“You shouldn’t start telling a story if you don’t have a story to tell.” From his seat in the lunch room of Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre, Tuomas Holopainen leans forward and speaks into the digital audio recorder resting on the coffee table in fr
Linda McRae has a special place in our hearts here at Roots Music Canada, and not just because she’s such a great person. Notwithstanding her busy schedule of touring, recording and teaching songwriting workshops, she also was one of the very first peop
Swank sashayed out of Van this summer. How many gigs in how many nights?
6 gigs in 6 sweaty nights! It was like a military operation, but with booze.
Name clubs and the bands that you played with.
The Grateful Fed, Kelowna, The S...
Interview with RMRM done in October, 2012 by D'Arcy Briggs
Ska Fest: So first off, RMRM have become known as one of the region's best ska, reggae, and party bands. What were some of the original ideas behind the group and how would yo...
Live-show extraordinaire act APEX BREAKS are quickly rising up through the ranks with their unique twist of Psychedelic Jungle Funk. The devoted 10-piece are carving out a lasting career for themselves, and kindly took part in an interview to delve a litt
With her fifth album release on April 1 and Western Canadian tour dates throughout April, Orit Shimoni’s Bitter is the New Sweet opens up an exciting new chapter in the life of one Canada’s most brilliant and lyrically impactful vocalis...
1. Hi John. First off, can you introduce yourself, your band and dancers?
You can call me John - I play a big Gretsch guitar and do the main vocals - I also do most of the songwriting. The band really began when sCare-oline (upright...
Interview with HHH was done in June, 2012 by D'Arcy Briggs
Ska Fest: When and where do you guys meet? When did you decide to form the band?
HHH: We all met through playing in other projects together. For example, our drummer, Pher, and Ch...
Over a pitcher of Molson Canadian at the Princeton Pub, while a startlingly able roots-rock ensemble hosts the open stage night behind our table, we ask Bison’s vocalist-guitarist James Farwell how he feels about his band’s recent signi...
She’s been at it for 35 years, but Toni Blodgett’s love of jazz continues to fuel her band’s unique blend of what she calls “more traditional” music.
What it really means is her group has access to a vast repertoire of jazz tunes and has develo
Minto Climbs Olympus by Matt Hagarty
It's any young band's dream to record an album with such a marquee name as Steve Albini's. Recording with the famed sound engineer/pundit responsible for output from Nirvana, Superchunk, The Stooges,...
Bison members I spoke to agree that the closure of The Cobalt would (or is it will?) be a “huge blow” for the Vancouver music scene. “Bison has played The Cobalt probably about five times,” guitarist/ vocalist James Farwell tells me...