

his fifth studio effort, Brutalism. 

Prior to the album’s release, Pierce 

went through a difficult divorce 

and experienced depression and 

anxiety. The recording of Brutalism 

ended up being an outlet for him to 

express his feelings. 

On “Body Chemistry” Pierce 

questions whether his persisting 

feelings of woe are wired into 

his DNA over frantic drums and 

a groovy bassline. “626 Bedford 

Avenue” is a bright and cheery pop 

number where Pierce reminisces 

about a past lover who didn’t reciprocate 

his affection. “You might be 

a psychopath / You might wanna 

check that”, he croons. 

The album gets a little more 

serious on “Nervous,” an emotional 

acoustic piece about an encounter 

Pierce had with his ex-husband. 

The next track, “Blip of Joy,” ends 

the album on a high note. Pierce 

sounds hopeful for the future when 

he sings, “It’s just a little blip of joy / 

Can I feel it again?” 

Brutalism contains some of 

Pierce’s most honest lyrics and 

is more varied musically than 

their previous output. It grows on 

you, with each listen being more 

rewarding than the last. 

Robann Kerr 

THE MOUNTAIN 

GOATS 

In League With Dragons 

Merge Records 

You might be forgiven for hoping 

or expecting that In League With 

Dragons would be a straightforward 

Dungeons & Dragons themed 

concept album. John Darnielle has 

a penchant for statement albums 

and playing with concepts. Goths, 

his last, was playing with genre, 

while Beat The Champ was a wrestling 

themed album. This album 

however plays with concept and 

genre in a much more loose and 

fluid way. 

There are definite moments of 

D&D influence (the “huge wings 

blotting out the sun” and reference 

to famous fantasy artist Boris 

Vallejo on the title track, the hungry 

older gods of “Younger” or “Clemency 

for the Wizard King”). In interviews, 

he’s expressed desire for 

this genre, which he dubs “dragon 

noir” to catch on. It’s a heady mix 

of well told tales that all work as a 

unified whole despite the initially 

disparate timelines and characters. 

Musically, the album is a little more 

stripped down than the last few 

previous albums, largely acoustic 

guitar driven, with some horn 

flourishes here and there. While 

the stories are on the dark side of 

things (there’s references to cadaver 

sniffing dogs and strychnine) the 

hopeful delivery helps temper the 

darkness. 


WEYES BLOOD 

Titanic Rising 

Sub Pop 

Listening to the first couple of 

songs from Titanic Rising, one 

could imagine having come across 

a tape of 70s AM radio greats. Not 

only is the sound reminiscent of 

some of the great songwriters of 

the era, but the quality of the songs 

is up to the game. 

There are moments on the 

album that move away from those 

60s and 70s sounds that bring the 

album into its own. The cinematic 

build of (appropriately titled) “Movies” 

sounds like nothing else on 

the record and the sci-fi synth loop 

centred “Mirrors Forever” manages 

to fuse the moody undertones of 

Weyes Blood while showing that 

this is more than just a distillation 

of influences. Even on “Andromeda,” 

one of the more traditional 

sounding songs, the subtle wobbly 

distortion applied to the guitar both 

manages to give the impression 

of age, while still making it its own 

distinctive thing. 

All throughout is Natalie Mering’s 

voice, a powerful instrument that 

fills all empty space and demands 

attention. It gives the songs 

warmth and power that emphasizes 

the hope behind some of the 

sadder subject matter, keeping 

them from dripping too deeply into 

sentimentality. 




MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS 

LOCAL ALBUMS 

PEOPLE PLUS 

Third Space EP 

Mood Hut 

MELTT 

Swim Slowly 

Independent 

TANGLERS 

Tangled in Time 

Independent 

DAN’S HOMEBREWING SUPPLIES 

kCONTINUED FROM PG. 29 


Huge selection 

of beer and 

wine-making 

equipment & 

ingredients 

835 East Hastings ST. Vancouver, BC • 604-251-3411 beermaking.ca 

BILLIE EILISH 


approach production-wise, lacing vocal samples 

throughout and concentrating on heavier electro-pop 

beats than we’ve heard from them in the 

past. Instrumentation is sparing and intentional, 

hitting in all the right places without being 

overwhelming. 

On When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We 

Go? Eilish creates sonic landscapes that are 

emotional and contemplative, yet still highly 

danceable. Even the saddest-sounding songs 

lyrically, like “bury a friend,” will make you want 

to move. Her words are conversational, personal 

and imaginative, often based on what she and 

her brother are going through at any given time. 

But Eilish doesn’t necessarily want the listener 

to be in on that conversation – instead, she prefers 

to leave her art open for interpretation. 

Songs like “bury a friend” and “bad guy” are 

bass-heavy and dance-ready, while “goodbye” 

and “i love you” are more reminiscent of ballads, 

pensive and dreamy, focusing heavily on vocal 

harmonies. As a whole, the album is pop music 

through and through, laced with Eilish’s own 

distinctly edgy spin. On it, she examines topics 

universally relatable to teenagers and adults 

alike: love, heartbreak, and losing friendships. 

Musically and personally, When We All Fall 

Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a big step forward 

for Eilish. 

Jordan Yeager 

WAND 

Laughing Matter 

Drag City 

Los Angeles art-rock band Wand 

have out done themselves with a 

new double LP that connects the 

dots of their discography like a trail 

of harmonic breadcrumbs. 

Tracing the pathways worn 

through the tall grass by their EP, 

Perfume, and previous full-length 

release Plum, which both appeared 

on the Drag City record label in 

2017, the aptly named Laughing 

Matter unpacks a bushel of happy 

lawn-dancing creatures. 

Chuckling up his sleeve, frontman 

and master media manipulator 

Cory Hanson ushers his fuzzy navel-gazing 

quintet through fifteen 

equally imaginative and emotive 

pop rock ditties. Painting pastel 

sunsets across a synthetic horizon, 

tracks such as the capricious 

“xoxo” and the atmospheric “Bubble” 

offer up easy-to-get-alongwith 

melodies adorned with breezy 

instrumental and vocal outbursts. 

Elsewhere, the aerodynamically 

acoustic “High Planes Drifter” 

breaks like a prairie dawn, drawing 

up to the warm and sketchy sand 

patterns of “Rio Grande,” as the 

beat-hurried “Scarecrow” thumbs 

a ride down the winding coastal 

highway. Toing the line between 

electronic pop and organic improv, 

“Hare” captures the buzz of a noisy 

mountain meadow, easily toppling 

the plodding piano of the lop-sided 

“Tortoise.” 

Perhaps the brightest orb in the 

entire constellation, the reluctant 

“Evening Star” unveils itself slowly 

before leaping into your arms with 

a rose clenched in its teeth. 

