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You’re in the doghouse

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:09:58 GMT

You’re in the doghouse

As printed in The Cochrane Eagle September 23, 2009

By: Lindsay Wilson

Full-time blues musician Harpdog Brown has made a life for himself in the business for the last thirty years.

“When I stumbled into the blues, that was the first time I felt like I belonged. The blues would never fail me. When we die, blues dies,” said Brown.

Brown is no small man in any regard — not in stature, sound or accomplishments as a working blues singer/songwriter and harmonica player.

He is an intense man with a sharp sense of humour and piercing steely grey eyes that make you feel as though he’s looking right through you, into your soul.

And he’s coming down from his home in Lacombe, Alta., to the Blue Dog Café in Cochrane for a one-night performance, accompanied by keyboard player Graham Guest Sept. 26.

Brown has released four albums: Beware of Dog (1992), Home is where the Harp is (1994), Once in a Howlin’ Moon (2000) and Unleashed (2008) — a gem he sat on for fourteen years from a 1995 recording session.

His sound is best described as gritty blues with a swingin’ groove.

His band, the Bloodhounds, is made up of various players, whom he picks up as he moves across the country performing.

Originally an Edmonton boy, Harpdog left Alberta in 1987 to make Vancouver, B.C., his home, returning home to Alberta in 1996.

For Brown, his home is wherever the music takes him.

“1981 is when I bent my first note and when I put my first blues band together,” said Brown, referring to when he first began to play the harmonica (referred to as a “harp” in the music world).

He has been travelling the circuit ever since, from Alaska to San Francisco and Vancouver to Ottawa, taking a break from music for six years when his son, McKinley — named after the legendary Muddy Waters, was born 12 years ago.

Brown’s presence is as large as his sound.

He embodies the blues on his external self, as well as his internal.

Last year, at the age of 46, Brown had his two favorite harp players tattooed on his forearms — Little Walter Jacobs on his right arm and Sonny Boy Williamson on his left, as well as Muddy Waters on his right shoulder, next to the portrait of his son, McKinley.

CKUA, the Edmonton independent radio station that supports the blues in a big way, refers to Harpdog Brown as “an Alberta blues institution.”

“Music is a vehicle for me. It’s my guise — how I get through to people,” said Brown, who feels his role in this life is to teach, heal and guide others through music.

If you want to spend your evening Sept. 26 filling your soul with raw blues as Brown plays his harp and sings accompanied by Graham Guest on keys, then contact Jenny Haynes from the Blue Dog Café for tickets at 932-4282. Tickets are $15.

"A" Player of the Month: Tim Williams

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:28:09 GMT

“A” Player of the Month: Tim Williams

“Every generation finds the blues, and that’s a testament to the music itself,” says Tim Williams over a glass of wine at Calgary’s blues house, Mikey’s Juke Joint.

Though Williams is an important player in the Calgary blues community, his music has reached beyond North America and into Europe. He has toured across the globe, produced three vinyl records and eight CDs under his own name, as well as appearing on countless records of fellow musicians and working as a producer.

Williams began his journey in southern California, where he was born in the late 1940s. By the time he was a teenager, Williams was already a published poet and covering ground in the coffee house circuit throughout California. At 20, he released his first LP recording, Blues Full Circle. The course was set: Tim Williams was a working musician.

Like most musicians, Williams has played a diverse spectrum of music. Although he started out on bluegrass, he became fluent in Delta bottleneck and Bluegrass Dobro techniques early on, and the blues is what he came to call home. Growing up around what blues fans hold in regard as virtuoso musicians, Williams was taken in by these blues fathers of today – artists such as Lightin’ Hopkins and T-Bone Walker – with no pretenses.

“(The musicians) were very supportive of me. There was no racial divide, they just accepted I could do it and accepted me as one of the musicians,” says Williams, in his natural, easygoing way of conversing.

What may seem like legendary blues accounts to some are merely aspects of the life of a working blues musician to Williams. There are no stories of grandeur here, only honest truths delivered from a blues man who’s been writing and playing for over 40 years.

A master of acoustic, slide and electric guitar, Williams is also accomplished on the banjo and mandolin, as well as being a vocalist. He left the US in 1970, moving to Vancouver, where there were “fewer people and fewer handguns,” and immediately became busy with studio work, teaching guitar, headlining smaller venues and opening up for bigger acts that came to town.

