Thursday 25 April 2013

Raleigh pushes pedals, buttons and envelopes

Raleigh reigns 

Trio wins with guitar, cello and drums

by Christine Leonard


Snowblink with Raleigh & SAVK
Palomino Smokehouse April 25, 2013

Local pop-folk trio Raleigh revolves around three distinct voices raised in perfect harmony — the sweet-yet-somnolent reverberations of cellist Clea Anaïs merging with the rock ’n’ ramble wanderlust of drummer Matt Doherty and guitarist Brock Geiger. A popular attraction since rolling off the assembly line nearly three years ago, the rootsy band has picked up some serious speed following the release of their 2011 debut New Times in Black and White.

“Our new album, Sun Grenades and Grenadine Skies, is definitely more of a band effort,” says Geiger. “This time around each person had the opportunity to throw in their own concepts and inspiration. It made it more of a collaborative process and you can hear it in the songs. We’ve been together for a couple of years now and we’ve figured a lot of things out. Guitar, cello and drums is kind of a unique approach from the get-go, so you’ve got to try to use that to the best of your advantage.”

Capitalizing on their natural momentum, the festival-tested Raleigh arrived in Montreal in September 2012 where they spent two-weeks laying down tracks at Hotel2Tango recording studios with noted production nerd Greg Smith and sound engineer Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Basia Bulat). Thoughtful lyrical pathways opened up into incandescent rocky reveries as Sun Grenades and Grenadine Skies began to take shape.

“If our new album had one theme it would be colour,” says Geiger. “It comes up a lot with Clea. Writing together, I’ve learned to pay attention to the dynamics of how we go about putting colour and mood into a song. I like the idea that music can be visually provoking without relying on the typical methods of storytelling. Knowing how our instruments fit together as a combo and understanding how to leave space, or make things denser, is a big part of it.”

The trio’s tight-knit nature also helps when exploring new sounds. “There’s less room for argument in a small group, but there’s more individual responsibility too,” says Geiger. “There’s nobody to hide behind as you jump from instrument to instrument. Coming from playing in large rock-based ensembles it’s kind of refreshing to be able to experiment so freely, and to know that we can add nice horns and other accessories and effects after the fact.”

An adventurous undertaking, Raleigh’s latest offering merges a trio of artistic narratives into one inscrutably melodic tableau. No strangers to the do-it-yourself motif, these indie-release veterans are now actively seeking a record label to aid in the distribution of the finished product. Geiger remains confident that the band will receive the financial backing and promotional support they’ll need to publish Sun Grenades sometime this fall. But despite the hours spent in the studio, and the number of kilometres they’ve put on the odometer, Raleigh is in no great rush to see their primed and polished LP hit the racks.

“We’ve been touring all of the songs on the new recording for almost a year and have had a lot of time to see how things sit with us, and nothing has been hurried,” Geiger says. “We’ve all put out records on our own, but going with a label seems like the best way to reach more people.”

Monday 22 April 2013

CALGARY COMIC & ENTERTAINMENT EXPO 2013


CALGARY COMIC & ENTERTAINMENT EXPO

AN INTERVIEW WITH KANDRIX FOONG AND EMILY EXPO

“Shiny!” It’s an apt term to describe an (inter)stellar gathering of fans and talent that has come to be known as the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo (Comic-Con has been trademarked by the San Diego faction). Celebrating its eighth year of exponential growth, this multifaceted exhibition of pop culture and, specifically, science fiction fandom, has much more to offer than staple-rust and hermetically-sealed comic bags. According to event director Kandrix Foong and assistant director Lindsay Thomas (a.k.a. Emily Expo), this year’s show will benefit from some new streamlining and crowd-control measures that were successfully tested when they mounted Edmonton’s version of the Expo late last year.

“We’re on the threshold between being a mid-sized to a large-sized convention,” Kandrix confirms. “I think our expected number of visitors is hovering around 60,000. Obviously, we’ve been working closely with the Stampede Board and fire department to ensure that everyone is safe and happy. High-capacity crowds don’t have to be crazy crowds and we’re implementing initiatives to help alleviate line-ups and take off some of the pressure.”

Embracing a universe of possibilities, this year’s event will see the Expo’s area expand by 47 per cent thanks to the annexation of the Big Four building. This additional 12,000 square feet of outer space will facilitate food services, gaming modules, video games, photo ops and a kid zone. Limiting the number of weekend and single-day passes to the event has also proven to be a key element to keeping the nerfherders in a good mood. Anyone who purchases their ticket in advance is guaranteed entrance to the show and a high-five from Carrie Fisher (just kidding). This means that there will be a limited number of passes available at the door, so buy early to avoid disappointment. Ticket holders will be fast-tracked in through numerous points-of-entry and event organizers have also made it possible for fans to book autograph and photo opportunities with their favourite celebrities in advance via the Expo’s website.

“The bottom line is that, we love our fans and our guests and we want them all to have a fantastic time!” Emily Expo relates. “Creating a comfortable environment and making sure that the foot traffic flows smoothly makes people feel like they’re being taken care of… Little details like meeting guests at the airport, making sure that they’re happy and well fed, have a big positive impact. And I love creating those moments of pure joy, like when we surprised the cast of Star Trek TNG with an appearance by John de Lancie, who played Q.”

