Cannibal Corpse Interviewed by Christine Leonard-Cripps

Cannibal is forever!

Coming face to face with the corpse that refuses to die...

Birthed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, Cannibal Corpse is one of the goriest bands in the heavy metal pantheon. Serving up a blood-spattered assault in the classic death-meets-thrash metal style, the band became an international cult sensation revered (and reviled) for their slaughter-strewn album covers and gut-wrenching musical feeding frenzies. A quarter-century later, the Florida-based quintet continues to produce some the most unsettlingly grotesque and technically extreme music on the planet.

“We took a primitive element and followed it up with a good memorable riff; straightforward and in your face. I get a sense that we were a world away from what the Californian death and thrash bands were doing,” says drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, who along with bassist Alex Webster is all that remains of the band’s original lineup.

“At the time it seemed as though the whole East Coast, Buffalo scene was growing with the band. We were aware of the San Francisco scene, but this was pre-Internet and the only way to obtain new music was to seek it out. Things weren’t so oversaturated and it allowed us to evolve in our own weird way. Twenty-five years later and thrash music is more prominent than ever and remains huge in this region of the country.”

To celebrate Cannibal Corpse’s monstrous accomplishments, record label Metal Blade will be churning out a picture disc a month commemorating the band’s visceral 12-album back catalogue.

“It’s unbelievable ­— this is a real milestone for Cannibal Corpse,” says Mazurkiewicz. “Who would have thought that we’d be around long enough to enter our box-set era? Visuals have always been a big part of the band’s identity, our artist Vincent (Locke) has been a part of the band since the beginning. It’s great to finally have these albums released the way they would have been back in the ’80s when people were buying records.”

Controversial yet explicitly apolitical, Cannibal Corpse has come to measure success by the number of fans they’ve accrued rather than collecting awards to polish. Selling millions of albums, the band that brought forth classics like Butchered at Birth (1991), Tomb of the Mutilated (1992) and more recently Torture (2012) has endured and prospered against all odds.

“We’re lucky to have been around for 25 years — a lot of the bands that started alongside Cannibal have faded away. It’s hard to explain why we’ve endured. I truly believe it’s because we try to write a memorable song. It’s gotta be brutal and evil and heavy, but we’re not about following a formula.”

Possessing a thick skin, and thicker skulls, may have allowed them to survive the past, but it’s their open eyes and fluid minds that will enable them to confront the future.

“Like any good band in any genre, we’re constantly striving to play beyond our abilities,” says Mazurkiewicz. “You can tell that the band’s in a really solid place mentally and that we’re running on all cylinders. I feel like we are stepping things up more than ever and that we can keep going in that direction for a long time.”

Cannibal Corpse with Napalm Death, Immolation & Beyond Creation
MacEwan Ballroom Wednesday, May 22

by Christine Leonard

Originally published May 16, 2013 in FastForward Magazine.

Big Business Interview by Christine Leonard-Cripps

Big Business as Usual

Seattle's finest sludge~core flows into Calgary

While certain musicians adhere to the belief that less is more, others take a more aggregative approach when it comes to the fine art of songwriting. The latter is certainly the case for the rock and roll disciples behind Big Business. Despite forming as a stripped-down duo consisting of bassist-vocalist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis, the band, now a trio, generates bellicose ballads and soul-churning shakedowns that belie its diminutive proportions. Melding the best of heavy blues and moody metal, Warren and Willis bring forth all the clout and clamour they’ve accumulated as members of The Melvins, along with the addition of guitarist Scott Martin in 2010. 

Thus far, the sloth-core outfit has manoeuvred under the lame-stream radar, striking a sympathetic chord with stoner metal fans and captivating audiences at festivals including Calgary’s Sled Island. Not so quietly amassing a back-catalogue of a dozen releases since their 2005 inception, such as 2009’s Mind the Drift and the recent 2012 MP3 release Always Never Know When to Quit, Big Business has found a rock-solid niche and a rhythm to their method.

“We had a really great tour this summer,” says Willis. “We planned to do a lot of writing while we were on the road, and over the last couple of months we’ve been putting together material specifically for our new album. There’s no working title yet, but I can tell you that the songs will be loud and there will be some distortion involved. No spoilers there.”

What is known is that Big Business will continue to operate as a thunderous trio. For a little while, the duo expanded to a power-quartet, with guitarist Toshi Kasai also in the lineup, but it wasn’t to last due to Kasai’s conflicting demands.

“Being a three-piece again feels really comfortable,” says Willis. “We kind of miss having Toshi in the band, but he had to step down because of his crazy recording schedule as producer and engineer. We’ve had to make a lot of concessions, but now there’s a sense of synergy and enthusiasm and fun as we move forward with Scott as our guitar player. We’re having a lot of fun and things are definitely starting to come together for us on all fronts — musically and personally.”