By this time, Williams’ body of work was encompassing western swing music and traditional country. The 1974 single “Careful Mountain Pony” did not earn its prospected sales, which led Williams to take a break from the music scene. He journeyed to the interior of B.C., where he worked on cattle ranches as a horse wrangler for a number of years, while still continuing to work on his music.

In 1988, Williams returned back to music, making an appearance as a player at the Edmonton Folk Festival. This highly visible festival resulted in the blues musician’s phone ringing off the hook, taking him right back to working as a full time musician.

In 1990, Williams began playing with Triple Threat at Calgary’s legendary blues bar, the King Eddy, while putting together his own electric band. Triple Threat, consisting of Tim Williams, Rusty Reed and Johnny V, went on to produce an album, The Terra Firma Boogie, that would earn them a Juno nomination.

Since then, Williams has continued to play with blues artists from all over, including Calgary’s own Bill Dowey, Donald Ray Johnson, Mike Clark, Amos Garrett, Sonny Rhodes and the late Back Alley John, just to name a few. He has produced albums for many local musicians, and has most recently been noted for his work on Junction City, the second album from Little Miss Higgins, who Williams describes as “Mae West meets Memphis Mini.” Williams is reuniting with Higgins at the Cochrane Folk Club for a one-night performance at the Cochrane RancheHouse on Saturday, November 14. Tickets can be purchased online at www.cochranefolkclub.com.

With the three of Calgary’s finest blues and roots venues – the Red Onion, Kaos and the King Eddy – all shut down, Williams is uncertain of the future of dedicated blues bars in Calgary, referring to Mikey’s Juke Joint and the Ironwood as two of Calgary’s remaining dedicated blues/roots rooms. “The club scene is really hurting…solo performing is such a dying art,” says an uncertain, but ultimately positive Williams.

Tim Williams will be busy in November, performing at the Ironwood Stage & Grill November 12 and 13, Cochrane Valley Folk Club (Cochrane) November 14, Full Moon Folk Club November 27, and participating in Blues at the Bow at the Bow Theatre November 28. He can also be seen at Mikey’s Juke Joint every Tuesday night when he’s not on the road. View the Article on the Beat Route Site!

The blues to hit Cochrane

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:22:20 GMT

The blues to hit Cochrane

November 11, 2009

By: Lindsay Wilson

Roots music, with a blues edge and a country twist, is set to take center stage Nov. 14.

Jolene “Little Miss” Higgins, accompanied by Foy Taylor on rhythm guitar and Calgary blues master Tim Williams on mandolin and guitar, will be sharing some musical talent with Cochrane at the RancheHouse.

Little Miss Higgins is performing for the folk club with blues great Tim William Nov. 14 at the Cochrane RancheHouse. (Photo courtesty of Jolene Higgins)

Higgins has been playing music ever since she can remember, and has been working as a full-time musician for the last five years.

“It’s a lot of work. You gotta stay disciplined and keep at it – practice and write,” said songwriter Higgins.

But it’s obvious she loves what she does.

“Even with the craziness, it’s an honour to be able to perform full-time,” said Higgins.

Higgins is noted for her skill as a performer on the stage. She blends her rootsy style, blues guitar riffs and gifted storytelling with a performance inspired by musicals from the 1930s as a way of engaging her audience.

Described by Williams as “Mae West meets Memphis Mini,” Jolene “Little Miss” Higgins delivers an authentic, earthy style of country-blues in a way that brings the listener back to a time when live performance was about gutsy lyrics and raw sound.

Williams produced Little Miss Higgins’ second album, Junction City, in 2007, which went on to receive a Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Blues Recording of 2008, and was also nominated for a 2008 Juno Award.

Williams, who is one of Calgary’s most highly regarded blues players, has worked as a producer for many notable musicians. He first met Little Miss Higgins in Yellowknife several years ago. They are currently promoting their newest album, Two Nights in March, with an Alberta mini-tour.

The recording of this newest album was done between the Amigos Cantina in Saskatoon and Engineered Air Theatre in Calgary.

Higgins and Taylor will be heading back into the studio in December to begin recording another full album and gearing up for a national CD release in the spring of 2010, with prospects of a European tour.

“Hopefully, that’ll create another wave for us to ride,” says Higgins.

Tickets to the show can be purchased either at Cochrane Coffee Traders, or online at www.cochranefolkclub.com.

