Friday night, clear your schedule. Rich Aucoin has made party hats with you and your friends’ names on them. Aucoin promises “more visuals, light shows, balloons and confetti than you know what to do with.” He harnesses the power and energy of a Flaming Lips show all by himself, but Windom Earle is sharing the […]
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Concert for Samantha Li
Though in different ensembles, violinists Samantha Li and Lee Park often played together, with Park taking first violin and Li second. “She cared very much about her tone, the quality of her sound,” recalls Park of her colleague and friend, who was killed in a car accident last month. The two were also friends, doing […]
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Q&A with the Wordburglar
MK: How did you get into Backburner and what is its history according to you? Wordburglar: Hmm…well, I knew Fes, Process, Thesis and Ginzu through the local hip-hop scene. and Jesse and I went back cause we played on the same baseball team when we were kids. I was doing my thing with my crew […]
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Q&A: Halifax Rap Legend Jesse Dangerously
MK: How did you get into Backburner and what is its history according to you? Halifax Rap Legend Jesse Dangerously: I used to see Fester, Dex and Kils at Halifax hip-hop shows around 2000. We were at all the same ones, and I think they knew I was in The Sentinels with ginzu333, and we’d […]
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Up front with Backburner
Wondering what to expect when the Backburner collective (Wordburglar, Jesse Dangerously, The Extremities and London-based group Toolshed, plus Windom Earle) hit the Seahorse stage on August 8? “The grown-up version of being in grade five and your teacher leaves the classroom. That’s right,” says Sean Jordan, AKA SJ the Wordburglar. “No teachers. Party time.” Call […]
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Halifax Ukelele Gang now!
I know you hate Mondays as much as the next person, so here’s a reason to start liking them: the ukulele. The Halifax Ukulele Gang holds a free meeting on the first Monday of each month from 7-9pm at the Celtic Corner on Alderney Drive, for those who want to learn the instrument. These meetings […]
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Ex-pat superstars Denial Tone return
A group of Halifax heroes move to Montreal and make a great band, return to Halifax and burn the city to the ground. This should be how all fairytales begin. Denial Tone are Meghan Merrigan (Gilbert Switzer, ROT), Eben Hicks (Be Bad, System Shit), Yan Basque (Racine) and Crystal McNorton (Trouble Rocket). They play August […]
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Rick White’s noise
When Rick White steps onto a stage, the first thing you notice is his guitar. It’s a well-worn acoustic with a cosmic scene adorning its body—acrylic paint swirls from the sound hole, spreading brilliantly outward. As White and his guitar settle into a chair at the main tent before his suppertime set at this year’s […]
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The Novaks Fall Apart
The Novaks live for rock ‘n’ roll. After an opening slot for KISS, the band returns to Halifax to celebrate its new album, Things Fall Apart, at The Seahorse on August 2. “KISS was great. I was a fanatic when I was a kid,” says vocalist-guitarist Mick Davis. “Ace Frehley was one of my heroes […]
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Sappy comes to town
If you missed the last train to Sackville and you’re not heading to New Brunswick’s SappyFest this weekend, some of those bands are coming to you. The Gertrudes, an 11-piece roaring clan from Kingston, are playing Gus’ Pub (August 3). The band tells us they “sound like a ol’ time saloon party in deep space…experimental […]
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100 Dollars’ urban legend
100 Dollars is on its way to play a small festival in an upstate New York barn when I reach them. The barn is home to some ducks and geese, and I ask if they’ll enjoy the music. “We don’t write for birds,” singer Simone Schmidt says. “But pain runs through all walks of life, […]
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Targeting Shotgun Jimmie
If the man, also known as Jim Kilpatrick, says he paddled part of the way in a canoe to play a festival in River Valley (between North Bay and Sudbury in northeastern Ontario), one would believe him. He’s that kind of guy: equally committed, comical, resourceful, sincere. “It was this outdoor stage, like a log […]
