The Vandits: Rolling Heavy Through Calgary

The Vandits Vanuary Fundraiser
is Generating desert heat
in the heart of winter 

20 January 2018

By Christine Leonard 

Show a little class and stand by your van.

Once a year Calgary’s legendary Vandits Van Club throws an epic camp-out under the wide prairie skies. Raising a stage and riding the lightning to a remote rural location in central Alberta, the cadre of van-enthusiasts pack their coolers with ice and their impromptu grandstand with a procession of daring musicians drawn from miles around. Vantopia sets the tone for the summer to come and leaves attendees with ringing ears and visions of tornadoes dancing in the rearview. We asked Cory Martens, vice president and founding member of Vandits VC, and owner/operator of Twinbat Sticker Company, for the low down on the motor club's upcoming Vanuary fundraiser in support of Alberta’s own desert rock showdown. 

BeatRoute: Who are Vandits VC?
Vandit Cory Martens: Vandits VC are a van club from Calgary. We only like vintage vans, beer, and rock ‘n’ roll.

BR: How did The Palomino Smokehouse become the de facto hangout for Vandits VC?
CM: The owner, Arlen (Smith) and I go way back. We got to talking a bunch of years ago about how we both had just acquired boogie vans. We decided we should drive them together. The rest is kind of history. I don’t exactly know how we got to 16 members! Just rad people buying rad vans, I guess. Aside from basically being our clubhouse, The Pal is just a bitchin’ venue.

BR: What’s the deal with the Vanuary Fundraiser show?
CM: Vanuary is our Winter Van Jam…sans vans. We like to keep the vanning spirit going even in the winter by getting club members and other buddies to learn a bunch of vannin’ tunes. It’s always a riot. It also acts as a fundraiser for Vantopia. This year we have Electric Owl, Riff Pigeon (a Woodhawk redux), RAW, Buffalo Bud Buster, 2/3rds of Nothing, Stab Twist Pull and a special Vandits VC Supergroup (think Denim Machine meets Chron Goblin)!
 

BR: Tell us about the Vantopia event that the Club puts on at the start of summer. CM: Vantopia is our gigantic annual blowout. Three days of partying in the country with a tonne of vans, bands and beer. We usually have around 20 bands from all over to provide the soundtrack to partying in your van. We’ve noticed that over the years the number of tents has greatly diminished, while the number of vans has increased significantly. Last year we had around 80 boogie vans. It seems our message is being heard!  

BR: What do you have in store for Vantopia in 2018?
CM: This year will be number six. This year we’ve already confirmed a bunch of bands that are gonna blow some people’s minds. Also, Matchstick from Custom Vanner Magazine will be coming all the way from Los Angeles again this year to MC. That's always a riot. Our goal is for everyone to have a safe time partying their brains out.

BR: So, how does one become a “Vandit”? How do I know if my van is worthy?CM: Our members are mostly just a bunch of best friends that happen to own vans. As for what a sweet ride looks like, I’ll tell you what we don’t hate: side pipes, a jacked-up booty, and mag wheels. No VW, no FWD. 

BR: My Grandparents are touring the Baja in their RV. How does joining a Van-Club stack up in terms of the ultimate retirement plan?
CM: Are you asking if there’s money in vanning? Hahahahaha. Well, there isn’t. But who’s to say you can’t quit your job, sell your house and live in your van? No one. 

BR: Other than attending the Vanuary show, how can people support Vandits VC and Vantopia?
CM: Buy our stuff, our merch game is strong: http://vanditsvc.bigcartel.com/ 

Vandits VC Vanuary Fundraiser in support of Vantopia 2018 featuring:  

Electric Owl, Riff Pigeon (a Woodhawk redux), RAW, Buffalo Bud Buster, 2/3rds of Nothing, Stab Twist Pull and a special Vandits VC Supergroup happens January 27 at The Palomino Smokehouse (Calgary) 

“Stand by your Van” a short documentary video from Vantopia 3.  

CM: “It’s a pretty decent representation of what goes on there.”  

Black Mastiff: Another Trip Around the Sun

Harlo’s B-day: 

The Palomino’s pitmaster celebrates

02 January 2018By Christine Leonard 

Calgary’s heavy metal honky-tonk bar celebrates their favourite birthday bash with headliners, Black Mastiff.

