posted by @tristanorchard

We’ve joined forces with Ponderosa Festival, the three-day music and arts party (August 22 to 24) in Rock Creek, BC, to bring you interviews with some of the bands playing this year. Today we chat with Darcy Hancock, guitarist of local indie rock favourites Ladyhawk, about manatees, vampires, and what he’s feeling pretty giddy about with only one month left until showtime.

1. Where are you right now? What were you doing before this?

Today I am at work. I was on tour with High Ends recently. It’s new project started by Jeff from Yukon Blonde. Ryan is touring with Nick Krgovich right now. I think Sean is currently in Vancouver though he is hard to pin down these days with all the fun stuff he is a part of. Duffy is somewhere far up the sunshine coast brewing beer I think. We don’t often get to be in the same place.

2. Manatee or antelope? Why?

Manatee. Back when finding animal print t-shirts at your local VV was a thing in the early 2000′s I wore a manatee shirt all the time. The print was huge. It was really ugly. Thankfully you don’t see many people wearing terrible shirts like that anymore.

3. “The only thing I would EVER swap my instrument/talent for would be ____.” Why?

This is impossible to answer, as this far in life the only thing I’ve been truly happy doing is playing music. There have been times I have wished I was born a simple non-creative person who could just go to work and go home and never know a life of traveling poor, in strange towns, in strange clubs all over the world. It’s a blast yet insanely stressful and exhausting. I’ve talked to many musicians who dream the same thing. But when it comes down to it I don’t think many musicians would trade this weird life for anything.

4. Vampires have taken over the planet. What’s your advice for survival?

Give up. Become one.

5. Paper, rock, or scissors? Why?

Paper. Because it covers rock.

6. Who’s/what’s the most interesting person/personality you met on tour?

Jason Molina. He was a beautiful man. Full of great stories. True or not I loved listening to him talk. He left us with an amazing catalogue of songs.

7. What’s your board game of choice? Why?

I guess Balderdash is kinda fun. I would rather do something productive or physical, or just hang out and have a good conversation rather than play a board game though. Never found them to be a good use of my time.

8. What are you most excited for at Ponderosa this year?

I am stoked to get out of the city and be at a low key festival that is not yet too big and crazy. I was just at Pemberton Festival last weekend and it was too wild for me. Though I’m sure you all hope Ponderosa gets bigger every year. I’m happy to be playing it while it is still young.

Thanks for the chat, Darcy! See you in a month and in the meantime, here’s little tasty little morsel of what’s to come. We hope your Friday night doesn’t go like this.

posted by @laurelborrowman

Check out a brand 80′s reminiscent synth pop remix of Golden Coast by M O N A R C H.

posted by @tristanorchard

Before I knew about being embarrassed about anything, I wrote one of my first music journalism pieces entitled “Kelowna’s fertile soil grows good music.” Years of wearing headgear and standing too close to the microwave probably warped my teenage brain and made me think that “fertile” and “lactating” were good adjectives to use when reviewing music.  Anyways, I took a little trip back to ye old fertile soil last weekend for Kelohah, a neon-soaked summertime bro-down with some hoe-down music festival.

Because I am a 50-year-old divorcee from surrey, I thought renting a red mustang for the drive up was a great idea. If this car was a transformer, it would rear up on it’s cherry red fenders and morph riiiiight into a giant douche bag. It did, however, make for a pretty Aerosmith-y ride up, and taking in the incredible, panoramic wine country scenery is pretty cool.

DAY ONE: Got out of car to go to pick up festival wristbands. Then went to the dollar store, the old spaghetti factory (Turn down for what?! For bottomless bread that’s what!), swam in the outdoor hotel pool with a large gang of 11 year old boys, then went to sleep watching some movie with some guy in it. MUSIC FESTIVALS RULE!

DAY TWO: Ok. This was a good day because I wasn’t so focused on carbs.

The Kelohah festival is gorgeous. It’s pretty much like walking into the Saved-by-the-Bell Palm Springs special. Lush rolling green hills, a small river winding through the grounds, board shorts and neon wayfarers as far as the eye can see. Two stages at opposite ends of the ground hosted 14 acts that day. One stage was perched on the shore of the lake, the other at the bottom of a sloping grass hill. Also highly valued were the beanbag chairs in the backstage outdoor area. One year, as a child entirely too old to believe in Santa, I wrote a pleading letter to the man in red to deliver me a bean bag chair for Christmas. Armed with a poor memory and sleep deprivation caused by playing with a fax machine all night (HOW DO THEY WORK?!) I rushed into the living room and was convinced that Santa had left his magic sack of presents behind. I rushed towards the bag, threw open the zipper and a zillion tiny Styrofoam beads poured out into the living room carpet. Turns out beanbag chairs look a lot like Santa’s sack of presents to an idiot child who spends her time thinking “The Last Unicorn” was a documentary. Anyway, the beanbag chairs, beach huts, food trucks, and tiki style beer gardens were super nice and well run. Unlike a certain festival years ago that almost killed me…. (IT WAS PEMBERTON, PEMBERTON WAS DEATH)…. there was ample toilet paper on the grounds and there was plenty of space to grab a snack from one of the many food trucks and hang out in the shade chugging a beer.

