Bebe Buckskin Defines Her Own Style With Leathers, Feathers & Fur

With Janice Joplin as her style icon, the Metis/Cree blues-rocker embraces her roots, allowing her natural Nêhiyaw beauty to shine through. 

BY CHRISTINE LEONARD

Growing up in the heart of Alberta’s great northern muskeg, Nêhiyaw blues-rocker Bebe Buckskin (aka Danielle Ghostkeeper) wasn’t too concerned with keeping up with the latest fashion trends. A self-described plain-Jane as a teenager, she moved to the “big city” of Calgary 10 years ago and launched her musical career in earnest. It was then that Bebe began to assemble signature ensembles of distinctive clothing accessories that were befitting of a dynamic entertainer and show-stopping diva.

“I would say it developed over time,” explains Bebe. “The more I became immersed in my music and the more I honed in and developed my style. As I came of age in my late teens I started experimenting with different aesthetics. I tried the hip-hop thing. I went through a punk phase. But then sort of settled into a hippie aesthetic in my early twenties that has been the base of my style since. I love that Summer of Love sensibility.”

Creative and intentional in her approach to both music and fashion, Bebe has always gravitated towards a more relaxed and organic lifestyle. With a soulful new EP, Asiskiy (Cree for “dirt”), arriving this month, the singer/songwriter is feeling more comfortable than ever with her on-stage image and emerging reputation as a fashionista.

“I’m into the 50s, 60s, 70s blues-rock stuff and my style definitely reflects my primary musical tastes,” she admits. “I have sort of reigned it in and now the way I dress is on purpose. I purposely look like I’m a mess, but it’s chic. I do the shabby chic thing a lot, but I’m aware and conscious of what I put on my body and every day I try to make a statement. Whether it’s a piece of jewellery or a pink feather boa like Janis Joplin—she’s a huge style icon of mine. Plus, I love fur and luxurious fabrics and textures.”

That combined love of the history and tactile symbolism is naturally connected to Bebe’s background and integrated into the warp and weft of her identity as an artist and as a Cree/Metis woman.

“The fur thing is huge for me,” says Bebe. “I love to wear animals. As weird as that sounds. I love to wear leather, feathers, fur. You’re honouring that life. You’re honouring that spirit. It’s a huge part of our culture and that definitely plays a role in why I like to wear it so much. To honour tradition and pay homage to where I come from and where I grew up, my heritage and my culture.”

Aware that boldly championing such a hot-button issue is bound to garner a wide range of reactions, Bebe continues to make bold fashion choices that affirm her own experiences and reflect her ancestral origins.

“Lately I’ve been wearing pelts. My coyote pelts and my fox pelts. Just draped over my shoulder as a statement. I did that in New Orleans when I played Folk Alliance Festival. I got a lot of mixed reviews on that. I got called out. I got called—oh my God—I got called a murderer and I thought they were going to throw red paint on me. So, it’s like you are always taking a risk with the fur thing,” she says.  “C’mon. Like, fuck you, man. My grandpa’s a trapper. I’m Indigenous from Northern Alberta. Fuck you!”

Affirming that truth, beauty, and fashion lie in the eye of the beholder, trailblazing blues-folk chanteuse Bebe isn’t about to put her personal sense of style in a corner.

“I don’t really have a specific structure of what beauty should be in my mind. A person who embraces who they are and what they dig—that’s beautiful to me. Diversity is beautiful. Confidence is beautiful. Your demeanour and how you hold yourself. A confident person shines and that is beautiful.”

Bebe Buckskin’s new EP, Asiskiy, is available to stream now.

LA Priest "Gene" - Album Review

LA Priest
GENE

Writer/producer Sam Eastgate (aka Samuel Dust) cuts loose for his sophomore appearance as the ubiquitous bon vivant, LA Priest.

A sparkling follow-up to his 2015 rural isolation project, Inji, this is Eastgate’s first solo release since the dissolution of his UK dance-punk outfit Late Of The Pier. GENE probes pop-electronic territories with the same expansive curiosity that fuelled his Soft Hair (2016) collaboration with Kiwi psych-funk “Jassbuster,” Connan Mockasin.

“Beginning” coaxes the listener out from under the couch and into the realm of the absurd. Preaching the gospel of groove on the scintillating “Rubber Sky” and day-tripping through “Open My Eyes,” Eastgate sets off on a lazy backstroke through a shimmering catalogue of loungey sprawlers.

An expert improviser who grew up surrounded by his New Wave musician father’s junkheap of busted amps and wonky keyboards, Eastgate drops the pressure on exquisitely crafted tracks like the quirky confessional “What Moves,” the soul strumming “Sudden Thing,” and the atmospheric “Monochrome.” Further along, the wispy Prince-paramour “Kissing of the Weeds” segues into the crystalline lab-work of “Black Smoke,” methodically culminating in the post-coital hush of “Ain’t No Love Affair.”

A playful and self-liberating selection of sonic place settings, GENE’s super-structure is designed to dissolve even as it leads you up the double-helix staircase. Hustle without the flex, it’s a beautiful thing.