A fresh-faced newlywed with a head full of dreams and hands of fire, Willis has performed all over the world thanks to his passion for percussion. The seasoned veteran of innumerable tours as a key member of bands like Murder City Devils, White Shit, Low Dead Tide and Broadcast Oblivion, Willis still craves a good challenge.

“As a personal goal, I would like to have control of what I do in a real way,” he says. “I’m constantly writing and trying new things, and I always try to play on the edge of my ability. I like to step out of my comfort zone to the point where I know that I’m never going to tire of a song. I know some super-technical guys who drum in their own kind of genres. It’s really humbling to spend 10 seconds in the showroom with them and realize that there’s a whole world I don’t understand yet. I’m glad I get to play with Jared, or The Melvins, or Murder City Devils, and get to jump around style-wise. It keeps me sharp, and it makes me grateful that I don’t have to play ‘Smoke on the Water’ for a living.”

Big Business with Grandfather Fire, Poison Pens & Shematomas
Palomino Saturday, January 5

by Christine Leonard

Originally published January 3, 2013 in FastForward Magazine

Steel Panther : straight up dysfunction

Get on the bus! Steel Panther make it on the road

By Christine Leonard
8 July 2016

It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll, but it’s only a short trip to the back of the tour bus if you want to record a new album. That is if you’re the lead singer for the internationally celebrated glam metal-comedy band Steel Panther. Bonded in 2000 under the moniker Metal Shop (later changed to Metal Skool and eventually Steel Panther in 2008) vocalist Michael Starr, guitarist Satchel, bassist Lexxi Foxx and drummer Stix Zadinia have discovered the best way to squeeze recording sessions into their busy tour schedule is to take the studio with them on the road.

“Right now we’re working on a brand new full-length record,” says Starr. “We’re going to be recording a lot of the vocals live on the tour during the rest of the year. If you record in the hallway where the bunks are and you put a lot of heavier girls in there it gets a real warm, thick sound. So, that’s a really good way to record a ballad. If we’re doing a full-out ‘Pussy Whipped’ or ‘Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World’ we’ll go into the back-lounge where’s there’s a lot of mirrors to get a harder sound.”

Despite the tight quarters, fleshing out their latest vision with plenty of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll is just business as usual for the L.A.-based entertainers. Having spent the past sweet 16 years traveling the globe and performing live alongside Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Slipknot and Guns N’ Roses, Steel Panther has enjoyed enormous success, particularly in Australia and Canada where they’re keeping the spirit of ‘80s hair metal alive and kicking.

“Canadian people love metal… still and so do Australians, they miss it. Canada and Australia embraced Steel Panther right out of the gate; it’s been fantastic for us,” he says. “Is heavy metal aging well? Probably not. But does it matter? No. Shit, I’m a sabretooth, for Christ’s sake! But think about this, if you look at any guy that you went to high school with that’s 53 – do you think they look like Axl Rose right now? Not a chance. He looks fantastic! His singin’ is amazing! You know what the biggest offender is for weight-gain in rockers? Lack of cocaine and too much beer. I don’t do any cocaine before a show; I wait for the guitar solo.”

As sagacious as he is salacious, Starr knows exactly when to put the pedal to the metal and when to ease off the throttle whether he’s romancing groupies, eating candy, or partying all night long. It takes a certain amount of finesse and a strong constitution. Mandatory traits if you’re going make a living pumping out Sunset Strip satire albums like Feel the Steel (Universal, 2009), Balls Out (Universal, 2011) and All You Can Eat (Universal 2014).

“If somebody doesn’t like Steel Panther because of our lyrical content, or the way we look, or the fact that we’re bringing glory to heavy metal from the ‘80s they’re not going to like us no matter how good we are. There’s just no way around it. Kinda like if you get together with a girl and you know it’s not gonna go right. You just move on and go to the next girl. If you have a sense of humour, don’t’ take yourself super serious, and you like to have fun, and you like to party – we’re your band!”

Steel Panther perform at The Ranch Roadhouse in Edmonton on July 7th and at the Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary on July 8th and 9th.  

