Last summer, when KC Spidle formed Bad Vibrations, his vision was simple: “My plan was to rock,” he says. A veteran of many a venerable local group (The Hold, Dog Day, Husband and Knife), Spidle was itching to play loud, heavy music—“not wanky,” he says. He wrote 13 songs in two hours and then corralled […]
new music
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Dana Beeler
The first time that Dana Beeler played in front of an audience, she was almost overwhelmed by nerves. “I performed at a high school open mic and almost fell off my chair,” she says. Although Beeler has played in a bluegrass band with her family for years, the 19-year-old says it took time for her […]
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The Caravan
Known for outlandish acoustic hip-hop covers of “Mama Said Knock You Out,” The Caravan has been silently gaining a cult following and is now putting its debut album, Emerald City, out on wax June 12 at the Seahorse—fronted by NSLC employee/potential Playgirl cover model Kyle Mckenna, with Freddie Prinze Jr. look-alike Mark Bachynski on the […]
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roomdoom: funny wee songs about food and art
Out of a mutual desire to have fun, make people dance and eat sandwiches, roomdoom was born. The band is barely five months old, but in that time, they’ve played at least 10 shows, including house parties, galleries (inside a fabric dome at the Khyber ICA), at the recent Obey Convention and two very different […]
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The Baketones are locals faves
It’s not often that a band receives unanimous praise from the likes of Halifaxlocals.com. But The Baketones managed to inspire five pages of accolades on the local message board—after their first show ever, this past February. “I wondered how we managed to dupe all these people,” says guitarist Morgan Rigby. After a quick listen at […]
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Bike Rodeo du it clean
Made up of Nigel Tinker (Joyless Streets), Mike D’Eon (The Establishment), Matt Nichols (The Stance) and Niall Skinner (Their Majesties), Bike Rodeo play a loud blend of 1960s garage rock and ’90s Brit rock. D’Eon says, “It was the first band I was in where we just jammed for a good couple months to find […]
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Bloodhouse cut it short
Alexander Mitchell (Tomcat Combat) started Bloodhouse in the winter of 2008, when he was living outside of the city and bored. “I had never composed songs before so it was nice to be able to develop a catalogue of super-short songs. I am in no way a guitar player so the simpler the song, the […]
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Ria Mae has a new job
Halifax fosters new creativity. At least that’s how Ria Mae sees it. Recently the songwriter quit her construction-management day job to take on music full-time, a bold but necessary risk. “Deep down, I know that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” says Mae. “I’ve had to downsize and am living very differently, but […]
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Granelli’s children: Panos Gianoullis and Denma Peisinger
Denma Peisinger is living with master jazz percussionist and composer Jerry Granelli, doing an “old-fashioned apprenticeship.” Peisinger, who plays bass, and guitarist Panos Gianoullis met while studying with Granelli in a program teaching free jazz to young musicians at the Atlantic Jazz Festival. They have been collaborating recently, as well as playing in Granelli’s ensemble […]
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Krasnogorsk and the Moscow Country Club get around
The Krasnogorsk is a Soviet movie camera and a suburb of Moscow, but Halifax’s Krasnogorsk can be found playing on the number seven bus, in trees, on the Common or on tall ships. Violinist Jacques Mindreau interrupted baritone ukulele player Corey Hinchey’s interview with a potential roommate last fall; he “started playing music with him, […]
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Gianna Lauren fits in swell
“I didn’t have a job, I wasn’t coming for school, I just got in my car and drove here,” says Gianna Lauren. The Edmonton native arrived via Ottawa in January, with an EP (Fist in a Heart) and a plan: to become part of the local music scene. “I found the scene really insular,” she […]
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Electro Chiac Therapie: brutal acadian punk
“We thought, ‘Let’s do all sex lyrics, but we’ll do them in French so nobody knows what we’re talking about,’” says Lindsay of ECT. Two-thirds Acadian, the threesome (by stage names Lindsay Sue, Mimi Ostie and Fritzi LeBaron) sing in chiac, known as an English-tinged “brutalization” of Acadian French. They get audiences dancing by playing […]