Jared and Bethany are a newly minted wedded couple from Sherwood Park (which I think is a fancy way of saying Edmonton?). According to legend (or press release) the duo began performing as The Royal Foundry days after their wedding.
They have a romantic style that might remind you of The Civil Wars, Avett Brothers, The Belle Brigade…maybe going back a bit, how about The Rosebuds or even heck, The Weepies?
This is a very pretty song called “Run Back.”
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged The Royal Foundry | Leave a Comment »
The Tall Tree Music Festival is a boutique festival on Vancouver Island’s west coast. They have it on the side of a mountain just outside of Port Renfrew.
I’ve never had the opportunity to go in the past because of work and kids. This year…well I still have the kids, and the work, but I’ll be able to head up for at least a couple night with my buddy Razor. He is in the band Acres of Lions and they’ll be playing on Friday Night.
Also Friday… Longwalkshortdock!
On the Thursday night… Mullet Man was saying something about maybe DJing. That could be an experience.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Acres of Lions, LongWalkShortDock, Tall Tree Music Festival | Leave a Comment »
Artist rendition of what it may look like if I actually box someone.
First week of boxing bootcamp is almost done. Fun times. DJ Boitano and myself are waking up with the birds and hitting the gym. We’re in a boxing bootcamp where for an hour they get our heart-rate up while we punch things. The end goal being a boxing fight in November. Wish me luck!
My music internet friend in Sydney, Australia, Justine, sent me an older but still amazing cover from Kings of Leon. Last fall they were in the BBC 1 Live Lounge and covered Robyn’s “Dancing on my Own.” I love Robyn, she is just a perfect pop star.
KOL lets this song walk and hazes it out.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Kings of Leon, Robyn | Leave a Comment »
So-Cal’s Bad Suns crushed it when they were in Victoria to support The 1975 and Sir Sly at Sugar Nightclub. The Vagrant Records band will put out their debut album Language & Perspective on June 24th. The band posted another listen off the record today. A song called “We Move Like The Ocean.”
The song doesn’t crack like that first single “Cardiac Arrest.” “We Move Like The Ocean” is a lighter (or iPhone light app) in the air slow jam with an REM-esque post-rock guitar jangle.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Bad Suns, Vagrant Records | Leave a Comment »
Today’s minor obsession comes courtesy of North Carolina duo Sylvan Esso. Sylvan Esso is Amelia Meath and Nicholas Sanborn.
I first hit play on the song “Coffee” because I liked the title. The track is completely enchanting. Driving around listening to Blog Radio on Sirius the other day and the cut popped up and I was back in love.
Touring with tUnE-yArDs right now…maybe we already missed the show? There doesn’t seem to be anything listed for the Pacific Northwest on their tour page.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Sylvan Esso | Leave a Comment »
Photo: Webmeister Bud
How good was Band of Skulls on Thursday, May 29th? The British blues rockers came, saw, and conquered a sold out Sugar Nightclub in Victoria.
The set came out swinging with Himilayan giants “Asleep at the Wheel” and the title cut from their third record. So many huge anthems and high energy sizzlers off the hop. The settled in about two-thirds of the way before ultimately climaxing with modern rock radio banger “Hoochie Coochie.”
They came back out with an encore of “Sweet Sour,” “Light of the Morning,” and “Death By Diamonds and Pearls.” Massive.
Before the show, Dylan Willows picked up the band in The Zone’s Summer Civic and had cameras rolling (video coming soon) for a casual Q &A before handing them off to me back at the radio factory. Band of Skulls performed a could songs live on the radio.
Please note the picture of Russell and I being best friends.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, radio | Tagged Band of Skulls | Leave a Comment »
Friend of the blog, Webmeister Bud sent over the new music from Ontario’s The Coppertone. Pretty darn solid. He was reading about the woman named Red on Alan Cross’ site and loved it. AC called her Canada’s female Jack White. But maybe Jack White is America’s Coppertone? Either way, I love her music. Here are a couple to check out.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged The Coppertone | Leave a Comment »
Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast” is finding a home on alternative radio with its dark and moody Dan Auerbachness.