Sled Island 2016 Recap

Sled Island 2016 Festival Recap

22-25 June 2016

By Christine Leonard

Sled Island 2016 Day One Recap

June 22, 2016

HexRay, N3K, Blü Shorts, Technical Kidman, Physical Copies, Mitchmatic, ESG – #1 Legion

Once the all-ages crowd at John Dutton Theatre (see below) had turned into pumpkins, we sauntered over to the #1 Legion to lay eyes on HexRay. The sprawling beerhall was transformed into Calgary’s biggest bedroom as the dreamy denim-and-flannel trio projected their awkward poetics and petulant drum rolls at a steady, unhurried pace. Apple-pie sweet vocal harmonies and intimate country-folk interludes progressing towards an eight-minute-long boogie-fied ballad that evoked visions of undulating amber waves of grain and malt liquor. (CL)

The band that closed-out the Republik following the final day pig roast of Sled 2015, fabu-drone outfit Technical Kidman of Montreal always provides a breath of fresh air. Heavy on the bass, the dueling ultrasonic synths soon has the crowd enthralled. Clashing with convention, the threesome poured forth an electrifying audio smoke-show fit to give you a serious case of the vapours. Pulling angular, if not dispassionate, creations from a cold and unforgiving gridlock of electronic, ambient, dance, and noize, Technical Kidman ensnared the masses with an opaque opiate hum of cycling heartbeats and twisted tom-toms. (CL)

Edmontonian weird-boys, Physical Copies, proved themselves to be genuine replicas of some of the most original artists in the annals of modern music. A twonky, garage-raised, Devo sleeper-cell, with a penchant for laser blasts and neon pulses, Physical Copies is what happens when members of Shout Out Out Out Out sit too close to the screen (in a house where the television’s always on). Add the melodic accompaniment, and on-point jazzercising, of to-die-for guest vocalist Marlaena Moore and you have the makings of an all-star ‘80s club that can go straight on till breakfast. (CL)

A-Bomb, Chron Goblin – John Dutton Theatre (Central Library)

John Dutton’s legacy remains YYC’s best-kept secret, at least when it comes to gaining after-hours entry to his namesake Theatre; housed within the Central Library. Please note for future shows that this venue is best accessed via the +15 stairwell located on the west side of the Library. An early-evening, all-ages friendly gig providing the perfect way for newcomers to ease into the whole Sled experience. Ramping up the affirmative action, too high for school runaways, A-Bomb used their outdoor voices to deliver a fittingly gritty, but impactful set to an adoring audience.

Next up, veterans Chron Goblin, freshly returned from a tour through Europe, took to the stage. The band’s guitarist Darty declared that A-Bomb “just shreds,” before elucidating that Chron Goblin’s core audience is largely comprised of “45-year-old guys with tattoos.” Proving that age ain’t nothing but a number, Chron Goblin’s second all-ages show ever struck a chord with young upstarts who threw out requests for oldies like “Come Undone,” while attempting to stage-dive to ribald cuts from the band’s latest album, Backwater. The movie theatre-like interior of the Dutton added a surreal touch to watching the strapping rock quartet; but certainly, the next best aspect of partying down in the library was being in the mossssshhhhh pit. (CL)

Sled Island 2016 Day Two Recap

June 23, 2016

Blü Shorts, The Avulsions, Shearing Pinx, Burro, Empty Heads, Crosss, The Zorgs – Palomino

It was an occasion for short shorts and azure lips, and anything but hypothermic. Thursday evening at The Palomino Smokehouse. The vitriolic thrum and strum of Blü Shorts kick-started attendees with staggered progressions and concentrated bursts of cobalt energy. Driven into the psych-rock wilderness like devil-dogs pursued by a big orange fender on a bender, their hiccup-ping coyote yelps and proto-jazz-punk drumming (worthy of Sled 2015 guests The Ex) wrung a collective sigh of “OMG!” from the devoted upon completion.

The Avulsions of Saskatoon, SK lived up to their deadly reputation by answering the age-old question regarding for whom the bell tolls. Cloaking the above-grade revelries in a gothic veil, the trio radiated ancient dirges reminiscent of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, with lyrics furnished in the form of sobering epithets. The atmospheric barrage of dark drama and unquiet insistence had a roomful of willing converts lingering long in The Avulsions ominous shadow.

Heavy on the bangs, Vancouver, BC’s Shearing Pinx launched a sensory attack with a zig-zagging ethos that might have benefitted poor Rickon Stark. Shedding any stage-shyness around the 20-minute mark, their ear-popping plunges and hairpin turns signaled that each song was going to be a race to an abrupt finish. A garage band that’s just ballsy enough to drag Dad’s favourite lounger into their “carriage house,” Shearing Pinx’s brazen charms anesthetized the basement dancefloor into tangoing with danger incarnate.

*Thanks to The Palomino staff for always slinging pints of ice water with their customary smiles. And kudos to CJSW for those handy earplug vending machines, a real lifesaver!

Continuing the underground rodeo, the cryptic rumination of Calgary’s Burro amped-up the psychic interference fields; filling every inch of available airspace with the rising tide of their cosmic swell. Eyes were closed and minds blown open as Burro leaned into the solar winds, seamlessly dovetailing one marauding motion into the next.