Christine Leonard 

EMILY NICOLE 

BLUE STRANGE 

Wasting Time EP 

Independent 

It’s been a minute 

since we’ve heard from 

indie roots rock trio Blue 

Strange. Following up 

their 2018 debut, Farewell 

To The Boys, with this 

tight collection of four 

foot-stomping tracks, it 

would seem as though the 

boys are indeed back in 

town. Turning the volume 

down slighting and dialing 

it in, the Ladner lads have 

honed a well crafted mix of 

front porch soul, alt-country 

kitsch and good old 

fashioned classic rock 

on Wasting Time. The 

harmonica wails on nicely 

in the mix as frontman 

Max Stewart croons on in 

a very Devandra Banhart 

fashion. With varied 

elements of Cotton Jones, 

Ben Harper and even Kevin 

Morby influencing their 

sound, Blue Strange bring 

this mixed bag back home 

to make a sound that’s all 

their own. Quinn Thomas 

Put on some headphones 

and listen to Mood Hut’s 021 

release, Third Space EP, by 

collaboration People Plus 

(Joji B and CZ Wang). Spacy 

in its expanse, buckle down 

for an indulgent and wandering 

downtempo mix prime for 

small speakers. Both sides 

are wavy and idyllic with all 

five tracks encompassing a 

sienna radiance best suited 

to the more adventurous and 

introspective DJ who enjoys 

their haunting jazz piano. 

Perfect for sundown warmup 

sets, or at sunrise when 

exhaustion strikes you after 

dancing all night, Third Space 

EP is quietly innovative while 

encompassing the Vancouver 

via New York sound — a 

little bit rickety, a little train of 

thought, but overall a good 

time. Esmée Colbourne 

Vancouver lovelies Meltt 

(formally Mellt) are back with 

a proper full length release, 

Swim Slowly. Intriguing and 

melodic, this album is crisp. A 

combination of clean vocals 

and good production value 

give each track a made for 

radio sheen, reminiscent of 

bands like Tycho and Portugal 

the Man. Songs “Deeper 

Water” and “Footprints In 

The Sun” are gold stars of 

ear-catching melody and 

indie pop wow factor. Swim 

Slowly moves like pebbles 

running in a beach wave, 

roaming free and refreshingly 

exploratory. Meltt is guaranteed 

to make a splash with 

this release. 

 

Esmée Colbourne 

Vancouver’s Tanglers 

sound impossibly cool and 

self-assured on their debut 

full-length, Tangled in Time. 

The four-piece comes forward 

drenched in sunburnt 

reverb and dank haze, all 

that you could possibly want 

from a psych-garage pop 

album. Taking cues from the 

Southern California/Burger 

Records gang of bands 

(Growlers, Foxygen, The 

Black Lips), Tanglers craft 

each of the ten tracks with 

studied nonchalance, adopting 

a sort of soulful aloofness 

that adds to their charm and 

mystique. Tangled in Time is 

a strong debut from a young 

band that bodes well for a 

perfect summer ahead. 

Sebastian Buzzalino 



Live 

MUSiC 

KIRA CLAVELL 

ON TOUR 

22/4 – Kamloops, BC 

23/4 – Kelowna, BC 

25/4 – Vancouver, BC 

26/4 – Calgary, AB 

27/4 – Edmonton, AB 

tickets: stubbyfingers.ca/tour 

Available Now 

“Canadian Matt Andersen 

has an early entry for 

soul-blues Album of the 

Year with Halfway Home 

By Morning…Andersen’s 

commanding voice and 

sturdy songwriting, teamed 

with Dawson, make for an 

album that is practically 

flawless.” 

—Jim Hynes, Elmore Magazine 

“…one of the most soulful 

singers, anywhere… many of 

the songs seem torn from the 

depths of feeling….” 

– Frank-John Hadley, DownBeat 

truenorthrecords.com 

ZACHARY VAGUE 

FOALS 

March 18, 2019 

Orpheum Theatre 

There wasn’t an empty seat in 

sight when Foals took the stage at 

the Orpheum Theatre. 

The stage was draped in red 

lighting while everyone stood in 

anticipation. As the band walked 

out, the crowd erupted. The synth 

from their track “On The Luna” 

started playing and the band fell 

into a chemistry-filled groove. As 

the song went on the lighting got 

more intricate, setting the scene 

for the rest of the show. 

The British alt-rock band rode 

through the set as though the 

whole audience was on stage 

with them, playing songs from all 

parts of their discography while 

focusing on their recent album, 

Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost 

- Part 1. 

The lights lit up the crowd 

swaying like the palm leaves 

on stage. When their frontman, 

Yannis Philippakis, wasn’t in the 

crowd, he was spinning around 

the stage with his guitar. During 

“What Went Down,” there were 

crowdsurfers and photographers 

reaching to get the best shots 

possible. There wasn’t a corner 

in the room that the sound wasn’t 

filling. 

Then there was silence. It took 

a few moments for everyone to 

accept the high energy show was 

really over. Foals stole everyone’s 

hearts and ran with it. 

Raunie Mae Baker 

ACTORS 


The Biltmore 

ACTORS show inside the velvet-clad 

Biltmore kicked off an 

80 plus city world tour that has 

the band roaming from continent 

to continent. A send-off and 

gathering for everyone to say 

hello, goodbye and fuck, we’ll 

miss you. The line up consisted 

of a trio of bands on the Artoffact 

Records label with NYC’s Bootblacks 

officially minted into the 

ranks that day joining ACTORS 

and Spectres. 

The at-capacity crowd pressed 

tight to the stage to be close. 

Frontman Jason Corbett commented 

that it was so hot that 

his hair product was dripping into 

his eyes, stinging them. The heat 

was generated not only from the 

mass of people but the genuine 

warmth which radiated from the 

band on stage and echoed by 

that of the audience. 

It was an audience filled with 

friends, family and eager faced 

fans. One and the same. It’s okay 

not to fit into a single definition 

wholly. ACTORS greatest 

strength lies in Corbett’s drive 

to create music as a pathway 

for connection. Songs such as 

PTL, We Don’t Have To Dance, 

Slaves are conversations with the 

listener filled with memories and 

reflections. 

All three bands fall into the 

post-punk genre yet cannot be 

defined solely as that. What they 

do is create a safe place to feel 

at home with them wherever 

they play. You’re being welcomed 

and taken along with them on an 

emotional journey. Kira Clavell 



MUSiC LIVE REVIEWS 

CHERRY GLAZERR 


Rickshaw Theatre 

Cherry Glazerr lead singer Clementine Creevy screamed out “Vancouver, 

you’re an awesome crowd!” to a roaring audience of people clad in 

plaid and Doc Martens. She, rocking in leather pants and a red corset 

top, shook, spun and fist pumped to the adoration of everyone in the 

room. 

The teenage bubblegum pop sounds of Cherry Glazerr were transformed 

into powerful rock melodies. People were crowd surfing along 

to all the old tracks. Newer tracks were slower and meandered along a 

solid drum line and suspenseful harmonic guitar riffs reminiscent of a 

punkier Cat Power. The mismatched sounds she played, from her iconic 

version of rock to the slow, suspenseful tracks mixed were equally reflected 

in the eclectic stage decor of giant cherry sculptures and neon 

pink visuals. 

The vibe of the show was confused, similar to the feeling of being 

in your early 20s and not knowing who or what you’re supposed to be. 

The fans loved the show though. It was inclusive and fun was had by 

everyone—whether they were 19 (B.C.’s legal drinking age) or 50 (yes 

there were rocker moms in the crowd too.) 

Vice has nominated Creevy as “The Millennial Punk Feminist Icon” 

and one can understand after seeing this show why they would proclaim 

that. She has it and she hasn’t stopped working at it since she 

started her career. That said, it would be interesting to see Creevy graduate 

from her teenage pop-punk ways into a more mature rock sound. 

Austin Taylor 

MOViES|T.V. 

