Author Archives: Geri Mayer-Judson

Adele’s ’30’ album will not go easy on your emotions

Posted on by
Reply

I do hope you forgive me for neglecting the hyperlocal for one article, dearest reader, as I would be remiss in my coverage of the BC music scene without discussing the album everyone on the planet is listening to today: 30.

Adele has finally dropped the long awaited follow-up to 25, released six years ago.

And the hype hasn’t just come from the fact that Adele has been a musical powerhouse for over a decade.  It’s also come from the fact that Adele has gone through it the last couple of years, having divorced her longtime partner and spouse of three years.

But when I saw her Instagram post alongside her album release?  Even I was excited to give 30 a listen.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWdo9oipHPC/

Usually, Adele doesn’t hit the spot for me.  ‘Easy On Me’ hasn’t hit the spot for me (trust me.  I work in hot adult contemporary radio.  I’ve heard that song about forty-five thousand times).  So, I began listening to this album as I opened the document to write this article, with hope that I would find a departure from the Adele I’d made up my mind about.

And so I have.

This new era of Adele is exciting in its musical arrangement and its production.  And unexpectedly, gut-wrenchingly intimate.  ‘My Little Love’ features a recording of Adele explaining her divorce and feelings to her young child, plus other footage captured in vivo of Adele explaining her anxiety, confusion, and grief in tears.

In ‘Oh My God’ (my personal favourite) she lays down an electro-blues beat down while lyrically beginning to give herself permission to move on and be single for the first time since careening headfirst into superstardom.

I couldn’t finish this article off without diving into ‘To Be Loved’.

‘To Be Loved’ is a near seven-minute odyssey featuring just Adele and a piano.  This stripped-down number allows the power-alto to imbue each word with her emotion and mastery of her voice in equal measure.  This track is goosebump central.

30 is a very special album, and even if you’re not into Adele, I guarantee you will find something you like about it.  It’s very Adele in a way that old fans will enjoy, but it’s also fresh in a way that will net Adele some new fans.  I’m speaking, of course, from immediate experience.

It all started with the ‘Hayloft’

Posted on by
Reply

Anyone who knows me knows that I physically cannot shut up about Mother Mother.  I’m insufferable. An evangelist.  As such, I’ll do my best to make this piece not read like a pamphlet.

Besides, it’s only appropriate to write about this Quadra-based band as they gain a considerable foothold on the world’s stage.

If you approached me ten years ago and told me that Mother Mother, that indie band I liked a lot, would become a viral Internet sensation during a global pandemic, I would need a lot of clarification.  But I would be in total disbelief.

It’s true, though.  Teenagers on TikTok got ahold of Mother Mother’s 2008 album O My Heart and ran with it twelve years after its release.  They made all kinds of content,  primarily to the tune of ‘Hayloft’.

Hayloft was, all those years ago, my gateway track into becoming the rabid Mother Mother fan I am today.  History has a way of repeating itself (and of making certain writers of certain music-related articles feel absolutely decrepit like a mummy, falling apart in a tomb).

So popular is ‘Hayloft’ that Mother Mother has been flirting with the idea of recording a sequel.  A real, ‘Where are they now?’ of the fabled young lovers in the hayloft.

@mothermothermusic

We’ve never written a sequel song before. #Hayloft #MotherMother #FYP

♬ original sound – Mother Mother

As is my style in these articles, this is the part where I let you know that Mother Mother is coming to Vancouver in the very near future!  On December 2 through the 5th, they’ll be at the Commodore Ballroom, and there are some tickets still available.  And on New Year’s Eve, they open for 54-40 and Bryan Adams at Rogers Arena.  Click here for tickets to that one.

I can personally attest to this band having a Cheap Trick quality about them.  The songs are unreal on the albums, yes.  But live?  There’s no comparison.  The experience is elevated exponentially.  I would go as far as claiming Mother Mother to be the best contemporary alternative, live act out there right now.  I can’t recommend seeing at least one Mother Mother show in your life enough.

If you have 20-odd minutes, check out this CBC Music performance that demonstrates what I’m talking about:

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see these folks skyrocketing, and I’m definitely stoked for whatever it is they do next.

Hotel Mira is an amazing band, and here’s why:

Posted on by
Reply

You may or may not have already read my article on The Zolas, a local alternative/indie band who have been making some serious waves in the Canadian music scene.  This article also serves as a feature on a local alternative/indie band, whose following is a little smaller, but I have a feeling that won’t be the case for long.

Please allow me to introduce: Hotel Mira.