You could pick out the bands in attendance because their full-length pants, wool hats and beards made me worry they were actually going to die. There is no place in 36 degree weather for “cool.” We are all sweaty/sandy assed children in baggy swimsuits whining for popsicles in that kind of heat. Or maybe that was just me? I tend to project my insecurities on others….a concept you might not be able to understand because you are so stupid and fat.

Hands up if your peeing!

The Sandbar stage was amazing. Talk about outdoor bathrooms with a view! A whole lake at your disposal! First up on Saturday was Rolla Oak, a Top 20 artist in the 2013 Peak Performance Project.  Around the time Rolla Oak started playing (I tend to have a very short attention span) I noticed a large inflatable ball at the shoreline. I strolled over the burning hot lava sand and let a 13-year-old boy zip me inside it whilst he inflated it with a leaf blower.

Although there is nothing more relaxing than flailing around a lake in an enclosed plastic sphere filled with gas-air, there was the added factor that I was floating past huge groups of drunk people in the lake who really couldn’t resist yelling into/poking me through the plastic. Due to some balance issues and the fact that I was inside in a fucking ball, every time I tried to stand I would plummet into the sides, causing the ball to roll and me to perform a type of summersault that one would imagine a legless, armless, newborn deer torso to make. Here’s what Rob from BESTiE who wasn’t being an idiot in a ball thought of Rolla Oak: “they channel Dylan, Tom Petty and Rolla, It’s been done before but not nearly as good or genuine. Makes you want to relive a time when love was free and music was honest.”

Star Captains

After Rolla, I headed over to the Island Stage to watch Star Captains and Peak Performance runners up BESTiE. Star Captains are a 5-piece and their online bio says they’re on a “musical space quest” which sounds a bit like Galaxy Quest but with less Tim Allen. Lead singer NaRai Dawn has the kind of voice everyone thinks they might have when recently dumped, wasted on 151, and singing along to Celine Dion pop up video’s on youtube. NaRai’s vocal ability is crazy, and it’s pretty entertaining to watch. You can hear their stuff here.

Smokey Flavs by BESTiE

BESTiE are comprised of my good friends (you can tell by the photo watermarks I stole their pictures) so anything I say about them as a band, good or bad, must be fictional to maintain my journalistic integrity. However, I did truly enjoy their entire set of Milli Vanilli covers punctuated by a strip show performed by your Mom. But don’t take my word for it, this online review reflects on how BESTiE is “hearty, meaty, and full of smokey flavour.” Buy their album here so they have money to bribe me to write a decent and well thought out review next time.

Local Natives – Vancouver Weekly Photo

After BESTiE, I took a brief hiatus to sit in the hotel parking lot pool and eat a bag of Cheetos to rest up for Local Natives, a group of the nicest and most talented dudes you’ll ever meet. Years ago, Winnie hosted these Silverlake indie rockers at Funky Winkerbeans, the spiffiest venue this side of the Salvation Army, for their first ever Vancouver show.

Since then, Local Natives have gotten just a little bit more famous, as they now headline events instead of playing bars where some guy will try to sell you Costco cheese strapped to the inside of his trench coat.

Oh man. They are awesome live. Super engaging and magical. I saw at least 4 couples start to make out during “Airplanes” and the security guard with a mullet had a pensive moment looking up at the twinkling night sky, that or he was staring at some girls boobs while she bounced on top of a guys shoulders.  The Local Natives had the type of set where there’s a giant wind machine behind the band giving an ethereal windswept vibe to the entire stage, then you discover, much like the girl who hitchhiked with some dude and he went to her parents house to return something she left and it turned out she had be dead for 5 years…THERE WAS NO WIND MACHINE! So chalk the magic vibes on stage up to amazing chemistry between band members, solid songs with amazing gang vocals and making a solid connection with the audience. Lead singer Taylor Rice jumped into the crowd towards the end of the set and managed to lose to shoe to the surging throng (a very fashionable male version of a slingback, must be an LA thing), which was returned post show (Yay for friendly audiences!) This was a good thing because the Local Native’s members joined me for the after party at Habitat, a downtown Kelowna nightclub, and you really want to wear shoes there.

