Apologue Podcast

The Projectors have just released their debut self-titled LP on Sakamano Records with an accompanying video for the song “Golden Age”. The Projectors began with a new batch of songs  that prolific singer/songwriter Dylan Rysstad was writing in 2019.  According to Rysstad, “With the first couple songs, ‘When the Lights Came Up’ and ‘Golden Age', I really embraced certain influences and didn’t try to obscure or hide the  fact that it was starting to sound like someone else. The songs I’ve been writing for this  project are what I want to be playing and listening to, and somewhat ironically, I feel like  it’s the most ‘me’ if that makes sense.” That “someone else” Dylan is referring to is The Strokes — an apt point of reference for  both their live show and recorded output. The rest of the songs that make up the album,  recorded at Layten Kramer’s home studio, came in bursts of inspiration after putting a band together to play this new material. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic and ensuing  lockdowns/safety precautions delayed the album’s completion and release date. Lead single "Golden Age" is a danceable and upbeat examination of modern romance and relationships: “And it’s okay  that you don’t write me back. It’s only been forever. And it’s okay, it’s the golden age of indifference. So what’s the difference now?” It’s a perfect summer anthem that evokes a  simpler time in the early aughts when The Strokes’ Last Nite was on every rock radio  station and skinny jeans were cool. 

D I S C O V E R

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theprojectorss

Website: https://www.theprojectorsband.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theprojectorsband

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@SakamanoRecords

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theprojectorss/

L I V E

Wed. June 28 in Jasper @ The Jasper Legion

Thu. June 29 in Edmonton @ The Buckingham w/ Counterfeit Jeans

Fri. June 30 in Calgary @ Modern Love / Broken City w/ Real Sickies & The Dial-Ups

Sat. July 1 in Vernon @ Record City / BBDB’s w/ The Minx!  

Sun. July 2 in Vancouver @ The Lido w/ Real Sickies

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3FbQOnL04BadXNBWdulsvQ

Go to BETTERHELP.com/apologue for confidential online counselling.use the code word Apologue for a 7 day free trial

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Vancouver’s premiere power-poppers The Get Arounds have just released their new full-length album, I Wanna Live. Their songs meander from revved up numbers that seem to be pulled from The Dead Boys Young Loud and Snotty into hits with melodic choruses that call to mind power-pop classics like Nikki and the Corvettes. Their female-fronted angst fills the songs with 90’s style punk-grit that are reminiscent of L7, Bikini Kill or Babes in Toyland. Guitarist Carman says  "I like short songs that stick in your brain. Don't bore us, get to the chorus type stuff. Lyrics usually come last. I listen to many types of music and I try to write a bit of everything, but most of it is trash. A few stick around and make it to an album!" The new single seems to draw on what Carman describes as the band’s Influences - Ace Frehley, Sex Pistols, Steve Earle, and Blondie. When it comes down to writing the songs Carman says "It's mostly about the feel and the sounds. I find it a bit forced trying to make the song be a certain idea. It's better if I just let them evolve into whatever they are becoming and attach a meaning later when I can understand what the song is about. I never write the words on paper because then they never change for the better. Making the album I just tried to write as many songs as I could in the time we had. And we also used a couple old songs I had kicking around for years. They sound a lot better with Lana singing them!”

D I S C O V E R

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegetarounds

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegetaroundsband

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGetAroundsAreNumber1/

Bandcamp: https://thegetaroundsarenumber1.bandcamp.com/album/i-wanna-live

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DA6NbKPf7vRHzDppPdJlK?si=NzjGlP2sSza3qr49zTQZrA

Stream I Wanna Live by The Get Arounds

https://open.spotify.com/album/7qzVbcANM5JrtKFGa3c8iS?si=YNTYiq_yQVm9nSuKqoOjKQ

Go to BETTERHELP.com/apologue for confidential online counselling.use the code word Apologue for a 7 day free trial

Pledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca/shop

Go get the 1 hour mini Documentary on Lowest of the Low's Classic Album Shakespeare my Butt at https://thelowdoc.gumroad.com/l/SMB