TENZING LAMA 

NONAME 


The Commodore BallroA sold-out crowd 

filled into the Commodore, eager 

and willing to bask in Noname’s 

sermon. The demographic was vast, 

reminiscent of the topics she covers 

in her songs – from elderly women 

to punks fresh out of high school, 

there’s truly something to be found 

for everyone in the wisdom, lyricism, 

and infectious positivity Noname 

exudes. After opener Elton hyped 

up the crowd, there was a palpable 

energy as crew members prepared 

the stage for Noname’s set. Finally, 

she emerged to chants of her name 

filling the air. 

Bww etween her breakout 

mixtape Telefone and sophomore 

album Room 25, Noname, whose 

given name is Fatimah Warner, has 

amassed a significant collection 

of songs that are both socially and 

self-aware. 

Where Noname’s cadence is 

soft and contemplative, her stage 

presence is anything but. She seems 

to feel at home in front of a crowd, 

welcoming the audience as friends 

and giving them a glimpse into what 

it’s like to be part of her inner circle. 

Her set was barely an hour long, but 

she made the most of that time, alternating 

between songs from Telefone 

for her “day ones” and newer releases 

like “Song 31,” which came out on New 

Year’s Day 2019. At the end of “Don’t 

Forget About Me,” she squealed with 

delight at the audience singing along. 

“Yes, an emotional moment!” 

On both personal and musical 

levels, Warner’s growth since releasing 

Telefone in 2016 has been exponential. 

It’s clear she’s nowhere near slowing 

down yet. 

Jordan Yeager 

LINDSEY BLANE 

GUITAR HERO 

Long-time Canadian documentary 

filmmaker Ron Mann spent a week in 

the guitar shop filming the comings 

and goings of all the artists looking 

Carmine Street Guitars 

doc tunes into 

the legendary vibe of 

NYC’s East Village 

By NOÉMIE ATTIA 

T 

here is a little guitar shop 

in New York City at the intersection 

of Carmine and 

Bleecker Street, soberly 

named Carmine Street Guitars. 

For decades, Rick, its owner, has 

built electric guitars from the wood 

he has found in the city’s old buildings 

for the greatest musicians of 

the Village rock scene. They include: 

Lou Reed, Lenny Kaye of Patti Smith 

Group, and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, 

who has a band called SQÜRL. 

for a new wooden axe. 

Because of the director’s 

age and the number of 

Baby Boomers featured 

in the documentary, one 

might think Carmine 

Street Guitars could be 

stuck in the past. And in a 

way, the film is nostalgic 

for the Village’s culturally explosive 

era, which Patti Smith describes so 

well in her memoir, Just Kids, the 

Village of Andy Warhol, the Velvets 

and Bob Dylan. This much-admired, 

fantasized-about period tends to perpetuate 

a myth of a golden age and, 

CARMINE STREET 

GUITARS 

Friday, April 5 to 

Tuesday April 9 

The Cinematheque 

Tix, $12, 

thecinematheque.ca 

that we could never do better today 

— according to old guys with long, 

white hair. 

However, Carmine Street Guitars 

also leaves room for the present and 

even for the future. Rick works every 

day with his apprentice Cindy, a 

young artist who burns her own art 

onto the guitars she makes. She posts 

pictures on social media and bridges 

the gap between her mentor 

and the modern age. 

Mann shoots fascinating 

close-ups of Cindy’s passion 

for woodworking, 

which she shares with her 

mentor. 

The documentary is 

shot in a very poetic way: 

the dialogues almost seem scripted 

and all the characters are in a tranquil, 

melodious mood that allows 

music to arise in the middle of their 

expressive yet simple conversations. 

The film offers floating moments 

where the spectator just stops and 

listens to the sounds of these extraordinary 

guitars played by talented 

people. Christine Bougie’s cosmic 

notes amaze as much as Eleanor 

Friedberger’s vulnerable performance. 

The artists are in a position 

that one rarely gets to see, trying 

new instruments. It makes their musical 

game even more authentic, as it 

happens on the spot. 

Jamie Hince (The Kills) opens up 

about his hand injury, Stewart Hurwood 

pays homage to his deceased 

friend Lou Reed, and Cindy talks 

honestly about how men don’t take 

her seriously when she mentions she 

builds guitars. These open-hearted 

moments make us forget about the 

musicians’ fame, everybody is on the 

same level. The artists ask questions 

of Rick and Cindy, as if they were 

interviewing them. The director is 

completely absent from the film, and 

everything happens spontaneously 

and naturally. 

If Carmine Street Guitars still 

doesn’t quite convince you, Rick’s 

mother will make you want to see 

the documentary. Dorothy Kelly is a 

very old woman, but stands straight 

and dusts the store energetically and 

almost carelessly. She does their accounting 

and answers the phone 

promptly, imposing her style. Her 

calm yet vigorous presence seems to 

hold the store together. 

Carmine Street Guitars is dear 

to people’s hearts. Cindy found her 

passion in this place that accepted 

her; Rick expresses his love of wood 

and music, far from capitalist desires; 

musicians find new five-string vehicles 

while nostalgically conversing. 

Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan Band) 

concludes: “I like this guitar. It’s got 

a great vibe, much like this place.” , 



MOViES|T.V. 

THIS MONTH IN FILM 

PET SEMATARY 

April 5 

When a young girl disturbs 

a withered burial ground for 

long lost fluffy friends, she’s 

overjoyed to find the animals 

returning to earth from their 

cold graves. But joy turns quickly 

to terror with the realization 

that, beneath frayed collars and 

rusted bells, each resurrected 

pet carries with them a terrible 

darkness. It’s been 30 years 

since the original adaptation of 

the Stephen King classic made 

its debut, and it’s about time to 

be terrified all over again. 

HIGH LIFE 


A father and his infant daughter 

are the last left alive on a lonely 

journey to the edge of our solar 

system as they hurtle towards 

infinity and the bottom of a 

black hole. A bleach-blonde 

Robert Pattinson is nearly 

unrecognizable in this Claire 

Denis-directed space thriller. 

THE MAN WHO KILLED 

DON QUIXOTE 

March 15 

Terry Gilliam has spent 29 years 

chasing his elusive dream of 

adapting the epic Spanish novel 

Don Quixote, first published in 

the 1600s. Finally, that dream is 

about to come true. A film stuck 

in development hell (see the 

documentary Lost in La Mancha, 

which chronicles the horrendous 

first time he tried to make it), 

this loose adaptation of the original 

text tells the story of a man 

who believes himself to be Don 

Quixote, and the mad adventure 

that ensues. 

STOCKHOLM 


When a bank robbery turns into 

a classic case of Stockholm 

Syndrome, things get weird and 

wild. In this new dark comedy 

based on true events, Ethan 

Hawke continues his rise upwards, 

on an ascent that’s lasted 

his entire career. 

 

By Brendan Lee 

BiNGEWORTHY 

GAME OF THRONES / 

SEASON 8 

NETWORK: 

HBO 

AIR DATE: April 14 

The fate of an entire realm of 

fictional people rests near the 

precipice of a soon-to-be-swinging 

balance, and in the next few 

months the hype and speculation 

will blanket the internet, your 

work, and even the friggin’ dog 

park with a chattering snow so 

furious it will mean the end of an 

entire television era. Two years 

since the enormous yet critically 

less-than-adored seventh season, 

it’s the Snows vs. Targaryens 

vs. Lannisters vs. Greyjoys vs. 

