Live! MUSICA Stories

Grimelda rocks: Sort of feeling, sort of fooling

Skyler plays guitar, and Blair plays drums, and apparently they “both shriek like idiots!” Their words, not mine.
That simple list does NOT do them credit, though, because this 2-piece sounds like a 4-piece: with complex melody lines and sequencers and samples clearly being triggered and used during a set that includes songs with . . . movements … Continue Reading >Grimelda rocks: Sort of feeling, sort of fooling

This article is not about Tanya Tagaq, the remarkable Inuk experimental singer

Tanya Tagaq performed in Calgary at the Palace Theatre last week, but this article is NOT about her amazing event.
And for that matter, the video below has nothing in particular to do with her show: she didn’t mention Norman McLaren, nor the National Film Board; in fact she didn’t mention … Continue Reading >This article is not about Tanya Tagaq, the remarkable Inuk experimental singer

If ‘You Know That You Want To’, there’s no sense going half-assed: Redhead Mack Band is rockin’ for fun!

Apparently Kevin Phillips, lead singer and songwriter for the newly minted rock quartet Redhead Mack Band, plays a custom electric guitar made by Northwood, a Canadian company that “normally makes acoustic but occasionally electric guitars.” … Continue Reading >If ‘You Know That You Want To’, there’s no sense going half-assed: Redhead Mack Band is rockin’ for fun!

‘Drumming is the Boss’: According to the powwow singer who started off dancing!

Firstly, I need to reinforce a bias I have for drummers, as more than one are mentioned in this article: drummers get *gold stars*. I can’t always manage the gold part, but that’s what’s happening. I mention this because both *Clarence M. Wolf Leg* and his father are drummers from Siksika. and because I ask him why powwow music is so powerful, you are about to learn a bunch of new stuff, … Continue Reading >‘Drumming is the Boss’: According to the powwow singer who started off dancing!

Sled Island 2023: Music from Siksika to Montreal, and everywhere else

Double Rider’s drummer, Lennon the Loomer (because he’s 6 foot something) finds me at the Palomino Smokehouse bar during Sled Island’s annual closing day Pig Roast.
I’m not at the bar because I’m weeping into my beer, but in fact I’m celebrating the cornucopia that is Sled Island’s week-long sensory romp … Continue Reading >Sled Island 2023: Music from Siksika to Montreal, and everywhere else

The Jared Daniel Experience: Neo-soul with a hint of more

When MUSICAlive! reconnects with Jared Daniel, after a 6 year interval since our first interview about his Fireside Music events, we ask if he’s gotten married and divorced and had kids and now is starting up a rock band to express all that?
“Yeah,” he laughs. Like, how did you know?” HE DOES now have a 2 year old … Continue Reading >The Jared Daniel Experience: Neo-soul with a hint of more