Despistado Interview Maybe this will become a Mesa Luna tradition. Some people may remember the moneen interview from April, which was presented in a transcript format. Conducted in a similar nature, the interview time I spent with Despistado was so all-over-the-place...[more]
	On The Speakers Interview What struck the most immediately about On The Speakers, as I sat down with them mere moments before their set time in Vancouver last May, was that this is a group of guys who seem very close-knit and very easy-going. They lay around easily on the couches in the back room, laughed away, made silly jokes, and were really laisez-faire about every topic we touched on...[more]
	The Killers Interview If you don't live in Las Vegas, or spend time exploring it if you visit, then your general impression of the place is probably of a brilliantly-lit, tacky, upside-down, glitzy, loud town springing up in the middle of a vast desert. Apparently though, there's life beyond the casinos and the massive hotels and the drive-thru wedding chapels and Tom Jones...[more]
	Hawksley Workman Interview Are we as Canadians cursed? Or rather are Canadian artists cursed? In more recent years I can quickly think of a number of Canadian artists which have received only a modest reception within the confines of their homeland borders, yet have completely blown up and been nothing short of adored, far, far, away...[more]
	Dogs Interview Perhaps it's the English charm that would make one believe the only influences on the garage/punk band Dogs have been a steady and healthy diet of The Clash and Paul Weller...[more]
	French Kicks Interview There are so many faces to rock music today. There's a huge clump of bands that stick to the same aesthetic as their peers in an attempt to break through, and then there's bands like the French Kicks, who maintain a distinct sound without becoming inaccessible...[more]
	evening Interview Who's heard evening before? Yes? No? Maybe 'heard of' but not know anything about? You're not alone. evening - the word alone conjures up all manner of thoughts. Dark, glamourous, maybe spooky even… This band is as diverse as the adjectives that can be used to describe their moniker. The San Francisco collective creates such startlingly odd yet beautiful music...[more]
	Rufus Wainwright Interview Rufus Wainwright has provided the world with spectacular music that has managed to bring less-conventional genres into the spotlight. While still not completely mainstream, he has huge followings the world over for his theatrical performances and classical/jazz/pop/folk blend of music. He brings a wordy, fun, and very open character to his music, and is pretty candid about his life to anyone curious enough to ask him about it...[more]
	Danny Michel Interview On a pleasantly-warm springy day, Danny Michel and I took a seat on the back stairwell of Richards club in Vancouver to yap. Earlier, as I'd waited for him to arrive up front, he proved courteous enough to, when finding himself and his band stuck in rush-hour traffic in Surrey, call the label rep to let us know he was on his way and wasn't just being some petulant rock star...[more]
	The Distillers Interview Flying the banner of punk hater is a very risky thing to do in a music world that loves to label everything PUNK. It's not a task most bands would be willing to take on. Enter The Distillers. Much has been said of this four piece as of late. Brody Dalle is one of the most talked about singers in music, and unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons...[more]
	New Model Army Interview I'm continuing the trend of mis-identifying vocalist Justin Sullivan's touring act as New Model Army for the purposes of this interview transcription as well. I'd intended to get the whole ten questions thing done with Sullivan, but things evolved a bit with the "What scares you" question, and I didn't feel like keeping him from his dinner to get his answer to the Shark and Bear question...[more]
	Fear Factory Interview CORD: I've seen a ton of songs in soundtracks for games and movies. How much control do you guys as a band have over the use of the songs? BURTON C. BELL (VOCALS): Oh yeah, that's all us. We have say in that... The ones we are most interested in is the video games...[more]
	Statistics Ten Questions Break my finger or something… you know, something stupid and like, "oh sorry I can't finish this tour." [more]
	Despistado Ten Questions ...or lately now we've been doing this really awesome hoedown. We sing this song and it's just a super-big hoedown. [more]
	On The Speakers Ten Questions Is Jamie Lee Curtis a hermaphrodite?[more]
	The Killers Ten Questions That's the mania we inspire...[more]