A shaggy, but firm, nod of approval to Empty Heads, who extended an unexpected pleasure that brought the audience schooling to the surface; aka upstairs at The Palomino Smokehouse. The modest hulk of a lead singer's voice was perfectly attuned to the rolling guitars, yet demanded to be drowned in a crushing surf of pyroclastic Mudhoney.

Downstairs, the long slide into Dante’s inferno continued. There was no escaping the fearful symmetry of Montreal’s Crosss, who’s anemia-inducing demon-metal commanded full attention. Sinister drills and echoing vocals had the crowd locked in Crosss’s be-hooded thrall as the doomy distillations rained down like a Sabbath-esque summer thunderstorm straight-outta Witch Mountain.

While reposed at the LRT train platform directly across from the venue, the petulant punk-rawk of The Zorgs could be heard battering the bricks and mortar of Stephen’s Avenue. The fun-lovin’ Winnipegger’s sardonic war-cry blasted into a night sky illuminated by a rainbow-bathed Calgary Tower. “How many fucks do I give?” Well, apparently one. I have to be at work on Friday morning. (CL)

Sled Island 2016 Day Three Recap

June 24, 2016

Chieftain, Anion, Witchstone, Advances – Bamboo

Calgary’s resident axe-swingers Chieftain brought the PIB (people in black) out of the woodwork and in from the rain on Friday afternoon. The sky’s stormy glow was simulating a fittingly nocturnal mood for a showcase presented by ‘Stoner Rock Guy’ at the Bamboo.

Those lucky enough to cut off work early were eager to soak up their massive metal surges as Chieftain grabbed on to heap-big riffs and proceeded to gnaw them like a dog with a bone. Their devastating performance definitely established an uber-heavy tone and decibel level for a session that leaned more towards black hash blade-hoots than blueberry rolling papers.

Their avuncular wet coast relations, Vancouver, BC’s Anion revived a rather sodden crowd with their Panzer tan subtlety and careening onslaughts. The lead-singer worked the annoyingly-congested boxcar of a floor amidst hard scrambles and lush, nigh-organic volleys, facing into the roaring tempest of his own making.

Calgarian chrysalis, Witchstone put on an impressive display of skills and artistic sensibility; who can blame them for strutting the fact that they’ve undergone more growth in a six-month period than most bands in their field-of-vision. Interweaving an amalgam of genres into their customary acid-metal architecture, Witchstone teased out melodic and riff-propelled elements with creepy tentacles of bilious acrimony. The finishing blow, a track from their latest album, plainly translated as: “You don’t know me. But you will!” (CL)

War Baby, Numenorean, Shooting Guns, SubRosa – Palomino

Have you ever fantasized about being a member of the Fellowship of the Ring? Numenorean has your bindle packed! Honouring the Old Gods with their smooth yet many-textured soundscapes, each song entails an epic journey through perilous peaks and horrific chasms. Their impressive lupine shrieks and lumbering plotlines left the mesmerized and admiring audience in a cold sweat.

Hauling axel from Saskatoon, SK, the summer’s favourite road trip soundtrack band, Shooting Guns screeched into town in a puff of smoke and minus one keyboardist, Toby, who got “hung-up in Chicago.” Losing the high-end of their string-heavy ensemble resulted in a flatter-than-usual sound for the already plateau-sighted highwaymen. Their intuitive biorhythms still scratched that stoner rock itch, pulling off a straight-forward and easily accessible set that ranged from low-fi CB-jamming frequencies to feistier headnodders. It should be interesting to see what they sound like at the Upstairs at the #1 Legion on Saturday night, once their accompanists and his magic-fingers get to town!

Rounding out the rain-dampened evening’s entertainment, a much-anticipated performance by Utah’s graceful doomsters SubRosa warmed the room like a blazing hearth. The sizeable and visually stunning orchestra amicably squeezed onto the stage with just enough elbow room remaining for their potent twin violinists to unleash a Pandora’s Box of gothic symphonics. Remember those friends who had to go straight to music lessons after school? Well, rejoice in the knowledge that SubRosa’s evocative neo-classical take on heavy metal is but one possible outcome of gaining a formal musical education that their parents didn’t anticipate! (CL) 

Sled Island 2016 Day Four Recap

June 25, 2016

Shooting Guns, Chieftain, Wilt, Numenorean, Deafheaven – #1 Legion

Once again reunited with their keyboardist, Toby, who arrived mid-festival, Shooting Guns almost sounded like a completely different band on Saturday night. The heat and the humidity of the second-floor beer hall, giving off a wafting welcome akin to entering a Turkish bathhouse, did nothing to cool the ardor of the sprawling stoner-rock ensemble. Muscling through wide-shouldered grooves and melodies that unfurl like freshly-laid two-lane blacktop, the extended Shooting Guns soon reaffirmed they were the same boogiemen who raised hackles, and PBR tallboys, when they unleashed the beast within for the soundtrack to the movie Wolfcop. (CL)