White Walkers for one last dragon-infested 

shabang. The season’s 

six episodes are rumoured 

to have cost around 15 million 

dollars a pop, and whether you’re 

behind by two or eight years, 

binge quickly, people – spoilers 

(and memes) are coming. 

RAMY / SEASON 1 

NETWORK: HULU 


No matter how you look 

at it, Hulu took a gamble 

on Ramy Youssef. You 

probably haven’t heard 

of him (yet), but if 

the name rings 

a bell there’s 

a chance you 

might recall his 

appearance on 

the Colbert Show 

in 2017, when the Muslim comedian 

claimed (in a comedy routine) to 

expect “a Hogwarts Letter from 

ISIS” when he turns 30. That 

appearance was only the beginning 

of his tongue-in-cheek look at 

Muslim people, which culminates 

in April with the release of his new 

10-part show based around similar 

sorts of funny – yet real – conversations. 

The show follows Ramy, a 

young Muslim living in the suburbs 

of modern-day New Jersey, as he 

skirts all sorts of ideological lines 

and boundaries. Youssef’s infectious 

smile and comedic timing 

makes Hulu’s bet on this dramatic 

comedy something close to a sure 

thing. 

BLACK SUMMER / SEASON 1 

NETWORK: 

NETFLIX 


At this point in history, it’s abundantly 

clear that stories about 

viral plagues sending humans into 

rage-stricken killing frenzies 

can be extremely successful. 

We’ve seen it 

so often – and enjoyed 

it so many times – that 

something about that 

struggle must evoke 

feelings all but written 

into our DNA. So, it’s 

about time that Netflix 

cashes in on the fun. 

The prequel (or 

companion 

piece) to the 

Syfy-produced 

“Z Nation” tells 

the story of the 

catastrophic 

Game of Thrones 

returns April 14. 

Trailer Park Boys – 

The Animated Series 

low point of a zombie apocalypse, 

dubbed “the Black Summer.” 

Centering around a mother who is 

separated from her daughter, the 

show is a self-proclaimed throwback 

to old-school zombie thrillers, 

delving into the tragic lengths to 

which people might go to survive 

an apocalypse. 

TRAILER PARK BOYS – 

THE ANIMATED SERIES / 

SEASON 1 

NETWORK: 

NETFLIX 

AIR DATE: MARCH 31 

Ricky, Julien, Bubbles, and the 

whole dope-smokin’ park is back 

for a thirteenth season as the boys 

continue to find ways of staying 

fresh by dropping the cameras 

and going animated. If, somehow, 

you’ve managed to avoid the show 

for the last two decades, “Trailer 

Park Boys” is a mockumentary 

created in 2001 by Nova Scotian 

Mike Clattenburg that centers 

around three delinquent buddies 

as they try to live out their simple 

lives at Sunnyvale Trailer Park – 

while doing as little jail time as 

possible. Season 12 actually ended 

with the boys transforming into 

animated characters, and previews 

of season 13 make it clear they are 

self-aware of their new colourful 

forms. Knowing the show, there’s 

a good chance this season (and 

any subsequent animated ones) 

could end up being a convoluted 

mushroom trip – the possibilities 

know no bounds. 

 

By Brendan Lee 

EAST VAN 

DIARIES 

Director Carolyn 

Combs harnesses diversity 

of Commercial 

Drive in her epic drama 

Bella Ciao! By NOÉMIE ATTIA 

cial Drive, in the heart of Vancouver’s 

Little Italy. “I liked that about the 

song: it seemed fitting for the film,” 

says Combs. “The Italians and the 

Latin Americans and the Indigenous 

cultures come together and resist.” 

Bella Ciao! is etched with an endearing 

realism, portraying a place 

that is home for the director: East 

Van. Combs envisions her environment 

as a research topic that she has 

to explore. “For me, that’s what making 

a film is: une recherche. I wanted 

to find out where I lived and who else 

lived there. I really like the neighbourhood, 

there seems to be cultural 

resistance there.” 

People Combs met 

and interviewed 

inspire all of her 

characters. The 

most notable 

one is Costanza 

(Carmen Aguirre), 

a Chilean 

woman who escaped 

the coup 

“B 

ella Ciao” is a song of 

resistance: its melody ignites 

hearts, and its lyrics 

touch rebellious souls. It 

appeared in the 1940s, on Italian rice 

fields where women laboured during 

long, hot summers. They would sing 

about their dreadful work conditions 

– the long hours, the heavy-handed 

bosses, and the insect bites. 

The Partisans made it famous 

during the Second World 

War and, since then, it 

has become an international 

rallying cry 

of all kinds of resistance 

causes.. 

Carolyn Combs 

gave the same title 

to her film for a good 

reason. Bella Ciao! takes 

place on Commerin 

1973 and tries to pass on 

to her daughter, Soledad, 

her culture of resistance 

as she confronts her own 

mortality. 

“Some of the first people 

I interviewed to find out 

where it is that I live were members 

of my co-op,” says Combs, who lives 

in the Paloma Housing Co-operative, 

just off the Drive. The co-op was 

founded by Chilean refugees, recognized 

as such by Canada, when the 

States didn’t allow their immigration. 

“There was a man named Bob Everett, 

who was Carmen’s stepfather. 

He was in Chile during the coup and 

managed to get out. He petitioned 

to the Trudeau government to allow 

Chileans to come in as refugees.” 

Combs even includes some 

BELLA CIAO! 

Vancouver premiere(19+) 

Wednesday April 10, 

7:30PM 

The Cinematheque 

Tix,$20, viff.org 

shots from The Battle of 

Chile, a film by Patricio 

Guzmán documenting 

Chilean activism against 

the Pinochet government. 

Despite these very 

tangible elements, Bella 

Ciao! has a deeply lyrical, magical 

feeling. 

“That’s one thing I wanted to capture, 

to play with: those seemingly 

unreal moments that are actually 

quite real,” she says. “The surrealism 

or the magic is within our reality. It’s 

in our day-to-day experience, when 

you look for it.” 

This is no surprise coming from 

Combs, who cites The Ballad of 

Narayama among her inspirations 

for shooting the beautiful metaphor 

of Carmen’s final “journey up the 

mountain.” Moreover, as they filmed 

on Cypress Mountain, purple flowers 

blossomed in front of them. perfectly 

illustrating a lyric in “Bella Ciao” that 

says “bury me in the shade of a flower 

on the mountain.” 

Oneiric and dramatic, fictional 

and realistic, Bella Ciao! tells stories 

about a community, first and foremost. 

It includes marginalized people 

and depicts generous acts and 

incongruous situations; all exist in 

daily life, but are “not part of the stories 

we tell,” in Combs’ words. 

“I think it’s important that we 

share those stories about ourselves, 

and that we’re capable of caring for 

each other and that communities are 

capable of coming together and creating 

change,” she concludes. “I want 

to keep that possibility alive.” , 



MOViES|T.V. 

Elisabeth Moss gives a 

go-for-broke performance in 

Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell. 

