Jammin’ Around Calgary
As printed in Beatroute
By Lindsay Wilson
Get through the winter drudges and get down: here are just a few of Calgary’s weekly jams.
The Shamrock Hotel (2101 11 St SE) hosts two jams each week. Thursday nights are an open jam hosted by Black Cherry Perry, beginning at 8 pm. Saturday afternoons are the King Eddy Band Jam, hosted by Bill Dowey & the Blues Devils – authentic blues jam.
The Baja Bar & Grill (460 Erinwoods Dr SE) has an open jam every Sunday afternoon from 3-7 pm. Hosted by 40 Watts, this is one of the most fun jams you can find in the city.
The Border Crossing (1814 36 St SE) has two jams every week: Wednesdays from 7-11 pm and Sundays from 6-10 pm, hosted by Doug Charters. This is an open jam with a rockin’ edge.
Hexters Pub (6404 Bowness Rd NW) has a Motown jam every Sunday afternoon from 3-6 pm. This jam is hosted by Calgary’s only funk brother, Gary Martin and the Heavenly Blues Band.
Mikey’s Juke Joint (1901 10 Ave SW) has three jams/acoustic open mics weekly: Mike Clark runs a jam on Saturday afternoons (where you get to play with or listen to some of the finest musicians Calgary has to offer), the Pussy Willows (Trina Nestibo, Dawn Desmarais & Heather Blush) host an open mic every Wednesday night, and there’s also an open mic every Sunday from 3-7 pm.
PLEASE NOTE: Sadly, Fat Jacks has shut it’s doors since the deadline for the print edition of this month’s Beatroute. There will be no more jammin’ at Fat Jacks.
The Pig & Whistle Pub (405-8120 Beddington Blvd NW) has an open jam with a bluesy feel every Sunday night from 8-11 pm, hosted by the Sideshow Bob Band.
For a complete jam listing, refer to www.calgarybluesstreet.com or Smokin’ Steve Holesworth’s Facebook Group, Calgary Jam Listings.
Posted by Lindsay Wilson on Jan 06, 2010
Toni Vere
tasty musical stew
By Lindsay Wilson
As printed in Beatroute
Hashmagandy (Australian definition): An outback stew made from a variety of ingredients.
Hashmagandy (Calgarian definition): “An artful infusion of genres, spiced with original music, flavoured with timeless favourites and stewed with a healthy portion of fun.”
Enter Hashmagandy, the folk-rock all-star gurrll band with Toni Vere on rhythm guitar, harmonica and vocals; Carla Rawlyck on lead guitar and vocals; Kelly Temleck on bass and vocals; and Lauren Buckell on drums.
Toni Vere and Hashmagandy are in the works to release Vere’s debut album, Just To Be, by the end of January 2010. The CD was recorded and produced at Alchemy Studios in Calgary by Toni Vere and Jeff Muller, and Vere and her band are busting at the seams.
“My ultimate message is basically the same as the title to my CD: Just To Be… What I’ve struggled towards for most of my life has simply been to find out who I am and to honour that. I find that joyous place within my heart and soul just by being on stage playing music and connecting my thoughts and ideas through song with the people who I’m lucky enough to be performing to,” says an overwhelmed Vere, who has spent more than twenty years writing, performing and touring western Canada, but has never taken on such a major recording project before.
Vere has a gift for songwriting and performance, and has combined her passion for writing words into music with the songwriting capabilities of her seasoned fellow band members.
Vere’s sound can best be described as folk-rock, with roots, blues and country elements that walk in between the riffs of her original music to create a gritty, hearty, honky-tonkin’ groove. Her songs tell honest life stories that most anyone can relate to, infused with an on-stage vivacity that makes audience members sing along and tap their feet.
Vere is filled with gratitude for her rapidly growing fan base and support network, who have helped her recently become ReverbNation’s number one Calgary folk artist. She also gives special thanks to the collaboration of all musicians on Just To Be, as well as Lin Elder, Kate Reid, Hashmagandy and her partner, Marilyn – who takes care of the business end of Vere’s musical career.
While looking forward to the CD release, she is ultimately excited about the journey on which she and her band are embarking.
“Hashmagandy is a new chapter in my life. Carla, Kelly and Lauren are more than band mates; they’ve become my friends, and sharing a stage with them is the ultimate musical high.”
For more information on Toni Vere, visit www.myspace.com/tonivere.
Posted by Lindsay Wilson on Jan 06, 2010
Slaughterhouse Studios
affordable rehearsal and recording space for musicians
By Lindsay Wilson
It takes more than five minutes to walk through 18,000 square feet of a once-upon-a-time slaughterhouse, now-turned rehearsal and recording space. But Bob Richardson maintains true to his open door policy: come in, check it out and stay a while.