Laps around the sun, zeros on the odometer, pints of lager downed, pounds of shredded pork consumed – there are innumerable ways to count the rings on the tree when it comes to calculating the duration of one’s existence. And in the case of The Palomino Smokehouse’s pitmaster, Arlen “Harlo” Smith, the annual bash thrown in honour of his birthday is the best way to mark the passage of time in a manner that’s sure to resonate over the course of the next year. 

“I was born in ‘73,” says Smith, doing the math. “I’ll be 45!”  

A fine vintage to have achieved, but it’s not his first rodeo by any stretch of the imagination. Like Harlo (Smith’s alter ego) himself, these annual whoop-ups have a bit of a track record around Calgary. 

“We did this back at the Drum (& Monkey Public House), although it was a little less exciting at the Drum. This will be the sixth one here at The Palomino. It’s never really on the day of my birthday unless my birthday happens to fall on a Saturday because nobody wants to go to a fuckin’ rock show on a Sunday. My birthday’s on a Monday this year,” he grumbles. “Truth be told, I don’t really give two shits about my birthday, I just like a good rock show! And in January it’s hard to get a good rock show.” 

Ironically, despite presenting incendiary and mind-blowing musical acts throughout the year at his showroom and eatery, the amber-bearded Smith rarely has the opportunity to stop and savour the sounds coming from the venue’s two stages. Thus, curating a wishlist of bands especially for his birthday is truly the best gift the dedicated owner/operator could receive, as it gives him a license to join the crowd on the other side of the bar. Not that he ever stands still for very long. 

“This party is essentially just an excuse for me to bring in bands that are probably too expensive to play this room normally. It’s like, fuck it, you work hard all year long and you deserve to do something totally self-serving once a year on your birthday. Out of all the shows we bring through I probably get to watch about four a year, this is one of them. Even at the birthday party, I’m still working. I’m so fuckin’ mild now. I’ve totally mellowed in my old age. Ah, that’s not true I’ve still got plenty of anger,” he says with a chuckle. “This is one of the four times over the year that I actually get to let it go and party!” 

2018’s festivities will likely prove to be no exception with a trio of groove-heavy bands slated to perform amidst the establishment’s heavenly garlic and brisket-scented atmosphere. Promising an equally drool-worthy menu of hard-rockin' entertainment, Smith has a meaty trio of bands lined-up to ensure the evening is packed with heavy hooks and gritty gusto. 

Rolled out in his customary whiskey-cured, business-casual fashion, Harlo’s B-Day bash is destined to set an auspicious tone for the year to come. And what better way to defrost your January blues than by cozying up to some dry ribs, sparkling suds and face-melting riffs with a few dozen of your closest Palo-pals? 

“This is just a roomful of people I enjoy,” confirms Smith. “It’s all my buds, and all the bands, and all the people who come to rock shows and the people in my van club. It’s just a party. That’s what I like about it.” 

 Don’t miss Harlo Davidson’s Birthday celebration with Black Mastiff, Woodhawk and Denim Machine Jan. 6 at The Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club (Calgary)

Wet Secrets: Marching On To Glory

WET SECRETS

December 9, 2013 · by Christine Leonard

EVERYONE LOVES A PARADE!

Edmonton’s favourite imaginary friend the Wet Secrets is a band that wants to stick their tongue in your ear. And by tongue, they mean their sweeter-than-sin new album, Free Candy. Conceived as a cunning stunt in 2005 by bassist/vocalist Lyle Bell and drummer/vocalist Trevor Anderson, the Wet Secrets made their first appearance on stage at a reputable establishment called Seedy’s. Invigorated by the thrill they received from that initial act of exposure, the Wet Secrets swiftly assembled and issued their debut album, A Whale of a Cow, later that year.

By 2007, the Wet Secrets had found a rhythm to match their trumped-up, pop-rock methodology with their sophomoric release, the appropriately titled Rock Fantasy. Received with open arms, the catchy cache of Rock Fantasy was a magic bullet that shot the Wet Secrets to the top of the Canadian charts, where they lingered on well into 2008.