Best Track: “Rubber Sky”

By Christine Leonard

Spectres Look Back in Black With Dark Wave Reverie

Influenced by groups like The Smiths and Echo & The Bunnymen, the goth-punk quintet are consciously taking a step towards the dance floor.

BY CHRISTINE LEONARD

Arrayed with a gloomy presence and an eerie sound, Vancouver post-punk band Spectres have been haunting fans with their brilliant yet reserved brand of goth-rock severity since 2005.

Surpassing those initial stirrings, the West Coast quintet has grown from an ambitious anarcho-punk DIY entity that pushed its way onto a sceptical scene to become the vanguard of Canada’s contemporary new wave upsurge.

“We’re not trying to hide the fact that we’re making music that sounds a certain way or draws a certain era to mind. We wear it on our sleeves,” guitarist Zach Batalden tells BeatRoute. “We’re conscious of our influences and that a lot of the music is about looking back and having certain feelings about your own past at different times than where we are today.”

Beyond a backwards glance at the crushingly elegant phrasing and melodies that epitomize a time and place, Spectres latest offering, Nostalgia (Artoffact Records), immortalizes the spirit of ennui and psychic discomfort that inhabits the lyrical realms established by groups such as The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Psychedelic Furs.

“The bands that inspired us in the first place and still inspire us today. Maybe not John Hughes, but certainly the late 70s and early to mid-80s Manchester sound is pretty strong in what we’re doing with Nostalgia for sure.”

Recorded at Jacknife Sound with producer Jason Corbett (ACTORS), Nostalgia relies heavily on the dark emotional interplay between Batalden, lead singer Brian Gustavson and drummer Mitch Allen, while integrating the talents of more recent arrivals, bassist Jason Renix and guitarist Adam Mitchell. Dauntless, yet utterly prone to pursuing synth-pop romances down mysterious causeways, Nostalgia is perhaps Spectres most dance floor destined work to date.

“That’s totally a part of the goal is that people will be able to dance,” says Batalden. “Hopefully they’ll feel like moving around when they hear the music.” 

Spectres’ Nostalgia is available now via Artoffact Records.

Car Seat Headrest "Making a Door Less Open" - Album Review

Car Seat Headrest
"Making a Door Less Open"

Breaking their four-year fast with a fresh set of songs and a newly rinsed outlook on life, Car Seat Headrest conceived their latest album as a conversation between producer/drummer Andrew Katz and lead singer/guitarist Will Toledo’s split-personas. Together the two form 1 Trait Danger, a synth-based auxiliary that actively forces CSH’s restless pop-rock anthems through a futuristic electronic filter.

Keen to collaborate with himself, Toledo wanted every song to reflect his personal listening habits, which runs on singles as opposed to albums. This ‘in the moment’ perspective is strongly reflected in the disparate natures of his anti-social sonic hybrids.

CSH’s technical transformation reveals itself subtly as the dronetastic introduction, “Weightlifters,” pushes through a pool party of rippling angst and drum machine heart murmurs. Dipping below the surface, the suburban drift of “Can’t Cool Me Down” is quickly eclipsed by the full-sun sizzle of “Hollywood,” with its brassy highlights and top-down morality.

Soft-pedaled by a sensory-deprived middle section, diary burner “Deadlines” and Kodachrome snapshot “Life’s Worth Missing” pick up the pieces and the pace just in time for the closing cerebral scramble, “Famous.” Constantly switching up their climate control, Toledo believes he has struck upon a winning nu-folk formula. A malleable and reinterpretable genre with no maximum mileage or occupancy.

Best Track: “Hollywood”

By Christine Leonard

Nêhiyaw Blues-Rocker Bebe Buckskin on her Favourite Sources for Indigenous Fashion

With her new EP, Asiskiy (Cree for “dirt”), out now,
Metis blues-rocker Bebe Buckskin has fully embraced her reputation
as a show-stopping fashionista. 

Buckskin sat down with us to share some of her favourite sources of inspirational Indigenous fashion; including up-and-coming and established designers, artisans, and jewelry makers. 

By Christine Leonard

Indi City

Fashion is an expression and Indi City wants to be part of how you express yourself. Offering an array of contemporary Indigenous designs made 100 percent by Indigenous hands. 

“We take pride in our ancestral connection to this land. Everything we create is intended to be a mindful acknowledgment to the bloodlines we come from, and the Grandmothers and Grandfathers that made it possible for us to be here to share Indigenous fashion with you.”

“My Blood Memory is Couture. I am the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter.” (INSTAGRAM)

Rezin Babe

Danni Suitaakii is a Calgary-based local Indigiqueer/2S artist & filmmaker. “All her pieces made with love and resistance. Handmade and imperfect,” says Buckskin. (INSTAGRAM)

Moonstone Creation

Calgary’s Moonstone Creation Native Gallery and gift shop is an internationally known gallery for authentic Native art. Owner, traditional artist, designer, and spiritualist, Yvonne Jobin, is Cree First Nations originally from High Prairie, Alberta.