What do you get when you combine two Canadian music legends into one guitar-heavy, power-pop unit that strives to sound like Minneapolis in the 90’s? You get SLIP~ons! They come by their brand of rock honestly, with Brock Pytel of The Doughboys on guitar and Brian Minato of Sarah McLachlan on bass. Add to the mix Rob "Shockk" Matharu of The Spitfires on guitar, and Shane Wilson on drums and you’ve got a rock ‘n’ roll quartet with a vibe not unlike The Lemonheads, Hüsker Dü, Ash, The Replacements or Dinosaur Jr. After a long run of obstacles, SLIP~ons have finally been able to announce their debut EP Heavy Machinery (mixed by Dave Ogalvie of Skinny Puppy fame) with a single and accompanying video for the title track of their new vinyl release. The black and white video (directed and edited by the R.D. Cane, shot by Ryan C. Clark) consists of layers of short montages of the band in rehearsal with heady, swirling edits that play with time and space. Viewers get a frenetic and intimate side stage view of the band rocking, with Shockk’s sick guitar solo a climax in the middle of the video. The visual style of the video allows the deep rhythm of the track to shine through, and as director RD states, “It’s cool to provide a comfortable playground to let the boys be as comfortable and real as possible.” The video highlights real-time recording of the band to capture the feel of their enigmatic live performances. Reflecting on the video shoot, Brock says, “I’ve always been a bit iffy on music videos, so we just borrowed some grip gear and lamps from my film buddies and created a bit of a playground in our rehearsal space for RD to do his thing. Jam Space Confidential was the theme. RD was really working up a sweat directing traffic, and I love that you can see the crew moving around with us moving ladders and waving light wands.”

The track Heavy Machinery has Pytel’s signature gravelly vocals and tongue-in-cheek lyrics that paint a picture of a night out wandering around Vancouver’s East Side. The pounding guitars offer grungy, punchy licks with hints of The Pixies and build up to a crescendo that echoes the name of the track. Sparse but poignant gang vocals round out the sound and add an interesting depth to the song. Looking at the EP as a whole, Pytel mentions some early praise it has already garnered: “The mastering engineer, Ronan Chris Murphy, is a dear friend that I’ve known since the Doughboys played with his band Pumphouse at Rockitz in Richmond, Virginia in the late eighties. He got back to me after I sent him the audio files to work on and said, ‘This might be the best music I have ever heard from you. Good job doin’ us old guys proud.’”

add SLIP~ons to spotify: https://show.co/EbzcS5Qwatch the video on YouTube

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Mason Lowe (drummer of Seattle’s feel-good, classic rock-inspired outfit Bread & Butter) has just announced his debut solo LP Morning People, due out June 23rd on Seattle’s Killroom Records. The advance single Plastered features pounding, hyperactive guitar riffs over loping drums before opening up into a delightfully poppy chorus with descending melodies. Reflecting on the process behind the album and first single Lowe said, “When I started writing songs for this album, I was going through a long lonely period. But "Plastered” was one of the last few songs written for the album. And by then, I was in L-U-V love. I was a straight-up twinkle toes motherfucker! This song is about someone getting steamrolled by love, is heading off the rails, and is just letting it happen.” In a record with lots of different vibes, this is one of the heavier songs. Mason says, "I don’t know where that riff came from! It's a mystery. I’m not a bombastic dude. I'm the kind of guy that tiptoes around my house when I’m alone.” The accompanying video for Plastered features Shane Herrel (Bread & Butter) and Maria-Elena Jaurez (Acapulco Lips) playing maniacally crafted homemade instruments throughout a psychedelic journey without ever leaving the Lowe’s garage. 

Morning People, combines the sounds of glam rock, 60’s girl groups, and grunge. The result is an open-hearted, sunny record - a nostalgic sweet pop album that is hopeful, beautiful and utterly sentimental. Nods to Big Star, The Shangri-Las and The Beach Boys are present throughout. Morning People was recorded by Lowe during the height of the pandemic while he was struggling to keep the doors open at a Seattle human services nonprofit. But these are not 12 songs of loneliness and exhaustion. This is a dozen songs about new love, hot crushes, and friendship. Mason dragged his weary buns into the basement with 6-packs of Rainier tallboys to record heavy riffs, light harmonies, and tight arrangements. How tight? None of the songs on this album make it to the three-minute mark. Where did this burst of positive energy come from? "I have no idea,” Mason says. "Work was really tough. I had a lot on my mind. A lot. But I dived into music in a way I never have before. This was a super serious time, but the songs that came out are really poppy and fun. I don't know why.  I'm not a sunshiny person. Really!"