LA producer STINT brightened up the song.
He talks about the song, “I really like it when you can completely flip the production of a track upside down, and still have it make sense with the lyrics. I thought Dan Auerbach did an amazing job on the original. It’s smokey, classy, and a bit dark… It’s like a fine scotch you sip real slow. But I tried to look at the song from a totally different angle, and when I stripped everything but the vocals away, I found a really innocent love song. Not like an overly romantic love song… more like that tingly feeling you get in your stomach when you’re walking home from an amazing first date. Or those brief moments every once in a while when you forget about any shitty stuff going on in your life and you just feel light. That’s what this remix sounds like to me.”
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Dan Auerbach, Lana Del Rey, STINT | Leave a Comment »
Zach hugging me after we completed “The Wall” photo: E/A Photography – Victoria
Wrapped an amazing weekend in Victoria. Saturday was the Vikings exhibition at the Royal BC Museum, DeadBeetz Food truck (they’ll be Rock Festivals around Victoria, so hit it…wow) then I DJ’d a wedding. Sunday was the Power To Be: Power to Play Adventure Race.
Team Zone was there… Team #32…and we came in 32nd place. Neat. But we raised a bunch of money for the kids, and we had fun.
Back to the grind at the radio factory and it’s another busy one.
Band of Skulls will be in Victoria on Thursday for a sold out show at Sugar. It’s an early concert, doors at 7 PM.
I saw this great remix of BOS’s latest single “Hoochie Coochie” done by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.
Look for that remix on the Hoochie Coochie ep on July 27th.
***
Looking forward to Disney’s Maleficent. According to Buzzfeed Angelina Jolie personally picked Lana Del Rey to cover “Once Upon a Dream.”
Go with yourself.
Posted in life or something like it, music | Tagged Band of Skulls, Lana Del Rey, Power to Be, The Black Keys | 2 Comments »
My friend Misty posted this story the other day about a guy sailing around on a 50-year-old wooden sailboat that he restored.
Check out Twenty-Eight Feet.
The short documentary features a song by Ben Howard called “Old Pine.”
“Hot sand on toes, cold sand in sleeping bags. I come to know that memories were the best things you ever had.”
Ben is in the studio working on new music, but it was nice to dive back into this older cut. great camping song.
As weather turns to summer on Vancouver Island, I think about camping, hiking and beach vacations and this song is the soundtrack.
***
Another British singer-songwriter fellow I came across today… James Bay. Don’t judge me, I clicked on his song today because his name is the same as a neighbourhood of Victoria. True story.
“Songwriting is difficult. There’s this little critic in my head, and all he ever says is “no, no, no, no, no.” Sometimes, (if I’m lucky) he says “maybe”, and once in a long while, he’ll say “yeah, alright.” That gets really frustrating, really fast.”
***
Finally… we travel to Sweden and the alt-pop of Tove Lo.
Ebba Nilsson performs her style of music under the banner Tove Lo. Her record Truth Serum came out in march and the song “Habit” is rising. A full length album will come later this year from island Records.
Talking to Billboard Tove Lo says of her breakup anthem, “At first I didn’t want to write something bad. But, when it was all over, being in that state of mind … I need to use that when I write. I can’t not.”
Elle explores the success of her song about heart-ache and discovers she was a grunge kid growing up. Hey Lo, me too!
“Lo cites Nirvana and Courtney Love’s Hole as early inspirations. As a teen she was immersed in grunge culture, her hair dyed black. She has a tattoo of a cartoon-like girl harnessed to the back of a bumble bee inked along her left upper arm and says she only owns two pairs of shoes: Dockers sneakers and Candies.”
Elle describes the style of songwriter and her contemporaries, Robyn, Icona Pop, Mo, Lykki Li, as “Swedish femme pop.”
The music video is pretty choice.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music | Tagged Ben Howard, James Bay, Tove Lo | Leave a Comment »
The Morning After 