| >>THE 411
Steve Albini has become a regular "go-to" guy for Calgary indie bands. A few weeks ago we ran a piece in the 411 column about Hot Little Rocket flying down to Chicago to record with the legendary engineer. Well, they’re not the only Calgary band on the Albini-boat – The Cape May are scheduled to record with the Shellac front man as well.
"Basically, we sat down with Ian Russell (proprietor of Flemish Eye Records) label to The Cape May as well as Chad Van Gaalen) and he asked us who would be our dream person to record the next record," explains Clinton St John, the band’s singer-songwriter.
"We thought about it for a few weeks and came to the conclusion that no one has really hit the sound that we’re going for like Steve Albini’s work on Nina Nastasia’s The Blackened Air. That’s the album that really sealed the deal for us."
The Cape May already have one CD out, Central City May Rise Again, and have toured all over Canada, but they’re mostly known throughout the Calgary music community for being that band that jams five days a week. (That’s a lot by the way.)
Calgarian singer-songwriter Tariq is moving to Vancouver to take a job hosting a special podcast program for CBC Radio 3.
Tariq was introduced to some of us during his brief stint on EMI Records, during which time he recorded the hit "Chevrolet Way," as well as the beloved "Not Just A Waiter," a song that articulates through lyrical metaphors the financial strife of a disgruntled Fast Forward writer who would rather be working for CHUM. Or at least that’s what I thought it was about.
Over the past few years, Tariq has been doubling as a media personality on CBC’s Calgary Eyeopener, doing the "Scenester Report" every Friday morning. Though one would presume that job to be the catalyst for the Radio 3 website discovering Tariq, it was actually Much Music’s Chris Nelson who recommended him for the job.
"I was in Vancouver for Western Canadian Music Week and I was doing an interview with Chris, when he happened to mention the job after I shared with him what I was up to with the Radio 1 stuff," shares Tariq.
Other Canadian celebrities such as Grant Lawrence (The Smugglers) and members of Sloan will be regular contributors for the podcast, which will be relaunched to mark its new relationship with the satellite provider Serious, making it available all over North America.
Tariq will continue to play music, though he admits that his music career may rest on the back burner for a little while.
The Hip City Blues Combo have expanded their guitar-drums combination by adding James Mathison (The Means, Pressure Kill Common Style) on keyboards and Bryn Richards (Love Affair) on bass. Seeing as Hip City has always been famous for being able to collectively drink their weight in Jagermeister, this membership expansion ought to be just what they need in order to clean out many of the smaller venues in Calgary. Club owners be warned. |
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