	French Kicks Ten Questions ...this sort of pathetic world is going to hell in a handbasket, and there's not too much respect for simple and beautiful things. And that makes me sad...[more]
	evening Ten Questions Uh… how do you curl your moustache? Does that take a lot of effort?...[more]
	Orchid Highway Ten Questions About halfway through the night, all the serving staff was wearing Orchid Highway baby tees and kilts and it looked pretty naughty. And then we piled into our bus and went to some guy's cottage or something like that...[more]
	Danny Michel Ten Questions The little skunk? Pepe Le Peu? And he was always like… you watch him now and he's just like this slimy pervert guy. Right? He's always like chasing the women around and he won't let them out and he locks them in the rooms. He's so creepy!...[more]
	The Distillers Ten Questions The shark, they have laser beams on their frickin' heads! No I'm gonna have to go with the shark 'cause sharks are the coolest. They're cute...[more]
	New Model Army Ten Questions Anyone. Anyone at all, you. You'll do! It'd be interesting to be a woman for a day. Black for a day. Russian for a day...[more]
	Fear Factory Ten Questions I don't know if anything really scares us. Flying doesn't scare me. Terrorism... You know what? Growing up with violence around me all my life, somebody else is just adding to the pot. I don't think we're really scared of anything... [more]
	CordMag Keeps It Rollin'. Ahhhh summer time, could there be anything more wonderful? The offices at the Cord Mag world headquarters are abuzz…[more]
	Transientworld ...all things transient. [more]
	Mellowdrone Go Get 'Em Tiger. [more]
	Powderfinger Vulture Street. [more]
	On The Speakers EP. [more]
	Statistics Leave Your Name. [more]
	Eagles Of Death Metal Peace Love Death Metal. [more]
	Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose. [more]
	The Streets A Grand Don't Come For Free. [more]
	The Parkas with Hinterland and Guitaro A casual night at the good ol' Pic. I hadn't seen a show in that room since it changed promoters' hands some months ago. But it's the same place it always was. Small, long, narrow, the stage sucks, the lights suck, the sound sucks...[more]
	Sondre Lerche Goodness me. What a refreshing young character Sondre Lerche is. The doe-eyed Norwegian singer is creating music unlike anything a 21-year-old has any business making in this day and age. He'd be more at home singing alongside Sinatra back in the day...[more]
	Despistado with Statistics, Rakshasa and the Raking Bombs. Six bands in one, and a double shot of two of them! This is a quick collection of a pair of late-May shows I attended, both with completely different vibes from one another... Honeysuckle with Black Rice, Despistado and Statistics. It was an incredibly casual day all told. Members of Statistics and Despistado spent much of the early evening just wandering around, hanging out on the back stairwell of the venue, making a dance party with Statistics' box o' wonders...[more]
	Alexisonfire with Boys Night Out, Black Halos and blue.skies.at.war. Goodness, what a day. It's not super-often anymore that I find myself at all-ages gigs, and when I do, they're either gigantic stadium shows, or some sort of loud rock/punk/something-mo show. This one was of the latter variety, though still in a fairly sizable venue, the Croatian Cultural Centre. I've remarked before that going to a show at the CCC kind of feels like revisiting a high school dance...[more]
	Lost Prophets with Head Automatica and KillRadio. The city was dripping with band members from this show all afternoon. I had, of course, been around the venue in the mid-afternoon, but afterwards, while I trolled the streets myself in search of caffeine and Japanese food, I criss-crossed paths with many of the men I would later see taking the stage at Richards...[more]
	The Shins with Fiery Furnaces and US Maple. It was a dark and stormy night, as I braved the elements to get you the scoop on The Shins live at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom. Friday, May 21 marked the kick off of another of The Shins non-stop tours, with only the one Canadian date before a string of American stops. The crowd at the Commodore was the typical university-aged hipsters...[more]
	80 Proof Yob with Dog Eat Dogma. I was running a bit late, arriving just in time to hear the last chord fading from Lost In The Sun's last song. When the next band took to the stage, it wasn't hard to know what we were in for. We grabbed drinks and found a relatively empty space to stand near the front. The band opening for Dog Eat Dogma this night was 80 Proof Yob, who appear to have just arrived from Tennessee (by way of Surrey apparently)...[more]