| Chad Van Gaalen is the Pearl Jam of Calgary. Just ask head of Sub Pop Jonathan Poneman, who flew to Calgary to check out Van Gaalen, live at the Ship & Anchor last month. Poneman signed Van Gaalen to the label and has agreed to have Sub Pop re-release last year’s stellar Infiniheart in the States. "He took us out for dinner," says Van Gaalen. "And he was the most brilliant, sweetest guy you’ll ever meet – super nice. And the dude knew so much about music it’s sick!"
Well, he knew enough to realize what Calgary has known for the last couple of years – Chad Van Gaalen is exactly like Kurt Cobain, except that he has a pulse and he’s taller. The new version of Infiniheart will be slightly amended; some of the tracks that Chad finds to be "weaker" will be cut and replaced with new ones. "It used to be like 80 minutes long, because I wanted people to feel like they were getting their money’s worth. The re-release will still be about an hour long."
Sub Pop is one of the most recognizable indie labels in the world, originally making its mark as the home of the Seattle scene as well as the curators of the grunge movement. Chad’s in good company, sharing a musical home with bands such as the Postal Service, Low, The Constantines, and Iron and Wine. The only other Calgary band to ever have anything put out by Sub Pop is Chixdiggit back in 1996. I think that it’s great, so long as Chad doesn’t start any fashion trends the way that Sub Pop bands did in the ’90s –I don’t think that we have room on the downtown sidewalks for kids walking around with kick drums attached to their ankles. If you want to watch Chad’s one-man-band show, check him out at the Epcor Centre’s Alberta Sessions Songwriter Series March 25.
Here’s a 411 scoop – Calgary’s newest band, Decipher ,played their first show at The Underground on March 19. Decipher sounds like, well, I don’t know because I haven’t heard them yet. So why am I telling you about them? Well, they met through the Fast Forward classifieds musicians-wanted section. Ha! What did You ever do for the Calgary community?
On a lighter note, the Buzzing Bees are breaking up. I didn’t know that they were still together, you say? I’ve never heard of them, you say? Well, if you thought that they had broken up already, that’s because they haven’t played a show since their members fanned out to Edmonton, Vancouver and even England. If you have never heard of the Buzzing Bees then you’re probably very old. "We played mostly all-ages shows," says guitarist Chris Vanderlan. "Our fans are 16 years old and snappy dressers." And they’re all over Canada, the Buzzing Bees have toured across Canada twice during their brief career, including two trips to the West. If you missed it all then you have one last chance to check them out at the Mac Hall Ballroom on March 24. This all-ages event will also feature The Incandescence (who apparently have a CD coming out very soon) and The Beija Flor.
If you have any info for The 411 e-mail us at info@ffwd.greatwest.ca |
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