Durand Jones & The Indications American Love Call Dead Oceans/Colemine Records Soul. I have been a fan of Durand Jones since I first heard him. I believe he has the most naturally powerful voice of the decade or longer, and having seen him [...]
Primus The Desaturating Seven ATO Records Whilst being apropos, I was certainly skeptical of a new Primus album that is entirely inspired by a children’s book. I’ve always enjoyed the dark side of Les Claypool’s writing; the social commentary, [...]
The Scene Unseen | September 13, 2017 | How To Not Not Make It In The Music Biz Want success for your band? Feel like you’re spinning your wheels? Contacts go as fast (or faster) than they come? That’s ok. The first step is admitting there’s a [...]
CREATING GREAT MOMENTS IN ROCK AN INTERVIEW WITH BILLY DUFFY OF THE CULT I’m sitting in ‘Old Whistler’ (my van/home on the road) anticipating a phone call from legendary guitarist Billy Duffy of The Cult. They are touring a brand new album, [...]
The Scene Unseen | January 24, 2017 | ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Late 60’s Psychedelic era… the birth of “free” music… sexual revolution… Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison…it was so beautiful because it was all about [...]
The Black Clouds After All Capacitor Records I hopped on the elliptical torture machine and cranked up my headphones with no expectations. From the first riff, I was hooked. After All, The Black Cloud’s third full length album, is the perfect [...]
The Scene Unseen | December 5, 2016 | Time It just keeps on ticking away. You can’t grab it. You can’t stop it. But you can slow it down. You can speed it up. “Time flies when you’re having fun.” It’s no cliché; it’s the truth. The inverse is [...]
The Scene Unseen | September 23, 2016 | The Voice How quickly and easily we can destroy our own life’s work. Our dreams shattered by an egoistic comment, an off night, or simply trying too hard. What a bunch of bullshit! The opening statement is [...]
The Scene Unseen | July 27, 2016 | Vampires They only come out at night, slithering in and out of clubs, drinking, sweating and watching you scream. They are the creatures of the night, the blood-sucking shape-changers and life-giving [...]
SOULFULLY MAKING THAT CHANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH DURAND JONES Durand Jones is not what you might expect from a Soul-singer that commands so much attention on the microphone. He is a humble and jovial soft-spoken gentleman, true to his upbringing [...]
Durand Jones & The Indications Durand Jones & The Indications Colemine Records Durand Jones’ first release is such a pleasure to listen to, and has instantly become a staple in my musical catalogue. Writing with Aaron Frazer (drums) and [...]
The Scene Unseen | June 27, 2016 | The Reach Inspiration. Sometimes it looks like a big scary monster, but it just wants to be your friend. Where does it come from? How do we keep it going? Well I have some ideas; some you may not like, some you [...]
WHAT A GOOD SHOT, MAN AN INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD PATRICK OF FILTER With the quiet release of their seventh album since 1995, Crazy Eyes has Filter sounding gritty, raw and aggressive as ever. Frontman Richard Patrick wanted to have complete [...]
The Scene Unseen | April 29, 2016 | On The Road Again The East Coast is cold in April, a biting, nasty cold that gets into your proverbial bones. I’m on a solo tour across the East Coast while my drummer honeymoons in the South Pacific; there [...]
The Scene Unseen | March 30, 2016 | Leader Of The Pack As an artist and a human being, we just want to be noticed. What is the driving force behind this? We’ve already determined that it’s not all ego, and when it is it’s stomach-turningly [...]
Man Made Forest @ The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto March 18, 2016 I feel at home inside the warmth of the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. It’s (hopefully) one of the last cold winter nights we have to endure, and the bar is like a familiar old [...]
Lemon Bucket Orkestra W/ The Shuffle Demons + Detroit Party Marching Band @ The Opera House, Toronto March 12, 2016 The Opera House is just another concert hall, but with a better layout than most. Same three bars aggressively surrounding the [...]
Wintersleep @ Lee’s Palace, Toronto March 5, 2016 As I file into Lee’s Palace among a sea of people I can hear the droning sound of openers “Walrus” filling the room. It’s 10PM and the place is rammed tight with fans, a cute and interesting [...]
Tal Wilkenfeld w/ Jerry Leger @ The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto February 29th, 2016 It’s a fucking cold night, and my eyebrows still hurt from waiting in line outside. I eavesdrop on conversations about boutique sound systems, bass playing [...]
Wolfmother @ Danforth Music Hall, Toronto February 27th, 2016 Wolfmother are back? Truth is they never went anywhere, but amidst the turmoil of many lineup changes they may have lost some of their steam in the public eye. Not that that seemed to [...]
The Scene Unseen | February 26, 2016 Flying home after a beautiful week of surfing in Costa Rica makes me pensive. Turning my fucking phone off for a week may also have something to do with it. I try not to think about the damage to my credit [...]
The Scene Unseen | January 25, 2016 The definition of insanity is “repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” according to Urban Dictionary. Actually no, it’s not, and you shouldn’t believe everything you read on [...]
The Scene Unseen | December 29, 2015 We arrive at the empty club early in the evening, drag five hundred-plus pounds of awkwardly shaped gear and twisted cables onto a sticky stage and start piecing the puzzle together. After sound check, if the [...]
The Scene Unseen | November 25, 2015 It’s a hell of a way to spend a week night, getting liquored up to screaming guitars and people yelling into your already damaged eardrums over the racket. The voices become a drone, and you nod your head and [...]