Bestie at Habitat

BESTiE played double duty that day performing at Habitat as well, and I don’t think I’ve seen that many girls dance on stage since the Much Music Video Dance Party arrived at my junior high. Seriously, I felt fucking old. With the cruel reality that I’m no longer limber enough to climb on a stage, and the knowledge that I can’t watch girls on stage without referencing Atwood’s “The Edible Women” to whatever poor soul is standing beside me. I left to get poutine that I can’t remember eating but found on my best friend’s shoes the next morning.

In summation, Kelohah, a place where walking into a fancy penthouse hotel room at 6pm and seeing two dudes you went to high school with naked wrestling in front of a fireplace while one of their Dad’s watches and cheers is entirely possible. (This happened on the Saturday).

XOXO – SUPERFRIES

Ladner’s finest, Tough Lovers have a brand new single we’re excited to premiere. Check out Mouthful Of Blood below.

posted by @tristanorchard

It’s that time of the year again, when copious amounts of booze and excess exposure to the sun make catching the feels a weekly activity. Fortunately for us, Alex (from Killing Time) has a new jam that will make your emotional hangovers bearable, and maybe even enjoyable. So send your current boo the purple heart emoji and remember that somewhere out there, Drake has it 10x worse.

Posted by @Clarkbs who currently has the feels

Oh and you should totally check out the brand new video for Sriracha also.

maybe posted by @clarkbs

Perfect mix of mellow with thick chunky beats for daytime or 5am listening.

posted by @tristanorchard

posted by @tristanorchard

Winniecooper.net is excited to present two YUNG LEAN shows in Vancouver on July 18th. First an early ALL AGES show at Chapel Arts at 6:30pm w/ support by SAD BOYS and Jade Statues. Buy tickets here! Then a second show at Fortune Sound Club at 9pm, which is also Winniecooper’s anniversary party, featuring local acts: Cherchez, Christian Flores and Rook Milo. Get tickets for that show here!

Whether your going to one show or both you don’t want to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. If your like myself and have been following Yung Lean then you known how special it’s going to be. Tickets are selling fast so get yours quick!

Posted by Wobangs

Vancouver based TOUGH LOVERS are playing a show Thursday to kick off The PEAK Thursdays Concert Series at Library Square.

If you’re not familiar, this four piece band play catchy rock and roll with a distinct indie pop slant, and it’s really great to see live.

Head down to Library Square this Thursday to check them out in person, plus super bonus WC’s CHRISTIAN FLORES will be deejaying too!

Cover is only 5 bucks, but arrive early cuz doors are at 9pm with the show at 10.

For more info on TOUGH LOVERS, check their FB page HERE and listen to their music off the bandcamp page HERE.

For details on the event and The PEAK Thursdays, CLICK HERE.

New Vancouver indie act Sprïng was birthed from the destruction of favourite local spazz-punk band the SSRIs. When I found out that the new project would be called “Sprïng,” I wondered if the band was determined to hide from people on the internet. I sat down to chat with the guys in Sprïng in the band’s kitchen and the boys assured me that if you manage to type the “ï” that the band is the only google search result–along with some World of Warcraft thing. Then they taught me how to type an “i” with an umlaut, among many other things. Listen to our chat!

the interview show with Sprïng

Sprïng “Follow”

Sprïng “Pastel” Why did the band choose this song to play during the show? You’ll have to listen to the interview!

The SSRIs “Rows” Here’s a track that will show this new band’s music roots.

the interview show is everywhere!

www.cjsf.ca (Vancouver, BC, Mondays 4:30-5pm PST and Wednesdays 12:30am PST)
www.ckdu.ca (Halifax, NS, Fridays 12:00-12:30am AST)
www.radiocfxu.ca (Campus Community Radio, Antigonish, NS, Fridays 11pm-12am AST)
www.cfru.ca (University of Guelph Radio, ON, Tuesdays 3pm EST)
www.umfm.com (Winnipeg’s Hit Free Radio, Fridays 6-6:30pm CST)
www.caperradio.com (Cape Breton University Radio, NS, Wednesdays 3-3:30pm AST)
www.localfm.ca (Campus Radio Saint John Inc., NB, Tuesdays 11:30am and Fridays 3:30pm AST)

Check out the brand new video by Vancouver artist, Louise Burns for her song Heaven directed by Daniel Code.

posted by @tristanorchard

All y’all deep house lovers can’t miss out on this show. The American producer LE YOUTH will be playing at Fortune Sound Club on Monday, June 30th! As a part of the long weekend party performers, Wes James (Le Youth) is bringing in his very own Cali vibes and a European flair that will rock da house!

So come out for this two-room party with DJs PAT LOK, WMNSTUDIES, PURE ADDICTION, & KALIBO!

Tickets going for $17.50 at Highlife, Zulu, Red Cat, Beatstreet Records and online at http://bit.ly/1kP71xP

More info on the event page

Posted by @JuanMarFreile