Sunday, October 30, 2016

L.A. Guns Autographed Jacket

Well look what I found in my closet a while ago. My old jean jacket from the late 80's. It is my L.A. Guns jacket, I drew this logo as a teen on the back of my jacket using felt pens. I got it autographed back in 1990 when L.A. Guns did an autograph session at HMV in West Edmonton Mall before playing a headlining show at The Metro when they were touring for their Cocked & Loaded album. I loved this jacket and wore it with pride, just couldn't wear it if it was raining, as the ink would have run. I thought this was lost, so happy to have found it.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Seven Inch Saturday (Drive-By Truckers)


Today's seven inch single is from the Drive-By Truckers. I recently got their new album We're An American Band that I had pre-ordered months ago. With the new release came this seven inch with the song "Kinky Hypocrite". The song is not on the full length vinyl version, just a one sided single. And why only one song on a seven inch, you would think they would have at least one left over song they could have put on side B.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Seven Inch Sunday (Metallica)


Today's seven inch single is from Metallica. This single came with a bootleg I bought years ago at Sound Connection here in Edmonton. The bootleg is called Live Before Death it is a double album which contains 6 songs recorded live in San Francisco Oct. 18th 1982 ,3 songs from a San Francisco show Sept.18th 1982 and 9 songs from a show in Glenn Falls, NY April 27th 1986. With this bootleg came the bonus seven inch which has two songs on Side A, those two songs being Am I Evil and Damage Inc., there is nothing on Side B all vinyl as you can see are on pink vinyl. This was released in 1987.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Shadowy Men / The Yawpers Live in Edmonton Oct.7th 2016


Last Friday my buddy Buzzard and I went to the Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet concert held at the Freemasons Hall in downtown Edmonton, this show was part of the fourth annual UP+DT (Up+Downtown) Festival featuring over 100 bands in 18 downtown venues. I originally had tickets for The Sadies show on this night, that was until I found out that The Yawpers were playing the same night at a different venue. Next year I'll be buying myself a pass for the whole weekend. So I traded my ticket in for the Shadowy Men and The Yawpers show, as I have seen The Sadies many times before and have never seen any of the bands on this bill.

The first band of the evening was Calgary band Miesha & The Spanks, a two piece garage rock band with Miesha Louie on guitar and Sean Hamilton on drums. The first thing I noticed about the band was how fucking loud they were, almost too loud for the room they were playing. I was really impressed by Sean's drumming. They were loud and gritty. There half hour set was just the right amount of time, for them.

Miesha & The Spanks.

Next up was local rockabilly band Sam Spades. I don't have much to say about Sam Spades, Just didn't care for them.

Sam Spades.

The next band up was The Yawpers from Denver, Colorado. I have been listening to this band for over a year now and was super excited to see that they were playing the UP+DT Festival, so much so that I ditched The Sadies show for this one.

The Yawpers are a three piece band with Nate Cook on acoustic guitar and vocals, Jesse Parmet on acoustic guitar and rounding out the band is Noah Shomberg on drums. They play a raw punk/roots rock style of music and were so fucking good live. They were loud, abrasive and lead singer Nate Cook plays with such flair and energy that he reminded me of Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello. The band just ripped it up for there hour long set. They played lots of songs from their latest album American Man, songs such as the title song, 9 to 5, The Desert, Beale Street and The Desert. Among these songs were a couple of cool cover songs from their self released 2013 EP Good Songs (Shitty Versions) "Suspicious Minds" a song made famous by Elvis, and a wicked version of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades", wow they fucking rocked the hell out of that song. Their hour long set wasn't long enough for me, but man, what a fucking hour of music. My new favorite live band!

I had the chance to talk to the guys before and after the show and found them to be a great bunch. Lead singer Nate and I had a good chat about Ween after he saw my t-shirt I was wearing. After buying the EP, I realized The Yawpers actually cover a Ween song "(Booze Me Up and Get me High)" on it. I really look forward to seeing The Yawpers in concert again, sometime soon I hope.

