Author Archives: Markus Warde

This Is (The Day Before) Halloween!

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I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. Yeah breaking news, dork says dork thing, whoopdee-doo. But that movie is just so amazing. It was really the first time I watched a movie where the main character wasn’t the good guy. I mean Jack is really a bad dude throughout most of the movie. Not that he means badly, but he ruins Christmas for the world and almost gets Santa killed. But I’m getting off track, I want to talk to you about the music. It’s a musical after all, and what makes it so great, is that you can get the entire story just from listening to the soundtrack.

Just through the album alone you know that Jack, while unfulfilled with his role as a Halloween legend, attempts to recreate the magical holiday Christmas, while his friend Sally foresees the disaster to come. Which comes true, forcing Jack to reckon with who he is, and what he wants, ultimately finding happiness in who he is, and fixing Christmas for everyone. Also the boogeyman is there.

It’s just such a well written soundtrack and I’m sure it doesn’t have to be said, but Danny Elfman is a genius. Now that I have sufficiently praised the movie, I want to tell you about something you gotta check out. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is putting on a live play of the movie! If that didn’t make any sense, the movie will play on the screen, but the VSO will play the music as it happens! I just got my tickets today, and I am so pumped. My girlfriend loves the movie too, so I gave her tickets as a birthday present.

But the VSO is no stranger to events like this. Just last year they put on Encanto. So they really do it all. I mean the jump between the hopping tunes of that magical family, down to the slower, gothic moves of Halloweentown, can’t be easy. But they’ve done this before, so they’ve gotta be doing something right. And I for one, cannot wait to find out. I can’t stress enough how excited I am to see this. I saw the limited rerelease in theatres a couple years ago and it was amazing. Whatever you were going to do after reading this, put it on hold for a few minutes, and go buy tickets to see the show. If you like the Nightmare Before Christmas, if you’re like my siblings and hate it? First of all, shame on you, second, yeah maybe don’t go. I mean maybe do, maybe this’ll be what changes your mind.

Nothing, But Actually, Something

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I want to spotlight an indie artist for you. She’s a singer/songwriter out of Delta named Molly Schneuer. That’s pronounced Shnoy-er, at least she didn’t correct me when I said it that way. She’s been making music and singing for years, but she’s only just started releasing it last year. And she is amazing, let me tell you about her.

To start, she has a beautiful voice. It’s beyond any I’ve ever heard. We went to school together, and every time she got on stage, the whole room went quiet, because they knew what was coming. It’s got this really ethereal quality that she adds on to in post with reverb and voice processing and all that stuff. Have you ever laid back in a pool and floated on your back for a while? That’s what her voice sounds like. But there’s an edge in there too, like someone who wants for more but can’t have it. It’s amazing.

Her latest song as of now, is called “the night remembers” and I really liked it. Partially because its one of her most “rock” songs and I’m a rock guy. But it isn’t rock I just want to make that clear. You know Olivia Rodrigo? It’s that kind of thing, where it’s a pop song but with clear rock inspiration. It’s got a solid drum beat that takes you through the whole thing. It feels like riding the bus. No matter what you’re doing it rumbles along until reaching the final stop. But beyond the drums, there aren’t that many noticeable instruments. They mostly exist to compliment Molly’s voice, which is doing most of the heavy lifting here. The baseline thumps right along as well. However, there’s a really interesting synth kind of sound in there. It’s got this almost static-y sound that really works. I don’t really know how to describe it, so I’ll leave it to you, go listen and see what you think.

Molly is a really talented musician, and I for one, am very excited to see where she goes next. Check out her album “nothing”, tip to tail, its great. Especially with fall happening and winter approaching, its got the right vibe for this time of year. It’s almost pensive at points, and the title track “nothing” is amazing for quiet, wintertime interludes.

I Had No Idea He Was Alive

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I thought Joel Plaskett was dead. I was certain, because last year a bunch of Canadian musicians came together and played his music for a celebration album. It was called Songs From The Gang – A Celebration of Joel Plaskett, really I stood no chance. But no, he’s well and alive. And he still makes music and tours!

If you don’t know who Joel Plaskett is, he’s hard to pin down. His music ranges from soft folk ballads, to rolling rock stompers. If you want to get into him, check out his album Three. It’s three discs, each with 9 songs. One of the parts of the albums theming is some songs are a word repeated three times, Through & Through & Through, Pine, Pine, Pine, Down, Down, Down, and Deny, Deny, Deny just to name a few.

Through x3, has a real classic rock vibe, and I mean CLASSIC rock, back to the early seventies almost, but throwing in some revolver-era Beatles with the horn usage.