Fifteen years ago, Richardson and his bandmates – a blues trio with Richardson on bass, the late Jimmy Payne on drums and Brother Ray Lemelin on guitar and vocals – were in search of affordable rehearsal space. They came across the chance to lease the old slaughterhouse, with ample space and sound-sealed retired freezer and fridge rooms to play and record in. Richardson seized the opportunity to take over the old slaughterhouse and the band went to work.
As time moved along, Richardson began renting out rehearsal space to other bands. Over the last fifteen years, he has continued to modify Slaughterhouse Studios to what it is today: five rehearsal rooms, a recording room, storage space and a favorite hang out for Calgary musicians.
The space is adorned with pool tables, recording gear, funked-up mannequins and signed paraphernalia and photographs from an army of musicians that have visited, recorded and rehearsed at Slaughterhouse Studios.
“Me, well, I’m a collector of music stuff,” explains Richardson, who has given the studio a significant aesthetic facelift since its beginnings.
Some notable players who have paid homage to the studio include: Brother Ray Lemelin, the late Jimmy Payne, Bill Hills, Kelly Jay, Bill Dowey, the late Back Alley John, Dylan MacDonald, Tim Williams, Ronnie King of the Stampeders, Skid Row (who rehearsed there when in town with Kiss) and Finger 11.
Slaughterhouse Studios is a favorite within the blues community, but Richardson has seen an influx of punk, heavy metal, hip-hop and solo artists in recent years.
Being a musician himself, Richardson understands the importance in keeping rehearsal and recording production costs reasonable.
“We keep evolving with the gear, which is so high-end, but still have to keep it affordable for the musicians,” says Richardson.
With no plans on discontinuing what he has spent fifteen years building, transforming and improving, Richardson is one musician who enjoys getting up and going to work everyday.
“In life, if you can work at something you love doing…there’s nothing better.”
If you or your band is looking for affordable rehearsal space or the right place to record, Slaughterhouse Studios just might be your ticket. Nathan Renaud, Richardson’s right hand man, and his sound engineering are available for your recording needs.
Visit www.shscalgary.com for more information.
Posted by Lindsay Wilson on Jan 06, 2010
Camie Leard and the Groove
driving the groove in a new direction
As printed in Beatroute
By Lindsay Wilson
No stranger to what it takes to front a band, Camie Leard feels like she’s come into her own with her current group, Camie Leard and the Groove.
Taking the experience from her first project – Erlton Street Soul, a nine-piece funk, soul and R&B revue, which had a successful five-year run – Leard has learned what it takes to get on stage and lead a successful band.
“Fronting a band is not just singing; it’s understanding that there’s a whole lot more to the music business than getting up, playing, then leaving,” laughs Leard, remembering countless hours of rehearsal time, negotiating with bar owners, finding the right groove with her fellow musicians and, of course, the dreaded hauling of heavy gear.
Singing has been a meaningful passion for Leard throughout her life, but it’s not all this artist is about.
A trained journalist, photographer and painter, Leard uses her media skills and extensive writing experience at her job as Media and Communications Coordinator for the Cantos Music Foundation (yes, the group that’s rebuilding the King Eddy, scheduled for 2012). Leard is also one of the driving forces behind Blue Mondays, an all-ages blues jam hosted on the last Monday of every month at Cantos.
What excites Leard about her new band, which has been together for about a year, is the gel of the musicians. She feels the sound is clean and the band is tight. Although the band focuses on soul, funk and R&B songs, Leard also enjoys stripping down Motown tunes and getting right to the roots of the music.
“Every now and then, it’s nice to pare something down and make it acoustic,” says Leard.
A strong vocalist with an impressive range, Leard is influenced by other powerhouse singers, such as Aretha Franklin and Joss Stone. “Vocally, Aretha is my hero,” she explains.
Camie Leard and the Groove have performed at many music-friendly houses all over the city, including the Shamrock, Murrieta’s and Vintage Chophouse, as well as a number of casinos and corporate gigs. For 2010, Leard would like to get behind the wheel and steer her band into the studio to begin some recording.
“I think 2010 will be a lot different for this band, a lot of recording and developing original music as opposed to gigging. It seems like the next step for me… (It’s) time to expand my creative muscle a little bit,” says a positive Leard.
For more information, visit http://camieleard.com.
Posted by Lindsay Wilson on Jan 06, 2010
Mike Clark
BeatRoute’s “A” Player of the Month
By Lindsay Wilson
From high school band teacher to blues bar owner, remaining a musician all the way, Mike Clark can’t visualize what life would be like without music.
Clark, with a Bachelor of Music under his belt, is known as a first-call saxophone player in the Calgary roots and blues scene, although he also plays guitar, keyboard and flute, and is a seasoned vocalist on top of it all.
Clark knows what it takes to be a hired gun, front his own band, host a jam and play with some of North America’s finest musicians.
When he first moved out to Calgary in 1989 from Vancouver, Clark, like so many musicians, stumbled into the King Eddy only to discover the deep-rooted talent that played behind those walls.