Constantly on the hunt for the star-studded event’s next unbelievable guest attendee, Kandrix is thrilled beyond-the-pale to take Firefly “out to the black” as this year’s Expo welcomes Serenity’s Captain Malcolm Reynolds (a.k.a. actor Nathan Fillion) to the fray. Beyond appealing to the renegade sensibilities of the Alberta Browncoat Society members, the Expo has amassed a tremendous roster of cherished performers to grace the convention with their presence. Light-years ahead of the curve, yet still true to its terrestrial origins, the event will also be acknowledging cutting-edge series, like Game of Thrones, while paying homage to never-outdated classics, like 90-year-old Spiderman creator Stan Lee.

“It’s about creating the right mix of hitting stuff everyone recognizes and intermingling those broader classic genres with more niche-oriented projects, like Firefly,” Kandrix explains. “I’m very interested to see the response to Nathan Fillion. He’s an Albertan hero and fans have been asking us to have him at our show for eight years and he finally said yes! We’re competing against conventions in Chicago and Belgium, so it was a bit of a coup that we managed to get him and it’s generating a very exciting vibe.”

It’ll be a feast for the eyes, with everything relating to science fiction, fantasy, horror, animation and beyond on display as over 600 artists, exhibitors, and vendors showcase their wares in the Expo’s impressive marketplace. The ears, however, will not go neglected as the paragon of musical parody, Weird Al Yankovic, delivers a full-blown Alpocalypse concert as one of the Expo’s special events. Other Expo-affiliated events include: The Hub – An Evening Reception with Torchwood torchbearers John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Gareth David-Lloyd, and An Evening with Game of Thrones, which includes dinner at The Palliser with Peter Dinklage (Prince Tyrion) & Lina Headey (Queen Cersei).

“What sets Calgary’s Expo apart is that we are concerned with producing a unique, solid, stand-alone experience,” Kandrix observes. “In my opinion, having attended conventions throughout North America, [I’ve realized] presenting a vast number of artists at a show is less important than providing a lot of variety. As organizers, we’re huge fans ourselves, so we wanted to touch on a lot of genres and offer an outstanding level of diversity. From Dr. Who and The Terminator, to Weird Al and The X-Files, we’ve gone the extra mile and word-of-mouth is spreading.”

Book off April 26-28 and pull out the sunscreen and spandex, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo touches down once more!

By Christine Leonard

Originally published  April 22, 2013 · in beatrouteab · in AB CITYFEATURES. ·

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Lauren Mann: a Strange Passion for Sound

Odd future Lauren Mann and Company take new album over land and sea

by Christine Leonard


Lauren Mann & The Fairly Odd Folk
Ship & Anchor Pub  April 10, 2013


There are few things more memorable than those childhood summers spent camping and exploring in the great outdoors. This is especially true for singer-songwriter Lauren Mann and her husband Zoltan Szoges, for whom the past few years have seemed like one extended (and occasionally strange) sleepaway vacation. Having polished off her curatorial collection of songs, Stories from Home, in 2010, Lauren took her partner’s encouragements to heart and set out on a coast-to-coast tour that would become a life-altering adventure.

“It was pretty crazy,” Mann recounts. “When I look back now, I can’t believe we actually did it. It was an incredibly big thing for us to see Canada and meet people from across the country. We teamed up with various transient band members along the road to form an ever-evolving troupe that went all the way to Newfoundland.”

Pages of rhyme continued to accumulate as the kilometres whizzed by, as Mann’s keen eye and quick hand captured her impressions along the way. The finger-snapping folk-pop of her piano keys has always reverberated with colour and joy, but now they also benefit from the grassroots gusto of The Fairly Odd Folk.

Besides initiating her manager-husband in the ways of the keyboard, drums and glockenspiel, Mann has recruited guitarist Josh Akin and another talented married duo, drummer/guitarist Jay Christman and bassist/vocalist Jessica Christman, to fill out her musical retinue. Intensified and electrified, the alt-folk ensemble looks forward to debuting Over Land and Sea, Mann’s latest batch of wildly illustrative campfire tales.

“I’ve been writing the songs on Over Land and Sea for a couple of summers; it’s been a long process,” she says. “Zoltan has remained the visionary behind the music; we are each other’s muses. I was very grateful to be able to take the songs down to Florida to record them with him and work with our wonderful producer Aaron Marsh. The band’s current lineup has been going steady since last fall, and now we’re really comfortable feeding off of each others’ ideas. I’m excited about the future — I feel like we’re honing in on our collective creativity.”

Mann’s passionate observations result in some decidedly fresh and unexpected sounds. Self-discovery by way of exploration is a recurring theme as the pitfalls of love and summits of ecstasy are aptly represented in the alt-folk annals of Over Land and Sea.

“Travelling across Canada and volunteering at summer camps gave me a lot of ideas for the new album. It was really fun just having the option of doing anything we wanted. It opened my eyes to what can happen when you write, dream and imagine,” Mann says. “Finding yourself in a different place every night definitely helps you rediscover who you are and where your priorities lie. It’s cool to find your personal normal within crazy.”

CD release parties abound with the coming of spring and Lauren Mann and The Fairly Odd Folk are poised to bring their piano-based and glockenspiel-enhanced rural-rock mash-ups to patios across the nation. Embarking from their erstwhile headquarters in Brooks, Alberta, Mann and her P.T. Barnum-esque entourage look forward to plying their electro-acoustic craft at Regina’s JUNOFest. Next they’ll dip into the United States for what promises to be a rollicking North American tour.

“It’s kind of funny, but we think of ourselves as one big family on a trip. Musically we’re on the brink of folk, indie and pop. Now that we’re a full band, things are getting tighter and are leaning towards alt-pop with some folky elements. It’s hard to say what the next album will sound like…. I love rock and roll, but I fell into folk quite naturally, so it’ll likely be a hybrid of electric guitar and ukulele.”