Pine, Pine, Pine, is almost like 80’s country music. I can easily imagine this song appearing on the Highwaymen’s discography. Down, Down, Down is right in its right time. Did you ever listen to The Green Album? Not the one by Weezer, but the one with all the Muppets cover songs, it’s really great, check it out. But this song would fit right in on that album. It’s got folkish qualities to it, but amazing vocal production. The harmonies, and that kind of echo thing he puts on the vocal fills? Man, it near puts me to sleep with how at peace I am. And Deny, Deny, Deny is like an Oh, Hellos song, they had that song Soldier, Poet, King 10 years ago that pops up on Instagram now and again. But it’s also got some classic Sloan in there. When those vocal harmonies kick in, it felt like that scene in Ratatouille when the critic tries the food and has a flashback to his childhood, except, it was One Chord To Another.

But the reason I bring all this up, is because a musician of his caliber, who is beloved by the Canadian music scene to the point where they all came together to record a birthday album for him, played on Pender Island last week. Isn’t that crazy? That’s like if Paul McCartney decided to play a show at a community hall in Rhode Island. I mean, not quite because Paul McCartney is y’know, Paul, but my point stands!

A Very Confusing T-Shirt

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54-40’s opening act Jets Overhead was exactly what you’d expect from them. Even if you don’t know who they are, if you listened, it feels like you have. Not in a derivative “Oh these guys are the same as every other early 2000’s canrock band” but more of a familiar “Hey, I remember songs like these from when I was younger kind of way.”

But I have to be honest with you. I did not know who these guys were before I walked in, I actually didn’t know if 54-40 even had an opening act. So we actually showed up part way through their set, but what I heard made me wish we had gotten there sooner.

We showed up right around when they played Heading for Nowhere, their top hit. The song is a product of its time. Not in a bad way, but if you listened to it for the first time, you could pretty easily place it as a song from the late 2000’s. It’s got a Maroon 5-esque quality, but the vocals of an English indie band. Imagine if Radiohead sang Moves Like Jagger. Not a mashup you think would work, right? But if you don’t believe me that it does, check it out for yourself. I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

But who are these guys? Well, they’re a rock band from Victoria. The first thing to rock to come out of there since… well… I don’t know the last time they moved an artifact from the museum? Nothing happens there, it’s hard to make a joke about it. Moving on. They have been rocking since 2003, and been going strong the whole time. I want to talk a little about their album Boredom and Joy.

That reference to Radiohead earlier wasn’t just a “Quick whats an English band, I didn’t think this comparison through before I wrote it” it was a legitimate reference to one of their strongest influences. Which this album makes abundantly clear. The title track is how they closed out their set before 54-40 came out, which was a great pick. My buddy Jake turned to me and said “When they bring out the tambourine, you know they’re getting to the hits.” And he was right. Check these guys out when you have the chance, they’re great. Unless you hate indie rock, but then what’re you doing here?

Run (On Clean Electricity) To You

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Did you hear Bryan Adams’ new song this summer? It’s called 51st State, and its pretty much exactly what you’d expect, it’s a song about sticking it to Trump and saying “We’ll never be the 51st state.” Y’know, it isn’t his best work, but the message alone makes it a groovy listen.

But it got me thinking, about the whole thing. We’re a different country, I know that, and you know that, but there are people who don’t know that. Namely that big orange guy down south. But one thing I think is important to differentiate us, is the character of our superstars.

Now I want to make one thing clear before going any further, none of this is meant to put down people, it’s meant to lift people up. Specifically, the same guy I mentioned earlier, Bryan Adams. You know his hits, you’ve heard them before, it’d be an insult to you, and a waste of my time to tell you about who he is. But beyond his music, he’s a real environmental activist.

Do you remember a couple years ago, when everyone was getting on Taylor Swift’s case for her carbon emissions? And honestly, rightfully so. She is an incredible star, blowing the roof off stadium after stadium. But that comes at a cost, not just her jetting around, but how much energy does it cost to run her shows? I actually googled it, and it came back with 10000 kWh for her shows on the Eras tour. Which was the one that everyone was thrown into a frenzy over. One group figured that the amount of energy she used while in the UK could power over 100 homes for a year across the pond.

That’s a lot, and again, I want to stress, this is not a hit piece, that would imply its untrue. But no, this is a fact of modern touring. Big shows take a lot of electricity to pull off, and Bryan Adams is no different. I mean he was at one point the biggest star in the world, his footprint would be gigantic by now right? Well, he does what he can to offset it. He actually uses solar power to keep his shows going. He also partners with shipping companies to plant trees, again in an effort to offset his carbon footprint, pretty literally by attempting to mitigate the carbon he releases while touring. And finally, not just as an animal rights activist, he has been vegan for 30 years! I could never, but he sees a plant burger across the room and he’s gotta run to it. Stupid pun aside, it’s cool to see a superstar like him care. It shows that you can take the person out of BC but you cannot beat the hippie upbringing out of them with a hammer.