“The first time I was there (at the Eddy), I got up to jam with Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy,” Clark incredulously remembers. Murphy is an American blues player who has played with all the greats, including Etta James, Howlin’ Wolf, James Cotton and Memphis Slim, among others. Murphy was also known for his work in the Blues Brothers, and can be seen in both films, The Blues Brothers and The Blues Brothers 2000, launching his status to become one of the best-known blues guitarists in the U.S.
Within weeks of arriving in Calgary, Clark had hooked up local A cats, such as Brother Ray Lemelin and Steve Pineo, and ended up playing sax in Steve Pineo and the Groovemakers for six years, with whom he toured western Canada.
Clark is one of many King Eddy players who fondly remembers the Eddy as “home away from home,” sharing the stage with and learning from Chicago’s top-rated blues musicians, who would come to town for six-night gigs in those days – guys like Fenton Robinson and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown.
Throughout the nineties, Clark gigged with countless bands around town, until the millennium rolled around and he decided it was time to put together his own band: the Mike Clark Band, which came to be in 2000.
Clark has also produced two full-length albums, Saxman (2002) and Clarkology (2005), both of which received excellent reviews and earned Clark four consecutive Maple Blues Award nominations for Horn Player of the Year.
Clark is currently working on his third album, and a sample demonstrates his eclectic tastes and diverse sound: blues to folk to country to jazz to roots and everything in between. On the album, Clark plays sax, flute and guitar on varying tracks and fills the sound with his hearty voice.
“I’m a professional sax player and a wannabe guitar player, and they have to let me play ‘cause it’s my band,” laughs Clark.
The guitar chair in the Mike Clark Band has rotated between Johnny V and Amos Garrett; both players have been notable sources of inspiration for Clark as a musician.
His musical influences and hefty experience playing with a wide spectrum of musicians comes across in Clark’s original tracks. Although Clark is strongly identified within the musical community as a blues player, he also loves roots music and songwriters. Some of his non-blues influences include: Frank Zappa (rock); Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon and John Coltrain (all jazz cats); and John Prine, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson (as songwriters).
Over the years, Clark has shared the stage, been in bands, recorded tracks and opened up for some of the biggest North American blues players that have come across the radio waves: Albert Collins, Downchild Blues Band, Son Seals, Big Miller, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Matt Minglewood, Big Dave McLean, Johnny V, Amos Garrett, Donald Ray Johnson, Brother Ray Lemelin, Tim Williams and Bill Dowey. The list is essentially endless.
“I’ll be playing ‘til I drop dead…it’s what I do,” states Clark matter-of-factly.
In fact, Clark loves music so much, he decided to partner up with Darin Muller and Marc Anderson to purchase the old Jackdaws, located at 1901 10 Ave SW and turn it into Mikey’s Juke Joint in October of 2007.
Mikey’s Juke Joint wasn’t exactly contrived on a whim, jamming in the basement with the boys late into the night. Clark carried around the dream of a viable blues bar for a long time before the right opportunity and partners came about.
He knew it had to be a little bit off the beaten path and that it had to be a destination spot. In short, Mikey’s Juke Joint had to have consistent down-home southern food that was priced fairly, cold beer that poured freely, warm staff and, most importantly, music seven nights a week.
And that’s just what Clark and his team have done. Anyone can step off the sidewalk and enter the Juke Joint to hear hot music every night of the week: Mondays with Steve Pineo, Tuesdays with Tim Williams, Wednesday night open mic hosted by the Pussywillows, Thursday is the night for out-of-town bands, Friday and Saturday nights are varying roots and blues acts and Sunday afternoon is open mic for local jammers. Beginning in February, local blues singer Kirby Sewell will be performing with his band at Mikey’s Juke Joint every Sunday night.
The highlight of the week would have to be Mike Clark’s Saturday afternoon jam. It’s free to get in and the house is alive with all the best players in town.
“It’s the only job where you get applause for doing your job,” remarks Clark, who, like most musicians, feeds off the emotional connection he gets through performing for perfect strangers.
Clark certainly got an auditorium full of applause recently, when he opened up for ZZ Top on December 1 with Tim Williams & the Electrofires, featuring Tim Williams on guitar, Kevin Belzner on drums, “Suitcase” James Stanley on bass, Ron Casat on keys and Mike Clark on saxophone. The band found out the morning of the concert that they were to be the opening act for the rock icons.
“I didn’t have much time to sweat over it; we just had to get up and do it,” laughs Clark.
At the end of the day, when he looks back on a lifetime devoted to getting up on stage after stage and playing show after show, Clark might simply say: “When everything’s cooking…there’s no better feeling.”
For more information, visit www.mikeclarkband.com.
To see a complete listing of upcoming shows at Mikey’s Juke Joint, visit http://www.mikeysjukejoint.com/
Posted by Lindsay Wilson on Jan 06, 2010