PUNK ROCK 

PSYCHODRAMA 

Elisabeth Moss 

meditates on the chaos 

of fame and rock and 

roll in Alex Ross Perry’s 

experimental art film 

Her Smell By RACHEL FOX 

W 

hen writer-director 

Alex Ross Perry 

(Christopher Robin, 

Golden Exits), 

best known for 

reliably thoughtful 

arthouse fare 

and characters that explore varying 

degrees of psychological unease, 

looked for inspiration to fuel his 

raucous new film Her Smell and his 

fiery, post-punk alterna-rock heroine, 

Becky Something (played by frequent 

collaborator, Elisabeth Moss), 

he turned to a surprising source. 

Rather than mine the depths of 

everybody’s favourite walking study 

in demonology, Courtney Love, he 

instead went all spandex and headbands. 

“Possibly the biggest single influence 

on the character of Becky was 

Axl Rose – and, on her professional 

trajectory, Guns N’ Roses.” 

He was especially moved by the 

format of a Rolling Stone piece that 

charted GNR’s clashing personalities, 

and how they ultimately bled 

into colouring their own epic personal 

and professional paths. 

As such, Her Smell is told as a 

chronological anthology, offering a 

comfortably predictable yet no less 

compelling rock and roll journey 

told through five vignettes that cover 

turning points in Becky’s tumultuous 

life. In the first sweeping scene, we 

meet a woman who has, personally 

and professionally, piqued. 

Moss, quietly edging into Meryl 

Streep territory as the sizzling hot 

actress who has comfortably moved 

from Mad Men to oppressed women 

in Handmaid’s Tale, takes on the role 

of a washed up, former arena rocker. 

The film hangs on Moss’ unhinged 

bravura, which in itself honours the 

unique musical era, the vignettes 

progressively moving between her vicious 

snarl and arresting moments of 

contemplative substance. 

She convincingly commits with a 

whirling-dervish zeal as the wildly 

strange, mysterious and enigmatic 

Becky Something, frontwoman of 

the all-female (former) arena rockers 

“Something She.” Hers is a splintered, 

multi-faceted persona that 

moves between the public’s perception 

of her and the private roles she 

vacillates between. Unfortunately for 

Becky, she can’t really get a handle on 

any of them – rock star, bandmate, 

mother, daughter, or whatever kernel 

of authentic self is left after years 

spent in the spotlight. 

Beyond the usual culprits of drugs, 

alcohol and infighting adding to the 

wayward trajectory of rock stars, 

Becky has something else - her own 

personal shaman. 

“Axl Rose supposedly came back 

from some time spent in the desert 

with a woman who functioned as 

his spiritual in-between,” says Perry, 

“You had to go through her. And 

the band obviously viewed this as 

something of an annoyance. I was 

very intrigued by that, not because 

it’s funny or it’s foolish, but because 

Alex Ross Perry 

it speaks to a deep sense of actual 

belief on behalf of the person. If you 

don’t cast judgement on it, that this 

character has this ‘person’ next to 

them at all times, then the question 

is, ‘What does that say about Becky?’ 

She’s determined that this is necessary 

for her. Stuff like that has always 

been in the culture, you generally 

only hear about it when those people 

do something crazy and go to jail but 

I just liked the idea that Becky had to 

believe in something, she couldn’t be 

an empty vessel of personality traits 

and manias. She actually has to have 

some sense of what her guiding principles 

are, and setting them up via 

Yaema [the shaman] who she not 

only has around a couple of times but 

refers to a lot when he’s not around, 

shows that there is something that 

she cares about and believes in. She’s 

not just a crazy maniac who yells and 

screams.” 

There’s a lot to unpack between 

the film’s many dialogues, which 

at times feel almost Shakespearean 

given the characters’ propensity 

towards density of language. Perry 

admits his writing was inspired by 

parallel mediums; music, a Broadway 

play, and yes, the Bard. It was important 

that Her Smell not feel like a 

filmed play, but instead come across 

as a “hyper, camera movie.” On set, 

Perry admits to finding a fun dichotomy 

in marrying the script with the 

actual shoot, which was approached 

very technically, to allow for unlimited 

spontaneity and chaos. 

At times, it feels like an experimental 

art film. “The chaos had to be 

in front of the camera, not behind the 

camera. 

“In the grand scheme of theatrical 

inspiration and plays that I was seeing 

that excited me, you have these 

moments when you’re sitting in the 

theatre where you have pauses and 

stumbles. You wonder, ‘Did they 

mess up?’ And if you’re me you go, 

“No, that’s how it’s written.” And I 

wanted it to feel like that. I spent a 

very long time tweaking Becky’s jargon 

and her gibberish. There’s noth- 


1 

Sid and Nancy (1986) 

Gary Oldman’s portrayal of 

Sid Vicious will forever remain 

unrivalled, with Chloe Webb’s, 

Nancy, the perfect counterbalance 

in this tragic depiction of Sex 

Pistols lore. The film was directed 

by Alex Cox, and shot in all its filthy 

glory by legendary cinematographer, 

Roger Deakins. 

2 

Hardcore Logo (1996) 

This Canadian cult-classic, 

Directed by Bruce Mac- 

Donald, takes a hilarious 

mockumentary look at the highs 

and lows of life on the punk rock 

road. It’s mandatory viewing as a 

Canadian, and, like nearly all punk 

rock tales, the film goes out with a 

definitive bang. 

TOP FIVE PUNK FLICKS 

3 

SLC Punk! (1998) 

If 80s punk and quirky 90s 

filmmaking had an awkward 

yet beautiful love-child, we’d 

call it SLC Punk. The film features 

a young Jason Segel, and tells the 

story of two nerds turned punks 

who rebel against all of society’s 

evil forces. 

4 

Suburbia (1983) 

A film that wholly encapsulated 

the gritty, frenetic, 

thrash of the lifestyle that 

punk offered a generation of misfit 

runaways. Music-loving director 

Penelope Spheeris went the extra 

mile and cast real life street kids 

and young punk musicians, one 

of whom turned out to be Flea, 

longtime bassist of the Red Hot 

Chili Peppers. 

5 

Another State of Mind 

(1984) 

Look no further for a better 

broken window into the early 

80s DIY punk scene than this gritty 

documentary. The film follows 

Social Distortion and Youth Brigade 

in 1982 as the two bands crash, 

bang, and claw their way across 

an inaugural cross-country tour of 

America. 

 

Brendan Lee 



VIVEK 

SHRAYA 

THIS 

MONTH 

IN THEATRE 

BUSH THEATRE (UK) AND NASSIM SOLEIMANPOUR 

TANJA TIZIANA 

Vivek Shraya recalims agency and confronts the trolls from 

both sides in graphic novel Death Threat By DAYNA MAHANNAH 

Multidisciplinary artist and 

author Vivek Shraya recounts 

the disturbing, true story 

of receiving hate mail and 

death threats in her new 

graphic novel, Death Threat, illustrated 

by Ness Lee and set for release in May. 

BeatRoute talks with Shraya about life 

and the fear of death in the age of trolls 

ahead of her appearance at Verses 

Festival – a Vancouver literary and 

storytelling festival – this month. Shraya 

will be appearing at the York Theatre on 

Sunday, April 28. 

This is your first graphic novel. What 

inspired you to tell a traumatic experience 

through this medium? 

Vivek Shraya: A big part of it was the 

letters themselves. They’re not your 

average hate mail and they have a vivid 

quality to them. Having somebody talk 

about their Mom’s neighbours going 

hunting for me in the woods – it was 

hard not to picture that. 