The Yawpers.

If you care to see a short clip of their show, go to the 1:34 mark in this video.


Headliner of the night was the three piece instrumental surf rockers Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet out of Toronto. While I didn't know a whole lot about the band other then they did the theme song "Having An Average Weekend" for the Kids In The Hall TV show. I remember seeing their name around a lot during the late 80's and early 90's, I never got to see them before.

The band split up in 1996 only to reform in 2012. Original bass player Reid Diamond passed away in 2001 of cancer. So much to my surprise The Sadies guitar player Dallas Good now fills in on bass for Shadowy Men.

Their hour long set was really good, I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the set as I am not always much of an all instrumental show. But these guys kicked ass live. With Don Pyle on drums and Brian Connelly on guitar I was entertained through out the whole concert. I was impressed with how good Dallas Good is on the bass, not that I should have been surprised. Dallas was quite energetic on the bass and held the groove wickedly, very good. From what my brother was telling me, Dallas is using the bass and amp of original member Reid Diamond. Very cool! All and all this was a great night of music. Good times!!!

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

T-shirt.


Saturday, October 8, 2016

Seven Inch Saturday (Pink Floyd)


Today's seven inch single is from Pink Floyd featuring the songs See Emily Play on side A and on the flip side is Scarecrow. Both songs were on the debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn released in 1967. The single I have is a mono version on pink vinyl reissue that was released in 2013 as part of Record Store Day. It was a limited edition of 5000 copies. Both songs were written by Syd Barrett are true classic psychedelic songs.




Friday, October 7, 2016

Jr.Gone Wild Live in Sherwood Park October 1st 2016

Last Saturday my Cuz and I made our way out to Sherwood Park for a private intimate show by local country punkers Jr.Gone Wild. This show was being out on by NTT Films whom are in the middle of making a documentary on Jr.Gone Wild. From talking to the guys making the movie it sounds like it could see a release in the spring of 2017. This show was for people that had donated $150.00 or more towards the making of the movie, and the show was also part of a couple's 25th wedding anniversary. It was held at the Log Cabin Community Hall in Sherwood Park, it was a different venue to see the band at, playing to probably about a hundred people. A big thank you goes out to my buddy metal for hooking me up with the invite, thanks buddy!!!

This was my eighth time seeing Jr.Gone Wild in concert. Every time I see them play live they seem to get better and better. Larry Shelast on drums, Dove on bass, Steve Loree on guitar and Mike McDonald on guitar and vocals were sounding especially good on this night. What I really noticed during this show was how well Mike and Steve were playing and feeding off each other, they certainly were in sync on this night.

JGW did two sets playing in total a two hour show. They did some new songs, that have now been in their setlist for a while now, them being "Barricades (The Hockey Riot Song)" wrote by Steve Loree, and the rocking "Fools Errand" aka (Fuck Off At The Sky), "Old & Ugly" and a song called "Warren's Van", not sure if this is a new song or not, but man it was it ever good and brought back all kinds of memories having had a friend by the name of Warren that owned a van, and some of the shit we got up to when he owned it, wow! So many stories. Great song JGW!

The band ended the night with an encore of two cover songs the first being Neil Young's "Powderfinger" and then to close out the night "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)" a Bob Dylan song. An awesome night of live music and cheap beers. Good times!!!

Jr.Gone Wild in Sherwood Park.

Setlist from the show.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Seven Inch Saturday (Gaslight Anthem)


Today's seven inch Saturday single from Gaslight Anthem, is a live bootleg recorded in 2008 at the Area 4 Festival in Ludinghausen, Germany. The recording is called No Retreat, No Regrets. The seven inch contains four songs, the recording is mediocre at best. Only 150 were pressed on green vinyl which is the version I have. There were also 150 pressed on red vinyl.