B.C. band is just swell
Sure, they are still young, but they’ve got old musical souls. B.C. band Current Swell are turning heads following the release of their fourth studio album, Long Time Ago, last October, and then winning a PEAK Performance Project prize in December. The band checks into the Phoenix Concert Theatre on Saturday night opening for Charlie Winston. It’s bound to be a great night of hip and groovy music to kick the crap out of the winter blues. I checked in with Scott Stanton of Current Swell to see what was up with the band. Here are some tidbits of what he had to say:
• The big influence is definitely Neil Young, I love him a lot. I grew up on a lot of folk music, but also Zeppelin and thanks to my dad, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Leadbelly; really dirt blues stuff.
• The band has always just been kind of step by step. Over time we come back to a place, and see bigger crowds, new faces. It is tons of work — we’re constantly touring — but we always see positive growth so it is just one of those things we don’t want to stop doing.
• Toronto has been one of the hardest nuts to crack for sure. The first three times out we couldn’t even get a show in Toronto. The last show at the Horseshoe was very rewarding; just getting in front of a bunch of people in a room as famous as that was exciting.
• People make labels. I don’t have a problem with that surf rock label, not a lot of bands are doing that. And there are even a lot of the big bands in that genre that we’ve managed to separate ourselves from, but we just don’t fight it anymore.
• If anything, winning the award made us more poor. We’ll be using majority of it (the $100,000 cash prize) to tour other countries around the world and to do our best to reach out to other places.
• Touring is heaven and hell. It is a lot of work, but just so rewarding to experience Australia, and play to hundreds of people who already know and love your music.
* We’re writing like crazy and we’ll put out a new album probably this year, get right back into studio. We have a big tour in the States in March, we got into South by Southwest, which is really exciting. Then we go back out east and then Brazil in April.
Local band hits a Walk Off home run
As if local indie band Walk Off The Earth’s popularity isn’t already growing enough, news is now official that the band will make an appearance on the syndicated daytime talk show Ellen on Jan. 23. The recent attention is largely due to the below YouTube video, which features the five band members playing a single guitar together (inventive, to say the least). It has generated an astounding 30 million hits on YouTube since being posted on Jan. 5 — an increase of two million since I wrote this yesterday!
Samson goes solo
John K. Samson, frontman for popular Canuck band The Weakerthans, is playing an acoustic set at Soundscapes on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. in support of his first solo album Provincial, which is to be released that very day. Preview a track from the new album, “Letter In Icelandic From The Ninette San,” below. Can’t make the show? Don’t worry: Samson, along with his full backing group The Provincial Band, will be on tour over the next couple months, including a Toronto date on March 22 at the Great Hall.
John K. Samson – Letter In Icelandic From The Ninette San by antirecords
K’naan back with new EP and news of full-length album
The incomparable K’naan is releasing a new EP on Jan. 24, followed by a full-length album slated for this spring. The new five-song EP is entitled More Beautiful Than Silence and features “Nothing to Lose” with Nas, as well as “Is Anybody Out There” with fellow Torontonian Nelly Furtado (who is also readying a new album for a 2012 release). The new recordings follow his gold-selling sophomore album Troubadour, which garnered the Somalia-born hip-hop artist two Juno Awards in 2010 as well as a multiplatinum single “Wavin’ Flag.” Check out the new video for “Nothing to Lose” released on Jan. 19.
Zeus ready to conquer
Homegrown rockers Zeus are pegging March 27 as the release date for their sophomore album Busting Visions on the Arts & Crafts label. The band will be playing material from the new album during a short tour of Ontario and Quebec supporting the Sam Roberts Band, followed by some headlining dates in Boston and New York. Zeus — Mike O’Brien, Carlin Nicholson, Neil Quin and Rob Drake — have also served as the backing band for Toronto based singer/songwriter Jason Collett, who had this to say about the band: “Just one of the three singers/multi-instrumentalists from this band would be a force to reckoned with. Having three songwriters this talented gives Zeus an almost unfair edge over other bands. Plus, Neil Quin has the best rock ‘n’ roll voice I’ve heard in 20 years.” Plans are underway for a headlining tour later this spring. Check out the first single from the new album, “Are You Gonna’ Waste My Time,” here.
The Key to success for The Sheepdogs
The Coachella-bound Prairie rockers The Sheepdogs announced they are working with Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, who is producing their first full-length album since winning that Rolling Stone cover thing last year. Although they have been tempting over-exposure over the last few months, Carney’s involvement will force people to pay attention. Ewan Currie, the big bearded fella who fronts the band, told Rolling Stone, “we’re recording live in the same room with no headphones. Pat’s got great ideas and we all seem to be on the same level.”
Believe the hype!
Okay, this has nothing to do with Toronto, but Public Enemy is releasing two albums in 2012 rumoured to be entitled Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp and The Evil Empire of Everything. That is just cool man.
Punk rockers don’t wear three-piece suits
Political gadfly Warren Kinsella used to play in a punk rock band during his misspent youth, and he’s clung to that vibe like a pit bull on a chihuahua bender. His little band of 50-somethings SFH (the name involves a swear word — how edgy) wrote a song about the famous Officer Bubbles called it “Double Bubble Trouble.” Let’s just say that the boys are a bit rusty. And check out Kinsella’s just-out-of-the-box Black Flag shirt. Yes, we get it. You like punk. You were once a punk. Great. Nonetheless, it is only two minutes of your life so give it a listen. And, hey, it could be the next great viral video out of the Toronto area with a whopping 484 views over the last couple months. Ahem. Anyway, you can find it below. Enjoy.
Rock ‘n’ roll tweet of the week
Damian Abraham, frontman of the Toronto band Fucked Up (@leftfordamian): “The @the_edge of today bares no resemblance to the CFNY I grew up (on). Misogyny isn’t "EDGY". Please continue to not play us. #GoDie”
