When I was growing up, my parents were pretty strict. The thing they were most strict about was music. Until I was 16, I wasn’t allowed to buy music, and I wasn’t allowed to watch MuchMusic. The summer I turned 16 I had a job. I had my own money. And I was living away from home. In my infinite wisdom, I went to the only record shop in the city town community I was in, and bought Evil Empire. I had managed to sneak in some music video time while my parents were out one night and heard Bulls on Parade. My little mind was blown. I listened to it non-stop for a long time. I love all of the Rage albums, but Evil Empire was the biggest impact for me. It was heavy, and funky, and it was the album with the most rap as far as I remember. I listened to it so much, certain phrases will trigger a song on repeat for hours.

Revisit this. Do yourself a favour. The Bulls are on Parade.

There’s something about getting to see a band live. Some bands can win you over with the live show. Some bands can cement a relationship with their live show. Still others can lose a lot of fans with their live show.

A recent purge of my inbox brought me to an email about The Sheepdogs. I was feeling a little more frisky than usual, so I downloaded the free mp3 included and read through their upcoming tour dates. The Sheepdogs are 4 men of various stages of facial hair from ‘Toon town, in Saskatchewan. They specialize in a very well done brand of 70’s style rock and roll. To be truthful, it’s nothing you’ve never heard before. If you heard The Sheepdogs on local classic rock radio in between The Doobie Brothers and The Guess Who, you’d never realize they were young whippersnappers. It’s a good record, clean and polished, and tight as all get out.

Their live show is where the get you. They were making a swing through Moncton Rock City so I made a trek to the old Plan B lounge. What I found were four dudes who while remaining true to the structure of their songs, made it just dirty enough to stand out. Professional through and through these guys put on a seriously gritty show despite only 3 people there to see them, the rest being there because the venue sold beer and had no cover charge.

I hope these guys decide to make their way to these parts again, and I hope next time they can have a local opener to draw some fans out for them! Check out the Sheepdogs and come see them with me next time they come to Moncton.

myspace

Tomorrow night 5 super heavy and super loud and super awesome bands are playing at the Manhattan here in Moncton. I’m going. Were you on the fence about this show? I thought you might be. So, to help you make your decision, here’s a little zip file with 4 songs from 4 of the bands. I didn’t have anything from Shelter With Thieves. If you’re in Shelter With Thieves, hit me up so I can get a copy of your new record. If you want to.

Anyhow, go download this, and I’ll see you at the show.

show info

songs

Cuff the Duke – Way Down Here

Despite my odd-ball musical leanings, sometimes I’m very close-minded. There are certain bands, or artists that regardless of who they play with, what genre they play, and what label they’re on, I just completely sleep on. I don’t trust the data and I stay away. For example, a friend of mine told me about a band that played alt-country in the vein of Blue Rodeo. They’d actually done some work with Greg Keelor, my favourite Blue Rodeo guy. And they even put out their first album on Hayden’s Hardwood Records. All this information written in black and white makes me wonder why I’ve taken so long to actually listen to Cuff the Duke.

I guess in my old age, I’m starting to look at things more subjectivelly. Starting to be a little more open to these new things. Maybe it’s because I’m a parent. Maybe it’s because of my full time job. Maybe I’m just growing up. I read an ad for the new Cuff album in a magazine mentioning the Keelor connection. I remembered seeing Hardwood Records on their website. I remember they played here in Moncton with Blue Rodeo. Finally my guard came down and I said to myself “Joe, you need to hear this album. Get over yourself.” A quick email and a few days later, and the fine folks at Universal Music Canada had the cd on it’s way.

This is a great record. Musically, Cuff the Duke are fantastic. They sound solid, and tight. There’s a great similarity in the songwriting style to Blue Rodeo. I don’t consider it a rip-off, but more of a hommage. It’s just enough Blue Rodeo to pull people in. Once you’re in and you start listening around, you start to hear Cuff the Duke. You hear the dissimilarities in the voices. You hear the differences in the harmonies. You hear differences in the songwriting. You hear that in fact, Cuff the Duke has made their own great Canadiana album. One that will stand up over time. I hate to sound like I’m jumping the bandwagon here because of my long-standing indifference for these guys, but I think we’re standing with our countries next Blue Rodeo. A band that will, largely, not misstep with their music. That will take their time with each record and be happy with them, so that we can be happy with them. Don’t miss out. Pick up this record. Become a fan. Don’t do like I did.

official site

Dear Larry & Other Wazowski,

I loved The Matrix. I even loved the two follow ups. I went to see them in the theatre back when I didn’t like movie theatres. That’s my devotion to The Matrix. So when I saw a preview for Ninja Assassin, I got pretty excited. The guys who did The Matrix are now doing super awesome ninja movies? Fantastic!

You two have let me down.

Now, I’m going to be real about this. I only watched 10 minutes of this movie. But the 10 minutes I watched were enough to make sure I never watch another one of your movies ever again. I’ll have to watch Return of the Dragon 300 times before I can even begin to wash my brain of the garbage the both of you put on my TV screen. I’m not sure what you were thinking, but seriously. The next time you want to pull off something like this, call me first. Seriously.

I mean, I’ll admit, Keanu Reeves isn’t a great actor. Anybody can tell you that. He’s been very smart at picking the right roles, but he’s never been a great actor. But Laurence Fishburne is a great actor. Carrie Anne Moss is a great actress. Hugo Weaving is fantastic. Old KiKi had a supporting cast. I don’t know who any of these dudes you found for Ninja Assassin are, but man oh man oh man! They stink! Now, the argument may be made that it’s not supposed to be good acting, it’s supposed to be good fighting. To me, that’s a cop out. YOU MADE THE MATRIX!!! The perfect blend of action, fighting, acting and storyline! Don’t step backwards! Move forward!

I’m so upset I can’t even say anything else. this movie was bad. It was childish. It was poorly acted. The fight scenes weren’t even that great.

Wachowski brothers, I’m going to watch Ong Bak. You should too. Maybe you’ll learn something.

Hugs & Kisses,

Joe