You might know them by their old name, JPNSGIRLS.  An iteration of the band carved out their place in the Vancouver indie scene from 2010 to 2016 under this name, and even scored a nomination for a Sirius XM Independent Music Award.

But after some personnel shuffling, a name change was in order and Hotel Mira as you and I now know it was born!

If I can get personal with my feelings toward Hotel Mira for a moment, I think this band is ridiculously, absurdly good.  Musically, lyrically, production-wise… it’s all spot-on.

My favourite tune of theirs has to be ‘Better on Your Own’.  The song is three minutes of groveling at the feet of an ex-partner.  It’s an admission of obsession.  Frontman and sole lyricist Charlie Kerr made that very obvious with this line in verse two:

Screaming, “Yes!  I’m obsessed!” / You are everything I wanted and more / Start a cult, and I’ll join / ‘Cause I’m yours, I’m yours, I am yours.

But it’s backed by this playful, almost percussive melody in a major key.

This is a band that takes risks in the name of perking your ears up.  Sounding interesting.  Giving life to feelings that are embarrassing but ubiquitous and relatable, even if we don’t want to admit it.  It’s inarguably a fresh take.

If you’d like to experience this one-of-a-kind act in person, Hotel Mira is touring with The Zolas right now!  They come to Vancouver next Friday at the Vogue Theatre, and you can snag a ticket to that show right here.

If you make a sign with their lyrics on it, Charlie Kerr might even grab it from you and brandish it onstage.  It seems like a thing he might do.

 

 

Vancouver’s resident energy czars play the Vogue on November 26

Posted on by
Reply

Something I have loved about moving away from Calgary and into Vancouver is the robust bedrock of indie and alternative music on which the city and its music scene stands.

You can’t throw a rock around these parts without hitting an indie/alternative band of renown!  They’re everywhere!

In this article, I’m throwing that rock at The Zolas.

Y’know, if this were a podcast, I would swell in some Zolas tune as a means of transitioning from one thought to the next, but this is not an explicitly audio medium, so I invite you to click the play button on ‘Energy Czar’ and listen to it while you read the rest of this article.

The Zolas, who released their newest album this past summer, seemed destined for a spot in the hearts and minds of Canadian music enthusiasts from the get-go.  Their debut album in 2009 was produced by Howard Redekopp, who has produced the likes of The New Pornographers, and Tegan and Sara.

And following that debut, the hits just kept comin’.

The Zolas have been bringing those hits cross-country with Hotel Mira and Dwi this month, and they’re finishing off that tour right here at home with a show on the 26 of November at the Vogue Theatre.

Tickets to that show are available here.

I’ll leave you with a couple of interesting facts about The Zolas.

First, frontman and lyricist Zachary Gray is the son of notable Canadian writer and composer, John MacLachlan Gray.

Second, The Zolas took their name from 19th century French writer Émile Zola, who wrote, revolutionarily, about intergenerational trauma of the lower class as caused by the Industrial Revolution.  The upper class ate those books up, while scoffing at their lower class subjects.

The Zolas are demonstrably just as clever as they are excellent musicians.

Tell you what, I become more and more of a swooner for these guys the more I learn about ’em!

In the streetlight dawn, their beat turns on: the New Pornographers play back-to-back shows at the Vogue next month

Posted on by
Reply

Calling all mass romantic fools: the New Pornographers are putting on a pair of anniversary shows right here in Vancouver next month!

They celebrate the 21st anniversary of their masterpiece debut Mass Romantic, and the 16th anniversary of their other amazing album, Twin Cinema.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRZUuFytQVo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

On December 11, they’ll perform the Mass Romantic album at the Vogue Theatre, and on December 12, they’re going to play through Twin Cinema.

I was late to discovering the New Pornographers, but I do remember playing the ever-loving crap out of the titular track of Mass Romantic on my 3rd generation iPod nano when I was in high school.

 

If you’re unfamiliar, the New Pornographers have been Vancouver indie rock mainstays for 20-plus years.

They began – and remain – as a sort of artist collective.  Or a supergroup.  It depends on who you ask.  The many members of the New Pornographers came together to arrange amazing power-pop tunes, independent of each of their respective ‘main’ projects.

The eight albums the band have released since their 1997 formation have all seen critical acclaim, routinely placing in the Village Voice‘s anual ‘Pazz & Jop’ polls.  These albums are also lauded for their use of multiple vocalists.

The band will also release a special, 21st anniversary edition of Mass Romantic, pressed on bright red vinyl.  The re-issue will include a bonus 7″ with two rare B-sides.  Pre-sales for this album are happening right now if you want to get your hands on that.