Tickets are $22 each, doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m.

as printed in The Cochrane Eagle

Johnny Tornado: we are The Stormriders

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:33:26 GMT

Johnny Tornado: we are The Stormriders

As printed in Beatroute

“We are the Stormriders. I’ve taken all these hours in this crane and built this machine,” says Johnny Tornado, referring to his job as a crane operator, which has enabled him to fund his first ever CD release.

The project is no small endeavor for Tornado. He carefully handpicked a group of musicians to collaborate on this CD, which features blues musicians held in the finest regard by members of the blues community. All ten original tracks on the album are led by Tornado on vocals, guitar and steel; Tim Steinruck on bass and background vocals; and Adam Drake on drums. Several of the songs also feature Gaye Delorme on guitar and slide guitar, Big Dave McLean on harmonica (harp) and Wailin’ Al Walker on guitar and rhythm guitar.

Tornado’s style of rockin’ blues tells a life-long story of blood, sweat and tears. Originally from Ontario, Tornado left home at 14, and spent his youth travelling throughout Canada and the US with a guitar, busking on the streets and playing in smoky blues bars. He met some of the greatest American and Canadian blues legends, learning from the masters all the way.

“Steve Miller taught me how to play a B chord,” remembers Tornado, who has sat in over the years with the likes of John Lee Hooker, Wild Chet Butler, Chicago Pete, Little Sonny, the Downchild Blues Band, the Powder Blues Band and Burton Cummings. He also played with Canadian blues icon Dutch Mason. Mason also recorded “Goodtimes” with Tornado, the only recording Mason ever did headlining himself with another artist.

It was at a bar in Dallas at the age of 17 when Tornado got the hard-hitting advice that would follow him throughout his career as a musician. Freddy King was playing, and Tornado asked him what it was all about – where the music came from. King looked at the young Tornado and said, “Son, it’s from here,” tapping his chest and then buying the young blues musician a drink.

“I’ve taken a lick, or a chord, or a phrase from everyone along the way,” says Tornado. “I learned from the best and also from the worst. Sometimes you have to know what it’s like to be bad before you can be good.”

Tornado knows what it’s like to be bad. He lived a hard life, evident in his CD, Stormriders, which is a collection of ten original tracks telling the stories of travelling the long road of life, living the blues through both the music and a series of tragedies and even doing a stretch of prison time. He got out of prison at the age of 40, with full intentions of bringing the dream of music to a reality and living his life on the right side of the tracks. And now, for the first time, Tornado has put it all together and is bringing his debut CD release across Canada.

October was the month for CD releases in Nova Scotia and Alberta. Calgary’s CD release was held at Calgary’s own Shamrock Bar & Grill on October 17, where Tornado and the Stormriders hosted the Shamrock’s Saturday afternoon blues jam, followed by a band performance filmed live in HD video. Over the next few months, the plans are to hit Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Vancouver. Long-term plans for Tornado include touring the States and maybe even Europe.

“They’re only gonna remember the last show you did, so that’s how you have to do it, and that’s how I’m doing this CD release,” says Tornado, who is excited about his life’s work in Stormriders and is looking forward to wherever this CD release will take him.

bluessmyth: rockin' blues band covers some ground

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:46:42 GMT

bluessmyth: rockin’ blues band covers some ground

As printed in beatroute

A blacksmith’s work is to forge together material to produce a piece of art that is unique. The work of bluessmyth is to fuse together the blues with heavy, solid bass lines and soulful, gospel influences. The recent addition of classically trained drummer Celine Yohemas to the already stellar line-up of brothers Jason and Chris Yaholkoski resulted in the rock-fused album Sola Gratia. The release, which was produced by Mark Berry (Duran Duran, Carly Simon, David Bowie), has had tremendous feedback since its national release in the spring of 2009.

“We’re kind of in this weird place where the blues guys find us too rock and the rock guys find us too blues – until they listen to the CD,” says drummer Yohemas, who joined the band just over a year ago, drawn to the brothers’ Stevie Ray Vaughn influence and gifted storytelling abilities.

“The biggest message: listen to your ears,” says Yohemas, who encourages music lovers to connect with the story that is told through song.

Sola Gratia is the first album put out by the trio, but the third album put out by bluessmyth, who were first established six years ago. The newest album features songs with powerful messages, such as “Hurricane Katrina,” about the devastation of New Orleans, and “Rosemary,” which is about addiction.