Are there any graphic novels that 

inspired you? 

VS: The person that I credit in a lot of 

ways is Michael DeForge. I read his first 

book, Big Kids, and I remember putting it 

down and pacing around the house being 

like, “Whoa,” – just feeling so excited 

about his work and the medium. 

VERSES FESTIVAL 

Various locations 

Tixs: versesfestival.ca 

Death Threat is told from 

not only your perspective, 

but also the imagined 

perspective of the person 

sending you hate mail. 

What did it feel like to put yourself in 

their position? 

VS: There was going to be more of 

their narrative, but seeing the letters 

illustrated by Ness, I was like, ‘These 

are very strange things to say, let alone 

send to a stranger.’ It was definitely 

a challenge to try to understand that 

perspective and, hopefully, that’s a 

good thing. 

Did you feel like you were in immediate 

danger? How did it feel going 

through that? 

VS: The thing that scared me the most 

about the letters was that they included 

their address. This is something that 

is so important to think about – because 

trolling has become an everyday 

occurrence, and therefore acceptable. 

People are no longer attached to hiding 

their identities. If we permit a behaviour, 

we tell ourselves that that behaviour is 

normal. Then why should hate have to 

conceal itself? I think there’s a connection 

there between this person using 

their full name and their full address 

because it’s like, you know, just another 

day on the internet! 

Did this change your relationship to 

technology or social media? 

VS: I don’t know that it changed my relationship 

to it, but I don’t think I’m unique 

in my experience getting these kind of 

messages. There’s a scene in the book 

with all these trolls on their computers, 

and my character says, ‘Do I have a right 

to complain? Doesn’t being trolled on 

the internet go hand in hand with being 

feminine?; I’m hoping the book instigates 

more conversation about better support 

and protective measures. 

If this troll were to read Death Threat, 

what would you hope they would glean 

from it? 

VS: I would be curious if, in seeing their 

words illustrated, it would force them to 

consider the ways in which what they 

had stated is perhaps more disturbing 

than they thought when they wrote the 

text. You know, an apology never hurts. 

I’m not really interested in hearing from 

them. Just be more conscious of the 

language that they’re using. I feel like 

these are big asks from someone who 

essentially wants you to die. 

For me, the big intent around the project 

was trying to find a way to work through 

something traumatic. So reconnecting it 

as an art project – and an art project that 

features me eating chips and watching 

goat videos – I felt like I was able to 

reclaim a little bit more of my agency in 

all of this and get a chuckle here and 

there. It definitely felt empowering in that 

sense. , 

The weather has been absolutely fantastic 

lately — but given the nature of Vancouver’s 

weather, that’s not likely to hold up for long. 

Soak in the Vitamin D while you can, then 

get your daily dose of Vitamin T (theatre) by 

hitting up the shows below. Consider this 

your prescription. 

THE ORCHARD (AFTER CHEKHOV) 

March 21- April 21 at the Stanley Industrial 

Alliance Stage 

In Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, a 

bunch of Russian aristocrats come back to 

their family’s orchard after years of neglect 

in what was a metaphor for the Russian 

Revolution. In Serena Parmar’s new adaptation, 

we now find ourselves in the Okanagan 

Valley following a family of Punjabi-Sikh 

farmers. 

1GLORY 

April 4-13 at the Gateway Theatre; April 

23-27 at the Evergreen Cultural Centre 

It’s 1933 in Ontario and a group of women 

join together to start the Preston Rivulettes 

— Canada’s first all-women hockey 

team. It’s like A League of Their Own, 

but, you know, Canadian and, of course, 

hockey. 

CHERRY DOCS 

April 5-28 at Pacific Theatre 

A Jewish public defender in Toronto must 

take on a skinhead client in this piece on 

confronting hate and finding forgiveness. 

It’s sad to think how timely this 20-yearold 

production still is. 

ACT OF FAITH 

April 11-13 at the Historic Theatre 

A young paraplegic girl can suddenly walk 

and declares it to be a miracle. How does 

the rest of her family take it? And how did 

it happen? Inspired by true events, Janet 

Munsil’s new play attempts to tackle those 

questions. Look out for the wheelchair 

choreography. 

Leah Siegel 

BARBARA ZIMONICK 

MARIKA ECHACHIS SWAN 

WATER 

WAYS 

Multimedia exhibition qaʔ 

yəx w -water honours us: 

womxn and waterways celebrates 

expression of identity, 

culture and knowledge 

By MAGGIE MCPHEE 

R 

eMatriate Collective 

qaʔ yəx w - WATER 

and the Bill Reid Gallery 

HONOURS US: 

WOMXN AND 

present qaʔ yəx w - water 

WATERWAYS 

honours us: womxn and 

April 10 - October 2 

waterways, a multimedia 

Bill Reid Gallery 

exhibition honouring Indigenous 

womxn’s relationship to water as 

child bearers, healers and doulas. Inspired 

by the fluid and borderless nature of water 

systems, the exhibition hopes to galvanize 

the community at large to protect waterways 

and Indigenous sovereignty. 

“ReMatriate Collective aims to celebrate 

Indigenous womxn’s expression of identity, 

culture and knowledge by asserting 

positive self-determined representation,” 

the curators explain. ReMatriate formed in 

2014 with the aim of challenging colonial 

media by re-centering matriarchs, womxn, 

elders, gender-non binary and Two-Spirit 

individuals within our discussions and exaltations 

of Indigenous experiences. “In light 

of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered 

Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit 

peoples,” they explain. “There is a need 

to support womxn’s sovereignty, and to 

educate the broader community about 

matriarchal systems.” 

ReMatriate’s mission culminates in 

qaʔ yəx w , the collective’s most significant 

exhibition project to date. Nine female-identifying 

artists hailing from diverse 

backgrounds and geographies — Gitxsan, 

Stó:lō, Kaska Dena, Mohawk, Nuu-chahnulth, 

Tlingit, Selkirk, Blackfoot, and Cree 

— bring their worldviews and cultural 

practices to explore womxn’s relationship 

to water. Together they weave a patchwork 

of divergent Northwest Coast Indigenous 

mythologies and artistic traditions to acknowledge 

our connections to each other 

and the land, uniting us as we enter into an 

era of ecological crisis. 

Carrielynn Victor (Stó:lō) reflects upon 

ancestral and colonial influences 

on Indigenous cosmologies 

to remind audiences to honour 

womxn’s connection to the moon. 

Veronica Waechter (Gitxsan) 

uses a mask to draw parallels 

between water and womxn, from 

our gentle and nurturing qualities 

to our dangerous and powerful ones. 

Richelle Bear Hat (Blackfoot/Cree) - in light 

of the UN declaring 2019 the year of Indigenous 

Language Revitalization - anchors her 

art around how Indigenous languages and 

landscapes intersect. 

“Indigenous people are as diverse as the 

land,” and including an array of heritages 

and mediums allows the exhibition to 

embody its themes of inclusion, community, 

and self-determination. By unearthing 

pre-colonial knowledge and sharing ancient 

frameworks through art, ReMatriate hopes 

to inspire new approaches to increasingly 

challenging political and environmental 

issues. 

