Agricola Street is many things to many people. Cyclists love it because the traffic tends to be less hectic for a north end journey than Windsor, Robie or Gottingen. Smart drivers love it for the same reason. And pedestrians and locals love it for the plenty of shops, cafes and other diversions: antique stores, art […]
Gus’ Pub & Grill
Posted inArts + Music
Crafting The Bad Arts
Twenty-five percent danceable, 25 percent weird, 50 percent fast: this is the breakdown of The Bad Arts’ new self-titled EP. “We picked one [song] of each kind we write,” drummer Andrew Patterson says, “a dancey one, a fast one, a weirder one.” “A couple fast ones,” bassist Corbett Hancey chimes in. With a distinct post-punk […]
Posted inArts + Music
Piper’s call
Best known as Caribou’s drummer, Brad Weber’s no stranger to travel. He’s gone crate-digging in record stores in Turkey. He’s filmed music videos on the craggy beaches of Iceland. He’ll be performing everywhere from Mexico to Stockholm with Caribou this spring. But today, he’s at his parents’ home in Waterloo, Ontario, readying himself for a […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Pedal to the mellow
Gus’ Pub & Grill “Whenever we have big metal shows, we order extra Olands,” says Jake Cuming, a bartender at Gus’. He stresses Olands, Olands, and more Olands. Plus cheap draughts. And whiskey shots—“The hard stuff.” 2605 Agricola Street, 423-7786 The Company House CoHo owner Mary Ann Daye suggests a bit of the hard stuff […]
Posted inArts + Music
Monotonix mania
The last time you saw Ami Shalev, he was probably dumping a garbage can on his drummer’s head. Or shoving a microphone up his ass. Or leaping off of a telephone pole in front of Gus’ Pub. Or crowd surfing atop a bass drum. Shalev’s band Monotonix had quite the year in 2008, mowing down […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax comedy on the laugh track
[Editor’s note: this story is one of five Coast articles selected as finalists for the 2010 Atlantic Journalism Awards. All five stories are collected here.] Monday night at Gus’ Pub is a quiet affair, though the tables are dotted with tiny beer glasses. Chairs are filled with a mostly hoodie-wearing crowd. The disco twinkle of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Northern lights
King-in-exile of the local music scene, Sloan was the highest-profile band to come out of the mid-’90s Halifax music explosion. Though they’re longtime Toronto scenesters—it even says as much on their website—Sloan often sang of its hometown experience, as on a few key tracks from the 1999 release Between the Bridges. The bridges in question […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Gus’ noise problem
Halifax indie rockers. They’re touchy about their music venues. No wonder. They keep losing them. A fault in the business model is one thing. But what really stings is when a good venue—Cafe Ole, Birdland, The Blues Corner—is lost because of noise complaints. Dimo Georgakakos is a somewhat expected champion of keeping indie rock healthy, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Go local on Agricola Street
Stretching down from the north end, Agricola Street is a series of pauses, movements and environments. North of Young is the largely residential energy of the Hydrostone, but points south you’ll encounter the dominating presence of the Oland Brewery (3055 Agricola, 453-1867), then the distinguished formality of the antiques district just around Almon. Further south […]
Posted inArts + Music
Horses run wild at Gus’ tonight
These are Horses. Photo by Krista Dzialoszynski Horses are a band from the east coast, who moved to Toronto and come back almost all the time. They have been called “beard-rock” and “man-rock,” so if you haven’t guessed already, they are guys. Nice guys! Q: What is next for Horses? Are you guys doing more […]
Posted inArts + Music
Cool dad and cold ones Sunday at Gus’
Photo by Courtney Kelsey Former Haligonians, current Ontarians Cool dad play post-Evolve on Sunday, July 26 at Gus’ Pub (10pm, $5). “Evolve was incredible,” say Cool dad. “We kicked off the entire festival. We had a great crowd and got an amazing response. We played in a gorgeous yurt.” Featuring Al Melnyk (organ) and Greg […]
Posted inLifestyle
How to make a Halifax Bucket List
You have one summer left to live. The world ends after Labour Day. Now is the time to do it all, to suck the marrow out of Halifax. Start working on that bucket list. That’s the challenge we put to The Coast’s Twitter and Facebook friends and we received a pile of must-do activities. In […]