The trio has hit the road quite extensively over the last several months, continuing their successful CD release journey across Canada, from the Rainbow Room in Ottawa to the Shamrock Hotel in Calgary and everywhere in between.

According to Yohemas, the biggest struggle for working bands is finding the right publicist – one that won’t undercut the artists’ work. bluessmyth is pleased with their western representation by Sound Strategy Music and is currently seeking eastern representation.

The journey has been exhausting and exciting all at the same time. While the trio is overwhelmed with their success in the Canadian market, future plans include touring the U.S. and Europe.

“We’re looking for a more expansive market,” explains Yohemas.
As for New Year’s resolutions, bluessmyth plans to play more music-specific venues, get involved in festivals and work on branding the band’s image.

Check out bluessmyth’s website at www.myspace.com/bluessmyth1 for dates, info and more.

Dylan MacDonalds Traditional Blues School: one of a kind

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:55:00 GMT

Dylan MacDonalds Traditional Blues School: one of a kind

As printed in beatroute

Although he’s not yet 30, Dylan MacDonald has submersed himself in the blues since his teenage years. He has honed his skills as a blues harmonica (harp) player to the point of becoming one of the best known under 30 blues harp players in this part of the country.

He’s had the privilege of sharing the stage with many notable blues figures, including David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Du-Rite Aces, Donald Ray Johnson, Darren Johnson, Bill Hills, Amos Garret and Gary Martin, among others.

Though he has gained something from all the musicians he’s worked with, his strongest influence is Big Walter. “He’s been my mainstay guy,” says MacDonald, looking up at his framed photograph of the harmonica great on his shop wall with admiration.

MacDonald has spent the last six years playing harp with Bill Dowey and the Blues Devils, hosting the most successful blues jams in the city and playing in every blues-friendly house Calgary has to offer.

“I came out of the woods and fell in with those guys. It was kind of like a dream come true,” says MacDonald, referring to when he first moved to Calgary from Nova Scotia ten years ago. A newcomer to the scene, he was taken under the wing of the late Back Alley John (his harmonica mentor) and Bill Dowey.

In August 2007, MacDonald decided to start teaching harmonica and guitar, which led to him opening his own Traditional Blues School. Here, he has been able to combine his love of playing and teaching with his extensive historical knowledge of blues. Although he is particularly adept in the styles of Delta, Ragtime, Piedmont and Chicago – derived from blues innovators such as Robert Johnson, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Sonny Terry – his teaching caters to the preferred style of his students.

The next step: open up a storefront, combining the lessons with the sale of authentic, hard-to-find harmonicas. It finally happened on August 1, 2009. Although the world of a small-time business owner is not one without its struggles, particularly in a niche market like the blues, MacDonald really believes in what he’s doing and has the support of the blues community behind him.

“I’m the only guy who’s presenting a full time blues school in Western Canada. People can come in and get any harmonica in the world – make, model, key,” says MacDonald, who is the only authentic harmonica dealer in the country.

MacDonald can put you in touch with any vintage harmonica or amp you so desire, and then continue on to teach you how to play it. His collection of vintage harps beats any known collection in other music stores to date.

“It’s a community-centered blues hangout,” explains MacDonald about the shop he spends six days a week in. It’s where blues lovers and players can go just to talk about the blues and jam out. Anyone is welcome, from the seasoned player to the curious spectator.

Dylan MacDonald’s Traditional Blues School can be found in Calgary next door to Vintage Music, located at 2114 14 St NW. To get MacDonald to locate that perfect harmonica for you or get you started with lessons, he can be reached at 403-305-9899 or you can visit his website, www.traditionalbluesschool.com

Bill Dowey: BeatRoute's "A" Player of the Month

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:39:08 GMT

Bill Dowey: BeatRoute’s “A” Player of the Month

As printed in beatroute

Ray Lemelin. Zeke Chambers. Jimmy Payne. Sonny Rhodes. Back Alley John. Paul James. Fenton Robinson. Bill Eaglesham. Dutch Mason. Albert Collins. The Sons of Blues. Even if he tried his hardest, it would be difficult for Bill Dowey to remember all of the great blues cats he’s shared the stage with, helped launched careers for, jammed with, toured with and backed up over the years.

“You don’t look down on anyone unless you’re just giving them a help up,” says Dowey. This backbone of the musical methodology has carried him through years as a working musician and jam host.