The Search For a Band Called Blue October

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Do you know the movie The Hunt for Red October? Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, I think there’s a submarine? I don’t know I never saw it. But I know the band Blue October! And they’re coming to the Commodore in February. I had not heard of them until a little bit ago, but they’re great. Now you might be wondering, if you aren’t familiar with them, who are they?

They come out of Houston, Texas. I didn’t think they made anything other than country music down there, but I stand corrected as these guys are alternative as alternative gets. They’ve got this album, Foiled, and it’s hard to pin down. Alternative is really an apt genre because they don’t fit neatly in the lines at all. The lyrics and vocal stylings of the lead singer border on rap sometimes. And other times hit more of what you’d expect from an alt band.

Their top song is called Hate Me. And it starts off with an almost distorted chant from a few people. It sounds like a video recording of a tv report its really cool. It’s almost like the song Stan by Eminem, with the starting bit with Dido. Or later Elton John. True story, he actually performed Stan alongside Eminem back in 2001. They’re actually really good friends, which is one of the most surprising friendships in the celebrity world, rivalled pretty much only by Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart.

Anyway, back to the original. Hate Me has that same edge that alt rock is pretty much synonymous with. But it keeps that same, almost hope? Melancholy might be a better word as the song is about helping someone move on from by making them hate you. Its actually almost cowardly, because its about someone who makes the easy choice, of running away instead of trying to better themselves and fix what they had. The song ends with that same recording voice sound thing saying “Hey Justin!” over and over again as it warps and gets deeper. What that means, I have no idea, but it’s the perfect cap to the song.

They’re a really cool band, and I for one, can’t wait to check them out when they come to town. And if you like edgy alt rock from the mid 2000’s, I hope to see you there.

Have You Ever Seen The Rain? It’s Vancouver, You Probably Have.

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Who doesn’t like CCR? I mean Fortunate Son will never not be relevant, Travelin’ Band rocks even if you aren’t in a band or moving, and Have You Ever Seen The Rain is a sentence never once uttered by a Vancouverite and yet, it hits. If you have no idea who I’m talking about, download the essentials playlist and start with Bad Moon Rising. If you don’t like Bad Moon Rising, you don’t like music. Ok, that’s harsh, but the continuous thumping beat that brings that tasty guitar along, man its awesome. It’s like if The Animals were actually *from* a house in New Orleans.

Anywho, you might be wondering, “Boy that sure was a lot of emphasis on Bad Moon Rising, does he just really like that one or is there a reason for bringing it up?” Or you weren’t thinking that and would rather I get to the point. Well, here it is, a CCR cover band called the Bad Moon Riders is gonna be in Lake Country on the 8th, so get moving if you want to see them!

These guys are playing the hits, and its kind of freaky but you wont believe how much they sound like the original guys. The lead singer, Mike Kelly, sounds more like John Fogerty then he does nowadays. What gets crazy about this, is Mike Kelly was briefly part of BTO! Like, the real one. Bachman-Turner Overdrive. And the lead guitarist Anthony Della Croce, was a fill in guitarist for Headpins!

This band has the make up of real Canadian greats! And for whatever reason they choose to do covers. And thank goodness they did, because they are good. You listen to their stuff and its like you teleported back 54 years to hit CCR in their prime.

They have an unmatched stage presence, well ok, they have a match in the real CCR but hey, for a cover band that’s kinda what you want right?

Well, like I said before, they’re playing at the Creekside Theatre in Lake Country, if you want to pretend you’ve been forced into a conflict in the jungle against your will in order to take down a dictatorship and prop up an American backed dictatorship, then check out the Bad Moon Riders.

40-54 is the Age Range, but 54-40 is the name!

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If you haven’t seen 54-40 live, do yourself a favour and go. I saw them at the commodore just this weekend and man, I gotta tell you about it. As you might expect for a 54-40 show, the crowd was, to be polite, middle aged. So much so that at one point a group of them ran a contest between each other to find the youngest person there, which turned out to be me! I thought I was gonna win some money but no such luck. But beyond that, the venue was packed! I mean really packed, I hadn’t seen it this busy before. But I got a not too bad spot near the back of the dancefloor and had a full view of the stage. Which was great, but did lead to the shock of a lifetime.

You know that moment when the lights dim, and the preshow playlist fades out, when you know the band is on their way? Well, that moment was briefly undercut by an inflatable turkey waddling out on stage. Followed shortly thereafter by corn, a potato, some garlic, and a carrot. Can you imagine that? The surprise of the whole thing could’ve killed some of the older members of the crowd, which was most of the crowd.