The Weir – Bamboo

Have you ever wanted an excuse to pull a plastic bag over your friend’s head? What better occasion than a mad dash between raindrops? A roomful of spongy hoodies fogged up the interior of Bamboo conjuring an appropriately winterish atmosphere for The Weir to rest the slow-hand of their weighty message upon the heads of the all-too familiars. Their heaving black mass, incredibly dense and anything but dumb, went down like a pint of Guinness. A fitting gateway into the second half of the ‘Stoner Rock Guy Presents” showcase, which had hangover-cure seekers gathered to bask in the healing rays of The Switching Yard. One of the busiest musicians at Sled Island, The Switching Yard’s ambitious guitarist Chris Laramee also performed at this year’s festival with his bands Shooting Guns and Radiation Flowers (who had remarkably appeared at Olympic Plaza early that same afternoon)! Seeing any one of these Saskatchewan desert-rock entities is the mollifying equivalent of putting the ol’ motorhome on cruise control and watching the endless wheat fields fly by. (CL)

Dream Whip, Radiation Flowers, Moon King, Speedy Ortiz, SUUNS, Land of Talk, Built To Spill, Guided By Voices – Olympic Plaza

Scattered sunshowers did little to soften the resolve of the crowd or the stiff peaks of Calgary-based quartet Dream Whip on Saturday afternoon for a downtown daylight debutante ball to write home about. Cautiously optimistic, their nostalgic cocktail dress-chic was more couture than Coachella. The puffy clouds above were no match for a bomp-less early ‘60s sound coyly wrapped in a fuzz-toned angora sweater.

A highlight of the Olympic Plaza event is the opportunity to flip through “the big book of Sled posters” at the merch table; a rare chance to get your hands on some of the numbered prints from previous years, including artwork representing the likes of Lightning Bolt, King Tuff, Torche and more, all for a mere $30. (CL)

Jay Arner, BRASS, Chron Goblin, Bell Witch, Valient Thorr – Palomino

The show-stopping and jaw-dropping antics of Vancouver, BC’s BRASS had perambulators stuck in their tracks as they willfully transformed the upper-floor of The Palomino Smokehouse into a penthouse punk-art party. The walls wept Andy Warhol cream-of-tomato soup as BRASS’s big strings and skins whipped up trouble and brought the punk foam steaming to the surface. Blazing with all-caps fury, each headstrong missive was delivered like a saucy knuckle sandwich, which just happened to pair perfectly with ibuprofen, earplugs, and cold draught.

Going hungry is never an issue at The Palomino, but Calgary’s thirst for “Backwater” continued to be an issue. One of the more crowded basement shows of the week, Chron Goblin’s homecoming performance left no doubt regarding the quality of Calgary psych-metal they were dispensing while recently on tour in Europe. Well-equipped to shoot whiskey while rendering their anthemic psych-metal, the foursome had the other musicians in the room perking up their ears in appreciation of their challenging choices and powerfully gritty vocals.

Speaking of witch… Seattle’s Bell Witch opened a portal to deep listening on Saturday night. The expansive dark matter of their loathsome tolls and overarching themes flowed forth in a monosyllabic blast. Growling eloquence may sound like a contradiction in terms, but the wrathful drone tones and banshee shrieks emanating from the drum kit paint a scene that would give Francis Bacon nightmares. The curse interfered at least once, causing technical havoc that required a “one moment please” break early into their performance. Resurrected, Bell Witch redoubled their efforts to spin a web of suspense-filled moments.

“Is this the last show of the festival? And, we’re the last band playing here tonight? Well then, you’d better get your fuckin’ money’s worth!” And, with that, Valient Thorr launched into one of the most entertaining performances of the entire festival. Stripped to the waist, save for a ginger-flocked hair shirt, the wily lead-singer, Valient Himself, brought Chapel Hill, NC’s hot and heavy Southern Rock roadshow to Cowtown in earnest. Internationally infamous and self-proclaimed legends of the world, the multicultural outfit embraced their immortalized audience in a sweaty bearhug of righteous rhythms, metal-core meltdowns and Bad Brains-esque breakaways. Was the ceiling getting lower, or were we all levitating on a wave of hardcore happiness? Either way, it was good Sledding. (CL)

SubRosa : More Constant than the Gods

SubRosa: Silver thorns and sirens of the deep

By Christine Leonard
22 June 2016

 Draw the beeswax from your ears and unlash yourself from the mast, there’s no reason to dread the siren song of Salt Lake City’s SubRosa. Painting melancholy portraits with her banshee vocals and enthralling guitar vortexes, Rebecca Vernon stretches a skin of sludge, doom and stoner rock over a gothic post-metal skeleton. The powerful undercurrents generated by twin electric violins, wielded by Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack, lend a supernatural bent to SubRosa’s epics, which rarely dip below the 10-minute threshold. All the while, the inescapable gravity of bassist Levi Hanna and drummer Andy Patterson bring the atmospheric ablutions back to a terrestrial fulcrum.