“Trevor and I were at a show and kind of made a pact/dare to start a band and write and record an album before the first show,” Bell recalls. “We took a show and promptly forgot about all of this until a week before our first gig. We did a crazy, no-sleep week of practice/recording and got it done literally five minutes before the show started. At the time, both Trevor and I were in bands and fairly accomplished and we mutually knew some people we thought would be fun to play with. We wanted to avoid guitar, for whatever reason, so it was horns and keys with everyone singing. It was thrown together pretty quickly without too much thought about anything further into the future than that one gig. Also, that first night we made our pact-dare, our friend Fish took a photo of us that looked like I was telling Trevor a wet secret. Can’t remember if Fish said that or Trevor, but it was the genesis of the name.”

Obviously accustomed to making a serious racket when performing as a part of his erstwhile bands, Shout Out Out Out Out and Whitey Houston, bassist and lead vocalist Lyle Bell has never shied away from making a scene in public. Pursuing his affection for the campiness and controversy, Bell and his long-time friend and collaborator drummer/vocalist Trevor Anderson have discovered like-minded musicians in trumpet player/vocalist Kim Rackel, trombonist/vocalist Emma Frazier and keyboardist/conga player like Paul Arnusch. Settling into their role within the dynamic group, Paul and the two majorettes are primed to deliver Bell and Anderson’s madcap musical mash-up.

“We sometimes spontaneously write jams during practices, make wonky demos and then refine them in the studio,” says Bell of the group’s evolving songwriting process. “Sometimes, I’ll get bombarded with an idea and work out most of the song in my head. I can generally hear how everything is going to go and then I’ll show it to Trevor, who often sends it spiraling into a different dimension. Everyone in this band is actually pretty fucking talented musically. Zero slouch. Kim and Emma are superstars!”

Now, you might be tempted to think that blasting out starry-eyed tunes like “Hot Hot Hotter than the Sun,” “The Chinball Wizard” and “The Ballad of El Doucho,” while being backed by a fulsome brass section, would be enough for any band on the march. But if you need to know one thing about the Wet Secrets, it’s that they love being the centre of your attention and will stop at nothing to get there. Plying their eminently danceable hooks whilst decked-out in tasseled red-and-white marching-band uniforms, Bell and company demonstrate that no loud outfit is complete without an equally loud outfit.

“The outfits were the old uniforms of the Red Deer Royals. Unlike Lorde, Trevor was once a Royal and we were able to buy about twenty complete marching band outfits in a sweet deal brokered by his mom.”

After five years of anticipation and planning, the Wet Secrets’ next great orchestral manoeuvre is finally ready to be unveiled. The musical counterpart of the cat hair-covered sweater in your closet (also Bell’s wardrobe of choice when he’s not in uniform), Free Candy comes across as fun, friendly and a little bit freaky. A return to the halcyon days of one’s cavity-filled youth, the gratuitously tasteful album came together during this past summer, guided by the hand of producer Nik Kozub (White Horse, Cadence Weapon, Shout Out Out Out Out).

“I learned a lot about the business in general from being in Shout Out Out Out Out: take the work involved seriously and have a plan,” Bell says. “In the four years (five?) since our last album, we went through some personnel changes and had general life bullshit drop down on us. We got older, wiser and slightly sadder. Rock Fantasy was kind of about sex and hedonism with a bit of whimsical bullshit. Free Candy is a more adult album, loosely about sex, death and humanity, supernatural claptrap, the untimely death of a friend, evangelicals banging on your doorway too early, people who sit in the green room and eat your deli tray while you play, dyin’ — the usual.”

Bell confesses that their predilection for stirring crowds into frenzies has led them down the yellow brick road to chaos on more than one occasion. He recalls a pie giveaway that resulted in an Animal House-calibre food fight. How does one get pie out of a trumpet? Marx Brothers-inspired tomfoolery aside, these festival veterans have a history of engaging audiences with a constant parade of well-composed and skillfully-executed aural pleasures. Indeed, the Wet Secrets strive to infuse their musical presentations with an intelligent and slightly warped sense of humour. In doing so, they seldom fail to elicit an appreciative response from their listeners.

“I am my own harshest critic and I am super-pumped that we had the stick-to-it-iveness to get Free Candy done,” Bell reports. “We are all totally proud of this one, our little breach baby. I’m already working hard on the next album. We have big plans. I want to take this as far as we can possibly can. We also want to reunite the Smugglers so we can do a split 7″.”

Tongue firmly planted in cheek, the Wet Secrets plan to exercise their right to party as they champion Free Candy across the land.