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Brown was one of the primary singers and songwriters for the alternative rock band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir in the 1980s and 1990s. When that band broke up, he continued performing as a duo with his Bourbon bandmate Kate Fenner. Brown has accompanied dozens of notable musicians on stage, including a six-month stint as a member of Barenaked Ladies in 1998 filling in for Kevin Hearn while Hearn battled leukemia.

He is also a social justice activist and the founder of the Pros and Cons Program bringing recording arts to prisons and creating musical works for charities. The Pros and Cons Program has become internationally recognized as groundbreaking in fields of restorative justice and inmate mentorship, with the support of The David Rockefeller Fund. Brown recorded an album with the prisoners called Postcards from the County which Exclaim! described as "inescapably honest and sincere".

Brown has recently launched Wolfe Island Records as a home for the prison music and the many artists he produces and collaborates with, including Fenner, Suzanne Jarvie, David Corley, One River, The Mermaids, Hadley McCall Thackston and the Stephen Stanley Band. In 2017 he released a new solo album Pacem. PopMatters premiered his first single, "Keeper of the Flame", and Huffington Post raved that "Pacem is one of those albums that works on the listener from the inside out."

Brown currently lives in Wolfe Island where he tours solo and performs with local musicians in a band called Open Hearts Society.

Catch Brown Hawkins Stanley on tour this spring!

Brown Hawkins Stanley SHOWS SPRING 2023:

MAY 11, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - Palasad Social Bowl - London Ontario

London, ON

Palasad SocialBowl 777 Adelaide Street NorthLondon ON N5Y 2L8

(519) 645-7164

w/special guests The PairsTICKETSINFOMAY 12, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - THE MULE SPINNER - HAMILTON

Hamilton, ON

The Mule Spinner 11 Landsdowne AveHamilton ON L8L 6N3

(519) 774-1218

w/special guest Lori YatesTICKETSINFOMAY 13, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - OXFORD PENNANT ROOM - BUFFALO

Buffalo, NY

Town Ballroom 681 Main StreetBuffalo, NY 14203

W/ special guest Greg SmithTICKETSINFOMAY 19, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - THE PARKSIDE LOUNGE - NYC

New York, NY

Parkside Lounge 317 East Houston StreetNew York, NY 10002

(212) 673-6270

Guest TBATICKETSINFOMAY 20, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - BIG WRENCH - BROOKLYN NY

Brooklyn, NY

Big Wrench 264 Hoyt St.Brooklyn, NY

917-375-1574

Guest TBAINFOMAY 21, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - REDBIRD LIVE - OTTAWA

Ottawa, ON

Redbird Live 1165 Bank StreetOttawa ON K1S 3X7

w/ special guest GravenTICKETSINFOMAY 25, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - JETHRO'S - PETERBOROUGH

Peterborough, Ontario

Jethros 137 Hunter Street WestPeterborough Ontario

w/ special guest Rocky RobertsTICKETSINFOMAY 26, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - SAM'S PLACE - PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

Prince Edward, ON

Sam's Place 3038 County Rd. 3Prince Edward ON

w/ special guest Liner.TICKETSINFOMAY 27, 2023

BROWN/HAWKINS/STANLEY - Longboat Hall - Toronto

Toronto, ON

Longboat Hall 103 Dovercourt RoadToronto ON M6J 3C2

(416) 792-1268

w/ special guest Liner.TICKETSINFO

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Ben Sir was a singer/songwriter from Edmonton, Alberta. Ben Sir passed away April 24th 2023 from undisclosed reasons. Ben was a great interview, and a good dude. We made plans to hang out that never came to fruition.

Rest in Peace Ben

Pretty are people who appear onstage with lots of noise and then leave.This half-silly,half-serious sentence summarizes the band’s ethic and sound, from their earlyinspiration byToronto’s 2010s-era DIYpunk scene, to their current fascination withpsychedelic sound and culture, elements that fuse into a highly distinctive, dark andfrenzied sonic landscape.The band had a busy 2022, recording their second EPand follow-up to their debutalbum Sertraline Dream (2020); playing headline sets to increasingly large andenthusiastic crowds and being featured acts for Exclaim! Magazine’s Class of 2022,Canadian Music Week and Sarnia’s Empty Fest. If you dig getting warped anddiscovering another side of yourself, you won’t want to miss Pretty