After 40 years of playing music, Bill Dowey is one of the most instrumental building blocks for blues in the city of Calgary. For 14 years, he ran the Saturday afternoon blues jam at the King Eddy, Calgary’s house of blues. When the legendary venue was condemned by the city and shut down in 2004, it broke the hearts of blues fans and musicians in regions that expand far beyond the walls of this city alone.

Dowey’s journey into music began when he learned his first blues song on guitar, “K.C. Blues,” at the age of six in his home of Toronto, ON. Throughout his teenage years, Dowey would play his way through folk, country, rock and blues tunes with his slide guitar, harmonica and voice. Though he enjoyed many genres, he had a strong preference for electric blues from the late ‘50s to the early ‘70s – artists such as Muddy Waters and Little Walter who were moved up through Chess Records. He began his first band by the age of 18, and then made the decision to pack up his gear and head out west, to Calgary, in the 1970s.

Up until 1985, Dowey spent his time playing in various bands and attending the Banff Centre for the Arts, where he studied technical theatre. He moved back to Toronto for a few years to resurrect his playing with some old friends, but returned to Calgary in 1985, where he’s been ever since.

He began playing with Zeke Chambers, Ray Lemelin and the late Jimmy Payne, gigging around town for a number of years. In 1990, the HooDoo Sons was born. Bill Dowey was on keyboards, slide guitar and vocals, and was joined by John Rutherford on guitar, Tommy Knowles on bass and Brad Carter on drums. Dowey and Carter have now been playing together for almost 22 years.

It was at one of Dowey’s Saturday afternoon jams that a quiet guitar player showed up, asking the boys if he could get up and work out a couple of tunes.

“We got him up with us and realized right then and there that he had something going,” reflects Dowey. The quiet guitar player turned out to be Greg “Junior” Demchuk, who went on to play with Dowey in the Blues Devils, formed in the late ‘90s (post-HooDoo Sons). Demchuk eventually moved out to Vancouver to play with the west coast’s most well-known blues band, the Twisters, for a period of time.

One would be hard-pressed to find a blues musician in this city who doesn’t hold Dowey in high standing.

“In my time, I’ve shared the stage with many great musicians, such as Jeff Healey and Steve Lukather. As far as I’m concerned, Bill Dowey goes toe to toe with any of those guys,” says Greg Godovitz, a Canadian rock icon who has held a successful career on bass, guitar and vocals with major Toronto rock ’n’ roll bands Fludd and Goddo since the ‘60s.

Godovitz, like Dowey, is also from Toronto, having moved to Calgary shortly over a year ago, where he continues to play and work as a producer.

Bill Dowey, Greg Godovitz and Paul Finn (well-known Calgary bass player who used to play with Dowey) have recently put together a blues trio, calling themselves the 3 Amigos.

Dowey’s current band, Bill Dowey and the Blues Devils, have been playing together for the last several years, hosting jams and stopping shows all over Calgary and even Europe. In addition to Dowey on vocals, keyboards and slide guitar, the current players include Brad Carter on drums, Richard Kowalewski on bass and Dylan MacDonald on harmonica.

After a three-year absence from the Shamrock Hotel, Bill Dowey and the Blues Devils have returned to host the weekly Saturday afternoon King Eddy blues jam.

“The King Eddy spirit has been alive at the Shamrock…where we’ve been hosting our Saturday afternoon blues jam, so it’s only natural that Bill Dowey has come home,” says Darcy Clendenning, manager of the Shamrock and one of the busiest booking agents in town.

Dowey was welcomed back to the Shamrock on November 14 by his friends and fellow musicians, and reunited with his Gibson guitar from the ‘60s, which got lost in the world of repairs over six years ago. It was a sweet reunion.

If you want to see Dowey, he’s easy enough to find at the blues jams that he hosts with his band Bill Dowey and the Blues Devils. Feel free to bring your axe and jam with the cats, or kick back and enjoy the blues.

For more information on how you can see Billy Dowey in action, click here to check out his website.

Jammin' Around Calgary

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:07:34 GMT

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.

Toni Vere

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:48:12 GMT

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.

Slaughterhouse Studios

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:00:21 GMT

Slaughterhouse Studios

affordable rehearsal and recording space for musicians

By Lindsay Wilson

As printed in Beatroute

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.