“It’s amazing how fast the years can slip by, but our mandate of having fun together hasn’t changed. Once we got rolling again everyone started to get excited about pushing this album through to completion. Lately, we’ve been playing some of our best shows ever. It does sound like the same band, but I think we’re also a band in transition. Maybe in the future, we won’t be quite as jokey… Of course, when you wear marching band outfits there’s a pretty fine line between being seen as a glib gimmick and being taken seriously. There are tons of weird art-rock bands out there that we love, like Devo and Ween. I think it’s possible to play completely ridiculous material really well. That’s when it’s the most entertaining.”

Catch Wet Secrets at the Palomino on December 13. Free Candy will be released on February 4, 2014.

By Christine Leonard

Matthew Barber : In Name Only

Barber's misery finds company

Songwriter recruits friends to back him on self-titled album

by Christine Leonard
June 9, 2011

Matthew Barber returns with his six full-length album named, get this, Matthew Barber

We’re all familiar with the saying “misery loves company,” and when it comes to traveling and performing on the open road the pressures and politics of being in a band can often push artists past the point of enjoyment into the realms of a professional private hell. Perhaps that’s why Mississauga’s Matthew Barber has been having such a great time as a footloose and fancy-free soloist on the eastern Canadian folk-rock scene.

“I’ve done the solo thing alongside the band thing my whole career,” the versatile singer-songwriter says. “Solo touring has been a big part of my life for the last six, seven and now eight years. Yeah, I’ve been doing more and more of it recently. I love playing with bands, but the pros and cons don’t always balance out.

“It’s a blast being on the road with friends and the dynamic energy a group can bring to the stage is truly exciting, but it’s also prohibitively expensive. Luckily, I happen to be someone who can play solo and still have that much fun. Plus, the fans who come out to my shows seem to prefer seeing me this way, so I can honestly say I don’t feel like I’m shortchanging them. And, as an added bonus, I actually get to pocket some of the proceeds at the end of the day.”

Bringing it on home in the most immediate sense, the talented multi-instrumentalist opted to record his latest album within a decidedly domestic sanctum. Painstakingly piecing together what amounts to his sixth LP in relative isolation, Barber is pleased to have completed his self-titled 10-track opus just in time for an early June release prior to a cross-Canada run of summer- tour dates with friend Oh Susanna (Suzie Ungerleider).


“This latest record represents a departure in that I usually have whole bands join me in the studio,” Barber explains. “This time I worked on my recordings at home in the basement, recorded all the parts myself and layered them on using a half-inch eight-track analog recorder. I did it my way.”


“Obviously, the songs take a different shape on the road. My approach to the instrumentation is either electric or acoustic guitar or piano; I like to use all three interchangeably, so for live interpretation, it’s just a matter of finding out what works. That’s what I’m busy figuring out at the moment.”

Once again dipping into the wellsprings of his hungry heart, Barber touches on some sentimental favourites for his newest offering. Thumbing through his troubadour’s diary of thought for the perfect poetic inspiration, Barber blends gentle twang-tinged ballads and spirited folk-rock shakers for this warm and woody self-titled release which officially drops on June 7.

A fitting follow-up to last year’s True Believer and the Juno Award-nominated Ghost Notes, Barber’s latest record features 10 fresh yet carefully considered tracks that are immeasurably informed by the musician’s current state of romantic security and bliss; he reminds us of this on the charming cut “Ring Upon Your Finger” with the line, “I’m singing ‘cuz I’m a singer, baby; it’s what I do with my life.” Barber’s slow spiritual swing number, filled with austere and honest vows of fidelity and rootsy harmonica lacing, seems to be destined for alternative trip-down-the-aisle bridal processions everywhere.

“My songs are almost always dealing with something personal,” Barber says. “I tend to write in the first person; the trait of showing my intimate side and what I’ve experienced in life continues on this album. To me, art is about taking that personal grain of inspiration and translating it into something that is more universalized.”

“I want people to feel like they can relate and make sense of the emotions being portrayed. I am in love right now. Of course, it’s easier to write when you’re feeling the blues; art of all varieties goes well with melancholia, but just because I’m in a good place doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and sabotage my life for art.”

“Some people succeed in feeding off of that kind of drama for a while, but it’s a bad trade in the end. I may be a romantic, and I may have even tricked some people into thinking I’m an optimist, but my so-called love songs are all tinged with uncertainty. I like to keep people guessing.”

Matthew Barber performs at Palomino