Yvonne’s considerable knowledge of Indigenous culture and spirituality is reflected in her artwork. Whether her work is for traditional use, collectors, museums, or major motion pictures, all of her art reflects a respect for the gift of nature, the land and humankind’s need to live in balance with creation. Yvonne is much in-demand as a seminar leader and is dedicated to preserving and teaching her culture through the arts and with the use of authentic materials of her ancestors. (INSTAGRAM)

Sage Paul 

Sage Paul is an urban Denesuliné tskwe based in Toronto and a member of English River First Nation. She is an award-winning artist and designer and a recognized leader of Indigenous fashion, craft, and textiles. Her work centres family, sovereignty, and resistance for balance. Sage is also Founding Collective Member and Artistic Director of Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. (INSTAGRAM)

Native Diva Creations

Handmade beaded jewelry and accessories for both men and women. Native Diva Creations makes wearable art with techniques, patterns, and designs in an updated and contemporary way that is wearable for all peoples.

Based in Calgary, Melrene Savoy-Eaglespeaker is a member of Alberta’s Blood Tribe. Melrene was inspired to work for herself after participating in the entrepreneur symposium in Morley, a First Nations settlement within the Stoney Nakoda Nation. Products she makes in her thriving home-based business include Indigenous earrings, necklaces, body jewelry, hats, and jackets. (INSTAGRAM)

Heather Crowshoe Couture 

Heather Crowshoe designs Blackfoot Pikanii Nation Couture. She began professionally designing and creating dresses and overcoats for the Calgary Stampede Indian Princess. Since childhood, she has been immersed in traditional Northern Piikani clothing and textile knowledge of her parents, aunts, and grandmothers. This experience ignited her passion to become a Couturier. Heather and her daughter Karli’s couture, streetwear, and modern regalia designs were inspired by their upbringing. Both were raised by Piikanisinni, the Piikani way of Life. (INSTAGRAM)

Danzig "Sings Elvis" - Album Review

Danzig
Sings Elvis

Elvis died in 1977. That very same year a 22-year-old Glenn Anzalone started a remarkable journey that would see the aspiring singer-songwriter from Lodi, New Jersey morph into one of the most beloved and recognizable characters in American music.

Glenn Danzig has left his mark as the penultimate gothic rock musician and record producer. His eponymous band, Danzig, has become an internationally recognized symbol of hyper-masculinity and old-school bravado, while his horror punk exploits with outfits Samhain and Misfits have secured his spot in rock and roll infamy.

Well into his sixties, it’s only fitting that the golden-throated crooner should pay homage to one of his greatest influencers from the 50s and 60s by crafting an ‘easily listenable’ tribute album.

A more than capable vocalist, long renowned for his deep throaty tones and powerful “Evil Elvis” bellows, Danzig’s baritone treatments alternate between smooth and chunky when emulating the king of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Embracing his cardigans-and-cats side, Danzig lavishes his tenor tones upon popular and forgotten classics including “Lonely Blue Boy,” “Pocket Full of Rainbows,” and a tiki lounge-worthy “Fever.”

Vacillating between Quaalude piano-sprawlers like “You Are Always on My Mind” and “Loving Arms” and the amphetamine-fuelled rockabilly hoppers “Baby Lets Play House” and “When It Rains It Really Pours,” it’s easy to see how the life of an entertainer can take its toll.

Toss back a shot and get on that redeye, Bubba. You’ve got a show to do.

Best Track: “One Night”

By Christine Leonard

Black Dahlia Murder "Verminous" - Album Review

Black Dahlia Murder
Verminous

A thrilling leap forward from 2017’s Nightbringers, the ninth album from Michigan’s The Black Dahlia Murder is arguably the melodic death metal band’s greatest accomplishment since forming almost two decades ago.

Chiefly recorded in the home studio of guitarist/vocalist Brandon Ellis, who joined up in 2016, Verminous benefits enormously from BDM’s claws-on approach.

The dripping caverns of the gatekeeping title track unleashes an army of orcs that surge forth from their subterranean lair like a scene ripped from Ralph Bakshi’s animated Lord Of The Rings feature. Galloping guitars keep pace as the infestation races along a path studded with crucified skeletons. Suddenly one of the corpses breaks into song. It’s lead vocalist Trevor Strnad! And, he is relentless.

The nigh celebratory mission continues as the face-flaying “Godlessly” tears open a circle pit hell-mouth that is as dramatic as it is gratifying. Military precision, gridline grinds and glorious double-kick machinations? They’ve got all that, but with painterly aspirations.

Medieval tapestry weavers whose hands fly with a modern momentum on cuts like “Removal of the Oaken Stake,” “The Leather Apron’s Scorn” and “The Wereworm’s Feast,” BDM isn’t afraid to throw itself headlong through a stained-glass window. Forgive them, Father.

Best track: “The Wereworm’s Feast”

By Christine Leonard