Photo credit: Elijah Shark

https://prettytheband.bandcamp.com/

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Energetic, raw, honest, and heart on the sleeve punk rock, Brutal Youth have been causing a ruckus for the last 10+ years. Singer Patty O'Lantern, drummer Dustin Campbell, bassist Kyle Hynes, and guitarist Greg Hounsel formed the band in 2010. The band hit the ground running and recorded their first brutally fantastic album, "Spill Your Guts". Shortly thereafter the group uprooted themselves from their hometown of St. John's, NL and moved to Toronto. After settling into their new digs, Brutal Youth gained attention with their lightning-fast sets and blood-soaked high-intensity performances. A long list of records and touring ensued while the band honed their craft and caught the attention of various record labels. Stomp Records is proud to present their most current longplayer Rebuilding Year on beautiful blue marble vinyl. Keep an eye out for this punk rock tornado with a deluge of live shows planned for 2023.  

D I S C O V E R

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brutalyouth709

Bandcamp: https://brutalyouth.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brutalyouth709

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brutalyouth/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BJrQw60XksRtVfwNVFu0W?si=MiXfnm_DT-udaX0zJxHIIg

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One of my favourite episodes ever. Sometimes things just click!

Friendly Rich, Canada’s legendary songsmith of dark and deranged folk songs, has just announced his highly anticipated new LP Man Out of Time (due out March 31st on We Are Busy Bodies) with an advance single and video for the song Le P'tit Bonheur. This latest single is sung in French and is an homage to one of Friendly Rich’s greatest inspirations. In explaining the single he had to say, “I hope you enjoy this release, this work means alot to me, I honour the great Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc, and I go to even darker places as a songwriter. I wanted to honour Felix Leclerc's music, and was able to dive into it with Mike T Kerr and Drew Jurecka to help.”  What came out is a dark and unique interpretation that sets the tone for this record. With 4 Leclerc songs embedded throughout the recording, Man Out of Time shows the many sides of Friendly Rich as a composer and performer.

Friendly Rich describes his latest studio recording as a “dark reflection of the pandemic”. But there’s more going on here - a punk sensibility with a folky delivery creates a unique sound that is as dark and hopeless as the pandemic that inspired it. Man Out of Time features a rolling cast of Canadian musicians and guest performances by Brian Poole (Renaldo & The Loaf), Kevin Breit (Nora Jones, Hugh Laurie), Christine Duncan (Tanya Tagaq), Michael Ward-Bergeman (Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble) and many more unique musicians.  The full length recording features unique interpretations of legendary Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc among Friendly Rich's honed brand of deranged folk songs. The music can be described as high-energy, rhythmic and atmospheric, ranging from sullen stripped down ballads to frenetic folky foot-stompers. Friendly Rich’s music is theatrical and melodic and brings to mind early Bowie with hints of operatic rock in the vein of T-Rex and Roky Erickson.

Photo credit: Michael Crusty / Crusty Media

D I S C O V E R

Website: http://www.friendlyrich.com

Bandcamp: https://friendlyrich.bandcamp.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendlyrich

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendlyrich

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Friendly_Rich

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/friendlyrich

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1SWneDpUI2N0Bz46xl1cg5?si=zo59VzLcR9mAZr6F_m9ksg

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The duo of Toronto-based Brent Randall and Los Angeles-dwelling Johnny Toomey are known for their previous achievements with Los Angeles based, baroque-pop group, The Electric Looking Glass. Both musicians compliment each other stylistically and add sparks to their newest project, Vanity Mirror. Their debut LP, PUFF was written, recorded, performed, produced and even mixed by Brent Randall. The resulting album starts where their other project Electric Looking Glass leaves off, with hummable, dreamy pop that branches out into more intimate, less genre specific freeform songcraft. It is a nostalgic collection of songs pieced together in makeshift spaces while traveling between LA, Montreal, Detroit and Toronto. Taping old pianos in public libraries and abandoned houses and tracking vocals in vintage shop basements, Randall  sent the tracks to Toomey who recorded drums and percussion in his Los Angeles basement using a handheld field recorder. Listeners will call to mind artists like Emitt Rhodes, Olivia Tremor Control, The Kinks and Belle and Sebastian. Vanity Mirror’s PUFF will see a digital/vinyl release on May 12th,  2023 via We Are Busy Bodies.

D I S C O V E R

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanitymirror69

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@viivapuff

Facebook: http://facebook.com/vanitymirror.69

Instagram: http://instargram.com/vanitymirror69

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vanitymirror69

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/vanitymirroriscool

Bandcamp: https://vanitymirrorband.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

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