We’re All In This Together: On The Subject of Local Bands
For a musician like myself, going to see local concerts is a unique and irreplaceable experience that gets my creative juices flowing. Getting a glimpse of other musicians playing new material with passion really sets a fire under me to go home and work on my own material. There’s an unspoken competition between bands to always be making better music that you can debut at your next gig. The artists we’ve included on this playlist are local bands, most of whom we’ve seen live and recognized qualities in their music we admire.
Jody Glenham – He Has Your Name: Former lead singer of the underappreciated Vancouver band, Pleasure Cruise, Jody Glenham has traded in surf-rock guitars for Phil Spector-esque Girl Group production. After seeing her rock out in Pleasure Cruise, Nick and I were able to catch her set at the Khatsahlano Festival following the release of her 2014 Dreamer EP. The tune “He Has Your Name” really stuck out to us, as we debated whether or not Glenham wrote it or was covering a long lost Patsy Cline song. Turns out she was melting our hearts with a song she penned, and inspired some of the faintly country vibes on our record.
Energy Slime – After Tonight: Any band with Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle at the helm is gonna pack a punch, and Energy Slime is no exception. Although I’ve never seen a full Energy Slime show, I was able to catch a Jay Arner gig where the band tested out a couple short running songs that later found their way onto Energy Slime’s 2014 release New Dimensional. “After Tonight” is a real standout track on the 13 minute 7-inch. Also special shout out to Jessica Delisle’s hilarious podcast Retail Nightmares for introducing me to terms like “puppo of the week”, “pig-piece” and delicious “tubes”.
Sunshine – French Exit: After spending my high school years following The Good News on Myspace, I was thrilled when I heard guitarist Trevor Risk had a new project in the works simply called Sunshine. We caught their digital release show at the Astoria Club back in 2013, with Glenham’s band Pleasure Cruise opening, and we became enthralled with the layers of melodic lines coming our way. The magical “French Exit” is on constant repeat for us, playing a part in our band’s more dream pop-infused songs.
Johnny de Courcy – I Can’t Be That Man: Nick and I just caught the tail end of Johnny de Courcy’s Canadian tour at a Sandwich Shop is Abbotsford and holy hell does this man know his way around a garage pop song. His songs are mesmerizingly catchy, with a surreal quality, with one of my favourite tracks, “I Can’t Be That Man” sounding straight out of the 70’s AM pop. While we didn’t catch de Courcy live until after we had recorded the album, he’s the kind of musician we’re digging as we write the next batch of songs.
The result of this local music diet can be found on our debut album Make Glad The Day, which is slated for a digital release on November 27, a couple days before our release show at Brothers Bowling and Billiards in Abbotsford. $5 at the door. Come on out and bowl a few strikes between sets.
Until next time,
Tim Ubels
Clicker of Sticks
The Sylvia Platters
Thanks once again to the amazing The Sylvia Platters for sharing their musical memories with us. You can find out more about their debut album via their official site, and on the social links below.
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