“I feel like it’s really adventurous to have a longer bigger canvas to work with and to have a series of movements that tell a story and take people on a journey, rather than just reaching a destination,” Vernon says. “It’s been exciting to build those stories and anticipate how we’re going to make people feel.”

Thanks to appearances with the likes of Kyuss, Red Fang, Deafheaven, and Cult of Luna, SubRosa has established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Two previous releases, No Help for the Mighty (2011) and More Constant Than the Gods (2013), along with their earlier LPs and EP, have hit home with a growing North American and European fan base. While readily admitting that performing in the middle of the day is one of her worst fears, festival-veteran Vernon has no reservations about shedding a little moonlight on SubRosa’s forthcoming compositions.

“The title is For This We Fought the Battle of Ages, and the release date is August 26th. There’s a lot of literature that influenced the new album, but the core and the heart of it is [the novel] We. It’s an amazing old, sci-fi, dystopian novel written in the 1920s by a Soviet dissident named Yevgeny Zamyatina. He was in exile most of his life because of his criticism against Communism and the collective way of thinking. In a nutshell, We is an argument for individual happiness over collective happiness.”

Armoured in the romantic trappings of myth and fantasy, SubRosa’s sprawling, lyrical symphonies do battle with the emotional and psychological demons by holding a mirror up to the darkness within.

“I actually consider myself to be a positive person, but one who’s keenly aware of the vicissitudes of life,” Vernon explains. “Our songs deal with social and political issues and modern problems, like racism and warfare, and I feel compelled to sing about this deep sorrow and feeling of universal suffering in cosmic and poetic ways. I guess we’re trying to look up in the heavens, high up in the stratosphere like a bird’s-eye view, and trying to sing about it almost like the Greek chorus in an opera watching the tragedy unfold on stage and trying to explain how terrible it is, without a message other than – life on earth is really hard sometimes.”

SubRosa plays the Sled Island Music & Arts Festival for two shows June 24 at the Palomino and June 25 at Bamboo.

Peaches will bring Rub to life onstage during a stint at Sled Island

Calgary opens wide for iconic artist Peaches’ first appearance in seven years at Sled Island 2016

By Christine Leonard
3 June 2016

An innovative and iconoclastic artist with a heart of gold and the warpaint to match, Peaches was already rocking the boat of Toronto’s club scene when she debuted her first solo outing Fancypants Hoodlum (Accudub Inc), under her given name Merrill Nisker, back in 1995. But it wasn’t until the electro-rocker and rapper was transplanted to German soil in 2000 that her musical career truly began to flourish. Signed to the Kitty-Yo record label after an unforgettable one-night stand, Peaches followed her water-testing Lovertits EP with the release of her breakthrough album The Teaches of Peaches in the fall of 2000. Evidently, she had found a home for her soul and her art in the cultural Mecca and has stayed on to return the city’s embrace.

“Well, I’ve lived here for 16 years and I just think Berlin is still a super cool city,” Peaches says. “It’s very open to nightlife, and music, and art, and performance, and experimentation, and I’ve received a lot of it and met a lot of international, super-talented people that make their way through. Being in Europe you get a little more of that because people float through a little easier and also in terms of funding and collaborations and other things like that.”

A tour de force with Marilyn Manson and Queens of the Stones Age further established Peaches’ reputation as a dynamic on-stage presence with a talent for smashing gender-norms through her glamorously riveting performances. Deemed too racy for Britain’s Top of the Pops, she went on to flaunt a full-beard on the cover of her 2003 album Fatherfucker (XL), which featured Iggy Pop on the single “Kick It.” Continuing to defy the odds and social conventions across borders, her subversive songs were suddenly accessible to a mainstream audience, popping up on the soundtracks for movies like Waiting… and Mean Girls, as well as on television series such as South Park, 30 Rock, True Blood, and The L Word. Meanwhile, everyone from Pink to REM were queuing up to have some of that erotic Peaches magic spread upon their labours.

“I’ve always been mostly interested in performance art, and video, and music – the fashion thing was never really a concern of mine, that just kind of organically grew out of what was happening. I think I’ve just found more likeminded people, not that there weren’t in Canada, but it just seems like a good flow. And, I’ve had a little stint doing different projects in a theatre here and met different people. There’s just a really good conceptual and contemporary art scene. So, I don’t need to push. I just try and do my thing and it just seems to like build organically, which is really, really good.”