“Our traditional lands includes all 

non-human beings too, and these creatures 

all deserve the right to live their lives 

as much as humans do, to grow and roam 

their home territories, undisturbed by the 

encroachment of industries. The way we 

treat the land is a reflection of how we treat 

ourselves and each other. The land and 

water and skies are sacred. Womxn’s bodies 

are sacred.” 

qaʔ yəx w - water honours us: womxn and 

waterways also highlights Water Keeper Audrey 

Seigl (Musqueam) who will be present 

at the exhibition. , 

$24 

TICKETS FROM 

A sealed envelope. 

A new actor at every performance. 

And a few surprises. 

May 07–19, 2019 

HISTORIC THEATRE 

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THECULTCH.COM 



VanCity People 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 

SUSTAINABILITY 

IS IN THE BAG 

Clarie Carreras launches a fashionable line of vegan, 

cruelty-free bags and accessories for the modern age 

By RHYS MAHANNAH 

Claire Carreras never thought it 

would be so challenging to find a 

new hand bag. 

Her old one had worn out, was 

too small and it clashed with her 

style. So, with three prerequisites, 

she went shopping. Her new 

bag needed to be cost-effective, 

fashionable and cruelty-free – a 

product with the look and feel of 

leather, but without the requisite 

animal victim. 

The search ended in failure. 

So, like any well-attuned entrepreneur, 

she saw opportunity 

in disappointment. In September 

2018, she launched White Rhino 

Bags, a line of vegan, cruelty-free 

bags and accessories. 

“I like my accessories to say 

something about who I am, 

including my moral and ethical 

sensibilities, and I thought about 

how I could offer others the same 

choice,” says Carreras. “White 

Rhino is the result.” 

Talking to Carreras, it’s easy to 

see how her business – not the first 

she’s started – is a culmination of 

life experiences and self-reflection. 

Her passion for animal welfare 

began in childhood, when she lived 

in rural South America. She had 

pets and loved them dearly, but 

volunteering at a veterinary clinic 

showed her another, grimmer reality. 

“I saw the misfortunes that befall 

animals when they’re unwanted and 

neglected,” she says. “In Canada, 

much of this stuff is behind closed 

doors, but in South America, it was 

obvious and immediate – and you 

can’t unsee that.” 

Her experience with the fashion 

industry came later, when she was 

in her early twenties. She’d moved 

from Squamish to Vancouver to 

pursue, with reasonable success, 

modelling, acting, and stand-up 

comedy. Then her mother encouraged 

her to consider fashion. 

The duo started a wholesale 

clothing business. They were invited 

to Vancouver Fashion Week, and 

later opened a brick-and-mortar 

location called The Secret Store. 

It was one of the best periods of 

her life. 

Then, tragedy struck – her 

mother passed away suddenly, she 

separated with her husband, 

and she developed a severe chronic 

nerve injury that threatened her 

creative outlets, including music 

and fashion. 

But Carreras would prove resilient. 

Today, she’s doing well, and 

her business, though only months 

old, has seen a positive response. 

Her most recent win? In February, 

she announced that White 

Rhino Bags had partnered with 

World Animal Protection US, a 

non-profit dedicated to animal welfare 

worldwide, donating a portion 

of the company’s proceeds from 

each bag sold. 

“To have a business that 

allows me to support an organization 

like this, something 

that means so much to me 

– it’s a dream come true,” 

Carreras says. 

White Rhino Bags is offering an exclusive 

25 per cent discount to BeatRoute 

readers until May 31. Use this code at 

checkout: BEAT604 

PUNK ROCK 

PSYCHODRAMA 


ing in the movie that’s not in the script. All 

the dialogue, the stream of consciousness, 

and the mispronunciations, every one of 

those is precisely written and even more 

precisely delivered, which is unusual.” 

“Atmosphere” is an invisible, unheralded 

co-star, supporting Moss at every turn. 

The dizzying marriage between score and 

soundscape, which announces itself in the 

first vignette (along with Becky), carries the 

film’s establishing scene from her introduction 

through to her startling implosion. 

“I promised everyone, myself included, 

that this one would be a very big, very loud 

movie.” Perry told composer Keegan Dewitt 

that the film had to feel, “like a panic 

attack. Be anxiety; a droning, throbbing, in 

your ear.” As crazy as those scenes are, they 

contrast with huge sections of the movie 

where there’s no score at all, resulting in 

a “quiet / loud conversation” between the 

sequences. 

“I want this to be a movie where you can 

hear light, meaning that when the camera 

moves past a light, I want it to be bright 

and I want to hear the hum. The sounds 

of being inside these big, concrete spaces. 

There’s sound effects and droning noise in 

the score, and there are tonal qualities in 

the sound design. When the sound and the 

noise goes away, it feels shockingly absent. 

“The camera, the sound and the score are 

basically forcing the audience to be subjected 

to being in these spaces. It’s not so much 

about Becky’s state of mind but, the camera 

and what it’s doing when it’s being chaotic 

or static are very much in conversation with 

what Becky is going through.” 

Given the current political climate relative 

to a “new wave” of feminism, it’s hard 

not to wonder about the timing of a film 

that revisits the uniquely 90s moment in 

rock music, when female-fronted bands like 

L7, Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland and yes, even 

Hole ruled college charts in a way that had 

never happened before or arguably, since. 

“I’m not an expert on music culture, never 

having been in that scene or community. But 

the idea of the movie was in a vacuum, and 

I was really inspired by things that meant a 

lot to me when I was in high school. Somewhere 

during the production of the film, The 

New York Times wrote an article, ‘Rock is 

not dead it’s just turned female, or some ridiculous 

title, about all-female bands at the 

moment in independent rock, accompanied 

by 50 artists in a Spotify playlist. Once the 

Times gets onto something it’s probably 

been going on for four or five years and everyone 

in the know is already sick of it! But, 

them shining a light on innumerable, completely 

independent underground artists 

proved that there really was a lot of it at the 

moment. I found that to be serendipitous.” 

Becky’s tumultuous journey over the 

course of the five vignettes is compelling and 

exhausting, anticipating a spectrum of possible 

endings right up until the final shot of 

the film, when all is revealed and her story is 

concluded. As a writer, Perry needed to carefully 

consider it too, describing how he had 

to sit with multiple drafts before landing on 

the eventual, crucial conclusion in a way that 

honestly reflected what he wanted for Becky, 

her bandmates, and for the movie. 

The final act is 20 minutes of backstage 

band drama followed by a soaring, satisfying 

crescendo that forces the audience towards 

the conclusive, abrupt climax - which includes 

having to question the lines between 

public perceptions versus a private reality. 

In one of the film’s emotional “quiet conversations,” 

Ross waves the Canadian flag 

while Moss plays Bryan Adams’ “Heaven” 

at the piano. On the song choice, he says, “I 

really like the song. In the script it was very 

specifically this song, and there was no ‘Plan 

B’ if we didn’t get the rights. I really believe 

that it honours the song, which is great and 

I’m happy to reclaim it for this one little narrative 

moment.” , 

Media partner 

AUGUST 17 • 7 PM 

QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE 

TICKETS AT TICKETMASTER.CA 

HAHAHA.COM 



Horoscopes 

Messages from the Stars: A look into the cycles and cosmic 

details of an unfolding forevermore, paired with a song 

suggestion curated for your sign by Willow Herzog 

Aries (March 21 - April 20) 

In what ways are you reimagining 

your life? How is the past showing 

up so you can truly learn from it and 

move on? If things are feeling stressful 

and forced take note and don’t 

be afraid to pause before choosing 

a course of action. There is a surge 

of new energy flowing in, make sure 

perceptions are clear before any big 

choices are made. Open space for 

fresh flow and allow yourself to recalibrate. 