The New Pornographers are holding two-night, sold-out engagements in major US locales this month – Woodstock, NY; New York, NY; and Seattle, WA, before heading back up here, where it all began.

Tickets for the December 11 show are here, and you can click here for tickets to the December 12 show.  Or you can click each link, and get tickets to both!

 

 

Neil Osborne of 54-40 will take Langley stage next week

Posted on by
Reply

When I ask you to name a quintessential Canadian musical act, who comes to mind?

The Tragically Hip?  Rush?  Stompin’ Tom Connors?

These are all valid first responses, of course, but may I present for your consideration: 54-40.

54-40 are so deeply Canadian that the name of their band is a reference to a 19th century US/Canadian land border dispute.

They’re so British Columbian, they have a star in the BC Hall of Fame.

54-40 is so specifically Lower Mainland, that they played their first gig in Coquitlam.  Two of the members went to the same high school in Tsawwassen, for crying out loud!

And one of those members, Neil Osborne, is playing a show in Langley on November 26 at the Bez Arts Hub.

Osborne is the very man who penned and sang the lyrics for 54-40 hits like ‘Ocean Pearl’, ‘One Day in Your Life’, and ‘I Go Blind’, which was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this year.

Fun fact about ‘I Go Blind’ – it was famously covered by Hootie & the Blowfish, and that version was featured in the TV series Friends.  Royalty payments from that cover and its mid-90’s ubiquity allowed 54-40 to build their own recording studio in Vancouver.

And the albums just kept coming.

Seventeen albums, to be exact.  Seventeen studio albums.  And Neil Osborne played a major role in the production of all seventeen.

He’s also been a busy guy besides, producing albums for acts the likes of Small Glories and Jets Overhead, as well as his daughter Kandle.  The father-daughter recording duo have also teamed up and recorded some tunes under the name A Family Curse.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGGfPfLgeAo/

The salient point, here, is that Neil Osborne is a consummate professional musician who knows how to make unforgettable and timeless music.

You can get tickets to his November 26 show here, and for the sake of safety, you’ll need your proof of vaccination with you to attend.

Rogers Arena set to host Canadian music extravaganza on New Year’s Eve

Posted on by
Reply

Maybe it’s much too early in the game, but I thought I’d ask you just the same: what are you doing New Year’s Eve?

I ask, reader, because on December 31st at Rogers Arena, there will be an event I can only describe as a Canadiana extravaganza.

Bryan Adams, 54-40, and Mother Mother are banding together to bring Vancouver a New Year’s truly rockin’ Eve.

That’s right.  Canadian musical powerhouse Bryan Adams – who recently had to pull out of a Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame tribute to Tina Turner because of a positive COVID test – will be ringing in the new year right here in YVR.

Adams comes to Vancouver following a six-show residency in Las Vegas, and will jet off to Europe in January for a tour promoting his upcoming album So Happy it Hurts.

Speaking of being so happy it hurts, one can only imagine a Bryan Adams New Year’s Eve show will be nothing short of an all-out party.  In fact, Live Nation is calling this event the “biggest” NYE celebration Vancouver has seen in decades.

What’s the over-under that the clock strikes 12 during the bridge of ‘Run to You’, do you think?

Adams’ locally-sourced opening acts aren’t too bad, either.

54-40 are so quintessentially Lower Mainland that they should play ‘Ocean Pearl’ in schools around these parts every morning, right along with the national anthem.

Mother Mother comes straight out of Quadra island, and the prolific alternative band skyrocketed to global recognition after the following tune went viral on the TikTok app:

It’s safe to say that my New Year’s plans are neatly sewn up; if you’d like to join me at Rogers Arena, you can snag your tickets here.  Doors are at 8 and, of course, proof of vaccination will be required to attend.

The nearest thing to Nirvana hits the Wise Hall this Friday

Posted on by
Reply

Let me start off by saying: I’m the worst.

I have a deep, visceral appreciation for puns, and I love cover bands.  Genuinely.

Knowing this about me, you can imagine my unbridled delight when I came across a group called Nearvana.

You can probably glean exactly what you’re in for with Nearvana from their name alone: they’re a Nirvana cover band.  They bill themselves as a Nirvana experience – meaning they intend to recreate the full… well, experience of seeing Nirvana play a live show.  Ripped 90’s jeans, angry energy, and all.

And this Friday, they’re performing the entire Unplugged in New York album at The Wise Hall.

(Promotional art by Kat Tzingounakis / Facebook)

Nearvana boasts their status as the only Nirvana experience given the blessing of the three surviving former members of Nirvana.