After marrying her polti-punk passions to those of Joan Jett, Josh Homme, Beth Ditto, amongst others, for her next LP Impeach My Bush (XL) in 2006, Peaches returned to command the dancefloor in 2009 when she unleashed I Feel Cream (XL). A glittering trans-disco fantasy, teased-out by the show-stopping single “Talk to Me,” the album was buffed to perfection by the skillful ministrations of co-producers Simian Mobile Disco, Soulwax, and Shapemod. The next year in, 2010, Peaches gained the ‘Electronic Artist of the Year’ award at the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in Toronto, and performed a one-woman version of Jesus Christ Superstar at Berlin’s HAU1, entitled Peaches Christ Superstar. For her latest full-length outing, Rub (I U She Music), featuring Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Peaches tapped into her love of filmmaking to enhance and contextualize each of the album’s carnal capers.

“From the beginning, I used to make a lot of Super-8 movies for the songs, so it was always part of it. I’ve made a movie that I’m in and also directed a lot of the videos that I’ve made throughout the years. I’m also enjoying making videos for every song on Rub. The track “Rub” has its own six-minute video and was made using a deliberately all-women cast and crew of 40 in the desert with me and Lex Vaughn, who spent a lot of time in Canada, and A.L. Steiner, who made the lesbian porn film Community Action. There’s already five videos that have been put out for Rub, including ‘Dick in the Air,’ which is a collaboration featuring me and Margaret Cho.”

Other NSFW vignettes for the album include the Peaches-directed “Light in Places” starring U.K. laser-butt-plug aerialist Empress Stah, “Free Drink Ticket” directed by Sara Sachs, and “Close Up” featuring Sled Island 2015 performer, Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth, Body/Head). Directed by friend and collaborator Vice Cooler (who performs alongside Peaches at the 2016 festival), the combative-clip for “Close Up” finds Peaches taking on the role of a pro wrestler.

“I’m glad that they [female martial artists] exist,” the composer of the ultimate walk-out song, “I Don’t Give A …,” confirms. “That video was born out of my relationship with Lucha VaVoom, they’re a Mexican wrestling and burlesque troupe who perform four times a year in L.A. and they’re friends of mine so it was a nice collaboration. We actually found me a stunt-double, a pole-dancer and wrestler who was sort of my build, so that was really cool. The director, Vice Cooler, also co-produced that album with me. I have a little house in L.A. and we spent a year in my garage making the album from scratch there. It’s not so glamorous, it’s just a garage, but it was fun.”

That album, Rub, and its accompanying eye-candy provide a galvanizing glimpse into the marvelous psyche, of an ambihelical performer who channels Prince and Bowie, while embodying the spirit of rebellious artists from history who have refused to choose between sexual identity and self-expression. This assertion is echoed by Peaches appearance on the silver screen in the motion picture Desire Will Set You Free (2015 Amard Bird Films), directed by Yony Leyser and is also Peaches’ selection for Sled Island’s film lineup.

Having called in favours and utilized her impressive network of contacts to assemble an avant-garde dream team of bands and artists to fulfill her role as curator and festival queen diva, Peaches looks forward to bringing a taste of her adopted hometown to Sled Island and the Canadian Prairies.

“A lot of these acts will give people a Berlin experience,” she says. “Hyenaz, Planningtorock, and Born In Flamez will sonically blow people’s minds. Just come as you are and be like you wanna be!”
As for her own flagship concert, the Sled Island headliner Peaches promises to bust out the ultimate Rub experience for her audience when she mounts the stage at Flames Central.

“The first half of 2015 was about finishing the album and getting it ready. It came out in September and I’ve just been touring like a crazy woman since then. It’s been business as usual, which is not business as usual, which is just super exciting and fun as usual. We have done so many shows and so many festivals. Mostly America and Europe, I’ve done Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal, like I usually do, but it’s good to dig a little deeper. The show is Rub-focused for sure, but with some classics thrown in. I’ve only done all the songs from an album in order live once; I’ve played Teaches of Peaches backwards so ‘Fuck the Pain Away’ would be last. This show is pretty true to the new album and working the songs out in their pure form. It’s like a big mess, but in a really good way.”

Peaches performs at Flames Central on June 25th with her curator picks Vice Cooler and Lafawndah.