But they finished their routine, and on came the band. And these guys are rockstars, in the truest sense of the word. Age has not slowed them down one bit. I mean they rocked that place. As for set list, it was a great mix of new and old. They played a bunch of stuff from their new album Porto, including this one song, Time Will Tell. Listening to it was kind of like hot it feels if you’ve ever driven at night, like late at night. It was free, and alone, but not lonely, if that makes any sense to you. Give it a listen and see what you think. Alongside new stuff, they played the hits as well. Baby Ran, I Go Blind, Ocean Pearl. Go through their top songs on a streaming platform, I bet they played it.

This is the one I was literally at! Isn’t that cool?

But one more thing I want to highlight, is the lighting. I have no idea who designed it or who was running it, but they were not getting paid enough. That was the most incredible lighting display I have ever seen. At one point they flashed all these lights between white and black, and the two guys singing into the lead singers mic had this crazy outline around them. It felt like it was just you and them in the room, it was amazing. Seriously, next time they come to town, get tickets and go.

Ziltch, Sap, Bang!

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Car Crash, BANG! Already not a great day, now imagine it was your Cutlass Convertible from 1965. Ouch, again, that’s really bad. And now, just to compound the whole thing, imagine your buddies form a band and make a song about it. Just a bucket of salt right into that wound huh? Well that is the unfortunate story behind the debut track of an indie band from Delta called The Ziltches. The band is made up of singer Brian Gorecki, drummer AJ Munro, guitarist Tyler Bohl, and bassist Elliott Jorgensen. Now these four guys have been making music, and making money for charity like no ones business, you gotta check them out.

I saw them at a show they did at the Tsawassen Legion about a year and a half ago. It was a cramped bar, just filled with people. And because it was a bar, it was filled with people in their mid 40’s to 50’s, but because it was an indie rock band made up of high schoolers, the crowd was filled with teenagers as well. It was a strange crowd to be a part of, especially as one of the aforementioned teenagers.

But the band came out on stage, and you would not think these guys could bring down the house. I mean the guitarist was wearing cargo shorts for crying out loud. Doesn’t exactly scream “hard rocker”. But appearances can be, and definitely are, very deceiving. Because the minute the music started, the whole room was swept up in a tornado of sound. It was mostly a cover show, with a few originals mixed in, nothing you haven’t heard of for an indie band, but those covers became originals that’s how much fun this show was. Who could ever imagine that much talent could come from a crew like that?

But you gotta listen to this next part the best part of the show was that’s the charity aspect. I’m certain your life has been affected by cancer, and it sucks, which the band knows well. One of the band members had cancer not long ago, he beat it don’t worry. But that kind of thing sticks with you mentally, so the whole band came together and decided to raise as much money as they could for charity. And they somehow got seven THOUSAND dollars in donations that went to the BC Cancer Foundation. I mean what’s more rock star than that?

These guys put on a great show and I for one can’t wait to see what they do next, how about you?

The Saddest Boy

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The saddest boy just performed in Vancouver, stick around and I’ll tell you what you missed. Sombr just played Rogers Arena on the 29th. I wouldn’t have thought that Sombr would fill out Rogers. Not because he isn’t popular enough or anything I just never would have thought that many people would pay money to be depressed for 2 hours. Then again, people buy Canucks tickets for that same venue. But anyway if you have no idea who SOMBR is, he’s a pop artist who specializes mostly in music about being really sad. Although I have to say, if you don’t know who he is, honestly, I don’t know how you did that. Not in a judgemental way, in a genuine astonishment way, I have no idea how you don’t know him. He’s been huge for a couple years now.

He had that big song not long ago, “back to friends”. I had to put quotes because the song is entirely written in lowercase letters, making it a nightmare for writing an article about it, so thanks Mr. br. But that song was what really kick started his fame. I’m sure you’ve heard it somewhere on the radio before, but if you haven’t, it’s a mournful song about a breakup. Which you’d think would be an overpopulated genre by now but “back to friends” sticks out, even in a sea of sad guys with guitars. It has this timeless quality to it, where it feels like it wouldn’t be out of place in a love story from the 80’s. Really it’s quite good, even if you aren’t going through a breakup or anything, its an easy way to just slip away for a few minutes into the song. The best way I can describe the song, is its like taking a walk, late at night in the snow. When all the hustle and bustle of the world dies down, and it’s just you alone with your thoughts.

Funnily enough, Sombr occupies the same headspace for me as this guy Isak Danielson. He also makes pretty sad music but what’s funny is he was introduced to me by an ex-girlfriend. Well, I guess it isn’t that “funny” but it’s a neat coincidence right? What I’m trying to say is, if you like Sombr, check out Isak Danielson, especially his song Always, that one’s great, and while it may have a similar vibe, it has completely opposite messaging from “back to friends”

If you saw the show, I hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn’t, I hope you had a regular night I guess?