Guard your immune system. 

Song suggestion for the month: “The 

Frontier (High Desert Synthapella)” 

-Avalon Emerson 

Taurus (April 21 - May 21) 

Feel ease in letting go of old baggage. 

There is a pent up sense of energy 

to do, but to do what exactly? Take 

time to check in with internal 

structures so you can attend to 

what is clearly going to serve and 

bring alignment. Watch for signs 

and synchronicities to help dictate 

your path. Don’t let ego get in the 

way and listen carefully to what you 

hear from those you love and trust. 

There is wisdom in your frustration, 

unpack it so intuition may become 

more clear. 

Song suggestion for the month: “I Can 

Treat You Better” -Part Time, Ariel Pink 

Gemini (May 22 - June 21) 

Potential challenges may come up 

around self-esteem sandwiched with 

great bursts of creative inspiration. 

Rest and re-evaluate, taking time to 

read the energy of a situation before 

proceeding forwards. Unrealistic 

thinking could abound alongside genius 

and breakthrough. Seek truth at 

all costs, with all the potential mess 

involved. To truly heal we must be 

genuine, allow truth to set you free. 

Song suggestion for the month: 

“Effemience” -Shabazz Palaces, 

Quazarz, Chimurenga Renaissance 


Cancer (June 22 - July 23) 

Setting precise goals and clearing 

out the energetic clutter are 

of utmost importance this cycle. 

You have some big dreams and 

manifesting them takes time, love, 

effort and discernment. Claim the 

path you are on and show up for 

what life is asking of you. This is not 

the time to be passive, though soft 

wisdom and not taking on too much 

responsibility are up for consideration. 

Power, success, reputation 

and public standing are highlighted 

within a profession as well as in 

peer groups and home structures. 

Wield your power for the greater 

good and lead by example. 


“Outside” -MorMor 

Leo (July 24 - Aug. 23) 

Thought and action are combining 

for beautiful and shaping insights. 

It could be a time to keep a journal 

with you for when inspiration 

strikes, write it down and honour 

the creative muses. Be honest 

about what you are feeling so your 

feelings can heal, hold space and 

pass as they need to. It is a time 

of increased professional pursuits 

but also deeper energetic understanding 

of your unique blueprint. 

Take time to look at what you don’t 

understand and be willing to dive 

into the inner emotions that cause 

the outer/external patterns. 


“Daylight Matters” -Cate le Bon 

Virgo (Aug. 24 - Sept. 23) 

Look at where you can open when 

you would habitually contract and 

shut down. It is a month of drive and 

action that could lead to a flurry of 

energies looking to ground and catalyze 

into something more. Movement 

may seem like priority, but remember 

that at times in the inactivity is the 

action. Be willing to be slow at opportune 

windows even if it may seem 

that all life is asking of you is to do 

and move. Be aware of your body and 

pay extra attention to its care. 


“These Days” -Nico 

Libra (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23) 

This month carries with it some 

awkwardness but is not without 

its charm. Where to place chaotic 

energies and how to help them 

surface clear? Its an expansive time 

that works well when you streamline 

and channel energies with one 

pointed focus. Concentrate on the 

micro before the macro and unfold 

as the universe would like to see you 

unfold. Ask Who Am I to refuse the 

Universe? Develop your skill set to 

sit with what is changing and uncomfortable. 


“Lorelei” -Tim Presley, White Fence 

Scorpio (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) 

Which situations are spreading 

you too thin and which ones are 

creating nourishment? Feeling 

consistent support this month 

from yourself and loved ones will 

allow utilization of your abilities 

on all levels. Don’t be afraid to 

express you changing needs, you 

too are a growing thing that has 

permission to change its mind, 

taste and boundaries. Speak up in 

the ways the put you into honest 

alignment with those you create 

and collaborate with. Fewer placed 

but brilliantly activated actions are 

ones to strive for this cycle. 


“3D Dream (World Mix)” -Jerry Paper 

Sagittarius (Nov. 23 - Dec. 21) 

Your healing process deserves your 

attention. What is awakening in 

you this cycle is digging deep into 

old wounds and pushing you to assert 

your power back into yourself. 

Place yourself as a priority and feel 

your feelings so you can heal your 

pain. You don’t have to keep it all 

inside, its an isolating journey to 

traverse the emotional container 

alone. Look to those you love and 

trust and be willing to place your 

healing not only in your hands but 

in the hands of others. Reclaim 

your capacity for joy and know you 

are so deserving of love. 


“Licking An Orchid” -Yves Tumor, 

James K 

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 20) 

Creating deeper containers of 

connection, exchanging dreams 

with those who share your drive 

and being completely honest with 

yourself or someone else are all big 

themes this cycle. Big conversations 

that illuminate where and 

how to place your energy come to 

fruition. Try not to take it personal 

while exploring what is happening 

and know that sometimes life has 

a greater plan conspiring. Work on 

yourself and let the magic happen. 

This is a time of cycling back and 

deeper understanding. 


“The Bug Collector” 

-Haley Heynderickx 

TIM PRESLEY SHABAZZ PALACES 

AVALON EMERSON HALEY HEYNDERICKX 

Aquarius (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) 

External planes are asking you to 

dive deeper into internal discovery. 

Many forms are taking shape in 

professional and personal endeavours 

and there are some growing 

pains. Healing your relationship 

to self-worth, finances and how to 

place your energy in an uncertain 

future are all areas up for review 

and consideration. Look for where 

energy leaks and where it is held. 

Are there outdated patterns lingering 

that sabotage how you wish 

to build your life? Obstacles and 

conflict may arise but know you 

have the power to be the curator of 

your life. Trust in yourself and don’t 

doubt your value. 


“Corridor of Dreams” -The Cleaners 

from Venus 

Pisces (Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) 

Don’t allow others to interfere with 

your gifts, relax into what’s working 

and treat yourself with a compassionate 

tenderness. You are reorienting 

where you intend to place 

your energy and everyone has an 

opinion. Know yourself and trust in 

a plan that is becoming visible from 

reworking your life structure. Now 

is a good time to focus on poetry, 

song writing, dream journaling and 

anything that allows you to create 

from the emotional waters of your 

heart. Stay connected to what helps 

you come alive. 


“Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)” 

-Sonic Youth 


CANADA’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT CONCERT PROMOTER 


MORMOR 


April 30 - The Biltmore Cabaret 

WICCA PHASE SPRINGS ETERNAL 


Apr 6 - The Fox Cabaret 

HOP ALONG 


Apr 7 - The Biltmore Cabaret 

GIRLPOOL 



EX HEX 



TURNOVER 

WITH TURNSTILE & REPTALIENS 


NICK WATERHOUSE 


May 1 - The Biltmore Cabaret 

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May 3 - The Biltmore Cabaret 

IONNALEE 


May 4 - Venue 

TELEKINESIS 


May 4- The Biltmore Cabaret 

48 BEATROUTE APRIL 2019 TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT MRGCONCERTS.COM

BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition April 2019

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