Decidedly Jazz Dance Centre : a new home for Canadian Jazz

A New Universe awaits at the Decidedly Jazz Dance Centre

By Christine Leonard
19 May 2016 

Jazz is coming out from behind closed doors thanks to the construction of the impressive Decidedly Jazz Dance Centre in the heart of the New West. Ten years in the making, the cutting-edge facility will provide a much-needed growing room for the professional company and dance school, which has been in its current home since 1993. Designed by architect Janice Liebe of the DIALOG design firm and built by CANA Construction, the new structure embodies the kinetic movement of a dancer’s body with its graceful application of glass and steel. While a versatile modern theatre and seven well-appointed dance studios rank highest amongst the new institute’s assets, the abundance of natural light and flowing floor plan are sure to infuse the environment with positive energy.

“It’s a spectacular facility. It’s not just for us, we feel that it’s really a space for Calgary,” says DJD’s artistic director, Kimberley Cooper. “It’s also just such a beautiful, vibrant, glass-filled open place that I think it will add to the landscape of Calgary. You’ll be able to look in and see dancing all the time, which is something we don’t see that often. The beacon at the top of the building is a 10-metre penthouse that’s kind of like a light-box and we’ve just been working with some artist to create a public art piece that’s going to be in there. That will really draw your eye to the building as well. The artists’ names are Hadley+Maxwell. Without giving too much away, they are big on the Canadian art scene and they were here taking images for a beautiful concept that will let people know that is dancing going on in that building.”

Located within the new 12-storey Kahanoff Centre on Centre Street and 12th Avenue SE, the accessible space offers a 327 sq. m dance studio, a comfortable 232 sq. m community living room, multiple smaller dance studios (to be available for booking) and will additionally provide storage for the Company’s wardrobes, dressing rooms, media room, library, box office and administrative offices. A home that has been custom-fit to accommodate the present and future needs of an organisation that anticipates great things to come. To accomplish this lifetime goal, DJD worked closely numerous supporters including the philanthropic Kahanoff Foundation, who rents office space to charitable organizations at affordable rates. Construction of the Decidedly Jazz Dance Centre within the context of the burgeoning complex, located at Centre Street and 12th Avenue S.E., means that the first five floors of the new building are inhabited by Decidedly Jazz with the six floors above them being occupied by DJD’s co-residents the Calgary Foundation.

“This building has been a long time coming,” says Cooper. “As the economy has risen and fallen a couple times it’s taken a lot longer than we thought it would. So, there have been many incarnations of what it has now turned out to be. We’ve had really great partners all around. We have had a lot of support from the government and the Kahanoff Foundation, individual donors. You can name a seat in the theatre for $1,000 or donate more and have the building named after you. Everyone from millionaires to the dancer alumnus who are pulling funds together to buy a couple of seats. There are lots of ways you can claim your space within the Centre, which I think is really cool!”

As a member of Calgary’s dance community and DJD’s resident choreographer, Cooper shares her company’s passion for innovation. Aiming to demonstrate that the new facility will consist of more than sprung floors and wires, she is busy rehearsing the first work to be presented in the Centre’s crown jewel studio theatre. Cooper’s latest choreographic work, New Universe, featuring nine dancers and five live musicians performing the music of NYC jazz legend William Parker, is sure to leave a lasting impression as it premieres at the Decidedly Jazz Dance Centre’s Opening Gala on May 27th.

“For me, what I’m really looking forward to is being able to create in the space that the work will be performed in because that is so rare in the dance world. It’s pretty spectacular and that’s where the company will rehearse every day,” says Cooper. “The nice thing about being in this smaller space is that we can run for longer and that’s better for everybody. The artists get to do it more, the work gets stronger, the word of mouth can travel throughout the city and that’s our best ticket seller. I think that all of those things will help to make us more successful.”

A one-of-a-kind place of business that offers a unique forum and launchpad for the performing arts, DJD’s headquarters will undoubtedly make it a cultural focal point as Calgary progresses through a ribbon-cutting Year of Music. Cause for celebration on many fronts, the completion of this new facility marks not only the realization of a dream but denotes the value that citizens continue to attribute to the arts and the ways in which artistic disciplines continue to benefit the community at large.

“We’ve been talking to board for Fluid Festival, we’ve been talking to One Yellow Rabbit, we’ve been talking to the Old Trouts, and Sled Island has approached us about utilising our new spaces. People have already asked to have a wedding on our main floor because it’s gorgeous. And, really, we want to be an arts hub,” Cooper confirms. “Everybody’s excited about it because it has the ability to change the cultural landscape in Calgary. And we’ve had great neighbours; the National Music Centre and Arts Commons are only a few blocks away. We feel like Calgary is building a new arts district right now and it’s really nice to be a part of that.”

DJD’s Opening Weekend Gala that shows off their new studio and performance space takes place May 27 and 28. Then New Universe, DJD’s new work choreographed by Kim Cooper featuring original music composed by New York jazz composer William Parker, who will also lead the live band during performances, runs until June 12.