The special thing about a Nirvana cover band performing the Unplugged album is that Nirvana also covered a lot of tunes on that album.  There’s some Bowie, some Meat Puppets, even some Lead Belly.  It’s truly going to be cover-ception.  A meta-cover bonanza.

Doors for this show are at 8 o’clock, and Nearvana has sourced some killer local talent to kick off the show.

The local “Base layer wearin bass player”, Timmy P takes the stage at 8:30.  You might recognize him and his bass stylings from the Vancouver-based metal/fusion group Ninjaspy, but you’ll see him work wonders with a loop pedal solo on Friday night.

Next up is Vancouver five-piece heavy, grungy rock band Sleepcircle, who count Nirvana among their influences.

Then at 10:30, Nearvana swoops in, starting with About a Girl.

You can get your tickets here for Nearvana’s November 19 show, or there will be some cash-only tickets available for purchase at the door.

I would go as far as saying this is the coolest time you can have for fifteen bucks in Vancouver on a chilly Friday night!

Fifty-five percent of British Columbians surveyed support a bid for 2030 Olympics

Posted on by
Reply

A survey of several hundred British Columbians published Friday yielded some interesting results about a 2030 Olympic bid.  Fifty-five percent of those surveyed by Insights West were in support of a bid for Metro Vancouver to host the 2030 Winter Games.

However, that support jumped to 77% with the condition that no public money be spent on the games (i.e., they would be entirely privately funded).

Olympic Rings, Whistler, Olympics, 2010 Olympics

(BLazerus / Pixabay)

Regardless of personal support for the 2030 Olympics being held here, respondents overwhelmingly believed that the games would benefit the local economy greatly via job creation, post-COVID tourism generation, and would result in useful new infrastructure for post-games use.

There is already a grassroots movement in ardent support of the 2030 Winter Games being held locally.  Simply called Vancouver 2030, the volunteer-based movement posits that the 2030 games would be “cost-effective (and) debt-free”, given the extant facilities and infrastructure from the 2010 Olympics.

Although this organization is not affiliated in any way with the Canadian Olympic Committee, they see an opportunity for these Olympic Games to be more socially responsible, and focus on sustainability, diversity, and equity.

Vancouver has not yet made any formal bid to host the Olympics, but City Council voted in March to proceed with an analysis of the potential impact that these games could have.  This includes a critical look back at the 2010 games.

The 2010 Olympics were generally an economic and infrastructural success, as well as a point of national athletic pride.  Not only did Canada win the most gold medals that year, but it was the first time Canada had won any gold medals in an Olympic Games that it hosted.

Among athletic victories, there was a LGBTQIA+ victory at the 2010 Winter Games, as well.  Vancouver was the first host city to accommodate queer athletes with a Pride House.

Considering all those high points, the 2010 Olympics are going to be a hard act to follow.  It is, if nothing else, interesting to see that British Columbians are open to trying.

 

Vancouver’s funniest folks to put on a show for a good cause

Posted on by
Reply

You know that saying about ‘laughter’ and ‘medicine’, right?  This May long weekend, a group of local comedians hope to tickle your funny bone while helping a global medical cause.

Spearheaded by Charles “Charlie” Demers, The May-Long Fundraiser takes place on Saturday, May 22.  Proceeds from the show will go to the Canadian branch of Partners in Health, an organization that brings health care to those in need all over the world.  Currently, their focus is on getting COVID-19 vaccines distributed to lower-income countries.

The lineup for the virtual show includes Vancouver locals Charlie Demers, Maddy Kelly, and Graham Clark (co-host of popular podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself, which you can listen to here).

Also performing are Vancouver-born Ivan Decker, The Debaters mainstay Erica Sigurdson, and touring comedian extraordinaire Sunee Dhaliwal.

Indeed, it will surely live up to its tagline as being “the most fun you can have during a pandemic”!

The May-Long Fundraiser will run for one-and-a-half hours, with each comedian performing a roughly 10-minute set from their home.

Microphone, Stage, Light, Show, Music, Sound, Sing

(Fun4All / Pixabay)

In addition to championing this fundraising effort, Charlie Demers also regularly lends his comedic voice to the CBC Radio One program The Debaters (listen here).  He is also known for his writing, voice acting, and political activism.

Demers has said before that free and accessible healthcare is a cause that is important to him.  He has been following the work of Partners in Health for over a decade.

There is a pithy statement to be made here about how we need laughter now more than ever (the newest dreaded cliché), but there is truth there.  It has been difficult, and often seemingly inappropriate, to find kernels of humor in current events.

A virtual comedy show that directly funds the distribution of vaccines to low- and medium-income regions seems to be the perfect place to start giving ourselves permission to laugh again.